Micah 5:2

A Ruler From Bethlehem

¹ “Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops;
A state of siege has been placed against us.
They shall strike the ruler of Israel on the cheek with a rod (scepter).
² 
“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah;
From you One shall come forth for Me [who is] to be Ruler in Israel,
His goings forth (appearances) are from long ago,
From ancient days.”
³
Therefore, He will give them up until the time
When she who is in labor has given birth to a child.
Then what is left of His kinsmen
Shall return to the children of Israel.

From the Beginning

Rule Over

Beth-lehem

Bethlehem

Ephratah

Israel

Judah

Matthew 2:6

‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are not in any way least among the leaders of Judah;
For from you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King (Messianic King) is coming to you;
He is righteous and endowed with salvation,
Humble and unassuming [in submission to the will of the Father] and riding on a donkey,
Upon a colt, the foal of a donkey.

John 7:42

Does the Scripture not say that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”

Genesis 35:19

So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

Genesis 48:7

Now as for me, when I came from Paddan [in Mesopotamia], Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

Genesis 49:10

“The scepter [of royalty] shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
Until Shiloh [the Messiah, the Peaceful One] comes,
And to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

Psalm 90:2

Before the mountains were born
Or before You had given birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are [the eternal] God.

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a Child shall be born, to us a Son shall be given;
And the government shall be upon His shoulder,
And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 11:1

Then a Shoot (the Messiah) will spring from the stock of Jesse [David’s father],
And a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.

Luke 1:31-33

Listen carefully: you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.

Ruth 4:11

All the people at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the household of Israel. May you achieve wealth and power in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem.

Isaiah 53:2

For He [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender shoot (plant),
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has no stately form or majestic splendor
That we would look at Him,
Nor [handsome] appearance that we would be attracted to Him.

Matthew 28:18

Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

Exodus 18:21

Furthermore, you shall select from all the people competent men who [reverently] fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; you shall place these over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.

Exodus 18:25

Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens [from the highest to the lowest judicial levels].

Deuteronomy 1:15

So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and made them leaders over you, commanders of thousands, and hundreds, and fifties, and tens, and officers (administrators) for your tribes.

1 Samuel 8:12

He will appoint them for himself to be commanders over thousands and over fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and equipment for his chariots.

1 Samuel 10:19

But today you have rejected your God, who Himself saves you from all your disasters and distresses; yet you have said, ‘No! Set a king over us.’ Now then, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your families (clans).”

1 Samuel 17:12

Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men.

1 Samuel 17:18

Also take these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of the unit. See how your brothers are doing and bring back news of them.

1 Samuel 23:23

So look, and take note of all the places where he hides and come back to me with the established facts, then I will go with you. If he is [anywhere] in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”

1 Chronicles 2:50-51

These were the sons (descendants) of Caleb.The sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim,

1 Chronicles 2:54

The sons (descendants) of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites.

1 Chronicles 4:4

Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the eldest of Ephrathah (Ephrath), the father of Bethlehem.

1 Chronicles 5:2

Though Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came [David] the leader [and eventually the Messiah], yet the birthright was Joseph’s—

Psalm 102:25-27

“At the beginning You founded the earth;
The heavens are the work of Your hands.

Psalm 132:6

Behold, we heard of it at Ephrathah;
We found it in the field of Jaar.

Proverbs 8:22-23

“The Lord created and possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old [were accomplished].

Jeremiah 13:5-6

So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me.

Jeremiah 30:21

‘Their prince will be one of them,
And their ruler will come forward from among them.
I will bring him near and he shall approach Me,
For who is he who would have the boldness and would dare [on his own initiative] to risk his life to approach Me?’ says the Lord.

Ezekiel 17:22-24

Thus says the Lord God, “I Myself will take a twig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out; I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

Ezekiel 34:23-24

“Then I will appoint over them one shepherd and he will feed them, [a ruler like] My servant David; he will feed them and be their shepherd.

Ezekiel 37:22-25

and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king over all of them; and they will no longer be two nations, and will no longer be divided into two kingdoms.

Amos 9:11

“In that day I shall raise up and restore the fallen tabernacle (booth) of David,
And wall up its breaches [in the city walls];
I will also raise up and restore its ruins
And rebuild it as it was in the days of old,

Luke 2:4-7

So Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,

Luke 23:2

They began to accuse Jesus, asserting, “We found this Man misleading and perverting our nation and forbidding us to pay taxes to Caesar, and claiming that He Himself is Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), a King.”

Luke 23:38

Now there was also an inscription above Him: “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

John 1:1-3

In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.

John 19:14-22

Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover [week], and it was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Look, your King!”

1 Corinthians 1:27-28

But God has selected [for His purpose] the foolish things of the world to shame the wise [revealing their ignorance], and God has selected [for His purpose] the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong [revealing their frailty].

Colossians 1:17

And He Himself existed and is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [His is the controlling, cohesive force of the universe.]

Hebrews 7:14

For it is evident that our Lord descended from [the tribe of] Judah, and Moses mentioned nothing about priests in connection with that tribe.

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ is [eternally changeless, always] the same yesterday and today and forever.

1 John 1:1

[I am writing about] what existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life [the One who existed even before the beginning of the world, Christ]—

Revelation 1:11-18

saying, “Write on a scroll what you see [in this revelation], and send it to the seven churches—to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

Revelation 2:8

“And to the angel (divine messenger) of the church in Smyrna write:

“These are the words of the First and the Last [absolute Deity, the Son of God] who died and came to life [again]:

Revelation 19:16

And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name inscribed, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Revelation 21:6

And He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the one who thirsts I will give [water] from the fountain of the water of life without cost.