Reading for January 13th

 Read Micah 4.6-5.1. In 4.6-5.1: God gathers the exiles to Jerusalem. In verse 6: This characterization of the returning exiles as as lame recalls other exilic descriptions of them as similarly disabled (Zeph 3.19-20; Isa 35.5-10). In verse 8: The phrase former dominion looks back to the time of the prophet Micah when Jerusalem was capital of an independent kingdom. In verses 9-10: The image of a woman in labor, commonly used to describe excruciating pain, is also employed by Jeremiah to describe the suffering of the exiles (3.1-7). In verse 10; Babylon is the Mesopotamian city to which Jerusalem's leaders were deported when the city fell to the Babylonians in 587 BCE. In verse 13: The image of an ox threshing grain is used to describe God's judgment of then actions that have oppressed and exiled the Israelites (Isa 41.14-16). Comments or Questions..