Matthew Chapter 2 verse 6 Holy Bible
And thou Bethlehem, land of Judah, Art in no wise least among the princes of Judah: For out of thee shall come forth a governor, Who shall be shepherd of my people Israel.
read chapter 2 in ASV
You Beth-lehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the chiefs of Judah: out of you will come a ruler, who will be the keeper of my people Israel.
read chapter 2 in BBE
And *thou* Bethlehem, land of Juda, art in no wise the least among the governors of Juda; for out of thee shall go forth a leader who shall shepherd my people Israel.
read chapter 2 in DARBY
And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
read chapter 2 in KJV
read chapter 2 in WBT
'You Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are in no way least among the princes of Judah: For out of you shall come forth a governor, Who shall shepherd my people, Israel.'"
read chapter 2 in WEB
And thou, Beth-Lehem, the land of Judah, thou art by no means the least among the leaders of Judah, for out of thee shall come one leading, who shall feed My people Israel.'
read chapter 2 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 6. - And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Jude, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel; and thou Bethlehem, land of Judah, art in no wise least among the princes of Judah: For out of thee shall come forth a governor, which shall be shepherd of my people Israel (Revised Version). In this quotation from Micah 5:2 notice the following Variations from the Hebrew, and practically from the LXX.: (1) "Land of Judah" for "Ephratah"; an unimportant change in the terms of definition. (2) "Art in no wise least" for "which art little to be "; a verbal contradiction probably, but also unimportant, as the thought of the context in Micah is of Bethlehem's greatness. (3) "Princes" for "thousands." This may be due . . .
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(6) And thou Bethlehem. . . .--The Evangelist is not quoting the prophecy of Micah himself, but recording it as it was quoted by the scribes. This in part explains the fact that he does not give either the version of the LXX., or a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew, but a free paraphrase. As the Targum, just referred to, belongs to this period, it is perfectly possible that the writer of it may have been one of the Council. At any rate, his Messianic reference of the passage was likely to be dominant. The chief difference for the English reader to note is, that the Hebrew gives "thou art little among the thousands (i.e., as in Judges 6:15, the families or clans) of Judah;" the version given by St. Matthew, "thou art not the least among the princes." The prophet contrasts the outward insignificance with the spiritual greatness. The paraphrast sees the outward transfigured by the glory of the spiritual. So again the simpler "out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel" is paraphrased into "out of thee shall come a Governor that shall rule (e.g., feed, as a shepherd) my people Israel." The fact that the scribes stopped, and did not go on to the words that told of the Ruler as one "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting," may have arisen either from an unwillingness to bring that aspect of the expected Christ before the mind of Herod, or, possibly, from an equal unwillingness to face it themselves.
