The quotation in this verse comes from Micah 5.2 (5.1 in Hebrew), except for the last clause (who will govern my people Israel), which apparently is assimilated from 2 Samuel 5.2. The Septuagint text is not followed here and, in part at least, the quotation appears to be an independent rendering of the Hebrew text. For a detailed discussion of the problem, consult the commentaries.

O Bethlehem: as we indicated above, the prophet is speaking on behalf of God. Many translations make this explicit by saying “God said, ‘You Bethlehem….’ ” Of course, O is not used in current English, nor in many languages, and can be dropped without losing the meaning that the speaker is addressing Bethlehem directly. It will be strange in some languages to speak to a town. Translators can then say “You people of Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, your town is by no means the least….”

Languages that make a distinction between “country” and “region” or “province” should use one of these latter two words. Judah was only one region of the country.

Least among the rulers of Judah is interpreted by Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch to mean “least of the leading cities of Judah.” New English Bible has a different interpretation (“least in the eyes of the rulers of Judah”), while others (Phillips, New American Bible) take “leaders” in the technical sense of “princes.” The problem for the translator is that he is dealing with a mixed metaphor. The town of Bethlehem is addressed as though it were a person, a leader in the country of Judah. Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch have unscrambled the mixed metaphor, while New English Bible has interpreted “least among” to mean “least in the eyes of.”

Many languages do not use the same word for “least in size” and “least in importance.” The latter is the better one in this case. “You are not the least important of the leading cities of Judah.” It will be much easier in many languages to change the double negative (“not the least”) into a positive statement, as in “You are one of the most important” or “You are among the greatest of the cities of Judah.”

If translators do understand rulers to mean “the people who rule” (instead of “leading cities”), a possible translation will be “The rulers of the area of Judah do not think you are the least important of the towns” or “The rulers of Judah know you are one of the most important towns in their region.”

From you: “from among your people” or “one of your people” are possibilities. The translators who have had to say “people of Bethlehem” above can put here simply “one of you.”

A ruler who will govern appears in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch as “the man who will protect and guide,” and in Good News Translation as “a leader who will guide.” The Greek verb literally means “to shepherd” (see New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New English Bible, Phillips, Barclay). Since the verb “to shepherd” is rare in English and certainly does not have the biblical connotation of ruling, New English Bible has restructured: “a leader to be the shepherd of my people Israel.” Elsewhere, especially in the Septuagint, the verb often has the extended meaning of “lead,” “guide,” or “rule,” which gives support for the renderings of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. The prophesy is about one specific leader, so many translators have “One of your people will be the leader of my people Israel,” or “The person who is going to lead my people Israel will come from you,” or “Someone from your town will be the one who leads my people Israel.”

If “lead” is used in a language in the restricted sense of “lead in a particular direction,” then “govern” or “rule” is better here.

In its original context the possessive pronoun my (in the construction my people) referred to God, not the prophet, which seems also to be the case in the setting of Matthew. Many readers will think my people means “Micah’s people” or even “Matthew’s people.” To avoid this, some translators say “Israel, God’s people” or “Israel, the people God says are his.” Of course, if translators put “God said” at the beginning of the verse, it is usually clear that “my” means “God’s.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .