“Now why do you cry aloud?
Is there no king in you?
Has your counselor perished?
Have pangs seized you
Like a woman in labor?
O daughter Zion!
Writhe!
Groan!
Like a woman in labor!
Now you shall go forth
From the city.
You shall camp
In the open country.
You shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued.
There Yahweh will redeem you
From the hand of your enemies.”
Yahweh, via Micah, wanted to know why the people were crying. They had a king and a counselor. However, they were having labor pains, as if they were pregnant. Yahweh told them to cry, groan, and contort like a pregnant woman because something bad was going to happen to them. They were going to have to leave their city to camp in the open country. They were going to go to Babylon. There Yahweh would rescue and redeem them from their enemies.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 