Micah Predicts a Ruler Will Come from Bethlehem

'But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.' Micah 5:2 — written in the 8th century BC — is quoted by the chief priests and teachers of the law when the Magi ask King Herod where the Christ is to be born. It is the only verse in the Hebrew Bible that names Bethlehem as the birthplace of the coming ruler. That a minor prophet in an obscure chapter would anchor the nativity story 700 years later is either prophecy or retrofit. The debate has never ended.