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5 Now gather yourself in troops,O daughter of troops;He has laid siege against us;They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,Yet out of you shall come forth to MeThe One to be Ruler in Israel,Whose goings forth are from of old,From everlasting.”
3 Therefore He shall give them up,Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth;Then the remnant of His brethrenShall return to the children of Israel.4 And He shall stand and feed His flockIn the strength of the Lord,In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;And they shall abide,For now He shall be greatTo the ends of the earth;5 And this One shall be peace.
When the Assyrian comes into our land,And when he treads in our palaces,Then we will raise against himSeven shepherds and eight princely men.6 They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria,And the land of Nimrod at its entrances;Thus He shall deliver us from the Assyrian,When he comes into our landAnd when he treads within our borders.
7 Then the remnant of JacobShall be in the midst of many peoples,Like dew from the Lord,Like showers on the grass,That tarry for no manNor wait for the sons of men.8 And the remnant of JacobShall be among the Gentiles,In the midst of many peoples,Like a lion among the beasts of the forest,Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,Who, if he passes through,Both treads down and tears in pieces,And none can deliver.9 Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries,And all your enemies shall be cut off.
10 “And it shall be in that day,” says the Lord,“That I will cut off your horses from your midstAnd destroy your chariots.11 I will cut off the cities of your landAnd throw down all your strongholds.12 I will cut off sorceries from your hand,And you shall have no soothsayers.13 Your carved images I will also cut off,And your sacred pillars from your midst;You shall no more worship the work of your hands;14 I will pluck your wooden images[a] from your midst;Thus I will destroy your cities.15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and furyOn the nations that have not heard.”[b]
6 Hear now what the Lord says:
“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,And let the hills hear your voice.2 Hear, O you mountains, the Lord’s complaint,And you strong foundations of the earth;For the Lord has a complaint against His people,And He will contend with Israel.
3 “O My people, what have I done to you?And how have I wearied you?Testify against Me.4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,I redeemed you from the house of bondage;And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.5 O My people, remember nowWhat Balak king of Moab counseled,And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,From Acacia Grove[c] to Gilgal,That you may know the righteousness of the Lord.”
6 With what shall I come before the Lord,And bow myself before the High God?Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,With calves a year old?7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,Ten thousand rivers of oil?Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good;And what does the Lord require of youBut to do justly,To love mercy,And to walk humbly with your God?
9 The Lord’s voice cries to the city—Wisdom shall see Your name:
“Hear the rod!Who has appointed it?10 Are there yet the treasures of wickednessIn the house of the wicked,And the short measure that is an abomination?11 Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales,And with the bag of deceitful weights?12 For her rich men are full of violence,Her inhabitants have spoken lies,And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.13 “Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you,By making you desolate because of your sins.14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied;Hunger[d] shall be in your midst.You may carry some away,[e] but shall not save them;And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.
15 “You shall sow, but not reap;You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.16 For the statutes of Omri are kept;All the works of Ahab’s house are done;And you walk in their counsels,That I may make you a desolation,And your inhabitants a hissing.Therefore you shall bear the reproach of My people.”[f]
7 Woe is me!For I am like those who gather summer fruits,Like those who glean vintage grapes;There is no cluster to eatOf the first-ripe fruit which my soul desires.2 The faithful man has perished from the earth,And there is no one upright among men.They all lie in wait for blood;Every man hunts his brother with a net.
3 That they may successfully do evil with both hands—The prince asks for gifts,The judge seeks a bribe,And the great man utters his evil desire;So they scheme together.4 The best of them is like a brier;The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge;The day of your watchman and your punishment comes;Now shall be their perplexity.
5 Do not trust in a friend;Do not put your confidence in a companion;Guard the doors of your mouthFrom her who lies in your bosom.6 For son dishonors father,Daughter rises against her mother,Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.7 Therefore I will look to the Lord;I will wait for the God of my salvation;My God will hear me.
8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;When I fall, I will arise;When I sit in darkness,The Lord will be a light to me.9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord,Because I have sinned against Him,Until He pleads my caseAnd executes justice for me.He will bring me forth to the light;I will see His righteousness.10 Then she who is my enemy will see,And shame will cover her who said to me,“Where is the Lord your God?”My eyes will see her;Now she will be trampled downLike mud in the streets.
11 In the day when your walls are to be built,In that day the decree shall go far and wide.[g]12 In that day they[h] shall come to youFrom Assyria and the fortified cities,[i]From the fortress[d] to the River,[j]From sea to sea,And mountain to mountain.13 Yet the land shall be desolateBecause of those who dwell in it,And for the fruit of their deeds.
14 Shepherd Your people with Your staff,The flock of Your heritage,Who dwell solitarily in a woodland,In the midst of Carmel;Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,As in days of old.
15 “As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,I will show them[l] wonders.”
16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;They shall put their hand over their mouth;Their ears shall be deaf.17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent;They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth.They shall be afraid of the Lord our God,And shall fear because of You.
18 Who is a God like You,Pardoning iniquityAnd passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever,Because He delights in mercy.19 He will again have compassion on us,And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our[m] sinsInto the depths of the sea.20 You will give truth to JacobAnd mercy to Abraham,Which You have sworn to our fathersFrom days of old.
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