1Now you will gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod.
2But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out from you will come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient times.
3Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.
4And he will stand and will shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God; and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
5He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land, and when he marches through our fortresses, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight leaders of men.
6They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with a drawn sword. He will deliver us from the Assyrian, when he invades our land and when he marches inside our border.
7The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from Yahweh, like showers on the grass, that do not wait for man or wait for the sons of men.
8The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver.
9Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off.
10It will happen in that day, says Yahweh, that I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy your chariots.
11I will cut off the cities of your land, and will tear down all your strongholds.
12I will destroy witchcraft from your hand, and you will have no soothsayers.
13I will cut off your carved images and your standing-stones from your midst, and you will no longer worship the work of your hands.
14I will uproot your Asherah poles out of your midst, and I will destroy your cities.
15I will execute vengeance in anger, and wrath on the nations that did not listen.
REV Bible
