5
1 ‘Now cut yourself in bitter grief,
daughter besieged by soldiers.
They have set a wall around you.
They strike the ruler of Israel,
in the face with a rod.
2 ‘Bethlehem in Ephrathah,
small among the tribes of Judah,
from you will come a king
who will rule for me over Israel,
whose family line goes back to the distant past.’
3 So the Lord will only abandon Israel to its enemies
until the woman in labour gives birth.
Then the survivors will be reunited with their own people.
4 And he will stand and shepherd by the strength of the Lord,
In the exalted name of the Lord his God;
And they will live in security, for now he will be great,
even to the ends of the earth.
5 This will be our peace:
when Assyria comes into our land
and treads on our soil,
we will raise up against him seven shepherds,
eight leaders of men.
6 They will shepherd Assyria with a sword,
and the land of Nimrod with bared blades.
They will deliver us from Assyria,
when they come into our land,
and tread within our borders.
7 And the survivors of Jacob will be disbursed among the nations,
in the midst of many peoples,
like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass,
which don’t wait for people to come
or linger for mortals.
8 And the survivors of Jacob will be disbursed among the nations,
in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
like a young lion among the sheep-folds,
who, when he passes through, pounces.
He savages his prey. There is no rescuer.
9 Let your hand triumph over your adversaries,
let all your enemies be cut off.
10 On that day, says the Lord:
‘I will slaughter your horses from your midst,
and destroy your chariots.
11 I will devastate the cities in your land,
and tear down your fortresses.
12 I will destroy your magic charms,
and you will have no soothsayers.
13 I will cut down your idols and sacred pillars,
and you will not worship any more the work of your hands.
14 I will uproot your sacred poles,
and destroy your idols.
15 In my wrath and my anger
I will seek vengeance on the nations that ignore me.’