5 lNow you are walled around with a wall;m

siege is laid against us;

with a rod they strike the ruler of Israel

upon the cheek.*

The Ruler from Bethlehem

2 nBut you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,

who are one of the little clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to rule in Israel,

whose origin is from of old,

from ancient days.*

3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time

when she who is in labor has brought forth;

then the rest of his kindred shall return

to the people of Israel.*

4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great

to the ends of the earth,*

5 and he shall be the one of peace.

If the Assyrians come into our land

and tread upon our soil,o

we will raise against them seven shepherds

and eight rulers.*

6 They shall rule the land of Assyria with the sword

and the land of Nimrod with the drawn sword;p

theyq shall rescue us from the Assyrians

if they come into our land

or tread within our border.*

The Future Role of the Remnant

7 Then the remnant of Jacob,

surrounded by many peoples,

shall be like dew from the Lord,

like showers on the grass,

which do not depend upon people

or wait for any mortal.*

8 And among the nations the remnant of Jacob,

surrounded by many peoples,

shall be like a lion among the animals of the forest,

like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,

which, when it goes through, treads down

and tears in pieces, with no one to deliver.*

9 Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries,

and all your enemies shall be cut off.*

10 On that day, says the Lord,

I will cut off your horses from among you

and will destroy your chariots;*

11 and I will cut off the cities of your land

and destroy all your strongholds;*

12 and I will cut off sorceries from your hand,

and you shall have no more soothsayers;*

13 and I will cut off your images

and your pillars from among you,

and you shall bow down no more

to the work of your hands;

14 and I will uproot your sacred polesr from among you

and destroy your towns.*

15 And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance

on the nations that did not obey.*

God Challenges Israel

6 Hear what the Lord says:

Rise, plead your case before the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice.*

2 Hear, you mountains, the case of the Lord,

and you enduring foundations of the earth,

for the Lord has a case against his people,

and he will contend with Israel.*

3 “O my people, what have I done to you?

In what have I wearied you? Answer me!*

4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt

and redeemed you from the house of slavery,

and I sent before you Moses,

Aaron, and Miriam.*

5 O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,

what Balaam son of Beor answered him,

and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,

that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”*

What God Requires

6 “With what shall I come before the Lord

and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of 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 told you, O mortal, what is good,

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice and to love kindness

and to walk humbly with your God?*

Cheating and Violence to Be Punished

9 The voice of the Lord cries to the city

(and he shall save those who fear his names):

Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city!t

10 Can I forgetu the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked

and the despicable false measure?*

11 Can I tolerate wicked scales

and a bag of dishonest weights?*

12 Yourv wealthy are full of violence;

yourw inhabitants speak lies

with tongues of deceit in their mouths.

13 Therefore I have begunx to strike you down,

making you desolate because of your sins.*

14 You shall eat but not be satisfied,

and there shall be a gnawing hunger within you;

you shall put away but not save,

and what you save, I will hand over to the sword.*

15 You shall sow but not reap;

you shall tread olives but not anoint yourselves with oil;

you shall tread grapes but not drink wine.*

16 For you have kept the statutes of Omriy

and all the works of the house of Ahab,

and you have followed their counsels.

Therefore I will make you a desolation and yourz inhabitants an object of hissing,

so you shall bear the scorn of my people.*

The Total Corruption of the People

7 Woe is me! For I have become like one who,

after the summer fruit has been gathered,

after the vintage has been gleaned,

finds no cluster to eat;

there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger.*

2 The faithful have disappeared from the land,

and there is no one left who is upright;

they all lie in wait for blood,

and they hunt each other with nets.*

3 Their hands are skilled to do evil;

the official and the judge ask for a bribe,

and the powerful dictate what they desire;

thus they pervert justice.a,*

4 The best of them is like a brier,

the most upright of them a thorn hedge.

The day of theirb sentinels, of theirc punishment, has come;

now their confusion is at hand.*

5 Put no trust in a friend;

have no confidence in a loved one;

guard the doors of your mouth

from her who lies in your embrace,

6 for the son treats the father with contempt,

the daughter rises up against her mother,

the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

your enemies are members of your own household.*

7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord;

I will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me.*

Penitence and Trust in God

8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemies;d

when I fall, I shall rise;

when I sit in darkness,

the Lord will be a light to me.*

9 I must bear the indignation of the Lord

because I have sinned against him,

until he takes my side

and executes judgment for me.

He will bring me out to the light;

I shall see his vindication.*

10 Then my enemiese will see,

and shame will cover thosef who said to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

My eyes will see theirg downfall;h

now theyi will be trodden down

like the mire of the streets.*

A Prophecy of Restoration

11 A day for the building of your walls!

On that day the boundary shall be far extended.*

12 On that day they will come to you

from Assyria toj Egypt

and from Egypt to the River,

from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.*

13 But the earth will be desolate

because of its inhabitants,

for the fruit of their doings.*

14 Shepherd your people with your staff,

the flock that belongs to you,

which lives alone in a forest

in the midst of a garden land;

let them feed in Bashan and Gilead

as in the days of old.

15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,

show usk marvelous things.*

16 The nations shall see and be ashamed

of all their might;

they shall lay their hands on their mouths;

their ears shall be deaf;*

17 they shall lick dust like a snake,

like the crawling things of the earth;

they shall come trembling out of their fortresses;

they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,

and they shall stand in fear of you.*

God’s Compassion and Steadfast Love

18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity

and passing over the transgression

of the remnant of his possession?

He does not retain his anger forever

because he delights in showing steadfast love.*

19 He will again have compassion upon us;

he will tread our iniquities under foot.

You will cast all ourl sins

into the depths of the sea.*

20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob

and steadfast love to Abraham,

as you have sworn to our ancestors

from the days of old.*