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