CHAPTER 5

1  Now shall the daughter of Zion be completely hedged in: he has laid siege against us: they shall smite the tribes of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.

2 And you, Bethlehem, house of Ephratha, are few in number to be reckoned among the thousands of Judah; yet out of you shall one come forth to Me, to be a ruler of Israel; and His goings forth were from the beginning, even from eternity.

3  Therefore shall He appoint them to wait till the time of her that labors: she shall bring forth, and then the remnant of their brothers shall return to the children of Israel.

4 And the Lord shall stand, and see, and feed His flock with power, and they shall dwell in the glory of the name of the Lord their God: for now shall they be magnified to the ends of the earth.

5  And she shall have peace when the Assyrian shall come into your land, and when he shall come up upon your country; and there shall be raised up against him seven shepherds, and eight attacks of men.

6 And they shall tend the Assyrian with a sword, and the land of Nimrod with her trench: and He shall deliver you from the Assyrian, when he shall come upon your land, and when he shall invade your coasts.

7  And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples, as dew falling from the Lord, and as lambs on the grass; that none may assemble nor resist among the sons of men.

8  And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many nations, as a lion in the forest among cattle, and as a lion’s whelp among the flocks of sheep, even as when he goes through, and selects, and carries off his prey, and there is none to deliver.

9  Your hand shall be lifted up against them that afflict you, and all your enemies shall be utterly destroyed.

10  And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, that I will utterly destroy the horses out of the midst of you, and destroy your chariots;

11 and I will utterly destroy the cities of your land, and demolish all your strongholds:

12  and I will utterly destroy your sorceries out of your hands; and there shall be no soothsayers in you.

13  And I will utterly destroy your graven images, and your statues out of the midst of you; and you shall never any more worship the works of your hands.

14  And I will cut off the groves out of the midst of you, and I will abolish your cities.

15  And I will execute vengeance on the heathen in anger and wrath, because they did not obey.