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¹Now, daughter who is under attack, you slash yourself in grief; a siege is set against us! They are striking the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod.

²Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient times.

³Therefore, Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of the ruler’s brothers will return to the people of Israel.

⁴He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD his God. They will live securely, for then his greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.

⁵He will be their peace. When Assyria invades our land, when it marches against our fortresses, we will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men.

⁶They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, the land of Nimrod with a drawn blade. So he will rescue us from Assyria when it invades our land, when it marches against our territory.

⁷Then the remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for anyone or linger for mankind.

⁸Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like a lion among animals of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, and there is no one to rescue them.

⁹Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries, and all your enemies will be destroyed.

¹⁰In that day — this is the LORD’s declaration — I will remove your horses from you and wreck your chariots.

¹¹I will remove the cities of your land and tear down all your fortresses.

¹²I will remove sorceries from your hands, and you will not have any more fortune-tellers.

¹³I will remove your carved images and sacred pillars from you so that you will no longer worship the work of your hands.

¹⁴I will pull up the Asherah poles from among you and demolish your cities.

¹⁵I will take vengeance in anger and wrath against the nations that have not obeyed me.

¹Now listen to what the LORD is saying: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your complaint.

²Listen to the LORD’s lawsuit, you mountains and enduring foundations of the earth, because the LORD has a case against his people, and he will argue it against Israel.

³My people, what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you? Testify against me!

⁴Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam ahead of you.

⁵My people, remember what King Balak of Moab proposed, what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from the Acacia Grove to Gilgal so that you may acknowledge the LORD’s righteous acts.

⁶What should I bring before the LORD when I come to bow before God on high? Should I come before him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?

⁷Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousand streams of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my transgression, the offspring of my body for my own sin?

⁸Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.

⁹The voice of the LORD calls out to the city (and it is wise to fear your name): “Pay attention to the rod and the one who ordained it.

¹⁰Are there still the treasures of wickedness and the accursed short measure in the house of the wicked?

¹¹Can I excuse wicked scales or bags of deceptive weights?

¹²For the wealthy of the city are full of violence, and its residents speak lies; the tongues in their mouths are deceitful.

¹³“As a result, I have begun to strike you severely, bringing desolation because of your sins.

¹⁴You will eat but not be satisfied, for there will be hunger within you. What you acquire, you cannot save, and what you do save, I will give to the sword.

¹⁵You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourself with oil; and you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.

¹⁶The statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house have been observed; you have followed their policies. Therefore, I will make you a desolate place and the city’s residents an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of my people.”

¹How sad for me! For I am like one who — when the summer fruit has been gathered after the gleaning of the grape harvest  — finds no grape cluster to eat, no early fig, which I crave.

²Faithful people have vanished from the land; there is no one upright among the people. All of them wait in ambush to shed blood; they hunt each other with a net.

³Both hands are good at accomplishing evil: the official and the judge demand a bribe; when the powerful man communicates his evil desire, they plot it together.

⁴The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is worse than a hedge of thorns. The day of your watchmen, the day of your punishment, is coming; at this time their panic is here.

⁵Do not rely on a friend; don’t trust in a close companion. Seal your mouth from the woman who lies in your arms.

⁶Surely a son considers his father a fool, a daughter opposes her mother, and a daughter-in-law is against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.

⁷But I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

⁸Do not rejoice over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will stand up; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.

⁹Because I have sinned against him, I must endure the LORD’s rage until he champions my cause and establishes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see his salvation.

¹⁰Then my enemy will see, and she will be covered with shame, the one who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will look at her in triumph; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.

¹¹A day will come for rebuilding your walls; on that day your boundary will be extended.

¹²On that day people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates River and from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.

¹³Then the earth will become a wasteland because of its inhabitants and as a result of their actions.

¹⁴Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock that is your possession. They live alone in a woodland surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in ancient times.

¹⁵I will perform miracles for them as in the days of your exodus from the land of Egypt.

¹⁶Nations will see and be ashamed of all their power. They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will become deaf.

¹⁷They will lick the dust like a snake; they will come trembling out of their hiding places like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will tremble in the presence of the LORD our God; they will stand in awe of you.

¹⁸Who is a God like you, forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not hold on to his anger forever because he delights in faithful love.

¹⁹He will again have compassion on us; he will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

²⁰You will show loyalty to Jacob and faithful love to Abraham, as you swore to our fathers from days long ago.