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The Ruler From Bethlehem
5 Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops;
he has laid siege against us.
With a rod they will strike
the judge of Israel on the cheek.
2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
although you are small among the tribes of Judah,
from you will come forth for Me
one who will be ruler over Israel.
His origins are from of old,
from ancient days.
3 Therefore He will give them up,
until the time when she who is in labor has given birth,
and the rest of his brothers will return
to the children of Israel.
4 He will stand and shepherd
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God;
then they will live securely, because now He will be great
until the ends of the earth;
5 and He will be their peace.
The Remnant of Jacob Delivered
When Assyria enters our land
and treads through our palaces,
then we will raise up against him seven shepherds
and eight commanders of men.
6 They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod at her gates;
He will rescue us from Assyria,
when he enters our land
and when he treads within our border.
7 Then the remnant of Jacob will be
in the midst of many peoples,
like dew from the Lord,
like showers upon the grass,
which do not wait for a man
and do not linger for the sons of men.
8 The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,
in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
which when it passes through, tramples and mauls,
without rescuer.
9 Your hand will be lifted up over your adversaries,
and all your enemies will be cut off.
10 And in that day, declares the Lord,
I will cut off your horses from among you,
and I will destroy your chariots.
11 Then I will cut off the cities of your land,
and I will overthrow your strongholds;
12 then I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
and you will no longer have fortune-tellers.
13 Then I will cut off your idols,
and your sacred stones from among you,
and you will no longer bow down
to the work of your hands;
14 then I will root out your Asherah idols from among you,
and I will annihilate your cities.
15 And in anger and wrath I will take vengeance
on the nations that have not listened.
The Indictment of the Lord
6 Listen to what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
that the hills may hear your voice.
2 Hear, mountains, the indictment of the Lord,
O enduring foundations of the earth—
that the Lord has an indictment against His people,
and against Israel He will dispute.
3 “My people, what have I done to you,
and how have I wearied you? Answer Me!
4 For I have brought you up from the land of Egypt,
and from the house of slaves I have redeemed you;
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O My people, remember now
what Balak king of Moab counseled,
and what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and remember what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
so that you might know the righteous acts of the Lord.”
The Requirement of the Lord
6 “With what should I come before the Lord,
and bow down 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 thousand 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 man, 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?
The Punishment of Israel’s Guilt
9 The voice of the Lord calls to the city—
and wisdom will fear Your name:
Heed the rod and Him who has appointed it.
10 Are there still in the house of the wicked
treasures of wickedness?
And the short ephah[a] which is accursed?
11 Should I acquit the scales of wickedness,
and the sack of dishonest weights?
12 Her wealthy men are full of violence,
and her inhabitants speak deception,
and their tongue in their mouth is treachery.
13 Therefore, I have struck you a dreadful blow,
devastating you because of your sins.
14 You will eat, but not be satisfied,
with hunger within you.
You will set aside, but not retain;
and what you retain I will give over to the sword.
15 You will sow, but not reap;
you will tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
you will crush grapes, but not drink wine.
16 You observe the statutes of Omri,
and every practice of the house of Ahab,
and you walk in their counsels.
Therefore I will give you over to destruction,
and the inhabitants to derision.
You will bear the contempt of My people.
Wait on the Lord
7 Woe is me!
Because I am as the gathering of summer fruit,
as the gleaning of grapes;
there is no cluster to eat,
no early fig that my soul desires.
2 The godly has perished from the earth,
and no one is upright among men.
All of them lie in wait for bloodshed;
each hunts his brother with a net.
3 Both hands are upon evil, to do it well.
The prince and the judge request the bribe,
the powerful asserts the craving of his very soul—
they intertwine together.
4 The best among them is like a brier,
the most upright among them a bramble;
the day of your watchmen,
of your punishment, has come;
now their confusion is at hand.
5 Do not trust in a companion,
do not rely on a friend;
from her who lies in your embrace,
guard the doors of your mouth.
6 For the son dishonors the father,
the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
the enemies of a man are members of his own household.
7 But as for me, I watch for the Lord;
I await the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.
The Penitence of Israel
8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy!
Although I have fallen, I will rise;
although I dwell in darkness,
the Lord is my light.
9 I will endure the rage of the Lord,
because I have sinned against Him,
until the time when He pleads my case
and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out into the light;
I will look upon His vindication.
10 Then my enemy will see,
and shame will cover her
who said to me,
“Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will look upon her;
now she will be trampled
like muck in the streets.
11 A day for building your walls,
in that day the boundary will be extended.
12 In that day they will come to you
from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to the River,
from sea to sea,
and from mountain to mountain.
13 The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants,
from the fruit of their deeds.
The Restoration of Israel
14 Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock of your inheritance,
which live alone in a forest,
in the midst of a fertile land;
let them graze in Bashan and Gilead,
as in the days of old.
15 As in the days when you came out of Egypt,
I will display wonders.
16 Nations will see and be ashamed,
despite all their might;
they will put their hand on their mouth,
and their ears will be deaf.
17 They will lick dust like the serpent,
like crawling creatures of the earth;
they will come shuddering from their lairs.
They will turn in dread to the Lord our God,
and they will be afraid of You.
18 Who is a God like You,
bearing iniquity and passing over transgression
for the remnant of His inheritance?
He does not remain angry forever,
because He delights in benevolence.
19 He will again have compassion upon us.
He will tread down our iniquities,
and cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will give faithfulness to Jacob
and benevolence to Abraham,
which You swore to our fathers
from the days of old.
The 144,000 of Israel Sealed
7 Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind would not blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” 4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand out of every tribe of the children of Israel:
5 Twelve thousand from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
twelve throusand from the tribe of Reuben were sealed,
twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad were sealed,
6 twelve thousand from the tribe of Asher were sealed,
twelve thousand from the tribe of Naphtali were sealed,
twelve thousand from the tribe of Manasseh were sealed,
7 twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon were sealed,
twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi were sealed,
twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar were sealed,
8 twelve thousand from the tribe of Zebulun were sealed,
twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph were sealed,
and twelve thousand from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
The Multitude From Every Nation
9 Then I looked. And there was a great multitude which no one could count, from all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out with a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb!”
11 All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, 12 saying:
“Amen!
Blessing and glory
and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might
be to our God forever and ever!
Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these clothed in white robes, and where did they come from?”
14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.”
He said to me, “These are those who came out of great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore,
they are before the throne of God,
and serve Him day and night in His temple.
And He who sits on the throne
will dwell among them.
16 ‘They shall neither hunger any more,
nor shall they thirst any more;
the sun shall not strike them,’[a]
nor any scorching heat;
17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne
will shepherd them
and ‘He will lead them to springs of living water.’[b]
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’[c]”
Psalm 135(A)
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the name of the Lord
praise Him, O servants of the Lord,
2 you who stand in the house of the Lord,
in the courts of the house of our God!
3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
sing praises unto His name, for it is pleasant.
4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself,
and Israel for His special possession.
5 For I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods.
6 Whatever the Lord pleases,
He does in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all the depths.
7 He causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth;
He makes lightning for the rain;
He brings the wind out from His storehouses.
8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
both of man and animal.
9 He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants;
10 He struck down great nations
and slew mighty kings—
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
and Og king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan—
12 and gave their land for an inheritance,
a possession to Israel His people.
13 Your name, O Lord, endures forever;
and Your renown, O Lord, throughout all generations.
14 For the Lord will defend His people,
and He will have compassion on His servants.
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of men’s hands.
16 They have mouths, but do not speak;
they have eyes, but do not see;
17 they have ears, but do not hear;
neither is there any breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them are like them;
so is everyone who trusts in them.
19 Bless the Lord, O house of Israel;
bless the Lord, O house of Aaron.
20 Bless the Lord, O house of Levi;
you who fear the Lord, bless the Lord.
21 Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
who dwells at Jerusalem.
Praise you the Lord!
5 Every word of God is pure;
He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
6 Do not add to His words,
lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.