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A Ruler from Bethlehem
5 [a] Now muster troops, O daughter of troops;
a siege he puts against us.
They strike the ruler of Israel
with a rod on the cheek.
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
from you one will go out for me,
to be ruler in Israel;
and his origins are from of old,
from ancient days.
3 Therefore he will give them up
until the time of she who is with child has given birth.
And the rest of his brothers will return
to the children of Israel.
4 And he will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of Yahweh,
in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God.
And they will live,
for now he will be great unto the ends of the earth.
5 And this one will be peace.
As for the Assyrian,[b] when he comes into our land
and when he treads on our fortresses,
then we will raise up against him seven shepherds
and eight leaders of men.
6 And they will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod at its entrances.
And he will rescue us from the Assyrian[c]
when he comes into our land,
and when they tread upon our border.
A Remnant Delivered
7 And the remnant of Jacob will be
in the midst of many nations,
like dew from Yahweh,
like showers upon the grass
which does not wait for a man,
nor delays for the children of humankind.
8 And the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,
in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the wild animals of the forest,
like a young lion among the herds of sheep
which, when it passes through and treads down
and tears in pieces, there is none who can deliver.
9 Your hand will be lifted high over your enemies,
and all your foes will be cut off.
10 “And it will happen that in that day,” declares[d] Yahweh,
“then I will cut off your horses from among you,
and I will destroy your chariots.
11 And I will cut off the cities of your land,
and I will demolish all your fortifications.
12 And I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
and you will not have soothsayers.
13 And I will cut off your idols
and your stone pillars from among you,
and you will no longer bow down
to the work of your hands.
14 And I will uproot your Asherahs from among you,
and I will destroy your cities.
15 And in anger and in wrath I will execute vengeance
on the nations who did not obey.”
Yahweh Brings a Charge against Israel
6 Hear now what Yahweh says:
“Arise! Plead your case with the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.”
2 Hear, O mountains, the indictment of Yahweh,
and you eternal foundations of the earth,
for Yahweh has an indictment against his people,
and against Israel he contends.
3 “O my people, what have I done to you,
and how have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
and from the house of slavery I redeemed you.
And I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you.
5 O my people, remember what Balak the king of Moab devised,
and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
so that you might know the righteous acts of Yahweh.”
What Does Yahweh Require?
6 With what shall I approach Yahweh,
and bow down to God on high?
Shall I approach him with burnt offerings,
with bull calves a year old?
7 Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams,
with myriads 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 Yahweh ask from you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
The Destruction of the Wicked
9 The voice of Yahweh calls to the city
(it is sound judgment to fear your name):
“Hear, O staff![e] Now who has appointed it?
10 Is there any longer a man in the house of the wicked
treasures of wickedness,
and the ephah of scarcity which is accursed?[f]
11 Shall I regard as pure the one with scales of wickedness,
and with a bag of deceitful weights?
12 Because her rich are full of violence,
and her inhabitants speak lies,
and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13 And I also have made you sick by striking you down,[g]
making you desolate because of your sins.
14 You yourself will eat but not be satisfied;
your hunger will be in your midst,
and you will put away, but you will not save,
and what you save I will hand over to the sword.
15 You yourself will sow, but you will not reap;
you will tread olives, but you will not anoint yourself with oil;
you will tread grapes, but you will not drink wine.
16 For you have observed the regulations of Omri
and all the works of the house of Ahab.
And you have walked in their counsels,
so that I am making you a desolation
and your inhabitants an object of scorn.
So you will bear the scorn of my people.
Wait Upon Yahweh
7 Woe is me! For I have become
like the gatherings of summer,
like the gleanings of the grape harvest,
when there is no cluster of grapes to eat
or early ripened fruit that my soul desires.
2 The faithful person has perished from the land,
and there is none who is upright among humankind.
All of them lie in wait;
each hunts his brother with a net.
3 Their hands are upon evil, to do it well;
the official and the judge ask for the bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
and they weave it together.
4 The best of them is like a brier;
the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchman, your punishment, has come;
now their confusion will come.
5 Do not put faith in a friend;
put no trust in a close friend.
Guard the doorways of your mouth
from the one who lies in your lap.
6 For a son treats a father with contempt;
a daughter rises up against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
the enemies of a man are the men of his own house.
7 But as for me, I will look to Yahweh;
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.
8 You should not rejoice over me, O my enemy!
When I fall I will stand up;
when I sit in darkness
Yahweh will be a light for me.
9 I will bear the rage of Yahweh,
for I have sinned against him,
until he pleads my cause
and executes my justice.
He will bring me out to the light;
I will see his righteousness.
10 Then my enemy will see,
and shame will cover her who said to me,
“Where is Yahweh your God?”
My eyes will look upon her;
now she will become a trampling place,
like mud in the streets.
11 A day for building your walls;
on that day he will extend your boundary.
12 On that day he will come to you
from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to the River,
and from sea to sea
and mountain to mountain.
13 But the earth will be a desolation
because of its inhabitants,
for the fruit of their deeds.
14 Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock of your inheritance,
those dwelling alone in a forest
in the midst of Carmel.
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
as in the days of old.
15 As in the days when you came out
from the land of Egypt
I will show him wondrous things.
16 The nations will see and be ashamed
because of all their might.
They will lay the hand on the mouth;
their ears will be deaf.
17 They will lick the dust like the serpent,
like the crawling things of the earth.
They will come trembling from their strongholds
to Yahweh our God.
Let them fear and be afraid of you.
18 Who is a God like you, forgiving sin
and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
for he delights in loyal love.
19 He will again have compassion[h] on us;
he will trample our iniquities.
And you will hurl all their sins
in the depths of the sea.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob,
and loyal love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our ancestors[i]
from the days of old.
The Sealing of the 144,000
7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east[a], holding the seal of the living God, and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who were given permission[b] to damage the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads.” 4 And I heard the number of the ones who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
5 from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand,
6 from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand,
7 from the tribe of Simeon,[c] twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.
The Great Crowd before the Throne
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great crowd that no one was able to number, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were crying out with a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation to our God
who is seated on the throne,
and to the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying,
“Amen! Praise and glory,
and wisdom and thanksgiving,
and honor and power and strength
be to our God forever and ever[d]. Amen!”
13 And one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are dressed in the white robes—who are they, and from where have they come?” 14 And I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me,
“These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation,
and have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Because of this, they are before the throne of God,
and they serve[e] him day and night in his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter[f] them.
16 They will not be hungry any longer or be thirsty any longer,
nor will the sun ever beat down on them, nor any heat,[g]
17 because the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them
and will lead them to springs of living waters,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”[h]
Praise to God for His Power and Redemption
135 Praise Yah![a] Praise the name of Yahweh.
Praise him, O servants of Yahweh,
2 who stand in the house[b] of Yahweh,
in the courts of the house[c] of our God.
3 Praise Yah,[d] for Yahweh is good.
Sing praises concerning his name, for it is pleasant.
4 For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel as his special possession.
5 For I know that Yahweh is great,
and our Lord is greater than all gods.
6 All that Yahweh desires, he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all the depths.
7 He causes clouds to rise from the edge of the earth;
he makes lightnings for the rain;
he brings out the wind from his storehouses.
8 Who struck the firstborn of Egypt,
both of humans[e] and animals.[f]
9 He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 Who struck many nations
and killed mighty kings—
11 Sihon the king of the Amorites,
and Og the king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan—
12 and he gave their land as an inheritance,
an inheritance for his people Israel.
13 O Yahweh, your name endures forever,
your renown[g] throughout all generations,[h]
14 for Yahweh will plead the cause of his people
and will have compassion on his servants.
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of the hands of humankind.
16 They have mouths, but cannot speak;
they have eyes, but cannot see;
17 they have ears, but cannot hear;
there is not even breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them become like them,
as does everyone who trusts in them.
19 O house of Israel, bless Yahweh.
O house of Aaron, bless Yahweh.
20 O house of Levi, bless Yahweh.
You who fear Yahweh, bless Yahweh.
21 Blessed be Yahweh from Zion,
who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise Yah![i]
5 Every word of God is flawless;
he is a shield for him who takes refuge in him.
6 Do not add to his words
lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
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