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  1Now gather yourself in troops,
   O daughter of troops;
   He has laid siege against us;
   They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

The Coming Messiah

  2“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
   Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
   Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
   The One to be Ruler in Israel,
   Whose goings forth are from of old,
   From everlasting.”
  3Therefore He shall give them up,
   Until the time thatshe who is in labor has given birth;
   Then the remnant of His brethren
   Shall return to the children of Israel.
   4And He shall stand and feed His flock
   In the strength of the Lord,
   In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;
   And they shall abide,
   For now He shall be great
   To the ends of the earth;
   5And this Oneshall be peace.

Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

  When the Assyrian comes into our land,
   And when he treads in our palaces,
   Then we will raise against him
   Seven shepherds and eight princely men.
   6They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria,
   And the land of Nimrod at its entrances;
   Thus He shall deliver us from the Assyrian,
   When he comes into our land
   And when he treads within our borders.
  7Then the remnant of Jacob
   Shall be in the midst of many peoples,
   Like dew from the Lord,
   Like showers on the grass,
   That tarry for no man
   Nor wait for the sons of men.
   8And the remnant of Jacob
   Shall be among the Gentiles,
   In the midst of many peoples,
   Like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
   Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
   Who, if he passes through,
   Both treads down and tears in pieces,
   And none can deliver.
   9Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries,
   And all your enemies shall be cut off.
  10“And it shall be in that day,” says the Lord,
   “That I will cut off your horses from your midst
   And destroy your chariots.
   11I will cut off the cities of your land
   And throw down all your strongholds.
   12I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
   And you shall have no soothsayers.
   13Your carved images I will also cut off,
   And your sacred pillars from your midst;
   You shall no more worship the work of your hands;
   14I will pluck your wooden images from your midst;
   Thus I will destroy your cities.
   15And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury
   On the nations that have not heard.”