1 Now thou shalt be besieged by armies, O daughter of the army: he shall lay siege against us; they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Lord in Israel; and his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of the ages.
3 Therefore he will give them up until the time that she who travails has brought forth; then the remnant of his brethren shall return with the sons of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed 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 unto the ends of the earth.
5 And he shall be our peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then we shall raise against him seven shepherds and eight principal men.
6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the blade, and the land of Nimrod with their swords; and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes against our land and when he treads within our borders.
7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples as the dew of the Lord, as the rains upon the grass, which did not expect a man, nor did they expect the sons of men.
8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goes through and treads down and tears in pieces, there are none that can escape.
9 Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine enemies, and all thine adversaries shall be cut off.
10 And it shall come to pass in that day, said the Lord, that I will cause thy horses to be killed out of the midst of thee, and I will cause thy chariots to be destroyed:
11 and I will cause all the cities of thy land to be destroyed, and I will cause all thy fortresses to be destroyed:
12 and I will cause the witchcrafts to be destroyed by thy hand; and no more soothsayers shall be found in thee:
13 and I will cause thy graven images and thy images to be destroyed out of the midst of thee; and never again shalt thou worship the work of thine hands.
14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee; so will I destroy thy cities.
15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury in the Gentiles who have not heard.