The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Now gather yourself in troops, you who are accustomed to being in troops; they have laid siege to us. They are striking the judge of Isra'el on the cheek with a stick.
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Now you will give yourselves deep wounds for grief; they will put up a wall round us: they will give the judge of Israel a blow on the face with a rod.
2 But you, Beit-Lechem near Efrat, so small among the clans of Y'hudah, out of you will come forth to me the future ruler of Isra'el, whose origins are far in the past, back in ancient times.
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And you, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, the least among the families of Judah, out of you one will come to me who is to be ruler in Israel; whose going out has been purposed from time past, from the eternal days.
3 Therefore he will give up [Isra'el] only until she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his kinsmen will return to the people of Isra'el.
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For this cause he will give them up till the time when she who is with child has given birth: then the rest of his brothers will come back to the children of Israel.
4 He will stand and feed his flock in the strength of ADONAI, in the majesty of the name of ADONAI his God; and they will stay put, as he grows great to the very ends of the earth;
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And he will take his place and give food to his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the glory of the name of the Lord his God; and their resting-place will be safe: for now he will be great to the ends of the earth.
5 and this will be peace. If Ashur invades our land, if he overruns our fortresses, we will raise seven shepherds against him, eight leaders of men.
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And this will be our peace: when the Assyrian comes into our country and his feet are in our land, then we will put up against him seven keepers of the flocks and eight chiefs among men.
6 They will shepherd the land of Ashur with the sword, the land of Nimrod at its gates; and he will rescue us from Ashur when he invades our land, when he overruns our borders.
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And they will make waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with the edge of the sword: he will give us salvation from the Assyrian when he comes into our country, when his feet come inside the limit of our land.
7 Then the remnant of Ya'akov, surrounded by many peoples, will be like dew from ADONAI, like showers on the grass, which doesn't wait for a man or expect anything from mortals.
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And the rest of Jacob will be among the mass of peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which may not be kept back by man, or be waiting for the sons of men.
8 The remnant of Ya'akov among the nations, surrounded by many peoples, will be like a lion among forest animals, like a young lion among flocks of sheep - if it passes through, tramples and tears to pieces, there is no one to rescue them.
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And the rest of Jacob will be among the nations, in the middle of the mass of peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the woods, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep: if he goes through, they will be crushed under foot and pulled to bits, and there will be no saviour.
9 Your hand will be raised over your enemies; all your adversaries will be destroyed.
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Your hand is lifted up against those who are against you, and all your haters will be cut off.
10 "When that day comes," says ADONAI, "I will cut off your horses from among you and destroy your chariots.
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And it will come about in that day, says the Lord, that I will take away your horses from you, and will give your war-carriages to destruction:
11 I will cut off the cities of your land and lay waste your strongholds.
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I will have the towns of your land cut off and all your strong places pulled down:
12 I will cut off sorceries from your land; you will no longer have soothsayers.
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I will put an end to your use of secret arts, and you will have no more readers of signs:
13 I will cut off your carved images and standing-stones from among you; no longer will you worship what your own hands have made.
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And I will have your images and your pillars cut off from you; and you will no longer give worship to the work of your hands.
14 I will pull up your sacred poles from among you and destroy your enemies.
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I will have your Asherahs pulled up from among you: and I will send destruction on your images.
15 I will wreak vengeance in anger and fury on the nations, because they would not listen."
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And my punishment will be effected on the nations with such burning wrath as they have not had word of.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.