Birth of the King in Bethlehem

1“Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops;

They have laid siege against us;

With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.

2But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

Too little to be among the clans of Judah,

From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.

His goings forth are from long ago,

From the days of eternity.”

3Therefore He will give them up until the time

When she who is in labor has borne a child.

Then the remainder of His brethren

Will return to the sons of Israel.

4And He will arise and shepherd His flock

In the strength of the Lord,

In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.

And they will remain,

Because at that time He will be great

To the ends of the earth.

5This One will be our peace.

When the Assyrian invades our land,

When he tramples on our citadels,

Then we will raise against him

Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men.

6They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,

The land of Nimrod at its entrances;

And He will deliver us from the Assyrian

When he attacks our land

And when he tramples our territory.

7Then the remnant of Jacob

Will be among many peoples

Like dew from the Lord,

Like showers on vegetation

Which do not wait for man

Or delay for the sons of men.

8The remnant of Jacob

Will be among the nations,

Among many peoples

Like a lion among the beasts of the forest,

Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,

Which, if he passes through,

Tramples down and tears,

And there is none to rescue.

9Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries,

And all your enemies will be cut off.

10“It will be in that day,” declares the Lord,

“That I will cut off your horses from among you

And destroy your chariots.

11I will also cut off the cities of your land

And tear down all your fortifications.

12I will cut off sorceries from your hand,

And you will have fortune-tellers no more.

13I will cut off your carved images

And your sacred pillars from among you,

So that you will no longer bow down

To the work of your hands.

14I will root out your Asherim from among you

And destroy your cities.

15And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath

On the nations which have not obeyed.”

God’s Indictment of His People

1Hear now what the Lord is saying,

“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,

And let the hills hear your voice.

2Listen, you mountains, to the indictment of the Lord,

And you enduring foundations of the earth,

Because the Lord has a case against His people;

Even with Israel He will dispute.

3My people, what have I done to you,

And how have I wearied you? Answer Me.

4Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt

And ransomed you from the house of slavery,

And I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam.

5My people, remember now

What Balak king of Moab counseled

And what Balaam son of Beor answered him,

And from Shittim to Gilgal,

So that you might know the righteous acts of the Lord.”

What God Requires of Man

6With what shall I come to the Lord

And bow myself before the God on high?

Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,

With yearling calves?

7Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams,

In ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts,

The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your God?

9The voice of the Lord will call to the city—

And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name:

“Hear, O tribe. Who has appointed its time?

10Is there yet a man in the wicked house,

Along with treasures of wickedness

And a short measure that is cursed?

11Can I justify wicked scales

And a bag of deceptive weights?

12For the rich men of the city are full of violence,

Her residents speak lies,

And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13So also I will make you sick, striking you down,

Desolating you because of your sins.

14You will eat, but you will not be satisfied,

And your vileness will be in your midst.

You will try to remove for safekeeping,

But you will not preserve anything,

And what you do preserve I will give to the sword.

15You will sow but you will not reap.

You will tread the olive but will not anoint yourself with oil;

And the grapes, but you will not drink wine.

16The statutes of Omri

And all the works of the house of Ahab are observed;

And in their devices you walk.

Therefore I will give you up for destruction

And your inhabitants for derision,

And you will bear the reproach of My people.”

The Prophet Acknowledges

1Woe is me! For I am

Like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers.

There is not a cluster of grapes to eat,

Or a first-ripe fig which I crave.

2The godly person has perished from the land,

And there is no upright person among men.

All of them lie in wait for bloodshed;

Each of them hunts the other with a net.

3Concerning evil, both hands do it well.

The prince asks, also the judge, for a bribe,

And a great man speaks the desire of his soul;

So they weave it together.

4The best of them is like a briar,

The most upright like a thorn hedge.

The day when you post your watchmen,

Your punishment will come.

Then their confusion will occur.

5Do not trust in a neighbor;

Do not have confidence in a friend.

From her who lies in your bosom

Guard your lips.

6For son treats father contemptuously,

Daughter rises up against her mother,

Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.

God Is the Source of Salvation and Light

7But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord;

I will wait for the God of my salvation.

My God will hear me.

8Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy.

Though I fall I will rise;

Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.

9I will bear the indignation of the Lord

Because I have sinned against Him,

Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me.

He will bring me out to the light,

And I will see His righteousness.

10Then my enemy will see,

And shame will cover her who said to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

My eyes will look on her;

At that time she will be trampled down

Like mire of the streets.

11It will be a day for building your walls.

On that day will your boundary be extended.

12It will be a day when they will come to you

From Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

From Egypt even to the Euphrates,

Even from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.

13And the earth will become desolate because of her inhabitants,

On account of the fruit of their deeds.

14Shepherd Your people with Your scepter,

The flock of Your possession

Which dwells by itself in the woodland,

In the midst of a fruitful field.

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 you miracles.”

16Nations will see and be ashamed

Of all their might.

They will put their hand on their mouth,

Their ears will be deaf.

17They will lick the dust like a serpent,

Like reptiles of the earth.

They will come trembling out of their fortresses;

To the Lord our God they will come in dread

And they will be afraid before You.

18Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity

And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?

He does not retain His anger forever,

Because He delights in unchanging love.

19He will again have compassion on us;

He will tread our iniquities under foot.

Yes, You will cast all their sins

Into the depths of the sea.

20You will give truth to Jacob

And unchanging love to Abraham,

Which You swore to our forefathers

From the days of old.

An Interlude

1After 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 would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. 2And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”

The 144,000

4And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

5from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,

6from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,

7from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,

8from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.

A Multitude from the Tribulation

9After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10and they cry out with a loud voice, saying,

“Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying,

“Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

13Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” 14I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. 16They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; 17for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

PSALM 135

Praise the Lord’s Wonderful Works. Vanity of Idols.

1Praise the Lord!

Praise the name of the Lord;

Praise Him, O servants of the Lord,

2You who stand in the house of the Lord,

In the courts of the house of our God!

3Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;

Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely.

4For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself,

Israel for His own possession.

5For I know that the Lord is great

And that our Lord is above all gods.

6Whatever the Lord pleases, He does,

In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.

7He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;

Who makes lightnings for the rain,

Who brings forth the wind from His treasuries.

8He smote the firstborn of Egypt,

Both of man and beast.

9He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,

Upon Pharaoh and all his servants.

10He smote many nations

And slew mighty kings,

11Sihon, king of the Amorites,

And Og, king of Bashan,

And all the kingdoms of Canaan;

12And He gave their land as a heritage,

A heritage to Israel His people.

13Your name, O Lord, is everlasting,

Your remembrance, O Lord, throughout all generations.

14For the Lord will judge His people

And will have compassion on His servants.

15The idols of the nations are but silver and gold,

The work of man’s hands.

16They have mouths, but they do not speak;

They have eyes, but they do not see;

17They have ears, but they do not hear,

Nor is there any breath at all in their mouths.

18Those who make them will be like them,

Yes, everyone who trusts in them.

19O house of Israel, bless the Lord;

O house of Aaron, bless the Lord;

20O house of Levi, bless the Lord;

You who revere the Lord, bless the Lord.

21Blessed be the Lord from Zion,

Who dwells in Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

5Every word of God is tested;

He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

6Do not add to His words

Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.