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Micah 5

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1 καὶ σύ Βηθλεεμ οἶκος τοῦ Εφραθα ὀλιγοστὸς εἶ τοῦ εἶναι ἐν χιλιάσιν Ιουδα ἐκ σοῦ μοι ἐξελεύσεται τοῦ εἶναι εἰς ἄρχοντα ἐν τῷ Ισραηλ καὶ αἱ ἔξοδοι αὐτοῦ ἀ{P'} ἀρχῆς ἐξ ἡμερῶν αἰῶνος

1 At this present time, what is left thee but to muster thy roving bands, daughter of an outlaw king? Hard siege presses us now; smitten on the cheek, now, is the ruler of Israel.[1]

1

Et tu, Bethlehem Ephrata,
parvulus es in millibus Juda;
ex te mihi egredietur qui sit dominator in Israël,
et egressus ejus ab initio,
a diebus æternitatis.

2 διὰ τοῦτο δώσει αὐτοὺς ἕως καιροῦ τικτούσης τέξεται καὶ οἱ ἐπίλοιποι τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιστρέψουσιν ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς Ισραηλ

2 Bethlehem-Ephrata! Least do they reckon thee among all the clans of Juda? Nay, it is from thee I look to find a prince that shall rule over Israel. Whence comes he? From the first beginning, from ages untold![2]

2
Propter hoc dabit eos usque ad tempus in quo parturiens pariet,
et reliquiæ fratrum ejus convertentur ad filios Israël.

3 καὶ στήσεται καὶ ὄψεται καὶ ποιμανεῖ τὸ ποίμνιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἰσχύι κυρίου καὶ ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ ὀνόματος κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ αὐτῶν ὑπάρξουσιν διότι νῦν μεγαλυνθήσεται ἕως ἄκρων τῆς γῆς 4 καὶ ἔσται αὕτη εἰρήνη ὅταν Ἀσσύριος ἐπέλθῃ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ὑμῶν καὶ ὅταν ἐπιβῇ ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν ὑμῶν καὶ ἐπεγερθήσονται ἐ{P'} αὐτὸν ἑπτὰ ποιμένες καὶ ὀκτὼ δήγματα ἀνθρώπων 5 καὶ ποιμανοῦσιν τὸν Ασσουρ ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ καὶ τὴν γῆν τοῦ Νεβρωδ ἐν τῇ τάφρῳ αὐτῆς καὶ ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ Ασσουρ ὅταν ἐπέλθῃ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ὑμῶν καὶ ὅταν ἐπιβῇ ἐπὶ τὰ ὅρια ὑμῶν 6 καὶ ἔσται τὸ ὑπόλειμμα τοῦ Ιακωβ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐν μέσῳ λαῶν πολλῶν ὡς δρόσος παρὰ κυρίου πίπτουσα καὶ ὡς ἄρνες ἐπὶ ἄγρωστιν ὅπως μὴ συναχθῇ μηδεὶς μηδὲ ὑποστῇ ἐν υἱοῖς ἀνθρώπων

3 Marvel not, then, if the Lord abandons his people[3] for a time, until she who is in travail has brought forth her child; others there are, brethren of his,[4] that must be restored to the citizenship of Israel. 4 Enabled by the Lord his God, confident in that mighty protection, stands he, our shepherd, and safely folds his flock; fame of him now reaches to the world’s end; 5 who else should be its hope of recovery? What though the Assyrian invade our country, trample down our strongholds? Seven leaders of men we shall find to marshal us, and an eighth yet in reserve; 6 sword in hand, they shall herd the men of Assyria, naked steel for the land of Nemrod! Invade they, trample they as they will, he shall be our deliverance.

3
Et stabit, et pascet in fortitudine Domini,
in sublimitate nominis Domini Dei sui:
et convertentur,
quia nunc magnificabitur usque ad terminos terræ. 4
Et erit iste pax:
cum venerit Assyrius in terram nostram,
et quando calcaverit domibus nostris,
et suscitabimus super eum septem pastores
et octo primates homines; 5
et pascent terram Assur in gladio,
et terram Nemrod in lanceis ejus,
et liberabit ab Assur cum venerit in terram nostram,
et cum calcaverit in finibus nostris. 6
Et erunt reliquiæ Jacob in medio populorum multorum
quasi ros a Domino,
et quasi stillæ super herbam,
quæ non exspectat virum,
et non præstolatur filios hominum.

7 καὶ ἔσται τὸ ὑπόλειμμα τοῦ Ιακωβ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐν μέσῳ λαῶν πολλῶν ὡς λέων ἐν κτήνεσιν ἐν τῷ δρυμῷ καὶ ὡς σκύμνος ἐν ποιμνίοις προβάτων ὃν τρόπον ὅταν διέλθῃ καὶ διαστείλας ἁρπάσῃ καὶ μὴ ᾖ ὁ ἐξαιρούμενος 8 ὑψωθήσεται ἡ χείρ σου ἐπὶ τοὺς θλίβοντάς σε καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐχθροί σου ἐξολεθρευθήσονται 9 καὶ ἔσται ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ λέγει κύριος ἐξολεθρεύσω τοὺς ἵππους σου ἐκ μέσου σου καὶ ἀπολῶ τὰ ἅρματά σου

7 Poor remnant of Jacob, lost among that multitude of peoples! Yet thrive it shall; does not the grass thrive, with dew and shower from the Lord to water it, nor looks for man’s tending, unbeholden to our human toil? 8 Poor remnant of Jacob, among those heathen multitudes lost! Yet lion amid the forest herds, lion’s whelp amid flock of sheep, finds not easier passage, brings not down more inexorably his prey. 9 High triumph thou shalt have over thy enemies; perish all that bear thee ill-will!

7
Et erunt reliquiæ Jacob in gentibus,
in medio populorum multorum,
quasi leo in jumentis silvarum,
et quasi catulus leonis in gregibus pecorum,
qui cum transierit, et conculcaverit, et ceperit,
non est qui eruat. 8
Exaltabitur manus tua super hostes tuos,
et omnes inimici tui interibunt. 9
Et erit in die illa, dicit Dominus:
auferam equos tuos de medio tui,
et disperdam quadrigas tuas.

10 καὶ ἐξολεθρεύσω τὰς πόλεις τῆς γῆς σου καὶ ἐξαρῶ πάντα τὰ ὀχυρώματά σου 11 καὶ ἐξαρῶ τὰ φάρμακά σου ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν σου καὶ ἀποφθεγγόμενοι οὐκ ἔσονται ἐν σοί 12 καὶ ἐξολεθρεύσω τὰ γλυπτά σου καὶ τὰς στήλας σου ἐκ μέσου σου καὶ οὐκέτι μὴ προσκυνήσῃς τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν χειρῶν σου 13 καὶ ἐκκόψω τὰ ἄλση σου ἐκ μέσου σου καὶ ἀφανιῶ τὰς πόλεις σου 14 καὶ ποιήσω ἐν ὀργῇ καὶ ἐν θυμῷ ἐκδίκησιν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἀν{Q'} ὧν οὐκ εἰσήκουσαν

10 All other help, the Lord says, shall then be denied thee; gone, horse and chariot of thine, 11 the cities lost, ruined the strongholds. Sorcery thou shalt have none to trust in, nor divinings; 12 gone idol and sacred pillar of thine, nor any of thy own imaginings left thee; 13 uprooted the woods of thy false worship, fallen the cities. 14 Only then shall my fierce anger find its scope, only then fall my vengeance upon the nations that defied me.

10
Et perdam civitates terræ tuæ, 11
et destruam omnes munitiones tuas:
et auferam maleficia de manu tua,
et divinationes non erunt in te: 12
et perire faciam sculptilia tua et statuas tuas de medio tui,
et non adorabis ultra opera manuum tuarum: 13
et evellam lucos tuos de medio tui,
et conteram civitates tuas. 14
Et faciam, in furore et in indignatione, ultionem
in omnibus gentibus quæ non audierunt.

[1] The beginning of this verse reads literally, ‘Now thou shalt be laid waste, daughter of freebooters’; in the Hebrew text, ‘thou shalt be laid waste’ is ‘form thyself into bands’ (or possibly ‘cut thyself’, i.e. in sign of mourning). Thus both the meaning of the verse and its historical background are obscure; but conceivably the prophet is preaching guerrilla warfare, and reminding his fellow-countrymen that this was, in early days, king David’s experience.

[2] Our present Hebrew text reads, ‘Thou (art) too small to be among the clans of Juda’; but there may have been an alternative reading, ‘thou art not small among the clans of Juda’. This would account for the rendering given in Mt. 2.6, without making it necessary to suppose that the translator of St Matthew’s Aramaic was guilty of an error. ‘From ages untold’; literally, ‘from the days of eternity’, but this is a phrase used somewhat loosely by Hebrew authors (cf. 7.20 below), and no certain theological inferences can be based on it.

[3] Literally, ‘he abandons them’, but the sense is presumably that given.

[4] Apparently the brethren of the Messianic prince; the Septuagint Greek gives ‘their brethren’, but this is probably guesswork.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd