God, you save us.\par Good people pray to you,\par and you answer their prayers.\par You do amazing things for them.\par People all around the world trust you.\par
Sometimes people are not immediately punished for the bad things they do. Their punishment is slow to come. And that makes other people want to do bad things too.
“Moab has never known trouble.\par Moab is like wine left to settle.\par Moab has never been poured\par from one jar to another.\par He has not been taken into captivity.\par So he tastes like he did before.\par And his smell has not changed.”\par
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,\par are the smallest town in Judah.\par Your family is almost too small to count.\par But the “Ruler of Israel”\par will come from you for me.\par His beginnings {\cf2\super [60]} are from ancient times,\par from long, long ago.\par
“At that time, I will take a lamp and search through Jerusalem. I will find all the people that are satisfied to live their own way. Those people say, ‘The Lord does nothing. He does not help and he does not hurt!’ I will find those people and I will punish them!
God lives forever.
He is your place of safety.
God’s power continues forever!
He is protecting you.
God will force your enemies
to leave your land.
He will say,
‘Destroy the enemy!’