God lives forever. He is your place of safety. His power continues forever! He is protecting you. He will force your enemies to leave your land. He will say, ‘Destroy the enemy!’
“At that time I will take a lamp and search through Jerusalem. I will find all those who are satisfied to live their own way. They say, ‘The Lord does nothing. He does not help, and he does not hurt!’ I will find them, and I will punish them.
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are the smallest town in Judah. Your family is almost too small to count, but the “Ruler of Israel” will come from you to rule for me. His beginnings are from ancient times, from long, long ago.
“Moab has never known trouble. Moab is like wine left to settle. Moab has never been poured from one jar to another. He has not been taken into captivity. So he tastes as he did before, and his smell has not changed.”
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.
God, you answer our prayers and do what is right. You do amazing things to save us. People all over the world know they can trust in you, even those who live across the sea.