Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?”
For You did call them out from among all the people of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by the hand of Moses Your servant when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”
Whoever remains in any place where he sojourns, let the men of his place help him with silver, gold, goods, and animals, along with voluntary gifts for the house of God in Jerusalem.”
He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them; and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.
For thus says the Lord: Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations; proclaim, praise, and say, “O Lord, save Your people, the remnant of Israel.”
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, although you are small among the tribes of Judah, from you will come forth for Me one who will be ruler over Israel. His origins are from of old, from ancient times.
He will stand and shepherd in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; then they will live securely, because now He will be great until the ends of the earth;
Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, which live alone in a forest, in the midst of a fertile land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are no longer least among the princes of Judah; for out of you shall come a ruler, who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”
that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance among the saints,
and in the wilderness, where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.”
I prayed therefore to the Lord, and said, “O Lord God, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, which You have redeemed through Your greatness, which You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.