<p class="poetry">Shave your heads bald as you mourn for the children you love;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">shave your foreheads as bald<n id="2" /> as an eagle,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">for they are taken from you into exile.p>

<p class="poetry">They will lick the dust like a snake,p> <p class="poetry">like serpents crawling on the ground.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will come trembling from their strongholdsp> <p class="poetry">to the <sc>Lordsc> our God;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">they will be terrified<n id="3" /> of you.<n id="4" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry"><v id="(5:1)" /> As for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">seemingly insignificant<n id="2" /> among the clans of Judah &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">from you a king will emerge who will rule over Israel on my behalf,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">one whose origins<n id="4" /> are in the distant past.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">He has told you, O man, what is good,p> <p class="poetry">and what the <sc>Lordsc> really wants from you:<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">He wants you to<n id="2" /> promote<n id="3" /> justice, to be faithful,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and to live obediently before<n id="5" /> your God.p>