1  Behold, ^cthe Lord will empty the earth¹ and make it desolate,

and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

2  ^dAnd it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;

as with the slave, so with his master;

as with the maid, so with her mistress;

^eas with the buyer, so with the seller;

as with the lender, so with the borrower;

^fas with the creditor, so with the debtor.

3  ^gThe earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;

^hfor the Lord has spoken this word.

4  ⁱThe earth mourns and withers;

the world languishes and withers;

the highest people of the earth languish.

5  The earth lies ^jdefiled

under its inhabitants;

for ^kthey have transgressed the laws,

violated the statutes,

broken the everlasting covenant.

6  Therefore ^la curse devours the earth,

and its inhabitants ^msuffer for their guilt;

therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,

and few men are left.

7  ⁿThe wine mourns,

the vine languishes,

all the merry-hearted sigh.

8  ^oThe mirth of the tambourines is stilled,

the noise of the jubilant has ceased,

the mirth of the lyre is stilled.

9  No more do they drink wine ^pwith singing;

strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

10  ^qThe wasted city is broken down;

^revery house is shut up so that none can enter.

11  ^sThere is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;

^tall joy has grown dark;

the gladness of the earth is banished.

12  Desolation is left in the city;

the gates are battered into ruins.

13  For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth

among the nations,

^uas when an olive tree is beaten,

as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.

14  They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;

over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.²

15  ^vTherefore in the east³ give glory to the Lord;

in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

16  ^wFrom the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,

of glory to ^xthe Righteous One.

But I say, “I waste away,

I waste away. Woe is me!

For ^ythe traitors have betrayed,

with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”

17  ^zTerror and the pit and the snare⁴

are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!

18  ^zHe who flees at the sound of the terror

shall fall into the pit,

and he who climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the snare.

For ^athe windows of heaven are opened,

and ^bthe foundations of the earth tremble.

19  The earth is utterly broken,

the earth is split apart,

the earth is violently shaken.

20  The earth ^cstaggers like a drunken man;

it sways like a hut;

^dits transgression lies heavy upon it,

and it falls, and will not rise again.

21  On that day the Lord will punish

the host of heaven, in heaven,

and ^ethe kings of the earth, on the earth.

22  ^fThey will be gathered together

as prisoners in a pit;

they will be shut up in a prison,

and after many days ^gthey will be punished.

23  ^hThen the moon will be confounded

and the sun ashamed,

for ⁱthe Lord of hosts reigns

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and his glory will be before his elders.

1  O Lord, ^jyou are my God;

^kI will exalt you; I will praise your name,

for you have done wonderful things,

^lplans formed of old, faithful and sure.

2  For you have made the city ^ma heap,

the fortified city a ruin;

the foreigners’ palace is a city no more;

it will never be rebuilt.

3  ⁿTherefore strong peoples will glorify you;

cities of ruthless nations will fear you.

4  ^oFor you have been a stronghold to the poor,

a stronghold to the needy in his distress,

^pa shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;

^qfor the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,

5  ^rlike heat in a dry place.

You subdue the noise of the foreigners;

as heat by the shade of a cloud,

so the song of the ruthless is put down.

6  ^sOn this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

^tof rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

7  And he will swallow up ^son this mountain

the covering that is cast over all peoples,

^uthe veil that is spread over all nations.

8  ^vHe will swallow up death forever;

and ^wthe Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and ^xthe reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

^yfor the Lord has spoken.

9  It will be said on that day,

“Behold, this is our God; ^zwe have waited for him, that he might save us.

This is the Lord; we have waited for him;

^alet us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

10  For the hand of the Lord will rest ^son this mountain,

and ^bMoab shall be trampled down in his place,

as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.⁵

11  ^cAnd he will spread out his hands in the midst of it

as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,

but the Lord ^dwill lay low his pompous pride together with the skill⁶ of his hands.

12  And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,

lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

1  “Ah, ⁿstubborn children,” declares the Lord,

^o“who carry out a plan, but not mine,

and who make ^pan alliance,¹ but not of my Spirit,

that they may add sin to sin;

2  ^qwho set out to go down to Egypt,

without asking for my direction,

to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh

and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

3  ^rTherefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,

and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.

4  For though his officials are at ^sZoan

and ^this envoys reach ^uHanes,

5  everyone comes to shame

through ^va people that cannot profit them,

that brings neither help nor profit,

but shame and disgrace.”

Through a land of trouble and anguish,

from where come the lioness and the lion,

the adder and the ^zflying fiery serpent,

they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,

and their treasures on the humps of camels,

to a people that cannot profit them.

7  Egypt’s ^ahelp is worthless and empty;

therefore I have called her

^b“Rahab who sits still.”

8  And now, go, ^cwrite it before them on a tablet

and inscribe it in a book,

that it may be for the time to come

as a witness forever.²

9  ^dFor they are a rebellious people,

lying children,

children unwilling to hear

the instruction of the Lord;

10  ^ewho say to ^fthe seers, “Do not see,”

and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;

speak to us ^gsmooth things,

prophesy illusions,

11  leave the way, turn aside from the path,

let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

12  Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,

“Because you despise this word

and trust in ^hoppression and perverseness

and rely on them,

13  therefore this iniquity shall be to you

ⁱlike a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,

whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;

14  and its breaking is ^jlike that of a potter’s vessel

that is smashed so ruthlessly

that among its fragments not a shard is found

with which to take fire from the hearth,

or to dip up water out of the cistern.”

15  For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,

“In ^kreturning³ and ^lrest you shall be saved;

in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

But you were unwilling, 16 and you said,

“No! We will flee upon ^mhorses”;

therefore you shall flee away;

and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;

therefore your pursuers shall be swift.

17  ⁿA thousand shall flee at the threat of one;

at the threat of five you shall flee,

till you are left

like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,

like a signal on a hill.

18  Therefore the Lord ^owaits to be gracious to you,

and therefore he ^pexalts himself to show mercy to you.

For the Lord is a God of justice;

^qblessed are all those who wait for him.

9  ^xRise up, you women ^ywho are at ease, hear my voice;

you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.

10  In little more than a year

you will shudder, you complacent women;

for the grape harvest fails,

the fruit harvest will not come.

11  Tremble, you women ^ywho are at ease,

shudder, you complacent ones;

^zstrip, and make yourselves bare,

^aand tie sackcloth around your waist.

12  ^bBeat your breasts for the pleasant fields,

for the fruitful vine,

13  ^cfor the soil of my people

growing up in thorns and briers,

^dyes, for all the joyous houses

in the exultant city.

14  For the palace is forsaken,

the populous city deserted;

the hill and the watchtower

will become dens forever,

^ea joy of wild donkeys,

a pasture of flocks;

15  until ^fthe Spirit is poured upon us from on high,

and ^gthe wilderness becomes a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.

16  Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,

and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.

17  ^hAnd the effect of righteousness will be peace,

and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust¹ forever.

18  My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,

in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.

19  ⁱAnd it will hail when the forest falls down,

^jand the city will be utterly laid low.

20  ^kHappy are you who sow beside all waters,

who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.