4  ^qThen they will cry to the Lord,

but he will not answer them;

^rhe will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have made their deeds evil.

5  Thus says the Lord concerning ^sthe prophets

who lead my people astray,

^twho cry “Peace”

when they have something to eat,

but declare war against him

who puts nothing into their mouths.

6  Therefore ^uit shall be night to you, without vision,

and darkness to you, without divination.

^vThe sun shall go down on the prophets,

and the day shall be black over them;

7  ^wthe seers shall be disgraced,

and the diviners put to shame;

^xthey shall all cover their lips,

for ^ythere is no answer from God.

8  But as for me, ^zI am filled with power,

with the Spirit of the Lord,

and with justice and might,

to declare to Jacob ^ahis transgression

and to Israel his sin.

9  ^bHear this, you heads of the house of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel,

^cwho detest justice

and make crooked all that is straight,

10  ^dwho build Zion with blood

and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11  ^eIts heads give judgment for a bribe;

^fits priests teach for a price;

^gits prophets practice divination for money;

^hyet they lean on the Lord and ⁱsay,

“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?

^jNo disaster shall come upon us.”

12  Therefore because of you

^kZion shall be plowed as a field;

Jerusalem ^lshall become a heap of ruins,

and ^mthe mountain of the house ⁿa wooded height.

1  It shall come to pass ^oin the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and it shall be lifted up above the hills;

and peoples shall flow to it,

2  and many nations shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,¹

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

3  He shall judge between many peoples,

and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;

and they shall ^pbeat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore;

4  ^qbut they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,

^rand no one shall make them afraid,

^sfor the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

5  For ^tall the peoples walk

each in the name of its god,

but ^uwe will walk in the name of the Lord our God

forever and ever.

6  ^vIn that day, declares the Lord,

^wI will assemble the ^xlame

and gather those who have been driven away

and those whom I have afflicted;

7  and the lame I will make ^ythe remnant,

and those who were cast off, a strong nation;

and ^zthe Lord will reign over them ^ain Mount Zion

from this time forth and forevermore.

8  And you, O tower of the flock,

hill of the daughter of Zion,

to you shall it come,

the former dominion shall come,

kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

9  Now why do you cry aloud?

^bIs there no king in you?

^cHas your counselor perished,

that ^dpain seized you like a woman in labor?

10  ^eWrithe and groan,² O daughter of Zion,

like a woman in labor,

for ^fnow you shall go out from the city

and dwell in the open country;

you ^gshall go to Babylon.

There you shall be rescued;

^hthere the Lord will redeem you

from the hand of your enemies.

11  Now ⁱmany nations

are assembled against you,

saying, “Let her be defiled,

and ^jlet our eyes gaze upon Zion.”

12  But ^kthey do not know

the thoughts of the Lord;

they do not understand his plan,

that ^lhe has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.

13  Arise and thresh,

O daughter of Zion,

for I will make your horn iron,

and I will make your hoofs bronze;

you shall beat in pieces many peoples;

and ^mshall devote^{3 n}their gain to the Lord,

their wealth to ^othe Lord of the whole earth.

1  ⁴ Now muster your troops, O daughter⁵ of troops;

siege is laid against us;

with a rod ^pthey strike the judge of Israel

on the cheek.

2  ^{6 q}But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of ^rJudah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ^sruler in Israel,

^twhose coming forth is ^ufrom of old,

from ancient days.

3  Therefore he shall give them up ^vuntil the time

when she who is in labor has given birth;

then ^wthe rest of his brothers shall return

to the people of Israel.

4  And he shall stand ^xand shepherd his flock ^yin the strength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall dwell secure, for now ^zhe shall be great

to the ends of the earth.

5  And he shall be ^atheir peace.

^bWhen the Assyrian comes into our land

and treads in our palaces,

then we will raise against him seven ^cshepherds

and eight princes of men;

6  they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,

and the land of ^dNimrod at its entrances;

and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian

^bwhen he comes into our land

and treads within our border.

7  Then ^wthe remnant of Jacob shall be

in the midst of many peoples

like dew from the Lord,

like showers on the grass,

which delay not for a man

nor wait for the children of man.

8  And ^wthe remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,

in the midst of many peoples,

like a lion among the beasts of the forest,

like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,

^ewhich, when it goes through, treads down

and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.

9  Your hand shall ^fbe lifted up over your adversaries,

and all your enemies shall be cut off.

10  And ^gin that day, declares the Lord,

^hI will cut off your horses from among you

and will destroy your chariots;

11  ⁱand I will cut off the cities of your land

and throw down all your strongholds;

12  and I will cut off ^jsorceries from your hand,

and ^kyou shall have no more tellers of fortunes;

13  and ^lI will cut off your carved images

and ^myour pillars from among you,

ⁿand you shall bow down no more

to the work of your hands;

14  and I will root out your ^oAsherah images from among you

ⁱand destroy your cities.

15  And in anger and wrath ^pI will execute vengeance

on the nations that did not obey.

1  ^qHear what the Lord says:

Arise, plead your case before the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice.

2  ^rHear, you mountains, ^sthe indictment of the Lord,

and you enduring foundations of the earth,

for the Lord has an indictment against his people,

and he will contend with Israel.

3  “O my people, ^twhat have I done to you?

^uHow have I wearied you? Answer me!

4  For ^vI brought you up from the land of Egypt

and ^wredeemed you from the house of slavery,

and I sent before you Moses,

Aaron, and ^xMiriam.

5  O my people, remember ^ywhat Balak king of Moab devised,

and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,

and what happened from ^zShittim to Gilgal,

that you may know ^athe righteous acts of the Lord.”

6  ^b“With what shall I come before the Lord,

and bow myself before ^cGod on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

7  ^dWill the Lord be pleased with⁷ thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

^eShall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

8  He has told you, O man, what is good;

and ^fwhat does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,⁸

and to ^gwalk humbly with your God?

9  The voice of the Lord cries to the city—

and it is sound wisdom to fear ^hyour name:

“Hear of ⁱthe rod and of him who appointed it!⁹

10  Can I forget any longer the treasures¹⁰ of wickedness in the house of the wicked,

and the scant measure that is accursed?

11  Shall I acquit the man ^jwith wicked scales

and with a bag of deceitful weights?

12  Your¹¹ rich men are ^kfull of violence;

your inhabitants ^lspeak lies,

and ^mtheir tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13  Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,

ⁿmaking you desolate because of your sins.

14  ^oYou shall eat, but not be satisfied,

and there shall be hunger within you;

you shall put away, but not preserve,

and what you preserve I will give to the sword.

15  ^pYou shall sow, but not reap;

you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;

you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.

16  For you have kept the statutes of ^qOmri,¹²

and all the works of the house of ^rAhab;

and you have walked in their counsels,

that I may make you ^sa desolation, and your¹³ inhabitants ^sa hissing;

so you shall bear ^tthe scorn of my people.”

1  Woe is me! For I have become

^uas when the summer fruit has been gathered,

as when the grapes have been gleaned:

there is no cluster to eat,

no ^vfirst-ripe fig that my soul desires.

2  ^wThe godly has perished from the earth,

and ^xthere is no one upright among mankind;

^ythey all lie in wait for blood,

and ^zeach hunts the other with a net.

3  ^aTheir hands are on what is evil, to do it well;

^bthe prince and ^cthe judge ask for a bribe,

and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;

thus they weave it together.

4  The best of them is ^dlike a brier,

the most upright of them a thorn hedge.

The day of ^eyour watchmen, of your punishment, has come;

^fnow their confusion is at hand.

5  ^gPut no trust in a neighbor;

have no confidence in a friend;

guard ^hthe doors of your mouth

from her who lies in your arms;¹⁴

6  for ⁱthe son treats the father with contempt,

the daughter rises up against her mother,

the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

^ja man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

7  But as for me, I will look to the Lord;

^kI will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me.

8  ^lRejoice not over me, O ^mmy enemy;

ⁿwhen I fall, I shall rise;

^owhen I sit in darkness,

the Lord will be a light to me.

9  ^pI will bear the indignation of the Lord

because I have sinned against him,

until ^qhe pleads my cause

and executes judgment for me.

^rHe will bring me out to the light;

I shall look upon his vindication.

10  Then ^smy enemy will see,

and shame will cover her who ^tsaid to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

^uMy eyes will look upon her;

now she will be trampled down

^vlike the mire of the streets.

11  ^wA day for the building of your walls!

In that day the boundary shall be far extended.

12  In that day they¹⁵ will come to you,

^yfrom Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

and from Egypt to ^zthe River,¹⁶

^afrom sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.

13  But ^bthe earth will be desolate

because of its inhabitants,

for the fruit of their deeds.

14  ^cShepherd your people ^dwith your staff,

the flock of your inheritance,

who dwell alone in a forest

^ein the midst of ^fa garden land;¹⁷

let them graze in Bashan and Gilead

as in the days of old.

15  ^gAs in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,

I will show them¹⁸ marvelous things.

16  ^hThe nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;

ⁱthey shall lay their hands on their mouths;

their ears shall be deaf;

17  ^jthey shall lick the dust like a serpent,

like the crawling things of the earth;

^kthey shall come trembling out of their strongholds;

^lthey shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,

and they shall be in fear of you.

18  ^mWho is a God like you, ⁿpardoning iniquity

and passing over transgression

ⁿfor the remnant of his inheritance?

^oHe does not retain his anger forever,

because he delights in steadfast love.

19  He will ^pagain have compassion on us;

^qhe will tread our iniquities underfoot.

^rYou will cast all our¹⁹ sins

into the depths of the sea.

20  ^sYou will show faithfulness to Jacob

and steadfast love to Abraham,

^tas you have sworn to our fathers

from the days of old.

2  The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;

the Lord is avenging and wrathful;

the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries

and keeps wrath for his enemies.

3  The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,

and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.

His way is in whirlwind and storm,

and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

4  He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;

he dries up all the rivers;

Bashan and Carmel wither;

the bloom of Lebanon withers.

5  The mountains quake before him;

the hills melt;

the earth heaves before him,

the world and all who dwell in it.

6  Who can stand before his indignation?

Who can endure the heat of his anger?

His wrath is poured out like fire,

and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

7  The Lord is good,

a stronghold in the day of trouble;

he knows those who take refuge in him.

8  But with an overflowing flood

he will make a complete end of the adversaries,²⁰

and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

9  What do you plot against the Lord?

He will make a complete end;

trouble will not rise up a second time.

10  For they are like entangled thorns,

like drunkards as they drink;

they are consumed like stubble fully dried.

11  From you came one

who plotted evil against the Lord,

a worthless counselor.

12  Thus says the Lord,

“Though they are at full strength and many,

they will be cut down and pass away.

Though I have afflicted you,

I will afflict you no more.

13  And now I will break his yoke from off you

and will burst your bonds apart.”

14  The Lord has given commandment about you:

“No more shall your name be perpetuated;

from the house of your gods I will cut off

the carved image and the metal image.

I will make your grave, for you are vile.”

15  ²¹ Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him

who brings good news,

who publishes peace!

Keep your feasts, O Judah;

fulfill your vows,

for never again shall the worthless pass through you;

he is utterly cut off.

1  The scatterer has come up against you.

Man the ramparts;

watch the road;

dress for battle;²²

collect all your strength.

2  For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob

as the majesty of Israel,

for plunderers have plundered them

and ruined their branches.

3  The shield of his mighty men is red;

his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.

The chariots come with flashing metal

on the day he musters them;

the cypress spears are brandished.

4  The chariots race madly through the streets;

they rush to and fro through the squares;

they gleam like torches;

they dart like lightning.

5  He remembers his officers;

they stumble as they go,

they hasten to the wall;

the siege tower²³ is set up.

6  The river gates are opened;

the palace melts away;

7  its mistress²⁴ is stripped;²⁵ she is carried off,

her slave girls lamenting,

moaning like doves

and beating their breasts.

8  Nineveh is like a pool

whose waters run away.²⁶

“Halt! Halt!” they cry,

but none turns back.

9  Plunder the silver,

plunder the gold!

There is no end of the treasure

or of the wealth of all precious things.

10  Desolate! Desolation and ruin!

Hearts melt and knees tremble;

anguish is in all loins;

all faces grow pale!

11  Where is the lions’ den,

the feeding place of the young lions,

where the lion and lioness went,

where his cubs were, with none to disturb?

12  The lion tore enough for his cubs

and strangled prey for his lionesses;

he filled his caves with prey

and his dens with torn flesh.

1  Woe to the bloody city,

all full of lies and plunder—

no end to the prey!

2  The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel,

galloping horse and bounding chariot!

3  Horsemen charging,

flashing sword and glittering spear,

hosts of slain,

heaps of corpses,

dead bodies without end—

they stumble over the bodies!

4  And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute,

graceful and of deadly charms,

who betrays nations with her whorings,

and peoples with her charms.

5  Behold, I am against you,

declares the Lord of hosts,

and will lift up your skirts over your face;

and I will make nations look at your nakedness

and kingdoms at your shame.

6  I will throw filth at you

and treat you with contempt

and make you a spectacle.

7  And all who look at you will shrink from you and say,

“Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her?”

Where shall I seek comforters for you?

8  Are you better than Thebes²⁸

that sat by the Nile,

with water around her,

her rampart a sea,

and water her wall?

9  Cush was her strength;

Egypt too, and that without limit;

Put and the Libyans were her²⁹ helpers.

10  Yet she became an exile;

she went into captivity;

her infants were dashed in pieces

at the head of every street;

for her honored men lots were cast,

and all her great men were bound in chains.

11  You also will be drunken;

you will go into hiding;

you will seek a refuge from the enemy.

12  All your fortresses are like fig trees

with first-ripe figs—

if shaken they fall

into the mouth of the eater.

13  Behold, your troops

are women in your midst.

The gates of your land

are wide open to your enemies;

fire has devoured your bars.

14  Draw water for the siege;

strengthen your forts;

go into the clay;

tread the mortar;

take hold of the brick mold!

15  There will the fire devour you;

the sword will cut you off.

It will devour you like the locust.

Multiply yourselves like the locust;

multiply like the grasshopper!

16  You increased your merchants

more than the stars of the heavens.

The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

17  Your princes³⁰ are like grasshoppers,

your scribes³¹ like clouds of locusts

settling on the fences

in a day of cold—

when the sun rises, they fly away;

no one knows where they are.