1  ^mIt shall come to pass in 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 ⁿpeoples shall flow to it,

2  and ^omany 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 ^pout 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 beat their ^qswords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

^rnation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore;

4  ^sbut they shall sit ^tevery man under his vine and under his fig tree,

and ^uno one shall make them afraid,

for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

5  For all the peoples walk

each in the name of its god,

but we will ^vwalk in the name of the Lord our God

forever and ever.

6  In that day, declares the Lord,

I will ^wassemble the ^xlame

and gather those who have been driven away

and those whom I have afflicted;

7  and the lame I will make the ^yremnant,

and those who were cast off, a strong nation;

and the Lord will ^zreign over them in 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?

^aIs there no king in you?

Has your counselor perished,

that pain seized you like a woman in labor?

10  Writhe and groan,² O daughter of Zion,

like a woman in labor,

for now you shall go out from the city

and dwell in the open country;

you shall go to Babylon.

There you shall be rescued;

^bthere the Lord will redeem you

from the hand of your enemies.

11  Now many nations

are assembled against you,

saying, “Let her be defiled,

and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”

12  But they do not know

the thoughts of the Lord;

they do not understand his plan,

that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.

13  Arise and ^cthresh,

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 shall devote³ their gain to the Lord,

their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

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

siege is laid against us;

with a rod they strike the judge of Israel

on the cheek.

2  ^{6 d}But you, O ^eBethlehem Ephrathah,

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

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old,

from ancient days.

3  Therefore he shall give them up until the time

when she who is in labor has given birth;

then the rest of his brothers shall return

to the people of Israel.

4  And he shall stand and ^gshepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,

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

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

to the ends of the earth.

5  And he shall be their ⁱpeace.

When the Assyrian comes into our land

and treads in our palaces,

then we will raise against him seven shepherds

and eight princes of men;

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

and the land of Nimrod at its entrances;

and ^jhe shall deliver us from the Assyrian

when he comes into our land

and treads within our border.

7  Then the ^kremnant 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 the 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,

which, when it goes through, treads down

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

9  Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries,

and all your enemies shall be cut off.

10  And in that day, declares the Lord,

^lI will cut off your ^mhorses from among you

and will destroy your chariots;

11  and I will cut off the cities of your land

and throw down all your strongholds;

12  and I will cut off ⁿsorceries from your hand,

and you shall have no more ^otellers of fortunes;

13  and I will cut off your carved images

and your ^ppillars from among you,

and you shall bow down no more

to the work of your hands;

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

and destroy your cities.

15  And in anger and wrath I will execute ^rvengeance

on the nations that did not obey.

1  Hear what the Lord says:

Arise, plead your case before the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice.

2  ^sHear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord,

and you enduring foundations of the earth,

for ^tthe Lord has an indictment against his people,

and he will contend with Israel.

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

^uHow have I wearied you? Answer me!

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

and redeemed you from the house of slavery,

and I sent before you Moses,

Aaron, and ^wMiriam.

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

and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,

and what happened from ^yShittim to ^zGilgal,

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

6  “With what shall I come before the Lord,

and bow myself before God on high?

^aShall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

7  Will the Lord be pleased with⁷ thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my ^bfirstborn 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 ^cwhat does the Lord require of you

but to do ^djustice, and to love kindness,⁸

and to walk humbly with your God?

9  The voice of the Lord cries to the city—

and it is sound wisdom to fear your name:

“Hear of the 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 with ^ewicked scales

and with a bag of deceitful weights?

12  Your¹¹ rich men are full of violence;

your inhabitants speak lies,

and their ^ftongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13  Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,

making you desolate because of your sins.

14  ^gYou 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  ^hYou 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 ⁱOmri,¹²

and all the works of the house of ^jAhab;

and you have walked in their counsels,

that I may make you a desolation, and your¹³ inhabitants a ^khissing;

so you shall bear the scorn of my people.”