Day 65 of 90

¹But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it.

²Many nations will go and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem;

³and he will judge between many peoples, and will decide concerning strong nations afar off. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.

⁴But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and no one will make them afraid: For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

⁵Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods; but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.

⁶"In that day," says the Lord, "I will assemble that which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away, and that which I have afflicted;

⁷and I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion from then on, even forever."

⁸You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come, yes, the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

⁹Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pains have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail?

¹⁰Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now you will go forth out of the city, and will dwell in the field, and will come even to Babylon. There you will be rescued. There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

¹¹Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, "Let her be defiled, and let our eye gloat over Zion."

¹²But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, neither do they understand his counsel; for he has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor.

¹³Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs brass; and you will beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain to the Lord, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.

¹Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

²But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

³Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.

⁴He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.

⁵He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land, and when he marches through our fortresses, then we will raise against him seven shepherds, and eight leaders of men.

⁶They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its gates. He will deliver us from the Assyrian, when he invades our land, and when he marches within our border.

⁷The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, that do not wait for man, nor wait for the sons of men.

⁸The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver.

⁹Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off.

¹⁰"It will happen in that day," says the Lord, "That I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy your chariots.

¹¹I will cut off the cities of your land, and will tear down all your strongholds.

¹²I will destroy witchcraft from your hand; and you shall have no soothsayers.

¹³I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars out of your midst; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.

¹⁴I will uproot your Asherim out of your midst; and I will destroy your cities.

¹⁵I will execute vengeance in anger, and wrath on the nations that did not listen."

¹Listen now to what the Lord says: "Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say.

²Hear, you mountains, the Lord's controversy, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the Lord has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.

³My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me!

⁴For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

⁵My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord."

⁶How shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

⁷Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the Lord require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

⁹The Lord's voice calls to the city, and wisdom sees your name: "Listen to the rod, and he who appointed it.

¹⁰Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed?

¹¹Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, and with a bag of deceitful weights?

¹²Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their speech.

¹³Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins.

¹⁴You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your humiliation will be in your midst. You will store up, but not save; and that which you save I will give up to the sword.

¹⁵You will sow, but won't reap. You will tread the olives, but won't anoint yourself with oil; and crush grapes, but won't drink the wine.

¹⁶For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab. You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a ruin, and her inhabitants a hissing; And you will bear the reproach of my people."

¹Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.

²The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.

³Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.

⁴The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now is the time of their confusion.

⁵Do not trust in a neighbor. Do not put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!

⁶For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

⁷But as for me, I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

⁸Do not rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.

⁹I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case, and executes judgment for me. He will bring me forth to the light. I will see his righteousness.

¹⁰Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, where is the Lord your God? Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.

¹¹A day to build your walls- In that day, he will extend your boundary.

¹²In that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain.

¹³Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

¹⁴Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage, who dwell by themselves in a forest, in the midst of fertile pasture land, let them feed; in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

¹⁵"As in the days of your coming forth out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things."

¹⁶The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf.

¹⁷They will lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their dens. They will come with fear to the Lord our God, and will be afraid because of you.

¹⁸Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn't retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.

¹⁹He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

²⁰You will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

¹An oracle about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

²The Lord is a jealous God and avenges. The Lord avenges and is full of wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies.

³The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. The Lord has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

⁴He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes.

⁵The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it.

⁶Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.

⁷The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him.

⁸But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

⁹What do you plot against the Lord? He will make a full end. Affliction won't rise up the second time.

¹⁰For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.

¹¹There is one gone forth out of you, who devises evil against the Lord, who counsels wickedness.

¹²Thus says the Lord: "Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so they will be cut down, and he shall pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.

¹³Now will I break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds apart."

¹⁴The Lord has commanded concerning you: "No more descendants will bear your name. Out of the house of your gods, will I cut off the engraved image and the molten image. I will make your grave, for you are vile."

¹⁵Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, Judah! Perform your vows, for the wicked one will no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off.

¹He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your waist! Fortify your power mightily!

²For the Lord restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches.

³The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine spears are brandished.

⁴The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the broad ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings.

⁵He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place.

⁶The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.

⁷It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts.

⁸But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water, yet they flee away. "Stop! Stop!" they cry, but no one looks back.

⁹Take the spoil of silver. Take the spoil of gold, for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture.

¹⁰She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.

¹¹Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion's cubs, and no one made them afraid?

¹²The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey.

¹³"Behold, I am against you," says the Lord of hosts, "and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard."

¹Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. The prey doesn't depart.

²The noise of the whip, the noise of the rattling of wheels, prancing horses, and bounding chariots,

³the horseman mounting, and the flashing sword, the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies. They stumble on their bodies,

⁴because of the multitude of the prostitution of the alluring prostitute, the mistress of witchcraft, who sells nations through her prostitution, and families through her witchcraft.

⁵"Behold, I am against you," says the Lord of hosts, "and I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.

⁶I will throw abominable filth on you, and make you vile, and will set you a spectacle.

⁷It will happen that all those who look at you will flee from you, and say, 'Nineveh is laid waste! Who will mourn for her?' Where will I seek comforters for you?"

⁸Are you better than No-Amon, who was situated among the rivers, who had the waters around her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea?

⁹Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength. Put and Libya were her helpers.

¹⁰Yet was she carried away. She went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets, and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

¹¹You also will be drunken. You will be hidden. You also will seek a stronghold because of the enemy.

¹²All your fortresses will be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

¹³Behold, your troops in your midst are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars.

¹⁴Draw water for the siege. Strengthen your fortresses. Go into the clay, and tread the mortar. Make the brick kiln strong.

¹⁵There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the grasshopper. Multiply like grasshoppers. Multiply like the locust.

¹⁶You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips, and flees away.

¹⁷Your guards are like the locusts, and your officials like the swarms of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day, but when the sun appears, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

¹⁸Your shepherds slumber, king of Assyria. Your nobles lie down. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them.

¹⁹There is no healing your wound, for your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you clap their hands over you; for who hasn't felt your endless cruelty?

¹The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

²Lord, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you "Violence!" and will you not save?

³Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.

⁴Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.

⁵"Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you.

⁶For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.

⁷They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.

⁸Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.

⁹All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand.

¹⁰Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it.

¹¹Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god."

¹²Aren't you from everlasting, Lord my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Lord, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish.

¹³You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,

¹⁴and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

¹⁵He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.

¹⁶Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good.

¹⁷Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?

¹I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

²The Lord answered me, "Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.

³For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won't prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won't delay.

⁴Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

⁵Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn't stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can't be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.

⁶Won't all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, 'Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?'

⁷Won't your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?

⁸Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.

⁹Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!

¹⁰You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.

¹¹For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.

¹²Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!

¹³Behold, isn't it of the Lord of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

¹⁴For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵"Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!

¹⁶You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of the Lord's right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.

¹⁷For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.

¹⁸"What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?

¹⁹Woe to him who says to the wood, 'Awake!' or to the mute stone, 'Arise!' Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in its midst.

²⁰But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!"

¹A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.

²Lord, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Renew your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy.

³God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.

⁴His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.

⁵Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet.

⁶He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.

⁷I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled.

⁸Was the Lord displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation?

⁹You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.

¹⁰The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.

¹¹The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.

¹²You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.

¹³You went forth for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah.

¹⁴You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.

¹⁵You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters.

¹⁶I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.

¹⁷For though the fig tree doesn't flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:

¹⁸yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

¹⁹The Lord, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer's feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.

¹The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.

²I will utterly sweep away everything off of the surface of the earth, says the Lord.

³I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says the Lord.

⁴I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place: the name of the idolatrous and pagan priests,

⁵those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by the Lord and also swear by Malcam,

⁶those who have turned back from following the Lord, and those who haven't sought the Lord nor inquired after him.

⁷Be silent at the presence of the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is at hand. For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests.

⁸It will happen in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, the king's sons, and all those who are clothed with foreign clothing.

⁹In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master's house with violence and deceit.

¹⁰In that day, says the Lord, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills.

¹¹Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone! All those who were loaded with silver are cut off.

¹²It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, "The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil."

¹³Their wealth will become a spoil, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won't inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, but won't drink their wine.

¹⁴The great day of the Lord is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of the Lord. The mighty man cries there bitterly.

¹⁵That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,

¹⁶a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements.

¹⁷I will bring distress on men, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.

¹⁸Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.

¹Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, you nation that has no shame,

²before the appointed time when the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes on you, before the day of the Lord's anger comes on you.

³Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger.

⁴For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up.

⁵Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you, that there will be no inhabitant.

⁶The sea coast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.

⁷The coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They will find pasture. In the houses of Ashkelon, they will lie down in the evening, for the Lord, their God, will visit them, and restore them.

⁸I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the insults of the children of Ammon, with which they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.

⁹Therefore as I live, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will inherit them.

¹⁰This they will have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts.

¹¹The Lord will be awesome to them, for he will famish all the gods of the land. Men will worship him, everyone from his place, even all the shores of the nations.

¹²You Cushites also, you will be killed by my sword.

¹³He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as the wilderness.

¹⁴Herds will lie down in the midst of her, all the animals of the nations. Both the pelican and the porcupine will lodge in its capitals. Their calls will echo through the windows. Desolation will be in the thresholds, for he has laid bare the cedar beams.

¹⁵This is the joyous city that lived carelessly, that said in her heart, "I am, and there is none besides me." How she has become a desolation, a place for animals to lie down in! Everyone who passes by her will hiss, and shake their fists.

¹Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city!

²She did not obey the voice. She did not receive correction. She did not trust in the Lord. She did not draw near to her God.

³Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day.

⁴Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.

⁵The Lord, in the midst of her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn't fail, but the unjust know no shame.

⁶I have cut off nations. Their battlements are desolate. I have made their streets waste, so that no one passes by. Their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant.

⁷I said, "Just fear me. Receive correction, so that her dwelling won't be cut off, according to all that I have appointed concerning her." But they rose early and corrupted all their doings.

⁸"Therefore wait for me," says the Lord, "until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

⁹For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on the name of the Lord, to serve him shoulder to shoulder.

¹⁰From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, even the daughter of my dispersed people, will bring my offering.

¹¹In that day you will not be disappointed for all your doings, in which you have transgressed against me; for then I will take away out of the midst of you your proudly exulting ones, and you will no more be haughty in my holy mountain.

¹²But I will leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord.

¹³The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity, nor speak lies, neither will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they will feed and lie down, and no one will make them afraid."

¹⁴Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem.

¹⁵The Lord has taken away your judgments. He has thrown out your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in the midst of you. You will not be afraid of evil any more.

¹⁶In that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, "Do not be afraid, Zion. Do not let your hands be weak."

¹⁷The Lord, your God, is in the midst of you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.

¹⁸I will remove those who grieve about the appointed feasts from you. They are a burden and a reproach to you.

¹⁹Behold, at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you, and I will save those who are lame, and gather those who were driven away. I will give them praise and honor, whose shame has been in all the earth.

²⁰At that time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you; for I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord.

¹In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the Word of the Lord came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

²"This is what the Lord of hosts says: These people say, 'The time hasn't yet come, the time for the Lord's house to be built.'"

³Then the Word of the Lord came by Haggai, the prophet, saying,

⁴"Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?

⁵Now therefore this is what the Lord of hosts says: Consider your ways.

⁶You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you do not have enough. You drink, but you aren't filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it."

⁷This is what the Lord of hosts says: "Consider your ways.

⁸Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified," says the Lord.

⁹"You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" says the Lord of hosts, "Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house.

¹⁰Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.

¹¹I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground brings forth, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of the hands."

¹²Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord, their God, and the words of Haggai, the prophet, as the Lord, their God, had sent him; and the people feared the Lord.

¹³Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, spoke the Lord's message to the people, saying, "I am with you," says the Lord.

¹⁴The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,

¹⁵in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.