Day 170 of 365

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.

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!"