Day 259 of 365

¹The burden of Damascus: "Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.

²The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

³The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel," says the Lord of hosts.

⁴"It will happen in that day that the glory of Jacob will be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean.

⁵It will be like when the harvester gathers the wheat, and his arm reaps the grain. Yes, it will be like when one gleans grain in the valley of Rephaim.

⁶Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree," says the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.

⁸They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the incense altars.

⁹In that day, their strong cities will be like the forsaken places in the woods and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it will be a desolation.

¹⁰For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.

¹¹In the day of your planting, you hedge it in. In the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

¹²Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!

¹³The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.

¹⁴At evening, behold, terror! Before the morning, they are no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.

¹Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;

²that sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus on the waters, saying, "Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide!"

³All you inhabitants of the world, and you dwellers on the earth, when a banner is lifted up on the mountains, look! When the trumpet is blown, listen!

⁴For the Lord said to me, "I will be still, and I will see from my dwelling place, like the clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."

⁵For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and he will cut down and take away the spreading branches.

⁶They will be left together for the ravenous birds of the mountains, and for the animals of the earth. The ravenous birds will summer on them, and all the animals of the earth will winter on them.

⁷In that time, a present will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people tall and smooth, even from a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, Mount Zion.

¹The burden of Egypt: "Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, and comes to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence; and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.

²I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they will fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

³The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst. I will destroy its counsel. They will seek the idols, the charmers, those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards.

⁴I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord. A fierce king will rule over them," says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.

⁵The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry.

⁶The rivers will become foul. The streams of Egypt will be diminished and dried up. The reeds and flags will wither away.

⁷The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile, will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.

⁸The fishermen will lament, and all those who fish in the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will languish.

⁹Moreover those who work in combed flax, and those who weave white cloth, will be confounded.

¹⁰The pillars will be broken in pieces. All those who work for hire will be grieved in soul.

¹¹The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, "I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?"

¹²Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what the Lord of hosts has purposed concerning Egypt.

¹³The princes of Zoan have become fools. The princes of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go astray, who are the cornerstone of her tribes.

¹⁴The Lord has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

¹⁵Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm branch or rush, may do.

¹⁶In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shakes over them.

¹⁷The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt. Everyone to whom mention is made of it will be afraid, because of the plans of the Lord of hosts, which he determines against it.

¹⁸In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear loyalty to the Lord of hosts. One will be called "The City of the Sun."

¹⁹In that day, there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border.

²⁰It will be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them.

²¹The Lord will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. Yes, they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make vows to the Lord, and will perform them.

²²The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing. They will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas, and will heal them.

²³In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

²⁴In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth;

²⁵because the Lord of hosts has blessed them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance."

¹God of my praise, do not remain silent,

²for they have opened the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit against me. They have spoken to me with a lying tongue.

³They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.

⁴In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer.

⁵They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

⁶Set a wicked man over him. Let an adversary stand at his right hand.

⁷When he is judged, let him come forth guilty. Let his prayer be turned into sin.

⁸Let his days be few. Let another take his office.

⁹Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

¹⁰Let his children be wandering beggars. Let them be sought from their ruins.

¹¹Let the creditor seize all that he has. Let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.

¹²Let there be none to extend kindness to him, neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children.

¹³Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out.

¹⁴Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by the Lord. Do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out.

¹⁵Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth;

¹⁶because he did not remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them.

¹⁷Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He did not delight in blessing, and it was far from him.

¹⁸He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones.

¹⁹Let it be to him as the clothing with which he covers himself, for the belt that is always around him.

²⁰This is the reward of my adversaries from the Lord, of those who speak evil against my soul.

²¹But deal with me, the Lord the Lord, for your name's sake, because your loving kindness is good, deliver me;

²²for I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me.

²³I fade away like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust.

²⁴My knees are weak through fasting. My body is thin and lacks fat.

²⁵I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.

²⁶Help me, Lord, my God. Save me according to your loving kindness;

²⁷that they may know that this is your hand; that you, Lord, have done it.

²⁸They may curse, but you bless. When they arise, they will be shamed, but your servant shall rejoice.

²⁹Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonor. Let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.

³⁰I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth. Yes, I will praise him among the multitude.

³¹For he will stand at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul.

¹A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but accurate weights are his delight.

²When pride comes, then comes shame, but with humility comes wisdom.

³The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them.

⁴Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

⁵The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.

⁶The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but the unfaithful will be trapped by evil desires.

⁷When a wicked man dies, hope perishes, and expectation of power comes to nothing.

⁸A righteous person is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked takes his place.

⁹With his mouth the godless man destroys his neighbor, but the righteous will be delivered through knowledge.

¹⁰When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices. When the wicked perish, there is shouting.

¹¹By the blessing of the upright, the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

¹²One who despises his neighbor is void of wisdom, but a man of understanding holds his peace.

¹³One who brings gossip betrays a confidence, but one who is of a trustworthy spirit is one who keeps a secret.

¹⁴Where there is no wise guidance, the nation falls, but in the multitude of counselors there is victory.

¹⁵He who is collateral for a stranger will suffer for it, but he who refuses pledges of collateral is secure.

¹⁶A gracious woman obtains honor, but violent men obtain riches.

¹⁷The merciful man does good to his own soul, but he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.

¹⁸Wicked people earn deceitful wages, but one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.

¹⁹He who is truly righteous gets life. He who pursues evil gets death.

²⁰Those who are perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord, but those whose ways are blameless are his delight.

²¹Most certainly, the evil man will not be unpunished, but the seed of the righteous will be delivered.

²²Like a gold ring in a pig's snout, is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.

²³The desire of the righteous is only good. The expectation of the wicked is wrath.

²⁴There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty.

²⁵The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself.

²⁶People curse someone who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.

²⁷He who diligently seeks good seeks favor, but he who searches after evil, it shall come to him.

²⁸He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.

²⁹He who troubles his own house shall inherit the wind. The foolish shall be servant to the wise of heart.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls.

³¹Behold, the righteous shall be repaid in the earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner!