Zephaniah Cross References - LEB

¹ The word of Yahweh that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah. ² "I will surely destroy everything from the face of the earth"—a declaration of Yahweh. ³ "I will destroy humanity and beast; I will destroy the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks* with the wicked. And I will cut off humankind from the face of the earth"—a declaration of Yahweh. ⁴ "And I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal, and the name of idolatrous priests with the priests,* ⁵ and those who bow down on the rooftops to the host of heaven, and those who bow down, swearing to Yahweh but also swearing by Milkom,* ⁶ and those who turned back from _⌊following_⌋* Yahweh, and who did not seek Yahweh, and did not inquire of him." ⁷ Be silent before the Lord Yahweh, for the day of Yahweh draws near, for Yahweh has provided a sacrifice and has consecrated his guests. ⁸ And it shall be that on the day of the sacrifice of Yahweh, I will punish the officials and the sons of the king and those who dress in foreign clothing. ⁹ And on that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill up the house of their master with violence and deceit. ¹⁰ "And there shall be on that day"—a declaration of Yahweh— "a _⌊loud outcry_⌋* from the Fish Gate, and a wailing from the Second District, and a loud* crashing from the hills. ¹¹ The inhabitants of the Mortar shall wail, for all the traders have perished; all who trade with silver have been cut off. ¹² And it shall be that at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men _⌊whose senses are dulled from drinking_⌋,* who say in their hearts, 'Yahweh will not do good, nor will he do evil.' ¹³ Then their wealth shall be as plunder, and their homes as desolation. And they shall build their houses and not inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and not drink their wine." ¹⁴ The great day of Yahweh draws near; it is near and coming very swiftly. The sound of the day of Yahweh is bitterness; there, a warrior cries out! ¹⁵ That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of disaster and ruination, a day of darkness and deep gloom, a day of clouds* and thick clouds,* ¹⁶ a day of trumpet and trumpet blast against the fortified cities and against the high corner towers. ¹⁷ And I will bring distress to all humankind, and they shall walk about like the blind, for they sinned against Yahweh; their blood shall be poured out like dust and their entrails like dung. ¹⁸ Moreover, their silver and their gold will not be able to save them on the day of the wrath of Yahweh. And in the fire of his zeal, the whole land shall be consumed, for a terrifying end he shall make for all the inhabitants of the land.

¹ Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath. ² He did right in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in all of the way of David his ancestor* and did not turn aside to the right or to the left. ³ It happened in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent word to Shaphan the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the secretary of the temple of Yahweh, saying, ⁴ "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and let them count the money being brought to the temple of Yahweh which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people, ⁵ and let them give it into the hand of those appointed doers of the work at the temple of Yahweh. Let them give it to the doers of the work who are at the temple of Yahweh to repair the breach of the temple: ⁶ to the skilled craftsmen, to the builders, to the masons, and to buy timber and hewing stones to repair the temple. ⁷ Only the money being given to them is not to be accounted for by them, for they are dealing with honesty." ⁸ Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the scroll of the Torah in the temple of Yahweh," and Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. ⁹ Shaphan the secretary came to the king and returned the king a word, and he said, "Your servant poured out the money found in the temple, and they have given it into the hand of the doers of the work appointed over the temple of Yahweh." ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll." Then Shaphan read before the king. ¹¹ When the king heard the words of the scroll of the Torah, he tore his clothes. ¹² Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Acbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying, ¹³ "Go, inquire of Yahweh for me and for the people and for all of Judah concerning the words of this scroll that was found. For the wrath of Yahweh that is kindled against us is great because our ancestors* did not listen to the words of this scroll to do according to all that is written concerning us!" ¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah the son of Harhas, the keeper of the robes. Now she was living in Jerusalem in the second district. Then they spoke to her, ¹⁵ and she said to them, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Say to the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶ "Thus says Yahweh, 'Look I am bringing evil to this place and upon its inhabitants, according to all of the words of that scroll that the king of Judah has read ¹⁷ because they have abandoned me and they have burned incense to other gods, provoking me to anger with all of the works of their hands. My wrath shall be kindled against this place and not be quenched.'" ¹⁸ And to the king of Judah who sent all of you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall say to him, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Concerning the words that you have heard, ¹⁹ because you have a responsive heart, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants to become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before my face, I have also heard, declares Yahweh. ²⁰ Therefore look, I am gathering you to your ancestors,* and you shall be gathered to your tombs in peace. Your eyes will not see all of the disaster that I am bringing onto this place.'" '" Then they _⌊reported the word_⌋* to the king.

¹ Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² And he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and he walked in the ways of David his ancestor* and did not deviate to the right or to the left. ³ In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the God of David his ancestor.* And in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherahs, the idols, and the images. ⁴ And he destroyed before him the altars for the Baals, and he cut down the incense stands above them. And the Asherahs, the idols, and the images he smashed. And he ground them to powder and sprinkled the dust over the burial sites of those who sacrificed to them. ⁵ And he burned the bones of the priests on the altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around, ⁷ he broke down the altars and the Asherahs and crushed the idols, grinding them to dust, and he cut down all the incense stands in all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem. ⁸ Now in the eighteenth year of his reign after he purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the commander of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of Yahweh his God. ⁹ And they came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave the money that was brought for the house of God, which the Levites, the guardians of the threshold, had gathered from the hand of Manasseh, Ephraim, and from the whole remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ And they delivered it into the hand of the workmen who were appointed in the house of Yahweh, and they in turn gave it to those doing the work who were at work in the house of Yahweh, to repair and restore the house. ¹¹ And they dispensed* it to the skilled craftsmen and the builders to buy stone for hewing and timber for the seams and for binding the houses that the kings of Judah had destroyed. ¹² And the men did the work faithfully. Over them as supervisors were appointed Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites from the Merarites, and Zechariah and Meshullam from the Kohathites. And other Levites, all who were skilled in instruments of song, ¹³ were over the porters and were directing all who worked _⌊on each task_⌋.* And some of the Levites were scribes, officials, and gatekeepers. ¹⁴ And when they brought out the money that had been brought to the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found a scroll of the law of Yahweh by the hand of Moses. ¹⁵ And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found a scroll of the law in the house of Yahweh!" Then Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan. ¹⁶ And Shaphan brought the scroll to the king and _⌊also informed_⌋* the king, saying, "All that was put into the hand of your servants they are doing. ¹⁷ They have dispensed* the money which was found in the house of Yahweh and have put it into the hand of the overseers and those doing the work." ¹⁸ Then Shaphan the scribe reported to the king, "Hilkiah the priest gave to me a scroll." Then Shaphan read from it before the king. ¹⁹ And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his garments, ²⁰ and the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king, saying, ²¹ "Go! Seek Yahweh on my behalf and on behalf of those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the scroll that was found, for the anger of Yahweh that was poured out on us is great, because our ancestors* have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do all that is written in this scroll." ²² Then Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, son of Tikvath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the garments. (Now she was living in Jerusalem in the second district.) And they spoke to her concerning this. ²³ And she said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'Say to the man who sent you all to me: ²⁴ "Thus says Yahweh: 'Behold, I am bringing disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants—all the curses written in the scroll that were read before the king of Judah— ²⁵ because they have abandoned me and burned incense to other gods so as to provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. And my wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched.' ²⁶ But to the king of Judah who sent you to seek Yahweh, thus shall you say to him: 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: As for the words which you heard, ²⁷ because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and against its inhabitants and you humbled yourself before me and tore your garments and wept before me, now I also have heard,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ²⁸ 'Behold, I will gather you to your ancestors,* and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see any of the disaster that I am bringing upon this place.'" '" ²⁹ Then they sent word to the king, and he gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ And the king went up to the house of Yahweh with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with the priests and the Levites—all the people from great to small—and they read in their ears all the words of the scroll of the covenant that was found in the house of Yahweh. ³¹ And the king stood at his position. And he made the covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh and to keep his commands and statutes and regulations with all his heart and with all his soul, to do the words of the covenant that were written on this scroll. ³² Then he obligated* all who were found in Jerusalem and in Benjamin, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem would do according to the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.* ³³ And Josiah removed all the detestable things from the whole land that belonged to the _⌊Israelites_⌋* and obligated* all who were found in Israel to serve Yahweh their God. All his days they did not turn aside from following* Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.*

² to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, the king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

³ "From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, the king of Judah, even up to this day, these twenty-three years* the word of Yahweh has come to me, and _⌊I have spoken to you over and over again_⌋,* but you have not listened.

³ the word of Yahweh _⌊came_⌋* clearly* to Ezekiel the son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of the Chaldeans at the _⌊Kebar River_⌋,* and the hand of Yahweh was on him there.

¹ The word of Yahweh that came to Hosea son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

¹⁶ All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness,

¹⁹ and we possess as more reliable the prophetic word, to which you do well if you* pay attention to it as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,

⁷ And Yahweh said, "I will destroy humankind whom I created from upon the face of the earth, from humankind, to animals, to creeping things, and to the birds of heaven,* for I regret that I have made them."

¹⁶ "Thus says Yahweh, 'Look I am bringing evil to this place and upon its inhabitants, according to all of the words of that scroll that the king of Judah has read ¹⁷ because they have abandoned me and they have burned incense to other gods, provoking me to anger with all of the works of their hands. My wrath shall be kindled against this place and not be quenched.'"

²¹ to fulfill the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land has enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of desolation it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

¹¹ Then I said, "Until when, Lord?"
And he said,
"Until the cities lie wasted without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is ruined and a waste,

⁸ Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn away from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, a land that is not inhabited." ⁹ Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine, turn back your hand over the branches like a grape-gatherer.

⁸ But like the bad figs that cannot be eaten because of their bad quality—for thus says Yahweh—so I will treat Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt. ⁹ And I will make them as a terror, an evil to all the kingdoms of the earth, as a disgrace and a proverb, as a taunt and a curse, in all the places where I will drive them. ¹⁰ And I will send among them the sword, the famine, and the plague, until they perish from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.'"*

²² Look, I am going to command,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, 'and I will bring them back to this city, and they will fight against it, and they will capture it, and they will burn it with fire, and the towns of Judah I will make a desolation _⌊without_⌋* an inhabitant.'"

²⁹ And concerning Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, you shall say, 'Thus says Yahweh, "You have burned this scroll, _⌊saying_⌋,* 'Why have you written in it, _⌊saying_⌋,* "The king of Babylon will certainly come and he will destroy this land, and he will cause to disappear from it humankind and animals"?'"*

²⁷ "Thus you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "_⌊As I live_⌋,* _⌊surely_⌋* whoever is in the ruins, by the sword they will fall, and whoever is on the surface of the open field, I will give him to the animals* to eat him, and whoever is in the stronghold and in the cave, they will die by the plague. ²⁸ And I will make the land a desolation and a wasteland, and the pride of its strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate _⌊with no one traveling through them_⌋." '* ²⁹ And they will know that I am Yahweh when I make my land a desolation and a wasteland, because of all of their detestable things that they have done.

¹³ But the earth will be a desolation because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds.

⁹ Therefore by this he will make atonement for the guilt of Jacob, and this will be all of the fruit of the removal of his sin: _⌊when he makes_⌋* all the stones of the altar like crushed stones of chalk, no poles of Asherah worship or incense altars will stand.

²³ I looked at the earth, and behold, it was wasteland and emptiness, and to the heavens, and they were without their light. ²⁴ I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all of the hills were jolted to and fro. ²⁵ I looked and behold, there was no person, and all of the birds* of the sky had fled. ²⁶ I looked and behold, the fruitful land was a desert,* and all of its cities were ruined before Yahweh, before the face of _⌊his burning anger_⌋.* ²⁷ For thus says Yahweh, "All of the land will be a desolation, yet I will not make a complete desolation. ²⁸ Because of this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above will become dark. Because I have spoken, I have planned, and I have not relented, and I will not turn back from it." ²⁹ From the sound of a horseman and _⌊an archer_⌋* every town flees, they enter in the thickets and among the rocks they climb. Every town is forsaken, and there is no person who lives in them.

⁴ _⌊How long_⌋* will the land mourn, and the vegetation of every field dry up, because of the wickedness of those who live in it? The animals and the birds* are swept away, because they have said, "He does not see our future."

¹⁹ Their silver they will discard on the streets, and filth will be their gold; their silver and their gold will not be able to rescue them on the day of the wrath of Yahweh. They will not satisfy their _⌊hunger_⌋* and their stomachs they will not fill, for their guilt will be their* stumbling block.

³ "Son of man,* these men took up their idols into their heart and _⌊they placed before themselves_⌋* a stumbling block of their guilt.* _⌊Should I really let myself be consulted by them_⌋?* ⁴ Therefore speak with them, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Every person from the house of Israel who brings up his idols into his heart and _⌊places before himself_⌋* a stumbling block of his guilt* and yet he comes to the prophet, I Yahweh, I will respond to him through this act* with respect to the multitude* of his idols, ⁵ so that I may take hold of the house of Israel by their heart, those who are estranged from me, all of them, through their idols.' ⁶ Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Return,* and turn away from your idols and from all of your detestable things! Turn away your faces!" ' ⁷ For _⌊each person_⌋* from the house of Israel, and from the alien who dwells as an alien in Israel, who separates himself _⌊from following me_⌋* and brings up his idols into his heart and _⌊places before himself_⌋* a stumbling block of his guilt*, and yet he comes to the prophet to consult him concerning me, I Yahweh will answer* him myself.

¹³ "Son of man,* when a land sins against me by _⌊acting very unfaithfully_⌋,* then I will stretch out my hand against it, and I will break for it the _⌊supply of food_⌋,* and I will send against it famine, and I will cut it off, both human and animal. ¹⁴ And if even the three of these men were in the midst of it—Noah, Daniel, and Job—they, through their righteousness, would save only _⌊themselves_⌋!"* _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁵ "If a fierce animal I should let cross through the land, and it should make it childless and it will be a desolation, so that there will not be one crossing over the land _⌊due to_⌋* the presence of the animal, ¹⁶ even if these three men were in the midst of it, _⌊as surely as I live_⌋,"* _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh, "surely they will not save sons and daughters; _⌊they themselves alone_⌋,* they will be saved, but the land will be a desolation. ¹⁷ Or, if I bring a sword over that land, and I say, 'Sword, let it cross over into* the land!' And I will cut off from it both human and animal. ¹⁸ And if these three men were in the midst of it, _⌊as surely as I live_⌋,"* _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh, "they will not save sons and daughters, but _⌊they alone_⌋* will be saved. ¹⁹ And if I were to send a plague to that land, and I pour out my rage on it with blood to cut it off, both human and animal, ²⁰ and if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the midst of her, _⌊as surely as I live_⌋,"* _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh, "surely not a son, surely not a daughter will they save by their righteousness; they would save _⌊themselves_⌋."* ²¹ For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "How much more when I send my four punishments—the evil sword, and famine, and a fierce animal, and a plague—to Jerusalem to cut it off, both human and animal!

⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: _⌊Just like_⌋* the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest* which I gave to the fire for fuel, so I have given the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ⁷ And I will set my face against them. From the fire they may_⌊escape_⌋,* but the fire will yet consume them, and they will know that I am Yahweh _⌊when I set my face against them_⌋.* ⁸ And I will make the land a desolation because _⌊they acted very unfaithfully_⌋!"* _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

¹² _⌊because_⌋* they used to serve them _⌊before_⌋* their idols and they were for the house of Israel like a stumbling block of iniquity. Therefore _⌊I swore_⌋* concerning them," _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh, "that they will bear their iniquity.

³ Therefore the land mourns, and all those living in it languish with the animals of the field, and the birds of the heaven, and even the fish of the sea are being swept away.

³ Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses,* and we will say no more, "Our God," to the work of our hands because in you the fatherless child finds mercy.

⁸ O Ephraim, _⌊what have I to do_⌋* with idols? I myself have answered and looked after you.* I am like a luxuriant cypress; your fruit* comes from me.

¹¹ And I will cut off the cities of your land, and I will demolish all your fortifications. ¹² And I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will not have soothsayers. ¹³ And I will cut off your idols and your stone pillars from among you, and you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands. ¹⁴ And I will uproot your Asherahs from among you, and I will destroy your cities.

² _⌊And then_⌋,* on that day,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh of hosts, 'I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and also the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness I will banish from the land.

³⁹ For I tell you, you will never see me from now on until you say,
'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!'"*

¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: that you have there those who hold fast to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.

¹² You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.

¹³ I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes the dish; he wipes it and turns it on its face.

⁴ Then the _⌊king_⌋* commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the second priests, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of Yahweh all of the objects made for Baal and for the Asherah and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and then he carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ He removed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem and who offered incense to, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.

⁴ And he destroyed before him the altars for the Baals, and he cut down the incense stands above them. And the Asherahs, the idols, and the images he smashed. And he ground them to powder and sprinkled the dust over the burial sites of those who sacrificed to them.

²⁶ This is the plan that is planned concerning all of the earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out over all of the nations. ²⁷ For Yahweh of hosts has planned, and who will frustrate it? And his hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

¹² And their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and their wives together. For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

⁵ The inhabitants* of Samaria tremble for the calf* of Beth-aven. Indeed, his people will mourn for it, and his idolatrous priests will wail* over it— over its glory because it has departed from it.

¹³ And I will cut off your idols and your stone pillars from among you, and you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands.

²⁰ Yahweh your God, you shall revere him, you shall serve him, and to him you shall cling, and by his name you shall swear.

⁷ so as not to go among these remaining nations with you; _⌊do not profess_⌋* the name of their gods, and do not swear by them, serve them, or _⌊bow down to them_⌋.*

⁵ Solomon went after Ashtoreth the god of the Sidonians and after Molech the abhorrence of the Ammonites.

³³ because he has forsaken me, and they bowed down to Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Molech, the god of the _⌊Ammonites_⌋.* They did not walk in my ways to do right in my eyes, my ordinances, or my judgments, as did David his father.

²¹ Elijah approached to all the people and said, "How long will you go limping over two opinions? If Yahweh is God, go after him; but if Baal, go after him." But the people did not answer him a word.

³³ Yahweh they were fearing, but their gods they were serving, according to the customs of the nations from which they were deported.

⁴¹ So these nations were fearing Yahweh, but they were serving their idols, as were their children and their children's children; as their ancestors* did, they are doing until this day.

¹² The altars which were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the temple of Yahweh, the king tore down and ran from there and threw their ashes into the Wadi Kidron.

⁵ This one will say, 'I belong to Yahweh!' And that one will be called by the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand 'Yahweh's' and _⌊take the name_⌋* of Israel."

²³ I have sworn by myself; a word that* shall not return has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness: 'Every knee shall kneel down to me; every tongue shall swear.'

¹ Hear this, house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel and came out from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of Yahweh, and _⌊invoke_⌋* the God of Israel, but not in truth and not in righteousness.

² and you swear, '_⌊As Yahweh lives_⌋,'* in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations will be blessed by him, and in him they will boast."

⁷ "_⌊How_⌋* can I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me, and they have sworn by those who are not gods. But I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and flocked to the house of a prostitute.

¹³ And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be unclean like the place of Topheth, all the houses where they made smoke offerings upon their roofs to all the host of heaven, and where they poured out libations to other gods." '"

²⁹ And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and they will burn it, and the houses where they have made smoke offerings on their roofs to Baal, and where they have devoted libations to other gods, in order to provoke me to anger.

¹⁵ Even though you, O Israel, are playing the whore, do not let Judah become guilty; do not enter Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven; and do not swear, "_⌊As Yahweh lives_⌋!"*

²⁶ And you will take up Sikkuth, your king, and Kaiwan, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves.

²⁴ "No one is able to serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You are not able to serve God and money.*

¹¹ For it is written,
"As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will praise God."*

¹¹ "I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not kept my word." _⌊Samuel became angry_⌋,* and he cried out to Yahweh all night.

⁴ _⌊With bald-faced pride_⌋* the wicked will not seek God. There is no God in any of his thoughts.

² Yahweh looks down from heaven upon the children of humankind to see whether there is one who has insight, one who cares about God. ³ All have gone astray; they are altogether corrupt. There is not one who does good; there is not even one.

³ The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit. He has ceased to have insight and to do good.

⁵ But regarding those who turn aside to their crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.

⁴ Ah, sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly. They have forsaken Yahweh; they have despised the holy one of Israel. They are estranged and gone backward.

¹³ And the people did not turn to the one who struck it,* and they did not seek Yahweh of hosts.

²² But* you did not call me, Jacob; for you have become weary of me, Israel.

¹³ "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the source* of living water, to hew out for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.

¹⁷ Did you not do this to yourself, by forsaking Yahweh, your God, at the time of your leading in the way?

¹⁰ Yet even in all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, _⌊but only_⌋* in pretense,"* _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

⁶ You have forsaken me," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. "You go backward, so I have stretched my hand against you, and I have destroyed you. I am tired of becoming remorseful.

²⁰ And _⌊when the righteous turns from his righteousness_⌋* and does injustice, and I place* a stumbling block _⌊before him_⌋,* he will die, for you did not warn him. Because of his sin he will die, and his righteousness* that he did will not be remembered, and his blood I shall seek from your hand.

¹⁵ Even though you, O Israel, are playing the whore, do not let Judah become guilty; do not enter Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven; and do not swear, "_⌊As Yahweh lives_⌋!"* ¹⁶ Indeed, like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; Now Yahweh will feed them, like a lamb in broad pasture.*

⁷ All of them are hot as an oven, and they devour* their rulers. All their kings have fallen; there is none who calls to me amongst them.

⁷ My people are bent on backsliding from me. To the Most High they call, he does not raise them at all.

¹¹ there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.

³ how will we escape if we* neglect so great a salvation which had its beginning when it* was spoken through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard,

³⁸ But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul is not well pleased with him."* ³⁹ But we are not among those who shrink back to destruction, but among those who have faith to the preservation of our souls.

¹⁸ _⌊For by speaking high-sounding but empty words_⌋*, they entice with desires of the flesh and with licentiousness those who are scarcely escaping from those who live in error, ¹⁹ promising them freedom although they* themselves are slaves of depravity. For to whatever someone succumbs, by this he is also* enslaved. ²⁰ For if, after they* have escaped from the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord* and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in these things and succumb to them, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. ²² The statement of the true proverb has happened to them, "A dog returns to its own vomit,"* and "A sow, after* washing herself, returns* to wallowing in the mud."*

⁹ He will guard the feet of his faithful* ones, but the wicked will be destroyed* in the darkness, because a man will not prevail by his might. ¹⁰ Yahweh will shatter* his adversaries;* he will thunder against them in the heavens. Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and will exalt the might of his anointed one.

⁵ He said, "I come in peace. I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." So he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

²⁶ But Saul said nothing on that day, for he thought, "_⌊Something happened to him_⌋.* He is not ceremonially clean; surely he is not clean."

⁴ "Look, I am insignificant. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. ⁵ Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; even* twice, but* I will not proceed."

¹⁰ Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.

⁸ From heaven you proclaimed judgment. The earth feared and was still ⁹ when God rose for justice, to save all the afflicted of the land. Selah

¹ Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars. ² She has slaughtered her slaughtering, mixed her wine, and also set her table. ³ She has sent her servant girls,* she calls upon the wings of the high places of town, ⁴ "Whoever is simple, let him turn here." As for the one who lacks _⌊sense_⌋,* she says to him, ⁵ "Come, eat with my bread; drink with the wine I have mixed. ⁶ Lay aside simplicity and live; walk in the way of understanding."

¹² For there is a day for Yahweh of hosts against all of the proud and the lofty and against all that is lifted up and humble,*

⁵ And I said, "Woe to me! For I am destroyed!* For I am a man _⌊of unclean lips_⌋,* and I am living among* a people _⌊of unclean lips_⌋,* for my eyes have seen the king, Yahweh of hosts!"

⁶ Wail, for the day of Yahweh is near; it will come like destruction from Shaddai!*

⁶ _⌊Yahweh has a sword_⌋;*
it is full of blood. It is covered with* fat, with* the blood of lambs and goats, with* the fat of the kidneys of rams, for _⌊Yahweh has a sacrifice_⌋* in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

¹⁰ For that day is to the Lord Yahweh of hosts a day of retribution, to take revenge on his foes. And the sword will devour and be satisfied, and it will drink its fill of their blood, for a sacrifice is for the Lord Yahweh of hosts in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.

⁷ Doom is coming against you, the dweller* of the land; the time comes, the day is near, panic and not joy is on the mountains.

¹⁰ Look! The day is coming; doom goes out, the staff blossoms, pride sprouts.

¹⁷ "And you, son of man,* thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Say to _⌊all kinds of birds and animals of the field_⌋,* "Be gathered, come be gathered _⌊from everywhere_⌋* to my sacrifice that I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, and you will eat flesh, and you will drink blood. ¹⁸ Flesh of warriors you will eat, and the blood of leaders of the land you will drink; rams, young rams and goats, bulls, and the fattened animals of Bashan—all of them! ¹⁹ And you will eat fat _⌊until you are satiated_⌋,* and you will drink blood _⌊until you are drunk_⌋* from my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, ²⁰ and you will be satisfied at my table with horse and horsemen and warriors and every man of war," ' _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

¹ Blow the trumpet* in Zion, and sound the alarm on _⌊my holy mountain_⌋!* Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh is coming —it is indeed near. ² A day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness, like the dawn spreads on the mountains, a great and strong army! There has been nothing like it from old, and after it nothing will be again _⌊for generations to come_⌋.*

¹¹ And Yahweh _⌊utters_⌋* his voice before his army, because his encampment is very large; strong is the one who carries out his decree, for great is the day of Yahweh and exceedingly fearful. Who can endure it?

³¹ The sun will be changed to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh.

¹⁸ Alas, those who desire the day of Yahweh, why is this for you the day of Yahweh? It will be darkness and not light! ¹⁹ It will be as if a man fled from a lion and a bear met him; or he went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall and a snake bit him. ²⁰ Is not the day of Yahweh darkness and not light, and pitch dark with no brightness in it?

¹⁰ And if one's relative, who burns the body, lifts it up and brings the body out of the house and he will say to someone in the innermost part of the house, "Are there any more with you?" and he will say, "None," then he will say, "Silence," because we must not invoke the name of Yahweh.

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

¹⁴ The great day of Yahweh draws near; it is near and coming very swiftly. The sound of the day of Yahweh is bitterness; there, a warrior cries out!

¹³ Be silent, _⌊all people_⌋,* before Yahweh, for he is roused from _⌊his holy dwelling_⌋."*

¹ * "For look! The day is about to come, burning like an oven, and all the arrogant and every _⌊evildoer_⌋* will be stubble. The coming day will consume* them," says Yahweh of hosts. "It will not leave behind for them root or branch.

⁴ Again he sent other slaves, saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding celebration!" '

¹⁶ But he said to him, "A certain man was giving a large banquet and invited many. ¹⁷ And he sent his slave at the hour of the banquet to say to those who have been invited, 'Come, because now it is ready!'

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those under the law, in order that every mouth may be closed and the whole world may become accountable to God.

²⁰ On the contrary, O man, who are you who answers back to God? Will what is molded say to the one who molded it, "Why did you make me like this"?*

⁵ Let your gentleness be made known to all people. The Lord is near.

¹² giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you for a share of the inheritance of the saints in light,

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will disappear with a rushing noise, and the celestial bodies will be destroyed by* being burned up, and the earth and the deeds done on it will be disclosed. ¹¹ Because* all these things are being destroyed in this way, what sort of people must you be in holy behavior and godliness, ¹² while* waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by* being burned up and the celestial bodies will melt as they* are consumed by heat!

¹⁷ And I saw one angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly _⌊directly overhead_⌋*,
"Come! Assemble for the great banquet of God, ¹⁸ in order that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of military tribunes, and the flesh of the powerful, and the flesh of horses and those seated on them, and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, and small and great!"

⁵ "The apparel of a man shall not be put on* a woman, and a man shall not wear the clothing of a woman, because everyone who does these things is detestable to Yahweh your God.

²² He said to the one who was over the wardrobe, "Bring out clothing for all of the servants of Baal." So he brought the clothing out for them.

³⁰ So his servants drove him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, and they brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father. ³¹ Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ³² He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all his ancestors* had done. ³³ Then Pharaoh Neco confined him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, from reigning in Jerusalem, and imposed a levy on the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. ³⁴ Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of Josiah his father, and he changed his name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt, and he died there.

¹² Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his court officials. The king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. ¹³ Then he took from there all of the treasures of the temple of Yahweh and the treasures of the palace of the king. He cut up all of the vessels of gold which Solomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had foretold.

⁶ So they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and _⌊they passed sentence on him_⌋.* ⁷ They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; then they blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

¹⁹ From the city he took one court official who was chief officer over the men of war, five men _⌊from the king's council_⌋* who were found in the city, the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land being found in the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹ Then the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath; thus Judah was removed from its land.

¹⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets and the headbands and the crescent necklaces, ¹⁹ the pendants and the bracelets and the veils, ²⁰ the headdresses and the armlets and the sashes, and the _⌊perfume boxes_⌋* and the amulets, ²¹ the signet rings and the nose rings, ²² the festal robes and the mantles, and the cloaks and the handbags, ²³ and the mirrors and the linen garments, and the turbans and the wraps. ²⁴ And this shall happen: There will be a stench instead of perfume, and a rope instead of a sash, and baldness instead of a well-set hairdo, and a clothing wrap of sackcloth instead of a rich robe, branding instead of beauty.

¹² And this shall happen: when the Lord has finished all his work against _⌊Mount Zion_⌋* and Jerusalem, "I will punish the _⌊arrogance_⌋* of the king of Assyria and _⌊his haughtiness_⌋."*

²¹ And this shall happen on that day:
Yahweh will punish the host of heaven in heaven, and the kings of the earth on the earth.

⁷ 'And some of your sons who go out from you, whom you fathered, shall be taken, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

¹¹ For thus says Yahweh concerning Shallum, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who reigned as king in place of Josiah his father, who went out from this place: "He will not return here again. ¹² But in the place where they have deported him, there he will die, and he will not see this land again. ¹³ Woe to the one who builds his house without righteousness, and his upper rooms without justice. His fellow countryman, he works for nothing, and he does not give to him his wages.* ¹⁴ Who says 'I will build for myself a spacious house with large upper rooms,' and he cuts windows for it, and it is* paneled with cedar, and he paints it* with vermilion. ¹⁵ Do you reign as king because you are competing in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and he did justice and righteousness, then it was well with him? ¹⁶ He judged the legal cause of the needy and the poor, and then it was well. _⌊Is that not what it means to know me_⌋?*" _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh. ¹⁷ "But there is nothing in your eyes and your heart _⌊except_⌋* your unlawful gain, and on shedding the blood of the innocent, and on committing oppression and extortion." ¹⁸ _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah:
"They will not lament for him, 'Alas, my brother,' or 'Alas, sister.' They will not lament for him, 'Alas, lord,' or 'alas, his majesty.' ¹⁹ He will be buried with the burial of a donkey. He will be* dragged away and thrown _⌊outside_⌋* the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁴ "As I live," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "surely if Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were the seal on my right hand, surely from there I would wrench you off. ²⁵ And I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those from whom you are frightened by their presence, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. ²⁶ And I will throw you and your mother who gave birth to you to another country where you were not born, and there you will die. ²⁷ As for the land to which they are _⌊longing_⌋* to return, they will not return. ²⁸ Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered vessel? Or a vessel in which there is no delight? Why are he and his offspring thrown far, and cast away to the land that they do not know?" ²⁹ O land, land, land, hear the word of Yahweh. ³⁰ Thus says Yahweh:
"Record this man as childless, a man who will not succeed in his days, for no man from his offspring will succeed him,* sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah."

⁶ And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. ⁷ Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and tied him up with bronze fetters to bring him to Babylon.

¹⁵ Also, before they _⌊offered up_⌋* the fat as a burnt offering, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give the priest meat for roasting, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but only _⌊raw_⌋."* ¹⁶ And if the man said to him, "Let them burn the fat completely _⌊first_⌋,* then take for yourself as _⌊you_⌋* desire," then he would say to him, "No!* Give it now! If not, I will take it by force!"

⁵ (Therefore the priests of Dagon and all who come into the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod until this very day.)

²⁰ But Gehazi the servant of Elisha, the man of God, thought, "Look, my master has refrained from taking what this Aramean Naaman brought from his hand. _⌊As Yahweh lives_⌋,* I will certainly run after him, and I will accept something from him." ²¹ So Gehazi pursued after Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he jumped off his chariot to meet him and asked him, "Is it peace?" ²² He said, "Peace. My master has sent me saying, 'Look, _⌊just now_⌋* two servants from the hill country of Ephraim came to me, from the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.'" ²³ Then Naaman said, "Be prepared to accept two talents." So he urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing and gave it to two of his servants and they carried it before him. ²⁴ When he came to the citadel, he took them from their hand and put them in the house, then sent away the men so that they went. ²⁵ When he went and stood by his master, Elisha asked him, "From where have you come, Gehazi?" And he said, "Your servant has not gone _⌊anywhere_⌋."* ²⁶ Then he said to him, "Did not my heart go with you as the man turned from on his chariot to meet you? Is it time to take silver, clothes, olive orchards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, male slaves, and female slaves? ²⁷ The skin disease of Naaman shall cling to you and to your offspring forever." Then he went out from before him having a skin disease like the snow.

¹⁵ The former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and they took food and wine from them, besides forty shekels. Also, their servants controlled the people, but I did not do so because of the fear of God.

¹² A ruler listening to a word of falsehood, all his officials are wicked.

¹⁰ "They do not know how to do right," _⌊declares Yahweh_⌋,* "those who store up violence and destruction in their citadel fortresses."

¹⁹ But when* her owners saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and* dragged them* into the marketplace before the rulers.

⁷ David captured the fortress of Zion, the city of David.

⁹ David occupied the fortress and called it the city of David. And David built all around it from the Millo and _⌊inward_⌋.*

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah the son of Harhas, the keeper of the robes. Now she was living in Jerusalem in the second district. Then they spoke to her,

¹ Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had established, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

²² So Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and from the all their enemies, and gave them rest all around.

¹⁴ Then afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of the Gihon in the valley, and for the entrance into the Gate of the Fishes. And it encircled the Ophel and raised it very high. Then he placed strong commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

³ The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They laid its beams and erected its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

⁴ Therefore I said,
"Look away from me, let me _⌊weep bitterly_⌋;* you must not insist on comforting me for the destruction of the daughter of my people." ⁵ For the Lord Yahweh of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion* in the valley of vision, a tearing down of walls* and a cry for help to the mountains.*

¹¹ We all groan like bears, and we coo mutteringly like doves. We wait for justice, but* there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹⁹ My bowels, my bowels! I writhe! The walls of my heart! My heart is restless within me, I cannot keep silent, for I hear in my inner self the sound of a horn, the alarm of war. ²⁰ Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, for all of the land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are devastated, my tent curtains in a moment. ²¹ How long must I see the banner, and hear the sound of a horn?

³¹ For I heard a voice like an ill woman, anxiety like a woman who bears her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion. She is gasping for breath, she is spreading out her hands: "Woe is me, for I am becoming tired* before killers."

² In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was taken by assault.

³ "And the songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day," _⌊declares_⌋* my Lord Yahweh. "The corpses are numerous; he throws them in every place. Be quiet!"

⁷ Be silent before the Lord Yahweh, for the day of Yahweh draws near, for Yahweh has provided a sacrifice and has consecrated his guests.

¹⁵ That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of disaster and ruination, a day of darkness and deep gloom, a day of clouds* and thick clouds,*

³¹ After him Malkijah, _⌊one of the goldsmiths_⌋,* repaired up to the house of the temple servants and the merchants, opposite the Enrollment Gate and up to the upper room of the corner. ³² Between the upper room of the corner to the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and merchants repaired.

⁸ Because of this gird yourselves with sackcloth,* lament and wail, for _⌊the burning anger_⌋* of Yahweh has not turned back from us.

³⁴ Wail, you shepherds, and cry out. And roll about in mourning in the dust, O leaders* of the flock. For your days of slaughter and your dispersions have arrived, and you will fall like a vessel of desire.

¹² Cry and wail, son of man,* for it is against my people; it is against all of the princes of Israel. They are thrown to the sword with my people; therefore _⌊strike your thigh_⌋.*

⁶ For look! If they flee from the destruction, Egypt will gather them; Memphis* will bury them. Nettles will possess their precious things of silver; thorns will be in their tents.

⁷ The trader, in his hand are scales of deceit;* he loves to oppress. ⁸ And Ephraim said, "Surely, I am rich, I gained* wealth for myself; in all my toil they have not found guilt in me that is sin.

⁵ Wake up, drunkards, and weep! Wail, all drinkers of wine, over the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.

¹³ Gird yourselves and lament, O priests! Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because offering and libation are withheld from the house of your God.

² Wail, O juniper,* for the cedar has fallen, for the magnificent trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the impenetrable forest has come down! ³ Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their splendor is ruined! Listen to the roar of the young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are ruined!

¹⁶ And to the ones selling the doves he said, "Take these things away from here! Do not make my Father's house _⌊a marketplace_⌋!"*

¹ Come now, you rich people, weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming upon you!

¹¹ And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any more— ¹² cargo of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple cloth and silk and scarlet cloth and all kinds of scented wood and all kinds of ivory goods and all kinds of goods of precious wood and bronze and iron and marble ¹³ and cinnamon and amomum* and incense and ointment and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine wheat flour and wheat and domesticated animals and sheep and horses and carriages and _⌊slaves_⌋* and human lives. ¹⁴ "And _⌊the fruit your soul desires_⌋* has departed from you, and all the luxury and the splendor has perished from you, and they will never find them any more." ¹⁵ The merchants of these things, who became rich from them, will stand _⌊far off_⌋*, weeping and mourning because of the fear of her torment, ¹⁶ saying,
"Woe, woe, the great city, dressed in fine linen and purple cloth and scarlet cloth, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, ¹⁷ because in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!"
And every shipmaster and _⌊every seafarer_⌋* and sailors and all those who labor on the sea stood _⌊far off_⌋* ¹⁸ and began to cry out when they* saw the smoke of her burning, saying, "Who is like the great city?"

¹⁵ Who is Shaddai that we should serve him, or* what would we benefit when we plead with him?'

¹¹ He says in his heart, "God has forgotten. He has hidden his face. He never sees." ¹² Rise up, O Yahweh; O God, lift up your hand. Do not forget the afflicted. ¹³ Why does the wicked treat God with contempt? He says in his heart, "You will not call me to account."

¹ For the music director. Of David.*
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds. There is none who does good.

⁷ while* they say, "Yah* does not see," and "The God of Jacob does not pay attention."

¹⁹ those who say, "Let him make haste; let him hurry his work so that we may see it and let it draw near and let the plan of the holy one of Israel come so that we may know it!"

⁵ They are like scarecrows* in a cucumber field, they cannot speak. Indeed, they must be carried, for they cannot march. You must not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil; furthermore, to do good is not in them."

¹⁶ Look, I am sending for many fishermen,' _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, 'and they will fish them out, and _⌊afterward_⌋* I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and from the clefts of the cliffs. ¹⁷ For my eyes are on all their ways, they are not hidden _⌊from before me_⌋,* and their iniquity is not concealed from before my eyes.

¹¹ Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has been quiet on his dregs, and he has not been poured out from vessel to vessel, and he has not gone into exile. _⌊Therefore_⌋* his taste has remained unchanged, and his fragrance has not changed.

¹² And he said to me, "Have you seen, son of man,* what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the inner rooms of his idol, for they are saying, 'Yahweh is not seeing us; Yahweh has abandoned the land.'"

⁹ And he said to me, "The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is _⌊exceedingly_⌋* great, and the land is filled with bloodguilt, and the city is full of injustice. For they say Yahweh abandoned the land, and _⌊Yahweh does not see_⌋.*

¹ Alas for those being at ease in Zion, and those who feel secure on Mount Samaria, the notables of the best of the nations! The house of Israel resorts to them.

¹ I saw my Lord standing by the altar and he said, "Strike the capitals so that the thresholds will shake, and shatter them on the head of all of them, and I will kill the rest of them with the sword. A fugitive belonging to them will not run away, and a survivor belonging to them will not escape. ² If they dig into Sheol, from there my hand will take them, and even if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. ³ And even if they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search and will take them, and even if they hide from before my eyes at the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the sea serpent and it will bite them.

⁶ How Esau has been pillaged; his treasures have been ransacked!

¹⁴ You have said, 'It is useless* to serve God! What is the gain if we keep* his requirements, and if we walk as mourners _⌊before_⌋* Yahweh of hosts? ¹⁵ And now we are calling the arrogant blessed! Not only do those who do wickedness prosper; they also test God and they escape!'"

⁴ and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For _⌊ever since_⌋* the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued just as they have been from the beginning of creation."

²³ And I will kill her children with deadly disease, and all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

³⁰ You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall sleep* with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; a vineyard you shall plant, but you shall not enjoy it.

³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and you shall dress* them, but you shall not drink wine and you shall not gather grapes, for the worm shall eat it.*

⁵¹ And it* shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋,* and who will not leave for you any grain, wine, and olive oil, _⌊calves of your herds_⌋,* and _⌊lambs of_⌋* your flock _⌊until it has destroyed you_⌋.*

⁸ Ah! Those who _⌊join_⌋* house with house, they join field together with field until _⌊there is no place_⌋* and you are caused to dwell alone in the midst of the land. ⁹ Yahweh of hosts said in my ears:
_⌊Surely_⌋* many houses shall become a desolation, large and beautiful ones without inhabitant.

¹ Look! Yahweh is about to lay the earth waste and is about to devastate it, and he will twist her surface, and he will scatter her inhabitants. ² And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the female slave, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the one to whom he lends. ³ The earth shall be utterly laid waste, and it shall be utterly plundered,
for Yahweh has spoken this word.

²¹ And they shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ²² They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat. For the days of my people shall be like the days of a tree, and my chosen ones shall enjoy the work of their hands.

⁷ A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has gone out from his place to make your land as a horror, your cities will go to ruin _⌊without_⌋* inhabitant.

²⁰ Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, for all of the land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are devastated, my tent curtains in a moment.

¹⁷ And they will eat your harvest and your food, they will eat your sons and your daughters, they will eat your flock and your herd, they will eat your vine and your fig tree, they will smash with the sword _⌊your fortified cities_⌋,* in which you trust.

¹¹ And I will make Jerusalem as heaps of ruins, a lair of jackals, and the towns of Judah I will make a desolation, _⌊without inhabitants_⌋.*

¹⁹ For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion, 'How we are devastated! We are very ashamed because we have left the land, because they have overthrown our dwelling places.'

¹⁰ Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled down my plot of land. They have made _⌊my pleasant field_⌋* like the desert* of desolation. ¹¹ They have made it a desolation. Desolate, it mourns to me. All the land is made desolate, but there is no person taking it to heart. ¹² Upon all the barren heights in the desert* destroyers have come, for the sword of Yahweh devours, from one end of the land to the other end of the land, there is no peace for all flesh. ¹³ They have sown wheat and they have reaped thorns. They are exhausted, they do not profit. And they will be ashamed of your produce, because of _⌊the burning anger_⌋* of Yahweh."

¹³ I will give your wealth and your treasures as plunder without price, even because of all your sins, and throughout all your territories.

²¹ And I will give it into the hand of strangers as plunder and to the wicked people of the earth as spoil, and they will defile it.

³¹ and so I poured out my indignation on them. With the fire of my wrath I destroyed them; I returned their way upon their head," _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

¹¹ Therefore, because you trample on the poor and you take a grain tax from them, you built houses of dressed stone, but you will not live in them. You built vineyards of delightfulness, but you will not drink their wine.

¹² Therefore on account of you Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will be a heap of rubble, and _⌊the temple mount_⌋* as a high place in a forest.

¹⁵ You yourself will sow, but you will not reap; you will tread olives, but you will not anoint yourself with oil; you will tread grapes, but you will not drink wine.

⁹ And on that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill up the house of their master with violence and deceit.

⁴ And Heshbon and Elealeh cry* out, their voice is heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the armed ones of Moab cry out; its soul quivers* for him.

⁷ Look! Their heroes cry out in the street; the messengers of peace weep bitterly.

⁶ A voice, an uproar from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of Yahweh _⌊paying back_⌋* his enemies!

³⁶ A sound, the cry of distress of the shepherds and the wailing of the leaders* of the flock, for Yahweh is despoiling their pasture.

⁷ Alas! For that day is great, _⌊there is none like it_⌋.* And it is a time of distress for Jacob, yet from it he will be delivered.

⁴¹ Kerioth will be taken, and the strongholds will be conquered, and the hearts* of the warriors of Moab will be on that day like the heart of a woman who is in labor.

⁶ The end comes, comes the end! It has awakened against you! Look! It comes! ⁷ Doom is coming against you, the dweller* of the land; the time comes, the day is near, panic and not joy is on the mountains.

¹² The time has come, the day has arrived; let not the buyer rejoice, and let the seller not mourn, for anger is on all their multitude.

²³ Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "I will put an end to this proverb, and they will not quote it as a proverb again in Israel." ' But* say to them, 'The days are near, and also the word of every vision.'

³ For a day is near; indeed, a day is near for Yahweh. A day of cloud, a time of the nations it will be.

¹⁵ Ah! For the day! For the day of Yahweh is near. It will come like destruction from Shaddai.*

¹ Blow the trumpet* in Zion, and sound the alarm on _⌊my holy mountain_⌋!* Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh is coming —it is indeed near.

¹⁶ And Yahweh roars from Zion; from Jerusalem he utters his voice, and the heavens and the earth shake. But Yahweh is a refuge for his people, and a protection for the children of Israel.

² And he said, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." And Yahweh said to me, "The end has come upon my people Israel. I will not pass by them again!"

¹⁰ "And there shall be on that day"—a declaration of Yahweh— "a _⌊loud outcry_⌋* from the Fish Gate, and a wailing from the Second District, and a loud* crashing from the hills.

⁵ Look! I am going to send to you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh!

²⁰ The sun will be changed to darkness and the moon to blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

²⁶ whose voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, saying,
"Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven."*

⁹ Brothers, do not complain against one another, in order that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge stands before the doors!

³ And in greediness they will exploit you with false words, whose condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

¹⁵ And the kings of the earth, and the most important people, and the military leaders, and the rich, and the powerful, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, ¹⁶ And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, ¹⁷ because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

⁴ Let that day become* darkness; may God not seek it from above, nor may daylight shine on it. ⁵ Let darkness and deep shadow claim it; let clouds* settle on it; let them* terrify it with the blackness* of day. ⁶ Let darkness seize that night;* let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not enter among the number of the months. ⁷ Look, let that night become* barren; let a joyful song not enter it. ⁸ Let those who curse the day curse it, those who are skilled at rousing Leviathan.

⁵ For the Lord Yahweh of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion* in the valley of vision, a tearing down of walls* and a cry for help to the mountains.*

² A day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness, like the dawn spreads on the mountains, a great and strong army! There has been nothing like it from old, and after it nothing will be again _⌊for generations to come_⌋.*

¹⁸ Moreover, their silver and their gold will not be able to save them on the day of the wrath of Yahweh. And in the fire of his zeal, the whole land shall be consumed, for a terrifying end he shall make for all the inhabitants of the land.

² Before the birth of the decree, the day flies away like chaff; before the fierce anger of Yahweh overtakes you; before the day of the anger of Yahweh overtakes you.

²² because these are days of vengeance, so that all the things that are written can be fulfilled. ²³ Woe to those _⌊who are pregnant_⌋* and to those who are nursing their babies* in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people,

⁵ But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

⁷ But by the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people.

¹⁷ because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

¹² Walk about Zion and circle it; count her towers. ¹³ _⌊Consider well_⌋* her ramparts. Go through her citadels so that you can tell the next generation

¹² For there is a day for Yahweh of hosts against all of the proud and the lofty and against all that is lifted up and humble,* ¹³ and against all the lofty and lifted up cedars of Lebanon, and against all the large trees of Bashan, ¹⁴ and against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills, ¹⁵ and against every kind of high tower, and against every kind of fortified wall,

¹⁴ For the palace will be forsaken, the _⌊crowded city_⌋* deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become* a cave forever, the joy of wild asses, a pasture _⌊for_⌋* flocks.

¹⁰ We grope like the blind along a wall, and we grope _⌊as without_⌋* eyes. We stumble at noon as in the twilight; among the strong we are like the dead.

¹⁹ My bowels, my bowels! I writhe! The walls of my heart! My heart is restless within me, I cannot keep silent, for I hear in my inner self the sound of a horn, the alarm of war. ²⁰ Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, for all of the land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are devastated, my tent curtains in a moment.

¹ Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem. And in Tekoa blow a horn, and on Beth-haccherem lift up a signal, for evil looks down from the north, and a great destruction.

¹⁶ "From Dan is heard the snorting of their horses, from the sound of the neighing of their stallions all the land quakes, for they come and devour the land, and that which fills the city, and those who live in it.

⁸ Blow the _⌊horn_⌋* in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm in Beth-aven; look behind you, Benjamin.

¹ Put to your lips the trumpet like a vulture over the house of Yahweh, because they have _⌊broken my covenant_⌋* and rebelled against my law.

⁶ Or is a horn blown in a city and people are not afraid? Or does a disaster occur in the city and Yahweh has not done it?

⁶ For look! I am raising up the Chaldeans, the bitter and impetuous nation, the one who walks through the spacious places of earth to take possession of dwellings not belonging to it.* ⁷ They* are dreadful and awesome; their* justice and their* dignity proceed from themselves.* ⁸ Their* horses are more swift than leopards; they are more menacing than wolves at dusk. Their* horsemen gallop; their* horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle that is swift to devour. ⁹ All of them* come for violence, their faces pressing forward. They gather captives like the sand. ¹⁰ And they themselves scoff at kings and rulers are a joke to them. They laugh at every fortification, and they heap up earth and take it.

⁶ He stood and measured the earth; he looked and made the nations tremble. Then the mountains of old were shattered; the hills of old collapsed. The ways of old belong to him.

²⁸ Yahweh shall afflict you with madness and with blindness and with confusion of heart. ²⁹ And you shall be groping at noon just as the blind person gropes in the dark, and you shall not succeed in finding your way, and you shall only be abused and robbed _⌊all the time_⌋,* and there will not be _⌊anyone who will rescue you_⌋. *

³³ So he said, "Throw her down." So they threw her down, and her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled her. ³⁴ Then he came and ate and drank, and said, "Please take care of this cursed one and bury her, for she is the daughter of a king." ³⁵ When they went to bury her, they could not find her, except the skull, the feet, and the palms of the hands. ³⁶ They returned and told him, and he said, "This is the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'On the plot of ground of Jezreel, the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel.'" ³⁷ So the dead body of Jezebel became dung on the surface spread on the field in the plot of ground of Jezreel, so one cannot say, "This is Jezebel."

² They have given the bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth. ³ They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them.

¹⁰ They were destroyed at En-dor; they became dung for the ground.

⁵ and the earth is defiled beneath its inhabitants. For they have transgressed laws; they have passed by statutes;* they have broken the everlasting covenant. ⁶ Therefore a curse devours the earth, and the inhabitants in it suffer for their guilt. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth burn, and _⌊few men are left_⌋.*

¹⁰ For Yahweh has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and he has shut your eyes, the prophets, and he has covered your heads, the seers.

¹ Thus says Yahweh:
"Where is this divorce document of your mother's divorce, with which I dismissed her? or to whom of my creditors did I sell you? Look! you were sold because of your sin, and your mother was dismissed because of your transgressions.

⁹ Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for light, but* look! there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. ¹⁰ We grope like the blind along a wall, and we grope _⌊as without_⌋* eyes. We stumble at noon as in the twilight; among the strong we are like the dead.

¹² For our transgressions are numerous before you, and our sins _⌊testify_⌋* against us. Indeed, our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: ¹³ transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning _⌊away from following_⌋* our God; speaking oppression and falsehood, conceiving and uttering words of deception from the heart. ¹⁴ And justice is pushed back, and righteousness stands afar; for truth stumbles in the public square, and straightforwardness is unable to enter, ¹⁵ and truth is missing, and he who turns aside from evil is plundered. And Yahweh saw, and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice

¹⁹ Your wickedness will chastise you, and your apostasies will reprove you. Therefore know and see that it is evil and bitter, your forsaking of Yahweh, your God, and fear of me is not in you," _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

¹⁸ "You obtained this for yourself because of your way and your deeds. This is your doom, for it is bitter, yes, it has reached up to your heart."

²¹ For death has come into our windows, it has entered into our fortresses, to cut off the children* from the streets,* the young men from the public squares. ²² Speak, 'thus _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh:
"The dead body of the human will fall like dung upon the surface of the field, and like cut grain behind the reaper, and there is no one who gathers." '"

¹⁸ For thus says Yahweh,
"Look, I am about to sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress to them, so that they may feel it."

³ "And I will summon* over them four types of calamity," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "the sword to kill, and the dogs to drag away, and the birds* of the air and the wild animals* of the earth to devour and to destroy.

⁴ "They will die by diseases, they will not be mourned, and they will not be buried. They will be as dung on the face of the earth. And they will perish by the sword and they will perish by the famine. And their dead bodies* will become food for the birds* of the air, and for the wild animals* of the earth." ⁵ For thus says Yahweh, "You must not enter the house of the funeral meal, and you must not go to lament, and you must not show sympathy for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "the loyal love and the compassion. ⁶ Both the great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried, and they will not mourn for them, and no one will cut himself with a blade, and no one will shave himself for them.

²¹ _⌊Therefore_⌋* give their children to the famine, and hand them over to the _⌊power_⌋* of the sword, and let their wives be bereaved and widows, and let their men be killed by death, their young men struck dead by the sword in the battle.

⁸ Jerusalem sinned grievously, thus she became an objection of derision; all those who honored her despise her because they have seen her nakedness. She herself groans and turns away.

¹⁴ My rebellion was bound as a yoke, with his hand it was fastened together; it was put on my neck and caused my strength to fail. The Lord gave me into the hands of those whom I cannot withstand.

¹⁸ Yahweh is righteous; I have rebelled against _⌊his word_⌋.* Please hear, all the nations, And see my pain; My young women* and young men went into captivity.

²¹ They lie in the soil of the streets, young and old; my young women* and young men, they have fallen by the sword; you have slain on the day of _⌊your anger_⌋,* you have slaughtered and not shown mercy.

¹³ Because of the sins of her prophets, the guilt of her priests, who shed blood in her midst, of righteous people. ¹⁴ They wander blindly in the streets; they were defiled with the blood, their clothes could not be touched. ¹⁵ "Go away! Defiled!" they shout to them. "Go away! Go away! Do not touch!" so they left, they left; it was said among the nations, "_⌊They will no longer dwell with us_⌋."*

¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned! ¹⁷ Because of this, our heart has become faint, because of these, our eyes have become dim.

²⁵ The conspiracy of its prophets in the midst of her is like a roaring lion that is tearing prey. They devour people, and they take wealth and treasure; they make its widows numerous in the midst of her. ²⁶ Its priests treat my law violently, and they profane my holy objects; they do not distinguish between a holy object and what is unholy, or between the clean and the unclean. They do not teach the difference, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and so I am profaned in the midst of them. ²⁷ Its officials are like wolves tearing prey in its midst, to pour out blood, to destroy people, to make dishonest gain. ²⁸ And for them its prophets plaster whitewash; they are seeing falseness and are practicing divination for them by lying, saying, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh,' and Yahweh has not spoken. ²⁹ They severely oppress the people of the land, and _⌊they committed robbery_⌋,* and they mistreated the needy and the poor, and they oppressed the alien _⌊without_⌋* justice. ³⁰ And so I sought for them somebody, one repairing the wall and standing in the breach _⌊before me_⌋* on behalf of the land not to destroy it, but I did not find anyone, ³¹ and so I poured out my indignation on them. With the fire of my wrath I destroyed them; I returned their way upon their head," _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh.

⁵ we have sinned and we have done wrong and we acted wickedly and we rebelled and have been turning aside from your commandments and from your ordinances. ⁶ We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors* and to all the people of the land. ⁷ "_⌊Righteousness belongs to you, O Lord_⌋,* and on us is open shame, just as it is this day to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel, _⌊those who are near and those who are far off_⌋* in all the lands to which you have driven them,* because of their infidelity which they displayed against you. ⁸ Yahweh, on us is open shame, on our kings, on our princes, and on our ancestors,* because we have sinned against you. ⁹ _⌊Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord, our God_⌋,* for we have rebelled against him, ¹⁰ and we have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God, by following his law _⌊which he placed before us_⌋* by the hand of his servants the prophets. ¹¹ "And all Israel transgressed your law and turned aside so as not to listen to your voice, and so the curse and the oath which was written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. ¹² And so he has carried out his words which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring upon us a great calamity which was not done under all of heaven as it was done in Jerusalem. ¹³ Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all of this calamity has come upon us, and _⌊we have not implored_⌋* the face of Yahweh our God so as to turn from our iniquities and to attend closely to your faithfulness.* ¹⁴ So Yahweh has kept watch over the* calamity, and now he has brought it upon us. Indeed, Yahweh our God is righteous concerning all his works* that he has done, but we have not listened to his voice. ¹⁵ "And now, Lord our God, who have brought your people out from the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and you have made for yourself a name until this day—we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. ¹⁶ Lord, according to all your righteousness, please let your anger and your rage turn away from your city Jerusalem, _⌊your holy mountain_⌋,* because through our sins and through the iniquities of our ancestors* Jerusalem and your people have become an object of mockery among all of our neighbors. ¹⁷ "And now, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy. Shine* your face upon your desolate sanctuary _⌊for your sake, O Lord_⌋.* ¹⁸ Incline your ear, my God, and listen; open your eyes and look at our desolation and the city that is called by your name, for we are not presenting our pleas for mercy _⌊before you_⌋* because of our righteousness, but rather because of your great compassion. ¹⁹ Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, pay heed and act! You must not delay _⌊for your sake_⌋,* my God; because _⌊your city and your people are called by your name_⌋."*

¹⁰ "I sent among you a plague in the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with the captivity of your horses. And I made the stench of your camps go up into your nostrils, yet you did not return to me," is the declaration of Yahweh.

⁹ Hear this, O rulers of the house of Jacob and leaders of the house of Israel, those detesting justice and perverting all that is right, ¹⁰ he who builds Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wickedness. ¹¹ Its rulers judge for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money. But they lean on Yahweh, saying, "Is not Yahweh in our midst? Disaster will not come upon us." ¹² Therefore on account of you Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will be a heap of rubble, and _⌊the temple mount_⌋* as a high place in a forest.

¹⁴ Let* them! They are blind guides of the blind. And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit."

⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him, "We are not also blind, are we?"* ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now you say, 'We see,' your sin remains.

⁷ What then? What Israel was searching for, this it did not obtain. But the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened,

²⁵ For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you will not be wise _⌊in your own sight_⌋,* that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,

⁴ among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they would not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

⁹ For the one for whom these things are not present is blind, being nearsighted, _⌊having forgotten the cleansing_⌋* of his former sins.

¹¹ But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹⁷ Because you are saying, "I am rich, and have become rich, and I have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked,

³³ And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword behind you; and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a ruin. ³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days of its lying desolate, and you shall be in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths. ³⁵ All the days of its lying desolate it shall rest for the time* that it had not rested during your Sabbaths while you were living on it.

²⁰ Yahweh will not be willing to forgive him, for by then the anger of Yahweh will smoke, and his passion against that man and all the curses written in this scroll will descend on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ And Yahweh will single him out for calamity out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in the scroll of this law. ²² "And the next generation, that is, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who will come from a distant land, when* they will see the plagues of that land and its diseases that Yahweh has inflicted upon it, will say, ²³ 'All its land is brimstone and salt left by fire, _⌊none of its land will be sown_⌋,* and it will not make plants sprout out and it will not grow any vegetation; it is as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adman and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overturned in his anger and in his wrath.' ²⁴ And all the nations will say, '_⌊Why_⌋* has Yahweh done _⌊such a thing_⌋* to this land? What caused the fierceness of this great anger?' ²⁵ And they will say,* 'It is because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors,* which he _⌊made_⌋* with them _⌊when he brought them out_⌋* from the land of Egypt. ²⁶ And they went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods whom they did not know them and he* had not allotted to them. ²⁷ So _⌊the anger of Yahweh was kindled_⌋* against that land to bring upon it all the curses written in this scroll, ²⁸ and Yahweh uprooted them from their land in anger and in wrath and in great fury, and he cast them into another land, _⌊just as it is today_⌋.'*

¹⁷ And _⌊my anger shall flare up against them_⌋* on that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they* shall become as prey, and disasters and troubles shall find* them,* and they* shall say on that day, 'Is it not because our* God is not in our* midst that these disasters have found* us?'*

²¹ They annoyed me with what is not a god; they provoked me with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those not a people, with a foolish nation I will provoke them. ²² For a fire was kindled* by my anger, and it burned _⌊up to the depths of Sheol_⌋,* and it devoured the earth and its produce, and it set afire the foundation of the mountains. ²³ I will heap disasters upon them; my arrows I will spend on them. ²⁴ They will become weakened by famine, and consumed by plague and bitter pestilence; and the teeth of wild animals I will send against them, with the poison of the creeping things in the dust; ²⁵ From outside her boundaries the sword will make her childless, and from inside, terror; both for the young man and also the young woman, the infant along with the gray-headed man.

²² But Judah did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and they annoyed him more than their fathers* did with their sins that they had committed.

³⁰ Indeed, the wicked is spared from the day of disaster; he is delivered from the day of wrath.

⁶ those who trust their wealth and boast about the abundance of their riches? ⁷ Surely a man cannot redeem a brother. He cannot give to God his ransom ⁸ (since* the redemption price for their life is costly and it always fails), ⁹ so that he may stay alive forever and not see the pit.

⁵ but God will pull you down forever. He will snatch you and tear you away from your tent, and he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah ⁶ And the righteous will see and fear, and will laugh at him, saying, ⁷ "Look, the man who would not make God his refuge, but he trusted in the greatness of his wealth; he took refuge in his destructiveness."

⁵⁸ For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and made him jealous with their images.

⁵ How long, O Yahweh? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?

⁴ Wealth does not profit on the day of wrath, but righteousness will deliver from death.

¹¹ The wealth of the rich is _⌊his strong city_⌋,* and like a wall, it is high in his imagination.

²⁴ Therefore, the declaration of the Lord Yahweh of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: "Ah, I will be relieved of my enemies, and I will avenge myself on my foes.

²⁰ On that day humanity will throw away its idols of silver and its idols of gold, which they made for it to worship, to the rodents* and to the bats— ²¹ to enter into the crevices of the rocks and into the clefts of the crags from the presence of the terror of Yahweh and from the glory of his majesty, _⌊when he rises_⌋* to terrify the earth.

¹ Look! Yahweh is about to lay the earth waste and is about to devastate it, and he will twist her surface, and he will scatter her inhabitants. ² And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the female slave, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the one to whom he lends. ³ The earth shall be utterly laid waste, and it shall be utterly plundered,
for Yahweh has spoken this word. ⁴ The earth dries up, it withers; the world languishes, it withers. The elevated of the people of the earth languish, ⁵ and the earth is defiled beneath its inhabitants. For they have transgressed laws; they have passed by statutes;* they have broken the everlasting covenant. ⁶ Therefore a curse devours the earth, and the inhabitants in it suffer for their guilt. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth burn, and _⌊few men are left_⌋.* ⁷ The new wine dries up; the vine languishes. All the merry of heart sigh; ⁸ the joy of the tambourine has stopped. The noise of the jubilant has ceased; the joy of the lyre has stopped. ⁹ They do not drink wine with song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. ¹⁰ The city of emptiness is broken; every house is shut _⌊so that no one can enter_⌋;* ¹¹ there is an outcry over the wine in the streets. All joy turns into _⌊darkness_⌋;* the joy of the earth disappears. ¹² Desolation is left in the city; the gate is crushed into a state of ruin.

²⁰ _⌊Therefore_⌋* thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Look, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on the humankind, and on the animal, and on the tree of the field, and on the fruit of the ground, and it will not be extinguished."

³⁴ And I will cause to disappear from the towns of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, for the land will become a site of ruins.

²³ Thus says Yahweh,
"The wise man must not boast in his wisdom, and the warrior must not boast in his might, the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth. ²⁴ _⌊But only_⌋* in this must the one who boasts boast, that he has insight, and that he knows me, that I am Yahweh, showing loyal love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for in these things I delight," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh.

³ And he sent out the form of a hand, and he took me by a lock of hair of my head, and the Spirit lifted me between earth and heaven, and it brought me to Jerusalem in visions of God to the doorway of the inner gate _⌊that faced north_⌋,* at which there was the seat of the image of jealousy, which was making jealous. ⁴ And look! There was the glory of the God of Israel like the vision that I saw in the valley. ⁵ And he said to me, "Son of man,* lift up now* your eyes _⌊toward the north_⌋."* And I lifted up my eyes _⌊toward the north_⌋,* and, look, there was to the north of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy at the entrance.

³⁸ And I will judge you with the judgment of women committing adultery and shedding blood, and I will give you the blood of rage and jealousy.

⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "_⌊Certainly_⌋* in the fire of my passion I spoke against the rest of the nations and against all* Edom, who made my land as a possession, because of* its pastureland for plunder, for themselves in all of the joy of their whole heart and in their inner disdain."* ⁶ Therefore prophesy against the land of Israel, and you must say to the mountains and to the hills, to the river channels and to the valleys, thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I spoke in my passion and in my anger the insult of the peoples you have endured."

² "I will surely destroy everything from the face of the earth"—a declaration of Yahweh. ³ "I will destroy humanity and beast; I will destroy the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks* with the wicked. And I will cut off humankind from the face of the earth"—a declaration of Yahweh.

¹¹ The inhabitants of the Mortar shall wail, for all the traders have perished; all who trade with silver have been cut off.

⁸ "Therefore, wait for me"—a declaration of Yahweh— "for the day of my rising as a witness. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble* kingdoms, to pour out my wrath upon them, all my burning anger. For by the fire of my anger all the land shall be consumed.

²⁶ For what will a person be benefited if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what will a person give in exchange for his life?

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many possessions stored up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, celebrate!" ' ²⁰ But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your life* is demanded from you, and the things which you have prepared—whose will they be?' ²¹ So is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and who is not rich toward God!"

²² Now it happened that the poor man died, and he was carried away by the angels to _⌊Abraham's side_⌋.* And the rich man also died and was buried. ²³ And in Hades he lifted up his eyes as he* was in torment and* saw Abraham from a distance, and Lazarus _⌊at his side_⌋.*

²² Or are we attempting to provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than he is, are we?*