16 And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the idedication of this house of God with joy. 17 They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel j12 male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18 And they set the priests kin their divisions and the Levites lin their divisions, for the service of God at Jerusalem, mas it is written in the Book of Moses.
Passover Celebrated
19 nOn the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover. 20 oFor the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. pSo they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves. 21 It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and qalso by every one who had joined them and separated himself rfrom the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. 22 And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread sseven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful tand had turned the heart of uthe king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
Judgment on Israel’s Enemies
1 The oracle of the word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach
and gDamascus is its resting place.
For the Lord has an eye on mankind
and on all the tribes of Israel,1
2 hand on Hamath also, which borders on it,
iTyre and iSidon, though jthey are very wise.
3 Tyre has built herself ka rampart
and lheaped up silver like dust,
and fine gold like the mud of the streets.
4 But behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions
and strike down mher power on the sea,
and nshe shall be devoured by fire.
5 oAshkelon shall see it, and be afraid;
Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;
Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded.
The king shall perish from Gaza;
Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;
6 pa mixed people2 shall dwell in Ashdod,
and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.
7 I will take away qits blood from its mouth,
and rits abominations from between its teeth;
sit too shall be a remnant for our God;
it shall be like ta clan in Judah,
and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.
8 Then uI will encamp at my house as a guard,
vso that none shall march to and fro;
wno oppressor shall again march over them,
xfor now I see with my own eyes.
The Coming King of Zion
9 yRejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
zBehold, ayour king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
bhumble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 cI will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and dthe war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and ehe shall speak peace to the nations;
fhis rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from gthe River3 to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, because of hthe blood of my covenant with you,
iI will set your prisoners free from jthe waterless pit.
12 Return to your stronghold, O kprisoners of hope;
today I declare that lI will restore to you double.
13 For mI have bent Judah as my bow;
I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will stir up your sons, O Zion,
against your sons, nO Greece,
and wield you like a warrior’s sword.
The Lord Will Save His People
14 Then the Lord will appear over them,
and ohis arrow will go forth like lightning;
pthe Lord God will sound the trumpet
and will march forth in qthe whirlwinds rof the south.
15 The Lord of hosts swill protect them,
and tthey shall devour, uand tread down the sling stones,
and vthey shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine,
and be full like a bowl,
drenched wlike the corners of the altar.
16 On that day the Lord their God will save them,
as xthe flock of his people;
for ylike the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on his land.
17 zFor how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!
aGrain shall make the young men flourish,
and new wine the young women.
The Restoration for Judah and Israel
1 Ask rain bfrom the Lord
in the season of cthe spring rain,
from the Lord dwho makes the storm clouds,
and ehe will give them showers of rain,
to everyone the vegetation in the field.
2 For fthe household gods gutter nonsense,
and the diviners see lies;
hthey tell false dreams
and give empty consolation.
Therefore ithe people wander like sheep;
they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.
3 j“My anger is hot against the shepherds,
and kI will punish the leaders;4
for lthe Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
4 From him shall come mthe cornerstone,
from him nthe tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
from him every ruler—oall of them together.
5 They shall be like mighty men in battle,
ptrampling the foe in the mud of the streets;
they shall fight because the Lord is with them,
and they shall put to shame qthe riders on horses.
6 r“I will strengthen the house of Judah,
and sI will save the house of Joseph.
tI will bring them back ubecause I have compassion on them,
and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,
for vI am the Lord their God and I will answer them.
7 Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior,
and wtheir hearts shall be glad as with wine.
Their children shall see it and be glad;
their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord.
8 x“I will whistle for them and ygather them in,
for I have redeemed them,
and zthey shall be as many as they were before.
9 aThough I scattered them among the nations,
yet in far countries bthey shall remember me,
and with their children they shall live and return.
10 cI will bring them home from the land of Egypt,
and gather them from Assyria,
and dI will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
etill there is no room for them.
11 fHe shall pass through the sea of troubles
and strike down the waves of the sea,
gand all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up.
The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,
and hthe scepter of Egypt shall depart.
12 iI will make them strong in the Lord,
and jthey shall walk in his name,”
declares the Lord.
The Flock Doomed to Slaughter
1 Open your doors, kO Lebanon,
that the fire may devour your cedars!
2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
for the glorious trees are ruined!
Wail, koaks of Bashan,
for the thick forest has been felled!
3 The sound of lthe wail of lthe shepherds,
for their glory is ruined!
The sound of the roar of mthe lions,
nfor the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
4 Thus said the Lord my God: o“Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5 pThose who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, qI have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6 For rI will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”
7 sSo I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named uFavor, the other I named vUnion. sAnd I tended the sheep. 8 In one month wI destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. xWhat is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” 10 And I took ymy staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages zthirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—athe lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the zthirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. 14 Then I broke bmy second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of ca foolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd dwho does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but edevours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.
17 f“Woe to my worthless shepherd,
gwho deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm
and hhis right eye!
Let his arm be wholly withered,
his right eye utterly blinded!”
