2  On a bare hill ^hraise a signal;

cry aloud to them;

wave the hand for ⁱthem to enter

the gates of the nobles.

3  I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,

my proudly exulting ones.¹

4  The sound ^jof a tumult is on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

^kThe Lord of hosts is mustering

a host for battle.

5  ^lThey come from a distant land,

from the end of the heavens,

the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole land.²

6  ^mWail, for ⁿthe day of the Lord is near;

as destruction from the Almighty³ it will come!

7  Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart ^owill melt.

8  They will be dismayed:

^ppangs and agony will seize them;

^qthey will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.

9  Behold, ⁿthe day of the Lord comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the land a desolation

and ^rto destroy its sinners from it.

10  ^sFor the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

^tthe sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

11  I will punish ^uthe world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will ^vput an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

^wand lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

12  I will make ^xpeople more rare than fine gold,

and mankind than the ^ygold of Ophir.

13  Therefore ^zI will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will be shaken out of its place,

at the wrath of the Lord of hosts

in the day of his fierce anger.

14  And like a hunted gazelle,

or like sheep with none to gather them,

^aeach will turn to his own people,

and each will flee to his own land.

15  Whoever is found will be thrust through,

and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

16  ^bTheir infants will be dashed in pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered

and their wives ravished.

17  Behold, ^cI am stirring up the Medes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

18  ^dTheir bows will slaughter⁴ the young men;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

their eyes will not pity children.

19  And Babylon, ^ethe glory of kingdoms,

the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,

will be ^flike Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.

20  ^gIt will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

no ^hArab will pitch his tent there;

no ⁱshepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

21  But ^jwild animals will lie down there,

and their houses will be full of howling creatures;

there ^kostriches⁵ will dwell,

and there wild goats will dance.

22  Hyenas⁶ will cry in its towers,

and ^ljackals in ^mthe pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand

and its days will not be prolonged.

“How the oppressor has ceased,

^vthe insolent fury⁸ ceased!

5  The Lord has broken the ^wstaff of the wicked,

the ^wscepter of rulers,

6  ^xthat struck the peoples in wrath

with unceasing blows,

that ruled the nations in anger

with unrelenting persecution.

7  The whole earth is at rest and quiet;

^ythey break forth into singing.

8  ^zaThe cypresses rejoice at you,

^bthe cedars of Lebanon, saying,

‘Since you were laid low,

no woodcutter comes up against us.’

9  Sheol beneath is stirred up

to meet you when you come;

it rouses the shades to greet you,

all who were leaders of the earth;

it raises from their thrones

all who were kings of the nations.

10  ^cAll of them will answer

and say to you:

‘You too have become as weak as we!

You have become like us!’

11  Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,

the sound of your harps;

maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,

and worms are your covers.

12  “How ^dyou are fallen from heaven,

O Day Star, ^eson of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

13  You said in your heart,

^f‘I will ascend to heaven;

above the stars of God

^gI will set my throne on high;

I will sit on the mount of assembly

in the far reaches of the north;⁹

14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.’

15  ^hBut you are brought down to Sheol,

to the far reaches of the pit.

16  Those who see you will stare at you

and ponder over you:

‘Is this ⁱthe man who made the earth tremble,

who shook kingdoms,

17  who made the world like a desert

and overthrew its cities,

^jwho did not let his prisoners go home?’

18  All the kings of the nations lie in glory,

each in his own tomb;¹⁰

19  but you are cast out, away from your grave,

like a loathed branch,

^kclothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,

who go down to the stones of the pit,

like a dead body trampled underfoot.

20  You will not be joined with them in burial,

because you have destroyed your land,

you have slain your people.

“May ^lthe offspring of evildoers

nevermore be named!

21  Prepare slaughter for his sons

^mbecause of the guilt of their fathers,

lest they rise and possess the earth,

and fill the face of the world with cities.”

24  The Lord of hosts has sworn:

^q“As I have planned,

so shall it be,

and as I have purposed,

so shall it stand,

25  that ^rI will break the Assyrian in my land,

and on my mountains trample him underfoot;

and ^shis yoke shall depart from them,

and ^shis burden from their shoulder.”

26  This is the purpose that is purposed

concerning the whole earth,

and this is ^tthe hand that is stretched out

over all the nations.

27  ^uFor the Lord of hosts has purposed,

and who will annul it?

^tHis hand is stretched out,

and who will turn it back?

1  And I said:

^lHear, you heads of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel!

^mIs it not for you to know justice?—

2  you ⁿwho hate the good and love the evil,

^owho tear the skin from off my people¹

and their flesh from off their bones,

3  ^pwho eat the flesh of my people,

and flay their skin from off them,

and break their bones in pieces

and chop them up like meat in a pot,

like flesh in a cauldron.

4  ^qThen they will cry to the Lord,

but he will not answer them;

^rhe will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have made their deeds evil.

5  Thus says the Lord concerning ^sthe prophets

who lead my people astray,

^twho cry “Peace”

when they have something to eat,

but declare war against him

who puts nothing into their mouths.

6  Therefore ^uit shall be night to you, without vision,

and darkness to you, without divination.

^vThe sun shall go down on the prophets,

and the day shall be black over them;

7  ^wthe seers shall be disgraced,

and the diviners put to shame;

^xthey shall all cover their lips,

for ^ythere is no answer from God.

8  But as for me, ^zI am filled with power,

with the Spirit of the Lord,

and with justice and might,

to declare to Jacob ^ahis transgression

and to Israel his sin.

9  ^bHear this, you heads of the house of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel,

^cwho detest justice

and make crooked all that is straight,

10  ^dwho build Zion with blood

and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11  ^eIts heads give judgment for a bribe;

^fits priests teach for a price;

^gits prophets practice divination for money;

^hyet they lean on the Lord and ⁱsay,

“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?

^jNo disaster shall come upon us.”

12  Therefore because of you

^kZion shall be plowed as a field;

Jerusalem ^lshall become a heap of ruins,

and ^mthe mountain of the house ⁿa wooded height.

1  It shall come to pass ^oin the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and it shall be lifted up above the hills;

and peoples shall flow to it,

2  and many nations shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,²

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

3  He shall judge between many peoples,

and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;

and they shall ^pbeat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore;

4  ^qbut they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,

^rand no one shall make them afraid,

^sfor the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

5  For ^tall the peoples walk

each in the name of its god,

but ^uwe will walk in the name of the Lord our God

forever and ever.

6  ^vIn that day, declares the Lord,

^wI will assemble the ^xlame

and gather those who have been driven away

and those whom I have afflicted;

7  and the lame I will make ^ythe remnant,

and those who were cast off, a strong nation;

and ^zthe Lord will reign over them ^ain Mount Zion

from this time forth and forevermore.

8  And you, O tower of the flock,

hill of the daughter of Zion,

to you shall it come,

the former dominion shall come,

kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

9  Now why do you cry aloud?

^bIs there no king in you?

^cHas your counselor perished,

that ^dpain seized you like a woman in labor?

10  ^eWrithe and groan,³ O daughter of Zion,

like a woman in labor,

for ^fnow you shall go out from the city

and dwell in the open country;

you ^gshall go to Babylon.

There you shall be rescued;

^hthere the Lord will redeem you

from the hand of your enemies.

11  Now ⁱmany nations

are assembled against you,

saying, “Let her be defiled,

and ^jlet our eyes gaze upon Zion.”

12  But ^kthey do not know

the thoughts of the Lord;

they do not understand his plan,

that ^lhe has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.

13  Arise and thresh,

O daughter of Zion,

for I will make your horn iron,

and I will make your hoofs bronze;

you shall beat in pieces many peoples;

and ^mshall devote^{4 n}their gain to the Lord,

their wealth to ^othe Lord of the whole earth.

1  ⁵ Now muster your troops, O daughter⁶ of troops;

siege is laid against us;

with a rod ^pthey strike the judge of Israel

on the cheek.

2  ^{7 q}But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of ^rJudah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ^sruler in Israel,

^twhose coming forth is ^ufrom of old,

from ancient days.

3  Therefore he shall give them up ^vuntil the time

when she who is in labor has given birth;

then ^wthe rest of his brothers shall return

to the people of Israel.

4  And he shall stand ^xand shepherd his flock ^yin the strength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall dwell secure, for now ^zhe shall be great

to the ends of the earth.

5  And he shall be ^atheir peace.

^bWhen the Assyrian comes into our land

and treads in our palaces,

then we will raise against him seven ^cshepherds

and eight princes of men;

6  they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,

and the land of ^dNimrod at its entrances;

and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian

^bwhen he comes into our land

and treads within our border.

7  Then ^wthe remnant of Jacob shall be

in the midst of many peoples

like dew from the Lord,

like showers on the grass,

which delay not for a man

nor wait for the children of man.

8  And ^wthe remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,

in the midst of many peoples,

like a lion among the beasts of the forest,

like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,

^ewhich, when it goes through, treads down

and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.

9  Your hand shall ^fbe lifted up over your adversaries,

and all your enemies shall be cut off.

10  And ^gin that day, declares the Lord,

^hI will cut off your horses from among you

and will destroy your chariots;

11  ⁱand I will cut off the cities of your land

and throw down all your strongholds;

12  and I will cut off ^jsorceries from your hand,

and ^kyou shall have no more tellers of fortunes;

13  and ^lI will cut off your carved images

and ^myour pillars from among you,

ⁿand you shall bow down no more

to the work of your hands;

14  and I will root out your ^oAsherah images from among you

ⁱand destroy your cities.

15  And in anger and wrath ^pI will execute vengeance

on the nations that did not obey.

1  ^qHear what the Lord says:

Arise, plead your case before the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice.

2  ^rHear, you mountains, ^sthe indictment of the Lord,

and you enduring foundations of the earth,

for the Lord has an indictment against his people,

and he will contend with Israel.

3  “O my people, ^twhat have I done to you?

^uHow have I wearied you? Answer me!

4  For ^vI brought you up from the land of Egypt

and ^wredeemed you from the house of slavery,

and I sent before you Moses,

Aaron, and ^xMiriam.

5  O my people, remember ^ywhat Balak king of Moab devised,

and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,

and what happened from ^zShittim to Gilgal,

that you may know ^athe righteous acts of the Lord.”

6  ^b“With what shall I come before the Lord,

and bow myself before ^cGod on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

7  ^dWill the Lord be pleased with⁸ thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

^eShall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

8  He has told you, O man, what is good;

and ^fwhat does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,⁹

and to ^gwalk humbly with your God?

9  The voice of the Lord cries to the city—

and it is sound wisdom to fear ^hyour name:

“Hear of ⁱthe rod and of him who appointed it!¹⁰

10  Can I forget any longer the treasures¹¹ of wickedness in the house of the wicked,

and the scant measure that is accursed?

11  Shall I acquit the man ^jwith wicked scales

and with a bag of deceitful weights?

12  Your¹² rich men are ^kfull of violence;

your inhabitants ^lspeak lies,

and ^mtheir tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13  Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,

ⁿmaking you desolate because of your sins.

14  ^oYou shall eat, but not be satisfied,

and there shall be hunger within you;

you shall put away, but not preserve,

and what you preserve I will give to the sword.

15  ^pYou shall sow, but not reap;

you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;

you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.

16  For you have kept the statutes of ^qOmri,¹³

and all the works of the house of ^rAhab;

and you have walked in their counsels,

that I may make you ^sa desolation, and your¹⁴ inhabitants ^sa hissing;

so you shall bear ^tthe scorn of my people.”

1  Woe is me! For I have become

^uas when the summer fruit has been gathered,

as when the grapes have been gleaned:

there is no cluster to eat,

no ^vfirst-ripe fig that my soul desires.

2  ^wThe godly has perished from the earth,

and ^xthere is no one upright among mankind;

^ythey all lie in wait for blood,

and ^zeach hunts the other with a net.

3  ^aTheir hands are on what is evil, to do it well;

^bthe prince and ^cthe judge ask for a bribe,

and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;

thus they weave it together.

4  The best of them is ^dlike a brier,

the most upright of them a thorn hedge.

The day of ^eyour watchmen, of your punishment, has come;

^fnow their confusion is at hand.

5  ^gPut no trust in a neighbor;

have no confidence in a friend;

guard ^hthe doors of your mouth

from her who lies in your arms;¹⁵

6  for ⁱthe son treats the father with contempt,

the daughter rises up against her mother,

the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

^ja man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

7  But as for me, I will look to the Lord;

^kI will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me.

8  ^lRejoice not over me, O ^mmy enemy;

ⁿwhen I fall, I shall rise;

^owhen I sit in darkness,

the Lord will be a light to me.

9  ^pI will bear the indignation of the Lord

because I have sinned against him,

until ^qhe pleads my cause

and executes judgment for me.

^rHe will bring me out to the light;

I shall look upon his vindication.

10  Then ^smy enemy will see,

and shame will cover her who ^tsaid to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

^uMy eyes will look upon her;

now she will be trampled down

^vlike the mire of the streets.

11  ^wA day for the building of your walls!