1  Behold, ^cthe Lord will empty the earth¹ and make it desolate,

and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

2  ^dAnd it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;

as with the slave, so with his master;

as with the maid, so with her mistress;

^eas with the buyer, so with the seller;

as with the lender, so with the borrower;

^fas with the creditor, so with the debtor.

3  ^gThe earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;

^hfor the Lord has spoken this word.

4  ⁱThe earth mourns and withers;

the world languishes and withers;

the highest people of the earth languish.

5  The earth lies ^jdefiled

under its inhabitants;

for ^kthey have transgressed the laws,

violated the statutes,

broken the everlasting covenant.

6  Therefore ^la curse devours the earth,

and its inhabitants ^msuffer for their guilt;

therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,

and few men are left.

7  ⁿThe wine mourns,

the vine languishes,

all the merry-hearted sigh.

8  ^oThe mirth of the tambourines is stilled,

the noise of the jubilant has ceased,

the mirth of the lyre is stilled.

9  No more do they drink wine ^pwith singing;

strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.

10  ^qThe wasted city is broken down;

^revery house is shut up so that none can enter.

11  ^sThere is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;

^tall joy has grown dark;

the gladness of the earth is banished.

12  Desolation is left in the city;

the gates are battered into ruins.

13  For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth

among the nations,

^uas when an olive tree is beaten,

as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.

14  They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;

over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.²

15  ^vTherefore in the east³ give glory to the Lord;

in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

16  ^wFrom the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,

of glory to ^xthe Righteous One.

But I say, “I waste away,

I waste away. Woe is me!

For ^ythe traitors have betrayed,

with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”

17  ^zTerror and the pit and the snare⁴

are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!

18  ^zHe who flees at the sound of the terror

shall fall into the pit,

and he who climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the snare.

For ^athe windows of heaven are opened,

and ^bthe foundations of the earth tremble.

19  The earth is utterly broken,

the earth is split apart,

the earth is violently shaken.

20  The earth ^cstaggers like a drunken man;

it sways like a hut;

^dits transgression lies heavy upon it,

and it falls, and will not rise again.

21  On that day the Lord will punish

the host of heaven, in heaven,

and ^ethe kings of the earth, on the earth.

22  ^fThey will be gathered together

as prisoners in a pit;

they will be shut up in a prison,

and after many days ^gthey will be punished.

23  ^hThen the moon will be confounded

and the sun ashamed,

for ⁱthe Lord of hosts reigns

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and his glory will be before his elders.

1  O Lord, ^jyou are my God;

^kI will exalt you; I will praise your name,

for you have done wonderful things,

^lplans formed of old, faithful and sure.

2  For you have made the city ^ma heap,

the fortified city a ruin;

the foreigners’ palace is a city no more;

it will never be rebuilt.

3  ⁿTherefore strong peoples will glorify you;

cities of ruthless nations will fear you.

4  ^oFor you have been a stronghold to the poor,

a stronghold to the needy in his distress,

^pa shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;

^qfor the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,

5  ^rlike heat in a dry place.

You subdue the noise of the foreigners;

as heat by the shade of a cloud,

so the song of the ruthless is put down.

6  ^sOn this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

^tof rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

7  And he will swallow up ^son this mountain

the covering that is cast over all peoples,

^uthe veil that is spread over all nations.

8  ^vHe will swallow up death forever;

and ^wthe Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and ^xthe reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

^yfor the Lord has spoken.

9  It will be said on that day,

“Behold, this is our God; ^zwe have waited for him, that he might save us.

This is the Lord; we have waited for him;

^alet us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

10  For the hand of the Lord will rest ^son this mountain,

and ^bMoab shall be trampled down in his place,

as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.¹

11  ^cAnd he will spread out his hands in the midst of it

as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,

but the Lord ^dwill lay low his pompous pride together with the skill² of his hands.

12  And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,

lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

“We have a strong city;

he sets up ^fsalvation

as walls and bulwarks.

2  ^gOpen the gates,

that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

3  ^hYou keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you.

4  Trust in the Lord forever,

for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

5  ⁱFor he has humbled

the inhabitants of the height,

the lofty city.

He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,

casts it to the dust.

6  The foot tramples it,

the feet of ^jthe poor,

the steps of ^jthe needy.”

7  The path of the righteous is level;

^kyou make level the way of the righteous.

8  In the path of your judgments,

O Lord, we wait for you;

^lyour name and ^lremembrance

are the desire of our soul.

9  My soul yearns for you in the night;

my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

^mFor when your judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10  ⁿIf favor is shown to the wicked,

he does not learn righteousness;

in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly

and does not see the majesty of the Lord.

11  O Lord, ^oyour hand is lifted up,

but ^pthey do not see it.

Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.

Let ^qthe fire for your adversaries consume them.

12  O Lord, you will ordain ^rpeace for us,

for you have indeed done for us all our works.

13  O Lord our God,

^sother lords besides you have ruled over us,

^tbut your name alone we bring to remembrance.

14  They are dead, they will not live;

they are shades, they will not arise;

to that end you have visited them with destruction

and wiped out all remembrance of them.

15  ^uBut you have increased the nation, O Lord,

you have increased the nation; you are glorified;

^vyou have enlarged all the borders of the land.

16  O Lord, ^win distress they sought you;

they poured out a whispered prayer

when your discipline was upon them.

17  ^xLike a pregnant woman

who writhes and cries out in her pangs

when she is near to giving birth,

so were we because of you, O Lord;

18  ^xwe were pregnant, we writhed,

but we have given birth to wind.

We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,

and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

19  ^yYour dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.

You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!

For ^zyour dew is a dew of light,

and the earth will give birth to the dead.

20  Come, my people, enter your chambers,

and shut your doors behind you;

hide yourselves ^afor a little while

until the fury has passed by.

21  ^bFor behold, the Lord is coming out from his place

to punish the inhabitants of ^cthe earth for their iniquity,

and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,

and will no more cover its slain.

2  In that day,

^g“A pleasant vineyard,^{3 h}sing of it!

3  I, the Lord, am its keeper;

every moment I water it.

Lest anyone punish it,

I keep it night and day;

4  I have no wrath.

ⁱWould that I had thorns and briers to battle!

I would march against them,

I would burn them up together.

5  Or let them lay hold of my protection,

let them make peace with me,

let them make peace with me.”

6  ^jIn days to come⁴ Jacob shall take root,

Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots

and fill the whole world with fruit.

7  ^kHas he struck them ^las he struck those who struck them?

Or have they been slain ^mas their slayers were slain?

8  ⁿMeasure by measure,⁵ by exile you contended with them;

^ohe removed them with his fierce breath⁶ in the day of the east wind.

9  Therefore by this ^pthe guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,

and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:⁷

^qwhen he makes all the stones of the altars

like chalkstones crushed to pieces,

no ^rAsherim or incense altars will remain standing.

10  ^sFor the fortified city is solitary,

a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;

there the calf grazes;

there it lies down and strips its branches.

11  When its boughs are dry, they are broken;

women come and make a fire of them.

^tFor this is a people without discernment;

therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;

he who formed them will show them no favor.