24  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.

25  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,^{1 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 come² 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,³ by exile you contended with them;

^ohe removed them with his fierce breath⁴ 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:⁵

^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.

28  Ah, the proud crown of ^ythe drunkards of Ephraim,

and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!

2  Behold, the Lord has ^zone who is mighty and strong;

like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,

like ^aa storm of mighty, overflowing waters,

he casts down to the earth with his hand.

3  ^bThe proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim

will be trodden underfoot;

4  ^cand the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

which is on the head of the rich valley,

will be like ^da first-ripe fig¹ before the summer:

when someone sees it, he swallows it

as soon as it is in his hand.

5  ^eIn that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory,²

and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,

6  and ^fa spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,

and ^gstrength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

7  ^hThese also reel with wine

and ⁱstagger with strong drink;

the priest and ^jthe prophet reel with strong drink,

they are swallowed by³ wine,

they stagger with strong drink,

they reel in vision,

they stumble in giving judgment.

8  For all tables are full of filthy vomit,

with no space left.

9  ^k“To whom will he teach knowledge,

and to whom will he explain the message?

Those who are weaned from the milk,

those taken from the breast?

10  For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

line upon line, line upon line,

here a little, there a little.”

11  ^lFor by people of strange lips

and with a foreign tongue

the Lord will speak to this people,

12  to whom he has said,

^m“This is rest;

give rest to the weary;

and this is repose”;

yet they would not hear.

13  And the word of the Lord will be to them

precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

line upon line, line upon line,

here a little, there a little,

ⁿthat they may go, and fall backward,

and be broken, and snared, and taken.

14  Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you ^oscoffers,

who rule this people in Jerusalem!

15  Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,

and with Sheol we have an agreement,

when the ^poverwhelming whip passes through

it will not come to us,

for we have made ^qlies our refuge,

and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;

16  therefore thus says the Lord God,

^r“Behold, I am the one who has laid⁴ as a foundation ^sin Zion,

a stone, a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:

‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

17  And I will make justice ^tthe line,

and righteousness ^tthe plumb line;

and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,

and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”

18  Then ^uyour covenant with death will be annulled,

and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through,

you will be beaten down by it.

19  As often as it passes through it will take you;

^vfor morning by morning it will pass through,

by day and by night;

and it will be ^wsheer terror to understand the message.

20  For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,

and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.

21  For the Lord will rise up ^xas on Mount Perazim;

^yas in the Valley of ^zGibeon he will be roused;

to do his deed—strange is his deed!

and to work his work—alien is his work!

22  Now therefore do not ^ascoff,

lest your bonds be made strong;

for I have heard ^ba decree of destruction

from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.

23  Give ear, and hear my voice;

give attention, and hear my speech.

24  Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?

Does he continually open and harrow his ground?

25  ^cWhen he has leveled its surface,

does he not scatter dill, sow cumin,

and put in wheat in rows

and barley in its proper place,

and emmer⁵ as the border?

26  ^dFor he is rightly instructed;

his God teaches him.

27  Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,

nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,

but dill is beaten out with a stick,

and cumin with a rod.

28  Does one crush grain for bread?

No, he does not thresh it forever;⁶

when he drives his cart wheel over it

with his horses, he does not crush it.

29  This also comes from the Lord of hosts;

he is ^ewonderful in counsel

and excellent in wisdom.