2  “Do you think this to be just?

Do you say, ^v‘It is my right before God,’

3  that you ask, ^w‘What advantage have I?

How am I better off than if I had sinned?’

4  I will answer you

and ^xyour friends with you.

5  ^yLook at the heavens, and see;

and behold the clouds, which are higher than you.

6  If you have sinned, ^zwhat do you accomplish against him?

And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?

7  ^aIf you are righteous, what do you give to him?

Or what does he receive from your hand?

8  Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself,

and your righteousness ^ba son of man.

9  “Because of the multitude of ^coppressions people ^dcry out;

they call for help because of the arm of ^ethe mighty.¹

10  But none says, ‘Where is God my ^fMaker,

who gives ^gsongs in the night,

11  who teaches us ^hmore than the beasts of the earth

and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’

12  There they ⁱcry out, but he does not answer,

because of the pride of evil men.

13  Surely God does not hear an empty cry,

nor does the Almighty regard it.

14  How much less when you say that you ^jdo not see him,

that the case is before him, and you are ^kwaiting for him!

15  And now, because ^lhis anger does not punish,

and he does not take much note of transgression,²

16  Job opens his mouth in empty talk;

he ^mmultiplies words ⁿwithout knowledge.”

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,¹

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,² 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^{3 n}their gain to the Lord,

their wealth to ^othe Lord of the whole earth.

1  ⁴ Now muster your troops, O daughter⁵ of troops;

siege is laid against us;

with a rod ^pthey strike the judge of Israel

on the cheek.

2  ^{6 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.