1 This is the word of Yahweh that came to Hosea son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel.
2 When Yahweh spoke at first through Hosea, he said to him,
"Go, take for yourself a wife who is a prostitute.
She will have children who are the result of her prostitution.
For the land is committing great prostitution
by abandoning Yahweh."
3 So Hosea went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Yahweh said to Hosea,
"Call his name Jezreel.
For in a little while
I will punish the house of Jehu
for the bloodshed at Jezreel,
and I will put an end
to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 It will happen on the day
that I break the bow of Israel
in the Valley of Jezreel."
6 Gomer conceived again and bore a daughter. Then Yahweh said to Hosea,
"Call her name Lo-Ruhamah,
for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel,
that I should forgive them at all.
7 Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
and I will save them by myself, Yahweh their God.
I will not save them
by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen."
8 Now after Gomer had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore another son.
9 Then Yahweh said,
"Call his name Lo-Ammi,
for you are not my people,
and I am not your God.
10 Yet the number of the people of Israel
will be like the sand of the seashore,
which cannot be measured or counted.
It will be that where it was said to them,
'You are not my people,'
it will be said to them,
'You are people of the living God.'
11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel
will be gathered together.
They will appoint one leader for themselves,
and they will go up from the land,
for great will be the day of Jezreel.
1 Say to your brothers, 'My people!'
and to your sisters, 'You have been shown compassion.'"
2 Bring a lawsuit against your mother, bring a lawsuit,
for she is not my wife,
and neither am I her husband.
Let her put away her prostitution from before herself,
and her acts of adultery from between her breasts.
3 If not, I will strip her naked
and show her nakedness as on the day that she was born.
I will make her like the wilderness,
like a parched land,
and I will make her die from thirst.
4 I will not have any mercy on her children,
for they are children of prostitution.
5 For their mother has been a prostitute,
and she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
She said, "I will go after my lovers,
for they give me my bread and water,
my wool and flax,
my oil and drink."
6 Therefore I will build up a hedge to block her way with thorns.
I will build up a wall against her
so she cannot find her way.
7 She will pursue her lovers,
but she will not overtake them.
She will seek them,
but she will not find them.
Then she will say,
"I will return to my first husband,
for it was better for me then than it is now."
8 For she had not known that it was I who gave her
the grain, the new wine and the oil,
and who lavished on her silver and gold,
which they then used for Baal.
9 So I will take back her grain at harvest time,
and my new wine in its season.
I will take back my wool and flax
that were used to cover her nakedness.
10 Then I will strip her naked in the sight of her lovers,
and no one will rescue her out of my hand.
11 I will stop all her rejoicing—
her feasts, her new moon celebrations,
her Sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals.
12 "I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
of which she has said,
'These are the wages that my lovers gave me.'
I will make them a forest,
and the animals of the field will eat them.
13 I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals,
when she burned incense to them,
when she adorned herself with her rings and jewelry,
and she went after her lovers and forgot me—
this is Yahweh's declaration."
14 So I am going to allure her.
I will bring her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
15 I will give her back her vineyards,
and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope.
She will answer me there as she did in the days of her youth,
as in the days that she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 "It will be in that day—
this is Yahweh's declaration—
that you will call me, 'My husband,'
and you will no longer call me, 'My Baal.'
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth;
their names will not be remembered anymore.
18 On that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts in the fields, with the birds in the sky,
and with the crawling things on the ground.
I will drive away the bow, the sword,
and the battle from the land,
and I will make you lie down in safety.
19 I will promise to be your husband forever.
I will promise to be your husband in righteousness, justice,
covenant faithfulness, and mercy.
20 I will pledge myself to you in faithfulness,
and you will know Yahweh.
21 On that day,
I will answer—this is Yahweh's declaration—
I will answer the heavens,
and they will answer the earth.
22 The earth will answer the grain,
the new wine and the oil,
and they will answer Jezreel.
23 I will plant her for myself in the land,
and I will have mercy on Lo-Ruhamah.
I will say to Lo-Ammi, 'You are my people,'
and they will say to me, 'You are my God.'"
1 Yahweh said to me, "Go again, love a woman, loved by her husband, but who is an adulteress. Love her just as I, Yahweh, love the people of Israel, although they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes."
2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 I said to her, "You must live with me many days. You will not be a prostitute or belong to any other man. In the same way, I will be with you."
4 For the people of Israel will live for many days without a king, prince, sacrifice, stone pillar, ephod or household idols. 5 Afterward the people of Israel will return and seek Yahweh their God and David their king, and in the last days, they will come trembling before Yahweh and his goodness.
1 Hear the word of Yahweh,
you people of Israel.
Yahweh has a lawsuit
against the inhabitants of the land,
because there is no truthfulness or covenant faithfulness,
no knowledge of God in the land.
2 There is cursing, deception, killing,
stealing and adultery.
The people have broken all bounds,
and bloodshed comes after bloodshed.
3 So the land mourns,
and everyone living in it is wasting away;
the beasts in the fields and the birds in the sky,
even the fish in the sea, are being taken away.
4 But do not allow anyone to bring a lawsuit;
do not let anyone accuse anyone else.
For it is you, the priests, whom I am accusing.
5 You priests will stumble during the day;
the prophets will also stumble with you by night,
and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are being destroyed
because of the lack of knowledge.
Because you priests have rejected knowledge,
I will also reject you as priests to me.
Because you have forgotten my law,
although I am your God,
I also will forget your children.
7 The more the priests multiplied,
the more they sinned against me.
They exchanged their honor for shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people;
they are greedy for more of their iniquity.
9 It will be the same for the people as for the priests:
I will punish them all for their practices;
I will repay them for their deeds.
10 They will eat but not have enough;
they will commit prostitution but not increase,
because they stopped listening to Yahweh.
11 Prostitution, wine, and new wine
take away understanding.
12 My people consult their wooden idols,
and their walking sticks give them prophecies.
A spirit of prostitution has led them astray,
and they have acted as prostitutes
instead of being faithful to their God.
13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains
and burn incense on the hills,
under oaks, poplars and terebinths,
because the shade is good.
So your daughters commit sexual immorality,
and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters
when they choose to commit sexual immorality,
nor your daughters-in-law
when they commit adultery.
For the men also go apart with prostitutes,
and they offer sacrifices
so they can commit immoral acts with sacred prostitutes.
So this people who does not understand
will be thrown down.
15 Though you, Israel, have committed adultery,
may Judah not become guilty.
Do not go to Gilgal, you people;
do not go up to Beth Aven,
and do not swear, saying, "As Yahweh lives."
16 For Israel has behaved stubbornly,
like a stubborn heifer.
How can Yahweh bring them to pasture
like lambs in a meadow?
17 Ephraim united himself with idols;
leave him alone.
18 Even when their strong drink is gone,
they continue to commit adultery;
her rulers dearly love their shame.
19 The wind will wrap her up in its wings;
and they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
1 "Hear this, priests!
Pay attention, house of Israel!
Listen, house of the king!
For judgment is coming against you all.
You have been a snare at Mizpah
and a net spread over Tabor.
2 The rebels stand deep in slaughter,
but I will punish all of them. [1]
3 I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from me.
Ephraim, now you have become like a prostitute;
Israel is defiled.
4 Their deeds will not allow them
to turn to God,
for the mind of prostitution is in them,
and they do not know Yahweh.
5 The pride of Israel testifies against him;
so Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their guilt;
and Judah also will stumble with them.
6 They will go with their flocks
and herds to seek Yahweh,
but they will not find him,
for he has withdrawn himself from them.
7 They were unfaithful to Yahweh,
for they have borne illegitimate children.
Now the new moon festivals
will devour them with their fields.
8 Blow the ram's horn in Gibeah,
and the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven:
'We will follow you, Benjamin!'
9 Ephraim will become a desolation
on the day of rebuke.
Among the tribes of Israel
I have declared what is certain to happen.
10 The leaders of Judah
are like those who move a boundary stone.
I will pour my wrath on them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed;
he is crushed in judgment,
because he has willingly walked after idols.
12 So I will be like a moth to Ephraim,
and like rot to the house of Judah.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah saw his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria,
and Judah sent messengers to the great king.
But he was not able to cure you people
or heal your wound.
14 So I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear them apart and go away;
I will carry them off,
and there will be no one to rescue them.
15 I will go and return to my place,
until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,
until they earnestly seek me in their distress."
1 "Come, let us return to Yahweh.
For he has torn us apart, but he will heal us;
he has injured us, but he will bandage our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us;
he will raise us up on the third day,
and we will live before him.
3 Let us know Yahweh;
let us press on to know Yahweh.
His coming out is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
like the spring rains that water the land."
4 Ephraim, what will I do with you?
Judah, what will I do with you?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes away early.
5 So I have cut them to pieces by the prophets;
I have killed them with the words of my mouth.
Your judgments are like the light that shines out.
6 For I delight in covenant faithfulness and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 Like Adam they have broken the covenant;
they were unfaithful to me.
8 Gilead is a city of those who do evil,
with footprints of blood.
9 As gangs of robbers wait for someone,
so the priests band together
to commit murder on the way to Shechem;
they have committed shameful crimes.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
Ephraim's prostitution is there,
and Israel has become unclean.
11 For you also, Judah, a harvest has been appointed,
when I will reverse the captivity of my people.
1 Whenever I want to heal Israel,
the iniquity of Ephraim is exposed,
as well as the evil deeds of Samaria,
for they practice deceit;
a thief comes in,
and a marauding band attacks in the street.
2 They do not realize in their hearts
that I remember all their evil deeds.
Now their deeds surround them;
they are before my face.
3 With their evil they make the king glad,
and by their lies the officials.
4 They are all adulterers,
like an oven heated by the baker,
who ceases to stir the fire
from the kneading of the dough
until it is leavened.
5 On the day of our king
the officials made themselves sick
with the heat of wine.
He reached out with his hand
to those who were mocking.
6 For with hearts like an oven,
they devise their deceitful plans.
Their anger smolders all night;
in the morning it burns high like a flaming fire.
7 They all are as hot as an oven,
and they devour those who rule over them.
All their kings have fallen;
none of them calls on me.
8 Ephraim mixes himself among the peoples.
Ephraim is a flat cake that has not been turned over.
9 Foreigners have devoured his strength,
but he does not know it.
Gray hairs are sprinkled on him,
but he does not know it.
10 The pride of Israel testifies against him;
however, they have not returned to Yahweh their God,
nor have they sought him, in spite of all this.
11 Ephraim is like a dove,
gullible and without sense,
calling out to Egypt,
then flying to Assyria. 12 When they go,
I will spread my net over them;
I will bring them down
like the birds of the sky.
I will punish them
in their flocking together.
13 Woe to them!
For they have strayed from me.
Devastation is coming to them!
They have rebelled against me!
I would have rescued them,
but they spoke lies against me.
14 They have not cried to me with all their heart,
but they wail on their beds.
They gather together for grain and new wine,
and they turn away from me. [1]
15 Though I trained them and strengthened their arms,
they are now plotting evil against me.
16 They return,
but they do not return to me, the Most High.
They are like a slack bow.
Their officials will fall by the sword
because of the insolence of their tongues.
This will become their mockery
in the land of Egypt.
1 "Place a ram's horn at your lips!
An eagle is coming over the house of Yahweh
because the people have broken my covenant
and rebelled against my law.
2 They cry out to me,
'My God, we in Israel know you.'
3 But Israel has rejected what is good,
and the enemy will pursue him.
4 They have set up kings,
but not by me.
They have made princes,
but without my knowledge.
With their silver and gold
they have made idols for themselves,
but it was only so they might be cut off."
5 "Your calf has been rejected, Samaria.
My anger is burning against these people.
For how long will they be incapable of innocence?
6 For this idol came from Israel;
a workman made it;
it is not God!
The calf of Samaria
will be broken to pieces.
7 For the people sow the wind
and reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
it yields no flour.
If it does come to maturity,
foreigners will devour it.
8 Israel is swallowed up;
now they lie among the nations
like a useless pot.
9 For they went up to Assyria
like a wild donkey all alone.
Ephraim has hired
lovers for herself.
10 Even though they have hired lovers among the nations,
I will now gather them together.
They will begin to waste away
because of the burden of the king of princes.
11 For Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin offerings,
but they have become altars for committing sins.
12 I could write down my law for them ten thousand times,
but they would view it as something strange to them.
13 As for the sacrifices of my offerings,
they sacrifice meat and eat it,
but I, Yahweh, do not accept them.
Now I will think about their iniquity
and punish their sins.
They will return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten me, his Maker,
and has built palaces.
Judah has fortified many cities,
but I will send fire on his cities;
it will destroy his fortresses.
1 Do not rejoice, Israel,
with joy like the other peoples.
For you have been unfaithful,
abandoning your God.
You love to pay the wages a prostitute requires
on all the floors for threshing grain.
2 But the threshing floor and the winepress
will not feed them;
the new wine will fail them.
3 They will not continue to live in Yahweh's land;
instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and one day they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
4 They will pour out no wine offerings to Yahweh,
neither will they be pleasing to him.
Their sacrifices will be to them like mourners' food:
all who eat it will be defiled.
For their food will be for themselves only;
it will not come into the house of Yahweh.
5 What will you do on the day of an appointed festival,
on the day of a festival for Yahweh?
6 For, look, if they escape from destruction,
Egypt will gather them,
and Memphis will bury them.
As for their precious things of silver—
sharp briers will possess them,
and thorns will fill their tents.
7 The days for punishment are coming;
the days for retribution are coming.
Let all Israel know these things.
The prophet is a fool,
and the inspired man is insane,
because of your abundant iniquity
and great hostility.
8 The prophet is the watchman
for my God over Ephraim.
But a bird snare is on all of his paths,
and hostility toward him is in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah.
God will call to mind their iniquity,
and he will punish their sins.
10 Yahweh says, "When I found Israel,
it was like finding grapes in the wilderness.
Like the very first fruit of the season on the fig tree,
I found your fathers.
But they went to Baal Peor,
and they devoted themselves to that shameful idol.
They became as detestable
as the idol they loved.
11 As for Ephraim,
their glory will fly away like a bird.
There will be no birth,
no pregnancy, and no conception.
12 Though they have brought up children,
I will bereave all of them.
Woe to them
when I turn away from them!
13 I have seen Ephraim, just like Tyre,
planted in a meadow,
but Ephraim will bring out his children
to someone who will slaughter them."
14 Give them, Yahweh—
what will you give them?
Give them a miscarrying womb
and breasts that give no milk.
15 "Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,
that is where I began to hate them.
Because of their sinful deeds,
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all their officials are rebels.
16 Ephraim is diseased,
and their root is dried up;
they bear no fruit.
Even if they have children,
I will put the precious ones of their womb to death."
17 My God will reject them
because they have not obeyed him.
They will become wanderers
among the nations.
1 Israel is a luxuriant vine that produces his fruit.
As his fruit increased,
the more altars he built.
As his land produced more,
he improved his pillars.
2 Their heart is deceitful;
now they must bear their guilt.
Yahweh will demolish their altars;
he will destroy their pillars.
3 For then they will say,
"We have no king,
for we did not fear Yahweh,
and a king—
what could he do for us?"
4 They speak empty words
and make covenants by swearing falsely.
So justice springs up
like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria will be afraid
because of the calves of Beth Aven.
Its people mourned over them,
as did those idolatrous priests
who had rejoiced over them and their splendor,
but they are no longer there.
6 They will be carried to Assyria
as tribute for the great king.
Ephraim will be disgraced,
and Israel will be ashamed of its idol.
7 Samaria's king
will be destroyed,
like a chip of wood
on the surface of the water.
8 The high places of wickedness
will be destroyed.
This is the sin of Israel!
Thorns and thistles will grow over their altars.
The people will say to the mountains, "Cover us!"
and to the hills, "Fall on us!"
9 "Israel, you have sinned since the days of Gibeah;
there you have remained.
Will not war overtake
the sons of wrong in Gibeah?
10 When I desire it,
I will discipline them.
The peoples will gather together against them
and put them in bonds for their double iniquity.
11 Ephraim is a trained heifer
that loves to thresh the grain,
so I will put a yoke on her fair neck.
I will put a yoke on Ephraim;
Judah will plow;
Jacob will pull the harrow by himself.
12 Sow righteousness for yourselves,
and reap the fruit of covenant faithfulness.
Break up your unplowed ground,
for it is time to seek Yahweh,
until he comes and rains righteousness on you.
13 You have plowed wickedness;
you reaped injustice.
You have eaten the fruit of deception
because you trusted in your plans
and in your many soldiers.
14 So a tumult of war
will rise among your people,
and all your fortified cities will be destroyed.
It will be as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel
on a day of battle,
when mothers were dashed to pieces
with their children.
15 So it will happen to you, Bethel,
because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
will be completely cut off."
1 "When Israel was a young man I loved him,
and I called my son out of Egypt.
2 The more they were called,
the more they went away from me.
They sacrificed to the Baals
and burned incense to idols. [1]
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk.
It was I who lifted them up by their arms,
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of humanity,
with bands of love.
I was to them like someone who eased the yoke on their jaws,
and I bent down to them and fed them.
5 Will they not return to the land of Egypt?
Will Assyria not rule over them
because they refuse to return to me?
6 The sword will fall on their cities
and destroy the bars of their gates;
it will destroy them
because of their own plans.
7 My people are determined
to turn away from me.
Though they call to the Most High,
no one will help them.
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I make you like Zeboyim?
My heart has changed within me;
all my compassions have been stirred up.
9 I will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
For I am God
and not a man;
I am the Holy One among you,
and I will not come in wrath.
10 They will follow Yahweh;
and he will roar like a lion.
When he roars,
his children will come trembling from the west.
11 They will come trembling
like a bird from Egypt,
like a dove from the land of Assyria.
I will make them live in their homes—
this is the declaration of Yahweh.
12 Ephraim surrounds me with falsehood,
and the house of Israel with deceit.
But Judah is still going about with God
and is faithful to the Holy One."
1 Ephraim feeds on the wind
and follows after the east wind.
He continually multiplies lies and violence.
They make a covenant with Assyria
and carry olive oil to Egypt.
2 Yahweh also has a lawsuit against Judah
and will punish Jacob for what he has done;
he will repay him for his deeds.
3 In the womb Jacob grasped his brother by the heel,
and in his manhood he struggled with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and won.
He wept and begged for his favor.
He met God at Bethel;
there God spoke with him.
5 This is Yahweh, the God of hosts;
"Yahweh" is his name to be called on.
6 So turn to your God.
Keep covenant faithfulness and justice,
and wait continually for your God.
7 The merchants have deceitful scales in their hands;
they love to defraud.
8 Ephraim said,
"I have certainly become very rich;
I have found wealth for myself.
In all my labors
they will not find any iniquity in me,
anything that would be sin."
9 "I am Yahweh your God
from the land of Egypt.
I will again make you live in tents,
as in the days of the appointed festival.
10 I spoke to the prophets,
and I gave them many visions for you.
By the hand of the prophets
I gave parables."
11 If there is wickedness in Gilead,
surely the people are worthless.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;
their altars will be like heaps of stone
in the furrows of the fields.
12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram;
Israel labored in order to get a wife;
and he kept flocks of sheep to get a wife.
13 Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet,
and by a prophet he took care of them.
14 Ephraim has bitterly angered Yahweh.
So his Lord will leave his blood on him
and will turn back on him his disgrace.
1 "When Ephraim spoke,
there was trembling.
He exalted himself in Israel,
but he became guilty
because of Baal worship, and he died.
2 Now they sin more and more.
They make cast metal figures from their silver,
idols as skillfully worked as possible,
all of them the work of the craftsmen.
People say of them,
'These men who sacrifice kiss calves.'
3 So they will be like the morning clouds,
like the dew that goes away early,
like the chaff that is driven by the wind
away from a threshing floor,
and like smoke out of a chimney.
4 But I am Yahweh your God
from the land of Egypt.
You must acknowledge no God but me;
you must acknowledge that besides me,
there is no other Savior.
5 I knew you in the wilderness,
in the land of great dryness.
6 When you had pasture,
then you became full;
and when you were filled,
your heart became lifted up.
For that reason you forgot me.
7 I will become like a lion to them;
like a leopard I will watch along the path.
8 I will attack them as a bear
that is robbed of her cubs.
I will rip open their chests,
and there I will devour them as a lion,
as a wild beast would tear them to pieces.
9 I will destroy you, Israel;
who will be able to help you?
10 Where now is your king,
that he may save you in all your cities?
Where are your rulers,
about whom you said to me,
'Give me a king and princes'?
11 I gave you a king in my anger,
and I took him away in my wrath.
12 Ephraim's iniquity has been bound up;
his sin has been stored up.
13 Pains of childbirth will come on him,
but he is not a wise son,
for when it is time to be born,
he does not come out of the womb.
14 Will I rescue them from the hand of Sheol?
Will I rescue them from death?
Where, death, are your plagues?
Where, Sheol, is your destruction?
Compassion is hidden from my eyes."
15 Though Ephraim is prosperous among his brothers,
an east wind will come;
the wind of Yahweh
will blow in from the wilderness.
Ephraim's spring will dry up,
and his well will have no water.
His enemy will plunder his storehouse
of every precious object.
16 Samaria will be guilty,
for she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword;
their young children will be dashed to pieces,
and their pregnant women will be ripped open.
1 Israel, return to Yahweh your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take with you words
and return to Yahweh.
Say to him, "Take away all our iniquity
and accept what is good,
so that we may offer to you
the fruit of our lips. [1]
3 Assyria will not save us;
we will not ride on horses to war.
Neither will we say anymore
to the work of our hands,
'You are our gods,'
for in you the orphan finds compassion."
4 "I will heal their apostasy;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned away from him.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like the lily
and take root like a cedar in Lebanon.
6 His branches will spread out;
his beauty will be like the olive trees,
and his fragrance like the cedars in Lebanon.
7 The people who live in his shade will return;
they will revive like grain
and blossom like vines.
His fame will be like
the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols?
I will answer him and care for him.
I am like a cypress
whose leaves are always green;
from me comes your fruit."
9 Who is wise
that he may understand these things?
Who understands these things
so that he may know them?
For the ways of Yahweh are right,
and the righteous will walk in them,
but the rebellious will stumble in them.
1 This is the word of Yahweh that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, you elders,
and listen, all you inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?
3 Tell your children about it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children the next generation.
4 What the swarming locust has left,
the great locust has eaten;
what the great locust has left,
the grasshopper has eaten;
and what the grasshopper has left,
the caterpillar has eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because the sweet wine has been cut off from you.
6 For a nation has come up upon my land,
mighty and without number.
His teeth are the teeth of a lion,
and he has the teeth of a lioness.
7 He has made my vineyard into a desolate place
and has stripped my fig tree bare.
He has stripped its bark
and thrown it away;
the branches are bare white.
8 Mourn like a virgin girded in sackcloth
for the death of her young bridegroom.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering
have been cut off from the house of Yahweh.
The priests, Yahweh's servants, mourn.
10 The fields are ruined;
the ground is mourning
because the grain has been destroyed.
The new wine has dried up;
the oil fails.
11 Be ashamed, you farmers,
and wail, you vine growers,
for the wheat and the barley.
For the harvest of the fields has perished.
12 The vines have withered
and the fig trees have dried up;
the pomegranate trees, also the palm trees, and the apple trees—
all the trees of the field have withered.
For joy has withered away
from the descendants of mankind.
13 Gird yourselves with sackcloth and mourn, you priests!
Wail, you servants of the altar.
Come, lie all night in sackcloth,
you servants of my God.
For the grain offering and the drink offering
have been withheld from the house of your God.
14 Call for a holy fast,
and call a holy assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of Yahweh your God,
and cry to Yahweh.
15 Alas for the day!
For the day of Yahweh is almost here.
With it will come destruction from the Almighty.
16 Has not food been cut off
from before our eyes,
and joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 The seeds rot under their clods,
the storehouses are desolate,
and the barns have been torn down,
for the grain has withered.
18 How the cattle groan!
Their herds are wandering in confusion
because they have no pasture.
Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
19 Yahweh, I cry to you.
For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,
and flames have burned all the trees of the fields.
20 Even the animals of the fields pant for you,
for the water brooks have dried up,
and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
1 Blow the ram's horn in Zion,
and sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble in fear,
for the day of Yahweh is coming;
indeed, it is near.
2 It is a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness.
Like the dawn that spreads on the mountains,
a large and mighty army is approaching.
There has never been an army like it,
and there never will be again,
even after many generations.
3 A fire is consuming everything in front of it,
and behind it a flame is burning.
The land is like the garden of Eden in front of it,
but behind it there is a ruined wilderness.
Indeed, nothing will escape from it.
4 The army's appearance is like horses,
and they run like horsemen.
5 They jump with a noise like that of chariots
on the tops of the mountains,
like the sound of fiery flames that devour the stubble,
like a mighty army ready for battle.
6 At their presence people are in anguish
and all their faces become pale.
7 They run like mighty warriors;
they climb the walls like soldiers;
they march, every one in step,
and do not break their ranks.
8 Neither does one thrust another aside;
they march, each in his path;
they break through the defenses
and do not fall out of line.
9 They rush on the city,
they run on the wall,
they climb in the houses,
and they go through the windows like thieves.
10 The earth shakes in front of them,
the heavens tremble,
the sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars stop shining.
11 Yahweh raises his voice
in front of his army,
for his warriors are very numerous;
for they are strong,
those who carry out his commands.
For the day of Yahweh is great
and very terrible.
Who can endure it?
12 "Yet even now"—this is Yahweh's declaration—
"Return to me with all your heart.
Fast, weep, and mourn."
13 Tear your heart
and not only your garments,
and return to Yahweh your God.
For he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love
and relenting from inflicting punishment.
14 Who knows? Will he perhaps turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for Yahweh your God?
15 Blow the ram's horn in Zion,
call for a holy fast,
and call a holy assembly.
16 Gather the people;
call for the holy assembly.
Assemble the elders;
gather the children
and the nursing infants.
Let the bridegrooms come out of their rooms,
and the brides out of their bridal chambers.
17 Let the priests, the servants of Yahweh,
weep between the porch and the altar.
Let them say, "Spare your people, Yahweh,
and do not make your inheritance into an object of scorn,
that the nations mock them.
Why should they say among the nations,
'Where is their God?'"
18 Then Yahweh was zealous for his land
and had pity on his people.
19 Yahweh answered his people,
"Look, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil.
You will be satisfied with them,
and I will no longer make you
a disgrace among the nations.
20 I will remove the northern attackers far from you,
and will drive them into a dry and desolate land.
The front of their army will go into the eastern sea,
and the rear into the western sea.
Its stench will rise,
and its bad smell will rise."
Indeed, he has done great things.
21 Do not fear, land; be glad and rejoice,
for Yahweh will do great things.
22 Do not fear, you wild animals!
For the pastures of the wilderness will sprout,
the trees will bear their fruit,
and the fig trees and the vines will yield their full harvest.
23 Be glad, people of Zion,
and rejoice in Yahweh your God.
For he will give you the autumn rain
as vindication
and bring down showers for you,
the autumn rain and the spring rain as before.
24 The threshing floors will be full of wheat,
and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
25 "I will restore to you the years of crops
that the swarming locust has eaten—
the great locust, the devouring locust, and the destroying locust—
my mighty army that I sent among you.
26 You will eat plentifully and be satisfied,
and praise the name of Yahweh your God,
who has done wonders among you,
and I will never again bring shame on my people.
27 You will know that I am among Israel,
and that I am Yahweh your God,
and there is none else,
and I will never bring shame on my people.
28 It will come about afterward
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters will prophesy.
Your old men will dream dreams;
your young men will see visions.
29 Also on servants and female servants,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun will turn into darkness
and the moon into blood,
before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.
32 It will be that everyone who calls
on the name of Yahweh will be saved.
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be an escaped remnant,
as Yahweh has said,
and among the survivors,
those whom Yahweh calls.
1 Behold, in those days and at that time,
when I reverse the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will gather all the nations,
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
I will judge them there,
because of my people and my inheritance Israel,
whom they scattered among the nations,
and because they divided up my land.
3 They cast lots for my people,
traded a boy for a prostitute,
and sold a girl for wine so they could drink.
4 Now, why are you angry at me,
Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia?
Will you repay me?
Even if you do repay me,
I will immediately return your repayment on your own head.
5 For you took my silver and my gold,
and you brought my precious treasures into your temples. 6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks,
in order to send them far away from their territory.
7 Look, I am about to stir them up,
out of the place where you sold them,
and will return payment on your own head.
8 I will sell your sons and your daughters,
by the hand of the people of Judah.
They will sell them to the Sabeans,
to a nation far off,
for Yahweh has spoken."
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
"Prepare yourselves for war;
rouse the mighty men;
let them come near;
let all the men of battle come up.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning knives into spears.
Let the weak say,
'I am mighty.'
11 Hurry and come,
all you nearby nations;
gather yourselves together there.
Yahweh, bring down your mighty warriors.
12 Let the nations wake themselves up
and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
For there will I sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
13 Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Come, crush the grapes,
for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their wickedness is great."
14 There is a tumult, a tumult
in the Valley of Judgment.
For the day of Yahweh is near
in the Valley of Judgment.
15 The sun and the moon become dark,
the stars keep back their brightness.
16 Yahweh will roar from Zion,
and raise his voice from Jerusalem.
The heavens and earth will shake,
but Yahweh will be a shelter for his people,
and a fortress for the people of Israel.
17 "So you will know that I am Yahweh your God
who lives in Zion, my holy mountain.
Then Jerusalem will be holy,
and foreigners will not pass through her again.
18 It will come about on that day
that the mountains will drip with sweet wine,
the hills will flow with milk,
all the brooks of Judah will flow with water,
and a fountain will come from the house of Yahweh
and water the Valley of Shittim.
19 Egypt will become an abandoned devastation,
and Edom will become an abandoned wilderness,
because of the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they shed innocent blood in their land.
20 But Judah will be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem will be inhabited from generation to generation.
21 I will avenge their blood that I have not yet avenged,
for Yahweh lives in Zion."
1 These are the words of Amos, who was among the shepherds from Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and also in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
2 He said,
"Yahweh will roar from Zion;
he will raise his voice from Jerusalem.
The pastures of the shepherds will mourn;
the top of Carmel will wither."
3 This is what Yahweh says:
"For three sins of Damascus,
even for four, I will not turn away punishment,
because they threshed Gilead
with sharp threshing sledges of iron.
4 I will send a fire into the house of Hazael,
and it will devour the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.
5 I will break the gate bars of Damascus
and cut off the man who rules over the Valley of Aven,
and also the man who holds the scepter in Beth Eden.
The people of Aram will go in captivity to Kir,"
says Yahweh.
6 This is what Yahweh says:
"For three sins of Gaza,
even for four, I will not turn away punishment,
because they carried away captive a whole people,
to hand them over to Edom.
7 I will send fire on the walls of Gaza,
and it will devour her fortresses.
8 I will cut off the man who lives in Ashdod
and the man who holds the scepter from Ashkelon.
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
and the rest of the Philistines will perish,"
says the Lord Yahweh.
9 This is what Yahweh says:
"For three sins of Tyre,
even for four, I will not turn away punishment,
because they had delivered up a whole people to Edom,
and they broke their covenant of brotherhood.
10 I will send fire on the walls of Tyre,
and it will devour her fortresses."
11 This is what Yahweh says,
"For three sins of Edom,
even for four, I will not turn away punishment,
because he pursued his brother with the sword
and cast off all pity.
His anger tore them apart continually,
and his wrath lasted forever.
12 I will send fire on Teman,
and it will devour the palaces of Bozrah."
13 This is what Yahweh says,
"For three sins of the people of Ammon,
even for four, I will not turn away punishment,
because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead,
that they may enlarge their borders.
14 I will light a fire in the walls of Rabbah,
and it will devour the palaces,
with a shout in the day of battle,
with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind.
15 Their king will go into captivity,
he and his officials together,"
says Yahweh.
1 This is what Yahweh says:
"For three sins of Moab,
even for four, I will not turn away punishment,
because he burned the bones
of the king of Edom to lime.
2 I will send fire on Moab,
and it will devour the fortresses of Kerioth.
Moab will die in an uproar,
with shouting and the sound of the ram's horn.
3 I will destroy the judge in her,
and I will kill all the princes with him,"
says Yahweh.
4 This is what Yahweh says:
"For three sins of Judah,
even for four, I will not turn away punishment,
because they rejected the law of Yahweh
and did not keep his statutes.
Their lies caused them to go astray,
after which their fathers had also walked.
5 I will send fire on Judah,
and it will devour the fortresses of Jerusalem."
6 This is what Yahweh says:
"For three sins of Israel,
even for four, I will not turn away punishment,
because they sold the innocent for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 They trample on the heads of the poor
as people trample on dust on the ground;
they push the oppressed away.
A man and his father go to the same girl
and so profane my holy name.
8 They lie down beside every altar
on clothes taken as pledges,
and in the house of their God
they drink the wine of those
who have been forced to pay a fine.
9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them,
whose height was like the height of cedars;
he was strong as the oaks.
Yet I destroyed his fruit above
and his roots below.
10 Also, I brought you up out of the land of Egypt
and led you forty years in the wilderness
to possess the land of the Amorites.
11 I raised up prophets from among your sons
and Nazirites from your young men.
Is it not so, people of Israel?—
this is Yahweh's declaration.
12 But you persuaded the Nazirites to drink wine
and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.
13 Look, I will crush you
as a cart that is full of grain can crush someone.
14 Escape will perish from the swift;
the strong will not add to his own strength;
neither will the mighty save himself.
15 The archer will not stand;
the fast runner will not escape;
the horseman will not save himself.
16 Even the bravest warriors
will flee naked in that day—
this is Yahweh's declaration."
1 Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:
2 "I have chosen only you
from all the families of the earth.
Therefore I will punish you
for all your iniquities."
3 Will two walk together
unless they have made an appointment?
4 Will a lion roar in the forest
when he has no prey?
Will a young lion growl from his den
if he has caught nothing?
5 Can a bird fall in a trap on the ground
when no bait is set for him?
Will a trap spring up from the ground
when it has not caught anything?
6 If a ram's horn sounds in a city,
will the people not tremble?
If disaster overtakes a city,
has Yahweh not sent it?
7 Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing
unless he reveals his plan
to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared;
who will not fear?
The Lord Yahweh has spoken;
who will not prophesy?
9 Proclaim this in the fortresses at Ashdod,
and in the fortresses in the land of Egypt;
say, "Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria
and see what great tumults are in her,
and what oppression is in her.
10 For they do not know how to do right—
this is Yahweh's declaration—
They store up violence
and devastation in their fortresses."
11 Therefore, this is what the Lord Yahweh says:
"An enemy will surround the land,
and pull down your strongholds
and plunder your fortresses."
12 This is what Yahweh says:
"As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion
two legs only, or a piece of an ear;
so will the people of Israel who live in Samaria be rescued;
they will be left with only the corner of a couch
or a piece of a bed."
13 Hear and testify against the house of Jacob— this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh, the God of hosts:
14 "For in the day that I punish the sins of Israel,
I will also punish the altars of Bethel.
The horns of the altar will be cut off
and fall to the ground.
15 I will destroy the winter house
with the summer house.
The houses of ivory will perish,
and the large houses will vanish—
this is Yahweh's declaration."
1 Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan,
you who are in the mountain of Samaria,
you who oppress the poor, you who crush the needy,
you who say to your husbands, "Bring us drinks."
2 The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness,
"Look, the days will come on you
when they will take you away with hooks,
the last of you with fishhooks.
3 You will go out through the breaks in the city wall,
each one of you going straight through it,
and you will be thrown out toward Harmon—
this is Yahweh's declaration.
4 "Go to Bethel and sin,
to Gilgal and multiply transgression,
bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three days.
5 Offer a thanksgiving sacrifice with bread;
proclaim freewill offerings; announce them,
for this is what you love to do,
you people of Israel—
this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh.
6 I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities
and lack of bread in all your places.
Yet you have not returned to me—
this is Yahweh's declaration.
7 I also withheld rain from you
when there were still three months to the harvest.
I caused it to rain on one city,
and caused it not to rain on another city.
One piece of land was rained on,
but the piece of land where it did not rain dried up.
8 Two or three cities staggered to another city to drink water,
but were not satisfied.
Yet you have not returned to me—
this is Yahweh's declaration.
9 I afflicted you with blight and mildew.
The multitude of your gardens,
your vineyards, your fig trees, and your olive trees—
the locusts devoured them all.
Yet you have not returned to me—
this is Yahweh's declaration.
10 I sent a plague on you
as on Egypt.
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with the captivity of your horses,
and made the stench of your camp come up
to your nostrils.
Yet you have not returned to me—
this is Yahweh's declaration.
11 I overthrew cities among you,
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick snatched out of the fire.
Yet you have not returned to me—
this is Yahweh's declaration.
12 Therefore I will do something terrible to you, Israel;
and because I will do something terrible to you,
prepare to meet your God, Israel!
13 For, look, he who forms the mountains
also creates the wind,
reveals his thoughts to mankind,
makes the dawn become darkness,
and treads on the high places of the earth.
Yahweh, God of hosts, is his name."
1 Hear this word that I take up as a lament over you, house of Israel.
2 The virgin Israel has fallen;
she will rise no more;
she is abandoned on her land;
there is no one to raise her up.
3 For this is what the Lord Yahweh says:
"The city that went out with a thousand
will have a hundred remaining,
and the one that went out with a hundred
will have ten remaining for the house of Israel."
4 For this is what Yahweh says to the house of Israel:
"Seek me and live!
5 Do not seek Bethel;
nor enter Gilgal;
do not journey to Beersheba.
For Gilgal will surely go into captivity,
and Bethel will become nothing.
6 Seek Yahweh and live,
or he will break out like fire
in the house of Joseph.
It will devour,
and there will be no one to quench it in Bethel.
7 Those people turn justice into a bitter thing
and throw righteousness down to the ground!"
8 God made the Pleiades and Orion;
he turns deep darkness into the morning;
he makes the day dark with night
and calls for the waters of the sea;
he pours them out on the surface of the earth.
Yahweh is his name!
9 He brings sudden destruction on the strong
so that destruction comes on the fortresses.
10 They hate anyone who reproves them in the city gate,
and they abhor anyone who speaks with integrity.
11 Because you trample down the poor
and seize a tribute of wheat from him—
although you have built houses of worked stone,
you will not live in them.
You have planted delightful vineyards,
but you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know how many are your offenses
and how mighty are your sins.
you who afflict the just, take bribes,
and turn aside the needy in the city gate.
13 Therefore any prudent person is silent at such a time,
for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil,
so that you may live.
So Yahweh, the God of hosts, will really be with you,
as you say he is.
15 Hate evil, love good,
establish justice in the city gate.
Perhaps Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious
to the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore, this is what Yahweh says, the God of hosts, the Lord,
"Wailing will be in all the squares,
and they will say in all the streets,
'Woe! Woe!'
They will call the farmers to mourning
and those who know lamentation to wailing.
17 In all vineyards there will be wailing,
for I will pass through your midst,"
says Yahweh.
18 Woe to you who desire
the day of Yahweh!
Why do you long for the day of Yahweh?
It will be darkness and not light,
19 as when a man flees from a lion
and a bear meets him,
or he goes in a house and puts his hand on the wall
and a snake bites him.
20 Will not the day of Yahweh be darkness and not light?
Gloom and no brightness?
21 "I hate, I despise your festivals,
I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
neither will I look at the fellowship offerings
of your fattened animals.
23 Remove from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the sound of your lutes.
24 Instead, let justice flow like water,
and righteousness like a constantly flowing stream.
25 Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel?
26 You have lifted up the images of Sikkuth, your king,
and Kaiwan, your star god,
which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will exile you beyond Damascus,"
says Yahweh, whose name is the God of hosts.
1 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion,
and to those who are secure in the hill country of Samaria,
the notable men of the most important of the nations,
to whom the house of Israel comes for help!
2 Your leaders say, "Go to Kalneh and look;
from there go to Hamath, the great city;
then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are they better than your two kingdoms?
Is their border larger than your border?"
3 Woe to those who put off the day of disaster
and make the throne of violence come near.
4 They lie down on beds of ivory
and lounge on their couches.
They eat lambs from the flock
and calves from the stall.
5 They sing foolish songs to the music of the lute;
they improvise on instruments as David did.
6 They drink wine from bowls
and anoint themselves with the finest oils,
but they do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
7 So they will now go into exile with the first exiles,
and the feasts of those who lounge about will pass away.
8 "I, the Lord Yahweh, have sworn by myself—
this is the declaration of Yahweh, the God of hosts,
I detest the pride of Jacob;
I hate his fortresses.
Therefore I will deliver up the city
with all that is in it."
9 It will come about that if ten men remain in one house, they will all die. 10 When his relative or the one who burns him takes up the bones from the house—when he says to the person in the inner room of the house, "Is there anyone with you?" that person will say, "No one." Then he will say, "Be quiet, for we must not mention Yahweh's name."
11 For, look, Yahweh will give a command,
and the big house will be smashed to pieces,
and the little house to bits.
12 Do horses run on the rocky cliffs?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness—
13 you who rejoice over Lo Debar,
who say, "Have we not taken Karnaim by our own strength?"
14 "But look, I will raise up against you a nation,
house of Israel—this is the declaration of Yahweh, the God of hosts.
They will afflict you
from Lebo Hamath to the brook of the Arabah."
1 This is what the Lord Yahweh showed me. Look, he formed a locust swarm when the spring crop began to come up, and, look, it was the late crop after the king's harvest. 2 When they finished eating the vegetation of the land, then I said, "Lord Yahweh, please forgive; how will Jacob stand? For he is so small." 3 Yahweh relented concerning this. "It will not happen," he said.
4 This is what the Lord Yahweh showed me: Look, the Lord Yahweh called on fire to judge. It dried the vast, deep water under the earth and would have devoured the land also. 5 But I said, "Lord Yahweh, please stop; how will Jacob stand? For he is so small." 6 Yahweh relented concerning this, "This also will not happen," said the Lord Yahweh.
7 This is what he showed me: Look, the Lord stood beside a wall, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 Yahweh said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Look, I will put a plumb line among my people Israel. I will spare them no longer.
9 The high places of Isaac will be destroyed,
the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."
10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel: "Amos has conspired against you in the middle of the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words. 11 For this is what Amos said,
'Jeroboam will die by the sword,
and Israel will surely go into exile away from his land.'"
12 Amaziah said to Amos, "Seer, go, flee back to the land of Judah, and there eat bread and prophesy. 13 But do not prophesy anymore here at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal house."
14 Then Amos said to Amaziah, "I am not a prophet nor a prophet's son. I am a herdsman, and I take care of sycamore fig trees. 15 But Yahweh took me from tending the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' 16 Now hear the word of Yahweh. You say,
'Do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not speak against the house of Isaac.'
17 Therefore this is what Yahweh says,
'Your wife will be a prostitute in the city;
your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword;
your land will be measured and divided up;
you will die in an unclean land,
and Israel will surely go into exile from his land.'"
1 This is what the Lord Yahweh showed me. Look, a basket of summer fruit! 2 He said, "What do you see, Amos?" I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then Yahweh said to me,
"The end has come for my people Israel;
I will spare them no longer.
3 The songs of the temple will become wailings in that day—
this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh—
many dead bodies, they are thrown everywhere!
Silence!"
4 Listen to this, you who trample the needy
and remove the poor of the land.
5 They say,
"When will the new moon be over,
so we can sell grain again?
When will the Sabbath day be over,
so that we can sell wheat?
We will make the measure small
and increase the price,
as we cheat with deceitful scales.
6 This is so we can sell bad wheat, buy the poor with silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals."
7 Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, "Surely I will never forget any of their actions."
8 Will not the land quake for this,
and everyone who lives in it mourn?
All of it will rise up like the Nile River,
and it will be tossed about and sink again,
like the river of Egypt.
9 "It will come in that day—
this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh—
that I will make the sun set at noon,
and I will darken the earth at daylight.
10 I will turn your festivals into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation.
I put sackcloth on all loins
and have baldness on every head.
I will make it like mourning for an only son,
and a bitter day to its end.
11 Look, the days are coming—
this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh—
when I will send a famine in the land,
not a famine for bread, nor of thirst for water,
but for hearing the words of Yahweh.
12 They will stagger from sea to sea;
they will run from the north to the east
to seek the word of Yahweh,
but they will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men
will faint from thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria [1]
and say, 'As your god lives, Dan,'
and, 'As the way to Beersheba exists,' [2]
they will fall and never rise again."
1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said,
"Strike the tops of the pillars
so that the thresholds will shake.
Break them in pieces on all of their heads,
and I will kill the last of them with the sword.
Not one of them will get away;
not one of them will escape.
2 Though they dig into Sheol,
there my hand will take them.
Though they climb up to heaven,
there I will bring them down.
3 Though they hide on the top of Carmel,
there I will search and take them.
Though they are hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea,
there will I command the serpent, and it will bite them.
4 Though they go into captivity, driven by their enemies before them,
there will I give orders to the sword, and it will kill them.
I will keep my eyes on them
for harm and not for good."
5 The Lord Yahweh of hosts
touches the land and it melts;
all who live in it mourn;
all of it will rise up like the River,
and sink again like the river of Egypt.
6 It is he who builds his steps in the heavens,
and has established his vault over the earth.
He calls for the waters of the sea,
and pours them out on the surface of the earth,
Yahweh is his name.
7 "Are you not like the people of Cush to me,
people of Israel—
this is Yahweh's declaration—
did I not bring up Israel out of the land of Egypt,
the Philistines from Crete,
and the Arameans from Kir?
8 Look, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh
are on the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it
from the face of the earth,
except that I will not totally destroy
the house of Jacob—
this is Yahweh's declaration.
9 Look, I will give a command,
and I will shake the house of Israel
among all the nations,
as one shakes grain in a sieve,
so that not the smallest stone will fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners of my people
will die by the sword,
those who say,
'Disaster will not overtake or meet us.'
11 In that day
I will raise up the tent of David that has fallen,
and close up its breaches.
I will raise up its ruins,
and rebuild it as in the days of old,
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom,
and all the nations that are called by my name—
this is Yahweh's declaration—he does this.
13 Look, the days will come—
this is Yahweh's declaration—
when the plowman will overtake the reaper,
and the treader of grapes will overtake him who plants seed.
The mountains will drip sweet wine,
and all the hills will flow with it.
14 I will bring back from captivity my people Israel.
They will build the ruined cities and inhabit them,
they will plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them upon their land,
and they will never again be uprooted from the land
that I have given them,"
says Yahweh your God.
1 The vision of Obadiah. The Lord Yahweh says this concerning Edom: We have heard a report from Yahweh and an ambassador has been sent among the nations, saying, "Rise up! Let us rise up against her for battle!"
2 Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you will be greatly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty home; who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?" 4 Though you soar high like the eagle and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there—this is Yahweh's declaration.
5 If thieves came to you, if robbers came by night—how you will be ruined!—would they not steal only as much as they needed? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave the gleanings? 6 How Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures looted! 7 All the men of your alliance will send you on your way to the border. The men who were at peace with you will deceive you and prevail against you. They who eat your bread will set a trap under you. There is no understanding in him.
8 "Will I not on that day"—this is Yahweh's declaration—"destroy the wise men from Edom and understanding out of the mountain of Esau? 9 Your mighty men will be dismayed, Teman, so that every man may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.
10 Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame, and you will be cut off forever. 11 On the day you stood aloof, on the day strangers carried away his wealth, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 12 But do not gloat over your brother's day, in the day of his misfortune, and do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction; do not boast in the day of their distress. 13 Do not enter my people's gate in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over their affliction in the day of their disaster, do not loot their wealth in the day of their ruin. 14 Do not stand at the crossroads to cut down his fugitives, and do not deliver up his survivors in the day of distress.
15 For the day of Yahweh is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return on your own head. 16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually. They will drink and swallow and it will be as though they had never existed.
17 But in Mount Zion there will be those who escape, and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will take possession of their possessions. 18 The house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau will be stubble, and they will burn them, and consume them. There will be no survivors to the house of Esau, for Yahweh has spoken it."
19 People from the Negev will possess the mountain of Esau and the people of the lowlands will possess the land of the Philistines. They will possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead. 20 The exiles of this army of the people of Israel will possess the land of Canaan as far as Zarephath. The exiles of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the Negev. 21 Deliverers will go up to Mount Zion to rule over the hill country of Esau, and the kingdom will belong to Yahweh.
1 Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, 2 "Get up and go to Nineveh, that great city, and speak out against it, because their wickedness has risen up before me." 3 But Jonah got up to run away from the presence of Yahweh and go to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and boarded the ship to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of Yahweh.
4 But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea and it became a mighty storm on the sea. Soon it appeared that the ship was going to be broken up. 5 Then the sailors became very afraid and each man cried out to his own god. They threw the ship's cargo into the sea to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was lying there deeply asleep.
6 So the captain came to him and said to him, "What are you doing sleeping? Get up! Call upon your god! Maybe your god will notice us and we will not perish."
7 Each man said to his neighbor, "Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know who is the cause of this evil that is happening to us." So they threw lots, and the lot fell to Jonah.
8 Then they said to Jonah, "Please tell us who is the cause of this evil that is happening to us. What is your occupation, and where did you come from? What is your country, and from which people are you?" 9 Jonah said to them, "I am a Hebrew; and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land." 10 Then the men were even more afraid and said to Jonah, "What is this that you have done?" For the men knew that he was running away from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them.
11 Then they said to Jonah, "What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?" For the sea became more and more stormy. 12 Jonah said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you, for I know that it is because of me that this great storm is happening to you."
13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get themselves back to the land, but they could not do it because the sea was becoming more and more violent against them.
14 Therefore they cried out to Yahweh and said, "We beg you, Yahweh, we beg you, do not let us perish on account of this man's life, and do not put innocent blood on us, because you, Yahweh, have done just as it pleased you." 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. 16 Then the men feared Yahweh very much. They offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made vows.
17 Now Yahweh had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
"I called out to Yahweh about my distress
and he answered me;
from the belly of Sheol I cried out for help!
You heard my voice.
3 You had thrown me into the depths,
into the heart of the seas,
and the currents surrounded me;
all your waves and billows
passed over me.
4 I said, 'I am driven out
from before your eyes;
yet I will again look
toward your holy temple.'
5 The waters closed around me up to my neck;
the deep was all around me;
seaweed wrapped around my head.
6 I went down to the bases of the mountains;
the earth with its bars closed upon me forever.
Yet you brought up my life from the pit,
Yahweh, my God!
7 When my soul fainted within me,
I called Yahweh to mind;
then my prayer came to you
to your holy temple.
8 They give attention to meaningless gods
while they abandon covenant faithfulness.
9 But as for me, I will sacrifice to you
with a voice of thanksgiving;
I will fulfill that which I have vowed.
Salvation comes from Yahweh!"
10 Then Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited up Jonah upon the dry land.
1 The word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I command you to give." 3 So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was a very large city, one of three days' journey. 4 Jonah began to enter the city and after a day's journey he called out and said, "In forty days Nineveh will be overthrown." 5 The people of Nineveh believed God and they proclaimed a fast. They all put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them down to the least of them. 6 Soon the news reached the king of Nineveh. He rose up from his throne, took off his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 He sent out a proclamation that said, "In Nineveh, by the authority of the king and his nobles: 'Do not let any man or animal, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not eat, nor drink water. 8 But let both man and animal be covered with sackcloth and let them cry out loudly to God. Let each one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may relent and change his mind and turn away from his fierce anger so that we do not perish.'"
10 God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil ways. So then God changed his mind about the punishment that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
1 But this displeased Jonah and he became very angry. 2 So Jonah prayed to Yahweh and said, "Ah, Yahweh, is this not just what I said when I was back in my own country? That is why I acted first and tried to flee to Tarshish—because I knew that you are a gracious God, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you hold back from sending disaster. 3 Therefore now, Yahweh, I beg you, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." 4 Yahweh said, "Is it good that you are so angry?" 5 Then Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made a shelter and sat under it in the shade so that he could see what might become of the city.
6 Yahweh God appointed a plant and made it grow up over Jonah so that it might be a shade over his head to relieve him of his distress. Jonah was very glad because of the plant. 7 But God appointed a worm at sunrise the next morning. It attacked the plant and the plant withered. 8 It came about that when the sun rose the next morning, God appointed a hot east wind. Also, the sun beat down on Jonah's head and he became faint. Then Jonah wished that he might die. He said to himself, "It is better for me to die than to live." 9 Then God said to Jonah, "Is it good that you are so angry about the plant?" Then Jonah said, "It is good that I am angry, even to death." 10 Yahweh said, "You have had compassion for the plant, for which you have not labored, nor did you make it grow. It grew up in a night and died in a night. 11 So as for me, should I not have compassion for Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 people who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left hand, and also many animals?"
1 This is the word of Yahweh that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Listen, all you peoples.
Listen, earth, and all that is in you.
Let the Lord Yahweh be a witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
3 Look, Yahweh comes out of his place;
he will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.
4 The mountains will melt under him;
the valleys will break apart,
like wax before fire,
like waters that are poured down a steep place.
5 All this is because of Jacob's transgression,
and because of the sins of the house of Israel.
What is Jacob's transgression?
Is it not Samaria?
What is Judah's high place?
Is it not Jerusalem?
6 "I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field,
a place for planting vineyards,
and I will pour her stones down into the valley
and I will uncover her foundations.
7 All her carved figures will be broken to pieces,
and all her gifts that she received will be burned with fire,
and I will make all her idols desolate.
Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes,
they will become the wages of prostitutes again."
8 For this reason I will lament and wail;
I will go barefoot and naked;
I will wail like the jackals
and mourn like owls.
9 For her wound is incurable,
for it has come to Judah.
It has reached the gate of my people,
to Jerusalem.
10 Do not tell about it in Gath;
do not weep at all.
At Beth Leaphrah
I roll myself in the dust.
11 Pass by, inhabitants of Shaphir,
in nakedness and shame.
The inhabitants of Zaanan
do not come out.
Beth Ezel mourns,
for their protection is taken away.
12 For the inhabitants of Maroth
wait anxiously for good news,
because disaster has come down from Yahweh
to the gates of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the chariot to the team of horses,
inhabitants of Lachish.
You, Lachish, were the beginning of sin for the daughter of Zion,
for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
14 So you will give parting gifts
to Moresheth Gath;
the houses of Akzib will disappoint
the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring a conqueror to you,
inhabitants of Mareshah;
the splendor of Israel
will come to Adullam.
16 Shave your head and cut off your hair
for the children in whom you delight.
Make yourself as bald as eagles,
for your children will go into exile from you.
1 Woe to those who plan iniquity,
to those who plan on their beds to do evil.
In the morning light they do it
because they have power.
2 They desire fields and seize them;
they desire houses and take them.
They oppress a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore Yahweh says this,
"Look, I am planning to bring disaster against this clan,
from which you will not remove your necks.
You will not walk arrogantly,
for it will be an evil time.
4 In that day men will sing a taunting song about you,
and lament with a wailing lamentation.
They will sing, 'We Israelites are completely ruined;
Yahweh changes the portion of my people.
How can he remove it from me?
He portions out our fields to traitors!'"
5 Therefore, you rich people will have no descendants
to divide up the territory by lot in the assembly of Yahweh.
6 "Do not prophesy," their prophets say.
"They must not prophesy these things;
disgrace will not overtake us."
7 Should it really be said, house of Jacob,
"Is the Spirit of Yahweh impatient?
Are these really his deeds?"
Do not my words do good
to anyone who walks uprightly?
8 Lately my people have risen up
like an enemy.
You strip the robe, the garment,
from those who pass by unsuspectingly,
as soldiers return from war to what they think is safety.
9 You drive the women belonging to my people
from their pleasant houses;
you take my splendor
from their young children forever.
10 Get up and leave,
for this is not a place where you can rest,
because of its uncleanness;
it is destroyed with complete destruction.
11 If someone comes to you in a spirit of falsehood and lies and says,
"I will prophesy to you about wine and strong drink,"
he would be considered to be a prophet for this people.
12 I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob.
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel.
I will bring them together like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in the midst of their pasture.
There will be a loud noise
because of the multitude of people.
13 Someone who breaks open their way for them
will go ahead of them.
They break through the gate and go out;
their king will pass on before them.
Yahweh will be at their head.
1 I said,
"Now listen, you leaders of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel:
Is it not right for you to understand justice?
2 You who hate good and love evil,
you who tear off their skin,
their flesh from their bones—
3 you who also eat the flesh of my people,
and tear off their skin,
break their bones,
and chop them in pieces,
just like meat for a pot,
just like meat in a cauldron.
4 Then you rulers will cry out to Yahweh,
but he will not answer you.
He will hide his face from you at that time,
because you have done evil deeds."
5 Yahweh says this,
"As for the prophets
who lead my people astray,
if one gives them something to eat,
they proclaim, 'Peace.'
But if he puts nothing in their mouths,
they dedicate themselves to wage war on him.
6 Therefore, it will be night for you with no vision for you;
it will be dark so that you will do no divination.
The sun will go down on the prophets,
and the day will be dark on them.
7 The seers will be put to shame,
and the diviners will be embarrassed.
All of them will cover their lips,
for there is no answer from God."
8 But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of Yahweh,
and am full of justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression,
and to Israel his sin.
9 Now listen to this,
you leaders of the house of Jacob,
and rulers of the house of Israel,
you who detest justice,
and pervert everything that is right.
10 You build Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 Your leaders judge for a bribe,
your priests teach for a price,
and your prophets do divination for money.
Yet you rely on Yahweh and say,
"Is not Yahweh with us?
No evil will come on us."
12 Therefore, because of you,
Zion will become a plowed field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,
and the hill of the temple
will become high places of a thicket.
1 But in the last days it will come about
that the mountain of the house of Yahweh
will be established as the chief over the other mountains.
It will be exalted above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it.
2 Many nations will go and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
and we will walk in his paths."
For from Zion the law will go out,
and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
3 He will judge among many peoples
and will decide concerning numerous nations far away.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war any longer.
4 Instead, they will sit every person under his vine
and under his fig tree.
No one will make them afraid,
for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken.
5 For all the peoples walk,
each one, in the name of their god.
But we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God
forever and ever.
6 "On that day"—this is Yahweh's declaration—
"I will assemble the lame
and gather the outcast,
those whom I have afflicted.
7 I will turn the lame into a remnant,
and the ones driven away into a strong nation,
and I, Yahweh, will reign over them on Mount Zion,
now and forever.
8 As for you, watchtower for the flock,
hill of the daughter of Zion—
to you it will come, your former dominion will be restored,
the kingdom that belongs to the daughter of Jerusalem.
9 Now, why do you shout so loudly?
Is there no king among you?
Has your counselor died?
Is this why pain like a woman in labor seizes you?
10 Be in pain
and labor to give birth, daughter of Zion,
like a woman in labor.
For now you will go out of the city,
live in the field,
and go to Babylon.
There you will be rescued.
There Yahweh will redeem you
from the hand of your enemies.
11 Now many nations
are assembled against you;
they say, 'Let her be defiled;
let our eyes gloat over Zion.'
12 They do not know Yahweh's thoughts,
neither do they understand his plans,
for he has gathered them like bundles of grain
prepared for the threshing floor.
13 Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn to be iron,
and I will make your hooves to be bronze.
You will crush many peoples
and you will devote their unjust gain to Yahweh,
their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth."
1 Now come together in battle ranks, daughter of soldiers!
A siege has been set up against us!
With a rod they strike the judge of Israel
on the cheek. [1]
2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
even though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you one will come to me
to rule in Israel,
whose beginning is from ancient times,
from everlasting.
3 Therefore God will give them up,
until the time when she who is in labor bears a child,
and the rest of his brothers return
to the people of Israel.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of Yahweh,
in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God.
They will remain,
for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
5 He will give us peace.
When the Assyrians come into our land,
and when they march against our fortresses,
then we will raise against them seven shepherds
and eight leaders over men.
6 They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod in its entrances. [2]
He will rescue us from the Assyrians,
when they come into our land,
when they march inside our borders.
7 The remnant of Jacob will be
in the midst of many peoples,
like dew from Yahweh,
like showers on the grass,
that do not wait for a man,
and they do not wait for the children of mankind.
8 The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,
among many peoples,
like a lion among the animals of the forest,
like a young lion among the flocks of sheep.
When he goes through them,
he will trample over them and tear them to pieces,
and there will be no one to save them.
9 Your hand will be lifted against your enemies,
and it will destroy them.
10 "It will happen in that day"—this is Yahweh's declaration—
"that I will destroy your horses from among you
and will demolish your chariots.
11 I will destroy the cities in your land
and throw down all your strongholds.
12 I will destroy the witchcraft in your hand,
and you will no longer have any diviners.
13 I will destroy your carved figures
and your stone pillars from among you.
You will no longer worship
the workmanship of your hands.
14 I will uproot your Asherah poles from among you,
and I will destroy your cities.
15 I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath
on the nations that have not listened."
1 Now listen to what Yahweh says,
"Arise and state your case before the mountains;
let the hills hear your voice.
2 Hear, you mountains, Yahweh's accusation,
you enduring foundations of the earth.
For Yahweh has a lawsuit with his people,
and he will fight in court against Israel.
3 My people, what have I done to you?
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt
and rescued you out of the house of bondage.
I sent Moses, Aaron,
and Miriam to you.
5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,
and how Balaam son of Beor answered him
as you went from Shittim to Gilgal,
so you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh."
6 What should I bring to Yahweh,
as I bow down to God on high?
Should I come to him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams,
or with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Should I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has told you, man, what is good,
and what Yahweh requires from you:
Act justly, love kindness,
and walk humbly with your God.
9 The voice of Yahweh is making a proclamation to the city—
even now wisdom fears your name:
"Listen to the rod, and to the one who has put it in place. [1]
10 There is wealth in the houses of the wicked that is dishonest,
and false measures that are abominable.
11 Should I consider a person to be innocent
if he uses fraudulent scales,
with a bag of deceptive weights?
12 The rich men are full of violence,
the inhabitants have spoken lies,
and their tongue in their mouth is deceitful.
13 Therefore I will make you sick, striking you down,
making you desolate because of your sins.
14 You will eat but not be satisfied;
your emptiness will remain inside you.
You will store goods away but not save,
and what you do save I will give to the sword. [2]
15 You will sow but not reap;
you will tread the olives but not anoint yourselves with oil;
you will press grapes but drink no wine.
16 You have observed the statutes of Omri,
and all the works of the house of Ahab.
You have walked in their counsels,
Therefore I will give you over to ruin
and your inhabitants to derision,
and you will bear the scorn of my people." [3]
1 Woe is me!
I have become like the gathering of summer fruit,
and like the grapes that have been gleaned;
there is no grape cluster to eat,
no ripe early fig that my soul desires.
2 The faithful ones have vanished from the land;
there is no upright person in all mankind.
They all lie in wait to shed blood;
each one hunts his own brother with a net.
3 Their hands are very good at doing harm:
the ruler asks for money,
the judge is ready for bribes,
and the powerful man is telling others of the desire of his soul.
Thus they plot together.
4 The best of them is like a brier,
the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge.
It is the day foretold by your watchmen,
the day of your punishment.
Now is the time of their confusion.
5 Do not trust any neighbor;
do not put confidence in any friend.
From even the woman who lies in your embrace
guard the entrance to your mouth.
6 For a son dishonors his father,
a daughter rises up against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
A man's enemies are the people of his own house.
7 But as for me, I will look to Yahweh.
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.
8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy.
After I fall, I will rise.
When I sit in darkness,
Yahweh will be a light for me.
9 Because I sinned against Yahweh,
I will bear his rage
until he pleads my case
and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me to the light,
and I will see his righteousness.
10 Then my enemy will see it,
and shame will cover the one who said to me,
"Where is Yahweh your God?"
My eyes will look at her;
she will be trampled down like the mud in the streets.
11 A day to build your walls will come;
on that day the boundaries will be extended very far.
12 On that day your people will come to you,
from Assyria and the cities in Egypt,
from Egypt to the River,
from sea to sea,
and from mountain to mountain.
13 But the land will be desolate
because of the people who are living there,
because of the fruit of their actions.
14 Shepherd your people with your rod,
the flock of your inheritance.
They dwell alone in a thicket,
in the midst of a pastureland.
Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead
as in the old days.
15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show them wonders.
16 The nations will see and be ashamed
of all their power.
They will put their hands on their mouths;
their ears will be deaf.
17 They will lick the dust like a snake,
like creatures that crawl on the earth.
They will come out of their fortresses with fear;
they will come with fear to you, Yahweh our God,
and they will be afraid because of you.
18 Who is a God like you—
who takes away iniquity, who passes over the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not keep his anger forever
because he delights in his covenant faithfulness.
19 You will again have compassion on us;
you will trample our iniquities under your feet.
You will throw all our sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will give truth to Jacob
and covenant faithfulness to Abraham,
as you swore to our ancestors in ancient days.