Also, the beasts of [the] field long for you, because the courses of water are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the desert.

And Yahweh {utters} his voice before his army, because his encampment [is] very large; strong [is the] one who carries out his decree, for great [is] the day of Yahweh and exceedingly fearful. Who can endure it?

Rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to Yahweh your God, because he [is] gracious and compassionate, {slow to anger} and great in loyal love, and relenting from harm.

{The northerners} I will remove from you; I will drive them to a desert and desolate land, its front to the eastern sea, and its rear into the western sea; its stench and odor will rise up because he has done great things.

Do not fear, land, rejoice and be glad, because Yahweh has done great things.

Do not fear, wild animals of [the] field, because [the] pastures of [the] desert have put forth new green shoots, because [the] tree has produced its fruit, [the] fig tree and [the] vine have yielded their produce.

Be glad, children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in Yahweh your God, because he has given for you the autumn rains for [your] righteousness, and he has {poured down} for you rainwater, [the] autumn and spring rains, as before.

And it will happen--everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be rescued, because on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be {those who escape}, as Yahweh said, and among the survivors whom Yahweh is calling.

Send forth [the] sickle, for the harvest is ripe! Go tread, for [the] winepress is full! The vats overflow, because their evil [is] great!

Egypt will become a desolation, and Edom will become a {desolate desert}, because of the violence [they did] against the children of Judah, in whose land they have shed innocent blood.

Thus says Yahweh, "For three transgressions of Damascus and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron!

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Gaza and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they exiled a whole community, handing them over to Edom!

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Tyre and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they delivered up a whole community to Edom and they did not remember the covenant of brotherhood!

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Edom and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because he pursued his brother with the sword! He stifled his compassion and his anger tore [them] apart {continually}, and he kept his rage forever.

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Ammon and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory!

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Moab and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom.

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they have rejected the law of Yahweh and have not kept his rules, and their lies have led them astray, {after which their ancestors walked}!

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they sell the righteous for money and the poor for a pair of sandals!

"Therefore, thus I will do to you, Israel. Because I will do this to you, O Israel, prepare to meet your God!

Therefore, because you trample on [the] poor and you take a grain tax from them, you built houses of dressed stone, but you will not live in them. You built vineyards of delightfulness, but you will not drink their wine.

And in all [of the] vineyards [there will be] wailing, because I will pass in your midst," says Yahweh.

And [if] one's relative, who burns [the body], lifts it up and brings the body out of the house and he will say to someone in the innermost part of the house, "[Are there] any more with you?" and he will say, "None," then he will say, "Silence," because [we] must not invoke the name of Yahweh.

And then when they finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, "O Lord Yahweh, please forgive! How can Jacob stand, because he [is] small?"

Then I said, " Lord Yahweh, please stop! How can Jacob stand, because he [is] small?"

But do not prophesy again at Bethel, because this [is] a sanctuary of a king and this [is] a temple of a kingdom."

In that day the beautiful young women and the young men will faint because of thirst.

And your warriors will be shattered, Teman, so that {everyone} from the mountain of Esau will be cut off because of the slaughter!

"Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you and you will be cut off forever.

"Get up! Go to the great city Nineveh and cry out against her, because their evil has come up {before me}."

Then the men {were greatly afraid}, and they said to him, "What [is] this you have done?" because they knew that he [was] fleeing {from the presence of} Yahweh (because he had told them).

So they said to him, "What shall we do to you so that the sea may quiet down for us?" because the sea {was growing more and more tempestuous}.

And he said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea so that the sea may quiet down for you, because I know that on account of me this great storm [has come] upon you all."

But the men rowed [hard] to bring [the ship] back to the dry land, and they could not [do so] because the sea {was growing more and more tempestuous} against them.

So they cried out to Yahweh, and they said, "O Yahweh! Please do not let us perish because of this man's life, and {do not make us guilty of innocent blood}, because you, O Yahweh, did what you wanted."

And he prayed to Yahweh and said, "O Yahweh, [was] this not {what I said} while I was in my homeland? Therefore {I originally fled} to Tarshish, because I knew that you [are] a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger {and having great steadfast love}, and one who relents concerning calamity.

And so then, Yahweh, please take my life from me, because [for] me death [is] better than life!"

For her wounds [are] incurable, because it has come to Judah. It has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.

For the inhabitants of Maroth writhed for good, because disaster has come down from Yahweh to the gate of Jerusalem.

Woe [to] those who plan wickedness and evil deeds upon their beds! In the light of the morning they did it, because they have power in their hands.

Because her rich are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue [is] deceitful in their mouth.

And I also {have made you sick by striking you down}, making [you] desolate because of your sins.

But the earth will be a desolation because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds.

The nations will see and be ashamed because of all their might. They will lay [the] hand on [the] mouth; their ears will be deaf.

Yahweh has commanded concerning you: "Your name will no longer be sown. I will cut off {the idols and images} from the {temple} of your gods; {I will send you to the grave} because you are worthless."

"Because of the many idolatries of [the] prostitute, the beautiful charm [of] a mistress of witchcraft, she who enslaves nations by her harlotries, and peoples by her sorceries,

Because you plundered many nations, all the remaining nations will plunder you on account of the blood of humanity and violence [against the] land, [and against] cities and all who live in them.

This [shall be] for them in place of their pride because they mocked and boasted against the people of Yahweh of hosts.

Because then I will {make the speech of the nations pure}; that all of them might call on the name of Yahweh, to serve him {in unison}.

'You have looked for much, and look! [It came] to little; and [when] you brought [it] home, I blew it [away]. Why?' {declares} Yahweh of hosts. 'Because my house [is] desolate and you [are] running each to your own house!

Therefore, because of you [the] heavens have withheld [the] dew and the earth has withheld its produce.

'But now take courage, Zerubbabel,' {declares} Yahweh. 'Take courage, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and take courage, all the people of the land,' {declares} Yahweh. 'Do the work, because I [am] with you,' {declares} Yahweh of hosts,

And he said to him, "Run, say to that young man, 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited {like villages without walls} because of the multitude of people and animals in its midst.

Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'Old men and old women shall again sit in the public squares of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand {because of great age}.

Do not devise evil in your hearts [against] your neighbor, and do not love {a false oath}, because all these [are] things I hate," {declares} Yahweh.

Ashkelon will see and will be afraid, and Gaza will writhe exceedingly, and Ekron [also], because its hope is ruined. And the king from Gaza will perish, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

[As for] you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will release your prisoners from {the waterless pit}.

Because the household gods speak deceit, and those who practice divination see a lie, and the dreamers of vanity speak in vain. Therefore [the people] wander like sheep; they are afflicted because there is no shepherd.

{My anger burns} against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders, because Yahweh of hosts watches over his flock, the house of Judah; and he will make them like his majestic horse in war.

And they will be like warriors, trampling in the mud of [the] streets in the battle. They will fight, because Yahweh [is] with them, and they will put to shame [the] riders on horses.

And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and the house of Joseph I will save. And I will bring them back, because I have compassion on them, and they will be as if I had not rejected them, for I [am] Yahweh their God, and I will answer them.

{And then}, if anyone prophesies again, his father and his mother who bore him will say to him, "You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of Yahweh!" And his father and his mother who bore him will pierce him through when he prophesies.

{And then} on that day, each of the prophets will be ashamed because of his vision when he was prophesying, and they will not put on a cloak of hair in order to deceive,

And you will flee [by] the valley of my mountains, because the valley of [the] mountains will reach to Azal, and you will flee like you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. And Yahweh my God will come, [and] all [the] holy ones with him.

If you will not listen, and if you will not {take it to heart} to give glory to my name," says Yahweh of hosts, "then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings; moreover I have [already] cursed them because {you are not taking it to heart}.

And this you do {as well}: [you] cover the altar of Yahweh [with] tears, [with] weeping and [with] groaning, because he {no longer regards the offering} or accepts [it] [with] favor from your hand.

But you ask, "{For what reason}?" Because Yahweh stands as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have been unfaithful, even though she [is] your marriage partner and {your wife by covenant}.

"And all the nations will call you blessed, because you will be {a land in which one takes joy}," says Yahweh of hosts.

And she will give birth to a son, and you will call his name 'Jesus,' because he will save his people from their sins."

"A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping [for] her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because {they exist no longer}."

From that time [on], Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is near."

"Blessed [are] the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed [are] the ones who mourn, because they will be comforted.

Blessed [are] the meek, because they will inherit the earth.

Blessed [are] the ones who hunger and thirst [for] righteousness, because they will be satisfied.

Blessed [are] the merciful, because they will be shown mercy.

Blessed [are] the pure in heart, because they will see God.

Blessed [are] the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God.

Blessed [are] those who are persecuted because of righteousness, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Rejoice and be glad, because your reward [is] great in heaven, for in the [same] way they persecuted the prophets before you.

But I say to you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, because it is the throne of God,

or by the earth, because it is the footstool of his feet, or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great king.

And do not swear by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black.

in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, because he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust.

And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to stand [and] pray in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, in order that they may be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full!

"But [when you] pray, do not babble repetitiously like the pagans, for they think that because of their many words they will be heard.

Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, because tomorrow will be anxious for itself. {Each day has enough trouble of its own.}

"Enter through the narrow gate, because broad [is] the gate and spacious [is] the road that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it,

because narrow [is] the gate and constricted [is] the road that leads to life, and there are few who find it!

And the rain came down and the rivers came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it did not collapse, because its foundation was laid on the rock.

because he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes.

he said, "Go away, because the girl is not dead, but is sleeping." And they ridiculed him.

And [when he] saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were weary and dejected, like sheep that did not have a shepherd.

But beware of people, because they will hand you over to councils, and they will flog you in their synagogues.

And you will be brought before both governors and kings because of me, for a witness to them and to the Gentiles.

and you will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end--this one will be saved.

"Therefore do not be afraid of them, because nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing secret that will not become known.

The one who finds his life will lose it, and the one who loses his life because of me will find it.

Then he began to reproach the towns in which the majority of his miracles had been done, because they did not repent:

At that time Jesus answered [and] said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these [things] from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to young children.

The people of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and behold, [something] greater than Jonah [is] here!