Learn to practice what is good; seek justice, alleviate oppression, defend orphans in court, and plead the widow's case.

Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. All of them are lovers of bribes and are runners after gifts. They don't bring justice to orphans, and the widow's case never comes up for review in their court."

The LORD will go to court to oppose the elders and princes of his people: "You're the ones who have been devouring the vineyard, the plunder of the poor is in your own houses!

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies has declared this so I could hear it: "Surely many houses will become desolate, great and beautiful houses, without occupants.

Therefore my people go into exile because they lack understanding; my honored men go hungry, and the crowd is parched with thirst.

"How terrible it will be for those who parade iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin along as with a cart rope;

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; for those living in a land of deep darkness, a light has shined upon them.

Shout aloud, and sing for joy, you who live in Zion, because great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

"Listen! There's a noise on the mountains like that of a great multitude! Listen! There's an uproar among the kingdoms, like that of nations massing together! The LORD of the Heavenly Armies is mustering an army for battle.

"The afterlife below is all astir to meet you when you arrive; it rouses up the spirits of the dead to greet you everyone who used to be world leaders. It has raised up from their thrones all who used to be kings of the nations.

But now the LORD has spoken again: "Within three years, like the years of a contract worker, Moab's glory will be brought into contempt, in spite of all its great multitude, and its survivors will be very few and of no importance."

I, the LORD, watch over it And I water it continuously. I guard it night and day so no one can harm it.

Furthermore, at that time, a great trumpet will be sounded, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and those who had been expelled to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on his holy mountain at Jerusalem.

For caraway is not threshed with a sharp sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin. Instead, caraway is winnowed with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

It must be ground; one cannot keep threshing it forever. Even if he drives his cart and horses over it, he cannot crush it.

you will be visited by the LORD of the Heavenly Armies with thunder, an earthquake, and great noise, with a windstorm, a tempest, and flames from a devouring fire.

"How terrible it will be for you who go to great depths to hide your plans from the LORD, you whose deeds have been done in the dark, and who say, "Who can see us? Who has recognized us?'

those who make a person appear to be the offender in a lawsuit, who set a trap for someone who is making his defense in court, and push aside the innocent with specious arguments.

And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks and canals running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a hiding place from storms, like streams of water in the desert, in the shadow of a great rock in an exhausted land.

The LORD has a sword bathed in blood; it's covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, and with fat from the kidneys of rams." "For the LORD holds a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

"Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king of Assyria says: "Don't let Hezekiah deceive you for he cannot save you!

"Lift your eyes up to heaven and see who created all these the one who leads out their vast array of stars by number, calling them all by name because of his great might and his powerful strength and not one is missing."

This is what the LORD says: "The wealth of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, those Sabeans, men of great heights. They'll come over to you and will be yours; They'll trudge behind you coming over in chains, they'll bow down to you. They'll plead with you, "Surely God is in you; and there is no other God at all.'"

Both of these things will overtake you suddenly on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, despite the multitude of your incantations and the great power of your spells."

Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed could cross over?"

For you won't go out in haste, nor will you go in flight; for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. He is called the God of all the earth."

Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong; because he poured out his life to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he carried the sins of many, and made intercession for their transgressions."

"For a brief moment I abandoned you; but I'll gather you with great compassion.

Then all your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children's prosperity.

Because of his wicked greed I was angry, so I punished him; and I hid my face, and was angry but he kept turning back to his stubborn will.

"Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will spring up quickly; and your vindication will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will guard your back.

"Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, in garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in such splendor, marching in his great might? It is I, speaking in vindication, mighty to save.

I will recount the gracious deeds of the LORD, the praiseworthy acts of the LORD, according to all the LORD has done for us yes, the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his gracious love.