As for your New Moons and your appointed festivals, I abhor them. They've become a burden to me; I've grown weary of carrying that burden.

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."

He will judge between the nations, and will render verdicts for the benefit of many. "They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nations will not raise swords against nations, and they will not learn warfare anymore.

For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with practices learned from the East and they are fortune-tellers like the Philistines. They cut deals with foreigners.

"For the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has reserved a time to oppose all who are proud and haughty, and the self-exalting they will be humbled.

"Stop trusting in human beings, whose life breath is in their nostrils, for what are they really worth?"

"For a man will grab his brother in his own father's house, and say, "You have a cloak, so you be our leader, and this heap of ruins will be under your rule!'

"For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because what they say and do opposes the LORD; they keep defying him.

"The expressions on their faces give them away. They parade their sin around like Sodom; they don't even try to hide it. How horrible it will be for them, because they have brought disaster on themselves!"

"How terrible it will be for the wicked! Disaster is headed their way, because what they did with their hand will be repaid to them.

"As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, your leaders are misleading you they're giving you confusing directions."

I will sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: "The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

For the vineyard of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden in which he delights. He looked for justice, but saw only bloodshed; he searched for righteousness, but heard only an outcry!

"How terrible it will be for you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you have settled yourselves alone in the middle of the land!"

For ten acres of vineyard will produce only one bath, and one omer of seed will produce only one ephah."

"How terrible it will be for those who rise at dawn in order to grab a stiff drink, for those who stay up late at night as wine inflames them!

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

"How terrible it will be for those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute what is bitter for what is sweet and what is sweet for what is bitter!"

"How terrible it will be for those who are wise in their own opinion, and clever in their own reckoning!

"How terrible it will be for those who are heroes at drinking wine, and champions in mixing strong drink,

who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of justice!"

Therefore, as flames of fire devour straw, as dry grass collapses in flames, so their root will be rotten, and their blossom will blow away like dust, because they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

The LORD will signal for nations far away, whistling for them to come from the ends of the earth. Look how quickly and how swiftly they come!

Their arrows are sharp, all their bows ready for action. Their horses' hooves seem like flint, and their chariot wheels spin like a whirlwind.

"How terrible it will be for me!" I cried, "because I am ruined! I'm a man with unclean lips, and I live among a people with unclean lips! And my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies!"

He touched my mouth and said, "Look! Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sins atoned for."

Then I heard the voice of the LORD as he was asking, "Whom will I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am!" I replied. "Send me."

Then I asked, "For how long, LORD?" He replied: "Until cities lie waste, without inhabitants, and houses without people; and the land becomes utterly desolate.

Until the LORD removes people far away, and there are many empty places in the middle of the land.

"Let's go attack Judah, let's terrorize it, and let's conquer it for ourselves. Then we'll install Tabeel's son as king!"'

In reply, the LORD announced, "Please listen, you household of David. Is it such a minor thing for you to try the patience of men? Must you also try the patience of my God?

"At that time, the LORD will call for flies that will come from far away from the headwaters of Egypt's rivers and for bees that are in the land of Assyria.

As for all the hills that used to be cultivated with a hoe, you won't go there, because you'll fear iron briars and thorns. Nevertheless, those hills will be reserved as a pasture where cattle will feed and where sheep will graze."

The LORD also told me, "Take a large tablet and write on it with a stylus pen, "For Maher-shalal-hash-baz'.

for before the young lad knows how to call out to his father or mother, the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria."

Take counsel together, but it will all be for nothing; go ahead and talk, but it will all be for nothing, for God is with us."

For this is what the LORD spoke to me, as his forceful hand was resting on me, and as he was warning me not to live the way this people were living:

"Don't call conspiracy everything that this people calls conspiracy, and don't fear what they fear, or live in terror.

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies he's the one you are to regard as holy. Let him be the one whom you fear, and let him be the one before whom you stand in terror!

Then he will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel he'll also be a stone with which someone strikes himself, a rock one stumbles over, a trap and a snare to those who live in Jerusalem.

I'll wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I'll put my trust in him.

for instruction and for testimony? Surely they are speaking like this because the truth hasn't dawned on them.

But there will be no gloom for her who was in distress. Formerly, he brought contempt to the region of Zebulun and the region of Naphtali, but in the future he will have made glorious the way of the sea, the territory beyond the Jordan Galilee of the nations.

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.

For every boot of the tramping soldier in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be used for burning as fuel for a fire.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west and they devour Israel with open mouths! "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike."

For those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

Therefore the Lord does not have pity on their young men, and has no compassion on their orphans and widows, because each of them was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth spoke folly. "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.

"For wickedness has burned like a blaze that consumes briers and thorns; it sets thickets of the forest on fire, and skyward they swirl in a column of smoke.

From the wrath of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies the land has been scorched, and the people have become like fuel for the fire; no one will spare his neighbor.

Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh; together they are against Judah. "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike."

"How terrible it will be for the one who enacts unjust decrees, for those who write oppressive laws that they have prescribed

What will you do on the day of Judgment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you run for help, and where will you leave your wealth,

so you won't have to crouch among those in chains or fall among the slain? "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike."

"How terrible it will be for Assyria, the rod of my anger! The club is in their hands!

"For the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and against Jerusalem; he will punish the speech that comes from that willful heart of Assyria's king and the haughty look in his eyes.

"The light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame, and it will burn and consume Assyria's thorns and briers in a single day.

For even if your people of Israel number as many as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Overwhelming, righteous destruction is decreed,

The Spirit of the LORD will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and power, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the LORD.

His delight will be in the fear of the LORD. He won't judge by what his eyes see, nor decide disputes by what his ears hear,

but with righteousness he will judge the needy, and decide with equity for earth's poor. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and the wicked will be killed with the breath of his lips.

They will neither harm nor destroy on my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."

At that time, as to the root of Jesse, who will be standing as a banner for the nations, the nations will rally to him, and his resting place is glorious.

He will raise a banner for the nations and will assemble the dispersed of Israel; he will gather the scattered people of Judah from the corners of the earth.

The LORD will totally destroy the gulf of the Sea of Egypt. He will sweep his hand over the Euphrates River with a violent wind, breaking it up into seven streams, and making a way for people to cross on foot.

And there will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people out of Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

At that time, you will say: "I will praise you, LORD, for although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away, and you have comforted me.

"Look! God yes God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid. For the LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."

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

"Raise a banner on a bare hilltop! Cry out loud to them! Give a wave of the hand, signaling for them to enter the gates of the nobles.

"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.

They're coming from a faraway land, from the distant horizon the LORD and the weapons of his anger to destroy the entire land."

They will be terrified; pain and anguish will seize them; they'll writhe like a woman in labor. They'll look aghast at one another; and their faces will be ablaze with fear.

For the stars of the heavens and their constellations won't shine their light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon won't shine its light.

I'll punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I'll put an end to the pomposity of the arrogant, and overthrow the insolence of tyrants.

Watch out! I'm stirring up the Medes against them, who care nothing for silver and take no delight in gold.

You said in your heart, "I'll ascend to heaven, above the stars of God. I'll erect my throne; I'll sit on the Mount of Assembly in the far reaches of the north;

But you are brought down to join the dead, to the far reaches of the Pit.

who made the world like a desert, who destroyed its cities, who would not open the jails for his prisoners?'

you will not be united with them in burial, for you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. People will never mention the descendants of those who practice evil again!

Prepare a massacre for his sons because of the guilt of their forefathers! They are not to rise and inherit the earth, and cover the surface of the world with cities."

"This is what I've planned for the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

For the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has planned, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?"

Wail, you gate! Cry out, you city! Melt away, all you Philistines! For smoke comes from the north, and there's no one to take measure in its festivals.

A message concerning Moab: "For Ir in Moab is destroyed in a night, and Moab is ruined! Because Ir in Moab is destroyed in a single night, Moab is ruined!

Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, their voices are heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the loins of Moab cry aloud; its heart quakes for itself.

My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. For at the ascent to Luhith they go up weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction.

For the cry has gone out along the border of Moab; her wailing reaches as far as Eglaim, her wailing reaches as far as Beer-elim.

Therefore, let Moab not wail, let everyone wail for Moab. Lament and grieve deeply for the ruined remains of Kir-hareseth.

For the fields of Heshbon wither, as well as the vines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have struck down its choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and pushed to the desert. Its shoots spread out and passed over the sea."

"Therefore I weep with the tears of Jazer for the vines of Sibmah. I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh for the shouts of joy over your summer fruit and your grain harvest have ended.

Therefore my insides moan like a lyre for Moab, and my innermost being for Kir-hareseth.

Nevertheless, gleanings will remain in Israel, as when an olive tree is beaten two or three ripe olives left in the topmost branches, four or five left among the branches of a fruit-filled tree," declares the LORD God of Israel.

They will not look upon the altars, the products that their own fingers have made, and they will have no regard for Asherah poles or incense altars.

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock that is your strength. Therefore even though you plant delightful plants, sowing them with imported vine-seedlings,

"How terrible it will be for many nations, who rage like the roaring sea! Oh, how the uproar of nations is like the sound of rushing, mighty water How they roar!

The nations roar like the rushing of many waters, but the LORD will rebuke them, and they will run far away, chased like chaff blown down from the mountains or like thick dust that rolls along, blown along by a wind storm.

When the evening arrives, watch out sudden terror! By morning they will be there no longer! So it will be for those who plunder us and what will happen to those who rob us."

which sends envoys by the sea, in papyrus boats over the water! Go, swift messengers, to a tall, smooth-skinned nation, to a people feared far and wide, a nation that metes out punishment and oppresses, whose land the rivers divide.