Ah, sinful nation, a people heavy [with] iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly. They have forsaken Yahweh; they have despised the holy one of Israel. They are estranged [and gone] backward.

If the Lord who commands armies had not left us a few survivors, we would have quickly become like Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah.

When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this from your hand to tread my courts?

Take pleasure in well-doing; let your ways be upright, keep down the cruel, give a right decision for the child who has no father, see to the cause of the widow.

The upright town has become untrue; there was a time when her judges gave right decisions, when righteousness had a resting-place in her, but now she is full of those who take men's lives.

Your chiefs have gone against the Lord, they have become friends of thieves; every one of them is looking for profit and going after rewards; they do not give right decisions for the child who has no father, and they do not let the cause of the widow come before them.

For this reason the Lord, the Lord of armies, the Strong One of Israel, has said, I will put an end to my haters, and send punishment on those who are against me;

Zion will be redeemed by justice, and those of her who repent, by righteousness.

But a common destruction will overtake sinners and evil-doers together, and those who have gone away from the Lord will be cut off.

For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, with those who practice divination like the Philistines, and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners.

For the day of the Lord of armies is coming on all the pride of men, and on all who are high and lifted up;

Put no more trust in man,
who has only the breath in his nostrils.
What is he really worth?

Look, the sovereign Lord who commands armies is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah every source of security, including all the food and water,

The strong man and the man of war; the judge and the prophet; the man who has knowledge of secret arts, and the man who is wise because of his years;

The captain of fifty, and the man of high position, and the wise guide, and the wonder-worker, and he who makes use of secret powers.

The people will treat each other harshly; men will oppose each other; neighbors will fight. Youths will proudly defy the elderly and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected.

He will protest on that day, saying,
“I will not be a governor;
For in my house there is neither bread nor clothing;
You should not make me a judge and ruler of the people.”

As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.

The Lord comes to be the judge of their responsible men and of their rulers: it is you who have made waste the vine-garden, and in your houses is the property of the poor which you have taken by force.

Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?" The sovereign Lord who commands armies has spoken.

And Jerusalem’s gates will lament (cry out in grief) and mourn [as those who wail for the dead];
And she, being ruined and desolate, will sit upon the ground.

In that day will the young growth of the Lord be beautiful in glory, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride of those who are still living in Israel.

And it shall come to pass that he who remaineth in Zion, and he that is left in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem;

Then the LORD will create over the entire site of Mount Zion including over those who assemble there a cloud by day

What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Who knows? I looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded rotten grapes.

Indeed Israel is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies, the people of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got -- disobedience! He waited for fairness, but look what he got -- cries for help!

Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land!

The Lord who commands armies told me this: "Many houses will certainly become desolate, large, impressive houses will have no one living in them.

Cursed are those who get up early in the morning to give themselves up to strong drink; who keep on drinking far into the night till they are heated with wine!

Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat
and opens wide its enormous jaws,
and down go Zion’s dignitaries, her masses,
her crowds, and those who carouse in her!

But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in justice, and God who is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

Cursed are those who make use of ox-cords for pulling the evil thing, and the bands of a young ox for their sin!

who say, Let him hasten, let him speed his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

Woe unto them who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Cursed are those who seem wise to themselves, and who take pride in their knowledge!

Cursed are those who are strong to take wine, and great in making mixed drinks!

who justify the wicked for a bribe, and turn away the righteousness of the righteous from them!

Therefore, as flaming fire devours straw, and dry grass disintegrates in the flames, so their root will rot, and their flower will blow away like dust. For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies, they have spurned the commands of the Holy One of Israel.

They called out to one another, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord who commands armies! His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!"

And the posts of the thresholds are moved by the voice of him who is calling, and the house is full of smoke.

I said, "Too bad for me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies."

And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Listen carefully, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call his name Immanuel (God with us).

For before the child will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land (Canaan) whose two kings you dread will be deserted [both Ephraim and Aram].

And they will give so much milk that he will be able to have butter for his food: for butter and honey will be the food of all who are still living in the land.

Say not, A conspiracy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A conspiracy; neither fear you their threats, nor be afraid.

Yahweh of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread.

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 will wait for the Lord,
who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob.
I will wait for Him.

Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Zion.

And when they say to you, Make request for us to those who have control of spirits, and to those wise in secret arts, who make hollow bird-like sounds; is it not right for a people to make request to their gods, to make request for the living to the dead?

for teaching and for testimony?" {surely they [who] speak like this have no dawn}.

They [who consult mediums and soothsayers] will pass through the land deeply distressed and hungry, and when they are hungry, they will become enraged and will curse their king and their God as they look upward.

{But there will be no gloom for those who were in distress}. In former times he treated [the] land of Zebulun and Naphtali with contempt, but in the future he will honor the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee [of] the nations.

The people who went in the dark have seen a great light, and for those who were living in the land of the deepest night, the light is shining.

And all the people will have experience of it, even Ephraim and the men of Samaria, who say in the pride of their uplifted hearts,

Aram on the east, and the Philistines on the west, who have come against Israel with open mouths. For all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

But the heart of the people was not turned to him who sent punishment on them, and they made no prayer to the Lord of armies.

The man who is honoured and responsible is the head, and the prophet who gives false teaching is the tail.

For the guides of this people are the cause of their wandering from the right way, and those who are guided by them come to destruction.

The land was dark with the wrath of the Lord of armies: the people were like those who take men's flesh for food.

Cursed are those who make evil decisions, and the writers who make the records of their cruel acts:

Who do wrong to the poor in their cause, and take away the right of the crushed among my people, so that they may have the property of widows, and get under their power those who have no father.

And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

You will have no place to go, except to kneel with the prisoners, or to fall among those who have been killed. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.

I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me will I give him a command to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

As who say, "I were able to win the kingdom of the Idolaters and their gods, but not Jerusalem and Samaria.

He keeps bragging: "I've done it by the strength of my hand, and by my wisdom, because I'm so clever. I removed the boundaries of nations, and plundered their treasures; like a bull I brought down those who sat on thrones.

My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, have I gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped."

Will the axe say high-sounding words against him who is using it, or the blade be full of pride against him who is cutting with it? As if a rod had the power of shaking him who is using it, or as if a stick might take up him who is not wood.

For this reason the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, will make his healthy ones emaciated. His majestic glory will go up in smoke.

And he will destroy the glory of his forest and orchard {completely}, and it will be like the wasting away of one who is sick.

And it will be in that day that the rest of Israel, and those of Jacob who have come safely through these troubles, will no longer go for help to him whose rod was on their back, but their faith will be in the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

The sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land.

Therefore, the Lord God of Hosts says this: “My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though he strikes you with a rod and raises his staff over you as the Egyptians did.

The Lord who commands armies is about to beat them with a whip, similar to the way he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will use his staff against the sea, lifting it up as he did in Egypt.

Look, the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, is ready to cut off the branches with terrifying power. The tallest trees will be cut down, the loftiest ones will be brought low.

But he will do right in the cause of the poor, and give wise decisions for those in the land who are in need; and the rod of his mouth will come down on the cruel, and with the breath of his lips he will put an end to the evil-doer.

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his place of rest shall be glorious.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, who shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.

And he will put up a flag as a sign to the nations, and he will get together those of Israel who had been sent away, and the wandering ones of Judah, from the four ends of the earth.

And the envy of Ephraim will be gone, and those who make trouble for Judah will come to an end: Ephraim will have no more envy of Judah, and there will be an end of Judah's hate for Ephraim.

And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, who shall be left, from Assyria; like it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

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

I have given orders to my holy ones, I have sent out my men of war, those of mine who take pride in their power, to give effect to my wrath.

A voice of a multitude in the mountains, A likeness of a numerous people, A voice of noise from the kingdoms of nations who are gathered, Jehovah of Hosts inspecting a host of battle!

They panic -- cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth. They look at one another in astonishment; their faces are flushed red.

So I will shake the heavens, and the earth will shake loose from its foundation, because of the fury of the Lord who commands armies, in the day he vents his raging anger.

Everyone who is overtaken will have a spear put through him, and everyone who goes in flight will be put to the sword.

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.

People will never be living in it again, and it will have no more men from generation to generation: the Arab will not put up his tent there; and those who keep sheep will not make it a resting-place for their flocks.

For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob (the captives in Babylon) and will again choose Israel, and will settle them in their own land. Foreigners (Gentiles) will join them [as proselytes] and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob (Israel).

Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord's land. They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.

That you will take up this bitter song against the king of Babylon, and say, How has the cruel overseer come to an end! He who was lifted up in pride is cut off;

He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hinders.

"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.

How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground, who did weaken the nations!

Those who see you will be looking on you with care, they will be in deep thought, saying, Is this the troubler of the earth, the shaker of kingdoms?

Who made the world a waste, overturning its towns; who did not let his prisoners loose from the prison-house.

But you, like a birth before its time, are stretched out with no resting-place in the earth; clothed with the bodies of the dead who have been put to the sword, who go down to the lowest parts of the underworld; a dead body, crushed under foot.