It approached the ram with the two horns that I had observed while standing beside the canal, and charged at him, out of control with rage.

I saw it approach the ram, overflowing with fury at him, and run into him with the full force of its strength. The goat shattered the ram's two horns, and the ram could not oppose it. So the goat threw him to the ground and trampled him. No one could rescue the ram from its control.

"So I turned my attention to the Lord God, seeking him in prayer and supplication, accompanied with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

"Lord! Great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and gracious love for those who love him and obey his commandments, we've sinned, we've practiced evil, we've acted wickedly, and we've rebelled, turning away from your commands and from your regulations.

But to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we've rebelled against him

And all Israel flouted your Law, turning aside from it and not obeying your voice. Because we've sinned against him, the curse has been poured upon us, along with the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God.

In year one of King Darius the Mede, I arose to fortify and strengthen him.'"

""One of her family line will replace him. He'll come against the army and enter the fortress of the northern king, conquering them and becoming victorious.

""The southern king will fly into a rage and march out to fight the northern king. He'll gather a large army, but that army will be handed over to him.

""However, the one who invades him will do whatever he wants to do. No one will oppose him. He'll establish himself in the Beautiful Land, wielding devastating power.

He'll decide to come with the full power of his kingdom, bringing with him an alliance that he'll implement. He'll give him a daughter in marriage to overthrow it, but it won't succeed or work out for him.

Then he'll turn his attention to the coastal lands and will capture many. But a commander will put an end to his insolence, repaying him for his scorn.

Overwhelming forces will be carried away before him, along with the Commander-in-Chief of the covenant.

From the time that an alliance is made with him, he'll act deceitfully, and he will go up and take power with only a small group of nations.

He'll encourage himself against the southern king by raising a large army. As a result, the southern king will mobilize for war with a large and powerful army, but he won't succeed because they will devise elaborate schemes against him.

His own security detail will undermine him, his army will be swept away, and many will fall and be killed in battle.

because ships will come against him from the Mediterranean islands. Disheartened, he'll return, incited to vehemence against the holy covenant, and he'll take action. As he returns, he'll show deference to those who abandon the holy covenant.

He'll glorify the god of fortresses, a god whom his ancestors never knew, honoring him with gold, silver, valuable jewels, and treasures.

He'll take action against the strongest fortresses. With the help of a foreign god, he'll recognize those who honor him, making them rule over many, and he'll parcel out the land for a profit.

""At the time of the end, the southern king will oppose him, and the northern king will overrun him with chariots, cavalry, and many ships. He'll invade countries, moving swiftly and sweeping through.

However, reports from the east and the north will alarm him, and he'll march out in great anger, intending to destroy and to desolate many.

When he pitches his royal pavilions between the seas facing the mountain of holy Glory, he'll come to his end, and no one will help him.'"

When a message from the LORD came to Hosea, the LORD told him, "Go marry a prostitute and have children with her, because the land is prostituting itself by departing from the LORD."

So he went out and married Diblaim's daughter Gomer. She conceived with him and gave birth to a son.

so the LORD told Hosea, "Name him "Lo-ammi,' because you are not my people, and I will not be your God.

Ephraim has become entwined with idols; leave him alone!

The arrogance of Israel testifies against him; therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity, and Judah with them.

They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

Israel's arrogance testifies against him; but they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him in all of this.

They won't present wine offerings to the LORD, nor will they please him. Their sacrifices will seem like food for mourners everyone who eats them will become unclean; none of them will enter the Temple of the LORD.

"My God will reject them, because they did not obey him, and they will become wanderers among the nations."

"When Israel was a young child I loved him, and from Egypt I called my son.

The LORD accuses Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him for what he does.

He even fought the angel and won; he cried and prayed to him. Then at Bethel he found him, and there he spoke with us

Ephraim has stirred up violent anger; therefore the guilt of his blood will remain on him, and his Lord will repay him for his contempt."

I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my fury."

Bring a prepared speech with you as you return to the LORD. Say to him: "Take away all our iniquity, and accept what is good. Then we will present the fruit of our lips.

"Ephraim, what have I in common with idols? I have listened and will pay attention to him. I am like a flourishing cypress; in me will your fruit be found."

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things. Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right: the righteous follow his example, but the rebellious stumble in them.

It will be like a man who runs from a lion, only to encounter a bear; or who comes home, leans his hand against a wall, and a serpent bites him!

So the captain approached him, and told him, "What are you doing asleep? Get up! Call on your gods! Maybe your god will think about us so we won't die!"

So they interrogated him: "Tell us, why has this trouble come upon us? What's your occupation? Where'd you come from? What's your home country? What's your nationality?"

In mounting terror, the men asked him, "What have you done?" The men were aware that he was fleeing from the LORD, because he had admitted this to them.

Because the sea was growing more and more stormy, they asked him, "What do we have to do to you so the sea will calm down for us?"

So they picked up Jonah and tossed him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging.

The mountains will melt under him and the valleys will split apart, like wax in the presence of fire and like water gushing down a steep incline.

Suppose a man who keeps company with a deceiving spirit prophesies like this: "Drink wine and strong drink!' Won't the people accept him as a prophet?"

And he will be our peace." "When the Assyrian invades our land, trampling through our palaces, we will raise up seven shepherds against him, even eight significant men.

"My people, recall how king Balak of Moab deliberated, and how Beor's son Balaam counseled him from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may know the righteousness of the LORD."

I will endure the LORD's anger since I have sinned against him until he takes over my defense, administers justice on my behalf, and brings me out to the light, where I will gaze on his righteousness.

Mountains shake because of him, and the hills melt. The earth goes into upheaval at his presence, as does the world with all of its inhabitants.

Who can stand before his fury? And who can endure his fierce anger? His displeasure pours out like fire, and rocks are broken to pieces because of him.

The LORD is good a refuge in troubled times. He knows those who are confiding in him.

"Will not all of these ridicule him with mocking scorn? They will say, "Woe to the one who hordes for himself what isn't his. How long will you enrich yourself by extortion?'

"Woe to the one who supplies his neighbor with a drink! You are forcing your bottle on him, making him drunk so you can see them naked.

God comes from Teman the Holy One from Mount Paran. Interlude His glory spreads throughout the heavens, and praises about him fill the earth.

Before him pestilence walks, and disease follows behind him.

You marched out to deliver your people, to deliver with your anointed. You struck the head of the house of the wicked; you stripped him naked from head to foot. Interlude

The LORD will incite them to terror, because he will cause all the gods of the earth to waste away. They will worship him, every person in his own home, including even the coastlands of the nations."

Indeed, then I will return my people to a pure language so that they all may call upon the name of the LORD, serving him with a united will.

Then Shealtiel's son Zerubbabel, Jehozadak's son Joshua the high priest, and all the rest of the people obeyed the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD.

"Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah. Tell him, "I'm going to shake the heavens and the earth.

"I stared into the night, and there was a man mounted on a red horse! The horse was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him there were red, brown, and white horses."

Look! That angel who was talking to me left, and another angel came forward to meet him.

That other angel told him, "Run and tell that young man: "Jerusalem will be an inhabited city without walls due to the number of people and livestock within it.

Then I saw Joshua the High Priest standing in the presence of the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right to oppose him.

Then I said, "Let them place a pure diadem on his head." So they placed the pure diadem on his head and clothed him with fine garments while the angel of the LORD was standing beside them.

I also asked him a second question: "What are these two olive branches on either side of the two golden feeder channels that carry the golden oil to the seven lights?"

The angel replied, "You don't know what these are, do you?" I responded to him, "No, sir."

And the angel asked me, "What do you see?" I answered him, "I'm looking at a flying scroll. It's 20 cubits long and ten cubits wide."

Then tell him, "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Here is the man whose name is The Branch. He will branch out from where he is and will rebuild the Temple of the LORD.

Then they will mourn for him, as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him, as for a firstborn son. At that time, Jerusalem will mourn deeply, like the mourning about Hadad-rimmon that took place in the plain of Megiddo.

It will also come about that if any man would dare to prophesy, then his father and his mother who bore him will respond to him, "You will not live, because you are speaking lies in the name of the LORD.' Then his father and mother who bore him will stab him for prophesying.

"Someone will say to him, "What are these injuries to your hands?' "He will reply, ""what I received at my friend's house.'

"My covenant with him was for life and peace, and I gave the commandments to him so he would fear me. He did fear me as he stood in my presence.

Did he not make them one? And the vestige of the spirit remains in him. And why did he make them one? He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and don't be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.

"They'll be mine," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "in the day when I prepare my treasured possession. I'll spare them, just as a man spares his own son who serves him.

"Remember the Law of Moses my servant that I gave him at Horeb for all Israel both the decrees and laws.

After he had thought about it, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," he said, "don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he is the one who will save his people from their sins."

"See, a virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,"

which means, "God with us." When Joseph got up from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary as his wife.

He did not have marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son; and he named him Jesus.

and asked, "Where is the one who was born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, because that is what was written by the prophet:

and sent them to Bethlehem. He told them, "As you go, search carefully for the child. When you find him, tell me so that I, too, may go and worship him."

After they went into the house and saw the child with his mother Mary, they fell down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure sacks and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt," he said. "Stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and kill him."

Then the people of Jerusalem, all Judea, and the entire region along the Jordan began flocking to him,

being baptized by him in the Jordan River while they confessed their sins.

But John tried to stop him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and are you coming to me?"

But Jesus answered him, "Let it be this way for now, because this is the proper way for us to fulfill all righteousness."

At this, he permitted him to be baptized. When Jesus had been baptized, he immediately came up out of the water. Suddenly, the heavens opened up for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.

Then a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with him!"

Then the Devil took him to the Holy City and had him stand on the highest point of the Temple.

Jesus responded to him, "It is also written, "You must not tempt the Lord your God.'"

Once more the Devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, along with their splendor.

Then Jesus told him, "Go away, Satan! Because it is written, "You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'"

So the Devil left him, and angels came and began ministering to him.

So at once they left their nets and followed him.