Look! There on the mountains! The feet of the one who brings good news, who broadcasts a message of peace. Judah, celebrate your solemn festivals and keep your vows, because the wicked will never again invade you. Nineveh will be completely eliminated!

Because of the abundance of the fornications of an harlot, The goodness of the grace of the lady of witchcrafts, Who is selling nations by her fornications, And families by her witchcrafts.

Even thou art drunken, thou art hidden, Even thou dost seek a strong place, because of an enemy.

"Draw water, because a siege is coming! Strengthen your fortresses! Make the clay good and strong! Mix the mortar! Go get your brick molds!

There is no remedy for your injury;
your wound is severe.
All who hear the news about you
will clap their hands because of you,
for who has not experienced
your constant cruelty?

For this reason the law is feeble and decisions are not effected: for the upright man is circled round by evil-doers; because of which right is twisted.

“Look among the nations! Observe!
Be astonished! Wonder!
Because I am doing something in your days—
You would not believe if you were told.

Then like the wind sweeping by they will pass through they're guilty because they say their power is their god."

Therefore offer they unto their net, and do sacrifice unto their yarn: because that through it their portions is become so fat, and their meat so plenteous.

For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hastens toward the end, and shall not lay. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come. It will not delay.

Look, the one whose desires are not upright will faint from exhaustion, but the person of integrity will live because of his faithfulness.

And also, because the wine is treacherous, A man is haughty, and remaineth not at home, Who hath enlarged as sheol his soul, And is as death that is not satisfied, And doth gather unto itself all the nations, And doth assemble unto itself all the peoples,

Because thou hast spoiled many nations, Spoil thee do all the remnant of the peoples, Because of man's blood, and of violence to the land, To the city, and to all dwelling in it.

Your schemes will bring shame to your house. Because you destroyed many nations, you will self-destruct.

Is it not because of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies that people grow tired putting out fires, and nations weary themselves over nothing?

For violence to Lebanon doth cover thee, And spoil of beasts doth affright them, Because of man's blood, and of violence to the land, To the city, and to all dwelling in it.

What help then will the Image do, whom the workman hath fashioned? Or the vain cast Image, wherein because the craftsmen putteth his trust, therefore maketh he dumb Idols?

I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.

I will rejoice because of the Lord; I will be happy because of the God who delivers me!

Hush! because of the Lord Jehovah, For near is a day of Jehovah, For prepared hath Jehovah a sacrifice, He hath sanctified His invited ones.

Howl, ye inhabitants of the lower city, - because destroyed are all the people of traffic, cut off are all they who were laden with silver.

I will bring the people to such vexation, that they shall go about like blind men; because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood shall be shed as the dust, and their bodies as the mire.

This is to them for their arrogancy, Because they have reproached, And they magnify themselves against the people of Jehovah of Hosts.

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."

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}.

In that day thou art not ashamed because of any of thine actions, Wherewith thou hast transgressed against Me, For then do I turn aside from thy midst The exulting ones of thine excellency, And thou dost add no more to be haughty, In My holy mountain.

The survivors of Israel will not practice lawlessness nor tell lies, nor will a deceitful message be found in their mouths, because they will eat and rest, with no one to cause fear."

The LORD your God among you is powerful he will save and he will take joyful delight in you. In his love he will renew you with his love; he will celebrate with singing because of you.

"As for those who grieve because they cannot attend the festivals -- I took them away from you; they became tribute and were a source of shame to you.

Looking for much, and lo, little, And ye brought it home, and I blew on it, Wherefore? -- an affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, Because of My house that is waste, And ye are running -- each to his house,

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

Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all the rest of the people, gave ear to the voice of the Lord their God and to the words of Haggai the prophet, because the Lord their God had sent him, and the people were in fear before the Lord.

'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,

Do not fear, because I made a promise to your ancestors when they left Egypt, and my spirit even now testifies to you.'

If a man carries meat that is holy [because it has been offered in sacrifice to God] in the fold of his garment, and he touches bread, or cooked food, or wine, or oil, or any [kind of] food with this fold, does what he touches become holy [dedicated exclusively to God’s service]?’” And the priests answered, “No!” [Holiness is not transferrable.]

Then Haggai said, If a man who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.

Then Haggai answered, “‘So is this people. And so is this nation before Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there [on the altar] is unclean [because they who offer it are unclean].

But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers? Then they paid attention and confessed, 'The Lord who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.'"

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.

For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "In pursuit of glory I was sent to the nations who plundered you, because whoever injures you injures the pupil of my eye.

Hush, all flesh, because of Jehovah, For He hath been roused up from His holy habitation!'

"What are you, you great mountain? Because of Zerubbabel you will become a level plain! And he will bring forth the temple capstone with shoutings of 'Grace! Grace!' because of this."

Then said he unto me, This, is the curse, which is going forth over the face of all the earth, - Because, every one who stealeth, on the one side, hath in one way been let off, and, every one who sweareth, on the other side, hath in another way been let off,

with the chariot with the black horses going toward the north country; then the one with the white horses follows after them [because there are two northern powers to overcome], and the chariot with the dappled horses goes toward the south country.”

Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, When you went without food and gave yourselves to grief in the fifth and the seventh months for these seventy years, did you ever do it because of me?

Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.' Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful land a waste."

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}.

Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Because it will be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people, in those days, In mine own eyes also, shall it be marvellous? Demandeth Yahweh of hosts.

For before those days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; and there was no peace for him that went out or that came in, because of the distress: for I let loose all men, every one against his neighbour.

Because of the sowing of peace, The vine doth give her fruit, And the earth doth give her increase, And the heavens do give their dew, And I have caused the remnant of this people To inherit all these.

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.

"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "In the future, ten men speaking all the languages of the nations will grab hold of one Jewish person by the hem of his garment and say, "Let us go up to Jerusalem with you, because we heard that God is with you."'"

A declaration: this message from the LORD in the land of Hadrach, with Damascus its confederate, because the eyes of humanity will look to the LORD, along with those of all the tribes of Israel.

and also Hamath, which borders on it, Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.

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.

And I will encamp about my house because of the army, because of those that pass by and that return; and the exactor shall not pass through them any more: for now have I seen it with mine eyes.

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

The LORD their God will save them at that time as his very own flock of people, because they are his crown jewels, exalted throughout his land.

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.

I will signal for them, and will gather them, because I have ransomed them, - and they shall multiply, according as they have multiplied;

Howl, cypress, for the cedar is fallen; because the noble ones are spoiled. Howl, ye oaks of Bashan; for the strong forest is come down.

Listen to the howling of shepherds, because their magnificence has been destroyed. Listen to the roaring of young lions, because the thickets of the Jordan have been devastated.

Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished. Those who sell them say: Praise the Lord because I have become rich! Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

In a single month I got rid of three shepherds because I grew tired of them, and they despised me.

{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,

"He will say, "I am no mere prophet. A servant of mankind am I, because a man dedicated to this have I been from my youth.'

And one hath said unto him, 'What are these wounds in thy hands?' And he hath said, 'Because I was smitten at home by my lovers.'

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.

And, if the family of Egypt shall not come up, and shall not enter in, upon whom there falleth none, then shall smite them the plague wherewith Yahweh, did plague, the nations, because they came not up to celebrate the festival of booths.

Because Edom saith, 'We have been made poor, And we turn back and we build the wastes,' Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: They do build, and I do destroy, And men have called to them, 'O region of wickedness,' 'O people whom Jehovah defied to the age.'

In bringing near upon mine altar, polluted food, while yet ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? Because ye say, As for the table of Yahweh, a thing to be despised, it is;

“For My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name in every place because My name will be great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Hosts.

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}.

Look! I'm rebuking your descendants because of you, and I'll spread waste on your faces, the waste of your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.

My covenant hath been with him of life and of peace, And I make them to him a fear, and he doth fear Me, And because of My name he hath been affrighted.

For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.

And I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people, because ye have not kept my ways, but have respect of persons in administering the law.

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}.

But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth.

You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, "How have we wearied him?" Because you say, "Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord's opinion, and he delights in them," or "Where is the God of justice?"

But who will survive the day when he comes? Or who can stand when he appears? Because he's like a refiner's fire and a launderer's soap,

Because, I, Yahweh, have not changed, therefore, ye, the sons of Jacob, have not been utterly consumed.

Therefore are ye cursed with penury, because ye dissemble with me, all the sort of you.

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

Ye have said, 'A vain thing to serve God! And what gain when we kept His charge? And when we have gone in black, Because of Jehovah of Hosts?

But her husband, Joseph, because he was an upright man and did not want to disgrace her, decided to break the engagement by secretly divorcing her.

But when he was giving thought to these things, an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, have no fear of taking Mary as your wife; because that which is in her body is of the Holy Spirit.

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

“In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet:

And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the leaders of Judah:
because out of you will come a leader
who will shepherd My people Israel.”

But because they were forbidden by God in a dream to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.

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 Herod, because he saw that a trick had been played on him by the stargazers, was very angry, and sent and slaughtered all the boy babies in Bethlehem and in all that neighborhood, from two years down, in accordance with the time which he had found out from the stargazers.

"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}."

Saying, Get up and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: because they who were attempting to take the young child's life are dead.