Surely the land will tremble because of this, won't it? And all who live in it will mourn, won't they? The entire land will swell up like a flooded river. It will be stirred up and then will sink like the river of Egypt.

It will come about at that time," declares the Lord GOD, "I will cause the sun to set at noon and the earth to darken in the daylight.

I will turn your festivals into mourning, and all of your songs to dirges. I will cause all of you to put on sackcloth and to shave all of your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son, and its conclusion will be like the end of a bitter day."

"Look! The days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "when I will send a famine throughout the land not a famine of food or a thirst for water but rather a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.

People will stagger from sea to sea, from north to east. They will run back and forth, searching for a message from the LORD, but they won't find it.

At that time, the beautiful virgins will faint, as will the strong young men from thirst.

Those who have been swearing oaths by the sin of Samaria, or who say, "As your god lives, Dan"' or who say, "As the way of Beer-sheba lives"' will fall, and will never rise again."

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar as he was saying, "Strike the doorposts so that the thresholds tremble, bringing them down on the heads of all of them. Those who survive I will kill with the sword. Those who flee will not escape. There will be no deliverance for the fugitives.

"Even if they burrow into Sheol, from there my hand will find them. Even if they ascend to the heavens, from there I will bring them down.

Even if they hide at the top of Mount Carmel, from there I will search and seize them. Even if they hide from my sight in the depths of the sea, from there I will order the serpent to strike them.

Even if they go into exile among their enemies, from there I will order the sword to kill them. I will fix my gaze on them to inflict disaster, and not to do good.

Look! The eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth; but I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob," declares the LORD.

"Look! I'm giving the order: I will sift the house of Israel throughout all the nations, as one sifts with a sieve, yet not a single kernel will reach the ground!

All sinners among my people will die by the sword, especially all who are saying, "Disaster will not come upon or conquer us!'"

"At that time I will restore David's fallen tent, restoring its torn places. I will restore its ruins, rebuilding it as it was long ago,

"Look! The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the one who sows will overtake the harvester and the treader of grapes will overtake the planter. Fresh wine will drip down from the mountains, cascading down from the hills.

I will surely restore my people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards and drink the wine from them. They will plant gardens and eat the fruit from them.

I will plant the people of Israel in their own land, never again to be torn out of their land that I gave them," says the LORD your God.

"Look! I will make you insignificant among the nations; you will be utterly despised.

The arrogance in your heart has deceived you, who inhabit hidden places on rocky cliffs, whose dwelling is in the heights, who say continuously to yourself, 'Who will bring me down to the ground?'

Though you soar high like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, I will bring you down even from there," declares the Lord.

"If thieves came against you, if marauding gangs by night Oh, how you will be destroyed! Would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave some grapes to be gleaned?

All your allies will force you out of the land, your associates will deceive you and prevail against you. Your friends will lay out a trap for you, and you will never understand it!

"In that day," declares the Lord, "will I not destroy the wise from Edom, and those with understanding from Esau's Mountain?

Teman, our mighty soldiers will be dismayed, so that every man from Esau's Mountain will be slaughtered."

"Shame will overwhelm you because of the violence you inflicted on your brother Jacob, and you will be excluded forever.

"Indeed, the Day of the Lord approaches all nations. As you have done it will be done to you your deeds will return to haunt you! so will all nations drink from the cup of my wrath perpetually.

Just as you have drunk from the cup of my wrath upon my holy mountain, They will drink, they will gulp it down, and they will be as if they had never existed!

"But there will be a delivered remnant on Mount Zion. There will be holiness, and the house of Jacob will take back their possessions.

"The house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, but the house of Esau will be kindling. Then Jacob and Joseph will burn and consume Esau, and no survivor will remain from the house of Esau." Indeed, the Lord has spoken it.

"Those in the Negev will possess Esau's Mountain, and those in the Shephelah the Philistines. They will possess the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria, while Benjamin will possess the territory of Gilead.

The exiles, the Israeli host, will possess the territory of the Canaanites all the way to Zarephath. The exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the cities of the Negev.

Deliverers will assemble on Mount Zion to judge Esau's Mountain, and to the Lord will the kingdom belong!"

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!"

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?"

Jonah told them, "Pick me up and toss me into the sea. Then the sea will calm down for you, because I know that it's my fault that this mighty storm has come upon you."

So I told myself, "I have been driven away from you. How will I again gaze on your holy Temple?'

But as for me, with a voice of thanksgiving I will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance is the LORD's!"

Now Nineveh was a very large city, requiring a three-day journey to cross through it. As Jonah started into the city on the first day's journey, he proclaimed the message, "40 days more and Nineveh will be overthrown!"

Look here! The LORD is coming from his place! He will come down and will trample down the high places throughout the land.

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.

"So I will turn Samaria into a mound of dirt in a field, a place to plant vineyards. And I will dump her building stones into the valley, uncovering her foundation.

All of her carved images will be crushed to pieces, all the earnings of her prostitution will be burned up, and I will destroy all her idols; because she collected the wages of prostitution, and to the wages of prostitution they will return."

"Therefore I will cry out and grieve loudly; I will walk around stripped and naked. I will cry out like a jackal and mourn like a company of ostriches.

Run away, you residents of Shaphir, displaying your shameful nakedness. Don't come out, you residents of Zaanan! Your firm standing will disappear as Beth-ezel mourns.

Nevertheless, I will deliver an heir to you, inhabitants of Mareshah to Adullam the glory of Israel will come.

"Shave your head and cut off your locks as you mourn your beloved children. Make yourself bald as an eagle, because they will go from you into exile!"

"When this happens, someone will compose a proverb about you, lamenting sorrowfully, "We are completely ruined! He has given my people's heritage to others. How he has removed it from me, dividing up our fields!'

"This is why there will not be left even a single person to settle boundary disputes in the LORD's community.

To those who speak out, they will declare, "Don't prophesy to anyone!' so their shame won't go away.

"Jacob, how I will surely gather all of you! How I will gather the survivors of Israel! I will gather them together like sheep in a pen, like the flock in the midst of the sheepfold. There will be a great commotion because of all the people.

God will stand up and break through in their presence. Then they will pass through the gate, going out by it. Their king will pass in front of them with the LORD at their head."

"He will say, "Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you officials of the house of Israel! You should know justice, should you not?

"Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not listen to them. In fact, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they were so wicked in what they were doing."

"You will have nights without visions, and darkness without prophecy. The sun will set on the prophets, and the day will darken for them.

Those who see visions will be put to shame, and the diviners will be disgraced every one of them they will cover their faces, because there will be no answer from God.'"

"Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed up like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the Temple Mount like a forest high place."

"But in the last days it will come about that the Temple Mount of the LORD will be firmly set as the leading mountain. It will be exalted above its surrounding hills, and people will stream toward it.

Many nations will approach and say, "Come, let's go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the Temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about his ways, and we will walk according to his directions.' "Indeed, the Law will proceed from Zion, and the message of the LORD from Jerusalem.

And he will judge among many people, rebuking strong nations far away; and they will reshape their swords as plowshares and their spears as pruning hooks. No nation will threaten another, nor will they train for war anymore.

Instead, each man will sit in the shade of his grape vines and beneath the shade of his fig tree," since theLORD of the Heavenly Armies has spoken.

"Because all of the people will walk, each person in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.

"At that time," declares the LORD, "I will assemble the lame; and I will gather those whom I have scattered, along with those whom I have afflicted.

I will transform the lame into survivors, and those who were scattered into a strong nation; and the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion, now and forever."

"And you, watchtower of the flock, you stronghold of the daughter of Zion, it will happen even to you: The former dominion, even the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem, will come.

Be in pain! Be in labor, you daughter of Zion, like a woman about to give birth, because now you will depart from the city, living in the open fields. To Babylon you will go. There you will be delivered, there the LORD will rescue you from the power of your enemies."

But they don't know the thoughts of the LORD, and they don't understand his tactics, for he will gather them like harvested grain to his threshing floor.

Get up and smash them to pieces, daughter of Zion, because I will make your horn like iron and your hooves like bronze! And you will beat many people to pieces, and I will consecrate their dishonest gain to the LORD and their assets to the Lord of the entire earth."

"Now marshal yourselves as troops. He has laid siege to us. They will strike the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod."

"As for you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah, even though you remain least among the clans of Judah, nevertheless, the one who rules in Israel for me will emerge from you. His existence has been from antiquity, even from eternity.

Therefore that ruler will abandon them until the woman in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his countrymen will return to the Israelis."

"Then he will take his stand, shepherding by means of the strength of the LORD, by the power of the name of the LORD his God. And they will be firmly established; indeed, from then on he will become great to the ends of the earth.

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.

The shepherds will devastate the land of Assyria with the sword, along with the entrances to the land of Nimrod. "This is how he will vanquish Assyria when he invades our land, trampling within our borders:

The survivors of Jacob will live among many nations, as dew from the LORD, as showers upon the grass. They will look to no one, and will place no hope in human beings.

The survivors of Jacob will live among the nations; they will live among many nations, like a lion among flocks of sheep, who, if he passes through, will trample and tear down with no one to deliver.

You will turn your power against your adversaries, and all of your enemies will be cut down."

"It will come about at that time," declares the LORD, "I will tear away your horses from you, and I will destroy your chariots.

I will cut off the cities of your land, and I will tear down all of your fortifications.

I will render your witchcraft powerless, and mediums will no longer exist among you.

I will separate you from your carved images and sacred pillars, and you no longer will worship what you've made with your hands.

I will uproot your cultic gods from you, and I will tear down your cities.

I will execute vengeance, anger, and fury on the nations who do not obey."

Listen, you mountains, to the LORD's argument! Listen, you strong foundations of the earth, because the LORD has a dispute with his people, and he will set out his case before Israel.

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with endless rivers of oil? Am I to give my firstborn to pay for my rebellion, the fruit of my body in exchange for my soul?

Will I tolerate those who maintain deceptive standards and who use deceitful weights in their business?

"Therefore I will make you ill when I attack you; I will bring you to ruin because of your offenses.

You'll eat, but you won't have enough; and hunger will be common among you. You'll horde things, but you won't save them, and what you preserve I'll give over to the sword.

You keep Omri's statutes and observe the customs of the house of Ahab. Because you live according to their advice, I'll make you desolate and turn your inhabitants into an object of scorn. Therefore you will bear the shame of my people."

The faithful have died off, and there is not one upright human being in the land. They all stalk one another with lethal intent, a man will even hunt his own brother with a net.

But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God who will deliver me. My God will hear me.

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.

Then my enemy will observe it, and shame will engulf the ones who asked me, "Where is the LORD your God?' My own eyes will see them, they will be trampled on like mud in the streets.

When the time comes for rebuilding your walls, that time will surely be extended.

At that time armies will invade you from Assyria, from Egyptian cities to the Euphrates River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.

The land will become desolate because of its inhabitants, and as a result of their behavior.

As I did when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show you awesome things.

The nations will look on and will be ashamed in spite of all their power; they will cup their hands over their mouths, and their ears will be deaf.

They will lick the dust like a serpent; they will crawl from their strongholds like snakes. They will fear the LORD our God. They will be terrified because of you.

He will again show us compassion; he will subdue our iniquities. You will hurl all their sins into the deepest sea.