Look! A herald is running on the mountains! A messenger is proclaiming deliverance: "Celebrate your sacred festivals, O Judah! Fulfill your sacred vows to praise God! For never again will the wicked Assyrians invade you, they have been completely destroyed."

The watchmen of Nineveh shout: "An enemy who will scatter you is marching out to attack you!" "Guard the rampart! Watch the road! Prepare yourselves for battle! Muster your mighty strength!"

For the Lord will restore the majesty of Jacob, as well as the majesty of Israel, though their enemies have plundered them and have destroyed their fields.

The lion tore apart as much prey as his cubs needed and strangled prey to provide food for his lionesses; he filled his lairs with prey and his dens with torn flesh.

Everyone who sees you will turn away from you in disgust; they will say, 'Nineveh has been devastated! Who will lament for her?' There will be no one to comfort you!"

Yet she went into captivity as an exile; even her infants were smashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her nobility; all her dignitaries were bound with chains.

Draw yourselves water for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Trample the mud and tread the clay! Make mud bricks to strengthen your walls!

Your destruction is like an incurable wound; your demise is like a fatal injury! All who hear what has happened to you will clap their hands for joy, for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty!

How long, Lord, must I cry for help? But you do not listen! I call out to you, "Violence!" But you do not intervene!

For this reason the law lacks power, and justice is never carried out. Indeed, the wicked intimidate the innocent. For this reason justice is perverted.

"Look at the nations and pay attention! You will be shocked and amazed! For I will do something in your lifetime that you will not believe even though you are forewarned.

They are frightening and terrifying; they decide for themselves what is right.

Because of his success he offers sacrifices to his throw net and burns incense to his dragnet; for because of them he has plenty of food, and more than enough to eat.

For the message is a witness to what is decreed; it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out. Even if the message is not fulfilled right away, wait patiently; for it will certainly come to pass -- it will not arrive late.

For the stones in the walls will cry out, and the wooden rafters will answer back.

Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed: The nations' efforts will go up in smoke; their exhausting work will be for nothing.

For recognition of the Lord's sovereign majesty will fill the earth just as the waters fill up the sea.

For you will pay in full for your violent acts against Lebanon; terrifying judgment will come upon you because of the way you destroyed the wild animals living there. You have shed human blood and committed violent acts against lands, cities, and those who live in them.

Your bow is ready for action; you commission your arrows. Selah. You cause flash floods on the earth's surface.

I listened and my stomach churned; the sound made my lips quiver. My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying, and I shook as I tried to walk. I long for the day of distress to come upon the people who attack us.

The sovereign Lord is my source of strength. He gives me the agility of a deer; he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. (This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.)

Be silent before the Lord God, for the Lord's day of judgment is almost here. The Lord has prepared a sacrificial meal; he has ritually purified his guests.

Wail, you who live in the market district, for all the merchants will disappear and those who count money will be removed.

I will bring distress on the people and they will stumble like blind men, for they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dirt; their flesh will be scattered like manure.

The seacoast will be used as pasture lands by the shepherds and as pens for their flocks.

Those who are left from the kingdom of Judah will take possession of it. By the sea they will graze, in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening, for the Lord their God will intervene for them and restore their prosperity.

This is how they will be repaid for their arrogance, for they taunted and verbally harassed the people of the Lord who commands armies.

The Lord will terrify them, for he will weaken all the gods of the earth. All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands.

Therefore you must wait patiently for me," says the Lord, "for the day when I attack and take plunder. I have decided to gather nations together and assemble kingdoms, so I can pour out my fury on them -- all my raging anger. For the whole earth will be consumed by my fiery anger.

Know for sure that I will then enable the nations to give me acceptable praise. All of them will invoke the Lord's name when they pray, and will worship him in unison.

In that day you will not be ashamed of all your rebelliousness against me, for then I will remove from your midst those who proudly boast, and you will never again be arrogant on my holy hill.

Shout for joy, Daughter Zion! Shout out, Israel! Be happy and boast with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!

The Lord your God is in your midst; he is a warrior who can deliver. He takes great delight in you; he renews you by his love; he shouts for joy over 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.

The Lord who rules over all says this: "These people have said, 'The time for rebuilding the Lord's temple has not yet come.'"

"Is it right for you to live in richly paneled houses while my temple is in ruins?

Moreover, I have called for a drought that will affect the fields, the hill country, the grain, new wine, fresh olive oil, and everything that grows from the ground; it also will harm people, animals, and everything they produce.'"

Even so, take heart, Zerubbabel,' says the Lord. 'Take heart, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you citizens of the land,' says the Lord, 'and begin to work. For I am with you,' says the Lord who rules over all.

On that day,' says the Lord who rules over all, 'I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant,' says the Lord, 'and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you,' says the Lord who rules over all."

"As for your ancestors, where are they? And did the prophets live forever?

The angel of the Lord then asked, "Lord who rules over all, how long before you have compassion on Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah which you have been so angry with for these seventy years?"

Turning to me, the messenger then said, "Cry out that the Lord who rules over all says, 'I am very much moved for Jerusalem and for Zion.

But I am greatly displeased with the nations that take my grace for granted. I was a little displeased with them, but they have only made things worse for themselves.

"You there! Flee from the northland!" says the Lord, "for like the four winds of heaven I have scattered you," says the Lord.

For the Lord who rules over all says to me that for his own glory he has sent me to the nations that plundered you -- for anyone who touches you touches the pupil of his eye.

"Sing out and be happy, Zion my daughter! For look, I have come; I will settle in your midst," says the Lord.

Be silent in the Lord's presence, all people everywhere, for he is being moved to action in his holy dwelling place.

As for the stone I have set before Joshua -- on the one stone there are seven eyes. I am about to engrave an inscription on it,' says the Lord who rules over all, 'to the effect that I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.

For who dares make light of small beginnings? These seven eyes will joyfully look on the tin tablet in Zerubbabel's hand. (These are the eyes of the Lord, which constantly range across the whole earth.)

The speaker went on to say, "This is a curse traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals will be removed from the community; or on the other hand (according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate."

I asked, "What is it?" And he replied, "It is a basket for measuring grain that is moving away from here." Moreover, he said, "This is their 'eye' throughout all the earth."

He replied, "To build a temple for her in the land of Babylonia. When it is finished, she will be placed there in her own residence."

"Speak to all the people and priests of the land as follows: 'When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months through all these seventy years, did you truly fast for me -- for me, indeed?

And now when you eat and drink, are you not doing so for yourselves?'"

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."

"The Lord who rules over all says, 'I am very much concerned for Zion; indeed, I am so concerned for her that my rage will fall on those who hurt her.'

Before that time there was no compensation for man or animal, nor was there any relief from adversity for those who came and went, because I had pitted everybody -- each one -- against everyone else.

for there will be a peaceful time of sowing, the vine will produce its fruit and the ground its yield, and the skies will rain down dew. Then I will allow the remnant of my people to possess all these things.

"For the Lord who rules over all says, 'As I had planned to hurt you when your fathers made me angry,' says the Lord who rules over all, 'and I was not sorry,

"The Lord who rules over all says, 'The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become joyful and happy, pleasant feasts for the house of Judah, so love truth and peace.'

The Lord who rules over all says, 'In those days ten people from all languages and nations will grasp hold of -- indeed, grab -- the robe of one Jew and say, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."'"

Ashkelon will see and be afraid; Gaza will be in great anguish, as will Ekron, for her hope will have been dried up. Gaza will lose her king, and Ashkelon will no longer be inhabited.

A mongrel people will live in Ashdod, for I will greatly humiliate the Philistines.

Then I will surround my temple to protect it like a guard from anyone crossing back and forth; so no one will cross over against them anymore as an oppressor, for now I myself have seen it.

Moreover, as for you, because of our covenant relationship secured with blood, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.

On that day the Lord their God will deliver them as the flock of his people, for they are the precious stones of a crown sparkling over his land.

Ask the Lord for rain in the season of the late spring rains -- the Lord who causes thunderstorms -- and he will give everyone showers of rain and green growth in the field.

For the household gods have spoken wickedness, the soothsayers have seen a lie, and as for the dreamers, they have disclosed emptiness and give comfort in vain. Therefore the people set out like sheep and become scattered because they have no shepherd.

I am enraged at the shepherds and will punish the lead-goats. For the Lord who rules over all has brought blessing to his flock, the house of Judah, and will transform them into his majestic warhorse.

And they will be like warriors trampling the mud of the streets in battle. They will fight, for the Lord will be with them, and will defeat the enemy cavalry.

"I (says the Lord) will strengthen the kingdom of Judah and deliver the people of Joseph and will bring them back because of my compassion for them. They will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and therefore I will hear them.

I will signal for them and gather them, for I have already redeemed them; then they will become as numerous as they were before.

I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to the lands of Gilead and Lebanon, for there will not be enough room for them in their own land.

The Lord my God says this: "Shepherd the flock set aside for slaughter.

Those who buy them slaughter them and are not held guilty; those who sell them say, 'Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich.' Their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

So I began to shepherd the flock destined for slaughter, the most afflicted of all the flock. Then I took two staffs, calling one "Pleasantness" and the other "Binders," and I tended the flock.

Next I eradicated the three shepherds in one month, for I ran out of patience with them and, indeed, they detested me as well.

I then said, "I will not shepherd you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be eradicated, let it be eradicated. As for those who survive, let them eat each other's flesh!"

Moreover, on that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy burden for all the nations, and all who try to carry it will be seriously injured; yet all the peoples of the earth will be assembled against it.

"I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn.

"In that day there will be a fountain opened up for the dynasty of David and the people of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

Then, if anyone prophesies in spite of this, his father and mother to whom he was born will say to him, 'You cannot live, for you lie in the name of the Lord.' Then his father and mother to whom he was born will run him through with a sword when he prophesies.

Instead he will say, 'I am no prophet -- indeed, I am a farmer, for a man has made me his indentured servant since my youth.'

For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to wage war; the city will be taken, its houses plundered, and the women raped. Then half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be taken away.

Then you will escape through my mountain valley, for the mountains will extend to Azal. Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come with all his holy ones with him.

For when you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer the lame and sick, is that not wrong as well? Indeed, try offering them to your governor! Will he be pleased with you or show you favor?" asks the Lord who rules over all.

But now plead for God's favor that he might be gracious to us. "With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?" asks the Lord who rules over all.

For from the east to the west my name will be great among the nations. Incense and pure offerings will be offered in my name everywhere, for my name will be great among the nations," says the Lord who rules over all.

You also say, 'How tiresome it is.' You turn up your nose at it," says the Lord who rules over all, "and instead bring what is stolen, lame, or sick. You bring these things for an offering! Should I accept this from you?" asks the Lord.

"There will be harsh condemnation for the hypocrite who has a valuable male animal in his flock but vows and sacrifices something inferior to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the Lord who rules over all, "and my name is awesome among the nations."

"Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.

For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all.

Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holy things that the Lord loves and has turned to a foreign god!

No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth.

"I am about to send my messenger, who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming," says the Lord who rules over all.

Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can keep standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire, like a launderer's soap.

You are bound for judgment because you are robbing me -- this whole nation is guilty.

"Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter," says the Lord who rules over all, "to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all.

"All nations will call you happy, for you indeed will live in a delightful land," says the Lord who rules over all.

"For indeed the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up," says the Lord who rules over all. "It will not leave even a root or branch.