For lo, this I promise: though I sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as they use to sift in a sieve: yet shall not the smallest gravel stone fall upon the earth.

So that they possess the remnant of Edom, And all the nations on whom My name is called, An affirmation of Jehovah -- doer of this.

Hear this! The days are coming—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
when the plowman will overtake the reaper
and the one who treads grapes,
the sower of seed.
The mountains will drip with sweet wine,
and all the hills will flow with it.

This is the vision that was showed unto Obadiah. Thus hath the LORD God spoken upon Edom: We have heard of the LORD that there is an ambassador sent among the Heathen: "Up, let us arise, and fight against them!"

Though you seem to soar like an eagle
and make your nest among the stars,
even from there I will bring you down.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

“If thieves came to you,
If robbers by night—
How you will be ruined!—
Would they not steal only until they had enough?
If grape gatherers came to you,
Would they not leave some grapes for gleaning?

From this violence of thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou wert cut off forever.

And the removed of this force of the sons of Israel, That is with the Canaanites unto Zarephat, And the removed of Jerusalem that is with the Sepharad, Possess the cities of the south.

Now this message from the LORD came to Amittai's son Jonah:

At this point the mariners became terrified, and each man cried out to his gods. They began to throw the cargo into the sea in order to lighten the vessel. But Jonah had gone down into the vessel's hold, had lain down, and was fast asleep.

The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up! Call to your god. Maybe this god will consider us, and we won’t perish.”

And they say each unto his neighbour, 'Come, and we cast lots, and we know on whose account this evil is on us.' And they cast lots, and the lot falleth on Jonah.

And they say unto him, 'Declare to us, we pray thee, on what account this evil is on us? what is thine occupation, and whence comest thou? what is thy country, seeing thou art not of this people?'

And the men fear a great fear, and say unto him, 'What is this thou hast done!' for the men have known that from the face of Jehovah he is fleeing, for he hath told them.

So they said to him, “What should we do to you to calm this sea that’s against us?” For the sea was getting worse and worse.

And he saith unto them, 'Lift me up, and cast me into the sea, and the sea doth cease from you; for I know that on my account this great tempest is upon you.'

And they cry unto Jehovah, and say, 'We pray Thee, O Jehovah, let us not, we pray Thee, perish for this man's life, and do not lay on us innocent blood, for Thou, Jehovah, as Thou hast pleased, Thou hast done.'

This message from the LORD came to Jonah a second time:

Then he had this proclamation published throughout Nineveh: "By decree of the king and his nobles:

But this seemed very wrong to Jonah, and he was angry.

and he prayeth unto Jehovah, and he saith, 'I pray Thee, O Jehovah, is not this my word while I was in mine own land -- therefore I was beforehand to flee to Tarshish -- that I have known that Thou art a God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, and repenting of evil?

The Lord said, "You were upset about this little plant, something for which you have not worked nor did you do anything to make it grow. It grew up overnight and died the next day.

Should I not be even more concerned about Nineveh, this enormous city? There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not know right from wrong, as well as many animals!"

This is the word of the LORD, that came to Micah the Morasthite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah: which was showed him upon Samaria and Jerusalem.

Hear all ye people, mark this well, O earth, and all that therein is: Yea, the LORD God himself be witness among you, even the Lord from his holy temple.

For the transgression of Jacob is all this, And for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what the high places of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

For this I lament and howl, I go spoiled and naked, I make a lamentation like dragons, And a mourning like daughters of an ostrich.

Harness the horses to the chariot,
you residents of Lachish.
This was the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion,
because Israel’s acts of rebellion can be traced to you.

For this cause give a parting offering to Moresheth-gath: the daughter of Achzib will be a deceit to the king of Israel.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am devising against this family evil, From which ye do not remove your necks, Nor walk loftily, for a time of evil it is.

In that day shall this term be used, and a mourning shall be made over you on this manner, "We be utterly desolate, the portion of my people is translated. When will he part unto us the land, that he hath taken from us?"

For this cause you will have no one to make the decision by the measuring line in the meeting of the Lord.

"Tush, hold your tongue," say they. "It shall not fall on this people, we shall not come so to confusion,"

Should [this] be said, O house of Jacob? Is the patience of Yahweh shortened? [Are] these his deeds? Are my words not pleasing to him who walks upright?

Rise and go, for this is not the rest, Because of uncleanness it doth corrupt, And corruption is powerful.

If one is going with the wind, And with falsehood hath lied: 'I prophesy to thee of wine, and of strong drink,' He hath been the prophet of this people!

This is what the Lord has said about the prophets by whom my people have been turned from the right way; who, biting with their teeth, say, Peace; and if anyone puts nothing in their mouths they make ready for war against him.

For this cause it will be night for you, without a vision; and it will be dark for you, without knowledge of the future; the sun will go down over the prophets, and the day will be black over them.

But I am full of the courage that the Lord's Spirit gives, and have a strong commitment to justice. This enables me to confront Jacob with its rebellion, and Israel with its sin.

Hear this, I pray you, heads of the house of Jacob, And ye judges of the house of Israel, Who are making judgment abominable, And all uprightness do pervert.

For this reason, Zion will be ploughed like a field because of you, and Jerusalem will become a mass of broken walls, and the mountain of the house like a high place in the woods.

But each man will sit under his grapevine
and under his fig tree
with no one to frighten him.
For the mouth of the Lord of Hosts
has promised this.

On that day—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
I will assemble the lame
and gather the scattered,
those I have injured.

and will give issue unto the lame, and make of the outcasts a great people: and the LORD himself shall be their king upon the mount Zion, from this time forth for evermore.

Jerusalem, why are you now shouting so loudly? Has your king disappeared? Has your wise leader been destroyed? Is this why pain grips you as if you were a woman in labor?

For this cause he will give them up till the time when she who is with child has given birth: then the rest of his brothers will come back to the children of Israel.

And this one hath been peace, Asshur! when he doth come into our land, And when he doth tread in our palaces, We have raised against him seven shepherds, And eight anointed of man.

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 best of them is like a brier;
the most upright is worse than a hedge of thorns.
The day of your watchmen,
the day of your punishment, is coming;
at this time their panic is here.

When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame. They say to me, "Where is the Lord your God?" I will gloat over them. Then they will be trampled down like mud in the streets.

This shall the Heathen see, and be ashamed for all their power: so that they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, and stop their ears.

This is the heavy burden of Nineveh, which Nahum of Elkosh did write, as he saw it.

This is what the Lord has said: The days of my cause against you are ended; they are cut off and past. Though I have sent trouble on you, you will no longer be troubled.

Now this is what the Lord has decreed about you, Nineveh: "There will be no more children born to carry on your name. I will cut out the graven and molten images from the temples of your gods. I myself will dig your grave, because you are vile."

Where is this lion's den? Where is the place where the young lions fed, where the lion and its mate walked with their young, the place where they feared nothing?

This lion renders its prey to pieces to feed its whelps, and strangles enough prey for its mate, filling its lairs with prey and its dens with rendered flesh.

Woe to this city, contaminated with shed blood, all full of lies and robberies it is never without victims!

Innumerable are the harlotries of this well-favored whore, this mistress of witchcraft, who enslaves nations through her fornication and families through her sorcery.

Thy wound cannot be hid, thy plague is so sore. All they that hear this of thee, shall clap their hands over thee. For what is he, to whom thou hast not always been doing hurt?

This is the heavy burden, which the Prophet Habakkuk did see.

for the law is torn in pieces, and there can no right judgment go forth. And why? The ungodly is more set by than the righteous: this is the cause that wrong judgment proceedeth.

Then passed on hath the spirit, Yea, he doth transgress, And doth ascribe this his power to his god.

And he brought up a completion with the book, he will drag him in his net, and he will gather him in his fishnet: for this he will rejoice and be glad.

For this reason he makes an offering to his net, burning perfume to his fishing-net; because by them he gets much food and his meat is fat.

Shall he, on this account, empty his net? And, the continual slaying of nations, deem to be no pity?

I will stand at my guard post
And station myself on the tower;
And I will keep watch to see what He will say to me,
And what answer I will give [as His spokesman] when I am reproved.

The Lord answered me:

Write down this vision;
clearly inscribe it on tablets
so one may easily read it.

"But all these nations will someday taunt him and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: 'The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead (How long will this go on?) -- he who gets rich by extortion!'

The one who builds his house by unjust gain is as good as dead. He does this so he can build his nest way up high and escape the clutches of disaster.

Shall not the LORD of Hosts bring this to pass, that the laborers of the people shall be burnt with a great fire, and that the thing whereupon the people have wearied themselves, shall be lost?

Woe to him who says to the wood, Awake, to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet:

His brilliance is like light;
rays are flashing from His hand.
This is where His power is hidden.

Is the Lord mad at the rivers? Are you angry with the rivers? Are you enraged at the sea? Is this why you climb into your horse-drawn chariots, your victorious chariots?

When I hear this, my body is vexed, my lips tremble at the voice thereof, my bones corrupt, I am afraid where I stand. O that I might rest in the day of trouble, that I might go up unto our people, which are already prepared.

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.)

This is the word of the LORD, which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah the son of Hezekiah: in the time of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah.

I will completely sweep away everything
from the face of the earth—
this is the Lord’s declaration.

And stretched out My hand against Judah, And against all inhabiting Jerusalem, And cut off from this place the remnant of Baal, The name of the idolatrous priests, with the priests,

When all of this happens," declares the LORD, "a loud shriek will come from the Fish Gate, and howling from the Mishneh Quarter, along with great destruction from the hills."

Woe to those who live along the coast, the people of Philistia! This message from the LORD is being spoken against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines: "I'll destroy you until no one lives there!'

For this cause, by my life, says the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, truly Moab will become like Sodom and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, given up to waste plants and salt pools and unpeopled for ever: the rest of my people will take their property, the overflow of my nation will take their heritage.

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

This is the exulting city that is dwelling confidently, That is saying in her heart, 'I am, and beside me there is none,' How hath she been for a desolation, A crouching-place for beasts, Every one passing by her doth hiss, He doth shake his hand!

Woe to this filthy, polluted, and oppressive city!

Therefore will I root out this people, and destroy their towers: yea, and make their streets so void, that no man shall go therein. Their cities shall be broken down, so that no body shall be left, nor dwell there any more.

For this reason, go on waiting for me, says the Lord, till the day when I come up as a witness: for my purpose is to send for the nations and to get the kingdoms together, so that I may let loose on them my passion, even all my burning wrath: for all the earth will be burned up in the fire of my bitter passion.

When this happens, you will not be ashamed of your actions by which you sinned against me, because I will remove from among you those who revel in pride. Arrogance will have no place in my holy mountain.

"When all of this happens, it will be told Jerusalem, "Don't be afraid!" and to Zion, "Don't lose courage!"

At that time I will lead you -- at the time I gather you together. Be sure of this! I will make all the nations of the earth respect and admire you when you see me restore you," says the Lord.

On the first day of the sixth month of the second year of the reign of King Darius, this message from the LORD came by Haggai the prophet to Shealtiel's son Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and to Jehozadak's son Joshua, the high priest:

Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts, saying: This people! -- they have said, 'The time hath not come, The time the house of Jehovah is to be built.'

Then this message from the LORD came by Haggai the prophet:

Is it time for you -- you! To dwell in your covered houses, And this house to lie waste?

For this cause the Lord of armies has said, Give thought to your ways.

This is what the Lord of armies has said: Give thought to your ways.

Go up the mountain and bring wood, and build this House; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, says Jehovah.

“You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why?” This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts. “Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.

For this cause the heaven over you is kept from giving dew, and the earth from giving her fruit.

This took place on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of the second year of the reign of King Darius.