Therefore, it will be night for you—
without visions;
it will grow dark for you—
without divination.
The sun will set on these prophets,
and the daylight will turn black over them.

As for me, however, I am filled with power
by the Spirit of the Lord,
with justice and courage,
to proclaim to Jacob his rebellion
and to Israel his sin.

Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe,
her priests teach for payment,
and her prophets practice divination for money.
Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,
“Isn’t the Lord among us?
No disaster will overtake us.”

and many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us about His ways
so we may walk in His paths.”
For instruction will go out of Zion
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He will settle disputes among many peoples
and provide arbitration for strong nations
that are far away.
They will beat their swords into plows,
and their spears into pruning knives.
Nation will not take up the sword against nation,
and they will never again train for war.

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.

I will make the lame into a remnant,
those far removed into a strong nation.
Then the Lord will rule over them in Mount Zion
from this time on and forever.

And you, watchtower for the flock,
fortified hill of Daughter Zion,
the former rule will come to you,
sovereignty will come to Daughter Jerusalem.

Writhe and cry out, Daughter Zion,
like a woman in labor,
for now you will leave the city
and camp in the open fields.
You will go to Babylon;
there you will be rescued;
there the Lord will redeem you
from the power of your enemies!

Rise and thresh, Daughter Zion,
for I will make your horns iron
and your hooves bronze,
so you can crush many peoples.
Then you will set apart their plunder
to the Lord for destruction,
their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

Bethlehem Ephrathah,
you are small among the clans of Judah;
One will come from you
to be ruler over Israel for Me.
His origin is from antiquity,
from eternity.

He will stand and shepherd them
in the strength of Yahweh,
in the majestic name of Yahweh His God.
They will live securely,
for then His greatness will extend
to the ends of the earth.

Then the remnant of Jacob
will be among many peoples
like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass,
which do not wait for anyone
or linger for mankind.

Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams
or with ten thousand streams of oil?
Should I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the child of my body for my own sin?

The voice of Yahweh calls out to the city
(and it is wise to fear Your name):
“Pay attention to the rod
and the One who ordained it.

For the wealthy of the city are full of violence,
and its residents speak lies;
the tongues in their mouths are deceitful.

You will eat but not be satisfied,
for there will be hunger within you.
What you acquire, you cannot save,
and what you do save,
I will give to the sword.

How sad for me!
For I am like one who—
when the summer fruit has been gathered
after the gleaning of the grape harvest—
finds no grape cluster to eat,
no early fig, which I crave.

Surely a son considers his father a fool,
a daughter opposes her mother,
and a daughter-in-law is against her mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.

But I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.

Because I have sinned against Him,
I must endure the Lord’s rage
until He argues my case
and establishes justice for me.
He will bring me into the light;
I will see His salvation.

A day will come for rebuilding your walls;
on that day your boundary will be extended.

Who is a God like You,
removing iniquity and passing over rebellion
for the remnant of His inheritance?
He does not hold on to His anger forever,
because He delights in faithful love.

Who can withstand His indignation?
Who can endure His burning anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
even rocks are shattered before Him.

The Lord is good,
a stronghold in a day of distress;
He cares for those who take refuge in Him.

For they will be consumed
like entangled thorns,
like the drink of a drunkard
and like straw that is fully dry.

For I will now break off his yoke from you
and tear off your shackles.

The Lord has issued an order concerning you:

There will be no offspring
to carry on your name.
I will eliminate the carved idol and cast image
from the house of your gods;
I will prepare your grave,
for you are contemptible.

Look to the mountains—
the feet of one bringing good news
and proclaiming peace!
Celebrate your festivals, Judah;
fulfill your vows.
For the wicked one will never again
march through you;
he will be entirely wiped out.

For the Lord will restore the majesty of Jacob,
yes, the majesty of Israel,
though ravagers have ravaged them
and ruined their vine branches.

The shields of his warriors are dyed red;
the valiant men are dressed in scarlet.
The fittings of the chariot flash like fire
on the day of its battle preparations,
and the spears are brandished.

The lion mauled whatever its cubs needed
and strangled prey for its lionesses.
It filled up its dens with the kill,
and its lairs with mauled prey.

Yet she became an exile;
she went into captivity.
Her children were also dashed to pieces
at the head of every street.
They cast lots for her dignitaries,
and all her nobles were bound in chains.

Look, your troops are like women among you;
the gates of your land
are wide open to your enemies.
Fire will devour the bars of your gates.

Draw water for the siege;
strengthen your fortresses.
Step into the clay and tread the mortar;
take hold of the brick-mold!

The fire will devour you there;
the sword will cut you down.
It will devour you like the young locust.
Multiply yourselves like the young locust,
multiply like the swarming locust!

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?

How long, Lord, must I call for help
and You do not listen
or cry out to You about violence
and You do not save?

This is why the law is ineffective
and justice never emerges.
For the wicked restrict the righteous;
therefore, justice comes out perverted.

Look at the nations and observe—
be utterly astounded!
For something is taking place in your days
that you will not believe
when you hear about it.

That is why they sacrifice to their dragnet
and burn incense to their fishing net,
for by these things their portion is rich
and their food plentiful.

For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
it testifies about the end and will not lie.
Though it delays, wait for it,
since it will certainly come and not be late.

Moreover, wine betrays;
an arrogant man is never at rest.
He enlarges his appetite like Sheol,
and like Death he is never satisfied.
He gathers all the nations to himself;
he collects all the peoples for himself.

Won’t your creditors suddenly arise,
and those who disturb you wake up?
Then you will become spoil for them.

Woe to him who dishonestly makes
wealth for his house
to place his nest on high,
to escape from the reach of disaster!

You have planned shame for your house
by wiping out many peoples
and sinning against your own self.

For the stones will cry out from the wall,
and the rafters will answer them
from the woodwork.

Is it not from the Lord of Hosts
that the peoples labor only to fuel the fire
and countries exhaust themselves for nothing?

For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory,
as the waters cover the sea.

For your violence against Lebanon
will overwhelm you;
the destruction of animals will terrify you
because of your human bloodshed and violence
against lands, cities, and all who live in them.

What use is a carved idol
after its craftsman carves it?
It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies.
For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it
and makes idols that cannot speak.

I heard, and I trembled within;
my lips quivered at the sound.
Rottenness entered my bones;
I trembled where I stood.
Now I must quietly wait for the day of distress
to come against the people invading us.

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

Be silent in the presence of the Lord God,
for the Day of the Lord is near.
Indeed, the Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
He has consecrated His guests.

Wail, you residents of the Hollow,
for all the merchants will be silenced;
all those loaded with silver will be cut off.

Their silver and their gold
will not be able to rescue them
on the day of the Lord’s wrath.
The whole earth will be consumed
by the fire of His jealousy.
For He will make a complete,
yes, a horrifying end
of all the inhabitants of the earth.

For Gaza will be abandoned,
and Ashkelon will become a ruin.
Ashdod will be driven out at noon,
and Ekron will be uprooted.

The seacoast will become pasturelands
with caves for shepherds and folds for sheep.

The coastland will belong
to the remnant of the house of Judah;
they will find pasture there.
They will lie down in the evening
among the houses of Ashkelon,
for the Lord their God will return to them
and restore their fortunes.

This is what they get for their pride,
because they have taunted and acted arrogantly
against the people of the Lord of Hosts.

Herds will lie down in the middle of it,
every kind of wild animal.
Both the desert owl and the screech owl
will roost in the capitals of its pillars.
Their calls will sound from the window,
but devastation will be on the threshold,
for He will expose the cedar work.

This is the self-assured city
that lives in security,
that thinks to herself:
I exist, and there is no one else.
What a desolation she has become,
a place for wild animals to lie down!
Everyone who passes by her
jeers and shakes his fist.

The princes within her are roaring lions;
her judges are wolves of the night,
which leave nothing for the morning.

I thought: You will certainly fear Me
and accept correction.
Then her dwelling place
would not be cut off
based on all that I had allocated to her.
However, they became more corrupt
in all their actions.

Therefore, wait for Me—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
until the day I rise up for plunder.
For My decision is to gather nations,
to assemble kingdoms,
in order to pour out My indignation on them,
all My burning anger;
for the whole earth will be consumed
by the fire of My jealousy.

For I will then restore
pure speech to the peoples
so that all of them may call
on the name of Yahweh
and serve Him with a single purpose.

On that day you will not be put to shame
because of everything you have done
in rebelling against Me.
For then I will remove
your proud, arrogant people from among you,
and you will never again be haughty
on My holy mountain.

Sing for joy, Daughter Zion;
shout loudly, Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
Daughter Jerusalem!

The Lord has removed your punishment;
He has turned back your enemy.
The King of Israel, Yahweh, is among you;
you need no longer fear harm.

On that day it will be said to Jerusalem:
“Do not fear;
Zion, do not let your hands grow weak.

“The Lord of Hosts says this: These people say: The time has not come for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.”

“Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Work! For I am with you”—the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

For the Lord of Hosts says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.

“This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Ask the priests for a ruling.

On that day”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, My servant”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and make you like My signet ring, for I have chosen you.” This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

But didn’t My words and My statutes that I commanded My servants the prophets overtake your ancestors? They repented and said: As the Lord of Hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so He has dealt with us.”

So the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim: The Lord of Hosts says: I am extremely jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.

I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease, for I was a little angry, but they made it worse.

Then I looked up and saw four horns.

Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.

The declaration of the Lord: “I will be a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory within it.”

“Get up! Leave the land of the north”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

For the Lord of Hosts says this: “He has sent Me for His glory against the nations who are plundering you, for anyone who touches you touches the pupil of His eye.

I will move against them with My power, and they will become plunder for their own servants. Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me.

“Daughter Zion, shout for joy and be glad, for I am coming to dwell among you”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

Let all people be silent before the Lord, for He is coming from His holy dwelling.”

The Lord said to Satan: “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

He asked me, “What do you see?”

I replied, “I see a solid gold lampstand there with a bowl on its top. It has seven lamps on it and seven channels for each of the lamps on its top.

For who scorns the day of small things? These seven eyes of the Lord, which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.”

Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land, for every thief will be removed according to what is written on one side, and everyone who swears falsely will be removed according to what is written on the other side.

“To build a shrine for it in the land of Shinar,” he told me. “When that is ready, the basket will be placed there on its pedestal.”

Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between two mountains. And the mountains were made of bronze.

The angel told me, “These are the four spirits of heaven going out after presenting themselves to the Lord of the whole earth.

People who are far off will come and build the Lord’s temple, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you. This will happen when you fully obey the Lord your God.”

Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to plead for the Lord’s favor

“Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these 70 years, did you really fast for Me?

When you eat and drink, don’t you eat and drink simply for yourselves?

“The Lord of Hosts says this: I am extremely jealous for Zion; I am jealous for her with great wrath.”