O you that are named the house of Jacob : Is the spirit of the LORD restricted? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walks uprightly?

Even of late my people have risen up as an enemy: you pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by trustingly, as men returning from war.

Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves in an evil way in their deeds.

Thus says the LORD : Concerning the prophets who make my people stray, who bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that puts nothing into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.

Therefore night shall be unto you, that you shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that you shall not divine; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

Hear this, I pray you, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, that abhor justice, and pervert all equity.

But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

In that day, says the LORD, will I assemble those that are lame, and I will gather those that are driven out, and those that I have afflicted;

And I will make them that are lame a remnant, and those that were cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from that time forth, even forever.

Now also many nations are gathered against you, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she who travails has brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarries not for man, nor waits for the sons of men.

And it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD, that I will cut off your horses out of your midst, and I will destroy your chariots:

And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the nations, that have not obeyed.

O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Shittim unto Gilgal; that you may know the righteousness of the LORD.

Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is abominable?

You shall eat, but not be satisfied; and hunger shall be in your midst; and you shall carry away, but shall not save; and that which you save will I give up to the sword.

For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and you walk in their counsels; that I should make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing: therefore you shall bear the reproach of my people.

That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asks, and the judge asks for a bribe; and the great man, he utters his evil desire: so they weave it together.

Trust not in a friend, put not confidence in a companion: keep the doors of your mouth from her that lies in your bosom.

Then she that is my enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her who said unto me, Where is the LORD your God? my eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

In the day that your walls are to be built, in that day shall your boundaries be far extended.

In that day also they shall come even to you from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.

Nevertheless the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell in it, and for the fruit of their deeds.

The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell in it.

The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows them that trust in him.

There has one come out of you, that imagines evil against the LORD, a wicked counselor.

Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace! O Judah, keep your solemn feasts, perform your vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through you; he is utterly cut off.

He that dashes in pieces has come up before your face: keep the fortress, watch the road, make your flanks strong, fortify your power mightily.

Because of the multitude of the harlotries of the seductive harlot, the mistress of sorceries, that sells nations through her harlotries, and peoples through her sorceries.

And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon you shall flee from you, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? where shall I seek comforters for you?

Are you better than No Amon, that was situated among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was the sea?

There is no healing of your bruise; your wound is grievous: all that hear the report of you shall clap their hands over you: for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?

Why do you show me iniquity, and cause me to behold trouble? for plundering and violence are before me: and there are those that raise up strife and contention.

For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.

Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen press proudly on, their horsemen shall come from afar; they shall fly as the eagle that hastens to eat.

You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can not look on iniquity: why do you look upon them that deal treacherously, and hold your tongue when the wicked devours the man that is more righteous than he?

And make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, so he may run that reads it.

Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increases that which is not his! how long? and to him that loads himself with many pledges!

Shall they not rise up suddenly that are your creditors, and awake that shall oppress you, and you shall be for booty unto them?

Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you; because of bloodshed, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell in it.

Woe to him that covets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of ruin!

Woe to him that builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!

Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labor to feed the fire, and the people shall weary themselves in vain?

Woe unto him that gives his neighbor drink, that presses your wineskin to him, and makes him drunk also, that you may look on his nakedness!

For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover you, and the plunder of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, and of the city, and of all that dwell in it.

What profits the graven image that its maker has shaped it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusts in it, to make dumb idols?

Woe unto him that says to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.

Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was your anger against the rivers? was your wrath against the sea, that you did ride upon your horses and your chariots of salvation?

When I heard, my body trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he comes up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

And those that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and those that worship and that swear by the LORD, and yet swear by Milcom;

And those that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor inquired for him.

And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.

In the same day also will I punish all those that leap over the threshold, who fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.

And it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills.

Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that trade with silver are cut off.

And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men that are settled in their complacency: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.

That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh like refuse.

Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

Woe unto the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy you, that there shall be no inhabitant.

This is the rejoicing city that dwelt securely, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how has she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! everyone that passes by her shall hiss, and shake his fist.

Woe to her that is rebellious and defiled, to the oppressing city!

I have cut off the nations: their fortresses are desolate; I laid waste their streets, so that none passes by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, there is no inhabitant.

Therefore wait upon me, says the LORD, until the day that I rise up for plunder: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them my indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

For then will I restore to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one accord.

In that day shall you not be ashamed for all your deeds, in which you have transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of you those that rejoice in your pride, and you shall no more be haughty in my holy mountain.

In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear not: and to Zion, Let not your hands be weak.

I will gather them that are sorrowful for the appointed assembly, who are among you, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.

Behold, at that time I will deal with all that afflict you: and I will save her that is lame, and gather those that were driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.

At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, says the LORD.

Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD'S house should be built.

You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but you have not enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he that earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes.

You looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I did blow it away. Why? says the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that is in ruins, and you run every man unto his own house.

And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground brings forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.

Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do you see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you: fear you not.

Then said Haggai, If one that 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 answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, says the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.

Consider now from this day and onward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD'S temple was laid, consider it.

And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

In that day, says the LORD of hosts, will I take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the LORD, and will make you as a signet ring: for I have chosen you, says the LORD of hosts.

I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the hollow; and behind him there were red, speckled, and white horses.

Then I said, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show you what these are.

And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD has sent to walk to and fro through the earth.

And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sits quietly, and is at rest.

And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good and comforting words.

So the angel that talked with me said unto me, Cry, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

And I am very much displeased with the nations that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they furthered the disaster.

And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

Then said I, What are these coming to do? And he spoke, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these have come to terrify them, to cast out the horns of the nations, who lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,

Deliver yourself, O Zion, that dwells with the daughter of Babylon.

For thus says the LORD of hosts; After his glory has he sent me unto the nations which plundered you: for he that touches you touches the apple of his eye.

For, behold, I will shake my hand against them, and they shall be a plunder to their servants: and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me.

And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me unto you.

And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke you, O Satan; even the LORD that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

And he answered and spoke unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel.