So why shouldn't I be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 human beings who do not know their right hand from their left, as well as a lot of livestock?

This message from the LORD came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of the Judean kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah concerning the vision he saw about Samaria and Jerusalem:

All this comes about due to the transgression of Jacob, and due to the sins of the house of Israel. What is Jacob's sin? It's Samaria, isn't it? And what's Judah's high place? It's Jerusalem, isn't it?

"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.

For Samaria's injury is fatal, reaching all the way to Judah, extending even to the gate of my people to Jerusalem."

"Woe to those who are crafting iniquity, planning evil well into the night! When morning's light comes, they carry out their plans because they have the power to do so.

"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.

"Get up and go, because there's no rest for you here! Since everything is polluted, it can only cause destruction, even heavy destruction.

"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."

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.'"

Her leaders judge for the money, her priests teach only when they're paid, and her prophets prophesy for cash. Even so, don't they all rely on the LORD as they ask, "The LORD is among us, is he not? Nothing bad can possibly happen to us!'

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.

Why are you crying so loud now? There's no king among you, is there? Perhaps your advisor has died? For pain has overtaken you like a woman in labor.

"Now many nations have gathered against you, saying, "Let her be defiled,' and "Let's look down on Zion.'

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.

"My people, recall how king Balak of Moab deliberated, and how Beor's son Balaam counseled him from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may know the righteousness of the LORD."

How am I to present myself in the LORD's presence and bow in the presence of the High God? Should I present myself with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?

He has made it clear to you, mortal man, what is good and what the LORD is requiring from you to act with justice, to treasure the LORD's gracious love, and to walk humbly in the company of your God.

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 best of them is like a thorn, and their most upright like a hedge of thorns. The day announced by your watchmen and by your own calculations approaches. Now it's your time to be confused!

Don't trust your friends, don't confide in a companion, watch what you say to your wife.

The son disrespects his father, the daughter rebels against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies are the people of his own house.

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.

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.

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

The LORD is slow to anger and powerful, and he will never let the guilty go unpunished. The LORD's path is in the windstorm and hurricane; thunderclouds are dust beneath his feet.

He rebukes the sea, and it evaporates; he dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, while the flowers of Lebanon languish.

This is what the LORD says: "No matter how strong they are, and no matter how numerous, they will surely be annihilated and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will do so no more.

Now I will break off Assyria's yoke from you, and tear apart your shackles."

The shields deployed by Israel's elite forces are scarlet, their valiant men are clothed in crimson. When they are prepared, the polished armament on their chariots will shine, and lances will be brandished about ferociously.

He will remember to summon his finest troops. They will stumble on their way, hurrying over to Nineveh's wall. Their defensive shield is in place.

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?

The cavalry attacks the flashing sword and the glittering spear! Many are the slain so many casualties! No end to bodies, and the soldiers trip over the corpses.

"Look, I am against you," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "so I will pull up your dress over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations, and your disgrace to the kingdoms.

"Are you any better than Thebes, which sits by the upper Nile, surrounded by water? The sea was her defense, the waters her wall of protection.

All your defenses are like fig trees with ripe early fruit when shaken, it falls right into the devourer's mouth.

Then like the wind sweeping by they will pass through they're guilty because they say their power is their god."

Your eyes are too pure to gaze upon evil; and you cannot tolerate wickedness. So why do you tolerate the treacherous? And why do you stay silent while the wicked devour those who are more righteous than they are?

"I will stand at my guard post and station myself on a tower. I will wait and see what the LORD will say about me and what I will answer when he reprimands me."

When he answered, the LORD told me: "Write out the revelation, engraving it clearly on the tablets, so that a courier may run with it.

"Will not all of these ridicule him with mocking scorn? They will say, "Woe to the one who hordes for himself what isn't his. How long will you enrich yourself by extortion?'

"Woe to the one who amasses profit upon unjust profit in order to establish his household, so he can establish a secure place on the heights and escape from the power of evil.

Indeed, the earth will be filled with knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as water fills the sea."

"Woe to the one who supplies his neighbor with a drink! You are forcing your bottle on him, making him drunk so you can see them naked.

You are filled with dishonor instead of glory. So go ahead, drink and be naked! The LORD will turn against you, and utter disgrace will debase your reputation.

"Woe to the one who says to a tree, "Wake up!' or "Arise!' to a speechless stone. Idols like this can't teach, can they? Look, even though it is overlaid with gold and silver, there's no breath in it at all."

I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, and the tent curtains of the land of Midian in anguish.

Was the LORD displeased with the rivers? Was your anger directed against the watercourses or your wrath against the sea? Indeed, you rode upon your horses, upon your chariots of deliverance.

You rode on the sea with your horses, even riding the crested waves of mighty waters.

This message from the Lord came to Cushi's son Zephaniah, the grandson of Gedaliah and great-grandson of Hezekiah's son Amariah, during the reign of Amon's son Josiah, king of Judah:

"I'll consume both human beings and animals I'll consume the birds of the sky, the fish in the sea, and the wicked along with their sin, when I eliminate human beings from the land," declares the LORD.

"It will come about during the LORD's sacrifice that I'll punish the officials, the royal descendants, and all who wear foreign clothing.

At the same time, I'll punish every idol worshipper, especially those who are filling their master's temple with violence and deceit.

And it will come about that I will search Jerusalem with candles, punishing the self-satisfied and complacent, who say to themselves, "The LORD will do neither good nor evil.'

"And I'll bring so much distress to people that they will walk around like the blind. Because they have sinned against the LORD, their blood will be poured out like dust and their intestines will spill out like manure.

Neither their silver nor their gold will deliver them in the Day of the LORD's wrath; but the entire land will be consumed by the fire of his jealousy, for he will bring the inhabitants of the land to a sudden end."

Before the decree is carried out, before the day flies away like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD visits you, before the Day of the LORD's wrath surprises you,

seek the LORD, all you humble people of the land, who do what he commands. Seek righteousness! Seek humility! Maybe you will be protected in the Day of the LORD's anger."

"I've heard Moab's insults and the curses from those Ammonites by which they defame my people and boast about their territory.

Indeed, then I will return my people to a pure language so that they all may call upon the name of the LORD, serving him with a united will.

The LORD has acquitted you; turning back your adversaries. Israel's king, the LORD, is among you; you will not fear disaster anymore.

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:

"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "These people keep saying, "No, the right time for rebuilding the LORD's Temple has not yet come."'"

"You turned away in pursuit of abundance, but look at how little you found! What you did manage to bring home, I blew away! And why?' declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. "It's because of my house! It lies in ruins while each of you runs off to his own house!

Then Shealtiel's son Zerubbabel, Jehozadak's son Joshua the high priest, and all the rest of the people obeyed the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD.

Then the LORD revitalized the spirit of Shealtiel's son Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, the spirit of Jehozadak's son Joshua the high priest, and the spirit of all the rest of the people, so they came and began to work on the house of their God, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

"Speak to Shealtiel's son Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, to Jehozadak's son Joshua, the high priest, and to the rest of the people, asking,

"Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? And what does it look like now? From what you can see, it seems like nothing, doesn't it?

"For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Once more, in a little while, I will make the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land to shake.

So Haggai responded, "If someone who is unclean because of contact with a dead body were to touch any of these things, would they become unclean?" The priests responded, "They would be unclean."

Then Haggai answered, ""That's how I look at this people and this nation,' declares the LORD. "And that's how it is with everything they undertake and with what they offer there it is unclean.

"Pay attention from now on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, when the foundation of the LORD's Temple was laid. Pay attention!

I will overthrow royal thrones. I will annihilate the strength of national governments. I will overthrow chariots along with those who drive them. Both horses and their riders will fall, each one by means of his comrade's weapon.

In the eighth month of the second year of the reign of Darius, this message from the LORD came to Berechiah's son Zechariah, the grandson of Iddo the prophet:

So tell them, "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Return to me," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "and I will return to you.

Don't be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed: "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "It's time to turn from your evil lifestyles and from your evil actions," "but they would neither listen nor pay attention to me,'" declares the LORD.'

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (the month Shebat) in the second year of the reign of Darius, this message from the LORD came to Berechiah's son Zechariah, the grandson of Iddo the prophet:

So the LORD answered the angel who was speaking to me with kind and comforting words.

Then I looked up and saw four horns.

I asked the angel who was talking to me, "What are those?" So he answered me, "Those are the forces that have dispersed Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

Then I asked, "What have they come to do?" He answered, "Those horns that dispersed Judah so that no one could lift up his head those artisans are coming to disrupt the power of nations, tearing them down now that they've come to power and dispersed the land of Judah."

Then I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.

Then I saw Joshua the High Priest standing in the presence of the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right to oppose him.

So the angel continued to tell those who were standing in his presence, "Remove his filthy clothes." And he told Joshua, "Look how I've removed your iniquity. Now I'm clothing you with fine garments."

Then I said, "Let them place a pure diadem on his head." So they placed the pure diadem on his head and clothed him with fine garments while the angel of the LORD was standing beside them.

Look, the stone that I put in place in Joshua's presence on that one stone are seven eyes. And look, I will do the engraving myself,' declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "and I will remove the perversity of that land in a single day.

Then he asked me, "What do you see?"

So I said, "I have been watching and look! there is a menorah made completely of gold with a bowl on top of it. And there are seven lights on it, along with seven feeder channels to the lamps, which are also on top of it. Two olive trees are near it, one on the right side of the bowl and one on the left."

The angel who had been speaking with me answered by asking, "You don't know what these mean, do you?" So I responded, "No, sir."

"Who are you, great mountain? You will become a plain in Zerubbabel's presence, and he will position the capstone, exulting over it, "How beautiful! How beautiful!"'"

"Zerubbabel's hands have laid the foundation of this Temple, and his hands will finish it, so that you will know that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has sent me to all of you.

For who has despised the time of insignificant things? They will rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These seven lights represent the eyes of the LORD, which are looking throughout all of the earth."

Then I looked up and saw a flying scroll!

And the angel asked me, "What do you see?" I answered him, "I'm looking at a flying scroll. It's 20 cubits long and ten cubits wide."

Then the angel who had been talking with me stepped forward and told me, "Please look up and see what's going out."

So I asked, "What is it?" He replied, "This is a basket making its appearance." He also said, "This is what it appears to be in the entire land."