'Hosts' in the Bible

If the Lord of hostsHad not left us a few survivors,We would be like Sodom,We would be like Gomorrah.

Therefore the Lord God of hosts,The Mighty One of Israel, declares:“Ah, I will be freed of My adversariesAnd avenge Myself on My enemies.

For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoningAgainst all who are proud and arrogantAnd against all who are lifted up,That they may be degraded.

Listen carefully, the Lord God of hosts is removing from Jerusalem and from JudahBoth supply and support, the whole supply of breadAnd the whole supply of water;

“What do you mean by crushing My peopleAnd grinding the face of the poor?”Declares the Lord God of hosts.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house (nation) of IsraelAnd the men of Judah are His delightful planting [which He loves].So He looked for justice, but in fact, [He saw] bloodshed and lawlessness;[He looked] for righteousness, but in fact, [He heard] a cry of distress and oppression.

In my ears the Lord of hosts said, “Be assured that many houses will become desolate,Even great and beautiful ones will be unoccupied.

But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in justice,And God, the Holy One, will show Himself holy in righteousness [through His righteous judgments].

Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble [from straw]And the dry grass collapses into the flame,So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away like fine dust;Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hostsAnd despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.

And one called out to another, saying,“Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts;The whole earth is filled with His glory.”

Then I said,“Woe is me! For I am ruined,Because I am a man of [ceremonially] unclean lips,And I live among a people of unclean lips;For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

“It is the Lord of hosts whom you are to regard as holy and awesome.He shall be your [source of] fear,He shall be your [source of] dread [not man].

Listen carefully, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders [that will occur] in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

There shall be no end to the increase of His government and of peace,[He shall rule] on the throne of David and over his kingdom,To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousnessFrom that time forward and forevermore.The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Yet the people do not turn back [in repentance] to Him who struck them,Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts [as their most essential need].

By the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is burned up,And the people are like fuel for the fire;No man spares his brother.

Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, will send a wasting disease among the stout warriors of Assyria;And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.

For the Lord, the God of hosts, will execute a complete destruction, one that is decreed, in the midst of all the land.

Therefore, the Lord God of hosts says this, “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian who strikes you with a rod and lifts up his staff against you, as [the king of] Egypt did.

The Lord of hosts will brandish a whip against them like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the [Red] Sea and He will lift it up the way He did in [the flight from] Egypt.

Listen carefully, the Lord, the God of hosts, will lop off the [beautiful] boughs with terrifying force;The tall in stature will be cut downAnd the lofty will be abased and humiliated.

A sound of tumult on the mountains,Like that of many people!A sound of the uproar of the kingdoms,Of nations gathered together!The Lord of hosts is mustering an army for battle.

Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;And the earth will be shaken from its placeAt the wrath of the Lord of hostsIn the day of His burning anger.

“I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, and son and grandson,” declares the Lord.

“I will also make Babylon a possession of the hedgehog and of swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.

The Lord of hosts has sworn [an oath], saying, “Just as I have intended, so it has certainly happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand—

For the Lord of hosts has decided and planned, and who can annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”

“The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,And the kingdom from DamascusAnd the remnant of Aram (Syria);They will be like the [departed] glory of [her ally] the children of Israel,”Declares the Lord of hosts.

At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the Lord of hostsFrom a people tall and smooth (clean shaven),From a people feared far and wide,A powerful and oppressive nation,Whose land the rivers divide—To the place [of worship] of the name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion [in Jerusalem].

“And I will hand over the Egyptians to a hard and cruel master,And a mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord God of hosts.

Where then are your wise men?Please let them tell you,And let them understand what the Lord of hostsHas purposed against Egypt [if they can].

In that day the Egyptians will become like [helpless] women, and they will tremble and be frightened because of the waving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He is going to wave over them.

The land of Judah [Assyria’s ally] will become a terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the purpose of the Lord of hosts which He is planning against Egypt.

In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of [the Hebrews of] Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One [of them] will be called the City of Destruction.

It will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior, a [Great] Defender, and He will rescue them.

whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage.”

O my threshed people [Judah, who must be judged and trampled down by Babylon], my afflicted of the threshing floor.What I have heard from the Lord of hosts,The God of Israel, I have [joyfully] announced to you [that Babylon is to fall].

For the Lord God of hosts has a day of panic and of tumult, of trampling, of confusionIn the Valley of Vision,A [day of] breaking down wallsAnd a crying [for help] to the mountain.

Therefore in that day the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping, to mourning,To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth [in humiliation].

But the Lord of hosts revealed Himself in my ears,“This sin absolutely will not be forgiven youUntil you die,” says the Lord God of hosts.

In that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “the peg (Eliakim) that was driven into the firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the burden hanging on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”

The Lord of hosts has planned it, to defile the pride of all beauty,To bring into contempt and humiliation all the honored of the earth.

Then the full moon will be embarrassed and the sun ashamed,For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,And His glory and brilliance will shine before His elders.

On this mountain [Zion] the Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples [to welcome His reign on earth],A banquet of aged wines—choice pieces [flavored] with marrow,Of refined, aged wines.

In that day the Lord of hosts will become a magnificent crownAnd a glorious diadem to the [converted] remnant of His people,

Now do not carry on as scoffers,Or the bands which bind you will be made stronger;For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts [a decree]Of decisive destruction on all the earth.

This also comes from the Lord of hosts,Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.

You will be punished by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise,With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.

For so the Lord says to me,“As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey,And though a large group of shepherds is called out against himHe will not be terrified at their voice nor cringe at their noise,So the Lord of hosts will come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.”

Like flying birds, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem;He will protect and save it,He will pass over and rescue it.

“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”’

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts,

“For the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts says this,‘I am the First and I am the Last;And there is no God besides Me.

“I have stirred up Cyrus and put him into action in righteousness [to accomplish My purpose]And I will make all his ways smooth;He will build My city and let My exiles go,Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of hosts.

Our Redeemer [will do all this], the Lord of hosts is His name,The Holy One of Israel.

“For they call themselves [citizens of Jerusalem] after the holy cityAnd depend on the God of Israel;The Lord of hosts is His name.

For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord of hosts is His name.

“For your husband is your Maker,The Lord of hosts is His name;And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,Who is called the God of the whole earth.