The prophet Malachi

Introduction to Malachi Books of the bible

Malachi chapter 1

God’s people disregard His love — no gratitude

1 An oracle: the word of Yahweh to Israel by Malachi.

2 „I have loved you,“ says Yahweh. Yet you say, „How have you loved us?“ „Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?“ says Yahweh, „Yet I loved Jacob;

3 but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.“

4 Whereas Edom says, „We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places;“ thus says Yahweh of Hosts, „They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them ‚The Wicked Land,‘ even the people against whom Yahweh shows wrath forever.“

5 Your eyes will see, and you will say, „Yahweh is great — even beyond the border of Israel!“

The people and their spiritual leaders offer inferior sacrifices — no reverence

6 „A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? Says Yahweh of Hosts to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, ‚How have we despised your name?‘

7 You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‚How have we polluted you?‘ In that you say, ‚Yahweh’s table contemptible.‘

8 When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?“ says Yahweh of Hosts.

9 „Now, please entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With this, will he accept any of you?“ says Yahweh of Hosts.

10 „Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you,“ says Yahweh of hosts, „neither will I accept an offering at your hand.

11 For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same my name is be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations,“ says Yahweh of Hosts.

12 „But you profane it, in that you say, ‚Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.‘

13 You say also, ‚Behold, what a weariness it is!‘ and you have sniffed at it,“ says Yahweh of Hosts; „and you have brought that which was taken by violence, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this at your hand?“ says Yahweh.

14 „But the deceiver is cursed, who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a blemished thing; for I am a great King,“ says Yahweh of hosts, „and my name is awesome among the nations.“

Malachi chapter 2

Rebuke and a call to repentance for the priests

1 „Now, you priests, this commandment is for you.

2 If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name,“ says Yahweh of Hosts, „then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.

3 Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

4 You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi,“ says Yahweh of Hosts.

5 „My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him who he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name.

6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.

7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Hosts.

8 But you have turned aside out of the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,“ says Yahweh of Hosts.

9 „Therefore I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.

Rebuke, admonition, and warnings regarding — marriages to women who worship idols, unfaithfulness, and divorce

10 Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

11 Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

12 Yahweh will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to Yahweh of Hosts.

13 This again you do: you cover the altar of Yahweh with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn’t regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand.

14 Yet you say, ‚Why?‘ Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.

15 Did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

16 For I hate divorce,“ says Yahweh, the God of Israel, „and him who covers his garment with violence!‘ says Yahweh of Hosts. „Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you don’t deal treacherously.

17 You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, ‚How have we wearied him?‘ In that you say, ‚Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of Yahweh, and he delights in them;‘ or ‚Where is the God of justice?‘

Malachi chapter 3

The Messenger and Forerunner of the Messiah — the Coming Judgment

1 „Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!“ says Yahweh of hosts.

2 „But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap;

3 and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.

4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.

5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,“ says Yahweh of Hosts.

6 „For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

Unfaithfulness, disobedience, robbing God of what is due to Him — blessings for obedience!

7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,“ says Yahweh of Hosts. „But you say, ‚How shall we return?‘

8 Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‚How have we robbed you?‘ In tithes and offerings.

9 You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation.

10 Bring the whole tithe into the store-house, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,“ says Yahweh of hosts, „if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for.

11 I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field,“ says Yahweh of Hosts.

12 „All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,“ says Yahweh of Hosts.

13 „Your words have been stout against me,“ says Yahweh. „Yet you say, ‚What have we spoken against you?‘

God is patient, just, and faithful — He will punish wickedness but preserve the righteous

14 You have said, ‚It is vain to serve God;‘ and ‚What profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Hosts?

15 Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.‘

16 Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those who feared Yahweh, and who honored his name.

17 They shall be mine,“ says Yahweh of Hosts, „my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.

18 Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.

Malachi chapter 4

The coming Day of Judgment — the “Day of the LORD”

1 „For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,“ says Yahweh of Hosts, „that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

2 But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.

3 You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,“ says Yahweh of Hosts.

Israel will be prepared for this “Day of the LORD” by the prophet Elijah

4 „Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.

6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.“

The prophet Zechariah

Introduction to Zechariah Books of the bible

Zechariah chapter 1

A Call to Repentance

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

2 „Yahweh was very displeased with your fathers.

3 Therefore tell them: Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: ‚Return to me,‘ says Yahweh of Hosts, ‚and I will return to you,‘ says Yahweh of Hosts.

4 Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‚Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;‘ but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh.

5 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

6 But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? „Then they repented and said, ‚Just as Yahweh of Hosts determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’“

Zechariah’s First Night Vision — Report to the Angel of the LORD

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

8 „I had a vision in the night, and, behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses.

9 Then I asked, ‚My lord, what are these?’“ The angel who talked with me said to me, „I will show you what these are.“

10 The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, „They are the ones Yahweh has sent to go back and forth through the earth.“

11 They reported to the angel of Yahweh who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, „We have walked back and forth through the earth, and, behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace.“

God’s Promises Concerning Jerusalem and Israel

12 Then the angel of Yahweh replied, „O Yahweh of Hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?“

13 Yahweh answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words.

14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, „Proclaim, saying, ‚Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: „I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

15 I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.“

16 Therefore thus says Yahweh: „I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it,“ says Yahweh of Hosts, „and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem.“‚

17 „Proclaim further, saying, ‚Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: „My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.“‚“

The Prophet’s Second Night Vision — Four Horns and Four Smiths

18 I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, four horns.

19 I asked the angel who talked with me, „What are these?“ He answered me, „These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.“

20 Yahweh showed me four craftsmen.

21 Then I asked, „What are these coming to do?“ He said, „These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.“

Zechariah chapter 2

Zechariah’s Third Night Vision — A Man “Measures” Jerusalem in the Kingdom of the Messiah

1 I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.

2 Then I asked, „Where are you going?“ He said to me, „To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its breadth and what is its length.“

3 Behold, the angel who talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,

4 and said to him, „Run, speak to this young man, saying, ‚Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and cattle in it.

5 For I,‘ says Yahweh, ‚will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.

6 Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,‘ says Yahweh; ‚for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,‘ says Yahweh.

7 ‚Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.‘

8 For thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‚For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.

9 For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a spoil to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Hosts has sent me.

10 Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you,‘ says Yahweh.

11 Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Hosts has sent me to you.

12 Yahweh will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

13 Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!“

Zechariah chapter 3

His Fourth Night Vision — A High Priest Named Joshua (Hebrew: Yehoshua — “The LORD Is Salvation” — the name of Jesus

1 He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Yahweh, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.

2 Yahweh said to Satan, „Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?“

3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel.

4 He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, „Take the filthy garments off of him.“ To him he said, „Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.“

5 I said, „Let them set a clean turban on his head.“ So they set a clean turban on his head, and clothed him; and the angel of Yahweh was standing by.

6 The angel of Yahweh protested to Joshua, saying,

7 „Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‚If you will walk in my ways, and if you will keep my charge, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by.

8 Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you; for they are men who are a sign: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant, the Branch.

9 For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the engraving of it,‘ says Yahweh of Hosts, ‚and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

10 In that day,‘ says Yahweh of hosts, ‚you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’“

Zechariah chapter 4

A fifth night vision — a golden menorah, a seven-branched lampstand, and two olive trees

1 The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep.

2 He said to me, „What do you see?“ I said, „I have seen, and, behold, a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are on the top of it;

3 and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side of it.“

4 I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, „What are these, my lord?“

5 Then the angel who talked with me answered me, „Don’t you know what these are?“ I said, „No, my lord.“

6 Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, „This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel, saying, ‚Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,‘ says Yahweh of Hosts.

7 Who are you, great mountain? before Zerubbabel [you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of ‚Grace, grace, to it!’“

8 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

9 „The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that Yahweh of Hosts has sent me to you.

10 Indeed, who despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are the eyes of Yahweh, which run back and forth through the whole earth.“

11 Then I asked him, „What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on the left side of it?“

12 I asked him the second time, „What are these two olive-branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that pour the golden oil out of themselves?“

13 He answered me, „Don’t you know what these are?“ I said, „No, my lord.“

14 Then he said, „These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.“

Zechariah chapter 5

The prophet’s sixth night vision — a curse in the form of a flying scroll

1 Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, a flying scroll.

2 He said to me, „What do you see?“ I answered, „I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits.“

3 Then he said to me, „This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side.

4 I will cause it to go out,“ says Yahweh of Hosts, „and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the midst of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones.“

The seventh night vision — a measure of grain containing lawlessness

5 Then the angel who talked with me came forward, and said to me, „Lift up now your eyes, and see what is this that is appearing.“

6 I said, „What is it?“ He said, „This is the ephah basket that is appearing.“ He said moreover, „This is their appearance in all the land

7 (and, behold, a talent of lead was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah basket.“

8 He said, „This is Wickedness;“ and he threw her down into the midst of the ephah basket; and he threw the weight of lead on its mouth.

9 Then lifted I up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, there were two women, and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah basket between earth and the sky.

10 Then said I to the angel who talked with me, „Where are these carrying the ephah basket?“

11 He said to me, „To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place.“

Zechariah chapter 6

Zechariah’s eighth night vision — four chariots representing the four winds (or spirits) of heaven, which are sent out

1 Again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.

2 In the first chariot were red horses; in the second chariot black horses;

3 in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot dappled horses, all of them powerful.

4 Then I asked the angel who talked with me, „What are these, my lord?“

5 The angel answered me, „These are the four winds of the sky, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.

6 The one with the black horses goes out toward the north country; and the white went out after them; and the dappled went forth toward the south country.“

7 The strong went out, and sought to go that they might walk back and forth through the earth: and he said, „Go around and through the earth!“ So they walked back and forth through the earth.

8 Then he called to me, and spoke to me, saying, „Behold, those who go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.“

The coronation of the high priest Joshua (= Jesus) and an announcement concerning the coming Messiah

9 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

10 „Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and come the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon.

11 Yes, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest;

12 and speak to him, saying, ‚Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, „Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build the temple of Yahweh;

13 even he shall build the temple of Yahweh; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on his throne; and he shall be a priest on his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

14 The crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Yahweh.

15 Those who are far off shall come and build in the temple of Yahweh; and you shall know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you. This will happen, if you will diligently obey the voice of Yahweh your God.“‚“

Zechariah chapter 7

God desires integrity and compassion from us — far more than fasting

1 It happened in the fourth year of king Darius that the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

2 The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to entreat Yahweh’s favor,

3 and to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of Hosts, and to the prophets, saying, „Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?“

The days of fasting are an outward matter, meaningless to God

4 Then the word of Yahweh of Hosts came to me, saying,

5 „Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‚When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?

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

From time immemorial, God has demanded only righteousness and love from His people through the prophets — yet in vain and to the people’s ruin

7 Aren’t these the words which Yahweh proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’“

8 The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,

9 „Thus has Yahweh of Hosts spoken, saying, ‚Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.

10 Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.‘

11 But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.

12 Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Hosts.

13 It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,“ said Yahweh of Hosts;

14 „but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate.“

Zechariah chapter 8

God loves His people and will bring them to great happiness, but He steadfastly upholds His moral demands (seven sayings)

1 The word of Yahweh of Hosts came to me.

2 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: „I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath.“

3 Thus says Yahweh: „I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called ‚The City of Truth;‘ and the mountain of Yahweh of Hosts, ‚The Holy Mountain.’“

4 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: „Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age.

5 The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.“

6 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: „If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my eyes?“ says Yahweh of Hosts.

7 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: „Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;

8 and I will bring them, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.“

9 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: „Let your hands be strong, you who hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets who were in the day that the foundation of the house of Yahweh of Hosts was laid, even the temple, that it might be built.

10 For before those days there was no wages for man, nor any wages for an animal; neither was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary. For I set all men everyone against his neighbor.

11 But now I will not be to the remnant of this people as in the former days,“ says Yahweh of Hosts.

12 „For the seed of peace and the vine will yield its fruit, and the ground will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.

13 It shall come to pass that, as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Don’t be afraid. Let your hands be strong.“

14 For thus says Yahweh of hosts: „As I thought to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath,“ says Yahweh of Hosts, „and I didn’t repent;

15 so again have I thought in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Don’t be afraid.

16 These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates,

17 and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate,“ says Yahweh.

In the future, days of fasting will be replaced by joyful celebrations, and even the Gentile world will share in the glory of God’s people

18 The word of Yahweh of Hosts came to me.

19 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: „The fasts of the fourth fifth, seventh, and tenth months shall be for the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.“

20 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: „Many peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come;

21 and the inhabitants of one shall go to another, saying, ‚Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of Hosts. I will go also.‘

22 Yes, many peoples and strong nations will come to seek Yahweh of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Yahweh.“

23 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: „In those days, ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they will take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, ‚We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’“

Zechariah chapter 9

God’s judgment on the hostile nations of Syria and Phoenicia and His defense of Jerusalem

1 An oracle. The word of Yahweh is against the land of Hadrach, And will rest upon Damascus; For the eye of man And of all the tribes of Israel is toward Yahweh;

2 And Hamath, also, which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.

3 Tyre built herself a stronghold, And heaped up silver like the dust, And fine gold like the mire of the streets.

4 Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, And he will strike her power in the sea; And she will be devoured with fire.

5 Ashkelon will see it, and fear; Gaza also, and will writhe in agony; As will Ekron, for her expectation will be put to shame; And the king will perish from Gaza, And Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

6 Foriegners will dwell in Ashdod, And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

7 I will take away his blood out of his mouth, And his abominations from between his teeth; And he also will be a remnant for our God; And he will be as a chieftain in Judah, And Ekron as a Jebusite.

8 I will encamp around my house against the army, That none pass through or return; And no oppressor will pass through them any more: For now I have seen with my eyes.

The entry and blessed reign of the Prince of Peace in Jerusalem

9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; Lowly, and riding on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, And the horse from Jerusalem; And the battle bow will be cut off; And he will speak peace to the nations: And his dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.

The liberation and return of the captive Jews, their victory and prosperity

11 As for you also, Because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.

12 Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.

The LORD will come and save His people

13 For indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have filled the bow with Ephraim; And I will stir up your sons, Zion, Against your sons, Greece, And will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

14 Yahweh will be seen over them; And his arrow will go flash like lightning; And the Lord Yahweh will blow the trumpet, And will go with whirlwinds of the south.

15 Yahweh of Hosts will defend them; And they will destroy and overcome with sling-stones; And they will drink, and roar as through wine; And they will be filled like bowls, Like the corners of the altar.

16 Yahweh their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people; For they are like the jewels of a crown, Lifted on high over his land.

17 For how great is his goodness, And how great is his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, And new wine the virgins.

Zechariah chapter 10

The LORD grants Judah victory and brings Israel back

God alone bestows every blessing; idols and false prophets bring only disaster

1 Ask of Yahweh rain in the spring time, Yahweh who makes storm clouds, And he gives rain showers to everyone for the plants in the field.

2 For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; And they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.

God raises up heroic leaders for His people — now entrusted to the care of bad shepherds — to lead them in victorious battles

3 My anger is kindled against the shepherds, And I will punish the male goats; For Yahweh of Hosts has visited his flock, the house of Judah, And will make them as his horse in the battle that he is proud of.

4 From him will come forth the corner-stone, From him the nail, From him the battle bow, From him every ruler together.

5 They shall be as mighty men, Treading down muddy streets in the battle; And they shall fight, because Yahweh is with them; And the riders on horses will be confounded.

6 „I will strengthen the house of Judah, And I will save the house of Joseph, And I will bring them back; For I have mercy on them; And they will be as though I had not cast them off: For I am Yahweh their God, and I will hear them.

7 Ephraim will be like a mighty man, And their heart will rejoice as through wine; Yes, their children will see it, and rejoice. Their heart will be glad in Yahweh.

The people scattered throughout the world will return, especially from Egypt and Assyria, and once again become a strong people of God

8 I will signal for them, and gather them; For I have redeemed them; And they will increase as they have increased.

9 I will sow them among the peoples; And they will remember me in far countries; And they will live with their children, and will return.

10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, And gather them out of Assyria; And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; And there won’t be room enough for them.

11 He will pass through the sea of affliction, And will strike the waves in the sea, And all the depths of the Nile will dry up; And the pride of Assyria will be brought down, And the scepter of Egypt will depart.

12 I will strengthen them in Yahweh; And they will walk up and down in his name,“ says Yahweh.

Zechariah chapter 11

Judgment on Israel — Unfaithful Shepherds — The Good Shepherd

The Terrible Collapse of the Hostile World Power

1 Open your doors, Lebanon, That the fire may devour your cedars.

2 Wail, fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, Because the stately ones are destroyed. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, For the strong forest has come down.

3 A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

The Prophet’s Calling as Shepherd of the Afflicted People

4 Thus says Yahweh my God: „Feed the flock of slaughter.

5 Their buyers slaughter them, and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‚Blessed be Yahweh, for I am rich;‘ and their own shepherds don’t pity them.

6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land,“ says Yahweh; „but, behold, I will deliver the men everyone into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king. They will strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.“

The Prophet’s Unsuccessful Ministry as Shepherd; His Disgraceful Rejection by the Owners of the Flock

7 So I fed the flock of slaughter, especially the oppressed of the flock. I took for myself two staffs. The one I called „Favor,“ and the other I called „Union,“ and I fed the flock.

8 I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.

9 Then I said, „I will not feed you. That which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let those who are left eat each other’s flesh.“

10 I took my staff Favor, and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples.

11 It was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that listened to me knew that it was the word of Yahweh.

12 I said to them, „If you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them.“ So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

13 Yahweh said to me, „Throw it to the potter, the handsome price that I was valued at by them!“ I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter, in the house of Yahweh.

14 Then I cut apart my other staff, even Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

The Prophet’s Renewed Call to the Office of Shepherd and the Threat Against the Worthless Shepherd

15 Yahweh said to me, „Take for yourself yet again the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

16 For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those who are cut off, neither will seek those who are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces.

17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword will be on his arm, and on his right eye. His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be totally blinded!“

Zechariah chapter 12

The nations’ attack on Jerusalem and its deliverance; the city becomes a burden to all nations; its enemies are destroyed

1 An oracle. The word of Yahweh concerning Israel. Yahweh, who stretches out the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says:

2 „Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and on Judah also will it be in the siege against Jerusalem.

3 It will happen in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.

4 In that day,“ says Yahweh, „I will strike every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.

5 The chieftains of Judah will say in their heart, ‚The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Yahweh of Hosts their God.‘

6 In that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they will devour all the surrounding peoples, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem will yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem.

7 Yahweh also will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem not be magnified above Judah.

8 In that day Yahweh will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He who is feeble among them at that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of Yahweh before them.

The outpouring of the Spirit upon Jerusalem — the people’s great mourning for the one they have pierced

9 It will happen in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

10 I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.

11 In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

12 The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;

13 the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart;

14 all the families who remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

Zechariah chapter 13

The divine cleansing of the people; the removal of idolatry, false prophecy, and all impurity

1 „In that day there will be a spring opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.

2 It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land.

3 It will happen that, when anyone still prophesies, then his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, ‚You must die, because you speak lies in the name of Yahweh;‘ and his father and his mother who bore him will stab him when he prophesies.

4 It will happen in that day, that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision, when he prophesies; neither will they wear a hairy mantle to deceive:

5 but he will say, ‚I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondservant from my youth.‘

6 One will say to him, ‚What are these wounds between your arms?‘ Then he will answer, ‚Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.‘

The stricken shepherd and the scattered sheep — the purification and restoration of Israel

7 „Awake, sword, against my shepherd, And against the man who is close to me,“ says Yahweh of Hosts. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; And I will turn my hand against the little ones.

8 It shall happen that in all the land,“ says Yahweh, Two parts in it will be cut off and die; But the third will be left in it.

9 I will bring the third part into the fire, And will refine them as silver is refined, And will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‚It is my people;‘ And they will say, ‚Yahweh is my God.’“

Zechariah chapter 14

The Day of the LORD, His return to the Mount of Olives, battle and tribulation, but also salvation in Jerusalem

1 Behold, a day of Yahweh comes, when your spoil will be divided in your midst.

2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.

3 Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

4 His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

5 You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you.

The miraculous events in nature on the Day of the LORD

6 It will happen in that day, that there will not be light, cold, or frost.

7 It will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh; not day, and not night; but it will come to pass, that at evening time there will be light.

8 It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be.

9 Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one.

10 All the land will be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will be lifted up, and will dwell in her place, from Benjamin’s gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king’s wine-presses.

11 Men will dwell therein, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely.

Judgment upon the nations that waged war against Jerusalem

12 This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth.

13 It will happen in that day, that a great panic from Yahweh will be among them; and they will lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor.

14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance.

15 So will be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the animals that will be in those camps, as that plague.

All nations will worship the LORD in Jerusalem

16 It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tents.

17 It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn’t go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Hosts, on them there will be no rain.

18 If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, and doesn’t come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of tents.

19 This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of tents.

In Judah and Jerusalem, even the most ordinary everyday objects will then be sanctified

20 In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, „HOLY TO YAHWEH;“ and the pots in Yahweh’s house will be like the bowls before the altar.

21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Hosts; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of Hosts.

The prophet Haggai

Introduction to Haggai Books of the bible

Haggai chapter 1

God’s Call to Rebuild His Temple

1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

2 „This is what Yahweh of Hosts says: These people say, ‚The time hasn’t yet come, the time for Yahweh’s house to be built.’“

3 Then the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai, the prophet, saying,

4 „Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?

5 Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Hosts says: Consider your ways.

6 You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it.“

7 This is what Yahweh of Hosts says: „Consider your ways.

8 Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,“ says Yahweh.

9 „You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?“ says Yahweh of Hosts, „Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house.

10 Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.

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

The People Heer God’s Call

12 Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of Yahweh, their God, and the words of Haggai, the prophet, as Yahweh, their God, had sent him; and the people feared Yahweh.

13 Then Haggai, Yahweh’s messenger, spoke in Yahweh’s message to the people, saying, „I am with you,“ says Yahweh.

14 Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of Yahweh of Hosts, their God,

15 in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

Haggai chapter 2

Prophecy about the Glory of the Coming Temple

1 In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month, the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai the prophet, saying,

2 „Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying,

3 ‚Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Isn’t it in your eyes as nothing?

4 Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,‘ says Yahweh. ‚Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,‘ says Yahweh, ‚and work, for I am with you,‘ says Yahweh of Hosts.

5 This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. Don’t be afraid.‘

6 For this is what Yahweh of Hosts says: ‚Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;

7 and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Hosts.

8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,‘ says Yahweh of Hosts.

9 ‚The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,‘ says Yahweh of Hosts; ‚and in this place will I give peace,‘ says Yahweh of Hosts.“

Purity and Impurity in Service and Sacrifice to God

10 In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai the prophet, saying,

11 „Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,

12 ‚If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with his fold touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it become holy?’“ The priests answered, „No.“

13 Then Haggai said, „If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean?“ The priests answered, „It will be unclean.“

14 Then Haggai answered, „‚So is this people, and so is this nation before me,‘ says Yahweh; ‚and so is every work of their hands. That which they offer there is unclean.

Encouragement to Work for God’s Kingdom — He Wants to Bless!

15 Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in the temple of Yahweh.

16 Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty.

17 I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn’t turn to me,‘ says Yahweh.

18 ‚Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was laid, consider it.

19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven’t brought forth. From this day will I bless you.’“

Prophecy to Zerubbabel — One of the Ancestors of Jesus Christ — about the Destruction of the Pagan World Empires

20 The Word of Yahweh came the second time to Haggai in the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying,

21 „Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ‚I will shake the heavens and the earth.

22 I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother.

23 In that day, says Yahweh of Hosts, will I take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,‘ says Yahweh, ‚and will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you,‘ says Yahweh of Hosts.“

The prophet Zephaniah

Introduction to Zephaniah Books of the bible

Zephaniah chapter 1

The Coming Judgment

1 The word of Yahweh which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.

2 I will utterly sweep away everything off of the surface of the earth, says Yahweh.

3 I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh.

Judgment on Judah

4 I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place: the name of the idolatrous and pagan priests,

5 those who worship the host of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam,

6 those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him.

7 Be silent at the presence of the Lord Yahweh, for the day of Yahweh is at hand. For Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests.

8 It will happen in the day of Yahweh’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, and all those who as are clothed with foreign clothing.

9 In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.

10 In that day, says Yahweh, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills.

11 Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone! All those who were laden with silver are cut off.

12 It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, „Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil.“

13 Their wealth will become a spoil, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won’t inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, but won’t drink their wine.

The Great “Day of the LORD” Is Announced

14 The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly.

15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,

16 a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements.

17 I will bring distress on men, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Yahweh, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.

18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.

Zephaniah chapter 2

An Urgent Call for Repentance and Humility to Judah

1 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, you nation that has no shame,

2 before the appointed time when the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of Yahweh comes on you, before the day of Yahweh’s anger comes on you.

3 Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of Yahweh’s anger.

Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors

First the Philistines in the West

4 For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up.

5 Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Yahweh is against you, Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you, that there will be no inhabitant.

6 The sea coast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.

7 The coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They will find pasture. In the houses of Ashkelon, they will lie down in the evening, for Yahweh, their God, will visit them, and restore them.

Judgment on Moab and Ammon in the East

8 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the insults of the children of Ammon, with which they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.

9 Therefore as I live, says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will inherit them.

10 This they will have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Yahweh of Hosts.

11 Yahweh will be awesome to them, for he will famish all the gods of the land. Men will worship him, everyone from his place, even all the shores of the nations.

Judgment on Cush in the South

12 You Cushites also, you will be killed by my sword.

Judgment on the Great Power of Assyria in the Northeast

13 He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like the wilderness.

14 Herds will lie down in the midst of her, all the animals of the nations. Both the pelican and the porcupine will lodge in its capitals. Their calls will echo through the windows. Desolation will be in the thresholds, for he has laid bare the cedar beams.

15 This is the joyous city that lived carelessly, that said in her heart, „I am, and there is none besides me.“ How she has become a desolation, a place for animals to lie down in! Everyone who passes by her will hiss, and shake their fists.

Zephaniah chapter 3

Threat of Judgment on Godless Jerusalem

1 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city!

2 She didn’t obey the voice. She didn’t receive correction. She didn’t trust in Yahweh. She didn’t draw near to her God.

3 Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day.

4 Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.

5 Yahweh, in the midst of her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame.

6 I have cut off nations. Their battlements are desolate. I have made their streets waste, so that no one passes by. Their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant.

7 I said, „Just fear me. Receive correction, so that her dwelling won’t be cut off, according to all that I have appointed concerning her.“ But they rose early and corrupted all their doings.

8 „Therefore wait for me,“ says Yahweh, „until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

The God-fearing remnant of Israel will ultimately be restored and receive honor before all nations

9 For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on the name of Yahweh, to serve him shoulder to shoulder.

10 From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, even the daughter of my dispersed people, will bring my offering.

11 In that day you will not be put to shame for all your doings, in which you have transgressed against me; for then I will take away out of the midst of you your proudly exulting ones, and you will no more be haughty in my holy mountain.

12 But I will leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they will take refuge in the name of Yahweh.

13 The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity, nor speak lies, neither will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they will feed and lie down, and no one will make them afraid.“

14 Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem.

15 Yahweh has taken away your judgments. He has thrown out your enemy. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is in the midst of you. You will not be afraid of evil any more.

16 In that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, „Don’t be afraid, Zion. Don’t let your hands be slack.“

17 Yahweh, your God, is in the midst of you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will rest in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.

18 Those who are sad for the appointed feasts, I will remove from you. They are a burden and a reproach to you.

19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you, and I will save those who are lame, and gather those who were driven away. I will give them praise and honor, whose shame has been in all the earth.

20 At that time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you; for I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I bring back your captivity before your eyes, says Yahweh.

The prophet Habakkuk

Introduction to Habakkuk Books of the bible

Habakkuk chapter 1

Habakkuk laments to God about the injustice and misfortune surrounding him

1 The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2 Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you „Violence!“ and will you not save?

3 Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.

4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.

The LORD answers him and announces judgment through the Chaldeans (Babylonians)

5 „Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you.

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

7 They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.

8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.

9 All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand.

10 Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it.

11 Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god.“

Habakkuk asks about justice and also pleads with God for mercy for the nations

12 Aren’t you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish.

13 You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,

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

15 He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.

16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good.

17 Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?

1 I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

Habakkuk chapter 2

God’s response to the prophet:
The righteous have proven themselves faithful and will live by their faith

1 I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

2 Yahweh answered me, „Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.

3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay.

4 Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

The oppressors and the wicked, on the other hand, will fall under judgment

5 Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.

6 Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‚Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?‘

7 Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?

8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.

9 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!

10 You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.

11 For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.

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

13 Behold, isn’t it of Yahweh of Hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.

15 „Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!

16 You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.

17 For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.

18 „What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?

19 Woe to him who says to the wood, ‚Awake!‘ or to the mute 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.

20 But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!“

Habakkuk chapter 3

Habakkuk’s psalm and prayer — a preview of the LORD’s coming to judge

1 A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.

2 Yahweh, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh. Renew your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy.

3 God came from Teman, The Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, And his praise filled the earth.

4 His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.

5 Plague went before him, And pestilence followed his feet.

6 He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled.

8 Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, Or your wrath against the sea, That you rode on your horses, On your chariots of salvation?

9 You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.

10 The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The tempest of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.

11 The sun and moon stood still in the sky, At the light of your arrows as they went, At the shining of your glittering spear.

12 You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.

13 You went forth for the salvation of your people, For the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah.

14 You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, Gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.

15 You trampled the sea with your horses, Churning mighty waters.

16 I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, Because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, For the coming up of the people who invade us.

17 For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, Nor fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive fails, The fields yield no food; The flocks are cut off from the fold, And there is no herd in the stalls:

18 Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

19 Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, And enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.

The prophet Nahum

Introduction to Nahum Books of the bible

Nahum chapter 1

God is patient but also just — when He must judge — who could stand against Him?

1 An oracle about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2 Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies.

3 Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

4 He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes.

5 The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it.

6 Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.

7 Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him.

8 But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

Final judgment against Assyria — in the time of Jonah, the Assyrian world power still humbled itself — and they repented

9 What do you plot against Yahweh? He will make a full end. Affliction won’t rise up the second time.

10 For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.

11 There is one gone forth out of you, who devises evil against Yahweh, who counsels wickedness.

12 Thus says Yahweh: „Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so they will be cut down, and he shall pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.

13 Now will I break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds apart.“

14 Yahweh has commanded concerning you: „No more descendants will bear your name. Out of the house of your gods, will I cut off the engraved image and the molten image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.“

15 Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, Judah! Perform your vows, for the wicked one will no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off.

Nahum chapter 2

The destruction of Nineveh, the capital of the ruling empire, is announced

1 He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your loins! Fortify your power mightily!

2 For Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches.

3 The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine spears are brandished.

4 The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the broad ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings.

5 He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place.

6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.

7 It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts.

8 But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water, yet they flee away. „Stop! Stop!“ they cry, but no one looks back.

9 Take the spoil of silver. Take the spoil of gold, for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture.

10 She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.

11 Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion’s cubs, and no one made them afraid?

12 The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey.

13 „Behold, I am against you,“ says Yahweh of Hosts, „and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.“

Nahum chapter 3

The guilt of the “harlot” Nineveh and God’s judgment

1 Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. The prey doesn’t depart.

2 The noise of the whip, the noise of the rattling of wheels, prancing horses, and bounding chariots,

3 the horseman mounting, and the flashing sword, the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies. They stumble on their bodies,

4 because of the multitude of the prostitution of the alluring prostitute, the mistress of witchcraft, who sells nations through her prostitution, and families through her witchcraft.

5 „Behold, I am against you,“ says Yahweh of Hosts, „and I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.

6 I will throw abominable filth on you, and make you vile, and will set you a spectacle.

7 It will happen that all those who look at you will flee from you, and say, ‚Nineveh is laid waste Who will mourn for her?‘ Where will I seek comforters for you?“

8 Are you better than No-Amon, who was situated among the rivers, who had the waters around her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea?

9 Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength. Put and Libya were her helpers.

10 Yet was she carried away. She went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets, and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

11 You also will be drunken. You will be hidden. You also will seek a stronghold because of the enemy.

12 All your fortresses will be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Behold, your troops in your midst are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars.

14 Draw water for the siege. Strengthen your fortresses. Go into the clay, and tread the mortar. Make the brick kiln strong.

15 There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the grasshopper. Multiply like grasshoppers. Multiply like the locust.

16 You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips, and flees away.

17 Your guards are like the locusts, and your officials like the swarms of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day, but when the sun appears, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

18 Your shepherds slumber, king of Assyria. Your nobles lie down. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them.

19 There is no healing your wound, for your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you clap their hands over you; for who hasn’t felt your endless cruelty?

The prophet Micah

Introduction to Micah Books of the bible

Micah chapter 1

I. The Judgment of the World; God’s Threats Against Samaria (= Israel) and Judah (Chapters 1–3)

Announcement of the Desolation of Samaria and Jerusalem

1 The word of Yahweh that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear, you peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth, and all that is therein: And let the Lord Yahweh be witness against you, The Lord from his holy temple.

3 For, behold, Yahweh comes forth out of his place, And will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

4 The mountains melt under him, And the valleys split apart, Like wax before the fire, Like waters that are poured down a steep place.

5 „All this is for the disobedience of Jacob, And for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the disobedience of Jacob? Isn’t it Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Aren’t they Jerusalem?

6 Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field, Like places for planting vineyards; And I will pour down its stones into the valley, And I will uncover its foundations.

7 All her idols will be beaten to pieces, And all her temple gifts will be burned with fire, And all her images I will destroy; For of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, And to the hire of a prostitute shall they return.“

The Prophet Micah’s Mourning and Lament

8 For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, And moan like the daughters of owls.

9 For her wounds are incurable; For it has come even to Judah. It reaches to the gate of my people, Even to Jerusalem.

10 Don’t tell it in Gath, Don’t weep at all. At Beth-le-aphrah I have rolled myself in the dust.

11 Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Zaanan won’t come out. The wailing of Beth-ezel will take from you his protection.

12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, Because evil has come down from Yahweh to the gate of Jerusalem.

13 Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

14 Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth-gath. The houses of Achzib will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel.

15 I will yet bring to you, inhabitant of Mareshah, He who is the glory of Israel will come to Adullam.

16 Shave your heads, And cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture; For they have gone into captivity from you!

Micah chapter 2

Warning to the Wicked of Israel

1 Woe to those who devise iniquity And work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, Because it is in the power of their hand.

2 They covet fields, and seize them; And houses, and take them away: And they oppress a man and his house, Even a man and his heritage.

3 Therefore thus says Yahweh: „Behold, I am planning against these people a disaster, From which you will not remove your necks, Neither will you walk haughtily; For it is an evil time.

4 In that day they will take up a parable against you, And lament with a doleful lamentation, saying, ‚We are utterly ruined! My people’s possession is divided up. Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!’“

5 Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in the assembly of Yahweh.

Israel Refuses to Heed God’s Admonitions

6 „Don’t you prophesy!“ They prophesy. „Don’t prophesy about these things. Disgrace won’t overtake us.“

7 Shall it be said, O house of Jacob: „Is the Spirit of Yahweh angry? Are these his doings? Don’t my words do good to him who walks blamelessly?“

8 But lately my people have risen up as an enemy. You strip the robe and clothing from those who pass by without a care, returning from battle.

9 You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses; From their young children you take away my blessing forever.

10 Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, Because of uncleanness that destroys, Even with a grievous destruction.

11 If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: ‚I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;‘ He would be the prophet of this people.

Promise of a Future with God’s Presence for the Remnant of Israel

12 I will surely assemble, Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, As a flock in the midst of their pasture; They will throng with people.

13 He who breaks open the way goes up before them. They break through the gate, and go out. And their king passes on before them, With Yahweh at their head.“

Micah chapter 3

Warning and Rebuke for the Leaders of the People and Their False Prophets

1 I said, „Please listen, you heads of Jacob, And rulers of the house of Israel: Isn’t it for you to know justice?

2 You who hate the good, And love the evil; Who tear off their skin, And their flesh from off their bones;

3 Who also eat the flesh of my people, And flay their skin from off them, And break their bones, And chop them in pieces, as for the pot, And as flesh within the caldron.

4 Then they will cry to Yahweh, But he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, Because they made their deeds evil.“

5 Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, „Peace!“ and whoever doesn’t provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:

6 „Therefore night is over you, with no vision, And it is dark to you, that you may not divine; And the sun will go down on the prophets, And the day will be black over them.

7 The seers shall be put to shame, And the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips; For there is no answer from God.“

8 But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of Yahweh, And of judgment, and of might, To declare to Jacob his disobedience, And to Israel his sin.

9 Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, And rulers of the house of Israel, Who abhor justice, And pervert all equity.

10 They build up Zion with blood, And Jerusalem with iniquity.

11 Her leaders judge for bribes, And her priests teach for a price, And her prophets of it tell forturnes for money: Yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, Isn’t Yahweh in the midst of us? No disaster will come on us.

12 Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, And Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, And the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.

Micah chapter 4

II. Comforting Promises Regarding Future Salvation (Chapters 4–5)

A Preview of the 1,000-Year Kingdom of Peace Under the Messiah

1 But in the latter days, It will happen that the mountain of Yahweh’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains, And it will be exalted above the hills; And peoples will stream to it.

2 Many nations will go and say, „Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, And to the house of the God of Jacob; And he will teach us of his ways, And we will walk in his paths.“ For out of Zion will go forth the law, And the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem;

3 And he will judge between many peoples, And will decide concerning strong nations afar off. They will beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, Neither will they learn war any more.

4 But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; And no one will make them afraid: For the mouth of Yahweh of Hosts has spoken.

5 Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods; But we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God forever and ever.

6 „In that day,“ says Yahweh, „I will assemble that which is lame, And I will gather that which is driven away, And that which I have afflicted;

7 And I will make that which was lame a remnant, And that which was cast far off a strong nation: And Yahweh will reign over them on Mount Zion from then on, even forever.

8 You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, To you it will come, Yes, the former dominion will come, The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

9 Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, That pains have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail?

10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, daughter of Zion, Like a woman in travail; For now you will go forth out of the city, And will dwell in the field, And will come even to Babylon. There you will be rescued. There Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

11 Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, ‚Let her be defiled, And let our eye gloat over Zion.‘

12 But they don’t know the thoughts of Yahweh, Neither do they understand his counsel; For he has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor.

13 Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; For I will make your horn iron, And I will make your hoofs brass; And you will beat in pieces many peoples: And I will devote their gain to Yahweh, And their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.

Micah chapter 5

1 Now you shall gather yourself in troops, Daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us; They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

Prophecy of the Messiah’s Birth in Bethlehem

2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Being small among the clans of Judah, Out of you one will come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

3 Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.

4 He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, In the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: And they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.

5 He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land, And when he marches through our fortresses, Then we will raise against him seven shepherds, And eight leaders of men.

6 They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, And the land of Nimrod in its gates. He will deliver us from the Assyrian, When he invades our land, And when he marches within our border.

7 The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, Like dew from Yahweh, Like showers on the grass, That don’t wait for man, Nor wait for the sons of men.

8 The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, In the midst of many peoples, Like a lion among the animals of the forest, Like a young lion among the flocks of sheep; Who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, And there is no one to deliver.

9 Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, And let all of your enemies be cut off.

10 „It will happen in that day,“ says Yahweh, „That I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, And will destroy your chariots.

11 I will cut off the cities of your land, And will tear down all your strongholds.

12 I will destroy witchcraft from your hand; And you shall have no soothsayers.

13 I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars out of your midst; And you shall no more worship the work of your hands.

14 I will uproot your Asherim out of your midst; And I will destroy your cities.

15 I will execute vengeance in anger, And wrath on the nations that didn’t listen.“

Micah chapter 6

III. The Path from Deep Corruption to the Salvation of the People (Chapters 6–7)

God’s Lawsuit and the Judgment on His People

1 Listen now to what Yahweh says: „Arise, plead your case before the mountains, And let the hills hear what you have to say.

2 Hear, you mountains, Yahweh’s controversy, And you enduring foundations of the earth; For Yahweh has a controversy with his people, And he will contend with Israel.

3 My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me!

4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, And redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

5 My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, That you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh.“

6 How shall I come before Yahweh, And bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old?

7 Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, To love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

9 Yahweh’s voice calls to the city, And wisdom sees your name: „Listen to the rod, And he who appointed it.

10 Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, And a short ephah that is accursed?

11 Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, And with a bag of deceitful weights?

12 Her rich men are full of violence, Her inhabitants speak lies, And their tongue is deceitful in their speech.

13 Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins.

14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your humiliation will be in your midst. You will store up, but not save; And that which you save I will give up to the sword.

15 You will sow, but won’t reap. You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil; And crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine.

16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, And all the works of the house of Ahab. You walk in their counsels, That I may make you a ruin, And her inhabitants a hissing; And you will bear the reproach of my people.“

Micah chapter 7

Lament over the Moral Decay Among God’s People

1 Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vinyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.

2 The godly man has perished out of the earth, And there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; Every man hunts his brother with a net.

3 Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; And the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.

4 The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, Even your visitation, has come; Now is the time of their confusion.

5 Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, Be careful of the words of your mouth!

6 For the son dishonors the father, The daughter rises up against her mother, The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; A man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

Grace and Salvation Are Ready for Those Who Follow God — Who Fear Him

7 But as for me, I will look to Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

8 Don’t rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, Yahweh will be a light to me.

9 I will bear the indignation of Yahweh, Because I have sinned against him, Until he pleads my case, and executes judgment for me. He will bring me forth to the light. I will see his righteousness.

10 Then my enemy will see it, And shame will cover her who said to me, Where is Yahweh your God? Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.

11 A day to build your walls — In that day, he will extend your boundary.

12 In that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, And from Egypt even to the River, And from sea to sea, And mountain to mountain.

13 Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell therein, For the fruit of their doings.

14 Shepherd your people with your staff, The flock of your heritage, Who dwell by themselves in a forest, In the midst of fertile pasture land, let them feed; In Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

15 „As in the days of your coming forth out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things.“

16 The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf.

17 They will lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their dens. They will come with fear to Yahweh our God, And will be afraid because of you.

18 Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, And passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, Because he delights in lovingkindness.

19 He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; And you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

20 You will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, As you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

The prophet Jonah

Introduction to Jonah Books of the bible

Jonah chapter 1

Jonah’s Reluctance and Disobedience, His Flight from God’s Call

1 Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 „Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.“

3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.

4 But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up.

5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down, and was fast asleep.

6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, „What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your gods! Maybe the gods will notice us, so that we won’t perish.“

7 They all said to each other, „Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is on us.“ So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

8 Then they asked him, „Tell us, please, for whose cause this evil is on us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you?“

9 He said to them, „I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.“

10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said to him, „What is this that you have done?“ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them.

11 Then said they to him, „What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us?“ For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.

12 He said to them, „Take me up, and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this great tempest is on you.“

13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.

14 Therefore they cried to Yahweh, and said, „We beg you, Yahweh, we beg you, let us not perish for this man’s life, and don’t lay on us innocent blood; for you, Yahweh, have done as it pleased you.“

15 So they took up Jonah, and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging.

16 Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows.

Jonah Is Swallowed, His Repentance, Prayer, and Rescue

17 Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah chapter 2

1 Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God, out of the fish’s belly.

2 He said, „I called because of my affliction to Yahweh. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice.

3 For you threw me into the depths, In the heart of the seas. The flood was all around me. All your waves and your billows passed over me.

4 I said, ‚I have been banished from your sight; Yet I will look again toward your holy temple.‘

5 The waters surrounded me, Even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head.

6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever: Yet have you brought up my life from the pit, Yahweh my God.

7 „When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.

8 Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

9 But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh.“

10 Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land.

Jonah chapter 3

From a “human” perspective, Jonah’s repentance is genuine — he physically does God’s will — but in his heart, he sees his worst fear come true

1 The word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time, saying,

2 „Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I give you.“

3 So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days‘ journey across.

4 Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, „Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!“

5 The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

6 The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

7 He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, „Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water;

8 but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.

9 Who knows whether God will not turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?“

10 God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God repented of the evil which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.

Jonah chapter 4

With this, Jonah even accuses God of His mercy — and receives the necessary instruction and rebuke

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

2 He prayed to Yahweh, and said, „Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and you repent of the evil.

3 Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.“

4 Yahweh said, „Is it right for you to be angry?“

5 Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city.

6 Yahweh God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine.

7 But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.

8 It happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, „It is better for me to die than to live.“

9 God said to Jonah, „Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?“ He said, „I am right to be angry, even to death.“

10 Yahweh said, „You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night.

11 Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?“

The prophet Obadiah

Introduction to Obadiah Books of the bible

Obadiah chapter 1

A Prophecy of Judgment Against Arrogant Edom, the Brother Nation of Israel

1 The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord Yahweh says about Edom. We have heard news from Yahweh, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, „Arise, and let’s rise up against her in battle.

2 Behold, I have made you small among the nations. You are greatly despised.

3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, ‚Who will bring me down to the ground?‘

4 Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there, says Yahweh.

5 If thieves came to you, if robbers by night — oh, what disaster awaits you — wouldn’t they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn’t they leave some gleaning grapes?

6 How Esau will be ransacked! How his hidden treasures are sought out!

7 All the men of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you. There is no understanding in him.

8 „Won’t I in that day,“ says Yahweh, „destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mountain of Esau?

9 Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.

The Reason for the Judgment: Cruelty Toward Their Own Kin

10 For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever.

11 In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them.

12 But don’t look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don’t rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don’t speak proudly in the day of distress.

13 Don’t enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Don’t look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither seize their wealth on the day of their calamity.

14 Don’t stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape. Don’t deliver up those of his who remain in the day of distress.

15 For the day of Yahweh is near all the nations! As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head.

16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been.

The Restoration and Triumph of Israel Under the Returned Messiah

17 But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. The house of Jacob will possess their possessions.

18 The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. They will burn among them, and devour them. There will not be any remaining to the house of Esau.“ Indeed, Yahweh has spoken.

19 Those of the South will possess the mountain of Esau, and those of the lowland, the Philistines. They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria. Benjamin will possess Gilead.

20 The captives of this host of the children of Israel, who are among the Canaanites, will possess even to Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the Negev.

21 Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be Yahweh’s.

The prophet Amos

Introduction to Amos Books of the bible

Amos chapter 1

I. Introduction; Announcement of God’s Judgment on the Nations (Chapters 1–2)

Judgment on Israel’s Neighboring Nations

1 The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

2 He said: Yahweh will roar from Zion, And utter his voice from Jerusalem; And the pastures of the shepherds will mourn, And the top of Carmel will.wither.“

3 Thus says Yahweh: „For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron;

4 But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, And it will devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

5 I will break the bar of Damascus, And cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, And him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden; And the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir,“ says Yahweh.

6 Thus says Yahweh: „For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they carried away captive the whole community, To deliver them up to Edom;

7 But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, And it will devour its palaces.

8 I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, And him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; And I will turn my hand against Ekron; And the remnant of the Philistines will perish,“ says the Lord Yahweh.

9 Thus says Yahweh: „For three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they delivered up the whole community to Edom, And didn’t remember the brotherly covenant;

10 But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, And it will devour its palaces.“

11 Thus says Yahweh: „For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because he pursued his brother with the sword, And cast off all pity, And his anger raged continually, And he kept his wrath forever;

12 But I will send a fire on Teman, And it will devour the palaces of Bozrah.“

13 Thus says Yahweh: „For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead, That they may enlarge their border.

14 But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, And it will devour its palaces, With shouting in the day of battle, With a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;

15 And their king will go into captivity, He and his princes together,“ says Yahweh.

Amos chapter 2

1 Thus says Yahweh: „For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime;

2 But I will send a fire on Moab, And it will devour the palaces of Kerioth; And Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet;

3 And I will cut off the judge from their midst, And will kill all its princes with him,“ says Yahweh.

A Just God Must Also Punish the Sins of Judah and Israel

4 Thus says Yahweh: „For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they have rejected the law of Yahweh, And have not kept his statutes, And their lies have led them astray, After which their fathers walked;

5 But I will send a fire on Judah, And it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.“

6 Thus says Yahweh: „For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they have sold the righteous for silver, And the needy for a pair of shoes;

7 They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, And deny justice to the oppressed; And a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;

8 And they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge; And in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, Whose height was like the height of the cedars, And he was strong as the oaks; Yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

10 Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, And led you forty years in the wilderness, To possess the land of the Amorite.

11 I raised up some of your sons for prophets, And some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, You children of Israel?“ says Yahweh.

12 „But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, And commanded the prophets, saying, ‚Don’t prophesy!‘

13 Behold, I will crush you in your place, As a cart crushes that is full of grain.

14 Flight will perish from the swift; And the strong won’t strengthen his force; Neither shall the mighty deliver himself;

15 Neither shall he stand who handles the bow; And he who is swift of foot won’t escape; Neither shall he who rides the horse deliver himself;

16 And he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked in that day,“ says Yahweh.

Amos chapter 3

II. Three Prophecies of Judgment Against Israel Concerning the Necessity of Divine Judgment (Chapters 3–6)

God’s Election Does Not Spare One from Necessary Punishment

1 Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:

2 „You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.“

3 Do two walk together, Unless they have agreed?

4 Will a lion roar in the thicket, When he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den, If he has caught nothing?

5 Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, Where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, When there is nothing to catch?

6 Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, Without the people being afraid? Does evil befall a city, And Yahweh hasn’t done it?

7 Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, Unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.

8 The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord Yahweh has spoken. Who can but prophesy?

9 Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, And in the palaces in the land of Egypt, And say, „Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, And see what unrest is in her, And what oppression is among them.“

10 „Indeed they don’t know to do right,“ says Yahweh, „Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces.“

11 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: „An adversary will overrun the land; And he will pull down your strongholds, And your fortresses will be plundered.“

12 Thus says Yahweh: „As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, Or a piece of an ear, So shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch, And on the silken cushions of a bed.“

13 „Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,“ says the Lord Yahweh, the God of hosts.

14 „For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; And the horns of the altar will be cut off, And fall to the ground.

15 I will strike the winter house with the summer house; And the houses of ivory will perish, And the great houses will have an end,“ says Yahweh.

Amos chapter 4

Despite punishment, Israel refuses to repent and turn to God

1 Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their lords, „Bring, and let us drink.“

2 The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that behold, „The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, And the last of you with fish hooks.

3 You will go out at the breaks in the wall, Everyone straight before her; And you will cast yourselves into Harmon,“ says Yahweh.

4 „Go to Bethel, and sin; To Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, Your tithes every three days,

5 Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, And proclaim free will offerings and brag about them: For this pleases you, you children of Israel,“ says the Lord Yahweh.

6 „I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, And lack of bread in every town; Yet you haven’t returned to me,“ says Yahweh.

7 „I also have withheld the rain from you, When there were yet three months to the harvest; And I caused it to rain on one city, And caused it not to rain on another city. One place was rained on, And the piece where it didn’t rain withered.

8 So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, And were not satisfied: Yet you haven’t returned to me,“ says Yahweh.

9 I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards; And your fig trees and your olive trees have the swarming locust devoured: Yet you haven’t returned to me,“ says Yahweh.

10 I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, And have carried away your horses; And I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp Yet you haven’t returned to me,“ says Yahweh.

11 „I have overthrown some of you, As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, And you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; Yet you haven’t returned to me,“ says Yahweh.

12 „Therefore thus will I do to you, Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, Israel.

13 For, behold, he who forms the mountains, And creates the wind, And declares to man what is his thought; Who makes the morning darkness, And treads on the high places of the Earth: Yahweh, the God of hosts, is his name.“

Amos chapter 5

Amos’s Lament over Israel and Call to Repentance

1 Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.

2 „The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; There is no one to raise her up.“

3 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: „The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, And that which went forth one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.“

4 For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel: „Seek me, and you will live;

5 But don’t seek Bethel, Nor enter into Gilgal, And don’t pass to Beersheba: For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, And Bethel shall come to nothing.

6 Seek Yahweh, and you will live; Lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, And it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.

7 You who turn justice to wormwood, And cast down righteousness to the earth:

8 Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, And turns the shadow of death into the morning, And makes the day dark with night; Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name,

9 Who brings sudden destruction on the strong, So that destruction comes on the fortress.

10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, And they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

11 Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, And take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of hewn stone, But you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, But you shall not drink their wine.

12 For I know how many your offenses, And how great are your sins– You who afflict the just, Who take a bribe, And who turn aside the needy in the courts.

13 Therefore he who is prudent shall keep silence in such a time; For it is an evil time.

14 Seek good, and not evil, That you may live; And so Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be with you, As you say.

15 Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.“

16 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the Lord: „Wailing will be in all the broad ways; And they will say in all the streets, ‚Alas! Alas!‘ And they will call the farmer to mourning, And those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

17 In all vineyards there will be wailing; For I will pass through the midst of you,“ says Yahweh.

The “Day of the LORD” signifies judgment—religious hypocrisy is not service to God

18 „Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why do you long for the day of Yahweh? It is darkness, And not light.

19 As if a man fled from a lion, And a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, And a snake bit him.

20 Will the day of Yahweh not be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?

21 I hate, I despise your feasts, And I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.

22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal-offerings, I will not accept them; Neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 But let justice roll on like rivers, And righteousness like a mighty stream.

25 „Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

26 Yes, you have borne the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,“ says Yahweh, whose name is the God of hosts.

Amos chapter 6

A warning against overconfidence and self-love

1 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, And to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, The notable men of the chief of the nations, To whom the house of Israel come!

2 Go to Calneh, and see; And from there go to Hamath the great; Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms? Or is their border greater than your border?

3 Those who put far away the evil day, And cause the seat of violence to come near;

4 Who lie on beds of ivory, And stretch themselves on their couches, And eat the lambs out of the flock, And the calves out of the midst of the stall;

5 Who strum on the strings of a harp; Who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;

6 Who drink wine in bowls, And anoint themselves with the best oils; But they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

7 Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive; And the feasting and lounging will end.

God detests the pride and arrogance of His people

8 „The Lord Yahweh has sworn by himself,“ says Yahweh, the God of hosts: „I abhor the pride of Jacob, And detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.

9 It will happen, if there remain ten men in one house, That they shall die.

10 „When a man’s relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, ‚Is there yet any with you?‘ And he says, ‚No;‘ then he will say, ‚Hush! Indeed we must not mention the name of Yahweh.‘

11 „For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, And the little house into bits.

12 Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, And the fruit of righteousness into bitterness;

13 You who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, ‚Haven’t we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?‘

14 For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel,“ Says Yahweh, the God of hosts; „And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.“

Amos chapter 7

III. The Five Visions of Amos Concerning the End of God’s Longsuffering and the Coming Judgment (7:1–9:7)

Vision of Three Judgments Against Israel — Locusts, Fire, and Lead — and the Prophet’s Intercession

1 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: and, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s harvest.

2 It happened that, when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, „Lord Yahweh, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.“

3 Yahweh relented concerning this. „It shall not be,“ says Yahweh.

4 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me and, behold, the Lord Yahweh called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land.

5 Then I said, „Lord Yahweh, stop, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.“

6 Yahweh relented concerning this. „This also shall not be,“ says the Lord Yahweh.

7 Thus he showed me and, behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.

8 Yahweh said to me, „Amos, what do you see?“ I said, „A plumb line.“ Then the Lord said, „Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.

9 The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.“

The Prophet’s Expulsion from Bethel by the Priest Amaziah

10 Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-el sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, „Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.

11 For Amos says, ‚Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’“

12 Amaziah also said to Amos, „You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:

13 but don’t prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house!“

14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, „I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore trees;

15 and Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‚Go, prophesy to my people Israel.‘

16 Now therefore listen to the word of Yahweh: ‚You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.‘

17 Therefore thus says Yahweh: ‚Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’“

Amos chapter 8

Fourth vision of a basket of ripe fruit — the end of Israel

1 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.

2 He said, „Amos, what do you see?“ I said, „A basket of summer fruit.“ Then Yahweh said to me, „The end has come on my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.

3 The songs of the temple will be wailings in that day,“ says the Lord Yahweh. „The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.

Threat against the usurious grain merchants — the rich

4 Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, And cause the poor of the land to fail,

5 Saying, ‚When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, Making the ephah small, and the shekel large, And dealing falsely with balances of deceit;

6 That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of shoes, And sell the sweepings with the wheat?’“

7 Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, „Surely I will never forget any of their works.

8 Won’t the land tremble for this, And everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; And it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.

Announcement of divine punishments (solar eclipse, mourning, abandonment by God in extreme distress)

9 „It will happen in that day,“ says the Lord Yahweh, „That I will cause the sun to go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in the clear day.

10 I will turn your feasts into mourning, And all your songs into lamentation; And I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, And baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, And the end of it like a bitter day.

A time will come when people will long in vain for God’s word

11 Behold, the days come,“ says the Lord Yahweh, „That I will send a famine in the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of Yahweh.

12 They will wander from sea to sea, And from the north even to the east; They will run back and forth to seek the word of Yahweh, And will not find it.

13 In that day the beautiful virgins And the young men will faint for thirst.

14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, And say, ‚As your god, Dan, lives;‘ And, ‚As the way of Beersheba lives;‘ They will fall, and never rise up again.“

Amos chapter 9

The Fifth and Final Vision — God Above the Altar; There Is No Escape from His Judgment

1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, „Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.

2 Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.

3 Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.

4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

5 For the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt.

6 It is he who builds his chambers in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; Yahweh is his name.

7 Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?“ says Yahweh. „Haven’t I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

IV. Concluding Address: Inspection of the People; Restoration of the Kingdom of David; the Future Age of Salvation for God’s People

8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,“ says Yahweh.

9 „For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth.

10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, ‚Evil won’t overtake nor meet us.‘

The Coming Restoration of Israel and the Promise That They Will No Longer Have to Endure Exile

11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;

12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name,“ says Yahweh who does this.

13 „Behold, the days come,“ says Yahweh, „That the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the one treading grapes him who sows seed; And sweet wine will drip from the mountains, And flow from the hills.

14 I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, And they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, And eat the fruit of them.

15 I will plant them on their land, And they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,“ says Yahweh your God.