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? 001:006 How Esau will be ransacked! How his hidden treasures are sought out! 001:007 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." 001:008 "Won't I in that day," says Yahweh, "destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mountain of Esau? 001:009 Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter. 001:010 For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever. 001:011 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. 001:012 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. 001:013 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. 001:014 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. 001:015 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. 001:016 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. 001:017 But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. The house of Jacob will possess their possessions. 001:018 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. 001:019 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. 001:020 The captives of this army 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. 001:021 Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be Yahweh's. Book 32 Jonah 001:001 Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 001:002 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me." 001:003 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. 001:004 But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up. 001:005 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. 001:006 So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God{or, gods}! Maybe your God{or, gods} will notice us, so that we won't perish." 001:007 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. 001:008 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?" 001:009 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." 001:010 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. 001:011 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 stormy. 001:012 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 storm is on you." 001:013 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. 001:014 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." 001:015 So they took up Jonah, and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging. 001:016 Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows. 001:017 Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 002:001 Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God, out of the fish's belly. 002:002 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. 002:003 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. 002:004 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.' 002:005 The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head. 002:006 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. 002:007 "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple. 002:008 Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy. 002:009 But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh." 002:010 Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land. 003:001 The word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time, saying, 003:002 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I give you." 003:003 So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey across. 003:004 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!" 003:005 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. 003:006 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. 003:007 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; 003:008 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. 003:009 Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?" 003:010 God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn't do it. 004:001 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 004:002 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 loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm. 004:003 Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live." 004:004 Yahweh said, "Is it right for you to be angry?" 004:005 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. 004:006 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. 004:007 But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered. 004:008 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." 004:009 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." 004:010 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. 004:011 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 livestock?" Book 33 Micah 001:001 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. 001:002 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. 001:003 For, behold, Yahweh comes forth out of his place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. 001:004 The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place. 001:005 "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? 001:006 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. 001:007 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." 001:008 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. 001:009 For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Judah. It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. 001:010 Don't tell it in Gath. Don't weep at all. At Beth Ophrah{Beth Ophrah means literally "House of Dust."} I have rolled myself in the dust. 001:011 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. 001:012 For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from Yahweh to the gate of Jerusalem. 001:013 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. 001:014 Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath. The houses of Achzib will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel. 001:015 I will yet bring to you, inhabitant of Mareshah. He who is the glory of Israel will come to Adullam. 001:016 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! 002:001 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. 002:002 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. 002:003 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. 002:004 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!'" 002:005 Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in the assembly of Yahweh. 002:006 "Don't prophesy!" They prophesy. "Don't prophesy about these things. Disgrace won't overtake us." 002:007 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?" 002:008 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. 002:009 You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you take away my blessing forever. 002:010 Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction. 002:011 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. 002:012 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 swarm with people. 002:013 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. 003:001 I said, "Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn't it for you to know justice? 003:002 You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones; 003:003 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. 003:004 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." 003:005 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: 003:006 "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. 003:007 The seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God." 003:008 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. 003:009 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. 003:010 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 003:011 Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, "Isn't Yahweh in the midst of us? No disaster will come on us." 003:012 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. 004:001 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. 004:002 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; 004:003 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. 004:004 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 Armies has spoken. 004:005 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. 004:006 "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; 004:007 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." 004:008 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. 004:009 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? 004:010 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. 004:011 Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, "Let her be defiled, and let our eye gloat over Zion." 004:012 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. 004:013 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. 005:001 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. 005:002 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. 005:003 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. 005:004 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. 005:005 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. 005:006 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. 005:007 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. 005:008 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. 005:009 Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off. 005:010 "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. 005:011 I will cut off the cities of your land, and will tear down all your strongholds. 005:012 I will destroy witchcraft from your hand; and you shall have no soothsayers. 005:013 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. 005:014 I will uproot your Asherim out of your midst; and I will destroy your cities. 005:015 I will execute vengeance in anger, and wrath on the nations that didn't listen." 006:001 Listen now to what Yahweh says: "Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say. 006:002 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. 006:003 My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! 006:004 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. 006:005 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." 006:006 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? 006:007 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? 006:008 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? 006:009 Yahweh's voice calls to the city, and wisdom sees your name: "Listen to the rod, and he who appointed it. 006:010 Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short ephah{An ephah is a measure of volume, and a short ephah is made smaller than a full ephah for the purpose of cheating customers.} that is accursed? 006:011 Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, and with a bag of deceitful weights? 006:012 Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their speech. 006:013 Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins. 006:014 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. 006:015 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. 006:016 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." 007:001 Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig. 007:002 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. 007:003 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. 007:004 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. 007:005 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! 007:006 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. 007:007 But as for me, I will look to Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. 007:008 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. 007:009 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. 007:010 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. 007:011 A day to build your walls—In that day, he will extend your boundary. 007:012 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. 007:013 Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. 007:014 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. 007:015 "As in the days of your coming forth out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things." 007:016 The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf. 007:017 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. 007:018 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 loving kindness. 007:019 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. 007:020 You will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. Book 34 Nahum 001:001 An oracle about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 001:002 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. 001:003 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. 001:004 He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes. 001:005 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. 001:006 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. 001:007 Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him. 001:008 But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. 001:009 What do you plot against Yahweh? He will make a full end. Affliction won't rise up the second time. 001:010 For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble. 001:011 There is one gone forth out of you, who devises evil against Yahweh, who counsels wickedness. 001:012 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. 001:013 Now will I break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds apart." 001:014 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." 001:015 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. 002:001 He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your waist! Fortify your power mightily! 002:002 For Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches. 002:003 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. 002:004 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. 002:005 He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place. 002:006 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. 002:007 It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts. 002:008 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. 002:009 Take the spoil of silver. Take the spoil of gold, for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture. 002:010 She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale. 002:011 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? 002:012 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. 002:013 "Behold, I am against you," says Yahweh of Armies, "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." 003:001 Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. The prey doesn't depart. 003:002 The noise of the whip, the noise of the rattling of wheels, prancing horses, and bounding chariots, 003:003 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, 003:004 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. 003:005 "Behold, I am against you," says Yahweh of Armies, "and I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame. 003:006 I will throw abominable filth on you, and make you vile, and will set you a spectacle. 003:007 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?" 003:008 Are you better than No-Amon,{or, Thebes} who was situated among the rivers, who had the waters around her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea? 003:009 Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength. Put and Libya were her helpers. 003:010 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. 003:011 You also will be drunken. You will be hidden. You also will seek a stronghold because of the enemy. 003:012 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. 003:013 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. 003:014 Draw water for the siege. Strengthen your fortresses. Go into the clay, and tread the mortar. Make the brick kiln strong. 003:015 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. 003:016 You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips, and flees away. 003:017 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. 003:018 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. 003:019 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? Book 35 Habakkuk 001:001 The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw. 001:002 Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you "Violence!" and will you not save? 001:003 Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up. 001:004 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted. 001:005 "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. 001:006 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. 001:007 They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. 001:008 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. 001:009 All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand. 001:010 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. 001:011 Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god." 001:012 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. 001:013 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, 001:014 and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? 001:015 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. 001:016 Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good. 001:017 Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy? 002:001 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. 002:002 Yahweh answered me, "Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. 002:003 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. 002:004 Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith. 002:005 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. 002:006 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?' 002:007 Won't your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim? 002:008 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. 002:009 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! 002:010 You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul. 002:011 For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it. 002:012 Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity! 002:013 Behold, isn't it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? 002:014 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea. 002:015 "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! 002:016 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. 002:017 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. 002:018 "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? 002:019 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. 002:020 But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!" 003:001 A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music. 003:002 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. 003:003 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth. 003:004 His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden. 003:005 Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet. 003:006 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. 003:007 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled. 003:008 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? 003:009 You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers. 003:010 The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high. 003:011 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. 003:012 You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger. 003:013 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. 003:014 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. 003:015 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters. 003:016 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. 003:017 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: 003:018 yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! 003:019 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. Book 36 Zephaniah 001:001 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. 001:002 I will utterly sweep away everything off of the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. 001:003 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. 001:004 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, 001:005 those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam, 001:006 those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven't sought Yahweh nor inquired after him. 001:007 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. 001:008 It will happen in the day of Yahweh's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, the king's sons, and all those who are clothed with foreign clothing. 001:009 In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master's house with violence and deceit. 001:010 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. 001:011 Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone! All those who were loaded with silver are cut off. 001:012 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." 001:013 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. 001:014 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. 001:015 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, 001:016 a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements. 001:017 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. 001:018 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. 002:001 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, you nation that has no shame, 002:002 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. 002:003 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. 002:004 For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up. 002:005 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. 002:006 The sea coast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks. 002:007 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. 002:008 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. 002:009 Therefore as I live, says Yahweh of Armies, 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. 002:010 This they will have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Yahweh of Armies. 002:011 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. 002:012 You Cushites also, you will be killed by my sword. 002:013 He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like the wilderness. 002:014 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. 002:015 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. 003:001 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city! 003:002 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. 003:003 Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day. 003:004 Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law. 003:005 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. 003:006 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. 003:007 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. 003:008 "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. 003:009 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. 003:010 From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, even the daughter of my dispersed people, will bring my offering. 003:011 In that day you will not be disappointed 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. 003:012 But I will leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they will take refuge in the name of Yahweh. 003:013 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." 003:014 Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. 003:015 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. 003:016 In that day, it will be said to Jerusalem, "Don't be afraid, Zion. Don't let your hands be slack." 003:017 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. 003:018 Those who are sad for the appointed feasts, I will remove from you. They are a burden and a reproach to you. 003:019 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. 003:020 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. Book 37 Haggai 001:001 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, 001:002 "This is what Yahweh of Armies says: These people say, 'The time hasn't yet come, the time for Yahweh's house to be built.'" 001:003 Then the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai, the prophet, saying, 001:004 "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste? 001:005 Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says: Consider your ways. 001:006 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." 001:007 This is what Yahweh of Armies says: "Consider your ways. 001:008 Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified," says Yahweh. 001:009 "You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" says Yahweh of Armies, "Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house. 001:010 Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. 001:011 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 livestock, and on all the labor of the hands." 001:012 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. 001:013 Then Haggai, Yahweh's messenger, spoke in Yahweh's message to the people, saying, "I am with you," says Yahweh. 001:014 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 Armies, their God, 001:015 in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. 002:001 In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month, the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 002:002 "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, 002:003 '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? 002:004 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 Armies. 002:005 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.' 002:006 For this is what Yahweh of Armies says: 'Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land; 002:007 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 Armies. 002:008 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,' says Yahweh of Armies. 002:009 'The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,' says Yahweh of Armies; 'and in this place will I give peace,' says Yahweh of Armies." 002:010 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, 002:011 "Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, 002:012 '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." 002:013 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." 002:014 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. 002:015 Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in the temple of Yahweh. 002:016 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. 002:017 I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn't turn to me,' says Yahweh. 002:018 '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. 002:019 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.'" 002:020 The Word of Yahweh came the second time to Haggai in the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, 002:021 "Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, 'I will shake the heavens and the earth. 002:022 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. 002:023 In that day, says Yahweh of Armies, 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 Armies." Book 38 Zechariah 001:001 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, 001:002 "Yahweh was very displeased with your fathers. 001:003 Therefore tell them: Thus says Yahweh of Armies: 'Return to me,' says Yahweh of Armies, 'and I will return to you,' says Yahweh of Armies. 001:004 Don't you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Thus says Yahweh of Armies, 'Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;' but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh. 001:005 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 001:006 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 Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.'" 001:007 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, 001:008 "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. 001:009 Then I asked, 'My lord, what are these?'" The angel who talked with me said to me, "I will show you what these are." 001:010 The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, "They are the ones Yahweh has sent to go back and forth through the earth." 001:011 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." 001:012 Then the angel of Yahweh replied, "O Yahweh of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?" 001:013 Yahweh answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words. 001:014 So the angel who talked with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. 001:015 I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity." 001:016 Therefore thus says Yahweh: "I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it," says Yahweh of Armies, "and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem."' 001:017 "Proclaim further, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem."'" 001:018 I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns. 001:019 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." 001:020 Yahweh showed me four craftsmen. 001:021 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." 002:001 I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. 002:002 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." 002:003 Behold, the angel who talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, 002:004 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 livestock in it. 002:005 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. 002:006 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. 002:007 'Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.' 002:008 For thus says Yahweh of Armies: 'For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. 002:009 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 Armies has sent me. 002:010 Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you,' says Yahweh. 002:011 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 Armies has sent me to you. 002:012 Yahweh will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem. 002:013 Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!" 003:001 He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Yahweh, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. 003:002 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?" 003:003 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel. 003:004 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." 003:005 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. 003:006 The angel of Yahweh protested to Joshua, saying, 003:007 "Thus says Yahweh of Armies: '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. 003:008 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. 003:009 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 Armies, 'and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 003:010 In that day,' says Yahweh of Armies, 'you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.'" 004:001 The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. 004:002 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; 004:003 and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side of it." 004:004 I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, "What are these, my lord?" 004:005 Then the angel who talked with me answered me, "Don't you know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." 004:006 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 Armies. 004:007 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!'" 004:008 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 004:009 "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. 004:010 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." 004:011 Then I asked him, "What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on the left side of it?" 004:012 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?" 004:013 He answered me, "Don't you know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." 004:014 Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth." 005:001 Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. 005:002 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." 005:003 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. 005:004 I will cause it to go out," says Yahweh of Armies, "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." 005:005 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." 005:006 I said, "What is it?" He said, "This is the ephah{ An ephah is a measure of volume of about 22 litres, 5.8 U. S. gallons, 4.8 imperial gallons, or a bit more than half a bushel. } basket that is appearing." He said moreover, "This is their appearance in all the land 005:007 (and behold, a talent{A talent is a weight of about 34 kilograms or 75 pounds.} of lead was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah basket." 005:008 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. 005:009 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. 005:010 Then said I to the angel who talked with me, "Where are these carrying the ephah basket?" 005:011 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." 006:001 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. 006:002 In the first chariot were red horses; in the second chariot black horses; 006:003 in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot dappled horses, all of them powerful. 006:004 Then I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" 006:005 The angel answered me, "These are the four winds of the sky, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. 006:006 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." 006:007 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. 006:008 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." 006:009 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 006:010 "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. 006:011 Yes, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest; 006:012 and speak to him, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of Armies, "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; 006:013 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. 006:014 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. 006:015 Those who are far off shall come and build in the temple of Yahweh; and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen, if you will diligently obey the voice of Yahweh your God."'" 007:001 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. 007:002 The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech, and their men, to entreat Yahweh's favor, 007:003 and to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of Armies, and to the prophets, saying, "Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?" 007:004 Then the word of Yahweh of Armies came to me, saying, 007:005 "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? 007:006 When you eat, and when you drink, don't you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? 007:007 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?'" 007:008 The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying, 007:009 "Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, 'Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. 007:010 Don't oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.' 007:011 But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. 007:012 Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies. 007:013 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 Armies; 007:014 "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." 008:001 The word of Yahweh of Armies came to me. 008:002 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath." 008:003 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 Armies, 'The Holy Mountain.'" 008:004 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age. 008:005 The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets." 008:006 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "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 Armies. 008:007 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; 008:008 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." 008:009 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "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 Armies was laid, even the temple, that it might be built. 008:010 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. 008:011 But now I will not be to the remnant of this people as in the former days," says Yahweh of Armies. 008:012 "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. 008:013 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." 008:014 For thus says Yahweh of Armies: "As I thought to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath," says Yahweh of Armies, "and I didn't repent; 008:015 so again have I thought in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Don't be afraid. 008:016 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, 008:017 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. 008:018 The word of Yahweh of Armies came to me. 008:019 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "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." 008:020 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "Many peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come; 008:021 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 Armies. I will go also.' 008:022 Yes, many peoples and strong nations will come to seek Yahweh of Armies in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Yahweh." 008:023 Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "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.'" 009:001 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; 009:002 and Hamath, also, which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise. 009:003 Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver like the dust, and fine gold like the mire of the streets. 009:004 Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will strike her power in the sea; and she will be devoured with fire. 009:005 Ashkelon will see it, and fear; Gaza also, and will writhe in agony; as will Ekron, for her expectation will be disappointed; and the king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited. 009:006 Foreigners will dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. 009:007 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. 009:008 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. 009:009 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. 009:010 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. 009:011 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. 009:012 Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you. 009:013 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. 009:014 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. 009:015 Yahweh of Armies 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. 009:016 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. 009:017 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins. 010:001 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. 010:002 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. 010:003 My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats; For Yahweh of Armies has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his majestic horse in the battle. 010:004 From him will come forth the cornerstone, from him the nail, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together. 010:005 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. 010:006 "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. 010:007 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. 010:008 I will signal for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; and they will increase as they have increased. 010:009 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. 010:010 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. 010:011 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. 010:012 I will strengthen them in Yahweh; and they will walk up and down in his name," says Yahweh. 011:001 Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars. 011:002 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. 011:003 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. 011:004 Thus says Yahweh my God: "Feed the flock of slaughter. 011:005 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. 011:006 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." 011:007 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. 011:008 I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me. 011:009 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." 011:010 I took my staff Favor, and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 011:011 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. 011:012 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. 011:013 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. 011:014 Then I cut apart my other staff, even Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. 011:015 Yahweh said to me, "Take for yourself yet again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 011:016 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. 011:017 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!" 012:001 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: 012:002 "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. 012:003 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. 012:004 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. 012:005 The chieftains of Judah will say in their heart, 'The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Yahweh of Armies their God.' 012:006 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. 012:007 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. 012:008 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. 012:009 It will happen in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 012:010 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{After "me," the Hebrew has the two letters "Aleph Tav" (the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet), not as a word, but as a grammatical marker.} 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. 012:011 In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 012:012 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; 012:013 the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; 012:014 all the families who remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. 013:001 "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. 013:002 It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will also cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land. 013:003 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. 013:004 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: 013:005 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.' 013:006 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.' 013:007 "Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me," says Yahweh of Armies. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones. 013:008 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. 013:009 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.'" 014:001 Behold, a day of Yahweh comes, when your spoil will be divided in your midst. 014:002 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. 014:003 Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 014:004 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. 014:005 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. 014:006 It will happen in that day, that there will not be light, cold, or frost. 014:007 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. 014:008 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. 014:009 Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one. 014:010 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 winepresses. 014:011 Men will dwell therein, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely. 014:012 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. 014:013 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. 014:014 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. 014:015 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. 014:016 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 Armies, and to keep the feast of tents. 014:017 It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn't go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain. 014:018 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. 014:019 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. 014:020 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. 014:021 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Armies; 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 Armies. Book 39 Malachi 001:001 An oracle: the word of Yahweh to Israel by Malachi. 001:002 "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; 001:003 but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness." 001:004 Whereas Edom says, "We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places;" thus says Yahweh of Armies, "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." 001:005 Your eyes will see, and you will say, "Yahweh is great— even beyond the border of Israel!" 001:006 "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 Armies to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, 'How have we despised your name?' 001:007 You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, 'How have we polluted you?' In that you say, 'Yahweh's table contemptible.' 001:008 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 Armies. 001:009 "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 Armies. 001:010 "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 Armies, "neither will I accept an offering at your hand. 001:011 For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is 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 Armies. 001:012 "But you profane it, in that you say, 'Yahweh's table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.' 001:013 You say also, 'Behold, what a weariness it is!' and you have sniffed at it," says Yahweh of Armies; "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. 001:014 "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 Armies, "and my name is awesome among the nations." 002:001 "Now, you priests, this commandment is for you. 002:002 If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name," says Yahweh of Armies, "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. 002:003 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. 002:004 You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi," says Yahweh of Armies. 002:005 "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. 002:006 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. 002:007 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 Armies. 002:008 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 Armies. 002:009 "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. 002:010 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? 002:011 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. 002:012 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 Armies. 002:013 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. 002:014 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. 002:015 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. 002:016 For I hate divorce," says Yahweh, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with violence!" says Yahweh of Armies. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you don't deal treacherously. 002:017 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?' 003:001 "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 Armies. 003:002 "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; 003:003 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. 003:004 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. 003:005 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 Armies. 003:006 "For I, Yahweh, don't change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed. 003:007 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 Armies. "But you say, 'How shall we return?' 003:008 Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In tithes and offerings. 003:009 You are cursed with the curse; for you rob me, even this whole nation. 003:010 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this," says Yahweh of Armies, "if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for. 003:011 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 Armies. 003:012 "All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land," says Yahweh of Armies. 003:013 "Your words have been stout against me," says Yahweh. "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against you?' 003:014 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 Armies? 003:015 Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.' 003:016 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. 003:017 They shall be mine," says Yahweh of Armies, "my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him. 003:018 Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn't serve him. 004:001 "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 Armies, "that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 004:002 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. 004:003 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 Armies. 004:004 "Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances. 004:005 Behold, I will send you Elijah the