Hear, heavens,

and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken:

“I have nourished and brought up children,

and they have rebelled against me.

The ox knows his owner,

and the donkey his master’s crib;

but Israel doesn’t know,

my people don’t consider.”

Ah sinful nation,

a people loaded with iniquity,

a seed of evildoers,

children who deal corruptly!

They have forsaken Yahweh.

They have despised the Holy One of Israel.

They are estranged and backward.

Why should you be beaten more,

that you revolt more and more?

The whole head is sick,

and the whole heart faint.

From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it:

wounds, welts, and open sores.

They haven’t been closed, neither bandaged, neither soothed with oil.

Your country is desolate.

Your cities are burned with fire.

Strangers devour your land in your presence,

and it is desolate,

as overthrown by strangers.

The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard,

like a hut in a field of melons,

like a besieged city.

Unless Yahweh of Armies had left to us a very small remnant,

we would have been as Sodom;

we would have been like Gomorrah.

Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom!

Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?,” says Yahweh.

“I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams,

and the fat of fed animals.

I don’t delight in the blood of bulls,

or of lambs,

or of male goats.

When you come to appear before me,

who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?

Bring no more vain offerings.

Incense is an abomination to me;

new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations:

I can’t bear with evil assemblies.

My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts.

They are a burden to me.

I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.

Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear.

Your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves, make yourself clean.

Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes.

Cease to do evil.

Learn to do well.

Seek justice.

Relieve the oppressed.

Judge the fatherless.

Plead for the widow.”

 

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says Yahweh:

“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

If you are willing and obedient,

you shall eat the good of the land;

but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword;

for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”

 

How the faithful city has become a prostitute!

She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her,

but now murderers.

Your silver has become dross,

your wine mixed with water.

Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves.

Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards.

They don’t judge the fatherless,

neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies,

the Mighty One of Israel, says:

“Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries,

and avenge myself of my enemies;

and I will turn my hand on you,

thoroughly purge away your dross,

and will take away all your tin.

I will restore your judges as at the first,

and your counselors as at the beginning.

Afterward you shall be called ‘The city of righteousness,

a faithful town.’

Zion shall be redeemed with justice,

and her converts with righteousness.

But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together,

and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed.

For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired,

and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.

For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades,

and as a garden that has no water.

The strong will be like tinder,

and his work like a spark.

They will both burn together,

and no one will quench them.”

1:10 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “Elohim.”

1:24 The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”

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It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains,

and shall be raised above the hills;

and all nations shall flow to it.

Many peoples shall go and say,

“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh,

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 the law shall go forth,

and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

He will judge between the nations,

and will decide concerning many peoples;

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more.

 

House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of Yahweh.

For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob,

because they are filled from the east,

with those who practice divination like the Philistines,

and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners.

Their land is full of silver and gold,

neither is there any end of their treasures.

Their land also is full of horses,

neither is there any end of their chariots.

Their land also is full of idols.

They worship the work of their own hands,

that which their own fingers have made.

Man is brought low,

and mankind is humbled;

therefore don’t forgive them.

Enter into the rock,

and hide in the dust,

from before the terror of Yahweh,

and from the glory of his majesty.

The lofty looks of man will be brought low,

the haughtiness of men will be bowed down,

and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.

For there will be a day of Yahweh of Armies for all that is proud and haughty,

and for all that is lifted up;

and it shall be brought low:

For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up,

for all the oaks of Bashan,

For all the high mountains,

for all the hills that are lifted up,

For every lofty tower,

for every fortified wall,

For all the ships of Tarshish,

and for all pleasant imagery.

The loftiness of man shall be bowed down,

and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low;

and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.

The idols shall utterly pass away.

Men shall go into the caves of the rocks,

and into the holes of the earth,

from before the terror of Yahweh,

and from the glory of his majesty,

when he arises to shake the earth mightily.

In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver,

and their idols of gold,

which have been made for themselves to worship,

to the moles and to the bats;

To go into the caverns of the rocks,

and into the clefts of the ragged rocks,

from before the terror of Yahweh,

and from the glory of his majesty,

when he arises to shake the earth mightily.

Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils;

for of what account is he?

 

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For, behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support,

the whole supply of bread,

and the whole supply of water;

the mighty man,

the man of war,

the judge,

the prophet,

the diviner,

the elder,

the captain of fifty,

the honorable man,

the counselor,

the skilled craftsman,

and the clever enchanter.

I will give boys to be their princes,

and children shall rule over them.

The people will be oppressed,

everyone by another,

and everyone by his neighbor.

The child will behave himself proudly against the old man,

and the base against the honorable.

Indeed a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying,

“You have clothing, you be our ruler,

and let this ruin be under your hand.”

In that day he will cry out, saying, “I will not be a healer;

for in my house is neither bread nor clothing.

You shall not make me ruler of the people.”

For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen;

because their tongue and their doings are against Yahweh,

to provoke the eyes of his glory.

The look of their faces testify against them.

They parade their sin like Sodom.

They don’t hide it.

Woe to their soul!

For they have brought disaster upon themselves.

Tell the righteous “Good!”

For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

Woe to the wicked!

Disaster is upon them;

for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.

As for my people, children are their oppressors,

and women rule over them.

My people, those who lead you cause you to err,

and destroy the way of your paths.

Yahweh stands up to contend,

and stands to judge the peoples.

Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people,

and their leaders:

“It is you who have eaten up the vineyard.

The spoil of the poor is in your houses.

What do you mean that you crush my people,

and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

Moreover Yahweh said, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,

and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes,

walking to trip as they go,

jingling ornaments on their feet;

therefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion,

and Yahweh will make their scalps bald.”

In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, the headbands, the crescent necklaces, the earrings, the bracelets, the veils, the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume bottles, the charms, the signet rings, the nose rings, the fine robes, the capes, the cloaks, the purses, the hand mirrors, the fine linen garments, the tiaras, and the shawls.

It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness;

instead of a belt, a rope;

instead of well set hair, baldness;

instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth;

and branding instead of beauty.

Your men shall fall by the sword,

and your mighty in the war.

Her gates shall lament and mourn;

and she shall be desolate and sit on the ground.

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In that day, Yahweh’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel. It will happen, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem; when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from its midst, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning. Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain.

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5:10 1 bath is about 22 litres or 5.8 U. S. gallons

5:10 1 homer is about 220 litres or 6 bushels

5:10 1 ephah is about 22 litres or 0.6 bushels or about 2 pecks)—only one tenth of what was sown.

5:14 Sheol is the place of the dead.

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