Chapter 2

1 Come together and hold assembly,

O shameless nation,

2 before you are driven away

like the drifting chaff,*

before there comes upon you

the fierce anger of the Lord,

before there comes upon you

the day of the wrath of the Lord.

3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,

who do his commands;

seek righteousness, seek humility;

perhaps you may be hidden

on the day of the wrath of the Lord.

4 For Gaza shall be deserted,

and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;

Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon,

and Ekron shall be uprooted.

5 Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast,

you nation of the Cherethites!

The word of the Lord is against you,

O Canaan, land of the Philistines;

and I will destroy you till no inhabitant is left.

6 And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures,

meadows for shepherds

and folds for flocks.

7 The seacoast shall become the possession

of the remnant of the house of Judah,

on which they shall pasture,

and in the houses of Ashkelon

they shall lie down at evening.

For the Lord their God will be mindful of them

and restore their fortunes.

8 “I have heard the taunts of Moab

and the revilings of the Ammonites,

how they have taunted my people

and made boasts against their territory.

9 Therefore, as I live,” says the Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel,

“Moab shall become like Sodom,

and the Ammonites like Gomorrah,

a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,

and a waste for ever.

The remnant of my people shall plunder them,

and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”

10 This shall be their lot in return for their pride,

because they scoffed and boasted

against the people of the Lord of hosts.

11 The Lord will be terrible against them;

yea, he will famish all the gods of the earth,

and to him shall bow down,

each in its place,

all the lands of the nations.

12 You also, O Ethiopians,

shall be slain by my sword.

13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north,

and destroy Assyria;

and he will make Nineveh a desolation,

a dry waste like the desert.

14 Herds shall lie down in the midst of her,

all the beasts of the field;d

the vulturee and the hedgehog

shall lodge in her capitals;

the owlf shall hoot in the window,

the raveng croak on the threshold;

for her cedar work will be laid bare.

15 This is the exultant city

that dwelt secure,

that said to herself,

“I am and there is none else.”

What a desolation she has become,

a lair for wild beasts!

Every one who passes by her

hisses and shakes his fist.

Chapter 3

1 Woe to her that is rebellious and defiled,

the oppressing city!

2 She listens to no voice,

she accepts no correction.

She does not trust in the Lord,

she does not draw near to her God.

3 Her officials within her

are roaring lions;

her judges are evening wolves

that leave nothing till the morning.

4 Her prophets are wanton,

faithless men;

her priests profane what is sacred,

they do violence to the law.

5 The Lord within her is righteous,

he does no wrong;

every morning he shows forth his justice,

each dawn he does not fail;

but the unjust knows no shame.

6 “I have cut off nations;

their battlements are in ruins;

I have laid waste their streets

so that none walks in them;

their cities have been made desolate,

without a man, without an inhabitant.

7 I said, ‘Surely she will fear me,

she will accept correction;

she will not lose sight*

of all that I have enjoined upon her.’

But all the more they were eager

to make all their deeds corrupt.”

8 “Therefore wait for me,” says the Lord,

“for the day when I arise as a witness.

For my decision is to gather nations,

to assemble kingdoms,

to pour out upon them my indignation,

all the heat of my anger;

for in the fire of my jealous wrath

all the earth shall be consumed.

9 “Yea, at that time I will change the speech of the peoples

to a pure speech,

that all of them may call on the name of the Lord

and serve him with one accord.

10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia

my suppliants, the daughter of my dispersed ones,

shall bring my offering.

11 “On that day you shall not be put to shame

because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me;

for then I will remove from your midst

your proudly exultant ones,

and you shall no longer be haughty

in my holy mountain.

12 For I will leave in the midst of you

a people humble and lowly.

They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord,

13 those who are left in Israel;

they shall do no wrong

and utter no lies,

nor shall there be found in their mouth

a deceitful tongue.

For they shall pasture and lie down,

and none shall make them afraid.”

14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;

shout, O Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,

O daughter of Jerusalem!

15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you,

he has cast out your enemies.

The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;

you shall fear evil no more.

16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:

“Do not fear, O Zion;

let not your hands grow weak.

17 The Lord, your God, is in your midst,

a warrior who gives victory;

he will rejoice over you with gladness,

he will renew youi in his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing

18 as on a day of festival.j

“I will remove disasterk from you,

so that you will not bear reproach for it.

19 Behold, at that time I will deal

with all your oppressors.

And I will save the lame

and gather the outcast,

and I will change their shame into praise

and renown in all the earth.

20 At that time I will bring you home,

at the time when I gather you together;

yea, I will make you renowned and praised

among all the peoples of the earth,

when I restore your fortunes

before your eyes,” says the Lord.

The Book of

Haggai

Chapter 1

1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of She-alti-el, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: This people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes.

7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may appear in my glory, says the Lord. 9 You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while you busy yourselves each with his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And I have called for a drought upon the land and the hills, upon the grain, the new wine, the oil, upon what the ground brings forth, upon men and cattle, and upon all their labors.”

12 Then Zerubbabel the son of She-alti-el, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people feared before the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, says the Lord.” 14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of She-alti-el, 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 the Lord of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month.

In the second year of Darius the king,