THE EARTH JUDGED

24 Look, the Lord is stripping the earth bare

and making it desolate.

He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:

2 people and priest alike,

servant and master,

female servant and mistress,

buyer and seller,

lender and borrower,

creditor and debtor.

3 The earth will be stripped completely bare

and will be totally plundered,

for the Lord has spoken this message.c

4 The earth mourns and withers;

the world wastes away and withers;

the exalted people of the earth waste away.

5 The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,d

for they have transgressed teachings,

overstepped decrees,

and broken the permanent covenant.e

6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,f

and its inhabitants have become guilty;

the earth’s inhabitants have been burned,

and only a few survive.

7 The new wine mourns;g

the vine withers.

All the carousers now groan.

8 The joyful tambourinesh have ceased.

The noise of the jubilant has stopped.

The joyful lyre has ceased.

9 They no longer sing and drink wine;

beer is bitter to those who drink it.

10 The city of chaos is shattered;i

every house is closed to entry.j

11 In the streets they cryA for wine.

All joy grows dark;

earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.

12 Only desolation remains in the city;

its gate has collapsed in ruins.

13 For this is how it will be on earth

among the nations:

like a harvested olive tree,

like a gleaning after a grape harvest.k

14 They raise their voices, they sing out;

they proclaim in the west

the majesty of the Lord.

15 Therefore, in the east honor the Lord!

In the coasts and islands of the west

honor the name of the Lord,

the God of Israel.

16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs:

The Splendor of the Righteous One.l

But I said, “I waste away! I waste away!A

Woe is me.”

The treacherous act treacherously;

the treacherous deal very treacherously.m

17 Panic, pit, and trap await youn

who dwell on the earth.o

18 Whoever flees at the sound of panic

will fall into a pit,

and whoever escapes from the pit

will be caught in a trap.

For the floodgates on high are opened,a

and the foundations of the earth are shaken.b

19 The earth is completely devastated;

the earth is split open;

the earth is violently shaken.

20 The earth staggers like a drunkardc

and sways like a hut.

Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,

and it falls, never to rise again.

21 On that dayd the Lord will punish

the army of the heights in the heights

and the kings of the ground on the ground.

22 They will be gathered together

like prisoners in a pit.e

They will be confined to a dungeon;f

after many days they will be punished.

23 The moon will be put to shame

and the sun disgraced,

because the Lord of Armies will reign as king

on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,

and he will display his glory

in the presence of his elders.g

SALVATION AND JUDGMENT ON THAT DAY

25 Lord, you are my God;h

I will exalt you. I will praise your name,

for you have accomplished wonders,

plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

2 For you have turned the city into a pile of rocks,i

a fortified city, into ruins;

the fortress of barbariansj is no longer a city;

it will never be rebuilt.

3 Therefore, a strong people will honor you.

The cities of violent nations will fear you.

4 For you have been a stronghold for the poor person,

a stronghold for the needyk in his distress,

a refuge from storms and a shade from heat.l

When the breath of the violent

is like a storm against a wall,

5 like heat in a dry land,

you will subdue the uproar of barbarians.

As the shade of a cloud cools the heat of the day,

so he will silence the song of the violent.

6 On this mountain,A,m

the Lord of Armies will prepare for all the peoples a feast of choice meat,n

a feast with aged wine, prime cuts of choice meat,B fine vintage wine.

7 On this mountain

he will swallow up the burial shroud,

the shroud over all the peoples,

the sheet covering all the nations.o

8 When he has swallowed up death once and for all,p

the Lord God will wipe away the tears

from every faceq

and remove his people’s disgracer

from the whole earth,

for the Lord has spoken.

9 On that day it will be said,

“Look, this is our God;

we have waited for him, and he has saved us.

This is the Lord; we have waited for him.

Let’s rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”s

10 For the Lord’s power will rest on this mountain.

But Moabt will be trampled in his placeC

as straw is trampled in a dung pile.

11 He will spread out his arms in the middle of it,

as a swimmer spreads out his arms to swim.

His pride will be brought low,

along with the trickery of his hands.u

12 The high-walled fortress will be brought down,

thrown to the ground, to the dust.v

THE SONG OF JUDAH

26 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city.

Salvation is established as walls and ramparts.w

2 Open the gates

so a righteous nation can come in—

one that remains faithful.

3 You will keep the mind that is dependent on you

in perfect peace,a

for it is trusting in you.

4 Trust in the Lord forever,

because in the Lord, the Lord himself, is an everlasting rock!b

5 For he has humbled those who live in lofty places—

an inaccessible city.c

He brings it down; he brings it down to the ground;

he throws it to the dust.

6 Feet trample it,

the feet of the humble,

the steps of the poor.

GOD’S PEOPLE VINDICATED

7 The path of the righteous is level;d

you clear a straight path for the righteous.

8 Yes, Lord, we wait for you

in the path of your judgments.

Our desire is for your name and renown.e

9 I long for you in the night;f

yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks you,

for when your judgments are in the land,

the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

10 But if the wicked man is shown favor,

he does not learn righteousness.

In a righteous land he acts unjustly

and does not see the majesty of the Lord.

11 Lord, your hand is lifted up to take action,

but they do not see it.

Let them see your zeal for your people

and be put to shame.

Let fire consume your adversaries.

12 Lord, you will establish peace for us,

for you have also done all our work for us.

13 Lord our God, lords other than you have ownedA us,

but we remember your name alone.g

14 The dead do not live;

departed spirits do not rise up.

Indeed, you have punished and destroyed them;

you have wiped out all memory of them.h

15 You have added to the nation, Lord.i

You have added to the nation; you are honored.

You have expanded all the borders of the land.j

16 Lord, they went to you in their distress;k

they poured out whispered prayers

because your discipline fell on them.B

17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth

writhes and cries out in her pains,l

so we were before you, Lord.

18 We became pregnant, we writhed in pain;

we gave birth to wind.

We have won no victories on earth,

and the earth’s inhabitants have not fallen.

19 Your dead will live; their bodiesC will rise.m

Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!

For you will be covered with the morning dew,D

and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.

20 Go, my people, enter your rooms

and close your doors behind you.

Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed.n

21 For look, the Lord is coming from his placeo

to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.p

The earth will reveal the blood shed on it

and will no longer conceal her slain.

LEVIATHAN SLAIN

27 On that day the Lord with his relentless, large, strong sword will bring judgment on Leviathan,q the fleeing serpent—Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the monster that is in the sea.r

THE LORD’S VINEYARD

2 On that day

sing about a desirable vineyard:a

3 I am the Lord, who watches over it

to water it regularly.

So that no one disturbs it,

I watch over it night and day.

4 I am not angry.

If only there were thorns and briersb for me to battle,

I would trample them

and burn them to the ground.

5 Or let it take hold of my strength;

let it make peace with me—

make peace with me.

6 In days to come, Jacob will take root.c

Israel will blossom and bloomd

and fill the whole world with fruit.

7 Did the Lord strike Israel

as he struck the one who struck Israel?e

Was Israel killed like those killed by the Lord?

8 You disputed with Israel

by banishing and driving her away.A

He removed her with his severe storm

on the day of the east wind.

9 Therefore Jacob’s iniquityf will be atoned for in this way,

and the result of the removal of his sin will be this:g

when he makes all the altar stones

like crushed bits of chalk,

no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.

10 For the fortified city will be desolate,

pastures deserted and abandoned like a wilderness.

Calves will graze there,

and there they will spread out and strip its branches.

11 When its branches dry out, they will be broken off.

Women will come and make fires with them,

for they are not a people with understanding.h

Therefore their Makeri will not have compassion on them,

and their Creator will not be gracious to them.

12 On that dayj

the Lord will thresh grain from the Euphrates River

as far as the Wadi of Egypt,k

and you Israelites will be gathered one by one.

13 On that day

a great trumpetl will be blown,

and those lost in the land of Assyria will come,

as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt;

and they will worship the Lord

at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.

WOE TO SAMARIA

28 Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards,m

and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor,

which is on the summit above the rich valley.

Woe to those overcome with wine.

2 Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty onen—

like a devastating hail storm,

like a storm with strong flooding water.

He will bring it across the land with his hand.

3 The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards

will be trampled underfoot.

4 The fading flower of his beautiful splendor,

which is on the summit above the rich valley,

will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest.o

Whoever sees it will swallow it

while it is still in his hand.

5 On that day

the Lord of Armies will become a crown of beauty

and a diadem of splendorp

to the remnant of his people,

6 a spirit of justice

to the one who sits in judgment,q

and strength

to those who repel attacks at the city gate.

7 Even these stagger because of wine

and stumble under the influence of beer:

Priest and prophet stagger because of beer.

They are confused by wine.r

They stumble because of beer.

They are muddled in their visions.

They stumble in their judgments.

8 Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit;

there is no place without a stench.

9 Who is he trying to teach?

Who is he trying to instruct?

InfantsA just weaned from milk?

BabiesA removed from the breast?

10 “Law after law, law after law,

line after line, line after line,

a little here, a little there.”*

11 For he will speak to this people

with stammering speech

and in a foreign language.a

12 He had said to them,

“This is the place of rest;

let the weary rest;b

this is the place of repose.”

But they would not listen.

13 The word of the Lord will come to them:

“Law after law, law after law,

line after line, line after line,

a little here, a little there,”

so they go stumbling backward,

to be broken, trapped, and captured.c

A DEAL WITH DEATH

14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord,d you scofferse

who rule this people in Jerusalem.

15 For you said, “We have made a covenant with Death,

and we have an agreement with Sheol;

when the overwhelming catastrophe* passes through,f

it will not touch us,

because we have made falsehood our refuge

and have hidden behind treachery.”

16 Therefore the Lord God said:

“Look, I have laid a stoneg in Zion,

a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;h

the one who believes will be unshakable.B,i

17 And I will make justice the measuring line

and righteousness the mason’s level.”j

Hail will sweep away the false refuge,

and water will flood your hiding place.

18 Your covenant with Death will be dissolved,

and your agreement with Sheol will not last.

When the overwhelming catastrophe passes through,

you will be trampled.

19 Every time it passes through,

it will carry you away;

it will pass through every morning—

every day and every night.

Only terrork will cause you

to understand the message.C

20 Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on,

and its cover too small to wrap up in.

21 For the Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim.l

He will rise in wrath, as at the Valley of Gibeon,m

to do his work, his unexpected work,

and to perform his task, his unfamiliar task.

22 So now, do not scoff,

or your shackles will become stronger.

Indeed, I have heard from the Lord God of Armies

a decree of destruction for the whole land.n

GOD’S WONDERFUL ADVICE

23 Listen and hear my voice.

Pay attention and hear what I say.

24 Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?

Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?

25 When he has leveled its surface,

does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin?

He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots,

with spelt as their border.

26 His God teaches him order;

he instructs him.

27 Certainly black cumin is not threshed

with a threshing board,

and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin.

But black cumin is beaten out with a stick,

and cumin with a rod.

28 Bread grain is crushed,

but is not threshed endlessly.

Though the wheel of the farmer’s cart rumbles,

his horses do not crush it.

29 This also comes from the Lord of Armies.

He gives wondrous advice;

he gives great wisdom.a