The Indictment of the Lord

6 qHear what the Lord says:

Arise, plead your case before the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice.

2  rHear, you mountains, sthe indictment of the Lord,

and you enduring foundations of the earth,

for the Lord has an indictment against his people,

and he will contend with Israel.

3  “O my people, twhat have I done to you?

uHow have I wearied you? Answer me!

4  For vI brought you up from the land of Egypt

and wredeemed you from the house of slavery,

and I sent before you Moses,

Aaron, and xMiriam.

5  O my people, remember ywhat Balak king of Moab devised,

and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,

and what happened from zShittim to Gilgal,

that you may know athe righteous acts of the Lord.”

What Does the Lord Require?

6  b“With what shall I come before the Lord,

and bow myself before cGod on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

7  dWill the Lord be pleased with1 thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

eShall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

8  He has told you, O man, what is good;

and fwhat does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,2

and to gwalk humbly with your God?

Destruction of the Wicked

9  The voice of the Lord cries to the city—

and it is sound wisdom to fear hyour name:

“Hear of ithe rod and of him who appointed it!3

10  Can I forget any longer the treasures4 of wickedness in the house of the wicked,

and the scant measure that is accursed?

11  Shall I acquit the man jwith wicked scales

and with a bag of deceitful weights?

12  Your5 rich men are kfull of violence;

your inhabitants lspeak lies,

and mtheir tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13  Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,

nmaking you desolate because of your sins.

14  oYou shall eat, but not be satisfied,

and there shall be hunger within you;

you shall put away, but not preserve,

and what you preserve I will give to the sword.

15  pYou shall sow, but not reap;

you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;

you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.

16  For you have kept the statutes of qOmri,6

and all the works of the house of rAhab;

and you have walked in their counsels,

that I may make you sa desolation, and your7 inhabitants sa hissing;

so you shall bear tthe scorn of my people.”

Wait for the God of Salvation

7 Woe is me! For I have become

uas when the summer fruit has been gathered,

as when the grapes have been gleaned:

there is no cluster to eat,

no vfirst-ripe fig that my soul desires.

2  wThe godly has perished from the earth,

and xthere is no one upright among mankind;

ythey all lie in wait for blood,

and zeach hunts the other with a net.

3  aTheir hands are on what is evil, to do it well;

bthe prince and cthe judge ask for a bribe,

and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;

thus they weave it together.

4  The best of them is dlike a brier,

the most upright of them a thorn hedge.

The day of eyour watchmen, of your punishment, has come;

fnow their confusion is at hand.

5  gPut no trust in a neighbor;

have no confidence in a friend;

guard hthe doors of your mouth

from her who lies in your arms;1

6  for ithe son treats the father with contempt,

the daughter rises up against her mother,

the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

ja man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

7  But as for me, I will look to the Lord;

kI will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me.

8  lRejoice not over me, O mmy enemy;

nwhen I fall, I shall rise;

owhen I sit in darkness,

the Lord will be a light to me.

9  pI will bear the indignation of the Lord

because I have sinned against him,

until qhe pleads my cause

and executes judgment for me.

rHe will bring me out to the light;

I shall look upon his vindication.

10  Then smy enemy will see,

and shame will cover her who tsaid to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

uMy eyes will look upon her;

now she will be trampled down

vlike the mire of the streets.

11  wA day for the building of your walls!

In that day the boundary shall be far extended.

12  In that day they2 will come to you,

yfrom Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

and from Egypt to zthe River,3

afrom sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.

13  But bthe earth will be desolate

because of its inhabitants,

for the fruit of their deeds.

14  cShepherd your people dwith your staff,

the flock of your inheritance,

who dwell alone in a forest

ein the midst of fa garden land;4

let them graze in Bashan and Gilead

as in the days of old.

15  gAs in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,

I will show them5 marvelous things.

16  hThe nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;

ithey shall lay their hands on their mouths;

their ears shall be deaf;

17  jthey shall lick the dust like a serpent,

like the crawling things of the earth;

kthey shall come trembling out of their strongholds;

lthey shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,

and they shall be in fear of you.

God’s Steadfast Love and Compassion

18  mWho is a God like you, npardoning iniquity

and passing over transgression

nfor the remnant of his inheritance?

oHe does not retain his anger forever,

because he delights in steadfast love.

19  He will pagain have compassion on us;

qhe will tread our iniquities underfoot.

rYou will cast all our6 sins

into the depths of the sea.

20  sYou will show faithfulness to Jacob

and steadfast love to Abraham,

tas you have sworn to our fathers

from the days of old.

Nahum

Introduction

When Jonah preached repentance on the streets of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, the people responded and were spared. A century later, sometime between 663 and 612 b.c., Nahum preached in a time when Nineveh would not repent. Nineveh, which had destroyed Israel’s northern kingdom in 722, itself fell to Babylon in 612—just a few years after Nahum’s warning. The Assyrians were notorious for the brutality of their treatment of other nations. Nahum declared, however, that God is sovereign: he punishes whom he will, and they are powerless to stop him. Much of Nahum’s prophecy was directed to the people of Judah, who could rejoice at the good news (1:15) of Nineveh’s impending fall.

1 aAn oracle concerning bNineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

God’s Wrath Against Nineveh

2  cThe Lord is a jealous and avenging God;

the Lord is avenging and wrathful;

dthe Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries

and ekeeps wrath for his enemies.

3  fThe Lord is slow to anger and ggreat in power,

and hthe Lord will by no means clear the guilty.

iHis way is in whirlwind and storm,

and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

4  jHe rebukes the sea and makes it dry;

he dries up all the rivers;

kBashan and lCarmel wither;

the bloom of kLebanon withers.

5  mThe mountains quake before him;

nthe hills melt;

the earth heaves before him,

othe world and all who dwell in it.

6  pWho can stand before his indignation?

Who can endure the heat of his anger?

His wrath qis poured out like fire,

and rthe rocks are broken into pieces by him.

7  sThe Lord is good,

ta stronghold in the day of trouble;

uhe knows those who take refuge in him.

8  But vwith an overflowing flood

he will make a complete end of the adversaries,1

and wwill pursue his enemies into darkness.

9  What xdo you plot against the Lord?

yHe will make a complete end;

trouble will not rise up a second time.

10  For they are zlike entangled thorns,

like drunkards as they drink;

athey are consumed like stubble fully dried.

11  From you came one

bwho plotted evil against the Lord,

a worthless counselor.

12  Thus says the Lord,

“Though they are at full strength and many,

cthey will be cut down and pass away.

dThough I have afflicted you,

I will afflict you no more.

13  And now eI will break his yoke from off you

and will burst your bonds apart.”

14  The Lord has given commandment about you:

f“No more shall your name be perpetuated;

from gthe house of your gods I will cut off

the carved image and the metal image.

hI will make your grave, ifor you are vile.”

15  2 jBehold, upon the mountains, kthe feet of him

who brings good news,

who publishes peace!

lKeep your feasts, O Judah;

mfulfill your vows,

nfor never again shall the worthless pass through you;

he is utterly cut off.

The Destruction of Nineveh

2 oThe scatterer has come up against you.

pMan the ramparts;

watch the road;

dress for battle;1

collect all your strength.

2  For qthe Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob

as the majesty of Israel,

for plunderers have plundered them

and rruined their branches.

3  The shield of his mighty men is red;

shis soldiers are clothed in scarlet.

The chariots come with flashing metal

on the day he musters them;

the cypress spears are brandished.

4  tThe chariots race madly through the streets;

they rush to and fro through the squares;

they gleam like torches;

they dart like lightning.

5  He remembers uhis officers;

vthey stumble as they go,

they hasten to the wall;

the siege tower2 is set up.

6  wThe river gates are opened;

the palace xmelts away;

7  its mistress3 is ystripped;4 she is carried off,

her slave girls zlamenting,

moaning like doves

and beating their breasts.

8  bNineveh is like a pool

whose waters run away.5

“Halt! Halt!” they cry,

but cnone turns back.

9  Plunder the silver,

plunder the gold!

There is no end of the treasure

or of the wealth of all precious things.

10  dDesolate! Desolation and ruin!

eHearts melt and fknees tremble;

ganguish is in all loins;

hall faces grow pale!

11  Where is the lions’ den,

the feeding place of ithe young lions,

where the lion and lioness went,

where his cubs were, with jnone to disturb?

12  kThe lion tore enough for his cubs

and lstrangled prey for his lionesses;

he filled his caves with prey

and his dens with torn flesh.

13 mBehold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and nI will burn your6 chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and othe voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

Woe to Nineveh

3 Woe to pthe bloody city,

all full of lies and plunder—

qno end to the prey!

2  The crack of the whip, and rrumble of the wheel,

sgalloping horse and tbounding chariot!

3  Horsemen charging,

flashing sword and uglittering spear,

vhosts of slain,

heaps of corpses,

dead bodies without end—

they stumble over the bodies!

4  And all for the countless whorings of the wprostitute,

xgraceful and of deadly charms,

who betrays nations with her whorings,

and peoples with her charms.

5  mBehold, I am against you,

declares the Lord of hosts,

and ywill lift up your skirts over your face;

and I will make nations look at zyour nakedness

and kingdoms at your shame.

6  I will throw filth at you

and atreat you with contempt

and make you ba spectacle.

7  And all who look at you cwill shrink from you and say,

“Wasted is dNineveh; ewho will grieve for her?”

fWhere shall I seek comforters for you?

8  gAre you better than hThebes1

that sat iby the Nile,

with water around her,

her rampart a sea,

and water her wall?

9  jCush was her strength;

Egypt too, and that without limit;

kPut and the lLibyans were her2 helpers.

10  mYet she became an exile;

she went into captivity;

nher infants were dashed in pieces

at the head of every street;

for her honored men olots were cast,

pand all her great men were bound in chains.

11  qYou also will be drunken;

you will go into hiding;

ryou will seek a refuge from the enemy.

12  All your fortresses are slike fig trees

with first-ripe figs—

if shaken they fall

into the mouth of the eater.

13  Behold, your troops

tare women in your midst.

The gates of your land

are wide open to your enemies;

fire has devoured your bars.

14  uDraw water for the siege;

rstrengthen your forts;

go into the clay;

tread the mortar;

take hold of the brick mold!

15  There will the fire devour you;

the sword will cut you off.

It will vdevour you wlike the locust.

Multiply yourselves wlike the locust;

multiply wlike the grasshopper!

16  You increased xyour merchants

more than the stars of the heavens.

wThe locust spreads its wings and flies away.

17  Your zprinces are wlike grasshoppers,

ayour scribes3 like clouds of locusts

settling on the fences

in a day of cold—

when the sun rises, they fly away;

no one knows where they are.

18  Your shepherds bare asleep,

O king of Assyria;

cyour nobles slumber.

Your people dare scattered on the mountains

with none to gather them.

19  There is no easing your hurt;

eyour wound is grievous.

All who hear the news about you

fclap their hands over you.

For gupon whom has not come

your unceasing evil?

Habakkuk

Introduction

Habakkuk was probably written about 640–615 b.c., just before the fall of Assyria and the rise of Babylon (Chaldea). God used Assyria to punish Israel (722); now he would use Babylon to punish Assyria and Judah. This prophecy would be fulfilled several decades after Habakkuk, in 586. The “theme question” of Habakkuk is, how can God use a wicked nation such as Babylon for his divine purpose? God judges all nations, said Habakkuk, and even Babylon would eventually be judged (Babylon fell to Persia in 539). Though God’s ways are sometimes mysterious, “the righteous shall live by his faith” (2:4) while awaiting salvation. These words are quoted three times in the New Testament (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38).

1 aThe oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

2  O Lord, bhow long shall I cry for help,

and you will not hear?

Or cry to you c“Violence!”

and you will not save?

3  dWhy do you make me see iniquity,

and why do you idly look at wrong?

Destruction cand violence are before me;

strife and contention arise.

4  eSo the law is paralyzed,

and justice never goes forth.

fFor the wicked surround the righteous;

so justice goes forth perverted.

The Lord’s Answer

5  g“Look among the nations, and see;

wonder and be astounded.

hFor I am doing a work in your days

that you would not believe if told.

6  For behold, iI am raising up the Chaldeans,

that bitter and hasty nation,

jwho march through the breadth of the earth,

kto seize dwellings not their own.

7  They are dreaded and fearsome;

ltheir justice and dignity go forth from themselves.

8  mTheir horses are swifter than leopards,

more fierce than nthe evening wolves;

their horsemen press proudly on.

Their horsemen come from afar;

othey fly like an eagle swift to devour.

9  They all come pfor violence,

all their faces forward.

They gather captives rlike sand.

10  At kings they scoff,

and at rulers they laugh.

sThey laugh at every fortress,

for tthey pile up earth and take it.

11  Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,

uguilty men, vwhose own might is their god!”

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12  Are you not wfrom everlasting,

O Lord my God, my Holy One?

xWe shall not die.

O Lord, yyou have ordained them as a judgment,

and you, O zRock, have established them for reproof.

13  You who are aof purer eyes than to see evil

and cannot look at wrong,

bwhy do you idly look at traitors

and cremain silent when the wicked swallows up

the man more righteous than he?

14  You make mankind like the fish of the sea,

like crawling things that have no ruler.

15  dHe1 brings all of them up ewith a hook;

he drags them out with his net;

he gathers them in his dragnet;

so he rejoices and is glad.

16  fTherefore he sacrifices to his net

and makes offerings to his dragnet;

for by them he lives in luxury,2

and his food is rich.

17  Is he then to keep on emptying his net

gand mercilessly killing nations forever?

2 I will htake my stand at my watchpost

and station myself on the tower,

and ilook out to see jwhat he will say to me,

and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith

2 And the Lord answered me:

k“Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so he may run who reads it.

3  For still lthe vision awaits its appointed time;

it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seems slow, mwait for it;

nit will surely come; it will not delay.

4  “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,

but othe righteous shall live by his faith.1

5  “Moreover, wine2 is pa traitor,

an arrogant man who is never at rest.3

His greed is as wide as Sheol;

like death qhe has never enough.

rHe gathers for himself all nations

and collects as his own all peoples.”

Woe to the Chaldeans

6 Shall not all these stake up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,

t“Woe to him uwho heaps up what is not his own—

for vhow long?—

and wloads himself with pledges!”

7  xWill not your debtors suddenly arise,

and those awake who will make you tremble?

Then you will be spoil for them.

8  yBecause you have plundered many nations,

all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,

zfor the blood of man and yviolence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

9  t“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,

ato bset his nest on high,

to be safe from the reach of harm!

10  You have devised shame for your house

cby cutting off many peoples;

you have forfeited your life.

11  For dthe stone will cry out from the wall,

and the beam from the woodwork respond.

12  t“Woe to him ewho builds a town with blood

and founds a city on iniquity!

13  Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts

that fpeoples labor merely for fire,

and nations weary themselves for nothing?

14  gFor the earth will be filled

with the knowledge of hthe glory of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

15  t“Woe to him iwho makes his neighbors drink—

you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,

in order to gaze jat their nakedness!

16  You will have your fill kof shame instead of glory.

lDrink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!

lThe cup in the Lord’s right hand

will come around to you,

and mutter shame will come upon your glory!

17  nThe violence odone to Lebanon will overwhelm you,

as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,

nfor the blood of man and violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

18  p“What profit is an idol

when its maker has shaped it,

a metal image, qa teacher of lies?

For its maker trusts in his own creation

when he makes rspeechless idols!

19  sWoe to him twho says to a wooden thing, Awake;

to a silent stone, Arise!

Can this teach?

Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,

and uthere is no breath at all in it.

20  But vthe Lord is in his holy temple;

wlet all the earth keep silence before him.”

Habakkuk’s Prayer

3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.

2  O Lord, xI have heard the report of you,

and yyour work, O Lord, do I fear.

In the midst of the years zrevive it;

in the midst of the years make it known;

ain wrath remember mercy.

3  God came from bTeman,

cand the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah

His splendor covered the heavens,

and the earth was full of his praise.

4  dHis brightness was like the light;

rays flashed from his hand;

and there he veiled his power.

5  eBefore him went pestilence,

and plague followed fat his heels.1

6  He stood gand measured the earth;

he looked and shook the nations;

then the heternal mountains iwere scattered;

the everlasting hills sank low.

His were jthe everlasting ways.

7  I saw the tents of kCushan in affliction;

lthe curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

8  mWas your wrath against the rivers, O Lord?

Was your anger against the rivers,

mor your indignation against the sea,

nwhen you rode on your horses,

non your chariot of salvation?

9  You stripped the sheath from your bow,

calling for many arrows.2 Selah

pYou split the earth with rivers.

10  qThe mountains saw you and writhed;

the raging waters swept on;

rthe deep gave forth its voice;

sit lifted its hands on high.

11  tThe sun and moon stood still in their place

uat the light of your arrows as they sped,

at the flash of your glittering spear.

12  vYou marched through the earth in fury;

wyou threshed the nations in anger.

13  vYou went out for the salvation of your people,

for the salvation of xyour anointed.

yYou crushed the head of the house of the wicked,

laying him bare from thigh to neck.3 Selah

14  You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors,

who came like a whirlwind to scatter me,

rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.

15  zYou trampled the sea with your horses,

the surging of mighty waters.

16  aI hear, and bmy body trembles;

my lips quiver at the sound;

crottenness enters into my bones;

my legs tremble beneath me.

Yet dI will quietly wait for the day of trouble

to come upon people who invade us.

Habakkuk Rejoices in the Lord

17  Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

18  eyet I will rejoice in the Lord;

fI will take joy in the God of my salvation.

19  God, the Lord, is my strength;

ghe makes my feet like the deer’s;

he makes me htread on my ihigh places.

jTo the choirmaster: with kstringed4 instruments.

Zephaniah

Introduction

Zephaniah prophesied during the reforms of King Josiah (640–609 b.c.), who brought spiritual revival to Judah after the long and disastrous reign of Manasseh. Zephaniah pronounced God’s judgment on corruption and wickedness but also his plan to restore Judah. He spoke of the coming “day of the Lord,” when sin would be punished, justice would prevail, and a “remnant” of the faithful would be saved. The term “day of the Lord” occurs throughout the Bible referring both to impending historical judgments from God and to his final judgment at the end of time. Though Zephaniah does not give details about this day, he speaks of its fearsome consequences (1:18) and calls people to seek the Lord (2:3).

1 The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, ain the days of bJosiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

The Coming Judgment on Judah

2  c“I will utterly sweep away everything

from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.

3  “I will sweep away dman and beast;

I will sweep away the birds of the heavens

and dthe fish of the sea,

and ethe rubble1 with the wicked.

I will fcut off mankind

from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.

4  “I will stretch out my hand against Judah

and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

gand I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal

and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,

5  hthose who bow down on the roofs

to the host of the heavens,

ithose who bow down and swear to the Lord

and yet swear by jMilcom,2

6  kthose who have turned back from following the Lord,

lwho do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”

The Day of the Lord Is Near

7  mBe silent before the Lord God!

For nthe day of the Lord is near;

othe Lord has prepared a sacrifice

and pconsecrated his guests.

8  And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice—

q“I will punish the officials and the king’s sons

and rall who array themselves in foreign attire.

9  On that day I will punish

everyone swho leaps over the threshold,

and those who fill their master’s3 house

with violence and fraud.

10  “On that day,” declares the Lord,

“a cry will be heard from tthe Fish Gate,

ua wail from vthe Second Quarter,

a loud crash from the hills.

11  wWail, O inhabitants of the Mortar!

For all the traders4 are no more;

all who weigh out silver are cut off.

12  At that time xI will search Jerusalem with lamps,

and I will punish the men

ywho are complacent,5

zthose who say in their hearts,

‘The Lord will not do good,

nor will he do ill.’

13  Their goods shall be aplundered,

and their houses laid waste.

bThough they build houses,

they shall not inhabit them;

cthough they plant vineyards,

they shall not drink wine from them.”

14  dThe great day of the Lord is near,

near and hastening fast;

the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;

ethe mighty man cries aloud there.

15  fA day of wrath is that day,

a day of distress and anguish,

a day of gruin and devastation,

ha day of darkness and gloom,

ha day of clouds and thick darkness,

16  ia day of trumpet blast and battle cry

jagainst the fortified cities

and against the lofty battlements.

17  kI will bring distress on mankind,

so that they shall walk llike the blind,

because they have sinned against the Lord;

mtheir blood shall be poured out like dust,

and their flesh nlike dung.

18  oNeither their silver nor their gold

shall be able to deliver them

on the day of the wrath of the Lord.

pIn the fire of his jealousy,

qall the earth shall be consumed;

rfor a full and sudden end

he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

Judgment on Judah’s Enemies

2 Gather together, yes, gather,

O sshameless nation,

2  tbefore the decree takes effect1

—before the day passes away ulike chaff—

vbefore there comes upon you

the burning anger of the Lord,

before there comes upon you

the day of the anger of the Lord.

3  wSeek the Lord, xall you humble of the land,

who do his just commands;2

yseek righteousness; seek humility;

yperhaps zyou may be hidden

on the day of the anger of the Lord.

4  aFor 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 byou inhabitants of the seacoast,

you nation of cthe Cherethites!

dThe word of the Lord is against you,

eO Canaan, land of the Philistines;

and I will destroy you funtil no inhabitant is left.

6  gAnd you, O seacoast, hshall be pastures,

with meadows3 for shepherds

and folds for flocks.

7  iThe seacoast shall become the possession

of jthe remnant of the house of Judah,

hon which they shall graze,

and in the houses of Ashkelon

they shall lie down at evening.

For the Lord their God kwill be mindful of them

and lrestore their fortunes.

8  “I have heard mthe taunts of Moab

and nthe revilings of the Ammonites,

how they have taunted my people

and made boasts oagainst their territory.

9  Therefore, pas I live,” declares the Lord of hosts,

the God of Israel,

“Moab shall become qlike Sodom,

and the Ammonites qlike Gomorrah,

a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,

and a waste forever.

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 rfor their pride,

because they taunted and boasted

against the people of the Lord of hosts.

11  The Lord will be awesome against them;

sfor he will famish all the gods of the earth,

and tto him shall bow down,

each in its place,

all uthe lands of the nations.

12  vYou also, O Cushites,

shall be slain by my sword.

13  And he will stretch out his hand against the north

wand destroy Assyria,

and he xwill make Nineveh a desolation,

a dry waste like the desert.

14  yHerds shall lie down in her midst,

all kinds of beasts;4

zeven the owl and the hedgehog5

shall lodge in her capitals;

a voice shall hoot in the window;

devastation will be on the threshold;

for aher cedar work will be laid bare.

15  This is the exultant city

bthat lived securely,

that said in her heart,

“I am, and there is no one else.”

What a desolation she has become,

ca lair for wild beasts!

dEveryone who passes by her

hisses and eshakes his fist.

Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations

3 Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled,

fthe oppressing city!

2  She listens to no voice;

gshe accepts no correction.

hShe does not trust in the Lord;

she does not draw near to her God.

3  iHer officials within her

are roaring lions;

her judges are jevening wolves

that leave nothing till the morning.

4  kHer prophets are fickle, treacherous men;

kher priests lprofane what is holy;

they do violence to the law.

5  The Lord within her mis righteous;

he does no injustice;

every morning he shows forth his justice;

each dawn he does not fail;

but nthe unjust knows no shame.

6  o“I have cut off nations;

their battlements are in ruins;

I have laid waste their streets

pso that no one walks in them;

their cities have been made desolate,

without a man, without an inhabitant.

7  qI said, ‘Surely you will fear me;

ryou will accept correction.

Then your1 dwelling would not be cut off

according to all that I have appointed against you.’2

But sall the more they were eager

to make all their deeds corrupt.

8  “Therefore twait for me,” declares the Lord,

“for the day when I rise up to seize the prey.

For my decision is uto gather nations,

to assemble kingdoms,

to pour out upon them my indignation,

all my burning anger;

for in the fire of my jealousy

vall the earth shall be consumed.

The Conversion of the Nations

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

to wa pure speech,

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

and serve him with one accord.

10  xFrom beyond the rivers yof Cush

my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones,

shall bring my offering.

11  z“On that day ayou shall not be put to shame

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

for then bI will remove from your midst

your proudly exultant ones,

and cyou shall no longer be haughty

in my holy mountain.

12  But I will leave in your midst

a people dhumble and lowly.

eThey shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord,

13  fthose who are left in Israel;

they gshall do no injustice

and speak no lies,

hnor shall there be found in their mouth

a deceitful tongue.

iFor they shall graze and lie down,

and none shall make them afraid.”

Israel’s Joy and Restoration

14  jSing 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 cleared away your enemies.

kThe King of Israel, lthe Lord, is in your midst;

you shall never again fear evil.

16  zOn that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:

“Fear not, O Zion;

mlet not your hands grow weak.

17  lThe Lord your God is in your midst,

na mighty one who will save;

ohe will rejoice over you with gladness;

he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.

18  I will gather those of you who mourn pfor the festival,

so that you will no longer suffer reproach.3

19  Behold, at that time qI will deal

with all your oppressors.

And rI will save the lame

and gather the outcast,

and I will change stheir shame into tpraise

and renown in all the earth.

20  uAt that time I will bring you in,

at the time when I gather you together;

for I will make you renowned and praised

among all the peoples of the earth,

vwhen I restore your fortunes

before your eyes,” says the Lord.

Haggai

Introduction

When the first wave of Jewish exiles returned from Babylon to Jerusalem in 538 b.c., they began to rebuild the temple but soon gave up. Inspired by the prophetic ministries of Haggai and Zechariah, they finally completed the task in 516. Haggai rebuked the people for living in “paneled houses” while the house of God remained in ruins (1:4). He warned that, despite their best efforts, their wealth would never suffice, because the Lord was not pleased with their neglect of his temple (see Lev. 26:2–20). He called them to repent and renew their covenant with the God of their fathers. He assured them that God would achieve his purposes for his people and for all other nations. The rebuilding of the temple symbolized God’s restored presence among his people.