2 ||He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face:

cKeep the munition, dwatch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.

2  ddFor the Lord hath turned away ||ethe excellency of Jacob,

As the excellency of Israel:

For gthe emptiers have emptied them out,

And hmarred their vine branches.

3  The shield of his mighty men is imade red,

The valiant men are ||kin scarlet:

The chariots shall be with ||flaming ltorches in the day of his preparation,

And the fir trees shall be mterribly shaken.

4  nThe chariots shall nnrage in the streets,

They shall ojustle one against another in the broad ways:

†They shall seem like torches,

They shall orun like the lightnings.

5  He shall recount his ||worthies:

pThey shall stumble in their walk;

They shall make haste to the wall thereof,

And the †defence shall be prepared.

6  rThe gates of the rivers shall be opened,

And the palace shall be ||sdissolved.

7  And ||uHuzzab shall be ||vled away captive, she shall be brought up,

And her maids shall lead her as with the voice of wdoves,

xTabering upon their breasts.

8  But yNineveh is ||of old like za pool of water:

Yet athey shall flee away.

Stand, stand, bshall they cry; but none shall ||clook back.

9  Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold:

||For there is none end of dthe store and glory out of all the †pleasant furniture.

10  eShe is empty, and void, and fwaste:

And gthe heart melteth, and hthe knees smite together,

And himuch pain is in all loins,

And kthe faces of them all gather blackness.

11  Where is the dwelling of lthe lions,

And the feedingplace of the lmyoung lions,

Where lnthe lion, even lmnthe old lion, walked,

And lnthe lion’s whelp, and onone made them afraid?

12  lpThe lion did tear in pieces enough qfor his whelps,

And strangled for his rlionesses,

And pfilled his holes swith prey,

And his dens with ravin.

13  tBehold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts,

And uI will burn her chariots in the smoke,

And the sword shall devour lthy young lions:

And I will cut off sthy prey from the earth,

And the voice of vthy messengers shall no more be heard.

3 Woe to the †abloody city!

It is all full of lies and robbery;

bThe prey departeth not;

2  The noise of a whip, and cthe noise of the rattling of the wheels,

And of the dpransing horses, and of the ejumping chariots.

3  The horseman lifteth up both †the bright sword and fthe glittering spear:

And gthere is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases;

And there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:

4  Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured hharlot,

iThe kmistress of lwitchcrafts,

That selleth nations through hher whoredoms,

And families through her lwitchcrafts.

5  mBehold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts;

And nI will discover thy skirts upon thy face,

And noI will shew the nations thy nakedness,

And the kingdoms opthy shame.

6  And ppI will cast abominable filth upon thee, and qmake thee vile,

And will set thee as ra gazingstock.

7  And it shall come to pass, that all they that rlook upon thee sshall flee from thee, and say,

tNineveh is laid waste: uwho will bemoan her?

vWhence shall I seek comforters for thee?

8  wArt thou better than ||†populous xNo,

That was situate among ythe rivers, that had the waters round about it,

Whose zrampart was athe sea, and her wall was from athe sea?

9  bcEthiopia and bEgypt were her strength, and dit was infinite;

ePut and bfLubim were †thy helpers.

10  gYet was she carried away, she went into captivity:

hHer young children also were dashed in pieces iat the top of all the streets:

And kthey cast lots for lher honourable men,

And all her great men were bound lin chains.

11  mThou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid,

Thou also shalt seek nstrength because of the enemy.

12  All thy strong holds shall be olike pfig trees with the firstripe figs:

If they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.

13  Behold, thy people in the midst of thee qrare women:

The gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies:

The fire shall devour thy rbars.

14  sDraw thee waters for the siege, tfortify thy strong holds:

Go into clay, and tread ttthe morter, make strong the brickkiln.

15  There shall the fire devour thee;

The sword shall cut thee off,

It shall eat thee up like uthe cankerworm:

Make thyself many as uthe cankerworm,

Make thyself many as uthe locusts.

16  Thou hast multiplied vthy merchants above the stars of heaven:

uThe cankerworm ||wspoileth, and flieth away.

17  xThy crowned are as uthe locusts, and thy ycaptains as zthe great grasshoppers,

Which camp in the hedges in the cold day,

But when the sun ariseth they flee away,

And their place is not known where they are.

18  Thy shepherds aslumber, bO king of Assyria: thy ||cnobles shall ddwell in the dust:

Thy people eis scattered upon the mountains, and fno man gathereth them.

19  There is no †healing of gthy bruise; hthy wound is grievous:

All that hear ithe bruit of thee kshall clap the hands over thee:

For lupon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

†Habakkuk

1 *aThe burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

2  O Lord, bhow long shall I ccry, and thou wilt not hear!

Even cdcry out unto thee of deviolence, and thou wilt not save!

3  Why dost thou shew me finiquity, and cause me to behold fgrievance?

For gspoiling and efviolence are before me:

And there are that raise up fstrife and contention.

4  Therefore the law his slacked, and judgment doth never go forth:

For ithe wicked doth kcompass about the righteous;

Therefore ||wrong judgment proceedeth.

5  lBehold ye among the heathen, and regard, and mwonder marvellously:

For I will work a work in your days,

Which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

6  For, lo, n||I raise up othe Chaldeans, that bitter and phasty nation,

ppWhich shall march through the †breadth of the land,

ppTo possess the dwellingplaces qthat are not theirs.

7  They are qqterrible and dreadful:

||Their judgment and their rdignity shall proceed of themselves.

8  sTheir horses also are swifter than tthe leopards,

And are more †fierce than uthe evening wolves:

And their horsemen shall vspread themselves,

And their horsemen shall come wfrom far;

xThey shall fly as sthe eagle ythat hasteth to eat.

9  They shall come all for violence:

||†Their faces shall sup up as the east wind,

And they shall gather athe captivity bas the sand.

10  And they shall scoff at the kings,

And the princes shall be a scorn unto them:

cThey shall deride every strong hold;

For dthey shall heap dust, and take it.

11  Then shall ehis mind change, and he shall pass over, and foffend,

gImputing this his power unto his god.

12  hArt thou not from everlasting,

O Lord my God, mine Holy One? iwe shall not die.

O Lord, kthou hast ordained them for judgment;

And, O †mighty God, kthou hast †established them for correction.

13  Thou art of purer eyes than to lbehold evil,

And canst not look on ||iniquity:

mWherefore lookest thou upon them mnthat deal treacherously,

And oholdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth pthe man that is more righteous than he?

14  And makest men as ppthe fishes of the sea,

As qthe ||creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

15  rThey take up all of them with sthe angle,

They catch them in their tnet, and gather them in their ||udrag:

Therefore they rejoice and are glad.

16  vTherefore they sacrifice unto their tnet, and vburn incense unto their udrag;

Because by them their portion is fat, and their meat ||†plenteous.

17  Shall they therefore empty their tnet,

And not spare continually to slay the nations?

2 I will astand upon my watch, and set me upon the †tower,

And will bwatch to see cwhat he will say ||unto me,

And what I shall answer ||†when I am reproved.

2  And the Lord answered me, and said,

ccWrite the vision, and dmake it plain upon tables,

That he may run that readeth it.

3  For ethe vision is yet ffor an appointed time,

But fat the end it shall speak, and not lie:

gThough it htarry, iwait for it;

Because kit will surely come, lit will not tarry.

4  Behold, khis soul which mis lifted up is not upright in him:

knBut the just shall live by his faith.

5  ||Yea also, because he otransgresseth pby wine,

He is qa proud man, neither keepeth at home,

Who renlargeth his desire sas hell,

And is sas death, and cannot be satisfied,

But tgathereth unto him all nations,

And theapeth unto him all people:

6  Shall not all these tttake up ua parable against him,

And va taunting vwproverb against him, and say,

||Woe to him that increaseth xthat which is not his! yhow long?

And to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!

7  Shall they not rise up zsuddenly that shall bite thee,

And awake that shall avex thee,

And thou shalt be bfor booties unto them?

8  cBecause thou hast spoiled many nations,

cAll the remnant of the people dshall spoil thee;

eBecause of men’s †blood, and for fthe violence of the land,

eOf the city, and of all that dwell therein.

9  gWoe to him that ||coveteth an evil covetousness to his house,

That he may set hhis nest ion high, that he may be delivered from the †power of evil!

10  Thou hast consulted shame to thy house

By cutting off many people,

And hast ksinned against thy soul.

11  For lthe stone shall cry out of the wall,

And the ||beam out of the timber shall ||answer it.

12  Woe to him mthat buildeth a town with †blood,

And stablisheth a city mby iniquity!

13  Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts

That nthe people shall labour oin the very fire,

And nthe people pshall weary themselves ||ofor very vanity?

14  For qrthe earth shall be filled ||with qthe knowledge of rthe glory of the Lord,

qAs the waters cover the sea.

15  Woe unto him sthat giveth his neighbour drink,

That tputtest thy ubottle to him, and vmakest him drunken also,

vThat thou mayest look on their nakedness!

16  Thou art filled ||with wshame for glory:

xDrink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered:

xThe cup of the Lord’s right hand shall be turned unto thee,

And yshameful spewing shall be on thy glory.

17  For fthe violence of zLebanon shall cover thee,

And zzthe spoil of beasts, which made them afraid,

eBecause of men’s blood, and for fthe violence of the land,

eOf the city, and of all that dwell therein.

18  aWhat profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it;

The molten image, and ba teacher of lies,

That †the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make cdumb idols?

19  Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach!

Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver,

And dthere is no breath at all in the midst of it.

20  But ethe Lord is in his holy temple:

†Let gall the earth keep silence before him.

3 aA prayer of Habakkuk the prophet ||upon Shigionoth.

2  O Lord, I have heard †bthy speech, and cwas afraid:

O Lord, ||drevive ethy work in the midst of the years,

In the midst of the years make known;

fIn wrath remember mercy.

3  God came from ||gTeman,

And hthe Holy One from mount Paran. Selah.

His glory covered the heavens,

And the earth was full of his praise.

4  And ihis brightness was as the light;

He had ||horns coming out of his hand:

And jthere was the hiding of his power.

5  kBefore him went the pestilence,

And ||klburning coals went forth mat his feet.

6  He stood, and measured the earth:

He beheld, and ndrove asunder the nations;

And othe everlasting pmountains were scattered,

The perpetual phills did bow:

His ways are everlasting.

7  I saw the tents of ||qCushan ||in raffliction:

And the curtains of the land of tMidian did tremble.

8  uWas the Lord displeased against vthe rivers?

Was thine anger against vthe rivers?

uWas thy wrath against the sea,

That wthou didst ride upon thine horses and ||thy chariots of salvation?

9  xThy bow was made quite naked,

yAccording to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah.

||zThou didst cleave the earth with vrivers.

10  aThe mountains bsaw thee, and bthey trembled:

The overflowing of the water passed by:

cThe deep uttered his voice,

And dlifted up his hands on high.

11  eThe sun and moon stood still in ftheir habitation:

||At the light of gthine arrows they went,

And at ithe shining of thy glittering spear.

12  jThou didst march through the land in indignation,

Thou didst kthresh the heathen in anger.

13  jThou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,

Even for salvation with lthine anointed;

mThou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked,

nBy †discovering the foundation unto othe neck. Selah.

14  Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of phis villages:

qThey †came out as a whirlwind rto scatter me:

Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor ssecretly.

15  tThou didst walk through the sea uwith thine horses,

Through the ||heap of great waters.

16  vWhen I heard, wmy belly trembled;

My lips quivered at the voice:

xRottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself,

That yI might rest in the day of trouble:

When he cometh up unto the people, zhe will ||invade them with his troops.

17  Although the fig tree shall not blossom,

Neither shall fruit be in the vines;

The labour of the olive shall †zzfail,

And the fields shall yield no meat;

The flock shall be acut off from bthe fold,

And there shall be no herd in the stalls:

18  cYet I will rejoice in the Lord,

dI will joy in the God of my salvation.

19  The Lord God is my strength,

And he will make emy feet like hinds’ feet,

And fhe will make me to walk efgupon mine high places.

hTo the chief singer on imy †stringed instruments.

Zephaniah

1 *The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of aHizkiah, *in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

2  †I will utterly consume all things from off †the land, saith the Lord.

3  I bwill consume cman and beast;

bI will consume cthe fowls of the heaven, and cdthe fishes of the sea,

And ethe ||stumblingblocks with the wicked;

And fI will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord.

4  I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah,

And upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

And gI will cut off hthe remnant of Baal from this place,

And ithe name of jthe Chemarims with the priests;

5  And kthem that worship the host of heaven kupon the housetops;

And lthem that worship and lmthat swear ||by the Lord,

And lnthat swear by oMalcham;

6  And pthem that are turned back qfrom the Lord;

And rthose that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him.

7  sHold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God:

For tthe day of the Lord is at hand:

For uthe Lord hath prepared a sacrifice,

He hath †bid vhis guests.

8  And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,

That I will †punish wthe princes, and wthe king’s children,

And all such as are xclothed with strange yapparel.

9  In the same day also will I punish all those zthat leap on the threshold,

Which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.

10  And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord,

That there shall be the noise of a cry from athe fish gate,

And ban howling from cthe second,

And a great crashing from the hills.

11  dHowl, ye inhabitants of eMaktesh,

For all fthe merchant people are cut down;

All they that bear silver are cut off.

12  And it shall come to pass at that time,

That ghI will search Jerusalem hwith candles,

And punish the men that are †settled lon their lees:

mThat say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.

13  Therefore their goods shall become na booty, and their houses a desolation:

oThey shall also build houses, but not inhabit them;

And opthey shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.

14  qThe great day of the Lord ris near,

It is near, and hasteth greatly,

Even the voice of the day of the Lord:

sThe mighty man shall tcry uthere bitterly.

15  vThat day is a day of wrath,

A day of wtrouble and wdistress,

A day of xwasteness and xdesolation,

yA day of darkness and gloominess,

yzA day of clouds and thick darkness,

16  A day of athe trumpet and aalarm

Against the fenced cities, and against the high btowers.

17  And cI will bring distress upon men, that dthey shall walk like blind men,

Because they have sinned against the Lord:

And etheir blood shall be poured out as dust, and their fflesh gas the dung.

18  hNeither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them

iIn the day of the Lord’s wrath;

But kthe whole land shall be devoured by lthe fire of mhis jealousy:

For nhe shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

2 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation ||not adesired;

2  bBefore the decree bring forth, before the day pass cas the chaff,

dBefore the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you,

Before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you.

3  eSeek ye the Lord, fall ye meek of the earth,

Which have wrought his judgment;

Seek righteousness, seek meekness:

It gmay be hye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.

4  For ijkGaza shall be lforsaken, and ijmAshkelon a desolation:

They shall drive out jnAshdod oat the noon day, and jpEkron qshall be rooted up.

5  Woe unto the inhabitants of rthe sea vcoast, the nation of the sCherethites!

The word of the Lord is against you;

tO Canaan, the land of the Philistines,

I will even destroy thee, uthat there shall be no inhabitant.

6  And the sea vcoast wshall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and xfolds for flocks.

7  And vthe coast shall be for xxthe remnant of the house of Judah;

yThey shall feed thereupon:

yIn the houses of mAshkelon shall they zlie down in the evening:

||For the Lord their God shall avisit them, and bturn away their captivity.

8  cI have heard dthe reproach of Moab,

And dthe revilings of ethe children of Ammon,

Whereby they have reproached my people,

And fmagnified themselves gagainst their border.

9  Therefore has I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,

Surely cMoab shall be ias Sodom, and ethe children of Ammon ias Gomorrah,

Even the breeding of knettles, and isaltpits, and la perpetual desolation:

mThe residue of my people shall spoil them,

And the remnant of nmy people shall possess them.

10  This shall they have ofor their pride,

Because they have reproached and fmagnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts.

11  The Lord will be terrible unto them:

For phe will †famish all the gods of the earth;

And qmen shall worship him, revery one from his place,

Even all sthe isles of the heathen.

12  tYe Ethiopians also, ye shall be uslain by vmy sword.

13  And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and wdestroy Assyria;

And will make xNineveh ya desolation, and dry like a wilderness.

14  And flocks shall zalie down in the midst of her, aall the beasts of the nations:

Both the ||bcormorant and bcthe bittern shall lodge in the ||upper lintels of it;

Their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in dthe thresholds:

||For he shall dduncover ethe cedar work.

15  This is fthe rejoicing city gthat dwelt carelessly,

ghThat said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me:

How is she become a desolation, ia place for beasts to lie down in!

jEvery one that passeth by her jkshall hiss, and lwag his hand.