3 *And I said, aHear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob,

aAnd ye bprinces of the house of Israel;

cIs it not for you dto know judgment?

2  Who hate the good, and love the evil;

eWho pluck off their skin from off them,

And their flesh from off their bones;

3  eWho also feat the flesh of my people,

And flay their skin from off them;

And gthey break their bones,

And hchop them in pieces, as for the pot,

And ias flesh within kthe caldron.

4  lThen shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them:

mHe will even hide his face from them at that time,

As they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

5  Thus saith the Lord concerning nothe prophets that make my people err,

pThat bite with their teeth, and nqcry, Peace;

And rhe that putteth not into their mouths,

They even sprepare war against him.

6  Therefore tnight shall be unto you, u†that ye shall not have a vision;

And uit shall be dark unto you, t†that ye shall not vdivine;

And wthe sun shall go down over the prophets,

And wthe day shall be dark over them.

7  Then shall the seers xbe ashamed, and vxthe diviners xconfounded:

Yea, they shall all ycover their †lips;

For zthere is no answer of God.

8  But truly aI am full of power by the spirit of the Lord,

And of judgment, and of might,

bTo declare unto Jacob his transgression,

bAnd to Israel his sin.

9  cHear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob,

cAnd princes of the house of Israel,

That abhor judgment, and dpervert all equity.

10  eThey build up Zion fwith †blood,

And Jerusalem with iniquity.

11  gThe heads thereof judge for reward,

And hthe priests thereof teach for hire,

And hithe prophets thereof vdivine for money:

Yet will they klean upon the Lord, †and say,

lIs not the Lord among us?

mNone evil can come upon us.

12  Therefore nshall Zion nnfor your sake be plowed as a field,

noAnd Jerusalem shall become heaps,

nAnd pthe mountain of the house qas the high places of the forest.

4 aBut in the last days it shall come to pass,

That the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains,

And it shall be exalted above the hills;

And people shall flow unto it.

2  And many nations shall come, and say,

Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

And to the house of the God of Jacob;

And he will teach us of his ways,

And we will walk in his paths:

For the law shall go forth of Zion,

And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

3  And bhe shall judge among many people,

And rebuke cstrong nations afar off;

And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into ||pruninghooks:

Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,

Neither shall they learn war any more.

4  dBut they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree;

eAnd none shall make them afraid:

fFor the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.

5  For gall people will walk every one in the name of his god,

And hwe will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

6  iIn that day, saith the Lord, kwill I assemble lmher that halteth,

And klI will gather nher that is driven out,

And her that I have afflicted;

7  And I will make lmher that halted oa remnant,

And her that was cast far off ca strong nation:

And prthe Lord shall reign over them qin mount Zion

rFrom henceforth, even for ever.

8  And thou, O tower of ||sthe flock,

tThe strong hold of the daughter of Zion,

Unto thee shall it come, even uthe first dominion;

The kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

9  Now why dost thou cry out valoud?

wIs there no king in thee?

xIs thy counseller perished?

For ypangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.

10  zBe in pain, and alabour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, ylike a woman in travail:

For now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field,

And bthou shalt go even to Babylon; cthere shalt thou be delivered;

cThere the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

11  Now also ccmany nations are gathered against thee,

That say, dLet her be defiled, and elet our eye look upon Zion.

12  But fthey know not the thoughts of the Lord,

Neither understand they his counsel:

For ghe shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.

13  Arise and hithresh, O daughter of Zion:

For I will make jthine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass:

And thou shalt ikbeat in pieces many people:

And I will lconsecrate mtheir gain unto the Lord,

And ntheir substance unto othe Lord of the whole earth.

5 Now agather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops:

He hath laid bsiege against us:

cThey shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod cupon the cheek.

2  dBut thou, eBeth-lehem Ephratah,

Though thou be little among fthe thousands of gJudah,

Yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be hruler in Israel;

Whose igoings forth have been kfrom of old, kfrom †everlasting.

3  Therefore will he give them up,

Until the time that lshe which travaileth hath brought forth:

Then mthe remnant of his brethren nshall return unto the children of Israel.

4  And khe shall stand and ||ofeed in the strength of the Lord,

In the majesty of the name of the Lord his God;

And they shall abide:

For now pqshall he be great unto rthe ends of the earth.

5  And psthis man shall be the peace,

tWhen the Assyrian shall come into our land:

And when he shall tread in our palaces,

Then shall uwe raise against him vseven wxshepherds,

And veight †wprincipal men.

6  And they shall †waste the land of Assyria with the sword,

And the land of zNimrod ||in the entrances thereof:

Thus ashall he deliver us from the Assyrian,

bWhen he cometh into our land,

bAnd when he treadeth within our borders.

7  And cthe remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people

deAs a dew from the Lord,

dfAs the showers upon the grass,

That tarrieth not for man,

Nor waiteth for the sons of men.

8  And cthe remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people

gAs a lion among the beasts of the forest,

gAs a young lion among the flocks of ||sheep:

Who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces,

hAnd none can deliver.

9  iThine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries,

And all thine enemies shall be cut off.

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

lThat I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee,

And I will destroy lthy chariots:

11  And mI will cut off the cities of thy land,

And mthrow down all thy strong holds:

12  And I will cut off nwitchcrafts out of thine hand;

And thou shalt have no more osoothsayers:

13  Thy graven images also pwill I cut off,

And thy ||qstanding images out of the midst of thee;

And rthou shalt no more sworship the work of thine hands.

14  And I will pluck up thy tgroves out of the midst of thee:

mSo will I destroy thy ||ucities.

15  And vI will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen,

Such as they have not heard.