² A ^(C)jealous and avenging God is ^[b]Yahweh;
Yahweh is ^(D)avenging and ^[c]wrathful.
Yahweh is ^(E)avenging against His adversaries,
And He keeps His anger for His enemies.
³ Yahweh is ^(F)slow to anger and great in power,
And Yahweh will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

In ^(G)whirlwind and storm is His way,
And ^(H)clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

⁴ He ^(I)rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
He dries up all the rivers.
^(J)Bashan and Carmel languish;
The blossoms of Lebanon languish.

⁵ Mountains ^(K)quake because of Him,

And the hills ^(L)melt;
Indeed the earth is ^(M)upheaved by His presence,
The ^(N)world and all the inhabitants in it.

^6 (O)Who can stand before His indignation?
Who can endure the ^(P)burning of His anger?

His ^(Q)wrath is poured out like fire,
And the ^(R)rocks are torn down by Him.

⁷ Yahweh is ^(S)good,
A strong defense in the day of distress,

And ^(T)He knows those who take refuge in Him.
⁸ But with an ^(U)overflowing flood

He will make a complete destruction of ^[d]its place
And will pursue His enemies into ^(V)darkness.

“Though they are at full strength and likewise many,
Even so, they will be ^(AD)cut off and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you ^(AE)no longer.
¹³ So now, I will ^(AF)break his yoke bar from upon you,
And I will break your bands apart.”

3 Woe to her who is ^(A)rebellious and ^(B)defiled,
The oppressive ^(C)city!
² She ^(D)did not listen to any voice;
She ^(E)did not receive discipline.
She did not ^(F)trust in Yahweh;
She did not ^(G)draw near to her God.
³ Her ^(H)princes in her midst are roaring lions;
Her judges are ^(I)wolves at evening;
They leave nothing to gnaw for the morning.
⁴ Her prophets are ^(J)reckless, treacherous men;
Her ^(K)priests have profaned the sanctuary.
They have done violence to the law.
⁵ Yahweh is ^(L)righteous ^(M)in her midst;
He will ^(N)do no injustice.
^(O)Every morning He brings His justice to light;
^[a]He does not fail.
But the unjust ^(P)knows no shame.
⁶ “I have cut off nations;
Their corner towers are desolate.
I have made their streets ^(Q)a waste,
With no one passing by;
Their ^(R)cities are laid waste,
Without a man, ^(S)without an inhabitant.
⁷ I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me,
^(T)Receive discipline.’
So her abode will ^(U)not be cut off
According to all that I have appointed concerning her.
But they were eager to ^(V)corrupt all their deeds.

⁸ “Therefore ^(W)wait for Me,” declares Yahweh,
“For the day when I rise up as a witness.
Indeed, My judgment is to ^(X)assemble nations,
To gather kingdoms,
To pour out on them My indignation,
All My burning anger;
For ^(Y)all the earth will be devoured
By the fire of My zeal.
⁹ For then I will change them to peoples with ^(Z)purified lips,
That all of them may ^(AA)call on the name of Yahweh,
To serve Him ^[b]shoulder to shoulder.
¹⁰ From beyond the rivers of ^[c](AB)Ethiopia
My ^[d]worshipers, ^[e]My scattered ones,
Will ^(AC)bring My offerings.
¹¹ In that day you will ^(AD)feel no shame
Because of all your deeds
By which you have transgressed against Me;
For then I will remove from your midst
Your ^(AE)proud, exulting ones,
And you will never again be haughty
On My ^(AF)holy mountain.
¹² But I will cause to remain in your midst
A ^[f](AG)lowly and poor people,
And they will ^(AH)take refuge in the name of Yahweh.
¹³ The ^(AI)remnant of Israel will ^(AJ)do no injustice
And ^(AK)not speak falsehood,
Nor will a deceitful tongue
Be found in their mouths;
For they will ^(AL)feed and lie down
With no one to make them tremble.”

¹⁴ Sing for joy, O daughter of Zion!
^(AM)Make a loud shout, O Israel!
Be glad and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
¹⁵ Yahweh has taken away ^(AN)His judgments against you;
He has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, Yahweh, is ^(AO)in your midst;
You will ^(AP)fear evil no more.
^16 (AQ)In that day it will be said to Jerusalem:
“^(AR)Do not fear, O Zion;
^(AS)Do not let your hands fall limp.
¹⁷ Yahweh your God is ^(AT)in your midst,
A ^(AU)mighty one who will save.
He will ^(AV)be joyful over you with gladness;
He will ^[g]be quiet in His love;
He will rejoice over you with joyful singing.
¹⁸ I will assemble those who ^(AW)grieve about the appointed feasts—
They were from you, O Zion;
The reproach of exile is a burden on ^[h]them.
¹⁹ Behold, I am going to deal at that time
With all those who ^(AX)afflict you,
And I will save the ^(AY)lame
And gather the banished,
And I will turn them—in their ^(AZ)shame—into ^(BA)praise and a name
In all the earth.
²⁰ At that time I will ^(BB)bring you in,
Even at the time when I gather you together;
Indeed, I will give you to be a ^(BC)name and praise
Among all the peoples of the earth,
When I ^(BD)restore your fortunes before your eyes,”
Says Yahweh.

⁵ “Before I ^(H)formed you in the ^[b]innermost parts I knew you,
And ^(I)before you came out from the womb I set you apart;
I have ^(J)given you as a prophet to the nations.”
⁶ Then ^(K)I said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh!
Behold, I do not know how to speak
Because ^(L)I am a youth.”
⁷ But Yahweh said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
^(M)Because everywhere I send you, you shall go,
And ^(N)all that I command you, you shall speak.
^8 (O)Do not be afraid of them,
For ^(P)I am with you to deliver you,” declares Yahweh.

“Behold, I have ^(R)put My words in your mouth.
¹⁰ See, ^(S)I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms,
^(T)To uproot and to tear down,
To cause to perish and to pull down,
^(U)To build and to plant.”

“I remember concerning you the ^(AK)lovingkindness of your youth,
The love of your betrothals,
^(AL)Your walking after Me in the wilderness,
Through a land not sown.
³ Israel was ^(AM)holy to Yahweh,
The ^(AN)first of His produce.
^(AO)All who ate of it became guilty;
Evil came upon them,” declares Yahweh.’”

“^(AP)What injustice did your fathers find in Me,
That they went far from Me
And walked after ^(AQ)vanity and became vain?
⁶ They did not say, ‘Where is Yahweh
Who ^(AR)brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
Who ^(AS)led us through the wilderness,
Through a land of deserts and of pits,
Through a land of drought and of the shadow of death,
Through a land that no one crossed
And where no man inhabited?’
⁷ I brought you into the ^(AT)fruitful land
To eat its fruit and its good things.
But you came and ^(AU)defiled My land,
And My inheritance you made an abomination.
⁸ The ^(AV)priests did not say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’
And those who handle the law ^(AW)did not know Me;
The ^[f]shepherds also transgressed against Me,
And the ^(AX)prophets prophesied by Baal
And walked after ^(AY)things that did not profit.

3 God ^[r]says, “^(DC)If a husband divorces his wife
And she goes from him
And belongs to another man,
Will he still return to her?
Will not that land be completely ^[s]polluted?
But you ^(DD)are a harlot with many ^[t]lovers;
Yet you ^(DE)turn to Me,” declares Yahweh.
² “Lift up your eyes to the ^(DF)bare heights and see;
Where have you not been ravished?
By the roads you have ^(DG)sat for them
Like ^[u]an Arab in the wilderness,
And you have ^(DH)polluted a land
With your harlotry and with your evil.
³ Therefore the ^(DI)showers have been withheld,
And the ^[v]late rain has not ^[w]come.
Yet you had a ^(DJ)harlot’s forehead;
You refused to feel dishonor.
⁴ Have you not just now called to Me,
‘^(DK)My Father, You are the ^[x](DL)close companion of my ^(DM)youth?
^5 (DN)Will He be angry forever?
Will He keep it to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken
And have done evil things,
And you have ^[y]had your way.”

‘^[z](DX)Return, faithless Israel,’ declares Yahweh;
‘^(DY)I will not ^[aa]look upon you in anger.
For I am ^(DZ)One of lovingkindness,’ declares Yahweh;
‘I will not be angry forever.
¹³ Only ^[ab](EA)acknowledge your iniquity,
That you have transgressed against Yahweh your God
And have ^(EB)scattered your ways of harlotry to the strangers ^(EC)under every green tree,
And you have not listened to My voice,’ declares Yahweh.
¹⁴ ‘^[ac]Return, O faithless sons,’ declares Yahweh;
‘For I am a ^(ED)master to you,
And I will take you one from a city and two from a family,
And ^(EE)I will bring you to Zion.’

‘How I would set you among ^[ae]My sons
And give you a pleasant land,
The most ^(EP)beautiful inheritance of the nations!’
And I said, ‘You shall call Me, ^(EQ)“My Father,”
And not turn away from following Me.’
²⁰ Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her ^[af]lover,
So you have ^(ER)dealt treacherously with Me,
O house of Israel,” declares Yahweh.

4 “If you will ^(FA)return, O Israel,” declares Yahweh,
“Then you should return to Me.
And ^(FB)if you will put away your detested things from My presence
And will not waver
² And you will ^(FC)swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’
^(FD)In truth, in justice, and in righteousness;
Then the ^(FE)nations will ^[ah]be blessed in Him,
And ^(FF)in Him they will boast.”

“^[ai](FG)Break up your fallow ground,
And ^(FH)do not sow among thorns.
^4 (FI)Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh
And remove the foreskins of your heart,
Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Lest My ^(FJ)wrath go forth like fire
And burn with ^(FK)none to quench it
Because of the evil of your deeds.”

⁵ Declare in Judah and make it heard in Jerusalem and say,
“^(FL)Blow the trumpet in the land;
Call out, make your voice full, and say,
‘^(FM)Gather yourselves, and let us go
Into the fortified cities.’
⁶ Lift up a ^(FN)standard toward Zion!
Seek safety, do not stand still,
For I am bringing ^(FO)evil from the north,
And great destruction.
⁷ A ^(FP)lion has gone up from his thicket,
And a ^(FQ)destroyer of nations has set out;
He has gone out from his place
To ^(FR)make your land a desolation.
Your cities will be turned into ruins
Without inhabitant.
⁸ For this, ^(FS)I gird myself with sackcloth,
Lament and wail;
For the ^(FT)burning anger of Yahweh
Has not turned back from us.”

¹³ Behold, he ^(FZ)goes up like clouds,
And his ^(GA)chariots like the whirlwind;
His horses are ^(GB)swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for ^(GC)we are devastated!”

^19 (GL)My ^[am]soul, my ^[an]soul! I am in anguish! ^[ao]Oh, my heart!
My ^(GM)heart is pounding in me;
I cannot be silent
Because ^[ap]you have heard, O my soul,
The ^(GN)sound of the trumpet,
The shout of war.
^20 (GO)Destruction upon destruction is called out,
For the ^(GP)whole land is devastated;
Suddenly my ^(GQ)tents are devastated,
My curtains in an instant.
²¹ How long must I see the standard
And hear the sound of the trumpet?
²² “^(GR)For My people are ignorant fools,
They know Me not;
They are simpleminded children
And have no understanding.
They are wise to ^(GS)do evil,
But to do good they do not know.”

“The ^(GX)whole land shall be a desolation,
Yet I will ^(GY)not execute a complete destruction.
²⁸ For this the ^(GZ)earth shall mourn
And the ^(HA)heavens above be dark
Because I have ^(HB)spoken; I have purposed,
And I will not ^[at]relent, nor will I turn from it.”
²⁹ At the sound of the horseman and bowman ^(HC)every city flees;
They ^(HD)go into the thickets and climb up among the rocks;
^(HE)Every city is forsaken,
And no man inhabits them.
³⁰ And you, O devastated one, ^(HF)what will you do?
Although you dress in scarlet,
Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold,
Although you ^(HG)enlarge your eyes with paint,
In vain you make yourself beautiful.
Your ^[au](HH)lovers despise you;
They seek your life.
³¹ For I heard a sound as of a woman in labor pains,
The distress as of one giving birth to her first child,
The sound of the daughter of Zion ^(HI)gasping for breath,
^(HJ)Stretching out her ^[av]hands, saying,
“Ah, woe is me, for my soul faints before murderers.”

5 “^(HK)Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
And see now and know,
And seek in her open squares,
If you can ^(HL)find a man,
^(HM)If there is one who does justice, who seeks faithfulness,
Then I will pardon her.
² And ^(HN)if they say, ‘As Yahweh lives,’
Then they swear to a lie.”
³ O Yahweh, do not ^(HO)Your eyes look for faithfulness?
You have ^(HP)struck them,
But they did not ^[aw]weaken;
You have consumed them,
But they ^(HQ)refused to receive discipline.
They have ^(HR)made their faces stronger than rock;
They have refused to ^[ax]repent.

“Because you have spoken this word,
Behold, I am ^(IK)making My words in your mouth fire
And this people wood, and it will devour them.
¹⁵ Behold, I am ^(IL)bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,” declares Yahweh.
“It is an enduring nation;
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose ^(IM)tongue you do not know,
Nor can you ^[ba]understand what they say.
¹⁶ Their ^(IN)quiver is like an ^(IO)open grave;
All of them are mighty men.
¹⁷ They will ^(IP)devour your harvest and your food;
They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds;
They will devour your ^(IQ)vines and your fig trees;
They will demolish with the sword your ^(IR)fortified cities in which you trust.

²⁰ “Declare this in the house of Jacob
And cause it to be heard in Judah, saying,
²¹ ‘Now hear this, O people who are simpleminded fools and without a heart of wisdom,
Who have ^(IU)eyes but do not see,
Who have ears but do not hear.
²² Do you not ^(IV)fear Me?’ declares Yahweh.
‘Do you not tremble in My presence?
For I have ^(IW)placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,
A perpetual statute, so it cannot cross over it.
Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.
²³ But this people has a ^(IX)stubborn and rebellious heart;
They have turned aside and gone away.
²⁴ They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear Yahweh our God,
Who ^(IY)gives rain in its season,
Both ^(IZ)the ^[bc]early rain and the ^[bd]late rain,
Who keeps for us
The ^(JA)appointed weeks of the harvest.”
²⁵ Your ^(JB)iniquities have turned these away,
And your sins have withheld good from you.
²⁶ For wicked men are found among My people;
They ^(JC)watch like fowlers ^[be]lying in wait;
They set a ^[bf]trap;
They catch men.
²⁷ Like a cage full of birds,
So their houses are full of ^(JD)deceit;
Therefore they have become great and rich.
²⁸ They are ^(JE)fat, they are sleek;
They also ^[bg]excel in deeds of evil;
They do not plead the cause,
The cause of the ^[bh](JF)orphan, that they may succeed;
And they do not ^[bi]render justice for the poor.
^29 (JG)Shall I not punish ^[bj]these people?’ declares Yahweh,
‘On a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?’

^2 (B)How long, O ^[b]Yahweh, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do ^(C)not save.
³ Why do You make me ^(D)see wickedness
And cause me to look on trouble?
Indeed, ^(E)devastation and violence are before me;
^(F)And there is strife, and contention is lifted up.
⁴ Therefore the ^(G)law is ^[c]ignored,
And justice never comes forth.
For the wicked ^(H)surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes forth ^(I)perverted.

⁵ “^(J)See among the nations! And look!
Be also astonished! ^(K)Be astounded!
Because I am doing ^(L)something in your days—
You would not believe if it was recounted to you.
⁶ For behold, I am ^(M)raising up the Chaldeans,
That bitter and hasty nation
Who walks on the breadth of the land
To ^(N)possess dwelling places which are not theirs.
⁷ They are dreaded and ^(O)feared;
Their ^(P)justice and exaltation come forth from themselves.
⁸ Their ^(Q)horses are swifter than leopards
And ^[d]sharper than ^(R)wolves in the evening.
Their ^[e]horsemen come galloping;
Their horsemen come from afar;
They fly like an ^(S)eagle swooping down to devour.
⁹ All of them come for violence.
^[f]Their horde of ^(T)faces moves forward.
And they gather captives like sand.
¹⁰ And they ^(U)mock at kings,
And rulers are a laughing matter to them.
They ^(V)laugh at every fortress
And ^(W)heap up dirt and capture it.
¹¹ Then they will sweep through like the ^(X)wind and pass on.
But they will be held ^(Y)guilty,
They whose ^(Z)power is their god.”

¹² Are You not from ^(AA)everlasting,
O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
You, O Yahweh, have ^(AB)placed them to judge;
And You, O ^(AC)Rock, have established them to reprove.
¹³ Your eyes are too ^(AD)pure to see evil,
And You cannot look on trouble.
Why do You ^(AE)look
On those who deal ^(AF)treacherously?
Why are You ^(AG)silent when the wicked ^(AH)swallow up
Those more righteous than they?
¹⁴ And You have made men like the fish of the sea,
Like creeping things without a ruler over them.
¹⁵ The Chaldeans ^(AI)bring all of them up with a hook,
^(AJ)Drag them away with their net,
And gather them together in their fishing net.
Therefore they are glad and rejoice.
¹⁶ Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net
And ^[g]burn incense to their fishing net
Because through ^(AK)these things their portion is rich
And their food is fat.
¹⁷ Will they therefore empty their ^(AL)net
And continually ^(AM)kill nations without sparing?