Bible in 90 Days

“At last the oppressor is stilled,
his arrogance is ended!
⁵ Adonai has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers,
⁶ which furiously struck down peoples
with unceasing blows,
angrily beating down nations
with relentless persecution.
⁷ The whole earth is at rest and quiet.
They break into song.
⁸ The cypresses rejoice over you,
with the cedars of the L’vanon —
‘Now that you are laid low,
no one comes to cut us down.’

⁹ “Sh’ol below is stirred up
to meet you when you come.
It awakens for you the ghosts of the dead
who were leaders on earth;
it makes all the kings of the nations
arise from their thrones.
¹⁰ They all greet you with these words:
‘Now you are as weak as we are,
you have become like us!
¹¹ Your pride has been brought down to Sh’ol
with the music of your lyres,
under you a mattress of maggots,
over you a blanket of worms.’

¹² “How did you come to fall from the heavens,
morning star, son of the dawn?
How did you come to be cut to the ground,
conqueror of nations?
¹³ You thought to yourself, ‘I will scale the heavens,
I will raise my throne above God’s stars.
I will sit on the Mount of Assembly
far away in the north.
¹⁴ I will rise past the tops of the clouds,
I will make myself like the Most High.’

¹⁵ “Instead you are brought down to Sh’ol,
to the uttermost depths of the pit.
¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you,
reflecting on what has become of you:
‘Is this the man who shook the earth,
who made kingdoms tremble,
¹⁷ who made the world a desert,
who destroyed its cities,
who would not set his prisoners free?’

¹⁸ “All other kings of the nations, all of them,
lie in glory, each in his tomb.
¹⁹ But you are discarded, unburied,
like a loathed branch,
clothed like the slain who were pierced by the sword,
then fall to the stones inside a pit,
like a corpse to be trampled underfoot.
²⁰ You will not be joined with those kings in the grave,
because you destroyed your own land,
you have brought death to your own people.
The descendants of evildoers will be utterly forgotten.
²¹ Get ready to slaughter his sons
for the iniquity of their fathers;
so they won’t arise, take over the earth
and cover the world with their cities.”

²² “I will arise against them,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
“I will cut off from Bavel name and remnant,
offshoot and offspring,” says Adonai.
²³ “I will make it a haunt for hedgehogs,
it will become a swampy waste,
I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.

²⁴ Adonai-Tzva’ot has sworn,
“Just as I thought it, it will occur;
just as I planned it, so it will be.
²⁵ I will break Ashur in my land,
I will trample him down on my mountains.
Then his yoke will fall off them,
his burden be removed from their shoulders.”

²⁶ This is the program planned for all the earth,
this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.
²⁷ Adonai-Tzva’ot has made his decision.
Who is there that can stop him?
He has stretched out his hand.
Who can turn it back?

²⁸ In the year that King Achaz died, this prophecy came:

²⁹ Do not rejoice, P’leshet, any of you,
that the rod which struck you is broken;
for out of the snake’s root will come a viper,
and his offspring will be a flying fiery serpent.
³⁰ While the firstborn of the poor graze
and the needy lie down in safety,
I will kill off your root with famine
and slaughter the rest of you.
³¹ Howl, gate! Cry, city!
Melt away, P’leshet, all of you!
For a smoke is coming from the north,
with not a straggler in its ranks.
³² And what is one to answer
the messengers of the nation?
That Adonai founded Tziyon,
and there the poor of his people will find refuge.

15 This is a prophecy about Mo’av:

The night ‘Ar is sacked, Mo’av is ruined.
The night Kir is sacked, Mo’av is ruined.
² He went up to the temple,
to Dibon and to the high places, to weep.
On N’vo and Meidva Mo’av is howling,
every head shaved bald, every beard cut off.
³ In the streets they wear sackcloth;
on their roofs and in their squares,
everyone howls and weeps profusely.
⁴ Heshbon and El‘aleh cry out,
they are heard as far as Yachatz.
Mo’av’s best troops cry aloud,
as their courage faints away.
⁵ My heart cries out for Mo’av!
Its fugitives flee to Tzo‘ar,
a calf three years old.
They ascend the slope of Luchit,
weeping as they go;
on their way to Horonayim,
they utter heartrending cries.
⁶ The waters of Nimrim are desolate,
the grass is dried up, the new growth fails,
nothing green is left.
⁷ Therefore they carry away their wealth,
everything they have put aside,
across the Vadi of the Willows.
⁸ For the cry has circulated
throughout Mo’av’s territory —
its howling has reached Eglayim,
its howling has reached Be’er-Elim.
⁹ For the waters of Dimon are full of blood,
yet I have worse in store for Dimon —
a lion for those who escape from Mo’av
and for those who remain in its land.

16 Send lambs for the ruler of the land
from the crags toward the desert
to the mountain of the daughter of Tziyon.
² The daughters of Mo’av at the fords of the Arnon
are like fluttering birds pushed from the nest.
³ “Give [us] counsel! Decide [to help]!
Make your shadow [over us]
like night in the middle of noonday.
Hide [our] outcasts! Don’t betray [our] fugitives!
⁴ Let our outcasts live with you!
Protect Mo’av from the attacks of robbers!”

For when the extorting ends, the spoiling ceases,
and those trampling on the land are destroyed,
⁵ a throne will be set up by grace,
and on it, in the tent of David,
will sit an honest judge,
seeking justice and pursuing righteousness.

⁶ We have heard about Mo’av’s pride,
how very proud they are;
about their haughty arrogance,
their insolence and bravado.
⁷ Therefore Mo’av will wail for Mo’av —
they will all wail!
You will sigh, stricken by grief,
for the raisin-cakes of Kir-Hareset.
⁸ For the grainfields of Heshbon are withering,
also the vineyards of Sibmah,
whose red grapes overpowered rulers of nations —
once they reached as far as Ya‘zer
and trailed out into the desert;
their spreading branches even crossed the sea.
⁹ Therefore I will weep for Sibmah’s vine
as I weep for Ya‘zer;
I will water you with my tears,
Heshbon and El‘aleh;
because the shouts of battle are falling
on your summer fruits and harvest;
¹⁰ gladness and joy are removed
from the fruitful fields.
No revelry in the vineyards,
no happy shouting,
no one treading grapes in the wine presses —
I have silenced the vintage-cheers.
¹¹ This is why my heart throbs
like a lyre for Mo’av,
and everything in me
for Kir-Heres.
¹² Even when Mo’av is seen growing weary
of worshipping on the high places
and entering their sanctuaries to pray,
they will have accomplished nothing.

“Dammesek will soon stop being a city;
it will become a heap of ruins.
² The cities of ‘Aro‘er will be abandoned,
given over to flocks lying down undisturbed.
³ Efrayim will have no defenses,
Dammesek will cease to rule,
and Aram’s survivors will share the fate
of Isra’el’s finest sons,”

says Adonai-Tzva’ot.

⁴ “When that day comes, Ya‘akov’s glory will wane,
and his full body grow thin,
⁵ as when the harvester collects the standing grain,
reaping the ears of grain with his arm;
yes, as when they glean the grain
in the Refa’im Valley.
⁶ Yet gleanings will be left,
as when beating an olive tree —
two or three olives at the very top,
four or five on its fruitful branches,”

says Adonai, the God of Isra’el.

⁷ On that day, a person will heed his Maker
and turn his eyes toward the Holy One of Isra’el.
⁸ He will pay no heed to the altars
made with his own hands,
he will not turn toward what his fingers made,
the sacred poles and standing-stones for sun-worship.
⁹ When that day comes, his strong cities,
which others abandoned when Isra’el advanced,
will be like abandoned woods and forests;
they will be laid waste.
¹⁰ For you have forgotten the God who saved you,
failed to remember the Rock of your strength;
so you plant pagan-style gardens
and set out vine-cuttings for a foreign god.
¹¹ Though you make them grow on the day you plant them,
and in the morning your seedlings flower;
the crop will vanish the day disease comes,
a day of incurable pain.

¹² Oh, the terror-stricken uproar of many peoples,
roaring like the roar of the seas,
and the rushing about of nations,
rushing and surging like wild, wild waters!
¹³ Yes, the nations will roar like the mighty ocean,
but he will rebuke them, and far will they flee,
driven like chaff by a mountain wind,
like whirling dust in advance of the storm.
¹⁴ As evening falls, you can see terror;
before sunrise, they have ceased to be.
This is the lot of those who plunder us,
the fate of those who prey on us.

18 Woe to the land of whirring wings
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;
² they send ambassadors by sea,
across the water in papyrus-reed boats!
Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and bronzed,
to a people feared far and near,
to a strong and conquering nation
whose land is divided by rivers!

³ All you inhabitants of the world,
you who live on the earth:
when a banner is hoisted on the mountains, look!
When the shofar is blown, listen!
⁴ For Adonai has said this to me:
“I will look on from my place and do nothing,
like heat shimmering in the sun,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
⁵ For before the harvest, when the flowering is over,
and the bud becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the branches with pruning-knives,
lop off the twigs and take them away.
⁶ They will all be left to the vultures in the mountains
and to the wild animals in the fields;
the vultures will feed on them in summer,
and the wild animals of the fields in winter.
⁷ At that time tribute will be brought
to Adonai-Tzva’ot
from a nation tall and bronzed,
from a people feared far and near,
from a strong and conquering nation
whose land is divided by rivers,
to the place where the name of Adonai-Tzva’ot
lives, Mount Tziyon.

19 This is a prophecy about Egypt:

Look! Adonai is riding a swift cloud,
on his way to Egypt.
Before him Egypt’s idols tremble,
Egypt’s courage melts within them.

² “I will incite Egypt against Egypt,
brother will fight against brother,
friend against friend, city against city,
kingdom against kingdom.
³ The courage of Egypt will ebb away within it,
I will reduce its counsel to confusion.
They will consult idols and mediums,
ghosts and spirits.
⁴ I will hand over the Egyptians to a cruel master.
A harsh king will rule them,”

says the Lord, Adonai-Tzva’ot.

⁵ The water will ebb from the sea,
the river will be drained dry.
⁶ The rivers will become foul,
the canals of Egypt’s Nile will dwindle and dry up,
the reeds and rushes will wither.
⁷ The river-plants on the banks of the Nile
and everything sown near the Nile
will dry up, blow away and be no more.
⁸ Fishermen too will lament,
all who cast hooks in the Nile will mourn,
those who spread nets on the water lose heart.
⁹ The linen-workers will be in despair,
along with the weavers of white cotton;
¹⁰ the spinners will be crushed,
the hired workers dejected.

¹¹ The princes of Tzo‘an are utter fools,
Pharaoh’s wisest counselors give stupid advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I’m a sage, descended from kings of old.”
¹² Where are they, then, those sages of yours?
Let them tell you, so all can know
what Adonai-Tzva’ot has planned against Egypt!
¹³ The princes of Tzo‘an have been fooled,
the princes of Nof have been duped,
Egypt’s clan chiefs have led her astray.
¹⁴ Adonai has mixed up their minds
with a spirit that distorts judgment,
so they make Egypt stagger in whatever she does,
like a drunk staggering in his vomit.
¹⁵ Nobody in Egypt
will find work to do —
neither head nor tail,
neither [tall] palm frond nor [lowly] reed.

²¹ Adonai will make himself known to Egypt;
on that day, the Egyptians will know Adonai.
They will worship him with sacrifices and offerings,
they will make vows to Adonai and keep them.
²² Yet Adonai will strike Egypt, both striking and healing,
so they will return to Adonai.
He will listen to their prayers,
and he will heal them.

²³ On that day there will be a highway
from Egypt to Ashur.
Ashur will come to Egypt and Egypt to Ashur,
and Egypt will worship with Ashur.
²⁴ On that day Isra’el will be a third partner
with Egypt and Ashur, a blessing here on earth;
²⁵ for Adonai-Tzva’ot has blessed him:
“Blessed be Egypt my people,
Ashur the work of my hands
and Isra’el my heritage.”

“Just as my servant Yesha‘yahu
has gone about unclothed and barefoot
for three years as a sign and portent
against Egypt and Ethiopia,
⁴ so will the king of Ashur lead away
the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia,
young and old, unclothed and barefoot,
with their buttocks exposed, to the shame of Egypt.
⁵ They will be dismayed and ashamed
because of Ethiopia their hope and Egypt their pride.
⁶ On that day, the people living
along this coast will say,
‘Look what happened to the people
to whom we fled for help,
hoping they would rescue us
from the king of Ashur!
How will we escape now?’”

21 A prophecy about the coastal desert:

Like whirlwinds sweeping over the Negev,
it comes from the desert, from a fearsome land.
² A dire vision has been shown to me:
the betrayer betrays, and the spoiler spoils.
‘Eilam, advance! Madai, lay siege!
I will end all groaning.
³ This is why my insides are racked with pain;
I am seized by pangs, like a woman in labor;
wrenched by what I hear,
aghast at what I see.
⁴ My mind reels, shuddering assails me.
The twilight I longed for terrifies me.
⁵ They set the table, light the lamps,
eat and drink —
“Get going, princes! Oil the shields!”
⁶ For this is what Adonai said to me:
“Go, post a watchman to report what he sees!
⁷ If he sees the cavalry, horsemen in pairs,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
he must be on alert, on full alert!”
⁸ He calls out like a lion: “My lord,
I stand on the watchtower all day long,
I stay at my post all night.”
⁹ Then, as they appeared — the cavalry,
horsemen in pairs — he spoke these words:
“She has fallen! She has fallen — Bavel!
All the carved images of her gods
lie shattered on the ground.”
¹⁰ My people, who have been threshed,
grain trodden down on my threshing-floor:
I am telling you what I have heard
from Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el.

¹¹ A prophecy about Dumah:

Someone is calling to me from Se‘ir:
“Watchman, how much longer is it night?
Watchman, how much longer is it night?”
¹² The watchman answers:
“Morning is coming, but also the night.
If you want to ask, ask! Come back again!”

¹³ A prophecy about Arabia:

You caravans of D’danim will camp
in the desert growth of Arabia.
¹⁴ Bring water to the thirsty, you who live in Teima,
greet the fugitives with food;
¹⁵ because they are fleeing the sword, the drawn sword,
the bent bow and the press of battle.

Tell me what is wrong with you,
that you have all gone up on the roofs.
² You city full of noise, confusion
and boisterous excitement,
your slain did not fall to the sword,
nor did they die in battle.
³ All your leaders fled together
and were captured without the use of a bow;
all from you who were found were captured,
even though they had fled far away.
⁴ This is why I said, “Don’t look at me,
leave me alone to weep bitterly,
don’t try to comfort me
over the destruction of my people.”
⁵ For it is a day of panic,
trampling and confusion
from Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot
in the Valley of Vision.
With walls crashing down,
they cry for help to the mountains.
⁶ ‘Eilam picks up the quivers,
with cavalry and horsemen,
and Kir uncovers the shields.
⁷ In time, your choicest valleys
are overrun by chariots,
and the cavalry take their posts by the gate;
⁸ thus is Y’hudah’s protection removed.

That day you looked for the armor
in the House of the Forest.
⁹ You saw how many breaches there were
in the City of David,
you collected water from the lower pool,
¹⁰ you surveyed the houses in Yerushalayim,
tearing some down to fortify the wall.
¹¹ You also built a reservoir between the two walls
for the water from the Old Pool;
but you didn’t look to Him who made these things;
you had no respect for Him who fashioned them long ago.

¹² That day Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot
called on you to weep and mourn,
to shave your heads and wear sackcloth;
¹³ but instead, one sees joy and celebrating,
killing of oxen, slaughtering of sheep,
eating of meat, drinking of wine —
“Let’s eat and drink now,
because tomorrow we’ll be dead!”

¹⁴ Then Adonai-Tzva’ot revealed himself in my ears: “You will not atone for this iniquity until you die.” This is what Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot says.

¹⁶ ‘What do you own here,
and who gave you the right
to cut yourself a tomb here?
Why do you get such an eminent tomb?
Why are you carving a resting-place
for yourself in the rock?’”

¹⁷ Look, strong man! Adonai is about
to throw you out! He will grab you,
¹⁸ roll you up, and toss you around
like a ball in the open country.
There you will die, with your fancy chariots,
you disgrace to your master’s palace!

¹⁹ “I will remove you from your office,
I will snatch you from your post.
²⁰ When that day comes, I will summon
my servant Elyakim the son of Hilkiyahu.
²¹ I will dress him in your robe,
gird him with your sash of office,
and invest him with your authority.
He will be a father to the people
living in Yerushalayim
and to the house of Y’hudah.
²² I will place the key of David’s house
on his shoulder;
no one will shut what he opens;
no one will open what he shuts.

Howl, you “Tarshish” ships,
because the harbor is destroyed!
On returning from Kittim,
they discover they cannot enter it.
² Silence, you who live on the coast,
you who have been enriched
by the merchants of Tzidon crossing the sea.
³ By the great water the grain of Shichor,
the harvest of the Nile, brought you profits.
She was marketplace for the nations.
⁴ Shame, Tzidon, for the sea speaks;
the fortress of the sea says,
“I no longer have labor pains or bear children,
yet I have raised neither boys nor girls.”
⁵ When the report reaches Egypt,
they will be in anguish at the fate of Tzor.

⁶ Cross over to Tarshish!
Howl, you who live on the coast!
⁷ Is this your boisterous city,
whose feet long ago in antiquity
carried her off to found distant colonies?
⁸ Who planned this against Tzor,
the city that once bestowed crowns,
whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are honored throughout the earth?
⁹ Adonai-Tzva’ot planned it
to break the pride of all the arrogant,
to humiliate all those who are honored
everywhere on earth.
¹⁰ People of Tarshish!
Nothing restricts you now.
You can flow freely over your land
just like the Nile River.

¹¹ He has stretched out his hand against the sea,
he has shaken kingdoms;
Adonai has ordered that Kena‘an’s
fortresses be destroyed.
¹² He has said, “Exult no more,
oppressed virgin daughter of Tzidon.
Arise, cross to Kittim;
even there you will find no rest.”

¹³ Look at the land of the Kasdim!
This was the people who did not exist
when Ashur destined it for desert creatures.
They erected their siege towers
and tore down her palaces,
so that it has been made a ruin.
¹⁴ Howl, you “Tarshish” ships,
because your fortress is destroyed.

¹⁶ “Take a lyre, walk the city,
you poor, forgotten whore!
Play sweetly, sing all your songs,
so that they will remember you!”

24 Look! Adonai is stripping
and destroying the land,
turning it upside down
and scattering its inhabitants —
² cohen and commoner, slave and master,
maid and mistress, buyer and seller,
lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.
³ The land will be completely stripped,
completely plundered,
for Adonai has spoken this word.
⁴ The land fades and withers,
the world wilts and withers,
the exalted of the land languish.
⁵ The land lies defiled under its inhabitants;
because they have transgressed the teachings,
changed the law
and broken the everlasting covenant.
⁶ Therefore a curse is devouring the land,
and its inhabitants are punished for their guilt.
It is why those living there waste away,
and the people left are few.
⁷ The new wine fails, the vines wilt,
all the revelers sigh,
⁸ the happy sound of tambourines ceases,
the shouts of merrymakers are stilled,
the joy of the lyre ends.
⁹ They no longer sing as they drink their wine,
strong liquor tastes bitter to those drinking it.
¹⁰ The city of chaos is shattered,
every house closed up; no one can enter.
¹¹ In the streets they are crying over the wine;
all joy has faded, cheer has left the land.
¹² In the city, only desolation,
its gates are battered beyond repair.

¹³ Around the earth, among the peoples,
it will be as when beating an olive tree,
as when gleaning the grapes at the end of the harvest.
¹⁴ They lift their voices, singing for joy,
shouting from the west to honor Adonai.
¹⁵ So in the east, honor Adonai ;
in the coastlands, honor the name of Adonai,
the God of Isra’el.
¹⁶ From the farthest part of the earth
we have heard them sing,
“Glory to the Righteous One!”

But, I say, I’m wasting away,
I am wasting away!
Woe to me! Traitors betray!
Oh, how the traitors betray and betray!
¹⁷ Terror, pit and trap are upon you,
you who are living on earth.
¹⁸ He who flees at the sound of terror
will fall into the pit.
He who climbs up out of the pit
will be caught in the trap.
For the windows above have been opened,
and the earth’s foundations shake.
¹⁹ The earth cracks and breaks open,
the earth crumbles to pieces,
the earth trembles and totters.
²⁰ The earth staggers to and fro like a drunk,
sways back and forth like a watchman’s shelter;
its transgression weighs heavy upon it;
it will fall and not rise again.
²¹ When that day comes, Adonai will punish
the armies of the high heaven on high,
and the kings of the earth here on earth.
²² They will be assembled like prisoners in a dungeon
and shut up in prison to be punished many years.
²³ Then the moon will be confused and the sun ashamed,
for Adonai-Tzva’ot will rule on Mount Tziyon
and in Yerushalayim,
with his glory manifest to the rulers of his people.

² For you have made a city a heap of stones,
turned a fortified city into rubble,
made the foreigners’ fortress
a city that will never be rebuilt.
³ Therefore mighty peoples glorify you,
the city of ruthless nations fears you.
⁴ For you have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in distress,
shelter from the storm,
shade from the heat —
for the blast from the ruthless
was like a storm that could destroy a wall.
⁵ Like desert heat, you subdue
the foreigners’ uproar;
like heat subdued by a cloud’s shadow,
the song of the ruthless dies away.

⁶ On this mountain Adonai-Tzva’ot
will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food and superb wines,
delicious, rich food and superb, elegant wines.
⁷ On this mountain he will destroy
the veil which covers the face of all peoples,
the veil enshrouding all the nations.
⁸ He will swallow up death forever.
Adonai Elohim will wipe away
the tears from every face,
and he will remove from all the earth
the disgrace his people suffer.
For Adonai has spoken.

⁹ On that day they will say,
“See! This is our God!
We waited for him to save us.
This is Adonai ; we put our hope in him.
We are full of joy, so glad he saved us!”
¹⁰ For on this mountain
the hand of Adonai will rest.

But Mo’av will be trampled down where they are,
like straw trampled into a pile of manure.
¹¹ They will spread out their hands in Mo’av,
like a swimmer using his hands to tread water;
but their pride will be humbled and sunk,
no matter how clever the strokes of their hands.
¹² Your high, fortified walls he will level,
strike to the ground, lay in the dust.

26 On that day this song will be sung
in the land of Y’hudah:
“We have a strong city!
He has built walls and ramparts for our safety.
² Open the gates! Let the righteous nation enter,
a nation that keeps faith!
³ “A person whose desire rests on you
you preserve in perfect peace,
because he trusts in you.
⁴ Trust in Adonai forever,
because in Yah Adonai,
is a Rock of Ages.”

⁵ For he has humbled those in high places,
levelling the lofty city,
levelling it to the ground,
laying it in the dust.
⁶ It is trampled underfoot by the feet of the poor,
by the footsteps of the needy.

⁷ The way of the righteous is level;
Righteous One, you smooth the path for the righteous.
⁸ Following the way of your judgments,
we put our hope in you.
The desire of all our soul
is to remember you and your name.
⁹ My soul desires you at night,
my spirit in me seeks you at dawn;
for when your judgments are here on earth,
the people in the world learn what righteousness is.
¹⁰ Even if pity is shown to the wicked,
he still doesn’t learn what righteousness is.
In a land of uprightness he will still act wrongly
and fail to see the majesty of Adonai.
¹¹ Adonai, you raised your hand,
but they still didn’t see.
Yet with shame they will see your zeal for the people.
Yes, fire will destroy your enemies.
¹² Adonai, you will grant us peace;
because all we have done, you have done for us.
¹³ Adonai our God, other lords
besides you have ruled us,
but only you do we invoke
by name.
¹⁴ The dead will not live again,
the ghosts will not rise again;
for you punished and destroyed them,
wiped out all memory of them.
¹⁵ You enlarged the nation, Adonai,
you enlarged the nation;
and thus you glorified yourself;
you extended all the frontiers of the country.
¹⁶ Adonai, when they were troubled,
they sought you.
When you chastened them,
they poured out a silent prayer.
¹⁷ As a pregnant woman about to give birth
cries out and writhes in her labor pains,
so we have been at your presence, Adonai —
¹⁸ we have been pregnant and been in pain.
But we, as it were, have given birth to wind;
we have not brought salvation to the land,
and those inhabiting the world have not come to life.
¹⁹ Your dead will live, my corpses will rise;
awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust;
for your dew is like the morning dew,
and the earth will bring the ghosts to life.

²⁰ Come, my people, enter your rooms,
and shut your doors behind you.
Hide yourselves for a little while
until the wrath is past.
²¹ For see! Adonai emerges from his place
to punish those on earth for their sin.
Then the earth will reveal the blood shed on it
and no longer conceal its slain.

27 On that day Adonai,
with his great, strong, relentless sword,
will punish Livyatan the fleeing serpent,
the twisting serpent Livyatan;
he will slay the sea monster.

² On that day, a pleasant vineyard —
sing about it!

³ “I, Adonai, guard it.
Moment to moment I water it.
So that no harm will come to it,
I guard it night and day.
⁴ I have no anger in me.
If it gives me briars and thorns,
then, as in war, I will trample it down
and burn it up at once;
⁵ unless it takes hold of my strength,
in order to make peace with me,
yes, to make peace with me.”

⁶ The time is coming when Ya‘akov will take root;
Isra’el will bud and flower,
and fill the whole world with a harvest.
⁷ [Adonai] will not strike Isra’el,
as he did others who struck Isra’el;
he will not kill them,
as he did the others.
⁸ Your controversy with her is fully resolved
by sending her [into exile].
He removes her with a rough gust of wind
on a day when it’s blowing from the east.
⁹ So the iniquity of Ya‘akov is atoned for by this,
and removing his sin produces this result:
he chops up all the altar stones like chalk —
sacred poles and sun-pillars stand no more.
¹⁰ For the fortified city is alone,
abandoned and deserted, like the desert.
Calves graze and lie down there,
stripping its branches bare.
¹¹ When its harvest dries up, it is broken off;
women come and set it on fire.
For this is a people without understanding.
Therefore he who made them will not pity them,
he who formed them will show them no mercy.

¹² On that day Adonai will beat out the grain
between the Euphrates River and the Vadi of Egypt;
and you will be gathered, one by one,
people of Isra’el!

¹³ On that day a great shofar will sound.
Those lost in the land of Ashur will come,
also those scattered through the land of Egypt;
and they will worship Adonai
on the holy mountain in Yerushalayim.

28 Woe to the haughty crown of Efrayim’s drunks,
to the fading flower of its proud splendor,
located at the head of the rich valley
belonging to people overcome by wine!
² Adonai has someone strong and powerful.
He comes like a hailstorm, a destructive tempest,
like a flood of water, rushing, overwhelming;
with his hand he hurls them to the ground.
³ The haughty crown of Efrayim’s drunks
is trampled underfoot;
⁴ and the fading flower of its proud splendor,
located at the head of the rich valley,
is like the first ripe fig of summer —
whoever sees it picks and eats it.
⁵ On that day, Adonai-Tzva’ot
will be a glorious crown,
a brilliant diadem
for the remnant of his people.
⁶ He will also be a spirit of justice
for whoever sits as a judge,
and a source of strength for those
repelling enemy attacks at the gate.

⁷ But there are others reeling from wine,
staggering about because of strong liquor;
cohen and prophet reel from strong liquor,
they are confused by wine.
Led astray by strong liquor,
they err in their visions and stumble when judging.
⁸ All tables are covered with vomit and feces,
not a single place is clean.
⁹ Can no one be taught anything?
Can no one understand the message?
Must one teach barely weaned toddlers,
babies just taken from the breast,
¹⁰ so that [one has to use nursery rhymes]? —
Tzav la-tzav, tzav la-tzav,
kav la-kav, kav la-kav
z‘eir sham, z‘eir sham
[Precept by precept, precept by precept,
line by line, line by line,
a little here, a little there].
¹¹ So with stammering lips, in a foreign accent,
[Adonai] will speak to this people.
¹² He once told this people, “It’s time to rest,
the exhausted can rest, now you can relax” —
but they wouldn’t listen.
¹³ So now the word of Adonai for them comes
“precept by precept, precept by precept,
line by line, line by line,
a little here, a little there,”
so that when they walk, they stumble backward,
and are broken, trapped and captured!
¹⁴ So listen to the word of Adonai, you scoffers,
composing taunts for this people in Yerushalayim:

¹⁵ Because you said, “We made a covenant with death,
we made a contract with Sh’ol.
When the raging flood passes through,
it will not touch us.
For we have made lies our refuge
and hid ourselves in falsehoods” —

¹⁶ therefore here is what Adonai Elohim says:

“Look, I am laying in Tziyon
a tested stone, a costly cornerstone,
a firm foundation-stone;
he who trusts will not rush here and there.
¹⁷ I will make justice the plumbline
and righteousness the plumb-bob;
hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
water will overflow the hiding place,
¹⁸ your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your contract with Sh’ol will not stand.
When the raging flood passes through,
you will be trampled down by it.
¹⁹ As often as it passes through, it will take you,
for it will pass through every morning,
day after day, night after night;
understanding the message will be sheer terror.”

²⁰ For, [as the saying goes,]
“The bed is too short for a person to stretch,
and the blanket too narrow [to protect him from cold]
even if he crams himself in.”
²¹ For Adonai will arise, as at Mount P’ratzim,
and storm with rage, as in the Giv‘on Valley;
so he can do his deed, his strange deed,
and perform his task, his alien task.
²² Therefore, now, stop your scoffing,
or your bonds will be further tightened;
for I have heard from Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot
that destruction is decreed for the whole land.

²³ Listen and hear my voice;
pay attention, and hear what I say:
²⁴ Does a farmer sowing keep plowing forever?
Does he never stop breaking up and harrowing his land?
²⁵ No — when he finishes levelling it,
he scatters his dill-seed, sows his cumin,
puts wheat in rows, barley where it belongs,
and plants buckwheat around the edges;
²⁶ because his God has taught him this,
has given him instruction.
²⁷ Dill must not be threshed with a sledge
or cartwheels driven over cumin;
rather, dill one beats with a stick
and cumin with a flail.
²⁸ When crushing grain for bread,
one doesn’t thresh it forever;
one drives the horse and cart wheels over it
but doesn’t crush it to powder.
²⁹ This too comes from Adonai-Tzva’ot —
his counsel is wonderful, his wisdom great.