What the Bible Says About the Meaning of the Prophetic Books

Scripture

¹ The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
² Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.
³ The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
⁴ Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.
⁵ Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
⁶ From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.
⁷ Your country lies desolate;
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
foreigners devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
⁸ And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
⁹ If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.
¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
¹¹ “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.”
¹² “When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
¹³ Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me.
¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵ When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
¹⁶ Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
¹⁷ learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
¹⁸ “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
²⁰ but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
²¹ How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
²² Your silver has become dross,
your best wine mixed with water.
²³ Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.
²⁴ Therefore the Lord declares, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes.
²⁵ I will turn my hand against you
and will smelt away your dross as with lye
and remove all your alloy.
²⁶ And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
²⁷ Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
²⁸ But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
²⁹ For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen.
³⁰ For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers,
and like a garden without water.
³¹ The strong shall become tinder, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them.

Isaiah 1:1-31

Jeremiah 1:1-19: ¹ The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,
² to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
³ It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
⁶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”
⁷ But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
⁸ Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.
⁹ Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
¹⁰ See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
¹¹ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.”
¹² Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”
¹³ The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.”
¹⁴ Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land.”
¹⁵ “For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah.”
¹⁶ And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.
¹⁷ But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.
¹⁸ And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.
¹⁹ They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”

Ezekiel 1:1-28: ¹ In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
² On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin),
³ the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.
⁴ As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal.
⁵ And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness.
⁶ but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.
⁷ Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze.
⁸ Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands.
⁹ their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went.
¹⁰ As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle.
¹¹ Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies.
¹² And each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went.
¹³ As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
¹⁴ And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning.
¹⁵ Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them.
¹⁶ As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel.
¹⁷ When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went, but in whatever direction the front wheel faced, the others followed without turning as they went.
¹⁸ And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.
¹⁹ And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose.
²⁰ Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
²¹ When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
²² Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads.
²³ And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. Each creature had two wings covering its body.
²⁴ And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings.
²⁵ And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads when they stood still and let down their wings.
²⁶ And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance.
²⁷ And I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.
²⁸ Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Daniel 2:1-49: ¹ In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.
² Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.
³ And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.”
⁴ Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.”
⁵ The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.
⁶ But if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.”
⁷ They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.”
⁸ The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm—
⁹ if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.”
¹⁰ The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean.
¹¹ The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
¹² Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.
¹³ So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them.
¹⁴ Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.
¹⁵ He declared to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel.
¹⁶ And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.
¹⁷ Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions,
¹⁸ That they might seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
¹⁹ Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.
²⁰ Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.
²¹ He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;
²² he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
²³ To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.
²⁴ Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.”
²⁵ Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him: “I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.”
²⁶ The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?”
²⁷ Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked,”
²⁸ but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.
²⁹ To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be.
³⁰ But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.
³¹ You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening.
³² The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze,
³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
³⁴ As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.
³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
³⁶ This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation.
³⁷ You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory,
³⁸ And wherever the children of man dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens he has given into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.
³⁹ Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
⁴⁰ And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these.
⁴¹ And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay.
⁴² And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle.
⁴³ As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
⁴⁴ And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,
⁴⁵ just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.
⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him.
⁴⁷ The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”
⁴⁸ Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
⁴⁹ At Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

Hosea 1:1-11: ¹ The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
² When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”
³ So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
⁴ And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
⁵ And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.
⁶ She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.
⁷ But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.
⁸ When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son.
⁹ And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
¹⁰ Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”
¹¹ And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Joel 2:28-32: ²⁸ “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”
²⁹ Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
³⁰ “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.”
³¹ The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
³² And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Amos 3:1-15: ¹ Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:
² “You only have I known
of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
for all your iniquities.
³ “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?”
⁴ “Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing?”
⁵ Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing?
⁶ Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?
⁷ “For the Lord God does nothing
without revealing his secret
to his servants the prophets.
⁸ The lion has roared; who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?”
⁹ “Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, ‘Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great tumults within her, and the oppressed in her midst.’”
¹⁰ “They do not know how to do right,” declares the Lord, “those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.”
¹¹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: “An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered.”
¹² Thus says the Lord: “As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.
¹³ “Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord God, the God of hosts,
¹⁴ “that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions,
I will punish the altars of Bethel,
and the horns of the altar shall be cut off
and fall to the ground.
¹⁵ “I will strike the winter house along with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end,” declares the Lord.

Obadiah 1:1-21: ¹ The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!”
² Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised.
³ The pride of your heart has deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,
in your lofty dwelling,
who say in your heart,
“Who will bring me down to the ground?”
⁴ Though you soar aloft like the eagle,
though your nest is set among the stars,
from there I will bring you down,
declares the Lord.
⁵ “If thieves came to you, if plunderers came by night— how you have been destroyed!— would they not steal only enough for themselves? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?”
⁶ How Esau has been pillaged,
his treasures sought out!
⁷ All your allies have driven you to your border; those at peace with you have deceived you; they have prevailed against you; those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you— you have no understanding.
⁸ “Will I not on that day, declares the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau?”
⁹ And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.
¹⁰ Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob,
shame shall cover you,
and you shall be cut off forever.
¹¹ On the day that you stood aloof,
on the day that strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem,
you were like one of them.
¹² But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress.
¹³ Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity.
¹⁴ Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress.
¹⁵ For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.
¹⁶ For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been.
¹⁷ But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.
¹⁸ The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
and the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Esau stubble;
they shall burn them and consume them,
and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau,
for the Lord has spoken.
¹⁹ Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau,
and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines;
they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,
and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
²⁰ The exiles of this host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the Negeb.
²¹ Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.

Jonah 3:1-10: ¹ Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,
² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.”
³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.
⁴ Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
⁵ And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
⁶ The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
⁷ And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water,
⁸ but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
⁹ Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
¹⁰ When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Micah 5:1-15: ¹ Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.
² But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
³ Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.
⁴ And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
⁵ And he shall be their peace.
⁶ They shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod at its entrances;
and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian
when he comes into our land
and treads within our border.
⁷ Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which delay not for a man nor wait for the children of man.
⁸ And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.
⁹ Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries,
and all your enemies shall be cut off.
¹⁰ And in that day, declares the Lord,
I will cut off your horses from among you
and will destroy your chariots.
¹¹ And I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds.
¹² And I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;
¹³ Your carved images I will also cut off,
and your pillars from among you;
and you shall bow down no more
to the work of your hands.
¹⁴ And I will root out your Asherah images from among you and destroy your cities.
¹⁵ And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury on the nations that did not obey.

Nahum 1:1-15: ¹ The oracle of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.
² The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies.
³ The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
⁴ He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers.
⁵ The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it.
⁶ Who can stand before his indignation?
⁷ The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.
⁸ But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
⁹ What do you plot against the Lord? He will make a complete end; trouble will not rise up a second time.
¹⁰ For they are like entangled thorns, like drunkards as they drink; they are consumed like stubble fully dried.
¹¹ From you came one who plotted evil against the Lord, a worthless counselor.
¹² Thus says the Lord: “Though they are at full strength and many, they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.
¹³ And now I will break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds apart.”
¹⁴ And the Lord has given commandment about you: “No more shall your name be perpetuated; from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the metal image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.”
¹⁵ Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off.

Habakkuk 2:1-20: ¹ I will take my stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and look out to see what he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
² And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.
³ For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.
⁴ “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.”
⁵ “Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough; he gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.”
⁶ Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!”
⁷ Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble?
⁸ Because you have plundered many nations,
all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
⁹ Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm!
¹⁰ You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life.
¹¹ For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond.
¹² “Woe to him who builds a town with blood
and founds a city on iniquity!
¹³ Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing?
¹⁴ For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
¹⁵ “Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink—
you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,
in order to gaze at their nakedness!
¹⁶ You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!
¹⁷ The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.
¹⁸ “What profit is an idol
when its maker has shaped it,
a metal image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
when he makes speechless idols!
¹⁹ Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.
²⁰ But the Lord is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him.”

Zephaniah 3:1-20: ¹ Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city!
² She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord; she does not draw near to her God.
³ Her officials within her are roaring lions;
her judges are evening wolves
that leave nothing till the morning.
⁴ Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men;
her priests profane what is holy;
they do violence to the law.
⁵ The Lord within her is righteous;
he does no injustice;
every morning he shows forth his justice;
each dawn he does not fail;
but the unjust knows no shame.
⁶ “I have cut off nations; their battlements are in ruins; I have laid waste their streets so that no one walks in them; their cities have been made desolate, without a man, without an inhabitant.”
⁷ I said, ‘Surely you will fear me; you will accept correction. Then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you.’ But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt.
⁸ “Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord, “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed.”
⁹ “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord.
¹⁰ From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed people, shall bring me an offering.
¹¹ On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain.
¹² But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord,
¹³ those who are left in Israel;
they shall do no injustice
and speak no lies,
nor shall there be found in their mouth
a deceitful tongue.
For they shall graze and lie down,
and none shall make them afraid.”
¹⁴ Sing 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. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.
¹⁶ On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.
¹⁷ The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he 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 for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.
¹⁹ Behold, at that time I will deal
with all your oppressors.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.
²⁰ At 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, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.

Haggai 1:1-15: ¹ In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
² “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.”
³ Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet,
⁴ “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
⁵ Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.
⁶ You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.”
⁸ Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord.
⁹ You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.
¹⁰ Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.
¹¹ And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.
¹² Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.
¹³ Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.”
¹⁴ And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,
¹⁵ On the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

Zechariah 9:1-17: ⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
² and on Hamath also, which borders on it, Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
³ Tyre has built herself a rampart
and heaped up silver like dust,
and fine gold like the mud of the streets.
⁴ Behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions and strike down her power on the sea, and she shall be devoured by fire.
⁵ Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid; Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish; Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded. The king shall perish from Gaza; Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;
⁶ a mixed people shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.
⁷ I will take away its blood from its mouth,
and its abominations from between its teeth;
it too shall be a remnant for our God;
it shall be like a clan in Judah,
and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.
⁸ Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again march over them, for now I see with my own eyes.
⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
¹⁰ I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
¹¹ As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
¹² Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.
¹³ For I have bent Judah as my bow;
I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will stir up your sons, O Zion,
against your sons, O Greece,
and wield you like a warrior’s sword.
¹⁴ Then the Lord will appear over them, and his arrow will go forth like lightning; the Lord God will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
¹⁵ The Lord of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar.
¹⁶ On that day the Lord their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land.
¹⁷ For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.

Malachi 3:1-18: ¹ “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”
² But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
⁴ Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
⁵ “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.”
⁶ “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
⁷ From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
⁸ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.
⁹ You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.
¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
¹¹ I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.
¹² Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.
¹³ “Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’”
³ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?
¹⁵ And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.
¹⁶ Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.
¹⁷ “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.”
¹⁸ Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.