^(F)“Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry
And children of harlotry,
For ^(G)the land has committed great ^[a]harlotry
By departing from the Lord.”

“Call his name Jezreel,
For in a little while
^(H)I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu,
^(I)And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
^5 (J)It shall come to pass in that day
That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

“Call her name ^[b]Lo-Ruhamah,
^(K)For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel,
^[c]But I will utterly take them away.
^7 (L)Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
Will save them by the Lord their God,
And ^(M)will not save them by bow,
Nor by sword or battle,
By horses or horsemen.”

“Call his name ^[d]Lo-Ammi,
For you are not My people,
And I will not be your God.

⁴ “I will not have mercy on her children,
For they are the ^(X)children of harlotry.
⁵ For their mother has played the harlot;
She who conceived them has behaved shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
^(Y)Who give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my linen,
My oil and my drink.’

⁶ “Therefore, behold,
^(Z)I will hedge up your way with thorns,
And ^[j]wall her in,
So that she cannot find her paths.
⁷ She will ^[k]chase her lovers,
But not overtake them;
Yes, she will seek them, but not find them.
Then she will say,
^(AA)‘I will go and return to my ^(AB)first husband,
For then it was better for me than now.’
⁸ For she did not ^(AC)know
That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil,
And multiplied her silver and gold—
Which they prepared for Baal.

⁹ “Therefore I will return and take away
My grain in its time
And My new wine in its season,
And will take back My wool and My linen,
Given to cover her nakedness.
¹⁰ Now ^(AD)I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
And no one shall deliver her from My hand.
^11 (AE)I will also cause all her mirth to cease,
Her feast days,
Her New Moons,
Her Sabbaths—
All her appointed feasts.

¹² “And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
Of which she has said,
‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’
So I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field shall eat them.
¹³ I will punish her
For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.
She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And went after her lovers;
But Me she forgot,” says the Lord.

¹⁶ “And it shall be, in that day,”
Says the Lord,
“That you will call Me ^[m]‘My Husband,’
And no longer call Me ^[n]‘My Master,’
¹⁷ For ^(AI)I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
¹⁸ In that day I will make a ^(AJ)covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle ^(AK)I will shatter from the earth,
To make them ^(AL)lie down safely.

¹⁹ “I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
²⁰ I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And ^(AM)you shall know the Lord.

²¹ “It shall come to pass in that day
That ^(AN)I will answer,” says the Lord;
“I will answer the heavens,
And they shall answer the earth.
²² The earth shall answer
With grain,
With new wine,
And with oil;
They shall answer ^[o]Jezreel.
²³ Then ^(AO)I will sow her for Myself in the earth,
^(AP)And I will have mercy on her who had ^[p]not obtained mercy;
Then ^(AQ)I will say to those who were ^[q]not My people,
‘You are ^[r]My people!’
And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

“There is no truth or mercy
Or ^(BA)knowledge of God in the land.
² By swearing and lying,
Killing and stealing and committing adultery,
They break all restraint,
With bloodshed ^[u]upon bloodshed.
³ Therefore ^(BB)the land will mourn;
And ^(BC)everyone who dwells there will waste away
With the beasts of the field
And the birds of the air;
Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

⁴ “Now let no man contend, or rebuke another;
For your people are like those ^(BD)who contend with the priest.
⁵ Therefore you shall stumble ^(BE)in the day;
The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night;
And I will destroy your mother.
^6 (BF)My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
^(BG)Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.

⁷ “The more they increased,
The more they sinned against Me;
^(BH)I^[v] will change ^[w]their glory into shame.
⁸ They eat up the sin of My people;
They set their ^[x]heart on their iniquity.
⁹ And it shall be: ^(BI)like people, like priest.
So I will punish them for their ways,
And ^[y]reward them for their deeds.
¹⁰ For ^(BJ)they shall eat, but not have enough;
They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;
Because they have ceased obeying the Lord.

¹⁴ “I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry,
Nor your brides when they commit adultery;
For the men themselves go apart with harlots,
And offer sacrifices with a ^(BP)ritual harlot.
Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.

¹⁵ “Though you, Israel, play the harlot,
Let not Judah offend.
^(BQ)Do not come up to Gilgal,
Nor go up to ^(BR)Beth^[aa] Aven,
^(BS)Nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the Lord lives’—

¹⁶ “For Israel ^(BT)is stubborn
Like a stubborn calf;
Now the Lord will let them forage
Like a lamb in ^[ab]open country.

¹⁷ “Ephraim is joined to idols,
^(BU)Let him alone.
¹⁸ Their drink ^[ac]is rebellion,
They commit harlotry continually.
^(BV)Her ^[ad]rulers ^[ae]dearly love dishonor.
^19 (BW)The wind has wrapped her up in its wings,
And ^(BX)they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

⁴ “They^[ag] do not direct their deeds
Toward turning to their God,
For ^(CC)the spirit of harlotry is in their midst,
And they do not know the Lord.
⁵ The ^(CD)pride of Israel testifies to his face;
Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
Judah also stumbles with them.

⁶ “With their flocks and herds
^(CE)They shall go to seek the Lord,
But they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn Himself from them.
⁷ They have ^(CF)dealt treacherously with the Lord,
For they have begotten ^[ah]pagan children.
Now a New Moon shall devour them and their heritage.

⁸ “Blow^(CG) the ram’s horn in Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah!
^(CH)Cry aloud at ^(CI)Beth Aven,
‘Look behind you, O Benjamin!’
⁹ Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.

¹⁰ “The princes of Judah are like those who ^(CJ)remove a landmark;
I will pour out My wrath on them like water.
¹¹ Ephraim is ^(CK)oppressed and broken in judgment,
Because he willingly walked by ^(CL)human precept.
¹² Therefore I will be to Ephraim like a moth,
And to the house of Judah ^(CM)like rottenness.

¹³ “When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah saw his ^(CN)wound,
Then Ephraim went ^(CO)to Assyria
And sent to King Jareb;
Yet he cannot cure you,
Nor heal you of your wound.
¹⁴ For ^(CP)I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
^(CQ)I, even I, will tear them and go away;
I will take them away, and no one shall rescue.
¹⁵ I will return again to My place
Till they ^[ai]acknowledge their offense.
Then they will seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

⁷ “But like ^[am]men they transgressed the covenant;
There they dealt treacherously with Me.
^8 (DD)Gilead is a city of evildoers
And ^[an]defiled with blood.
⁹ As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man,
So the company of ^(DE)priests ^(DF)murder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they commit ^(DG)lewdness.
¹⁰ I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel:
There is the ^[ao]harlotry of Ephraim;
Israel is defiled.
¹¹ Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you,
When I return the captives of My people.

⁴ “They^(DL) are all adulterers.
Like an oven heated by a baker—
He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough,
Until it is leavened.
⁵ In the day of our king
Princes have made him sick, ^[ar]inflamed with ^(DM)wine;
He stretched out his hand with scoffers.
⁶ They prepare their heart like an oven,
While they lie in wait;
^[as]Their baker sleeps all night;
In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.
⁷ They are all hot, like an oven,
And have devoured their judges;
All their kings have fallen.
^(DN)None among them calls upon Me.

⁸ “Ephraim ^(DO)has mixed himself among the peoples;
Ephraim is a cake unturned.
^9 (DP)Aliens have devoured his strength,
But he does not know it;
Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him,
Yet he does not know it.
¹⁰ And the ^(DQ)pride of Israel testifies to his face,
But ^(DR)they do not return to the Lord their God,
Nor seek Him for all this.

¹³ “Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!
Destruction to them,
Because they have transgressed against Me!
Though ^(DX)I redeemed them,
Yet they have spoken lies against Me.
^14 (DY)They did not cry out to Me with their heart
When they wailed upon their beds.

“They ^[au]assemble together for grain and new ^(DZ)wine,
^[av]They rebel against Me;
¹⁵ Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms,
Yet they devise evil against Me;
¹⁶ They return, but not ^[aw]to the Most High;
^(EA)They are like a treacherous bow.
Their princes shall fall by the sword
For the ^(EB)cursings of their tongue.
This shall be their derision ^(EC)in the land of Egypt.

⁴ “They^(EG) set up kings, but not by Me;
They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.
From their silver and gold
They made idols for themselves—
That they might be cut off.
⁵ Your ^[ay]calf ^[az]is rejected, O Samaria!
My anger is aroused against them—
^(EH)How long until they attain to innocence?
⁶ For from Israel is even this:
A ^(EI)workman made it, and it is not God;
But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

⁷ “They^(EJ) sow the wind,
And reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no bud;
It shall never produce meal.
If it should produce,
^(EK)Aliens would swallow it up.
^8 (EL)Israel is swallowed up;
Now they are among the Gentiles
^(EM)Like a vessel in which is no pleasure.
⁹ For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like ^(EN)a wild donkey alone by itself;
Ephraim ^(EO)has hired lovers.
¹⁰ Yes, though they have hired among the nations,
Now ^(EP)I will gather them;
And they shall ^[ba]sorrow a little,
Because of the ^[bb]burden of ^(EQ)the king of princes.

¹¹ “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin,
They have become for him altars for sinning.
¹² I have written for him ^(ER)the great things of My law,
But they were considered a strange thing.
¹³ For the sacrifices of My offerings ^(ES)they sacrifice flesh and eat it,
^(ET)But the Lord does not accept them.
^(EU)Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
They shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴ “For^(EV) Israel has forgotten ^(EW)his Maker,
And has built ^[bc]temples;
Judah also has multiplied ^(EX)fortified cities;
But ^(EY)I will send fire upon his cities,
And it shall devour his ^[bd]palaces.”

³ They shall not dwell in ^(FB)the Lord’s land,
^(FC)But Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
And ^(FD)shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
⁴ They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord,
Nor ^(FE)shall their ^(FF)sacrifices be pleasing to Him.
It shall be like bread of mourners to them;
All who eat it shall be defiled.
For their bread shall be for their own life;
It shall not come into the house of the Lord.

⁵ What will you do in the appointed day,
And in the day of the feast of the Lord?
⁶ For indeed they are gone because of destruction.
Egypt shall gather them up;
Memphis shall bury them.
^(FG)Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver;
Thorns shall be in their tents.

⁷ The ^(FH)days of punishment have come;
The days of recompense have come.
Israel knows!
The prophet is a ^(FI)fool,
^(FJ)The spiritual man is insane,
Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.
⁸ The ^(FK)watchman of Ephraim is with my God;
But the prophet is a ^[be]fowler’s snare in all his ways—
Enmity in the house of his God.
^9 (FL)They are deeply corrupted,
As in the days of ^(FM)Gibeah.
He will remember their iniquity;
He will punish their sins.

¹⁰ “I found Israel
Like grapes in the ^(FN)wilderness;
I saw your fathers
As the ^(FO)firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.
But they went to ^(FP)Baal Peor,
And ^[bf]separated themselves to that shame;
^(FQ)They became an abomination like the thing they loved.
¹¹ As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird—
No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!
¹² Though they bring up their children,
Yet I will bereave them to the last man.
Yes, ^(FR)woe to them when I depart from them!
¹³ Just ^(FS)as I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place,
So Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.”

¹⁴ Give them, O Lord—
What will You give?
Give them ^(FT)a miscarrying womb
And dry breasts!

¹⁵ “All their wickedness is in ^(FU)Gilgal,
For there I hated them.
Because of the evil of their deeds
I will drive them from My house;
I will love them no more.
^(FV)All their princes are rebellious.
¹⁶ Ephraim is ^(FW)stricken,
Their root is dried up;
They shall bear no fruit.
Yes, were they to bear children,
I would kill the darlings of their womb.”

¹⁷ My God will ^(FX)cast them away,
Because they did not obey Him;
And they shall be ^(FY)wanderers among the nations.

³ For now they say,
“We have no king,
Because we did not fear the Lord.
And as for a king, what would he do for us?”
⁴ They have spoken words,
Swearing falsely in making a covenant.
Thus judgment springs up ^(GC)like hemlock in the furrows of the field.

⁵ The inhabitants of Samaria fear
Because of the ^(GD)calf^[bh] of Beth Aven.
For its people mourn for it,
And ^[bi]its priests shriek for it—
Because its ^(GE)glory has departed from it.
⁶ The idol also shall be carried to Assyria
As a present for King ^(GF)Jareb.
Ephraim shall receive shame,
And Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

⁷ As for Samaria, her king is cut off
Like a twig on the water.
⁸ Also the ^(GG)high places of ^[bj]Aven, ^(GH)the sin of Israel,
Shall be destroyed.
The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars;
^(GI)They shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

⁹ “O Israel, you have sinned from the days of ^(GJ)Gibeah;
There they stood.
The ^(GK)battle in Gibeah against the children of ^[bk]iniquity
Did not ^[bl]overtake them.
¹⁰ When it is My desire, I will chasten them.
^(GL)Peoples shall be gathered against them
When I bind them ^[bm]for their two transgressions.
¹¹ Ephraim is ^(GM)a trained heifer
That loves to thresh grain;
But I harnessed her fair neck,
I will make Ephraim ^[bn]pull a plow.
Judah shall plow;
Jacob shall break his clods.”

¹² Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
^(GN)Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the Lord,
Till He ^(GO)comes and rains righteousness on you.

^13 (GP)You have plowed wickedness;
You have reaped iniquity.
You have eaten the fruit of lies,
Because you trusted in your own way,
In the multitude of your mighty men.
¹⁴ Therefore tumult shall arise among your people,
And all your fortresses shall be plundered
As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle—
A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.
¹⁵ Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
Because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
Shall be cut off utterly.

³ “I^(GT) taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them by ^[br]their arms;
But they did not know that ^(GU)I healed them.
⁴ I drew them with ^[bs]gentle cords,
With bands of love,
And ^(GV)I was to them as those who take the yoke from their ^[bt]neck.
^(GW)I stooped and fed them.

⁵ “He shall not return to the land of Egypt;
But the Assyrian shall be his king,
Because they refused to repent.
⁶ And the sword shall slash in his cities,
Devour his districts,
And consume them,
Because of their own counsels.
⁷ My people are bent on ^(GX)backsliding from Me.
Though ^[bu]they call ^[bv]to the Most High,
None at all exalt Him.

⁸ “How^(GY) can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I make you like ^(GZ)Admah?
How can I set you like Zeboiim?
My heart ^[bw]churns within Me;
My sympathy is stirred.
⁹ I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
^(HA)For I am God, and not man,
The Holy One in your midst;
And I will not ^[bx]come with terror.

¹⁰ “They shall walk after the Lord.
^(HB)He will roar like a lion.
When He roars,
Then His sons shall come trembling from the west;
¹¹ They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt,
^(HC)Like a dove from the land of Assyria.
^(HD)And I will let them dwell in their houses,”
Says the Lord.

² “The^(HH) Lord also brings a ^[cb]charge against Judah,
And will punish Jacob according to his ways;
According to his deeds He will recompense him.
³ He took his brother ^(HI)by the heel in the womb,
And in his strength he ^(HJ)struggled with God.
⁴ Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed;
He wept, and sought favor from Him.
He found Him in ^(HK)Bethel,
And there He spoke to us—
⁵ That is, the Lord God of hosts.
The Lord is His ^(HL)memorable name.
^6 (HM)So you, by the help of your God, return;
Observe mercy and justice,
And wait on your God continually.

⁷ “A cunning ^[cc]Canaanite!
^(HN)Deceitful scales are in his hand;
He loves to oppress.
⁸ And Ephraim said,
^(HO)‘Surely I have become rich,
I have found wealth for myself;
In all my labors
They shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.’

⁹ “But I am the Lord your God,
Ever since the land of Egypt;
^(HP)I will again make you dwell in tents,
As in the days of the appointed feast.
^10 (HQ)I have also spoken by the prophets,
And have multiplied visions;
I have given ^[cd]symbols ^[ce]through the witness of the prophets.”

¹¹ Though ^(HR)Gilead has idols—
Surely they are ^[cf]vanity—
Though they sacrifice bulls in ^(HS)Gilgal,
Indeed their altars shall be heaps in the furrows of the field.

¹² Jacob ^(HT)fled to the country of Syria;
^(HU)Israel served for a spouse,
And for a wife he tended sheep.
^13 (HV)By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,
And by a prophet he was preserved.
¹⁴ Ephraim ^(HW)provoked Him to anger most bitterly;
Therefore his Lord will leave the guilt of his bloodshed upon him,
^(HX)And return his reproach upon him.

⁴ “Yet ^(HZ)I am the Lord your God
Ever since the land of Egypt,
And you shall know no God but Me;
For ^(IA)there is no savior besides Me.
^5 (IB)I ^[ci]knew you in the wilderness,
^(IC)In the land of ^[cj]great drought.
^6 (ID)When they had pasture, they were filled;
They were filled and their heart was exalted;
Therefore they forgot Me.

⁷ “So ^(IE)I will be to them like a lion;
Like ^(IF)a leopard by the road I will lurk;
⁸ I will meet them ^(IG)like a bear deprived of her cubs;
I will tear open their rib cage,
And there I will devour them like a lion.
The ^[ck]wild beast shall tear them.

⁹ “O Israel, ^[cl]you are destroyed,
But ^[cm]your help is from Me.
^10 [cn]I will be your King;
^(IH)Where is any other,
That he may save you in all your cities?
And your judges to whom ^(II)you said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?
^11 (IJ)I gave you a king in My anger,
And took him away in My wrath.

¹² “The^(IK) iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
His sin is stored up.
^13 (IL)The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him.
He is an unwise son,
For he should not stay long where children are born.

¹⁴ “I will ransom them from the ^[co]power of ^[cp]the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
^(IM)O Death, ^[cq]I will be your plagues!
O ^[cr]Grave, ^[cs]I will be your destruction!
^(IN)Pity is hidden from My eyes.”

¹⁵ Though he is fruitful among his brethren,
^(IO)An east wind shall come;
The wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness.
Then his spring shall become dry,
And his fountain shall be dried up.
He shall plunder the treasury of every desirable prize.
¹⁶ Samaria ^[ct]is held guilty,
For she has ^(IP)rebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
And their women with child ^(IQ)ripped open.

⁴ “I will heal their ^(IW)backsliding,
I will ^(IX)love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from him.
⁵ I will be like the ^(IY)dew to Israel;
He shall ^[cv]grow like the lily,
And ^[cw]lengthen his roots like Lebanon.
⁶ His branches shall ^[cx]spread;
^(IZ)His beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And ^(JA)his fragrance like Lebanon.
^7 (JB)Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And ^[cy]grow like a vine.
Their ^[cz]scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

⁸ “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’
I have heard and observed him.
I am like a green cypress tree;
^(JC)Your fruit is found in Me.”

⁹ Who is wise?
Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent?
Let him know them.
For ^(JD)the ways of the Lord are right;
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them.

^4 (E)What the chewing ^[a]locust left, the ^(F)swarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;
And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.

⁵ Awake, you ^(G)drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
^(H)For it has been cut off from your mouth.
⁶ For ^(I)a nation has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
^(J)His teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a ^[b]fierce lion.
⁷ He has ^(K)laid waste My vine,
And ^[c]ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;
Its branches are made white.

^8 (L)Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For ^(M)the husband of her youth.
^9 (N)The grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of the Lord;
The priests ^(O)mourn, who minister to the Lord.
¹⁰ The field is wasted,
^(P)The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
^(Q)The new wine is dried up,
The oil fails.

^11 (R)Be ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished.
^12 (S)The vine has dried up,
And the fig tree has withered;
The pomegranate tree,
The palm tree also,
And the apple tree—
All the trees of the field are withered;
Surely ^(T)joy has withered away from the sons of men.

^15 (Y)Alas for the day!
For ^(Z)the day of the Lord is at hand;
It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
¹⁶ Is not the food ^(AA)cut off before our eyes,
^(AB)Joy and gladness from the house of our God?
¹⁷ The seed shrivels under the clods,
Storehouses are in shambles;
Barns are broken down,
For the grain has withered.
¹⁸ How ^(AC)the animals groan!
The herds of cattle are restless,
Because they have no pasture;
Even the flocks of sheep ^[d]suffer punishment.

¹⁹ O Lord, ^(AD)to You I cry out;
For ^(AE)fire has devoured the ^[e]open pastures,
And a flame has burned all the trees of the field.
²⁰ The beasts of the field also ^(AF)cry out to You,
For ^(AG)the water brooks are dried up,
And fire has devoured the ^[f]open pastures.

³ A fire devours before them,
And behind them a flame burns;
The land is like ^(AN)the Garden of Eden before them,
^(AO)And behind them a desolate wilderness;
Surely nothing shall escape them.
^4 (AP)Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like ^[h]swift steeds, so they run.
^5 (AQ)With a noise like chariots
Over mountaintops they leap,
Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble,
Like a strong people set in battle array.

⁶ Before them the people writhe in pain;
^(AR)All faces ^[i]are drained of color.
⁷ They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like men of war;
Every one marches in formation,
And they do not break ^(AS)ranks.
⁸ They do not push one another;
Every one marches in his own ^[j]column.
Though they lunge between the weapons,
They are not ^[k]cut down.
⁹ They run to and fro in the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into the houses,
They ^(AT)enter at the windows ^(AU)like a thief.

^10 (AV)The earth quakes before them,
The heavens tremble;
^(AW)The sun and moon grow dark,
And the stars diminish their brightness.
^11 (AX)The Lord gives voice before His army,
For His camp is very great;
^(AY)For strong is the One who executes His word.
For the ^(AZ)day of the Lord is great and very terrible;
^(BA)Who can endure it?

^15 (BI)Blow the ^[l]trumpet in Zion,
^(BJ)Consecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly;
¹⁶ Gather the people,
^(BK)Sanctify the congregation,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the children and nursing babes;
^(BL)Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber,
And the bride from her dressing room.
¹⁷ Let the priests, who minister to the Lord,
Weep ^(BM)between the porch and the altar;
Let them say, ^(BN)“Spare Your people, O Lord,
And do not give Your heritage to reproach,
That the nations should ^[m]rule over them.
^(BO)Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’ ”

²⁰ “But ^(BS)I will remove far from you ^(BT)the northern army,
And will drive him away into a barren and desolate land,
With his face toward the eastern sea
And his back ^(BU)toward the western sea;
His stench will come up,
And his foul odor will rise,
Because he has done ^[n]monstrous things.”

²¹ Fear not, O land;
Be glad and rejoice,
For the Lord has done ^[o]marvelous things!
²² Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field;
For ^(BV)the open pastures are springing up,
And the tree bears its fruit;
The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
²³ Be glad then, you children of Zion,
And ^(BW)rejoice in the Lord your God;
For He has given you the ^[p]former rain faithfully,
And He ^(BX)will cause the rain to come down for you—
The former rain,
And the latter rain in the first month.
²⁴ The threshing floors shall be full of wheat,
And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.

²⁵ “So I will restore to you the years ^(BY)that the swarming ^[q]locust has eaten,
The crawling locust,
The consuming locust,
And the chewing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
²⁶ You shall ^(BZ)eat in plenty and be satisfied,
And praise the name of the Lord your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
And My people shall never be put to ^(CA)shame.
²⁷ Then you shall know that I am ^(CB)in the midst of Israel:
^(CC)I am the Lord your God
And there is no other.
My people shall never be put to shame.

³⁰ “And ^(CI)I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
^31 (CJ)The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
^(CK)Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
³² And it shall come to pass
That ^(CL)whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be ^[r]saved.
For ^(CM)in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be ^[s]deliverance,
As the Lord has said,
Among ^(CN)the remnant whom the Lord calls.

⁴ “Indeed, what have you to do with Me,
^(CS)O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia?
Will you ^[t]retaliate against Me?
But if you ^[u]retaliate against Me,
Swiftly and speedily I will return your ^[v]retaliation upon your own head;
⁵ Because you have taken My silver and My gold,
And have carried into your temples My ^[w]prized possessions.
⁶ Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem
You have sold to the Greeks,
That you may remove them far from their borders.

⁷ “Behold, ^(CT)I will raise them
Out of the place to which you have sold them,
And will return your ^[x]retaliation upon your own head.
⁸ I will sell your sons and your daughters
Into the hand of the people of Judah,
And they will sell them to the ^(CU)Sabeans,^[y]
To a people ^(CV)far off;
For the Lord has spoken.”

^9 (CW)Proclaim this among the nations:
“Prepare for war!
Wake up the mighty men,
Let all the men of war draw near,
Let them come up.
^10 (CX)Beat your plowshares into swords
And your ^[z]pruning hooks into spears;
^(CY)Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ”
¹¹ Assemble and come, all you nations,
And gather together all around.
Cause ^(CZ)Your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord.

¹² “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
For there I will sit to ^(DA)judge all the surrounding nations.
^13 (DB)Put in the sickle, for ^(DC)the harvest is ripe.
Come, go down;
For the ^(DD)winepress is full,
The vats overflow—
For their wickedness is great.”

¹⁴ Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For ^(DE)the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
¹⁵ The sun and moon will grow dark,
And the stars will diminish their brightness.
¹⁶ The Lord also will roar from Zion,
And utter His voice from Jerusalem;
The heavens and earth will shake;
^(DF)But the Lord will be a shelter for His people,
And the strength of the children of Israel.

¹⁷ “So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
Dwelling in Zion My ^(DG)holy mountain.
Then Jerusalem shall be holy,
And no aliens shall ever pass through her again.”

¹⁹ “Egypt shall be a desolation,
And Edom a desolate wilderness,
Because of violence against the people of Judah,
For they have shed innocent blood in their land.
²⁰ But Judah shall abide forever,
And Jerusalem from generation to generation.
²¹ For I will ^(DI)acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted;
For the Lord dwells in Zion.”

“The Lord ^(F)roars from Zion,
And utters His voice from Jerusalem;
The pastures of the shepherds mourn,
And the top of ^(G)Carmel withers.”

“For three transgressions of ^(H)Damascus, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they have ^(I)threshed Gilead with implements of iron.
^4 (J)But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael,
Which shall devour the palaces of ^(K)Ben-Hadad.
⁵ I will also break the gate ^(L)bar of Damascus,
And cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven,
And the one who ^[a]holds the scepter from ^[b]Beth Eden.
The people of Syria shall go captive to Kir,”
Says the Lord.

“For three transgressions of ^(M)Gaza, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they took captive the whole captivity
To deliver them up to Edom.
^7 (N)But I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,
Which shall devour its palaces.
⁸ I will cut off the inhabitant ^(O)from Ashdod,
And the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;
I will ^(P)turn My hand against Ekron,
And ^(Q)the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”
Says the Lord God.

“For three transgressions of ^(R)Tyre, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom,
And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
¹⁰ But I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre,
Which shall devour its palaces.”

“For three transgressions of ^(S)Edom, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because he pursued his ^(T)brother with the sword,
And cast off all pity;
His anger tore perpetually,
And he kept his wrath forever.
¹² But ^(U)I will send a fire upon Teman,
Which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.”

“For three transgressions of ^(V)the people of Ammon, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they ripped open the women with child in Gilead,
That they might enlarge their territory.
¹⁴ But I will kindle a fire in the wall of ^(W)Rabbah,
And it shall devour its palaces,
^(X)Amid shouting in the day of battle,
And a tempest in the day of the whirlwind.
^15 (Y)Their king shall go into captivity,
He and his princes together,”
Says the Lord.

^(Z)“For three transgressions of Moab, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because he ^(AA)burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.
² But I will send a fire upon Moab,
And it shall devour the palaces of ^(AB)Kerioth;
Moab shall die with tumult,
With shouting and trumpet sound.
³ And I will cut off ^(AC)the judge from its midst,
And slay all its princes with him,”
Says the Lord.