^(A)“The end has come upon My people Israel;
^(B)I will not pass by them anymore.
³ And ^(C)the songs of the temple
Shall be wailing in that day,”
Says the Lord God—
“Many dead bodies everywhere,
^(D)They shall be thrown out in silence.”

⁴ Hear this, you who ^[a]swallow up the needy,
And make the poor of the land fail,

“When will the New Moon be past,
That we may sell grain?
And ^(E)the Sabbath,
That we may ^[b]trade wheat?
^(F)Making the ephah small and the shekel large,
Falsifying the scales by ^(G)deceit,
⁶ That we may buy the poor for ^(H)silver,
And the needy for a pair of sandals—
Even sell the bad wheat?”

⁷ The Lord has sworn by ^(I)the pride of Jacob:
“Surely ^(J)I will never forget any of their works.
^8 (K)Shall the land not tremble for this,
And everyone mourn who dwells in it?
All of it shall swell like ^[c]the River,
Heave and subside
^(L)Like the River of Egypt.

⁹ “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God,
^(M)“That I will make the sun go down at noon,
And I will darken the earth in ^[d]broad daylight;
¹⁰ I will turn your feasts into ^(N)mourning,
^(O)And all your songs into lamentation;
^(P)I will bring sackcloth on every waist,
And baldness on every head;
I will make it like mourning for an only son,
And its end like a bitter day.

¹¹ “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But ^(Q)of hearing the words of the Lord.
¹² They shall wander from sea to sea,
And from north to east;
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
But shall ^(R)not find it.

¹³ “In that day the fair virgins
And strong young men
Shall faint from thirst.
¹⁴ Those who ^(S)swear by ^(T)the ^[e]sin of Samaria,
Who say,
‘As your god lives, O Dan!’
And, ‘As the way of ^(U)Beersheba lives!’
They shall fall and never rise again.”

“Strike the ^[f]doorposts, that the thresholds may shake,
And ^(V)break them on the heads of them all.
I will slay the last of them with the sword.
^(W)He who flees from them shall not get away,
And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.

² “Though^(X) they dig into ^[g]hell,
From there My hand shall take them;
^(Y)Though they climb up to heaven,
From there I will bring them down;
³ And though they ^(Z)hide themselves on top of Carmel,
From there I will search and take them;
Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea,
From there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them;
⁴ Though they go into captivity before their enemies,
From there ^(AA)I will command the sword,
And it shall slay them.
^(AB)I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.”

⁵ The Lord God of hosts,
He who touches the earth and it ^(AC)melts,
^(AD)And all who dwell there mourn;
All of it shall swell like ^[h]the River,
And subside like the River of Egypt.
⁶ He who builds His ^(AE)layers^[i] in the sky,
And has founded His strata in the earth;
Who ^(AF)calls for the waters of the sea,
And pours them out on the face of the earth—
^(AG)The Lord is His name.

⁷ “Are you not like the ^[j]people of Ethiopia to Me,
O children of Israel?” says the Lord.
“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
The ^(AH)Philistines from ^(AI)Caphtor,^[k]
And the Syrians from ^(AJ)Kir?

⁸ “Behold, ^(AK)the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom,
And I ^(AL)will destroy it from the face of the earth;
Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”
Says the Lord.

⁹ “For surely I will command,
And will ^[l]sift the house of Israel among all nations,
As grain is sifted in a sieve;
^(AM)Yet not the smallest ^[m]grain shall fall to the ground.
¹⁰ All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword,
^(AN)Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’

¹³ “Behold, ^(AR)the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
And the treader of grapes him who sows seed;
^(AS)The mountains shall drip with sweet wine,
And all the hills shall flow with it.
^14 (AT)I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;
^(AU)They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;
They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.
¹⁵ I will plant them in their land,
^(AV)And no longer shall they be pulled up
From the land I have given them,”
Says the Lord your God.

^(A)Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.

² Who can ^[b]utter the mighty acts of the Lord?
Who can declare all His praise?
³ Blessed are those who keep justice,
And ^[c]he who ^(B)does righteousness at ^(C)all times!

^4 (D)Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people.
Oh, visit me with Your salvation,
⁵ That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with ^[d]Your inheritance.

^6 (E)We have sinned with our fathers,
We have committed iniquity,
We have done wickedly.
⁷ Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders;
They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies,
^(F)But rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.

⁸ Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake,
^(G)That He might make His mighty power known.
^9 (H)He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up;
So ^(I)He led them through the depths,
As through the wilderness.
¹⁰ He ^(J)saved them from the hand of him who hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
^11 (K)The waters covered their enemies;
There was not one of them left.
^12 (L)Then they believed His words;
They sang His praise.

^13 (M)They soon forgot His works;
They did not wait for His counsel,
^14 (N)But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,
And tested God in the desert.
^15 (O)And He gave them their request,
But ^(P)sent leanness into their soul.

¹⁶ When ^(Q)they envied Moses in the camp,
And Aaron the saint of the Lord,
^17 (R)The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan,
And covered the faction of Abiram.
^18 (S)A fire was kindled in their company;
The flame burned up the wicked.

^19 (T)They made a calf in Horeb,
And worshiped the molded image.
²⁰ Thus ^(U)they changed their glory
Into the image of an ox that eats grass.
²¹ They forgot God their Savior,
Who had done great things in Egypt,
²² Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
Awesome things by the Red Sea.
^23 (V)Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
Had not Moses His chosen one ^(W)stood before Him in the breach,
To turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.

²⁴ Then they despised ^(X)the pleasant land;
They ^(Y)did not believe His word,
^25 (Z)But complained in their tents,
And did not heed the voice of the Lord.
^26 (AA)Therefore He raised His hand in an oath against them,
^(AB)To ^[e]overthrow them in the wilderness,
^27 (AC)To ^[f]overthrow their descendants among the ^[g]nations,
And to scatter them in the lands.

^28 (AD)They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor,
And ate sacrifices ^[h]made to the dead.
²⁹ Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds,
And the plague broke out among them.
^30 (AE)Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
And the plague was stopped.
³¹ And that was accounted to him ^(AF)for righteousness
To all generations forevermore.

^32 (AG)They angered Him also at the waters of ^[i]strife,
^(AH)So that it went ill with Moses on account of them;
^33 (AI)Because they rebelled against His Spirit,
So that he spoke rashly with his lips.

^34 (AJ)They did not destroy the peoples,
^(AK)Concerning whom the Lord had commanded them,
^35 (AL)But they mingled with the Gentiles
And learned their works;
^36 (AM)They served their idols,
^(AN)Which became a snare to them.
^37 (AO)They even sacrificed their sons
And their daughters to ^(AP)demons,
³⁸ And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And ^(AQ)the land was polluted with blood.
³⁹ Thus they ^[j]were ^(AR)defiled by their own works,
And ^(AS)played^[k] the harlot by their own deeds.

⁴⁰ Therefore ^(AT)the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people,
So that He abhorred ^(AU)His own inheritance.
⁴¹ And ^(AV)He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles,
And those who hated them ruled over them.
⁴² Their enemies also oppressed them,
And they were brought into subjection under their hand.
^43 (AW)Many times He delivered them;
But they rebelled in their counsel,
And were brought low for their iniquity.

⁴⁴ Nevertheless He regarded their affliction,
When ^(AX)He heard their cry;
^45 (AY)And for their sake He remembered His covenant,
And ^(AZ)relented ^(BA)according to the multitude of His mercies.
^46 (BB)He also made them to be pitied
By all those who carried them away captive.

^47 (BC)Save us, O Lord our God,
And gather us from among the Gentiles,
To give thanks to Your holy name,
To triumph in Your praise.

^48 (BD)Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”

^[l]Praise the Lord!