The Daily Audio Bible

“I will praise you, O Yahweh.
    Although you had been angry with me,
    you turned your anger away from me, and you comforted me.
² Look! El is my Savior.
    I am confident and unafraid,
    because Yah is my strength and my song.
    He is my Savior.”

“Praise Yahweh.
    Call on his name.
    Make his deeds known among the nations.
    Make them remember that his name is highly honored.
⁵ Make music to praise Yahweh.
    He has done wonderful things.
        Let this be known throughout the earth.
⁶ Shout loudly, and sing with joy, people of Zion!
    Qedosh Yisrael is great. He is among you.”

² Raise a banner on the bare mountaintop.
    Call loudly to them.
        Signal them with your hand to enter the nobles’ gates.
³ I’ve commanded my holy ones.
    I’ve called my mighty men to carry out my anger.
    They find joy in my triumphs.
⁴ Listen to the noise on the mountains.
    It is like the sound of a large army.
    It is the sound of kingdoms and nations gathering together.
    Yahweh Tsebaoth is assembling his army for battle.
⁵ His army is coming from a distant land,
    from the ends of heaven.
    Yahweh is coming with the weapons of his fury
    to destroy the whole world.

⁶ Cry loudly, for the day of Yahweh is near.
    It will come like destruction from Shadday.
⁷ That is why every hand will hang limp,
    and everyone’s courage will fail.
⁸         They’ll be terrified.
            Pain and anguish will seize them.
        They’ll writhe like a woman giving birth to a child.
        They’ll look at one another in astonishment.
            Their faces will be burning red.

⁹ The day of Yahweh is going to come.
    It will be a cruel day with fury and fierce anger.
        He will make the earth desolate.
            He will destroy its sinners.
¹⁰ The stars in the sky and their constellations
    won’t show their light anymore.
    The sun will be dark when it rises.
    The moon won’t shine.

¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil
    and the wicked for their wrongdoing.
    I will put an end to arrogant people
    and humble the pride of tyrants.
¹² I will make people harder to find than pure gold
    and human beings more rare than gold from Ophir.
¹³ I will make heaven tremble,
    and the earth will be shaken from its place
        when Yahweh Tsebaoth is angry.
            At that time he will be very angry.

¹⁴ They’ll be like hunted gazelle
    and like sheep with no one to gather them.
    Everyone will return to his own people
    and flee to his own land.
¹⁵ Whoever is found will be stabbed to death.
    Whoever is captured will be executed.
¹⁶ Their little children will be smashed to death right before their eyes.
    Their houses will be looted and their wives raped.

¹⁷ I’m going to stir up the Medes against them.
    They don’t care for silver and aren’t happy with gold.
¹⁸ But their bows will smash the youth.
    They’ll have no compassion for babies,
        nor will they look with pity on children.

¹⁹ Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,
    the proud beauty of the Chaldeans,
        will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when Elohim destroyed them.
²⁰ It will never be inhabited again,
    and no one will live in it for generations.
        Arabs won’t pitch their tents there.
        Shepherds won’t let their flocks rest there.
²¹ Desert animals will lie down there.
    Their homes will be full of owls.
        Ostriches will live there,
            and wild goats will skip about.
²² Hyenas will howl in Babylon’s strongholds,
    and jackals will howl in its luxurious palaces.

Its time has almost come.
    Its days will not be extended.

³ When that day comes, Yahweh will give you relief
    from your pain and suffering,
    from the hard slavery you were forced to do.
⁴ Then you will mock the king of Babylon with this saying,
    “How the tyrant has come to an end!
    How his attacks have come to an end!”
⁵ Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked,
    the scepter of rulers.
⁶         They struck the people with fury,
            with blows that didn’t stop.
        They ruled nations in anger,
            persecuting them without restraint.
⁷ The whole earth rests and is peaceful.
    It breaks out into shouts of joy.
⁸ Even the cypresses rejoice over you.
    The cedars of Lebanon say,
        “Since you have fallen,
            no lumberjack has come to attack us.”

⁹ Sheol below wakes up to meet you when you come.
    It wakes up the ghosts of the dead,
        all who were leaders on earth.
    It raises all who were kings of the nations from their thrones.
¹⁰ All of them will greet you,
    “You also have become weak like us!
    You have become like one of us!”
¹¹ Your pride has been brought down to Sheol
    along with the music of your harps.
        Maggots are spread out like a bed under you,
            and worms cover you.

¹² How you have fallen from heaven, you morning star, son of the dawn!
    How you have been cut down to the ground, you conqueror of nations!
¹³ You thought,
    “I’ll go up to heaven and set up my throne above El’s stars.
    I’ll sit on the mountain far away in the north
        where the gods assemble.
¹⁴ I’ll go above the top of the clouds.
    I’ll be like Elyon.”
¹⁵ But you’ve been brought down to Sheol,
    to the deepest part of the pit.
¹⁶ Those who see you stare at you; they look at you closely and say,
    “Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
        who shook the kingdoms,
¹⁷ who made the world like a desert and tore down its cities,
    who didn’t let his prisoners go home?”

¹⁸ All the kings of the nations, all of them,
    have been buried with honor, each in his own tomb.
¹⁹ But you are thrown out of your tomb like a rejected branch.
    You are covered with those who were killed in battle.
    You go down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse.
²⁰ You won’t be joined by the kings in the tomb,
    because you have destroyed your land and killed your people.

The descendants of the wicked will never be mentioned again.
²¹ Prepare a place to slaughter their sons
    because of their ancestors’ guilt.
        They won’t be able to rise, possess the earth,
            and rebuild cities all over it.

²² “I’ll rise up against them,” declares Yahweh Tsebaoth.
    “I’ll cut off the name of the survivors from Babylon,
    its offspring and descendants,” declares Yahweh.
²³ “It will become the possession of herons.
    It will become pools of water.
    I’ll sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares Yahweh Tsebaoth.

²⁶ This is the plan determined for the whole earth.
    This is how he will use his power against all the nations.
²⁷ Yahweh Tsebaoth has planned it. Who can stop it?
    He is ready to use his power. Who can turn it back?

²⁹ All you Philistines, don’t rejoice
    that the rod of the one who struck you is broken,
        because a viper will come from that snake’s root,
            and his descendant will be a flying, fiery serpent.
³⁰ The poorest of the poor will eat,
    and the needy will lie down in safety.
        But I will put your root to death with famine
            and kill off your survivors.

³¹ Cry loudly in the gate!
    Cry out in the city!
        Be frightened, all you Philistines!
    Smoke comes from the north,
    and there are no stragglers in its ranks.
³² How should we answer the messengers from the nations?
    Tell them that Yahweh has laid Zion’s foundation,
        and his humble people will find refuge in it.

⁶ My enemies spread out a net to catch me.
    (My soul is bowed down.)^[b]
    They dug a pit to trap me,
    but then they fell into it. Selah
⁷ My heart is confident, O Elohim.
    My heart is confident.
    I want to sing and make music.^[c]
8 Wake up, my soul!^[d]
    Wake up, harp and lyre!
    I want to wake up at dawn.
⁹ I want to give thanks to you among the people, O Adonay.
    I want to make music to praise you among the nations
¹⁰ because your mercy is as high as the heavens.
    Your truth reaches the skies.

¹¹ May you be honored above the heavens, O Elohim.
    Let your glory extend over the whole earth.

⁹ Do not talk directly to a fool,
    because he will despise the wisdom of your words.
¹⁰ Do not move an ancient boundary marker
    or enter fields that belong to orphans,
¹¹ because the one who is responsible for them is strong.
    He will plead their case against you.