Habakkuk 1
Complete Jewish Bible
1 This is the prophecy which Havakuk the prophet saw:
2 Adonai, how long must I cry
without your hearing?
“Violence!” I cry to you,
but you don’t save.
3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing,
why do you permit oppression?
Pillage and cruelty confront me,
so that strife and discord prevail.
4 Therefore Torah is not followed;
justice never gets rendered,
because the wicked fence in the righteous.
This is why justice comes out perverted.
5 “Look around among the nations!
What you see will completely astound you!
For what is going to be done in your days
you will not believe, even when you are told.
6 I am raising up the Kasdim,
that bitter and impetuous nation,
who march far and wide over the earth
to seize homes that are not their own.
7 Fearsome and dreadful they are;
their rules and strength come from themselves.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
fiercer than wolves at night.
Their cavalry gallop in from afar,
flying like vultures rushing to feed.
9 All of them come for violence,
their faces set eagerly forward,
scooping up captives like sand.
10 They scoff at kings;
princes they deride.
They laugh at any fortress;
they pile up earth and take it.
11 Then they sweep on like the wind,
but they become guilty,
because they make their strength their god.”
12 Adonai, haven’t you existed forever?
My God, my holy one, we will not die.
Adonai, you appointed them to execute judgment.
Rock, you commissioned them to correct us.
13 Your eyes are too pure to see evil,
you cannot countenance oppression.
So why do you countenance traitors?
Why are you silent when evil people
swallow up those more righteous than they?
14 You make people like fish in the sea,
like reptiles that have no ruler.
15 The evil haul them all up with their hooks,
catch them in their fish net,
or gather them in their dragnet.
Then they rejoice and make merry,
16 offering sacrifices to their fishnet
and burning incense to their dragnet;
because through them they live in luxury,
with plenty of food to eat.
17 Should they, therefore, keep emptying their nets?
Should they keep slaughtering the nations without pity?
Zephaniah 3
Complete Jewish Bible
3 Woe to her who is filthy, defiled;
woe to the tyrant city!
2 She wouldn’t listen to the voice,
wouldn’t receive correction;
she didn’t trust in Adonai,
didn’t draw close to her God.
3 Her leaders there with her are roaring lions,
her judges desert wolves,
who don’t leave even a bone for tomorrow.
4 Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men;
her cohanim profane the holy
and do violence to Torah.
5 Adonai, who is righteous, is there among them;
he never does anything wrong.
Every morning he renders his judgment,
every morning, without fail;
yet the wrongdoer knows no shame.
6 “I have cut off nations,
their battlements are ruined;
I have made their streets ruins,
no one walks in them.
Their cities are destroyed,
abandoned, unpeopled.
7 I said, ‘Surely now you will fear me,
you will receive correction’;
so that her place will not be cut off
by all the punishments I brought on her.
But no, they only grew all the more eager
to be corrupt in all that they do.
8 Therefore, wait for me,” says Adonai,
“for the day when I rise to witness against you,
when I decide to assemble nations,
to gather kingdoms together,
to pour on them my indignation,
all my furious anger;
for all the earth will be consumed
in the fire of my passion.
9 For then I will change the peoples,
so that they will have pure lips,
to call on the name of Adonai, all of them,
and serve him with one accord.
10 Even from beyond Ethiopia’s rivers
they will bring those who petition me,
the daughter of my dispersed as my offering.
11 When that day comes, you will not be ashamed
of everything you have done,
committing wrongs against me;
for then I will remove from among you
those of you who take joy in arrogance;
you will no longer be full of pride
on my holy mountain.
12 I will leave among you
a poor and afflicted people,
who will find their refuge
in the name of Adonai.”
13 The remnant of Isra’el will not do wrong,
nor will they speak lies,
nor will there be found in their mouths
a tongue given over to deceit;
for they will be able to graze and lie down,
with no one to disturb them.
14 Sing, daughter of Tziyon!
Shout, Isra’el!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
daughter of Yerushalayim!
15 Adonai has removed the judgments against you,
he has expelled your enemy;
the king of Isra’el, Adonai,
is right there with you.
You no longer need to fear
that anything bad will happen.
16 On that day, it will be said
to Yerushalayim,
“Do not fear, Tziyon!
don’t let your hands droop down.
17 Adonai your God is right there with you,
as a mighty savior.
He will rejoice over you and be glad,
he will be silent in his love,
he will shout over you with joy.”
18 “I will gather those of yours
who grieve over the appointed feasts
and bear the burden of reproach
[because they cannot keep them].
19 When that time comes, I will deal
with all those who oppress you.
I will save her who is lame,
gather her who was driven away,
and make them whose shame spread over the earth
the object of praise and renown.
20 When that time comes, I will bring you in;
when that time comes, I will gather you
and make you the object of fame and praise
among all the peoples of the earth —
when I restore your fortunes
before your very eyes,” says Adonai.
Haggai 1
Complete Jewish Bible
1 In the second year of Daryavesh the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the following word of Adonai came through Hagai the prophet to Z’rubavel the son of Sh’alti’el, governor of Y’hudah, and to Y’hoshua the son of Y’hotzadak, the cohen hagadol: 2 “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘This people is saying that now isn’t the time — the time hasn’t yet arrived for Adonai’s house to be rebuilt.’”
3 Then this word of Adonai came through Hagai the prophet: 4 “So is now the time for you to be living in your own paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Therefore here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says:
‘Think about your life!
6 You sow much but bring in little;
you eat but aren’t satisfied;
you drink but never have enough;
you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
and he who works for a living earns wages
that are put in a bag full of holes.’”
7 “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘Think about your life! 8 Go up into the hills, get wood, and rebuild the house. I will be pleased with that, and then I will be glorified,’ says Adonai. 9 ‘You looked for much, but it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?’ asks Adonai-Tzva’ot. ‘Because my house lies in ruins, while every one of you runs to take care of his own house. 10 This is why the sky above you has withheld the dew, so that there is none, and the land withholds its yield. 11 In fact, I called for a drought on the land and on the hills, on the grain, the wine and the olive oil, on what the ground brings up, on men, animals and on all that hands produce.’”
12 Then Z’rubavel the son of Sh’alti’el and Y’hoshua the son of Y’hotzadak, the cohen hagadol, with all the rest of the people, paid attention to what Adonai their God had said and to the words of Hagai the prophet; since Adonai their God had sent him; and the people were filled with fear in the presence of Adonai. 13 Hagai the messenger of Adonai conveyed this message of Adonai to the people: “‘I am with you,’ says Adonai.”
14 Adonai roused the spirit of Z’rubavel the son of Sh’alti’el, governor of Y’hudah, and the spirit of Y’hoshua the son of Y’hotzadak, the cohen hagadol, and the spirits of all the rest of the people; so that they came and began to work on the house of Adonai-Tzva’ot their God. 15 This was on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of the second year of Daryavesh the king.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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