34 Come near, ^(A)you nations, to hear; and listen, you peoples!
^(B)Let the earth and ^[a]all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.
² For the Lord’s ^(C)anger is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their armies.
He has ^[b](D)utterly destroyed them,
He has turned them over to ^(E)slaughter.
³ So their slain will be ^(F)thrown out,
And their corpses ^[c]will give off their ^(G)stench,
And the mountains will ^[d]be drenched with their ^(H)blood.
⁴ And ^(I)all the heavenly ^[e]lights will ^[f]wear away,
And the ^(J)sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All its ^[g]lights will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
⁵ For ^(K)My sword has drunk its fill in heaven;
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon ^(L)Edom,
And upon the people whom I have ^(M)designated for destruction.
⁶ The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,
It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in ^(N)Bozrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of ^(O)Edom.
^7 (P)Wild oxen will also ^[h]fall with them
And ^(Q)young bulls with strong ones;
So their land will be ^(R)soaked with blood,
And their dust ^[i]become greasy with fat.
⁸ For the Lord has a day of ^(S)vengeance,
A year of retribution for the ^[j]cause of Zion.
^9 [k]Its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its loose earth into ^(T)brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.
¹⁰ It will ^(U)not be extinguished night or day;
Its ^(V)smoke will go up forever.
From ^(W)generation to generation it will be desolate;
^(X)None will pass through it forever and ever.
¹¹ But ^[l](Y)pelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And ^[m]owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the ^(Z)line of ^[n]desolation
And the ^[o]plumb line of emptiness.
¹² Its nobles—there is ^(AA)no one there
Whom they may proclaim king—
And all its officials will be ^(AB)nothing.
¹³ Thorns will come up in its ^(AC)fortified towers,
Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities;
It will also be a haunt of ^(AD)jackals
And a habitat of ostriches.
¹⁴ The desert ^(AE)creatures will meet with the ^[p]wolves,
The ^[q](AF)goat also will cry to its kind.
Yes, the ^[r]night-bird will settle there
And will find herself a resting place.
¹⁵ The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,
And it will hatch and gather them under its ^[s]protection.
Yes, ^(AG)the ^[t]hawks will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind.

Not one of these will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For ^[u](AI)His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.
¹⁷ He has cast the ^(AJ)lot for them,
And His hand has divided it to them by the ^(AK)measuring line.
They shall possess it forever;
From ^(AL)generation to generation they will dwell in it.

35 The ^(AM)wilderness and the desert will rejoice,
And the ^[v](AN)desert will shout for joy and blossom;
Like the crocus
² It will ^(AO)blossom profusely
And ^(AP)rejoice with joy and jubilation.
The ^(AQ)glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
The majesty of ^(AR)Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the ^(AS)glory of the Lord,
The majesty of our God.
^3 (AT)Strengthen the ^[w]exhausted, and make the ^[x]feeble strong.
⁴ Say to those with ^(AU)anxious heart,
“Take courage, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with ^(AV)vengeance;
The ^(AW)retribution of God will come,
But He will ^(AX)save you.”
⁵ Then the ^(AY)eyes of those who are blind will be opened,
And the ears of those who are deaf will be unstopped.
⁶ Then those who ^(AZ)limp will leap like a deer,
And the ^(BA)tongue of those who cannot speak will shout for joy.
For waters will burst forth in the ^(BB)wilderness,
And streams in the ^[y]desert.
⁷ The ^[z]scorched land will become a pool
And the thirsty ground ^(BC)springs of water;
In the ^(BD)haunt of jackals, its resting place,
Grass becomes reeds and rushes.
^8 (BE)A highway will be there, ^(BF)a roadway,
And it will be called the Highway of ^(BG)Holiness.
The unclean will not travel on it,
But it will be for the one who walks that way,
And ^(BH)fools will not wander on it.
⁹ No ^(BI)lion will be there,
Nor will any vicious animal go up on it;
^[aa]They will not be found there.
But ^(BJ)the redeemed will walk there,
¹⁰ And ^(BK)the redeemed of the Lord will return
And come to Zion with joyful shouting,
And everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
And ^(BL)sorrow and sighing will flee away.

2 Woe to those who ^(A)devise wrongdoing,
Who practice evil on their beds!
^[a](B)When morning comes, they do it,
Because it is in the ^(C)power of their hands.
² They ^(D)covet fields, so they ^(E)seize them;
And houses, so they take them.
They ^[b](F)exploit a man and his house,
A person and his inheritance.

“Behold, I am ^(G)planning against this ^(H)family a catastrophe
From which you ^(I)cannot remove your necks;
And you will not walk ^(J)haughtily,
For it will be an ^(K)evil time.
⁴ On that day they will ^(L)take up against you a ^[c]song of mocking
And ^[d](M)utter a song of mourning and say,
‘We are completely ^(N)destroyed!
He exchanges the share of my people;
How He removes it from me!
To the apostate He ^(O)apportions our fields.’
⁵ Therefore you will have no one ^[e](P)applying a measuring line
For you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.

“^(AI)Hear now, you ^[h]leaders of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel:
Is it not for you to ^(AJ)know justice?
² You who hate good and love evil,
Who ^(AK)tear off their skin from them
And their flesh from their bones,
³ Who ^(AL)eat the flesh of my people,
Strip off their skin from them,
Smash their bones,
And ^(AM)chop them up as for the pot,
And as meat in a cauldron!”
⁴ Then they will ^(AN)cry out to the Lord,
But He will not answer them.
Instead, He will ^(AO)hide His face from them at that time
Because they have ^(AP)practiced evil deeds.

When they have something to bite with their teeth,
They ^(AR)cry out, “Peace!”
But against him who puts nothing in their mouths
They declare holy war.
⁶ Therefore it will be ^(AS)night for you—without vision,
And darkness for you—without divination.
The ^(AT)sun will go down on the prophets,
And the day will become dark over them.
⁷ The seers will be ^(AU)put to shame,
And the ^(AV)diviners will be ashamed.
Indeed, they will all ^(AW)cover their ^[i]lips
Because there is ^(AX)no answer from God.
⁸ On the other hand, ^(AY)I am filled with power—
With the Spirit of the Lord—
And with justice and courage
To ^(AZ)make known to Jacob his rebellious act,
And to Israel his sin.
⁹ Now hear this, you ^(BA)heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who ^(BB)despise justice
And twist everything that is straight,
¹⁰ Who ^(BC)build Zion with bloodshed,
And Jerusalem with malice.
¹¹ Her leaders pronounce ^(BD)judgment for a bribe,
Her ^(BE)priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,
“^(BF)Is the Lord not in our midst?
Catastrophe will not come upon us.”
¹² Therefore on account of you,
^(BG)Zion will be plowed like a field,
^(BH)Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
And the ^(BI)mountain of the ^[j]temple will become high places of a forest.

4 And it will come about in the ^(BJ)last days
That the ^(BK)mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be established ^[k]as the chief of the mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
And the ^(BL)peoples will stream to it.
^2 (BM)Many nations will come and say,
“^(BN)Come and let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord
And to the house of the God of Jacob,
So that ^(BO)He may teach us about His ways,
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For ^(BP)from Zion will go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³ And He will ^(BQ)judge between many peoples
And render decisions for mighty, ^[l]distant nations.
Then they will beat their swords ^(BR)into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation will not lift a sword against nation,
And never again will they ^[m]train for war.
⁴ Instead, each of them will ^(BS)sit under his vine
And under his fig tree,
With ^(BT)no one to make them afraid,
Because the ^(BU)mouth of the Lord of armies has spoken.
⁵ Though all the peoples walk,
Each in the ^(BV)name of his god,
As for us, ^(BW)we will walk
In the name of the ^(BX)Lord our God forever and ever.

5 “^[r]Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops;
^[s]They have laid siege against us;
With a rod they will ^(CP)strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.
^2 [t]But as for ^(CQ)you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From ^(CR)you One will come forth for Me to be ^(CS)ruler in Israel.
His times of coming forth are ^(CT)from long ago,
From the days of eternity.”
³ Therefore He will ^(CU)give them up until the time
When she ^(CV)who is in labor has given birth.
Then the ^(CW)remainder of His kinsmen
Will return to the sons of Israel.
⁴ And He will arise and ^(CX)shepherd His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.
And they will ^[u]remain,
Because ^[v]at that time He will be great
To the ^(CY)ends of the earth.
⁵ This One ^(CZ)will be our peace.
When the ^(DA)Assyrian invades our land,
When he tramples on our ^[w]citadels,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight leaders of people.
⁶ They will ^(DB)shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
The land of ^(DC)Nimrod at its entrances;
And He will ^(DD)rescue us from the Assyrian
When he invades our land,
And when he tramples our territory.