^(A)“Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
Where is the house that you will build Me?
And where is the place of My rest?
² For all those things My hand has made,
And all those things exist,”
Says the Lord.
^(B)“But on this one will I look:
^(C)On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
And who trembles at My word.

³ “He^(D) who kills a bull is as if he slays a man;
He who sacrifices a lamb, as if he ^(E)breaks a dog’s neck;
He who offers a grain offering, as if he offers swine’s blood;
He who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol.
Just as they have chosen their own ways,
And their soul delights in their abominations,
⁴ So will I choose their delusions,
And bring their fears on them;
^(F)Because, when I called, no one answered,
When I spoke they did not hear;
But they did evil before My eyes,
And chose that in which I do not delight.”

⁶ The sound of noise from the city!
A voice from the temple!
The voice of the Lord,
Who fully repays His enemies!

⁷ “Before she was in labor, she gave birth;
Before her pain came,
She delivered a male child.
⁸ Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
She gave birth to her children.
⁹ Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the Lord.
“Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.
¹⁰ “Rejoice with Jerusalem,
And be glad with her, all you who love her;
Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her;
¹¹ That you may feed and be satisfied
With the consolation of her bosom,
That you may drink deeply and be delighted
With the abundance of her glory.”

“Behold, ^(J)I will extend peace to her like a river,
And the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream.
Then you shall ^(K)feed;
On her sides shall you be ^(L)carried,
And be dandled on her knees.
¹³ As one whom his mother comforts,
So I will ^(M)comfort you;
And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”

¹⁷ “Those^(R) who sanctify themselves and purify themselves,
To go to the gardens
^[a]After an idol in the midst,
Eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse,
Shall ^[b]be consumed together,” says the Lord.

²² “For as ^(Z)the new heavens and the new earth
Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord,
“So shall your descendants and your name remain.
²³ And ^(AA)it shall come to pass
That from one New Moon to another,
And from one Sabbath to another,
^(AB)All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord.

²⁴ “And they shall go forth and look
Upon the corpses of the men
Who have transgressed against Me.
For their ^(AC)worm does not die,
And their fire is not quenched.
They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

² “Lift^(B) up a banner ^(C)on the high mountain,
Raise your voice to them;
^(D)Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
³ I have commanded My ^[b]sanctified ones;
I have also called ^(E)My mighty ones for My anger—
Those who ^(F)rejoice in My exaltation.”

⁴ The ^(G)noise of a multitude in the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together!
The Lord of hosts musters
The army for battle.
⁵ They come from a far country,
From the end of heaven—
The ^(H)Lord and His ^[c]weapons of indignation,
To destroy the whole ^(I)land.

⁶ Wail, ^(J)for the day of the Lord is at hand!
^(K)It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
⁷ Therefore all hands will be limp,
Every man’s heart will melt,
⁸ And they will be afraid.
^(L)Pangs^[d] and sorrows will take hold of them;
They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;
They will be amazed at one another;
Their faces will be like flames.

⁹ Behold, ^(M)the day of the Lord comes,
Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,
To lay the land desolate;
And He will destroy ^(N)its sinners from it.
¹⁰ For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not give their light;
The sun will be ^(O)darkened in its going forth,
And the moon will not cause its light to shine.

¹¹ “I will ^(P)punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
^(Q)I will halt the arrogance of the proud,
And will lay low the haughtiness of the ^[e]terrible.
¹² I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold,
A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.
^13 (R)Therefore I will shake the heavens,
And the earth will move out of her place,
In the wrath of the Lord of hosts
And in ^(S)the day of His fierce anger.
¹⁴ It shall be as the hunted gazelle,
And as a sheep that no man ^[f]takes up;
^(T)Every man will turn to his own people,
And everyone will flee to his own land.
¹⁵ Everyone who is found will be thrust through,
And everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their children also will be ^(U)dashed to pieces before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives ^(V)ravished.

¹⁷ “Behold,^(W) I will stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not ^[g]regard silver;
And as for gold, they will not delight in it.
¹⁸ Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces,
And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb;
Their eye will not spare children.
^19 (X)And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew ^(Y)Sodom and Gomorrah.
^20 (Z)It will never be inhabited,
Nor will it be settled from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there,
Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.
^21 (AA)But wild beasts of the desert will lie there,
And their houses will be full of ^[h]owls;
Ostriches will dwell there,
And wild goats will caper there.
²² The hyenas will howl in their citadels,
And jackals in their pleasant palaces.
^(AB)Her time is near to come,
And her days will not be prolonged.”