Old/New Testament

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
    for your harbor has been destroyed.
From the land of Cyprus
    the news has reached them.
² Be silent, you who dwell along the coast,
    you merchants of Sidon,
whose messengers crossed over the sea
³     to the vast ocean.
The grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile
    provided your revenue;
    you were the merchant for the nations.
⁴ Be ashamed, O Sidon, the fortress of the sea,
    for the sea has declared:
“I have not endured the anguish of labor,
    nor have I given birth;
I have not reared young men
    or brought up young women.”
⁵ When the news reaches Egypt,
    they will writhe in anguish
    upon hearing the fate of Tyre.
⁶ Cross over to Tarshish;
    wail, you inhabitants of the coast.
⁷ Is this your vibrant city
    founded in the days of old,
and whose feet have led her away
    to settle in distant lands?
⁸ Who has devised this plan
    against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes
    and whose traders were held in the highest esteem
    throughout the earth?
⁹ The Lord of hosts has devised this plan
    to deflate the glory of the proud
    and to humiliate the honored men of the earth.
¹⁰ Cross over to your own land,
    you ships of Tarshish,
    for your harbors no longer exist.^[b]
11 The Lord has stretched out his hand over the sea
    and brought kingdoms to their knees;
he has commanded the destruction
    of the fortresses of Canaan.
¹² He has said:
    You will exult no more,
    O greatly oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise and cross over to Cyprus,
    but even there you will find no rest.
¹³ Look at the land of the Chaldeans;
    it was this people, not Assyria,
who erected siege-towers,
    tore down its palaces,
    and left it in ruins.
¹⁴ Cry out in anguish, O ships of Tarshish,
    for your fortress has been destroyed.

¹⁶ Take your harp
    and walk throughout the city,
    you long-forgotten prostitute.
Pluck your strings sweetly
    and sing many songs
    so that they may remember you.

¹ Behold how the Lord is preparing
    to lay waste the earth;
he will turn it into a desert
    and scatter its inhabitants,
² with the same fate afflicting both priest and people,
    slave and master,
maid and mistress,
    seller and buyer,
lender and borrower,
    creditor and debtor.
³ The earth will be totally ravaged
    and completely despoiled;
    this has the Lord decreed.
⁴ The earth mourns and fades away;
    the world languishes and withers;
    the exalted of the earth are brought low.
⁵ The earth is defiled
    by those who dwell in it;
for they have transgressed laws,
    violated statutes,
    and broken the everlasting covenant.^[d]
6 Therefore, a curse has consumed the earth,
    and its inhabitants pay the penalty of their guilt;
as a result, the number of its inhabitants dwindles,
    and only a few survive.
⁷ The new wine dries up
    and the vine withers away
    as the revelers groan in their sorrow.
⁸ The cheerful sound of tambourines is stilled;
    the shouts of the revelers fade away;
    the lyre’s joyful melodies are no longer heard.
⁹ The people drink wine but without any singing;
    strong liquor tastes bitter to those who consume it.
¹⁰ The city is shattered and in a state of chaos;
    every house has its entrance barred.^[e]
11 In the streets the people cry out for wine;
    no joy can be observed;
    happiness seems to have been banished from the land.
¹² Only desolation remains in the city;
    its gates have been smashed so badly
    that they are beyond hope of repair.
¹³ This condition will hold true
    among all the nations throughout the world;
as happens to an olive tree after it is beaten
    or to the gleanings that remain
    after the grape harvest.
¹⁴ The people raise their voices in joyful praise,
    proclaiming from the west the majesty of the Lord,
¹⁵ “Let the Lord be glorified in the east;
    in the coastlands of the sea
glorify the name of the Lord,
    the God of Israel.”
¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we hear songs
    that praise the glory of the Righteous One.
But I said, “I am wasting away.
    I am wasting away. Woe is me!
For the traitors continue to betray;
    the traitors have acted with great treachery.
¹⁷ Terror and the pit and the snare
    threaten all of you inhabitants of the earth.
¹⁸ Anyone who flees from the sound of terror
    will fall into the pit,
and whoever climbs out of the pit
    will be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven will be opened
    and the foundations of the earth will shake.
¹⁹ The earth will be totally shattered,
    the earth will be torn apart
    the earth will be violently convulsed.
²⁰ The earth will stagger like a drunkard
    and sway like a fragile hut;
its transgressions will weigh heavily upon it,
    and it will fall, never to rise again.”
²¹ On that day the Lord will punish
    in the heavens the host of the heavens,^[f]
    and on the earth the kings of the earth.
²² They will be herded together,
    jammed in like prisoners in a dungeon.
They will be shut up in a pit
    and punished after many years.
²³ Then the moon will seem to fade away
    and the sun will hide in shame.
For the Lord of hosts will reign
    on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and he will manifest his glory
    to the elders of his people.

¹ O Lord, you are my God.
    I will exalt you and praise your name,
for you have accomplished wonderful things,
    formulated in ages past, faithful and sure.
² You have made the city a heap of ruins,
    the fortified city a mass of rubble.
The citadel of foreigners is a city no more,
    and it will never be rebuilt.
³ Therefore, mighty peoples will honor you,
    and the cities of ruthless nations
    will regard you with awe.
⁴ For you have been a refuge for the poor,
    a refuge to the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
    and a shade from the heat.
⁵ The blast of the ruthless
    is like a winter storm or a scorching drought,
but you subdue the roar of the foe,
    and the song of the ruthless fades away.
⁶ On this mountain^[g] the Lord of hosts
    will prepare for all peoples
a feast of rich food and vintage wines,
    of succulent foods and well-aged wines.
⁷ On this mountain the Lord will destroy
    the veil that shrouds^[h] all the peoples,
the path spread over all the nations;
⁸     he will destroy death forever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away
    the tears from every face,
and from the entire earth he will remove
    the shame of all his people;
    for the Lord has spoken.
⁹ It will be said on that day,
    “Behold, this is our God;
    in him we place our hope for deliverance.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
    let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us.”
¹⁰ For the hand of the Lord will not rest on this mountain,
    but Moab will be trodden under his feet
    as straw is trodden into the dung-heap.
¹¹ The Lord will stretch forth his hands in Moab
    as a swimmer stretches out his hands to swim,
and he will humble their pride
    as his hands sweep over them.
¹² He will overthrow the high fortifications of their walls,
    casting them down to the ground
    and making them level with the dust.