Old/New Testament
A Rebuke to Damascus
17 A message[a] about Damascus:[b]
“Look! Damascus[c] will cease to be a city.
Instead, it will become a pile of ruins.
2 The cities of Oraru[d] will be deserted—
they will be devoted to herds that will lay at rest,
and terrorism will be no more.[e]
3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,
and royal authority from Damascus;[f]
the survivors[g] from Aram[h] will be like the glory of the Israelis,”
declares the Lord of the Heavenly Armies.
A Time of Weakness for Israel
4 “At that time,[i] Jacob’s glory will have become weakened,
and his strong[j] flesh will turn gaunt;
5 it will be as if harvesters gather standing grain,
reaping the ears by hand,[k]
or it will be as if grain is harvested
in the valley of Rephaim.[l]
6 Nevertheless, gleanings will remain in Israel,[m]
as when an olive tree is beaten—[n]
two or three ripe olives left in the topmost branches,
four or five left among the branches of a fruit-filled tree,”[o]
declares the Lord God of Israel.
Revival to Come to Israel
7 At that time, men will look upon[p] their Maker, and their eyes will honor the Holy One of Israel. 8 They will not look upon[q] the altars, the products[r] that their own fingers[s] have made, and they will have no regard for Asherah poles[t] or incense altars.[u]
Desolation to the Nations
9 “At that time,[v] their fortified cities
that they abandoned because of the Israelis
will be like desolate places[w] of the forests and hilltops—[x]
there will be desolation.
10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not remembered the Rock
that is your strength.
Therefore even though you plant delightful plants,
sowing them with imported vine-seedlings,
11 at the time that you plant them,
carefully making them grow,
the very morning you make your seed to sprout,
your harvest will be ruined[y]
in a time of grief and unbearable pain.”[z]
12 “How terrible it will be for many peoples,
who rage like the roaring sea!
Oh, how the uproar of nations
is like the sound of rushing, mighty water—
How they roar!
13 The nations roar like the rushing of many waters,[aa]
but the Lord[ab] will rebuke them,
and they will run far away,
chased like chaff blown down from the mountains
or like thick dust[ac] that rolls along,
blown along by a wind storm.
14 When the evening arrives, watch out—sudden terror!
By morning they will be there no longer!
So it will be for those who plunder us
and what will happen to those who rob us.”
A Rebuke to Cush
18 Woe to the land of whirring wings
that is beyond the rivers of Cush,[ad]
2 which sends envoys by the sea,[ae]
in papyrus boats over the water!
Go, swift messengers,
to a tall, smooth-skinned nation,
to a people feared far and wide,
a nation that metes out[af] punishment[ag] and oppresses,
whose land the rivers divide.
3 All you inhabitants of the world,
you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains,
you’ll see it.
When a trumpet sounds,
you’ll hear it!
4 For this is what the Lord told me:
“I will remain quiet and watch in my dwelling place
like dazzling heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat[ah] of harvest.”
5 For before the harvest, when the season of[ai] budding is over,
and sour grapes ripen into mature grapes,[aj]
he cuts off the shoots with pruning knives,
clearing away the spreading branches
as he lops them off.
6 And[ak] they will all be left
for birds of prey that live on the mountains[al]
and for wild animals.[am]
Birds of prey will pass the summer feeding on them,
and all the wild animals[an] will pass the winter feeding[ao] on them.
7 At that time tribute will be brought to the Lord of the Heavenly Armies
from[ap] a tall and smooth-skinned people,
from a people feared far and wide,
a nation that metes out[aq] punishment[ar] and oppresses,
whose land the rivers divide,
to Mount Zion,
the place that bears[as] the name of the Lord.[at]
A Rebuke to Egypt
19 A message[au] about Egypt:
“Watch out! The Lord rides on a swift cloud,
and is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.
2 I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
and everyone will fight against his brother,
everyone against his neighbor,
city[av] against city,
kingdom against kingdom.
3 The spirits of the Egyptians within them will be drained of courage,[aw]
and I will bring their plans to nothing.
They will consult idols[ax] and spirits of the dead,
and mediums and spiritists.
4 I will hand the Egyptians over
to the power of a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,”
declares the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies.
A Rebuke to Egypt’s Ecology and Industry
5 “The water sources[ay] of the Nile[az] will be dried up,
and the river[ba] will become dry and parched.
6 The canals will stink,
and[bb] the tributaries of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.
Reeds and rushes will wither away.[bc]
7 And the bulrushes along the Nile,[bd]
along the mouth of the Nile,[be] will wither away.
All the sown fields of the Nile will become parched,
and[bf] they will be blown away;
there will be nothing left.[bg]
8 The fishermen will groan,
and all who cast hooks into the Nile will lament;
those who spread nets upon the water
will become weaker and weaker.
9 The workers[bh] in combed flax
and the weavers of white linen
will be in despair.
10 Egypt’s[bi] workers in cloth[bj] will be crushed,
and all who work for wages will be sick at heart.”
A Rebuke to Egypt’s Leaders
11 Zoan’s princes are nothing but fools;
the wisest advisors of Pharaoh give stupid advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I’m a descendant of wise men,
a descendant of ancient kings”?
12 Where are your wise men now?
Let them tell you,
let them make known
what the Lord[bk] has planned against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools,
and the princes of Memphis deluded;
the leaders[bl] of its tribes
have led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has mixed[bm] within them[bn] a spirit of confusion;
so they make Egypt stagger in all that it does,
like a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
15 As a result, there will be nothing for Egypt
that head or tail, palm branch or reed, can do.[bo]
Egypt and Syria Will Worship God
16 At that time,[bp] the Egyptians will be like women—they[bq] will shudder and be afraid before the uplifted hand of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, when he brandishes his hand against her.[br] 17 And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will be afraid, because of the uplifted hand[bs] of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies that[bt] is turning in their direction.
18 At that time,[bu] there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of the Heavenly Armies. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.[bv]
19 At that time,[bw] there will be an altar to the Lord of the Heavenly Armies[bx] in the heart of the land of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord[by] at its border. 20 It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of the Heavenly Armies in the land of Egypt; when they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior, and he will come down[bz] and rescue them. 21 So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will acknowledge the Lord.
At that time,[ca] they will worship[cb] with sacrifices and offerings, and they will make vows to the Lord and carry them out. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague, striking but then healing. Then they will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.
23 At that time,[cc] there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come into Egypt, and the Egyptians into Assyria, and they[cd] will worship with the Assyrians.
24 At that time,[ce] Israel will be in a triple alliance[cf] with Egypt and Assyria; they will be[cg] a blessing in the midst of the earth. 25 The Lord of the Heavenly Armies has blessed them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
17 Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Stop getting[a] drunk with wine, which leads to wild living, but keep on being filled with the Spirit. 19 Then you will recite to one another psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; you will sing and make music to the Lord with your hearts; 20 you will consistently give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah;[b] 21 and you will submit to one another out of reverence for[c] the Messiah.[d]
Wives and Husbands
22 Wives, submit yourselves[e] to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of his wife as the Messiah[f] is the head of the church. It is he who is the Savior of the body. 24 Indeed, just as the church is submissive to the Messiah,[g] so wives must be submissive[h] to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives as the Messiah[i] loved the church and gave himself for it, 26 so that he might make it holy by cleansing it, washing it with water and the word, 27 and might present the church to himself in all its glory, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, but holy and without fault. 28 In the same way, husbands must love their wives as they love[j] their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one has ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, as the Messiah[k] does[l] the church.
30 For we are parts of his body—of his flesh and of his bones.[m] 31 “That is why a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[n] 32 This is a great secret, but I am talking about the Messiah[o] and the church. 33 But each individual man among you must love his wife as he loves[p] himself; and may the wife fear her husband.
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