Old/New Testament
The Word of the Lord Against Israel’s Enemies
9 A threatening oracle.
The word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrak,
and against Damascus, its resting place,
because the eye of the Lord is on mankind and on all the tribes of Israel.
2 It is also against Hamath, which borders on Damascus,
and Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
3 Tyre has built a stronghold for herself and has piled up silver like dust,
and gold like dirt from the streets.
4 Look, the Lord will seize everything she possesses
and throw her wealth into the sea,
and she will be consumed by fire.
5 Ashkelon will see it and be afraid.
Gaza will writhe in anguish,
and Ekron too, because her hopes have been dashed.
The kingship will perish from Gaza,
and Ashkelon will no longer be inhabited.
6 A mixed race will live in Ashdod,
and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
7 I will remove their blood from their mouths
and their detestable things from between their teeth.
Philistia too will be a remnant for our God,
and it will be like a clan in Judah.
Ekron will be like the Jebusites.
8 I will set up camp around my house,
as a guard against those passing back and forth.
The oppressor will never again march over them,
because now I am watching with my own eyes.
Your Savior and King Is Coming!
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
Look! Your King is coming to you.
He is righteous and brings salvation.
He is humble and is riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the horse from Jerusalem.
The battle bow will be taken away,
and he will proclaim peace to the nations.
His kingdom will extend from sea to sea,
from the River[a] to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you,
because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.
12 Return to the stronghold, you prisoners who have hope.
This very day I declare that I will restore double to you.
13 For I will bend Judah as my bow,
and I will load it with Ephraim.
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
against your sons, Greece,
and I will make you like a strong warrior’s sword.
The Lord Will Appear
14 The Lord will appear above them,
and his arrow will go out like lightning.
The Lord God will sound the ram’s horn,
and he will go forth in the windstorms from the south.
15 The Lord of Armies will defend them,
and they will eat.
They will overpower their enemies with sling stones.
Then they will drink,
and they will be boisterous as if drunk with wine.
They will be filled like a sprinkling bowl used at the corners of the altar.
16 On that day the Lord their God will save them as the flock of his people.
For like the jewels of a crown they will shine on his land.
17 Yes, what goodness it will have! What beauty!
Grain will make the young men thrive,
and new wine will make the young women thrive.
The Lord Will Provide
10 Ask the Lord, who makes storm clouds,
to give rain at the right time for the spring rains,
and he will provide showers of rain,
and there will be crops in the field for everyone.
2 But household gods speak wicked deception,
and the omen readers see illusions.
They report trivial dreams
and give false comfort.
That is why the people wander like sheep.
They are in trouble[b] because they have no shepherd.
The Lord’s Warning and Promise
3 My anger burns against the shepherds,
and I will punish the leaders of the flock,
because the Lord of Armies cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
and he will make them like his majestic horse in battle.
4 From him will come the cornerstone,
from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
from him every commander.
5 Together they will be like strong warriors,
going out into battle, trampling the enemy into the mud of the streets.
They will fight, because the Lord is with them,
and those who ride horses will be put to shame.
6 I will strengthen the house of Judah
and save the house of Joseph.
I will restore them,
because I have compassion on them.
It will be as if I had not rejected them,
because I am the Lord their God, and I will answer them.
7 Then Ephraim will become like a strong warrior,
and their hearts will be glad as if from wine.
Their children will see it and be glad.
Their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.
8 I will whistle for them and gather them in,
for I have redeemed them.
They will be as numerous as they were in the past.
9 Though I scattered them among the peoples,
yet in distant places they will remember me.
They will survive and return with their children.
10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt,
and I will gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to the land of Gilead and Lebanon,
and there will not be enough room for them.
11 They[c] will pass through the sea of distress,
but the Lord will strike the waves in the sea.
All the depths of the Nile will become dry.
The pride of Assyria will be brought low.
The scepter of Egypt will depart.
12 I will make them strong in the Lord,
and they will walk in his name, declares the Lord.
11 Open your doors, Lebanon,
so that fire may devour your cedars.
2 Wail, you fir trees, because the cedars have fallen.
The majestic trees have been destroyed.
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
for the impenetrable forest has been felled.
3 There is a sound of shepherds wailing,
because their splendor has been destroyed.
There is a sound of young lions roaring,
for the dense thickets of the Jordan have been destroyed.
The Rejection of the Good Shepherd
4 This is what the Lord, my God, said.
Shepherd the flock which is to be slaughtered. 5 Those who buy them slaughter them and are not held accountable, and those who sell them say, “Bless the Lord! I have become rich!” Their own shepherds show them no compassion, 6 because I will no longer show compassion to the people of the land, declares the Lord.
Look, I will bring it about that each one of them will fall into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of his king. They will crush the land, and I will rescue no one from their hands.
7 So I[d] shepherded the flock which is to be slaughtered, especially the most afflicted of the flock. I took two staffs for myself. One I called Favor and the other Union. Then I shepherded the flock. 8 I removed three shepherds in one month. I grew very impatient with the flock, and they really detested me. 9 So I said, “I will not shepherd you. Whatever is dying, let it die. Whatever is being destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who remain devour one another’s flesh.”
10 I took my staff, Favor, and I broke it in two, to cancel my covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was cancelled on that day, and the most miserable of the flock, who were watching me, knew that this was the word of the Lord.
12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, pay me my wages. But if it does not, withhold them.” So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver as my wages.
13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter, this magnificent price at which they valued me.” So I took the thirty pieces of silver, and I threw them into the House of the Lord, to the potter.
14 Then I broke my second staff, Union, to break the brotherhood between the house of Judah and the house of Israel.
A Foolish Shepherd
15 Then the Lord said to me:
Take up once again the equipment of a foolish shepherd.
16 Watch closely. I myself am going to raise up a shepherd in the land, one who will pay no attention to those who are being lost, who will not search for the scattered, who will not heal the injured, who will not nourish those who remain standing, but who nevertheless will devour the meat of the fat sheep and even tear off their hoofs.
17 Woe to my worthless shepherd,
the one who deserts the flock.
May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!
May his arm wither away to nothing,
and his right eye become completely blind.
The Lord Will Give Victory to Jerusalem
12 An oracle, the word of the Lord concerning Israel. This is what the Lord declares, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of a man within him:
2 Look! I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes all the surrounding peoples to stagger. When there is a siege against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. 3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will be seriously injured, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.
4 On that day, declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. But I will keep my eye on the house of Judah, and I will strike with blindness every horse that belongs to the other peoples. 5 Each of the leaders of the clans of Judah will say in his heart, “The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Armies, their God.”
6 On that day I will make the leaders of the clans of Judah like a firepot that ignites the woods, and like a flaming torch among the sheaves. They will devour all the surrounding peoples, on the right and on the left. The people of Jerusalem will once again live in their own place—in Jerusalem!
7 The Lord also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not become greater than that of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Anyone among them who is feeble will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the Lord, before them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
They Will Mourn for the One They Pierced
10 “I[e] will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace, who pleads for mercy.[f] Then they will look at me, the one they have pierced.”
They will mourn for him[g] as one mourns for an only child. They will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves over his firstborn. 11 On that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon[h] in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan[i] by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei[j] by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 all the families that remain, each family by itself, and their wives by themselves.
Christ and Satan
20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven. He had the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, bound him for a thousand years, 3 threw him into the abyss, locked it, and set a seal on it, so that he could no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years come to an end. After this he must be released for a short time.
They Lived and Reigned With Christ
4 Then I saw thrones, and those who were sitting on them were given the authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast and his image, and they did not receive his mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not live until the thousand years came to an end.) This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them. Instead they will be priests of God and of Christ. And they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Satan Defeated
7 When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be released from his prison. 8 He will go out to deceive the nations that are in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. They are as numerous as the sand of the sea.
9 They came up over the broad expanse of the earth, and they surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of[a] heaven and devoured them. 10 And the Devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are. There they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.
The Final Judgment
11 Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it. The earth and the sky fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 I also saw the dead, great and small, standing in front of the throne, and books were opened. Another book was also opened, which is the Book of Life. The dead were judged by the things written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and the Grave[b] gave up the dead that were in them, and they were judged, each one according to what he had done.
14 Death and the Grave[c] were thrown into the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is the second death. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.