Old/New Testament
Judgment on Israel’s Enemies
9 A declaration: this message from the Lord in the land of Hadrach,[a]
with Damascus its confederate,[b]
because the eyes of humanity[c] will look to[d] the Lord,
along with those of[e] all the tribes of Israel.
2 Also Hamath, which borders on it—
along with Tyre and Sidon—
indeed they are very wise.
3 “Tyre built itself a fortification,
hoarding silver like dust
and pure gold like mud in a street.
4 Look! The Lord will evict her,
striking at her power in the sea,
and she will be consumed by fire.
5 Ashkelon will see it happen and will be terrified;
Gaza will tremble greatly.
Ekron will be ashamed of her expectations,
Gaza’s king will perish,
and Ashkelon will become uninhabited.
6 A strange people[f] will inhabit Ashdod,
and I will eliminate the arrogance of Philistia.
7 I will remove the blood from its mouth,
along with its abominations from between its teeth.
Its survivors will be dedicated to our God;
It will be like a clan of Judah,
and Ekron will be as a Jebusite.[g]
8 I will set a garrison around my Temple,
to hinder those who might come and go,
and to guard against oppressors who intend to invade;
for I have taken note of this with my eyes.”
The Coming of Zion’s King
9 “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion;
cry out, daughter of Jerusalem!
Look! Your king is coming to you.
He is righteous,
and he is able to save.
He is humble,
and is riding on a colt,
the foal of a donkey.
10 I will banish[h] chariots from Ephraim
and horses from Jerusalem.
War weapons[i] will be banished,
and your king[j] will speak peace to the nations.
His dominion will extend from sea to sea,
and from the River to the farthest portion of the earth.
11 Now concerning you and my blood covenant with you,
I have liberated your prisoners
from a waterless pit.
12 Return to your fortress, you prisoners who have hope.
Even today I am telling you:
In return I will repay you double.
13 For I have bent Judah as if it were my bow,
loading it with Ephraim.
I raised up your sons, Zion,
against your sons, Greece,
wielding you like a mighty warrior’s sword.”
Israel’s Lord Appears
14 The Lord will appear over them—
his arrow will shoot like lightning.
The Lord God will blow the trumpet,
and go out with the southern windstorm.
15 The Lord of the Heavenly Armies will defend them;
they will devour and conquer those who sling stones.
They will drink and be boisterous like those who are drunk.
They will be filled to the brim with blood,[k]
like the corners of the altar.
16 The Lord their God will save them at that time[l]
as his very own flock of people,
because they are his crown jewels,
exalted throughout his land.
17 For how great is his goodness,
and how great is his beauty!
Grain will make the young men thrive,
and new wine the virgins.
The Lord’s Care for Judah
10 “Ask the Lord for rain in the spring[m]—
the Lord who fashions lightning thunderstorms,
giving rain showers to mankind[n]
along with grain in the fields.[o]
2 Truly the family idols[p] talk nonsense
and the diviners discern lies,
describing delusional dreams.
Since their comfort is vacuous,
they wander off on their own like sheep,
because there is no shepherd.
3 “Against the shepherds my anger rises—
I am punishing the leaders[q] also,
because the Lord of the Heavenly Armies has visited his flock, the house of Judah,
appointing them as his royal war horse for battle.
4 From them arises[r] the cornerstone and tent peg,
from them the battle bow,
from them arise all sorts of oppressive rulers.
5 They will be like mighty soldiers
who trample mud in the streets during battle.
They will fight because the Lord is with them,
and the opposing[s] horsemen will be confused.
6 “I will fortify the house of Judah,
and the house of Joseph I will save.
I will surely bring them back,
because I care about them.
They will be as if I had never cast them away.
Since I am the Lord their God,
I will answer them.
7 “The people of Ephraim will become like mighty soldiers;
they will be glad, like those who have wine.
Their children will see this and rejoice;
their hearts will find joy in the Lord.
8 I will whistle for them, gathering them together,
because I have redeemed them,
and they will multiply as they were before.[t]
9 I will scatter them among the nations,
and so they will remember me in distant countries.
They will rear their children,
and they will return.
10 I will bring them once again out of the land of Egypt,
gathering them from Assyria.
I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon,
but there will not be enough space for them.
11 They[u] will pass through the sea of affliction,
and they[v] will strike the waves[w] in that sea.
All of the depths of the Nile will evaporate,
Assyria’s arrogance will be brought down low,
and the ruling power[x] of Egypt will disappear.
12 “I will strengthen them in the Lord,
and they will march here and there in his name,”
declares the Lord.
Destruction of Lebanon and Bashan
11 Open your doors, Lebanon,
and fire will consume your cedars.[y]
2 Wail, cypress tree,
for the cedar has fallen
while the stately trees are destroyed.
Wail, oak trees of Bashan,
for the old growth forest has been cut down.
3 Hear[z] the wailing of the shepherds,
for the magnificence of the forest[aa] is ruined!
Hear[ab] the roar of the lions,
for the Jordan’s arrogance is ruined!
The Shepherd
4 This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for[ac] slaughter. 5 Their buyers slaughter them without being punished, continuing to sell them as they say, ‘Bless the Lord!’ and, ‘I’m rich!’ Meanwhile, their shepherds show them no compassion. 6 Therefore I will no longer show compassion upon those who live in the land,” declares the Lord. “Look! I will deliver every single person into the control[ad] of his neighbor and into the control[ae] of the king. Even though they assault the land, I will not deliver it from their control.”[af]
7 So I became shepherd of the flock marked for[ag] slaughter, paying attention to the oppressed of the flock. I took two staffs—naming one “Pleasant” and the other one “Union”—and then I pastured the flock. 8 In a single month I got rid of three shepherds because I grew tired of them, and they despised me. 9 So I said, “I will no longer be your shepherd. Let those who are about to die perish, and let what is about to be destroyed be destroyed. As for the survivors, let them devour each other.”
10 Then I took the staff that I had named “Pleasant” and broke it, showing I was breaking my covenant that I had made with all of the people. 11 It was broken at that time[ah] so the oppressed of the flock who were observing me would know that it had been a message from the Lord.
12 I told them, “If it’s alright with you, pay me what I’ve earned. But if it isn’t, don’t.”
So they paid out what I had earned—30 pieces of silver.[ai]
13 Then the Lord told me, “Throw the money[aj] into the treasury[ak]—that magnificent value they placed on me!”
So I took the 30 shekels of[al] silver and threw them into the treasury[am] of the Temple of the Lord. 14 Then I broke my second staff—the one I had named “Union”—breaking the union between the house of Judah and the house of Israel.
God’s Curse on the Worthless Shepherd
15 The Lord told me, “Pick up the tools of a worthless shepherd again, 16 for I am now raising up a shepherd in the land who will neither search for the lost, nor care for the young, nor fix the broken, nor sustain the healthy. Instead, he will devour the meat of the best of the sheep, tearing off their hoofs.”
17 “Woe to the worthless shepherd,
who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm
and his right eye.
May his arm wither
and his right eye be completely blind.”
The Lord will Deliver Jerusalem
12 A declaration: a message from the Lord to Israel. “The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who frames the spirit of man within himself, declares, 2 ‘Look, I am making Jerusalem an unstable cup[an] toward all of its surrounding armies when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3 It will come about at that time[ao] that I will make Jerusalem a heavy weight; so everyone who burdens themselves with it will be crushed,[ap] even though all of the nations of the earth gather themselves against it. 4 At that time,’[aq] declares the Lord, ‘I will strike every horse with panic and every rider with insanity. I will keep my eyes on the house of Judah, but I will blind every horse of the invading[ar] armies. 5 The leaders of Judah will say to themselves, “Those who live in Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, their God.” 6 ‘At that time,[as] I will make the leaders of Judah like a brazier filled with blazing wood, or like a torch setting fire to harvested grain. They will devour all the invading[at] armies, both on the right hand and on the left. As a result, Jerusalem will again be inhabited in its rightful place—as the real[au] Jerusalem.’”
7 The Lord will deliver the tents of Judah first, so that neither the glory of the house[av] of David nor the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem overshadows Judah. 8 At that time,[aw] the Lord will defend those who live in Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them at that time will be like David. The entire house of David will be like God—indeed, like the angel of the Lord in their midst!
9 “‘At that time,[ax] I will search out and destroy all of the nations who have come against Jerusalem. 10 I will pour out on the house of David and on the residents of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and of supplications, and they will look to me—the one whom they pierced.’”[ay]
Mourning in Jerusalem
Then they will mourn for him, as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him, as for a firstborn son. 11 At that time,[az] Jerusalem will mourn deeply, like the mourning about Hadad-rimmon[ba] that took place in the plain of Megiddo. 12 And so the land will mourn, families by families, alone by themselves—the family of the house of David by itself with their wives by themselves, the family of the house of Nathan by itself with their wives by themselves, 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself with their wives by themselves, the family of Shimei by itself with their wives by themselves— 14 all of the surviving families by themselves, along with their wives by themselves.
The Vision of the Millennial Reign
20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key to the bottomless pit,[a] with a large chain in his hand. 2 He captured the dragon, that ancient serpent, also known as the Devil and Satan, and tied him up for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the bottomless pit,[b] locked it, and sealed it over him to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were over. After that, he must be set free for a little while.
The Vision of the First Resurrection
4 Then I saw thrones, and those who sat on them were given authority to judge. I also 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 or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. They came back to life and ruled with the Messiah[c] for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were over. This is the first resurrection. 6 How blessed and holy are those who participate in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them. They will be priests of God and the Messiah,[d] and will rule with him for a thousand years.
The Vision of the Final Judgment
7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be freed from his prison. 8 He will go out to deceive Gog and Magog, the nations at the four corners of the earth, and gather them for war. They are as numerous as the sands of the seashore. 9 They marched over the broad expanse of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Fire came from God[e] out of heaven and burned them up, 10 and the Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were. They will be tortured day and night forever and ever.
The Vision of the White Throne Judgment
11 Then I saw a large, white throne and the one who was sitting on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 I saw the dead, both unimportant and important, standing in front of the throne, and books were open. Another book was opened—the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to their actions, as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades[f] gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to their actions. 14 Death and Hades[g] were thrown into the lake of fire. (This is the second death—the lake of fire.) 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
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