Habakkuk 1; Habakkuk 2; Habakkuk 3; Zephaniah 1; Zephaniah 2; Zephaniah 3

1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2 LORD, how long will I call for help and you not listen? I cry out to you, "Violence!" but you don't deliver us.

3 Why do you show me injustice and look at anguish so that devastation and violence are before me? There is strife, and conflict abounds.

4 The Instruction is ineffective. Justice does not endure because the wicked surround the righteous. Justice becomes warped.

5 Look among the nations and watch! Be astonished and stare because something is happening in your days that you wouldn't believe even if told.

6 I am about to rouse the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, which travels throughout the earth to possess dwelling places it does not own.

7 The Chaldean is dreadful and fearful. He makes his own justice and dignity.

8 His horses are faster than leopards; they are quicker than wolves of the evening. His horsemen charge forward; his horsemen come from far away. They fly in to devour, swiftly, like an eagle.

9 They come for violence, the horde with all their faces set toward the desert. He takes captives like sand.

10 He makes fun of kings; rulers are ridiculous to him. He laughs at every fortress, then he piles up dirt and takes it.

11 He passes through like the wind and invades; but he will be held guilty, the one whose strength is his god.

12 LORD, aren't you ancient, my God, my holy one? Don't let us die. LORD, you put the Chaldean here for judgment. Rock, you established him as a rebuke.

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you are unable to look at disaster. Why would you look at the treacherous or keep silent when the wicked swallows one who is more righteous?

14 You made humans like the fish of the sea, like creeping things with no one to rule over them.

15 The Chaldean brings all of them up with a fishhook. He drags them away with a net; he collects them in his fishing net, then he rejoices and celebrates.

16 Therefore, he sacrifices to his net; he burns incense to his fishing nets, because due to them his portion grows fat and his food becomes luxurious.

17 Should he continue to empty his net and continue to slay nations without sparing them?

1 I will take my post; I will position myself on the fortress. I will keep watch to see what the Lord says to me and how he will respond to my complaint.

2 Then the LORD answered me and said, Write a vision, and make it plain upon a tablet so that a runner can read it.

3 There is still a vision for the appointed time; it testifies to the end; it does not deceive. If it delays, wait for it; for it is surely coming; it will not be late.

4 Some people's desires are truly audacious; they don't do the right thing. But the righteous person will live honestly.

5 Moreover, wine betrays an arrogant man. He doesn't rest. He opens his jaws like the grave; like death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all nations to himself and collects all peoples for himself.

6 Won't everyone tell parables about him or mocking poems concerning him? They will say: Doom to the one who multiplies what doesn't belong to him and who increases his own burden. How long?

7 Won't they suddenly rise up to bite you? Those who frighten you will awaken; you will become plunder for them.

8 Since you yourself have plundered many nations, all the rest of the peoples will plunder you because of the human bloodshed and the violence done to the earth, to every village, and to all its inhabitants.

9 Doom to the one making evil gain for his own house, for putting his own nest up high, for delivering himself from the grasp of calamity.

10 You plan shame for your own house, cutting off many peoples and sinning against your own life.

11 A stone will cry out from a village wall, and a tree branch will respond.

12 Pity the one building a city with bloodshed and founding a village with injustice.

13 Look, isn't this from the LORD of heavenly forces? Peoples grow weary from making just enough fire; nations become tired for nothing.

14 But the land will be full of the knowledge of the LORD's glory, just as water covers the sea.

15 Doom to the one who makes his companions drunk, pouring out your wrath in order to see them naked.

16 You have drunk your fill of dishonor rather than glory. So drink and stagger. The cup of the LORD's strong hand will come around to you; disgrace will engulf you.

17 Because of the violence done to Lebanon, he will overwhelm you; the destruction of animals will terrify you, as will human bloodshed and violence throughout the land, the villages, and all their inhabitants.

18 Of what value is an idol, when its potter carves it, or a cast image that has been shaped? It is a teacher of lies, for the potter trusts the pottery, though it is incapable of speaking.

19 Doom to the one saying to the tree, "Wake up!" or "Get up" to the silent stone. Does it teach? Look, it is overlaid with gold and silver, but there is no breath within it.

20 But the LORD is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.

1 The prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth:

2 LORD, I have heard your reputation. I have seen your work. Over time, revive it. Over time, make it known. Though angry, remember compassion.

3 God comes from Teman and the holy one from the mountain of Paran. Selah His majesty covers the heavens and his praise fills the earth.

4 His radiance is like the sunlight, with rays flashing from his hand. That is the hiding place of his power.

5 Pestilence walks in front of him. Plague marches at his feet.

6 He stops and measures the earth. He looks and sets out against the nations. The everlasting mountains collapse; the eternal hills bow down; the eternal paths belong to him.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan under duress. The curtains of the land of Midian were quaking.

8 Was the LORD raging against the rivers? Or was your anger directed against the rivers? Or was your fury directed against the sea when you rode on your horses or rode your chariots to victory?

9 You raise up your empty bow, uttering curses for the arrows.Selah With rivers you split open the earth.

10 The mountains see you and writhe. A flood of water rushes through. The deep utters its voice; it raises its hands aloft.

11 Sun and moon stand still high above. With the light, your arrows shoot, your spear at the flash of lightning.

12 In fury, you stride the earth; in anger you tread the nations.

13 You go out to save your people. For the salvation of your anointed you smashed the head of the house of wickedness, laying bare the foundation up to the neck. Selah

14 You pierce the head of his warrior with his own spear. His warriors are driven off, those who take delight in oppressing us, those who take pleasure in secretly devouring the poor.

15 You make your horses tread on the sea; turbulent waters foam.

16 I hear and my insides tremble. My lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters my bones. I tremble while I stand, while I wait for the day of distress to come against the people who attack us.

17 Though the fig tree doesn't bloom, and there's no produce on the vine; though the olive crop withers, and the fields don't provide food; though the sheep is cut off from the pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls;

18 I will rejoice in the LORD. I will rejoice in the God of my deliverance.

19 The LORD God is my strength. He will set my feet like the deer. He will let me walk upon the heights.

1 The LORD's word that came to Zephaniah, Cushi's son, Gedaliah's grandson, Amariah's great-grandson, and Hezekiah's great-great-grandson in the days of Judah's King Josiah, Amon's son.

2 I will wipe out everything from the earth, says the LORD.

3 I will destroy humanity and the beasts; I will destroy the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea. I will make the wicked into a heap of ruins; I will eliminate humanity from the earth, says the LORD.

4 I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will eliminate what's left of Baal from this place and the names of the priests of foreign gods,

5 those bowing down to the forces of heaven on the rooftops, those swearing by the LORD along with those swearing by Milcom,

6 those turning away from the LORD, those who don't seek the LORD and don't pursue him.

7 Hush before the LORD God, for the day of the LORD is near! The LORD has established a sacrifice; he has made holy those he has summoned.

8 On the day of the LORD's sacrifice, I will punish the princes, the king's sons, and all those wearing foreign clothes.

9 I will punish the one leaping on the threshold on that day, those filling the house of their master with violence and deceit.

10 On that day—says the LORD— an outcry will resound from the Fish Gate, wailing from the second quarter, a loud crash from the hills.

11 The ones who grind the grain will wail; all the merchants will be silenced. I will eliminate all those weighing out silver.

12 At that time, I will search Jerusalem with lamps; I will punish the men growing fat on the sediment in their wine, those saying to themselves, The LORD won't do good or evil.

13 Their wealth will be looted and their houses destroyed. They will rebuild houses, but not live in them; they will plant vineyards, but not drink the wine.

14 The great day of the LORD is near; it is near and coming very quickly. The sound of the day of the LORD is bitter. A warrior screams there.

15 That day is a day of fury, a day of distress and anxiety, a day of desolation and devastation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and deep darkness,

16 a day for blowing the trumpet and alarm against their invincible cities and against their high towers.

17 I will make humanity suffer; they will walk like the blind because they sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their intestines like manure.

18 Moreover, their silver and their gold won't be able to deliver them on the day of the LORD's fury. His jealousy will devour the entire land with fire; he will make an end, a truly horrible one, for all the inhabitants of the land.

1 Gather together and assemble yourselves, shameless nation,

2 before the decision is made—the day vanishes like chaff— before the burning anger of the LORD comes against you, before the day of the LORD's anger comes against you.

3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land who practice his justice; seek righteousness; seek humility. Maybe you will be hidden on the day of the LORD's anger.

4 Gaza will certainly be abandoned; and Ashkelon destroyed. Ashdod will be driven out at noon; Ekron will be uprooted.

5 Doom, inhabitants of the seacoast, nation of Cretans. The LORD's word is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines. I will exterminate you, leaving no inhabitant.

6 The seacoast will become pastureland, with wells for shepherds and pens for the flocks.

7 The coast will belong to the survivors from the house of Judah; they will pasture beside the sea; in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening. The LORD their God will visit them and restore their possessions.

8 I have heard the taunting of Moab and the defamation of the Ammonites; they taunted my people and enlarged their borders.

9 Therefore, as I live— says the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel— Moab will become like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah: a plot of weeds, salt pits, and devastation forever. The few remaining from my people will plunder them; the rest of my nation will possess them.

10 This will happen on account of their pride, because they taunted and boasted over the people of the LORD of heavenly forces.

11 The LORD will terrify them; he will make all the gods of the earth disappear. All the coastlands of the nations will bow down to the LORD, each one in its own place.

12 Moreover, you too, Cushites, will be pierced by my sword.

13 He will stretch out his hand against the north and will cause Assyria to perish. Let him make Nineveh a desolation, a desolate place like the wilderness.

14 Flocks will lie down in its midst, every living thing of the nation. Moreover, the owl and the porcupine will spend the night on its columns. A bird's call will resound from the window. Desolation will be on the sill, for the cedar will be stripped bare.

15 This is the jubilant city, the one dwelling securely, the one saying in her heart, I, and no one else, will endure forever. How she has become a desolation, a resting place for the wild animals. All those who pass through her hiss and shake their fist.

1 Doom, obstinate one, the defiled one, the violent city.

2 She listened to no voice; she accepted no discipline. She didn't trust in the LORD, nor did she draw near to her God.

3 The princes in her midst are roaring lions. Her judges are wolves of the evening; they leave nothing for the morning.

4 Her prophets are reckless, men of treachery. Her priests pollute that which is holy; they do violence to the Instruction.

5 The LORD is righteous in her midst. He does nothing unjust. Morning by morning he renders justice, but the unrighteous one knows no shame.

6 I will cut off nations; their towers will be destroyed; I will devastate their streets. No one will pass through. Their cities will be laid waste. There will be no person, no inhabitant left.

7 I said, "Surely, she will fear me; she will take instruction so that her habitation won't be cut off because of everything I did to her." However, they rose early to corrupt their deeds.

8 Therefore, wait for me, says the LORD, wait for the day when I rise up as a witness, when I decide to gather nations, to collect kingdoms, to pour out my indignation upon them, all the heat of my anger. In the fire of my jealousy, all the earth will be devoured.

9 Then I will change the speech of the peoples into pure speech, that all of them will call on the name of the LORD and will serve him as one.

10 From beyond the rivers of Cush, my daughter, my dispersed ones, will bring me offerings.

11 On that day, you won't be ashamed of all your deeds with which you sinned against me; then I will remove from your midst those boasting with pride. No longer will you be haughty on my holy mountain,

12 but I will cause a humble and powerless people to remain in your midst; they will seek refuge in the name of the LORD.

13 The few remaining from Israel won't commit injustice; they won't tell lies; a deceitful tongue won't be found on their lips. They will graze and lie down; no one will make them afraid.

14 Rejoice, Daughter Zion! Shout, Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem.

15 The LORD has removed your judgment; he has turned away your enemy. The LORD, the king of Israel, is in your midst; you will no longer fear evil.

16 On that day, it will be said to Jerusalem: Don't fear, Zion. Don't let your hands fall.

17 The LORD your God is in your midst—a warrior bringing victory. He will create calm with his love; he will rejoice over you with singing.

18 I will remove from you those worried about the appointed feasts. They have been a burden for her, a reproach.

19 Watch what I am about to do to all your oppressors at that time. I will deliver the lame; I will gather the outcast. I will change their shame into praise and fame throughout the earth.

20 At that time, I will bring all of you back, at the time when I gather you. I will give you fame and praise among all the neighboring peoples when I restore your possessions and you can see them—says the LORD.