Zephaniah 1

1 The word of theLordwhich came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

2 I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith theLord.

3 I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the face of the ground, saith theLord.

4 And I will stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place,andthe name of the Chemarim with the priests;

5 and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship, which swear to theLordand swear by Malcam;

6 and them that are turned back from following theLord; and those that have not sought theLord, nor inquired after him.

7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the LordGODfor the day of theLordis at hand: for theLordhath prepared a sacrifice, he hath sanctified his guests.

8 And it shall come to pass in the day of theLord’S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s sons, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.

9 And in that day I will punish all those that leap over the threshold, which fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.

10 And in that day, saith theLord, there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills.

11 Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone: all they that were laden with sliver are cut off.

12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles; and I will punish the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, TheLordwill not do good, neither will he do evil.

13 And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: yea, they shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof.

14 The great day of theLordis near, it is near and hasteth greatly,eventhe voice of the day of theLord; the mighty man crieth there bitterly.

15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

16 a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fenced cities, and against the high battlements.

17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against theLord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung.

18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of theLord’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make an end, yea, a terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land.

Zephaniah 2

1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation that hath no shame;

2 before the decree bring forth,beforethe day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of theLordcome upon you, before the day of theLord’S anger come upon you.

3 Seek ye theLord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of theLord’S anger.

4 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up.

5 Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of theLordis against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines; I will destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.

6 And the sea coast shall be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.

7 And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feedtheir flocksthereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening; for theLordtheir God shall visit them, and bring again their captivity.

8 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, wherewith they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.

9 Therefore as I live, saith theLordof hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my nation shall inherit them.

10 This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of theLordof hosts.

11 TheLordwill be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the nations.

12 Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.

13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like the wilderness.

14 And herds shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the pelican and the porcupine shall lodge in the chapiters thereof:theirvoice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; for he hath laid bare the cedar work.

15 This is the joyous city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none else beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

Zephaniah 3

1 Woe to her that is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city!

2 She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in theLord; she drew not near to her God.

3 Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they leave nothing till the morrow.

4 Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have profaned the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

5 TheLordin the midst of her is righteous; he will not do iniquity; every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.

6 I have cut off nations, their battlements are desolate; I have made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant.

7 I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive correction; so her dwelling should not be cut off,according toall that I have appointed concerning her: but they rose early and corrupted all their doings.

8 Therefore wait ye for me, saith theLord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

9 For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of theLord, to serve him with one consent.

10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.

11 In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee thy proudly exulting ones, and thou shalt no more be haughty in my holy mountain.

12 But I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of theLord.

13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

15 TheLordhath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even theLord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not fear evil any more.

16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: O Zion, let not thine hands be slack.

17 TheLordthy God is in the midst of thee, a mighty one who will save: he will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

18 I will gather them that sorrow for the solemn assembly, who were of thee:to whomthe burden upon her was a reproach.

19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all them that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven away; and I will make them a praise and a name, whose shame hath been in all the earth.

20 At that time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I bring again your captivity before your eyes, saith theLord.

Habakkuk 1

1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

2 OLord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save.

3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and look upon perverseness? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there is strife, and contention riseth up.

4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore judgment goeth forth perverted.

5 Behold ye among the nations, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I work a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.

6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation; which march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.

7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.

8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen spread themselves: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as an eagle that hasteth to devour.

9 They come all of them for violence; their faces are set eagerly as the east wind; and they gather captives as the sand.

10 Yea, he scoffeth at kings, and princes are a derision unto him: he derideth every strong hold; for he heapeth up dust, and taketh it.

11 Then shall he sweep byasa wind, and shall pass over, and be guilty:evenhe whose might is his god.

12 Art not thou from everlasting, OLordmy God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. OLord, thou hast ordained him for judgment; and thou, O Rock, hast established him for correction.

13 Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he;

14 and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?

15 He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad.

16 Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat, and his meat plenteous.

17 Shall he therefore empty his net, and not spare to slay the nations continually?

Habakkuk 2

1 I WILL stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what he will speak with me, and what I shall answer concerning my complaint.

2 And theLordanswered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay.

4 Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

5 Yea, moreover, wine is a treacherous dealer, a haughty man, and that keepeth not at home; who enlargeth his desire as hell, and he is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all peoples.

6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with pledges!

7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?

8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall spoil thee; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.

9 Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!

10 Thou hast consulted shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul.

11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!

13 Behold, is it not of theLordof hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of theLord, as the waters cover the sea.

15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that addest thy venomthereto, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

16 Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and be as one uncircumcised: the cup of theLord’S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and foul shame shall be upon thy glory.

17 For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.

18 What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and the teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

20 But theLordis in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

Habakkuk 3

1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth.

2 OLord, I have heard the report of thee, and am afraid: OLord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.

4 Andhisbrightness was as the light; he had rayscoming forthfrom his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.

5 Before him went the pestilence, and fiery bolts went forth at his feet.

6 He stood, and measured the earth; he beheld, and drove asunder the nations: and the eternal mountains were scattered, the everlasting hills did bow; his goings wereasof old.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

8 Was theLorddispleased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers, or thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses, upon thy chariots of salvation?

9 Thy bow was made quite bare; the oaths to the tribes were asureword. Selah Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.

10 The mountains saw thee, and were afraid; the tempest of waters passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.

11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; at the light of thine arrows as they went, at the shining of thy glittering spear.

12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the nations in anger.

13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, for the salvation of thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, laying bare the foundation even unto the neck. Selah

14 Thou didst pierce with his own staves the head of his warriors: they came as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.

15 Thou didst tread the sea with thine horses, the heap of mighty waters.

16 I heard, and my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in my place: that I should rest in the day of trouble, when it cometh up against the people which invadeth him in troops.

17 For though the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

18 Yet I will rejoice in theLord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

19 Jehovah the Lord, is my strength, and he maketh my feet like hinds’feet, and will make me to walk upon mine high places.

Fot the Chief Musician, on my stringed instruments.

Nahum 1

1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2 TheLordis a jealous God and avengeth; theLordavengeth and is full of wrath; theLordtaketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he reservethwrathfor his enemies.

3 TheLordis slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means clearthe guilty: theLordhath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him.

7 TheLordis good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that put their trust in him.

8 But with an overrunning flood he will make a full end of the place thereof, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

9 What do ye imagine against theLord? he will make a full end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

10 For though they be like tangled thorns, told be drenched as it were in their drink, they shall be devoured utterly as dry stubble.

11 There is one gone forth out of thee, that imagineth evil against theLord, that counselleth wickedness.

12 Thus saith theLord: Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.

13 And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.

14 And theLordhath given commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

15 Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! Keep thy feasts, O Judah, perform thy vows: for the wicked one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

Nahum 2

1 He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.

2 For theLordbringeth again the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.

3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the spears are shaken terribly.

4 The chariots rage in the streets, they justle one against another in the broad ways: the appearance of them is like torches, they run like the lightnings.

5 He remembereth his worthies: they stumble in their march; they make haste to the wall thereof, and the mantelet is prepared.

6 The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.

7 And Huzzab is uncovered, she is carried away, and her handmaids mourn as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.

8 But Nineveh hath been from of old like a pool of water: yet they flee away; Stand, stand,they cry; but none looketh back.

9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store, the glory of all pleasant furniture.

10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and anguish is in all loins, and the faces of them all are waxed pale.

11 Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lionandthe lioness walked, the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid?

12 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravin.

13 Behold, I am against thee, saith theLordof hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

Nahum 3

1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and rapine; the prey departeth not.

2 The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of wheels; and pransing horses, and jumping chariots;

3 the horseman mounting, and the flashing sword, and the glittering spear; and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of carcases: and there is none end of the corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:

4 because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

5 Behold, I am against thee, saith theLordof hosts, and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face; and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.

7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

8 Art thou better than No-amon, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about her; whose rampart was the sea,andher wall was of the sea?

9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

11 Thou also shalt be drunken, thou shalt be hid; thou also shalt seek a strong hold because of the enemy.

12 All thy fortresses shall belikefig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women; the gates of thy land are set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire hath devoured thy bars.

14 Draw thee water for the siege, strengthen thy fortresses: go into the clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brickkiln.

15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall devour thee like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locust.

16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.

17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy marshals as the swarms of grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy worthies are at rest: thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them.

19 There is no assuaging of thy hurt; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee clap the hands over thee; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?

Micah 1

1 The word of theLordthat came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear, ye peoples, all of you; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the LordGODbe witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

3 For, behold, theLordcometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.

4 And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place.

5 For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?

6 Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field,andas the plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.

7 And all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her hires shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will I lay desolate: for of the hire of an harlot hath she gathered them, and unto the hire of an harlot shall they return.

8 For this will I wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a mourning like the ostriches.

9 For her wounds are incurable: for it is come even unto Judah; it reacheth unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

10 Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all: at Beth-le-Aphrah have I rolled myself in the dust.

11 Pass ye away, O inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame: the inhabitant of Zaanan is not come forth; the wailing of Beth-ezel shall take from you the stay thereof.

12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waiteth anxiously for good: because evil is come down from theLordunto the gate of Jerusalem.

13 Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O inhabitant of Lachish: she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.

14 Therefore shalt thou give a parting gift to Moresheth-gath: the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing unto the kings of Israel.

15 I will yet bring unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah, him that shall possess thee: the glory of Israel shall come even unto Adullam.

16 Make thee bald, and poll thee for the children of thy delight: enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.