Micah 1 Cross References - ISV

¹ God’s Coming JudgmentThis message from the LORD came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of the Judean kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah concerning the vision he saw about Samaria and Jerusalem: ² “Listen, people! All of you! Earth! Pay attention, and all you inhabitants of it! May the Lord GOD be a witness against you— the Lord from his holy Temple. ³ Look here! The LORD is coming from his place! He will come down and will trample down the high places throughout the land. ⁴ The mountains will melt under him and the valleys will split apart, like wax in the presence of fire and like water gushing down a steep incline. ⁵ All this comes about due to the transgression of Jacob, and due to the sins of the house of Israel. What is Jacob’s sin? It’s Samaria, isn’t it? And what’s Judah’s high place? It’s Jerusalem, isn’t it? ⁶ “So I will turn Samaria into a mound of dirt in a field, a place to plant vineyards. And I will dump her building stones into the valley, uncovering her foundation. ⁷ All of her carved images will be crushed to pieces, all the earnings of her prostitution will be burned up, and I will destroy all her idols; because she collected the wages of prostitution, and to the wages of prostitution they will return.”
⁸ The Coming Destruction“Therefore I will cry out and grieve loudly; I will walk around stripped and naked. I will cry out like a jackal and mourn like a company of ostriches. ⁹ For Samaria’s injury is fatal, reaching all the way to Judah, extending even to the gate of my people—to Jerusalem.” ¹⁰ “Don’t discuss it in Gath! Don’t cry bitterly in Akim! Roll in the ashes, Beth-leaphrah! ¹¹ Run away, you residents of Shaphir, displaying your shameful nakedness. Don’t come out, you residents of Zaanan! Your firm standing will disappear as Beth-ezel mourns. ¹² Even though the inhabitants of Maroth long for success, nevertheless evil descended from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem. ¹³ “You inhabitants of Lachish, harness your chariot to your swiftest steed— the daughter of Zion has begun to sin— because within you the transgressions of Israel were revealed. ¹⁴ Therefore give your gifts to Moresheth-gath; that is, the houses of Achzib as a deceitful symbol to the kings of Israel. ¹⁵ Nevertheless, I will deliver an heir to you, inhabitants of Mareshah— to Adullam the glory of Israel will come. ¹⁶ “Shave your head and cut off your locks as you mourn your beloved children. Make yourself bald as an eagle, because they will go from you into exile!”

¹ Jotham Succeds Uzziah
Jotham was 25 years old when he began his reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zadok’s daughter Jerusha. ² He practiced what the LORD considered to be right, just as his father Uzziah had done, even though he did not enter the Temple. Nevertheless, the people continued acting corruptly.
³ Jotham constructed the Upper Gate of the LORD’s Temple and did extensive work on the wall of Ophel. ⁴ He also built cities in the hill country of Judah, along with fortresses and guard towers in the forests. ⁵ He launched a military excursion against the king of the Ammonites and defeated him. As a result, that year the Ammonites paid 100 talents of silver in tribute, as well as 10,000 kors of wheat and 10,000 kors of barley. The Ammonites continued to pay this same amount in tribute over the following two years. ⁶ Jotham grew in power because he had determined to live his life in the presence of the LORD his God. ⁷ The rest of the accomplishments of Jotham’s reign, including all of his military exploits and campaigns, are recorded in the book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. ⁸ He started his reign at the age of 25 years and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. ⁹ Then Jotham died, as had his fathers, and he was buried in the City of David. His son Ahaz became king in his place.

¹ The Vision of IsaiahThis is the vision that Amoz’s son Isaiah had about Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

⁹ Furthermore, Ephraim’s head is Samaria, and Remaliah’s son is its king. If all of you don’t keep on believing,
you’ll never remain loyal.’”

¹⁸ “Micah of Moresheth prophesied during the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah to all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “Zion will be a plowed field, and Jerusalem a ruin. The Temple Mount will be a wooded hill.”’

¹ The Word of the LORD to HoseaA message from the LORD came to Beeri’s son Hosea during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Joash’s son Jeroboam, who was king of Israel.

¹⁵ “Even though you prostitute yourself, Israel— let not Judah incur guilt— don’t go to Gilgal, or visit Beth-aven, or swear an oath using the LORD’s name.

⁵ The arrogance of Israel testifies against him; therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity, and Judah with them. ⁶ They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them. ⁷ They have been unfaithful to the LORD, having raised unbelieving children. In the coming month they will be devoured, along with their fields. ⁸ “Sound the trumpet in Gibeah, and the alarm in Ramah. Cry out at Beth-aven Go out, Benjamin! ⁹ Ephraim will be desolate when it is rebuked. I have made known among the tribes of Israel what will surely come about. ¹⁰ The princes of Judah have become like those who move boundary markers: I will pour out my anger on them like water. ¹¹ Ephraim is crushed, broken by judgment, because he willingly pursued idols. ¹² Therefore I will consume Ephraim like a moth, and the house of Judah as rottenness consumes. ¹³ When Ephraim examined his illness and Judah his injury, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and inquired of the great king; but he could not cure you nor heal your injury. ¹⁴ Therefore I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I—even I—will tear them to pieces, and then I will leave. I will take them away, and there will be no rescue.

¹⁰ I have seen a horrible evil in the house of Israel— Ephraim’s promiscuity. Israel is defiled. ¹¹ “So, Judah, a harvest has been appointed for you when I restore my people from captivity.”

¹⁴ “Israel has neglected its maker in building palaces. Judah has multiplied its fortified cities, but I will send fire to their cities, and it will consume their fortresses.”

¹ Israel’s Sin “Ephraim feeds on the wind, chasing after the eastern winds, storing up lies and desolation day after day. They are making a contract with the Assyrians, and sending oil to Egypt. ² The LORD accuses Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him for what he does.

¹ Amos is Called to ProphesyThe words of Amos, who was among the sheep breeders of Tekoa, which he spoke concerning Israel during the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah and during the reign of Joash’s son Jeroboam, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

⁴ A Warning to JudahThis is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah —and now for a fourth— I will not turn away; because they rejected the Law of the LORD and did not keep his statutes. Their own lies made them wander off, following along the same path their ancestors walked. ⁵ So I will send down fire upon Judah, and it will devour the fortified citadels of Jerusalem.”
⁶ A Warning to IsraelThis is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel —and now for a fourth— I will not turn away; because they sold the righteous for money, and the poor for sandals, ⁷ moving quickly to rub the face of the needy in the dirt. Corrupting the ways of the humble, a man and his father go to the same woman, deliberately defiling my holy name. ⁸ They lay down beside every altar, on garments pledged as collateral, drinking wine paid for through fines imposed by the temple of their gods.

¹ A Higher Standard of Accountability“Listen to this message that the LORD has spoken about you, people of Israel. It concerns the entire family that I brought from the land of Egypt: ² ‘You alone have I known from among all of the families of mankind; therefore I will hold you accountable for all your iniquities.’”

¹ Mourning for the House of Israel “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, to those who rest on the mountain of Samaria— the famous men of the nations to whom the house of Israel came!

⁵ All this comes about due to the transgression of Jacob, and due to the sins of the house of Israel. What is Jacob’s sin? It’s Samaria, isn’t it? And what’s Judah’s high place? It’s Jerusalem, isn’t it?

¹⁴ Therefore give your gifts to Moresheth-gath; that is, the houses of Achzib as a deceitful symbol to the kings of Israel. ¹⁵ Nevertheless, I will deliver an heir to you, inhabitants of Mareshah— to Adullam the glory of Israel will come.

¹ Habakkuk’s OracleThe pronouncement that the prophet Habakkuk perceived.

¹ The Song of Moses Hear, heavens, and I will speak! Listen, earth, to the words of my mouth!

⁴ The LORD is in his holy Temple; the LORD’s throne is in the heavens. His eyes see, his glance examines humanity.

¹ A Davidic Psalm.
A Song for the King of Glory The earth and everything in it exists for the LORD— the world and those who live in it.

² Hear the sound of my supplications when I cry to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.

¹ To the Director: A song by the Sons of Korah.
The Destiny of the Wicked and the Upright Listen to this, all you people! Pay attention, all you who live in the world, ² both average people and those of means, the rich and the poor together.

¹ A song of Asaph.
The Acceptable Sacrifice God, the LORD, has spoken. He has summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting place.

⁷ “Listen, my people, for I am making a pronouncement: Israel, I, God, your God, am testifying against you.

¹² “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is mine along with everything in it.

² Rebellious JudahListen, you heavens, and let the earth pay attention, because the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them to adulthood, but then they rebelled against me.

¹⁹ Listen, earth! I’m about to bring calamity on this people, on the fruit of their plans, because they didn’t listen to my words and they rejected my instruction.

²⁹ Land, land, land, listen to this message from the LORD!

²³ because they did something stupid in Israel. They committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and in my name they spoke lies that I didn’t command them. I’m the one who knows, and I’m a witness,” declares the LORD.’”

⁷ “As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer came to you in your holy Temple.

¹ The LORD’s Indictment against IsraelPlease hear what the LORD says: “Get up and make your case before the mountains, and let the hills listen to your voice. ² Listen, you mountains, to the LORD’s argument! Listen, you strong foundations of the earth, because the LORD has a dispute with his people, and he will set out his case before Israel.

²⁰ The LORD’s Final Counsel to Habakkuk“The LORD is in his holy Temple. All the earth—be quiet in his presence.”

¹⁴ Yet you ask, ‘For what reason?’ Because the LORD acts as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you were unfaithful to her, your partner, the wife of your covenant.

⁵ The Judgment of God“I’ll come near to you for judgment. I’ll be a witness, quick to speak against sorcerers, against adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who defraud the laborer of his wage, against those who defraud the widow and the orphan, against those who deprive the alien of justice, and against those who don’t fear me,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

¹⁴ Then he called to the crowd again and told them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand! ¹⁵ Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can make him unclean. It’s what comes out of a person that makes a person unclean.

⁷ ‘Let everyone listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give the privilege of eating from the tree of life that is in God’s paradise.’”

¹¹ ‘Let everyone listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be hurt by the second death.’”

¹⁷ ‘Let everyone listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone. On the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the person who receives it.’”

²⁹ ‘Let everyone listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

⁶ ‘Let everyone listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

¹³ ‘Let everyone listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

²² ‘Let everyone listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

¹³ He mounted him on a high place above the earth, feeding him from the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and with oil from the flint rock,

²⁹ How blessed are you, Israel! Who can be like you, a people delivered by the LORD, your shield of help and your finely crafted sword. May your enemies cower before you. You will tread down their high places.”

¹² stared down and subdued every proud person, trampled the wicked right where they are,

³ when our God is in the heavens and he does whatever he desires?

¹⁰ The Coming Day of the LORD “Go into the rocks! Hide in the dust to escape the terror of the LORD and to escape the glory of his majesty! ¹¹ The haughty looks of mankind will be brought low, the lofty pride of human beings will be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted at that time. ¹² “For the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has reserved a time to oppose all who are proud and haughty, and the self-exalting— they will be humbled. ¹³ He will take his stand against all the cedars of Lebanon, against the proud and self-exalting; and against all the oaks of Bashan; ¹⁴ against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills; ¹⁵ against every high tower, and against every fortified wall; ¹⁶ against all the ships from Tarshish, and against all their impressive watercraft. ¹⁷ “Humanity’s haughtiness will be humbled, male arrogance will be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. ¹⁸ Their idols will utterly vanish. ¹⁹ “They will enter caverns in the rocks and holes in the ground to escape the presence of the terror of the LORD, to escape the splendor of his majesty when he arises to terrify the earth.

¹⁰ The Misery of MoabFor the LORD’s power will rest on this mountain, but the Moabites will be trodden down beneath him, just as straw is trodden down in the slime of a manure pit.

²¹ For see, the LORD is coming from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their sins; the earth will reveal the blood that has been shed on it, and will no longer conceal its slain.”

³ “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from my people no one was with me, I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and I stained all my clothing. ⁴ “For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year for my redeeming work had come.

¹ A Prayer for God to Intervene If only you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence— ² just as fire sets twigs ablaze and the fire causes water to boil— to make known your name to your enemies, yes, to your enemies before you, so that the nations might quake at your presence!

¹² Then the Spirit lifted me up and I heard a great earthquake behind me and the glory of the LORD arose from his place,

¹⁴ Therefore I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I—even I—will tear them to pieces, and then I will leave. I will take them away, and there will be no rescue. ¹⁵ “I will leave and go back to my place until they admit their offense and seek my face. When affliction comes to them, they will eagerly seek me.”

¹³ Look! The one who crafts mountains, who creates the wind, who reveals what he is thinking to mankind, who darkens the morning light, who tramples down the high places of the land— the LORD, the God of the Heavenly Armies is his name.

¹⁹ The LORD God is my strength— he will make my feet like those of a deer, equipping me to tread on my mountain heights.
For the choir director:
On my stringed instruments.

⁴ LORD, when you left Seir, when you marched out from the grain field of Edom, the earth quaked and the heavens poured out rain; indeed, the clouds poured out water.

² As smoke is driven away, so you drive them away. As wax melts in the presence of fire, so the wicked die in the presence of God.

⁵ Mountains melt like wax in the LORD’s presence— In the presence of the LORD of all the earth.

¹ A Prayer for God to Intervene If only you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence— ² just as fire sets twigs ablaze and the fire causes water to boil— to make known your name to your enemies, yes, to your enemies before you, so that the nations might quake at your presence! ³ When you did awesome deeds that we expected, you came down, and the mountains shuddered before you.

⁵ “The Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies who is touching the earth so that it melts and all of its inhabitants mourn there— the land rises like the Nile River, but sinks like the river of Egypt—

⁵ Mountains shake because of him, and the hills melt. The earth goes into upheaval at his presence, as does the world with all of its inhabitants.

⁶ He stood up and shook the land; with his stare he startled the nations. The age-old mountains were shattered, and the ancient hilltops bowed down. His ways are eternal.

¹⁰ When the mountains looked upon you, they trembled; the overflowing water passed by, the ocean shouted, and its waves surged upward.

⁴ His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. Then the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a very large valley, with half of the mountain moving toward the north and half toward the south.

¹⁰ But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will disappear with a roaring sound, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be exposed.
¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, think of the kind of holy and godly people you ought to be ¹² as you look forward to and hasten the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved and the elements will melt with fire.

¹¹ The Vision of the White Throne JudgmentThen 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.

³² because what he predicted by a message from the LORD against the altar in Bethel and the temples built in the high places of the cities of Samaria will certainly come about.”

³ Instead, he behaved like the kings of Israel did by making his son pass through fire, the very same abomination that the heathen practiced, whom the LORD evicted from the land right in front of the Israelis. ⁴ Furthermore, Ahaz sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on top of hills, and under every green tree.

¹⁰ King Ahaz Constructs a Pagan Altar
King Ahaz traveled to Damascus and met with King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, where he observed the altar at Damascus. So King Ahaz sent a set of construction patterns of this altar to Uriah the priest. ¹¹ Uriah the priest built an altar, following the plans that King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus and finishing the altar before King Ahaz returned from Damascus. ¹² When the king returned from Damascus, as soon as he saw the altar, he approached it and offered sacrifices on it.

⁷ The Idolatry of the Northern KingdomThis happened because the Israelis had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt and from the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because they were fearing other gods, ⁸ and because they were following the rules of the nations whom the LORD had expelled before the Israelis and that the kings of Israel had practiced.
⁹ The Israelis practiced secret things that were not right, offending the LORD their God. In addition, they built high places for use by all their towns, watchtowers, and fortified cities. ¹⁰ They set up pillars and Asherim on every high hill and in the shade of every green tree, ¹¹ where they made offerings on all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD had expelled before them. They also practiced other wickedness, provoking the LORD to become angry, ¹² and they served idols, a practice that the LORD had warned them, “You are not to do this.”
¹³ Nevertheless, the LORD had warned both Israel and Judah by means of every prophet and seer: “Turn away from your evil practices and keep my commandments and statutes according to the entire Law that I gave your ancestors and that I sent to you through my servants, the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they would not listen. Instead, they were stubborn, just like their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. ¹⁵ They rejected the LORD’s statutes, the covenant that he had made with their ancestors, and his warnings that he gave them. They pursued meaninglessness—and became meaningless themselves—as they followed the lifestyles of the nations that surrounded them, a practice that the LORD had warned them not to do.
¹⁶ They abandoned all of the commands given by the LORD their God, crafted for themselves cast images of two calves, constructed an Asherah, worshipped all of the stars in heaven, and served Baal. ¹⁷ They passed their sons and daughters through fire, practiced divination, cast spells, and sold themselves to practice what the LORD considered to be evil, thereby provoking him. ¹⁸ As a result, the LORD was angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. No one was left except for the tribe of Judah.
¹⁹ But Judah, too, did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. Instead, they lived the lifestyle that Israel had chosen, ²⁰ so the LORD rejected all of the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and handed them over to the control of plunderers until he had thrown them away from his presence. ²¹ He ripped them away from the heritage of David, even as the people appointed Nebat’s son Jeroboam to be king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit great sin.
²² The Israelis practiced all the sins that Jeroboam had practiced, and never wavered from them ²³ until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, just as he had warned through all of his prophets who served him. So Israel was carried off into exile from their own land into Assyria, where they remain to this day.

² Instead, he lived like the kings of Israel did. He cast metal images of Baal, ³ burned incense in the Ben-hinnom Valley, and burned his sons as an offering, following the detestable activities of the nations whom the LORD had expelled in front of the people of Israel. ⁴ He sacrificed and burned incense on high places, on the top of hills, and under every green tree.

²³ He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him, reasoning, “The gods of the kings of Aram helped them, so I’ll sacrifice to them so they will help me!” But those gods brought about his downfall, and the downfall of all of Israel, too. ²⁴ Ahaz also collected the utensils of God’s Temple, cut them all into pieces, and closed the doors of the LORD’s Temple. Then he made altars to himself on every corner in Jerusalem ²⁵ and established high places in every city of Judah where incense was burned to other gods, thus provoking the LORD God of his ancestors to anger.

¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar’s Third Capture of Jerusalem
Meanwhile, all the officials who supervised the priests and the people remained unfaithful, following the detestable example of the surrounding nations. They polluted the LORD’s Temple that he had consecrated in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ The LORD God of their ancestors pleaded with them time and again through his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on the place of his residence, ¹⁶ but they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until there was no remedy for the wrath of the LORD that arose to punish his people.

¹ A Call to Return to God This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Look! It’s because of your sins that you were sold, and because of your transgressions that your mother was sent away. ² Why is it that when I came, no one was there? Why was there no answer when I called? Was my arm too short to redeem you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? Look! By my mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert. Their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst.

¹ Sins that Separate from God “See, the LORD’s hand is not too short to save, nor are his ears too dull to hear. ² Instead, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have concealed his face from you so that he won’t listen. ³ For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your tongue mutters wickedness. ⁴ No one brings a lawsuit fairly, and no one goes to law honestly; they have relied on empty arguments and they tell lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity. ⁵ They hatch adders’ eggs and weave a spider’s web; whoever eats their eggs dies, and any crushed egg hatches out futility. ⁶ Their cobwebs cannot become clothing, they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are deeds of iniquity, and acts of violence fill their hands. ⁷ Their feet rush to evil, and they are quick to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; ruin, destruction, and violence are in their paths. ⁸ The pathway of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their courses. They have made their roads crooked; no one who walks in them will know peace.”
⁹ A Commitment to Wait on God“So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for light, but look—there is darkness; we wait for brightness, but we walk in deep darkness. ¹⁰ Let’s grope along the wall like the blind; let us grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as if it were twilight, in desolate places like dead people. ¹¹ We all growl like bears; we sigh mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but there is none, and for deliverance, but it’s far from us. ¹² “For our transgressions before you are many, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we acknowledge them: ¹³ they’ve rebelled in treachery against the LORD, and are turning away from following our God; and they’ve spoken oppression and revolt, and are conceiving lying words from the heart. ¹⁴ I’ll drive back justice, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth has fallen in the public square, and honesty cannot enter. ¹⁵ Truth is missing, and whoever turns away from evil becomes a prey.”
God Brings His Own Salvation “Then the LORD looked, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

¹⁷ You have done this to yourselves, have you not, by forsaking the LORD your God, when he is the one who led you on the way?

¹⁹ Your wickedness will be punished, and you will be corrected due to your acts of apostasy. Know and see that it’s evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God, but the fear of me is not in you,” declares the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies.

¹⁸ “Your lifestyles and your actions have brought these things on you. This is your calamity—it is indeed bitter, for it has reached your heart!”

²⁵ Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have held back from you what is good.

¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head— woe to us, because we have sinned!

¹ God Accuses Israel “When I was healing Israel, Ephraim’s sin was uncovered, along with Samaria’s wickedness. While they craft lying schemes, the thief invades, and the gang of thieves plunders outside.

⁵ Your calf, Samaria, has been thrown away. My anger is burning against them. How long until they become pure again? ⁶ Because from Israel it was fashioned by craftsmen, it is not God; therefore Samaria’s calf will be broken in pieces.

¹⁴ Those who have been swearing oaths by the sin of Samaria, or who say, ‘As your god lives, Dan…’ or who say, ‘As the way of Beer-sheba lives…’— will fall, and will never rise again.”

¹⁵ who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, who have persecuted us, and who please neither God nor any group of people, ¹⁶ as they try to keep us from telling the gentiles how they can be saved. As a result, they are constantly adding to the number of sins they have committed. However, wrath has overtaken them at last!

²⁵ ‘Didn’t you hear? I determined it years ago! I planned this from ancient times, and now I’ve brought it to pass, to turn fortified cities into piles of ruins

² For you have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified city into a ruin; the foreigners’ citadel is no longer a city— it will never be rebuilt!

¹² He brings down the high fortifications of your walls and lays them low; he will raze them to the ground, right down to the dust.

¹¹ “I’ll make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a refuge for jackals. I’ll make the towns of Judah desolate, without inhabitants.”

²⁵ “Look, I’m against you, destroying mountain, who destroys the whole earth,” declares the LORD. “I’ll stretch out my hand against you and roll you down from the crags. And I’ll make you a burned-out mountain.

³⁷ Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a refuge for jackals, a desolate place and an object of scorn.

¹ Zion’s Punishment How tarnished the gold has become, the finest gold debased! Sacred stones have been scattered at every street corner.

¹⁴ I’ll tear down the wall that you’ve smeared with whitewash, level it to the ground, and tear out its foundation. Then it will collapse—and you’ll perish with it! Then you’ll know that I am the LORD.

¹⁶ Samaria will be held guilty, because she has rebelled against her God. By the sword they will fall— with their infants dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women torn open.”

¹¹ ‘Therefore, since you trample the poor continuously, taxing his grain, building houses of stone in which you won’t live and planting fine vineyards from which you won’t drink—

¹² “Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed up like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the Temple Mount like a forest high place.”
¹³ You marched out to deliver your people, to deliver with your anointed. You struck the head of the house of the wicked; you stripped him naked from head to foot. Interlude

² But he told them, “You see all these things, don’t you? I tell all of you with certainty, there isn’t a single stone here that will be left standing on top of another. They will all be torn down.”

³⁰ I’ll destroy your high places and cut down your sun pillars. Then I’ll cast your dead bodies on top of the bodies of your idols. I’ll loathe you.

²¹ Now, when you made the calf that made you sin, I grabbed it, burned it with fire, crushed it, and ground it thoroughly until it was pulverized to powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that was flowing from the mountain.”

¹⁸ Don’t bring the earnings of a female prostitute nor the income of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God as payment for any vow. Both of these are detestable to the LORD your God.”

¹⁴ He broke the pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherim, and filled their locations with human bones.
¹⁵ Furthermore, he even broke down the altar that had been at Bethel as well as the high place constructed by Nebat’s son Jeroboam, who had caused Israel to sin. He demolished its stones, pulverized them to dust, and burned the Asherah.

¹ Idols are Eliminated from Judah
At the conclusion of all of these activities, everybody in Israel who was in attendance traveled throughout the cities of Judah, broke down the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and altars throughout the territories of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh until they had eliminated all of them. Then the people of Israel went back to their cities and back to their work.

⁶ In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali and their surrounding ruins, ⁷ he also tore down altars, destroyed the Asherim and the carved images, grinding them into dust, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

⁹ By this, then, Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and this will be the full harvest that comes from the removal of his sin: when he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalkstones, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.

¹⁷ Rather, we will keep doing everything that we said we would by offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and by pouring out liquid offerings to her just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders did in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of bread, things went well for us, and we didn’t experience disaster. ¹⁸ From the time we stopped offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out liquid offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and we have been consumed by the sword and famine.

⁵ Indeed, their mother has committed prostitution— the one who has been conceiving them has acted disgracefully— when she said, ‘I’m going after my lovers, who provide me food and water, as well as my wool, my flax, my oil, and my wine.’

¹² I’ll destroy her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, ‘These are the earnings that my lovers paid me. I’ll make them grow into a forest, and the wild animals will eat from them.’

⁶ Because from Israel it was fashioned by craftsmen, it is not God; therefore Samaria’s calf will be broken in pieces.

⁵ “The residents of Samaria will be terrified because of the cows of Beth-aven. Its people will mourn over Beth-aven, along with the priests who will mourn its glory, because that glory has departed. ⁶ Indeed, that glory will be carried to Assyria— it will become a present for an avenging king. Ephraim will be disgraced, and Israel will become ashamed of its decision.

³ They cast lots for my people— they sold a young boy in exchange for a prostitute, and a girl for wine, so they could drink.”

³ For all the nations have drunk from the wine of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her. The world’s businesses have become rich from her luxurious excesses.”

⁹ The kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality with her and lived in luxury with her, will cry and mourn over her when they see the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her.

¹² cargo of gold, silver, gems, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all articles made of ivory, all articles made of very costly wood, bronze, iron, marble, ¹³ cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, chariots, and slaves (that is, human souls)—

²⁹ I’ve become a brother to jackals, and a friend to ostriches.

⁶ I resemble a pelican in the wilderness or an owl in a desolate land.

²¹ But desert beasts will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there owls will dwell, and goat-demons will dance there.

⁹ Isaiah Weeps for Moab“Therefore I weep with the tears of Jazer for the vines of Sibmah. I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh— for the shouts of joy over your summer fruit and your grain harvest have ended.

² at that time the LORD spoke through Amoz’s son Isaiah: “Go loosen the sackcloth that’s around your waist, and take your sandals off your feet.” So that’s what he did: he went around naked and barefoot.
³ Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked around naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a warning for Egypt and Ethiopia, ⁴ so the king of Assyria will lead away the Egyptian captives and exiles from Cush, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot—with even their buttocks uncovered—to the shame of Egypt.

³ Therefore my body is racked with pain; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am so upset that I cannot hear; I am so frightened that I cannot see while I’m reeling around.

⁴ Therefore I said: “Look away from me; and let me weep bitter tears; don’t try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

¹⁹ Jeremiah’s Lament for His People“My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the aching of my heart! My heart pounds within me; I cannot keep silent. For I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm for war.

¹ The LORD’s Sorrow for His People “Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, for then I would cry day and night for those of my people who have been killed.

¹⁰ I’ll weep and mourn for the mountains, and lament for the desert pastures, because they are desolate and no one passes through them. They don’t hear the lowing of the cattle. Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled. They’re gone!

¹⁹ For a sound of mourning is heard from Zion: ‘How we’re ruined! Our shame is very great, because we have left the land, because our houses are torn down.’”

³⁶ Therefore my heart wails for Moab like flutes and my heart wails for the men of Kir-heres like flutes. Therefore they’ll lose the abundance they produced. ³⁷ Indeed every head will be bald and every beard cut short. There will be gashes on all the hands and sackcloth on the loins. ³⁸ On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets there will be nothing but mourning, for I’ll break Moab like a vessel that no one wants,” declares the LORD. ³⁹ “How it will be shattered! How they’ll wail! How Moab will turn his back in shame! Moab will be an object of ridicule and terror to all those around him.”

⁹ Shalmaneser Attacks SamariaIn the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (that is, during the seventh year of Elah’s son Hoshea’s reign as king of Israel), King Shalmaneser from Assyria invaded Samaria and besieged it. ¹⁰ Three years later, they captured Samaria during the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign as king of Israel. ¹¹ After this, the king of Assyria carried Israel off into exile in Assyria, settling them in Halah, on the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities controlled by the Medes, ¹² because they would not obey the voice of the LORD their God. Instead, they transgressed his covenant, including everything that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded, by neither listening nor putting what he had commanded into practice.
¹³ During the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria approached all of the walled cities of Judah and seized them.

¹ Sennacherib Invades Judah
After all of these acts of faithfulness occurred, King Sennacherib of Assyria came, invaded Judah, and laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself. ² As soon as Hezekiah learned that Sennacherib had arrived and had determined to attack Jerusalem, ³ he developed a plan with his commanders and his elite forces to cut off the water supply from the springs that were outside the city, and they helped him to carry it out. ⁴ Many people gathered together and plugged up all the springs, along with the stream that flowed through the region. They were thinking to themselves, “Why should the Assyrian kings invade and discover an abundant water supply?”
⁵ Hezekiah took courage and rebuilt all of the walls that had been broken down. Then he erected watch towers on them, and added another external wall. He fortified the terrace ramparts in the City of David and prepared a large number of weapons and shields. ⁶ He appointed military officers to take charge of the people, who gathered them together in the square near the city gate and spoke to them encouragingly, ⁷ “Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or disheartened because of the king of Assyria or because of the army that accompanies him, because the one who is with us is greater than the one with him. ⁸ He only has the strength of his own flesh, but the LORD our God is with us to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people were encouraged from what King Hezekiah of Judah told them.
⁹ Sennacherib Blasphemes God
After this, King Sennacherib of Assyria sent his messengers to Jerusalem while he was in the middle of a vigorous attack on Lachish. They delivered this message to King Hezekiah of Judah and to all the people of Judah who had gathered in Jerusalem: ¹⁰ “This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: ‘What are you leaning on that makes you stay behind while Jerusalem comes under siege? ¹¹ Isn’t Hezekiah lying to you so he can hand you over to die by famine and thirst? After all, he’s telling you “The LORD our God will deliver us from the king of Assyria’s control.” ¹² Isn’t this the very same Hezekiah who removed this god’s high places and altars? Isn’t this the same Hezekiah who issued this order to Judah and Jerusalem: “You are to worship in front of only one altar and burn your sacrifices only on it.”? ¹³ Don’t you know what my predecessors have done to all the other people in other lands? Were the gods of the people who lived in those lands able to deliver their countries out of my control? ¹⁴ What god, out of all the gods of those nations that my predecessors utterly destroyed, has been able to deliver his people from my control or from the control of my predecessors? ¹⁵ Now therefore, don’t let Hezekiah lie to you or mislead you like this. Don’t believe him, because no god of any nation has been able to deliver his people from my control or from the control of my predecessors. So how much less will your God deliver you from me?’”
¹⁶ King Sennacherib’s spokesmen said even worse things against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah.
¹⁷ Sennacherib also wrote letters like this that insulted and slandered the LORD God of Israel: “Just as the gods of the nations in other lands haven’t delivered their people from my control, so also the god of Hezekiah won’t deliver his people from me!” ¹⁸ His spokesmen shouted these things out with loud voices in the language of Judah to frighten and terrify the people of Jerusalem who were stationed on the city walls, to make it easier to conquer the city. ¹⁹ In doing so, they spoke about the God of Jerusalem as if he were like the gods of the nations of the earth that are made by the hands of human beings.
²⁰ Sennacherib is Defeated and Killed
Meanwhile, King Hezekiah and Amoz’s son Isaiah the prophet were praying about this and crying out to heaven. ²¹ So the LORD sent an angel, who eliminated all of the elite forces, commanders, and officers within the encampment of the king of Assyria. As a result, he retreated to his own country, deeply ashamed and humiliated. When he visited the temple of his god, some of his sons killed him right there with swords. ²² That’s how the LORD delivered Hezekiah, as well as those who lived in Jerusalem, from Assyria’s King Sennacherib and all his forces, and provided for all of their needs. ²³ Many brought gifts to the LORD in Jerusalem and brought presents to King Hezekiah of Judah. As a result, he was exalted in the opinion of all nations thereafter.

⁵ “Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? Your whole head is sick, and your whole heart is faint. ⁶ From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there’s no soundness evident— only bruises, sores, and festering wounds that haven’t been cleaned out, bandaged, or treated with oil.”

²⁶ and her gates lament and mourn. Ravaged, she will sit on the ground.”

⁷ watch out! The LORD God is about to bring the flood waters of the Euphrates River against them, mighty and strong.
“It’s the king of Assyria and all of his arrogance! He will rise over all of the river’s channels and run over all of its banks. ⁸ He will sweep on into Judah, overflowing as he passes through, like flood waters reaching up to a person’s neck. His outstretched wings will flow as wide as your land, O Immanuel!”

²⁸ The Coming Judgment of God“The Assyrian commander has come upon Aiath and has passed through Migron; he stores his supplies at Michmash. ²⁹ He has crossed over by the pass; his overnight lodging is at Geba. Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled. ³⁰ Cry aloud, you daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laish! Poor Anathoth! ³¹ Marmenah is in flight; the inhabitants of Gebim take cover. ³² This very day he will halt at Nob; he will shake his fists at the mountain that is the Daughter of Zion, at Jerusalem’s hill.

²² This is the message that the LORD has spoken in opposition to him: “‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem— she tosses her head behind you as you flee. ²³ Whom have you insulted and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! ²⁴ By your messengers you have insulted the LORD, and you have said, “With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines; I reached its remotest heights, the most verdant of its forests. ²⁵ I myself dug wells and drank foreign waters; with the soles of my feet I dried up all the streams of Egypt.” ²⁶ “‘Didn’t you hear how in the distant past I decided to do it, how I planned from days of old? Now I’ve made it happen— that fortified cities become devastated, besieged heaps. ²⁷ Their inhabitants are devoid of power, and are terrified and put to shame. They’ve become like plants in the field, like green shoots, like grass on rooftops, scorched by the east wind. ²⁸ “‘I know when you rise up and when you sit down, your comings and goings— and how you’ve become enraged at me. ²⁹ Your insolence has reached my ears, so I’ll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I’ll make you turn back on the road by which you came.
³⁰ “And this will be your sign, Hezekiah: Eat this year what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹ Then the ones belonging to the house of Judah who have escaped will gather, and those who are found will take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³² For a remnant will come out of Zion, and a band of survivors from Jerusalem. The zeal of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this.
³³ “Therefore this what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He won’t enter this city, build up a siege ramp against it, shoot an arrow here, or threaten it with a shield. ³⁴ By the same way that he came, he will return; he won’t enter this city,’ declares the LORD, ³⁵ ‘because I will defend this city and deliver it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David!’”
³⁶ Sennacherib is DefeatedAfter this, the angel of the LORD went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When Hezekiah’s army awakened in the morning—there were all the dead bodies!

¹⁸ Why is my pain unending and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
God’s Answer to Jeremiah’s Revised Complaint You are like a deceptive brook, whose waters cannot be depended on.

¹¹ For I’ll be with you to save you,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I’ll put an end to all the nations where I scattered you; but I won’t make an end of you. I’ll discipline you justly, but I certainly won’t leave you unpunished.’
¹² The Healing of Zion’s Wounds“For this is what the LORD says: ‘Your injury won’t heal; your wound is severe. ¹³ There is no one to plead your cause. There is no medicine for your sore; no healing for you. ¹⁴ All your lovers have forgotten you; they don’t seek you. Indeed, I’ve struck you down with the blow of an enemy, with the punishment of a cruel foe because your wickedness is great, and your sins are numerous. ¹⁵ Why do you cry out because of your injury? Your wound won’t heal. Because your wickedness is severe, and your sins are numerous, I’ve done all these things to you.

¹² Even though the inhabitants of Maroth long for success, nevertheless evil descended from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.

²³ Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,

²⁰ Don’t make it known in Gath! Don’t declare it in the avenues of Ashkelon! Otherwise, the daughters of Philistia will rejoice; and the daughters of the uncircumcised will triumph.

⁸ Job took a broken piece of pottery to scrape himself while sitting among the ashes.

²⁶ Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as one mourns at the death of an only son. For the destroyer will come on us suddenly.

²⁹ Let him fall face down in the dust, so there may yet be hope.

¹³ therefore the prudent person remains silent at such a time, for the time is evil.

¹⁰ One’s relative will pick up the corpse to carry them from the house for burning, saying to whomever remains inside the house, ‘Is there anyone still with you?’ And he will say, ‘No.’ He will respond, ‘Be quiet, because we do not mention the name “LORD”.’

² Like fluttering birds, like an abandoned nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon River.

⁴ so the king of Assyria will lead away the Egyptian captives and exiles from Cush, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot—with even their buttocks uncovered—to the shame of Egypt.

² Take millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, strip off your robes, bare your legs, and wade through the rivers. ³ Your nakedness will be exposed, and your disgrace will also be seen. I’ll take vengeance, and I will spare no mortal.

²² When you say to yourselves, ‘Why have all these things happened to me?’ It’s because of the extent of your iniquity that your skirt has been lifted up, and your heels have suffered violence.

⁶ Flee, save your lives, and you will be like a wild donkey in the desert.

⁹ “Put salt on Moab for she will surely fall. Her towns will become desolate places, without any inhabitants in them.

³⁷ therefore, watch out! I’m about to gather all your lovers from whom you’ve received your pleasure, everyone whom you’ve loved, and those whom you’ve hated. I’ll gather them together to oppose you from every side, and they’ll uncover your nakedness in their presence. Then they’ll see you completely naked.

²⁹ They’ll deal with you with hatred. They’ll take away your productivity, leaving you naked and defenseless, so that the nakedness of your sexual immorality will be uncovered—your licentious sexual immorality.

⁸ The Coming Destruction“Therefore I will cry out and grieve loudly; I will walk around stripped and naked. I will cry out like a jackal and mourn like a company of ostriches.

⁵ God’s Decree against Nineveh“Look, I am against you,” declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “so I will pull up your dress over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations, and your disgrace to the kingdoms.

²⁰ But Naomi replied, “Don’t call me ‘Naomi’! Call me ‘Mara’! That’s because the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.

¹³ When he arrived, Eli was sitting there on a seat beside the road, watching because his heart trembled for the Ark of God. The man went into the town to give the report, and the whole town cried out.

²⁶ I have hoped for good, but evil came instead; I have hoped for light, but darkness came.

⁷ God is Sovereign“I form light and create darkness, I make goodness and create disaster. I am the LORD, who does all these things.

⁹ A Commitment to Wait on God“So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for light, but look—there is darkness; we wait for brightness, but we walk in deep darkness. ¹⁰ Let’s grope along the wall like the blind; let us grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as if it were twilight, in desolate places like dead people. ¹¹ We all growl like bears; we sigh mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but there is none, and for deliverance, but it’s far from us.

¹⁵ We waited for peace, but no good has come, for a time of healing, but instead there was terror.

¹⁹ The People Plead to the LORDHave you completely rejected Judah? Do you despise Zion? Why have you struck us, so that there is no healing for us? We hoped for peace, but no good came, for a time of healing, but there was only terror.

⁶ And when an alarm sounds in the city, the people will tremble, won’t they? If there is trouble in a city, the LORD has brought it about, has he not?”

⁹ For Samaria’s injury is fatal, reaching all the way to Judah, extending even to the gate of my people—to Jerusalem.”

¹⁷ Then one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back or stop anywhere on the plain. Escape to the hills, or you’ll be swept away!”

²¹ Then Moses asked Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you brought such great sin upon them?”

³ So King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem sent word to King Hoham of Hebron, King Piram of Jarmuth, King Japhia of Lachish, and King Debir of Eglon. He told them,

³⁹ Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,

³³ Despite everything that happened, Jeroboam never did repent of his evil practices. Instead, he appointed even more people to act as priests for the high places. Anyone who wanted to be a priest was ordained to be a priest in the high places. ³⁴ This practice became so sinful that the LORD decided to erase Jeroboam’s dynasty, thus eliminating it from the face of the earth.

¹⁶ He will give up Israel because of Jeroboam’s sins that he committed and by which Jeroboam caused Israel to sin.”

³¹ In fact, as if it were nothing for him to live like Nebat’s son Jeroboam, Ahab married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon. Then he went out to serve Baal and worship him.

¹⁸ He lived his life like the kings of Israel did, following the example of Ahab’s household when he married Ahab’s daughter and practiced what was evil in the LORD’s presence.

¹³ During the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria approached all of the walled cities of Judah and seized them. ¹⁴ So Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have offended you. Withdraw from me, and I’ll accept whatever tribute you impose.” So the king of Assyria required Hezekiah to pay him 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold.

¹⁷ Assyria’s King Taunts Hezekiah
Sometime later, the king of Assyria sent Tartan, Rab-saris, and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, accompanied with a large army.

⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,

⁹ Sennacherib Blasphemes God
After this, King Sennacherib of Assyria sent his messengers to Jerusalem while he was in the middle of a vigorous attack on Lachish. They delivered this message to King Hezekiah of Judah and to all the people of Judah who had gathered in Jerusalem:

³¹ Marmenah is in flight; the inhabitants of Gebim take cover.

⁸ Sennacherib RetreatsSo the field commander returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, since he had heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish.

⁸ I saw that even though I had sent unfaithful Israel away for all her adulteries and had given her a divorce decree, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t fear, and she, too, committed adultery.

²⁹ A Lament for ZionAt the sound of the horseman and the archer the entire city flees. Its residents go into the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned, and no one lives in them.

¹¹ The Sins of Jerusalem“Her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was more corrupt in her lust and sexual immorality than her sister had been in her own sexual immorality.

¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: You have there some who hold to the teaching of Balaam, the one who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality.

²⁰ But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and who teaches and leads my servants to practice immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

¹ The Vision of the Fall of BabylonAfter these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was made bright by his splendor. ² He cried out in a powerful voice, “Fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a prison for every unclean spirit, a prison for every unclean bird, and a prison for every unclean and hated beast. ³ For all the nations have drunk from the wine of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her. The world’s businesses have become rich from her luxurious excesses.”
⁴ The Warning to Leave BabylonThen I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you don’t participate in her sins and also suffer from her diseases. ⁵ For her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.

⁴⁴ Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah, for a total of nine cities and villages.

² David also conquered Moab, then measured them with a cord, making them lie down on the ground. He executed everyone measured out in each two lengths’ measurement of the cord, but spared the ones measured out by every third length. Then the Moabites were placed under servitude to David, and made to pay tribute.

⁸ Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that was in the LORD’s Temple and in the palace treasuries and sent them as a gift to the king of Assyria,

¹⁴ So Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have offended you. Withdraw from me, and I’ll accept whatever tribute you impose.” So the king of Assyria required Hezekiah to pay him 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. ¹⁵ Hezekiah gave him all the silver that could be removed from the LORD’s Temple and from the treasuries in the king’s palace. ¹⁶ At that time, Hezekiah removed the doors to the LORD’s Temple and the doorposts that he had overlaid with gold, and gave the gold to the king of Assyria.

¹ Asa Attacks Baasha
During the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and interdicted Ramah by building fortifications around it so no one could enter or leave to join King Asa of Judah. ² But Asa removed some silver and gold from the treasuries of the LORD’s Temple and from his royal palace and sent them to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who lived in Damascus. ³ “Let’s make a treaty between you and me,” he said, “just like the one between my father and your father. Notice that I’ve sent you silver and gold to break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he’ll retreat from his attack on me.”

⁹ Human beings are a mere vapor, while people in high positions are not what they appear. When they are placed on the scales, they weigh nothing; even when weighed together, they are less than nothing.

⁸ It is better to take shelter in the LORD than to trust in people. ⁹ It is better to take shelter in the LORD than to trust in princes.

³ Do not look to nobles, nor to mere human beings who cannot save. ⁴ When they stop breathing, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans evaporate!

⁶ The Animals of the NegevAn oracle about the animals of the Negev: “Through a land of trouble, dryness, and distress, of lionesses and roaring lions, where there is no water, a land of vipers and darting snakes, he carries their riches on donkeys’ backs, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a nation that cannot benefit them,

¹⁵ The king of Libnah: 1
The king of Adullam: 1

³⁵ Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,

¹ David at the Cave of AdullamDavid left from there and escaped to the Cave of Adullam. His brothers and all his father’s family heard about this and went down to him there.

⁷ Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam,

¹⁷ Conquest by Assyria“The LORD will bring to you, to your people, and to your ancestor’s house such a time as has never been since Ephraim broke away from Judah—the king of Assyria will come.
¹⁸ “At that time, the LORD will call for flies that will come from far away—from the headwaters of Egypt’s rivers—and for bees that are in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹ They will all come and settle in the steep ravines, in the rocky crevices, in all the thorn bushes, and in all the pastures. ²⁰ At that time, the LORD will hire a barber to come from beyond the Euphrates River—that is, the king of Assyria—and he will shave your heads, your leg hair, and your beards, too.
²¹ “At that time, a man will keep alive a heifer and two sheep, ²² and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will have cheese to eat, since whoever remains in the land will be eating cheese and honey.
²³ “At that time, every place where once there were a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briars and thorns will grow.
²⁴ “People will come there armed with bows and arrows, because the entire land will be nothing but briers and thorns. ²⁵ As for all the hills that used to be cultivated with a hoe, you won’t go there, because you’ll fear iron briars and thorns. Nevertheless, those hills will be reserved as a pasture where cattle will feed and where sheep will graze.”

³ What will you do on the day of Judgment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you run for help, and where will you leave your wealth,

⁵ Assyria is an Instrument of Judgment“How terrible it will be for Assyria, the rod of my anger! The club is in their hands! ⁶ I’m sending my fury against a godless nation, and I’ll command him against the people with whom I’m angry to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

¹ Prophecies against AmmonTo the people of Ammon:
This is what the LORD says: “Does Israel have no sons? Does he have no heir? Why then has Milcom taken possession of Gad, and his people settled in its towns?

⁴¹ You’ll bear sons and daughters, but they won’t belong to you, because they’ll go into captivity.

⁵⁶ The most tender and sensitive lady among you, who doesn’t venture to touch the soles of her feet to the ground on account of her daintiness, will look with hostility in her eyes against her beloved husband, her sons, and her daughters. ⁵⁷ She will eat her afterbirth and her newborn children secretly—since there will be nothing left—on account of the siege and distress with which your enemy will oppress you in your cities.”

⁶ As a result, during the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the Israelis off to Assyria, placing them in Halah, along the Habor River in Gozan, and in cities ruled by the Medes.

²⁰ Job Blesses God Despite the CatastropheThen Job stood up, tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground, bowed very low,

¹⁶ Judgment of Jerusalem’s WomenThe LORD also says: “Because Zion’s women are so haughty, and walk with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, prancing along as they walk, and making tinkling noises with their ankle bracelets, ¹⁷ therefore the LORD will afflict sores on the heads of Zion’s women, and the LORD will expose their private parts.
¹⁸ “At that time, the LORD will take away the finery of the ankle bracelets, headbands, crescents, ¹⁹ pendants, bracelets, veils, ²⁰ headdresses, armlets, sashes, perfume boxes, charms, ²¹ signet rings, nose rings, ²² fine robes, capes, purses, ²³ mirrors, linen garments, tiaras, and veils. ²⁴ “And it will come about that instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well-set hair, baldness; instead of a fine robe, sackcloth; and instead of beauty, shame. ²⁵ Your men will die violently, while your forces fall in battle ²⁶ and her gates lament and mourn. Ravaged, she will sit on the ground.”

² He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, to the high places to weep; over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails. His head is completely bald, and every beard is shaved off.

¹² On that day the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies called for weeping and mourning, for shaving heads and wearing sackcloth.

⁶ ‘The days are surely coming when everything in your palace and all that your ancestors have stored up to this day will be carried off to Babylon. They will come in, and nothing will be left,’ says the LORD. ⁷ ‘Then some of your own sons, who will come from your loins, whom you will father, will be taken away to become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

²⁹ “Cut off your hair and throw it away; let your lamentations rise on the barren heights, because the LORD has rejected and abandoned the generation that is subject to his wrath.

⁶ Both the most and the least important people will die in this land, and they won’t be buried. People won’t mourn for them. They won’t cut themselves, nor will they shave their heads for them.

⁵ Those who enjoyed delicacies lie desolate in the streets. Those who were reared wearing purple scavenge in piles of trash. ⁶ The guilt of my cherished people surpasses the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, without a hand to help her. ⁷ Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk. Their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their beards like the color of precious stones. ⁸ Now their faces are blacker than coal; they are unrecognized in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones; it has become dry like a stick.

¹⁰ I will turn your festivals into mourning, and all of your songs to dirges. I will cause all of you to put on sackcloth and to shave all of your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son, and its conclusion will be like the end of a bitter day.”