Habakkuk 2 Cross References - MSB

¹ I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the ramparts. I will watch to see what He will say to me, and how I should answer when corrected. ² Then the LORD answered me: “Write down this vision and clearly inscribe it on tablets, so that a herald may run with it. ³ For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end and does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not delay. ⁴ Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright—but the righteous will live by faith— ⁵ and wealth indeed betrays him. He is an arrogant man never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own. ⁶ Will not all of these take up a taunt against him, speaking with mockery and derision: ‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his and makes himself rich with many loans! How long will this go on?’ ⁷ Will not your creditors suddenly arise and those who disturb you awaken? Then you will become their prey. ⁸ Because you have plundered many nations, the remnant of the people will plunder you—because of your bloodshed against man and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers. ⁹ Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster! ¹⁰ You have plotted shame for your house by cutting off many peoples and forfeiting your life. ¹¹ For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters will echo it from the woodwork. ¹² Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by iniquity! ¹³ Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts that the labor of the people only feeds the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain? ¹⁴ For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. ¹⁵ Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin until they are drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! ¹⁶ You will be filled with shame instead of glory. You too must drink and expose your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will cover your glory. ¹⁷ For your violence against Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of animals will terrify you, because of your bloodshed against men and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers. ¹⁸ What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. ¹⁹ Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.” ²⁰ But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.

²⁴ Now David was sitting between the two gates when the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall, looked out, and saw a man running alone.

¹⁷ Now the watchman standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s troops approaching, and he called out, “I see a company of troops!” “Choose a rider,” Joram commanded. “Send him out to meet them and ask, ‘Have you come in peace?’”

⁹ The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city, they built high places in all their cities.

⁵ I would learn how He would answer, and consider what He would say. ⁶ Would He contend with me in His great power? No, He would certainly take note of me. ⁷ Then an upright man could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

³⁵ (Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.

³⁷ I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—

³ In the morning, O LORD, You hear my voice; at daybreak I lay my plea before You and wait in expectation.

¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this, it was troublesome in my sight ¹⁷ until I entered God’s sanctuary; then I discerned their end.

⁸ I will listen to what God the LORD will say; for He will surely speak peace to His people and His saints; He will not let them return to folly.

⁵ They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!

⁸ Then the lookout shouted: “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; night after night I stay at my post.

¹¹ This is the burden against Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?” ¹² The watchman replies, “Morning has come, but also the night. If you would inquire, then inquire. Come back yet again.”

⁶ On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD shall take no rest for yourselves,

¹ Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?

¹² Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction. ¹³ Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? ¹⁴ You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler. ¹⁵ The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly. ¹⁶ Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet and burns incense to his fishing net, for by these things his portion is sumptuous and his food is rich. ¹⁷ Will he, therefore, empty his net and continue to slay nations without mercy?

³ since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you.

¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood,

⁸ And you shall write distinctly upon these stones all the words of this law.”

¹⁹ Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them.

²² So that very day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites.

¹ Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary stylus: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

⁸ Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever.

² “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you during the reign of Josiah until today. ³ Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the calamity I plan to bring upon them, each of them will turn from his wicked way. Then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.” ⁴ So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and at the dictation of Jeremiah, Baruch wrote on a scroll all the words that the LORD had spoken to Jeremiah.

²⁷ After the king had burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ²⁸ “Take another scroll and rewrite on it the very words that were on the original scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah has burned. ²⁹ You are to proclaim concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah that this is what the LORD says: You have burned the scroll and said, ‘Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon would surely come and destroy this land and deprive it of man and beast?’ ³⁰ Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his body will be thrown out and exposed to heat by day and frost by night. ³¹ I will punish him and his descendants and servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the calamity about which I warned them but they did not listen.” ³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and at Jeremiah’s dictation he wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

⁴ But you, Daniel, shut up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will roam to and fro, and knowledge will increase.”

²⁸ After Martha had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside to tell her, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.” ²⁹ And when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him.

¹⁹ But in the church, I would rather speak five coherent words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

¹² Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

¹⁸ the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever. Amen. And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades. ¹⁹ Therefore write down the things you have seen, and the things that are, and the things that will happen after this.

¹³ And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead—those who die in the Lord from this moment on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, and their deeds will follow them.”

⁹ Then the angel told me to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

⁵ And the One seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then He said to me, “Write this down, for these words are true and faithful.” ⁶ And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life. ⁷ The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. ⁸ But to the cowardly and unbelieving and sinful and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

⁴¹ At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.

³³ While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”

¹⁴ Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD!

¹³ You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor—the appointed time has come.

⁵ I wait for the LORD; my soul does wait, and in His word I put my hope. ⁶ My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning—more than watchmen wait for the morning.

¹⁸ Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.

¹² But when seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, declares the LORD, and I will make it an everlasting desolation. ¹³ I will bring upon that land all the words I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. ¹⁴ For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.’”

⁷ All nations will serve him and his son and grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will enslave him.

²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. ²⁶ It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

²⁵ because I, the LORD, will speak whatever word I speak, and it will be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak a message and bring it to pass, declares the Lord GOD.’”

¹⁷ As he came near to where I stood, I was terrified and fell facedown. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.”

¹⁹ and said, “Behold, I will make known to you what will happen in the latter time of wrath, because it concerns the appointed time of the end.

²⁴ Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.

¹⁴ Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision concerns those days.”

²⁷ And the two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for still the end will come at the appointed time.

³⁵ Some of the wise will fall, so that they may be refined, purified, and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.

⁷ But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

⁷ Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help? ⁸ I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

⁷ Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.

²⁶ From one blood He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.

² He is subject to guardians and trustees until the date set by his father.

⁶ And you know what is now restraining him, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now restrains it will continue until he is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will consume with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.

³⁶ You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. ³⁷ For, “In just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.

⁷ Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains. ⁸ You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.

³ In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction will not sleep.

¹¹ Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low. ¹² Look on every proud man and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand.

³⁰ the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”

³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

²⁰ But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him. ²¹ He was driven away from mankind, and his mind was like that of a beast. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of mankind, setting over it whom He wishes. ²² But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this. ²³ Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.

¹⁴ I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”

¹⁷ For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

¹⁶ know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹¹ Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” ¹² The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”

⁴ He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself as God in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

³⁸ But the righteous will live by faith; and if he shrinks back, I will take no pleasure in him.”

⁵ Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility, being subject to one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son. ¹¹ And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

¹⁰ You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud. Glory in that and stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?”

⁶ Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.

¹ Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

²⁹ Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes? ³⁰ Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks. ³¹ Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. ³² In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper. ³³ Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities.

²⁰ Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

¹³ There is a generation—how haughty are their eyes and pretentious are their glances— ¹⁴ there is a generation whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are knives, devouring the oppressed from the earth and the needy from among men. ¹⁵ The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’: ¹⁶ Sheol, the barren womb, land never satisfied with water, and fire that never says, ‘Enough!’

⁴ It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to crave strong drink, ⁵ lest they drink and forget what is decreed, depriving all the oppressed of justice.

¹⁰ He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.

¹¹ The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. ¹² For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—

¹⁷ So the pride of man will be brought low, and the loftiness of men will be humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,

⁸ Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land.

¹¹ Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine. ¹² At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.

²² Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing strong drink, ²³ who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.

⁷ But this is not his intention; this is not his plan. For it is in his heart to destroy and cut off many nations. ⁸ “Are not all my commanders kings?” he says. ⁹ “Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? ¹⁰ As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms whose images surpassed those of Jerusalem and Samaria, ¹¹ and as I have done to Samaria and its idols, will I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols?” ¹² So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes. ¹³ For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their rulers.

¹⁶ Those who see you will stare; they will ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble, ¹⁷ who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”

⁶ We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty.

⁹ behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.

¹⁷ So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the nations drink from it, each one to whom the LORD had sent me, ¹⁸ to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials; ¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officials, his leaders, and all his people; ²⁰ all the mixed tribes; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; ²¹ Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; ²² all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea; ²³ Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair; ²⁴ all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; ²⁵ all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media; ²⁶ all the kings of the north, both near and far, one after another—all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too. ²⁷ “Then you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, because of the sword I will send among you.’ ²⁸ If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘You most certainly must drink it! ²⁹ For behold, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears My Name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of Hosts.’

²⁹ Summon the archers against Babylon, all who string the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

³⁹ While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they may revel; then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up, declares the LORD.

¹ Later, King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he drank wine with them. ² Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king could drink from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines. ³ Thus they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king drank from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines. ⁴ As they drank the wine, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

⁹ Whatever you plot against the LORD, He will bring to an end. Affliction will not rise up a second time. ¹⁰ For they will be entangled as with thorns and consumed like the drink of a drunkard—like stubble that is fully dry.

⁴ Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright—but the righteous will live by faith—

⁸ Because you have plundered many nations, the remnant of the people will plunder you—because of your bloodshed against man and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers. ⁹ Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster! ¹⁰ You have plotted shame for your house by cutting off many peoples and forfeiting your life.

¹¹ and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.

⁶ But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷ And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’

¹⁸ Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Arise, O Balak, and listen; give ear to me, O son of Zippor.

¹⁵ He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach. ¹⁶ He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him. ¹⁷ He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream. ¹⁸ He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading. ¹⁹ For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build. ²⁰ Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure. ²¹ Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure. ²² In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him. ²³ When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats. ²⁴ Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him. ²⁵ It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him. ²⁶ Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. ²⁷ The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. ²⁸ The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath. ²⁹ This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”

⁶ For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing. ⁷ You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished, ⁸ while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it. ⁹ You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed. ¹⁰ Therefore snares surround you, and sudden peril terrifies you;

³ How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked exult?

¹⁶ Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself or giving gifts to the rich will surely lead to poverty.

⁴ you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended! ⁵ The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers. ⁶ It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution. ⁷ All the earth is at peace and at rest; they break out in song. ⁸ Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon exult over you: “Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter comes against us.” ⁹ Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival. It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you—all the rulers of the earth. It makes all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones. ¹⁰ They will all respond to you, saying, “You too have become weak, as we are; you have become like us!” ¹¹ Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket. ¹² How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations. ¹³ You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north. ¹⁴ I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” ¹⁵ But you will be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. ¹⁶ Those who see you will stare; they will ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble, ¹⁷ who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?” ¹⁸ All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb. ¹⁹ But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, covered by those slain with the sword, and dumped into a rocky pit like a carcass trampled underfoot.

²⁰ He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

² Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.

²² Because of them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!’

¹³ Because of the wrath of the LORD, she will not be inhabited; she will become completely desolate. All who pass through Babylon will be horrified and will hiss at all her wounds.

³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out. ³⁵ May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” says the dweller of Zion. “May my blood be on the dwellers of Chaldea,” says Jerusalem.

²¹ Mighty chiefs will speak from the midst of Sheol about Egypt and her allies: ‘They have come down and lie with the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword.’

⁴ In that day they will take up a proverb against you and taunt you with this bitter lamentation: ‘We are utterly ruined! He has changed the portion of my people. How He has removed it from me! He has allotted our fields to traitors.’”

⁹ All of them come bent on violence; their hordes advance like the east wind; they gather prisoners like sand. ¹⁰ They scoff at kings and make rulers an object of scorn. They laugh at every fortress and build up siege ramps to seize it.

¹⁵ The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly.

¹³ Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts that the labor of the people only feeds the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?

²⁰ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

²⁹ What I am saying, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; ³⁰ those who weep, as if they did not; those who are joyful, as if they were not; those who make a purchase, as if they had nothing; ³¹ and those who use the things of this world, as if not dependent on them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

¹ Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you. ² Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire. You have hoarded treasure in the last days. ⁴ Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

⁷ The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray.

¹ A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.

⁸ He who digs a pit may fall into it, and he who breaches a wall may be bitten by a snake.

¹ This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received: ² Raise a banner on a barren hilltop; call aloud to them. Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles. ³ I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph. ⁴ Listen, a tumult on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations gathered together! The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war. ⁵ They are coming from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens—the LORD and the weapons of His wrath—to destroy the whole country.

¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished. ¹⁷ Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold. ¹⁸ Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.

² A dire vision is declared to me: “The traitor still betrays, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I will put an end to all her groaning.” ³ Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see. ⁴ My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight of my desire has turned to horror. ⁵ They prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields! ⁶ For this is what the Lord says to me: “Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees. ⁷ When he sees chariots with teams of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, fully alert.” ⁸ Then the lookout shouted: “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; night after night I stay at my post. ⁹ Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one answered, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon! All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”

²⁵ I have raised up one from the north, and he has come—one from the east who calls on My name. He will march over rulers as if they were mortar, like a potter who treads the clay.

¹ This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut: ² “I will go before you and level the mountains; I will break down the gates of bronze and cut through the bars of iron. ³ I will give you the treasures of darkness and the riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name.

¹¹ I summon a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land. Truly I have spoken, and truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, and I will surely do it.

¹¹ But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.

¹⁴ Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The LORD’s chosen ally will carry out His desire against Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans. ¹⁵ I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I have brought him, and he will succeed in his mission.

¹⁷ “For behold, I will send snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.

²¹ Go up against the land of Merathaim, and against the residents of Pekod. Kill them and devote them to destruction. Do all that I have commanded you,” declares the LORD. ²² “The noise of battle is in the land—the noise of great destruction. ²³ How the hammer of the whole earth lies broken and shattered! What a horror Babylon has become among the nations! ²⁴ I laid a snare for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured because you challenged the LORD. ²⁵ The LORD has opened His armory and brought out His weapons of wrath, for this is the work of the Lord GOD of Hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. ²⁶ Come against her from the farthest border. Break open her granaries; pile her up like mounds of grain. Devote her to destruction; leave her no survivors. ²⁷ Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come—the time of their punishment. ²⁸ Listen to the fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon, declaring in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance for His temple. ²⁹ Summon the archers against Babylon, all who string the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. ³⁰ Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets, and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,” declares the LORD. ³¹ “Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts, “for your day has come, the time when I will punish you. ³² The arrogant one will stumble and fall with no one to pick him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities to consume all those around him.”

¹¹ Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the vengeance of the LORD—vengeance for His temple.

²⁷ “Raise a banner in the land! Blow the ram’s horn among the nations! Prepare the nations against her. Summon the kingdoms against her—Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a captain against her; bring up horses like swarming locusts. ²⁸ Prepare the nations for battle against her—the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the lands they rule.

⁵⁷ I will make her princes and wise men drunk, along with her governors, officials, and warriors. Then they will fall asleep forever and not wake up,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD of Hosts.

²⁵ Now this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. ²⁶ And this is the interpretation of the message: MENE means that God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. ²⁷ TEKEL means that you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. ²⁸ PERES means that your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.” ²⁹ Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel in purple, placed a gold chain around his neck, and proclaimed him the third highest ruler in the kingdom. ³⁰ That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain, ³¹ and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.

³ For while people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

⁸ O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.

¹ Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.

⁴ Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.

⁶ I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.

¹⁶ Nevertheless, all who devour you will be devoured, and all your adversaries—every one of them—will go off into exile. Those who plundered you will be plundered, and all who raided you will be raided.

¹⁰ Chaldea will be plundered; all who plunder her will have their fill,” declares the LORD. ¹¹ “Because you rejoice, because you sing in triumph—you who plunder My inheritance—because you frolic like a heifer treading grain and neigh like stallions,

¹⁷ Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.” ¹⁸ Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.

²⁸ Listen to the fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon, declaring in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance for His temple.

³³ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “The sons of Israel are oppressed, and the sons of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to release them. ³⁴ Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of Hosts is His name. He will fervently plead their case so that He may bring rest to the earth, but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.

³⁷ A sword is against her horses and chariots and against all the foreigners in her midst, and they will become like women. A sword is against her treasuries, and they will be plundered.

⁸ Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.

¹³ You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut.

²⁴ Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD.

⁴⁴ I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him spew out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even the wall of Babylon will fall.

⁴⁸ Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon because the destroyers from the north will come against her,” declares the LORD.

⁵⁵ For the LORD will destroy Babylon; He will silence her mighty voice. The waves will roar like great waters; the tumult of their voices will resound. ⁵⁶ For a destroyer is coming against her—against Babylon. Her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken, for the LORD is a God of retribution; He will repay in full.

¹¹ But now many nations have assembled against you, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let us feast our eyes on Zion.” ¹² But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD or understand His plan, for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor. ¹³ Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron and hooves of bronze to break to pieces many peoples. Then you will devote their gain to the LORD, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

¹⁰ You have plotted shame for your house by cutting off many peoples and forfeiting your life.

¹⁷ For your violence against Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of animals will terrify you, because of your bloodshed against men and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers.

¹⁵ but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’

⁸ For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye— ⁹ I will surely wave My hand over them, so that they will become plunder for their own servants. Then you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me.”

² “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples. Judah will be besieged, as well as Jerusalem. ³ On that day, when all the nations of the earth gather against her, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who would heave it away will be severely injured. ⁴ On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and every rider with madness. I will keep a watchful eye on the house of Judah, but I will strike with blindness all the horses of the nations.

¹² And this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.

¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”

²⁰ Rejoice over her, O heaven, O saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced for you His judgment against her. ²¹ Then a mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be cast down, never to be seen again. ²² And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will never ring out in you again. Nor will any craftsmen of any trade be found in you again, nor the sound of a millstone be heard in you again. ²³ The light of a lamp will never shine in you again, and the voices of a bride and bridegroom will never call out in you again. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.” ²⁴ And there was found in her the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who had been slain on the earth.

¹⁰ And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹ So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself and set out toward the east. And Abram and Lot parted company. ¹² Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom. ¹³ But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

²⁶ But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. ²⁷ Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. ²⁸ He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace. ²⁹ So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived. ³⁰ Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains—for he was afraid to stay in Zoar—where they lived in a cave. ³¹ One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us, as is the custom over all the earth. ³² Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.” ³³ So that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁴ The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.” ³⁵ So again that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁶ Thus both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today. ³⁸ The younger daughter also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today.

²⁵ You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God. ²⁶ And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.

²¹ When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” ²² So Joshua sent messengers who ran to the tent, and there it all was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. ²³ They took the things from inside the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and spread them out before the LORD. ²⁴ Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his oxen and donkeys and sheep, his tent, and everything else he owned, and brought them to the Valley of Achor. ²⁵ “Why have you brought this trouble upon us?” said Joshua. “Today the LORD will bring trouble upon you!” And all Israel stoned him to death. Then they stoned the others and burned their bodies. ²⁶ And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.

² So Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard to use as a vegetable garden, since it is next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in its place—or if you prefer, I will give you its value in silver.” ³ But Naboth replied, “The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” ⁴ So Ahab went to his palace, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had told him, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and refused to eat.

¹⁹ Tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Have you not murdered a man and seized his land?’ Then tell him that this is also what the LORD says: ‘In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there also the dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’” ²⁰ When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So you have found me out, my enemy.” He replied, “I have found you out because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD. ²¹ This is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring calamity on you and consume your descendants; I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both slave and free. ²² I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked My anger and caused Israel to sin.’ ²³ And the LORD also speaks concerning Jezebel: ‘The dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’ ²⁴ Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.”

²⁰ Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared this Aramean, Naaman, while not accepting what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” ²¹ So Gehazi pursued Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and asked, “Is everything all right?” ²² “Everything is all right,” Gehazi replied. “My master has sent me to say, ‘I have just now discovered that two young men from the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.’” ²³ But Naaman insisted, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged Gehazi to accept them. Then he tied up two talents of silver in two bags along with two sets of clothing and gave them to two of his servants, who carried them ahead of Gehazi. ²⁴ When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the gifts from the servants and stored them in the house. Then he dismissed the men, and they departed. ²⁵ When Gehazi went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Gehazi, where have you been?” “Your servant did not go anywhere,” he replied. ²⁶ But Elisha questioned him, “Did not my spirit go with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to accept money and clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, menservants and maidservants? ²⁷ Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and your descendants forever!” And as Gehazi left his presence, he was leprous—as white as snow.

¹⁹ For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build. ²⁰ Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure. ²¹ Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure. ²² In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him. ²³ When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats. ²⁴ Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him. ²⁵ It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him. ²⁶ Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. ²⁷ The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. ²⁸ The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.

³ For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD. ⁴ In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God. ⁵ He is secure in his ways at all times; Your lofty judgments are far from him; he sneers at all his foes. ⁶ He says to himself, “I will not be moved; from age to age I am free of distress.”

¹¹ Their graves are their eternal homes—their dwellings for endless generations—even though their lands were their namesakes.

⁷ “Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”

¹¹ A rich man’s wealth is his fortified city; it is like a high wall in his imagination. ¹² Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.

¹⁵ For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”

⁷ You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome. ⁸ So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’ ⁹ These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.

¹³ “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages, ¹⁴ who says, ‘I will build myself a great palace, with spacious upper rooms.’ So he cuts windows in it, panels it with cedar, and paints it with vermilion. ¹⁵ Does it make you a king to excel in cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He administered justice and righteousness, and so it went well with him. ¹⁶ He took up the cause of the poor and needy, and so it went well with him. Is this not what it means to know Me?” declares the LORD. ¹⁷ “But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.” ¹⁸ Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’ ¹⁹ He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.

¹⁶ The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.

⁴ Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.

¹ Again I lifted up my eyes and saw before me a flying scroll. ² “What do you see?” asked the angel. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.” ³ Then he told me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the land, for according to one side of the scroll, every thief will be removed; and according to the other side, every perjurer will be removed. ⁴ I will send it out, declares the LORD of Hosts, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by My name. It will remain inside his house and destroy it, down to its timbers and stones.”

¹⁷ He was one of our number and shared in this ministry.” ¹⁸ (Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out. ¹⁹ This became known to all who lived in Jerusalem, so they called that field in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) ²⁰ “For it is written in the book of Psalms: ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, ‘May another take his position.’ ²¹ Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning from John’s baptism until the day Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” ²³ So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. ²⁴ And they prayed, “Lord, You know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two You have chosen ²⁵ to receive a portion in this ministry and apostleship, which Judas abandoned to go to his rightful place.”

¹¹ Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

³⁸ As for the censers of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, hammer them into sheets to overlay the altar, for these were presented before the LORD, and so have become holy. They will serve as a sign to the Israelites.”

²³ Then King Solomon swore by the LORD: “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if Adonijah has not made this request at the expense of his life.

²⁶ ‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, according to the word of the LORD, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground.”

⁷ And when the letter arrived, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel.

¹⁸ But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.

³⁶ But he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”

²⁰ You will not join them in burial, since you have destroyed your land and slaughtered your own people. The offspring of the wicked will never again be mentioned. ²¹ Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the iniquities of their forefathers. They will never rise up to possess a land or cover the earth with their cities. ²² “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will cut off from Babylon her name and her remnant, her offspring and her posterity,” declares the LORD.

¹¹ You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will consume you.

³⁰ This is what the LORD says: “Enroll this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will prosper to sit on the throne of David or to rule again in Judah.”

¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did Hezekiah not fear the LORD and seek His favor, and did not the LORD relent of the disaster He had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great harm on ourselves!”

³¹ I will punish him and his descendants and servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the calamity about which I warned them but they did not listen.”

¹⁴ The LORD has issued a command concerning you, O Nineveh: “There will be no descendants to carry on your name. I will cut off the carved image and cast idol from the house of your gods; I will prepare your grave, for you are contemptible.”

¹⁶ You will be filled with shame instead of glory. You too must drink and expose your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will cover your glory.

²⁵ All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

¹⁰ “What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.

²⁷ And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone. It will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the LORD has spoken to us, and it will be a witness against you if you ever deny your God.”

³⁸ if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together, ³⁹ if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants, ⁴⁰ then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.

⁴⁰ “I tell you,” He answered, “if they remain silent, the very stones will cry out.”

²⁴ to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

¹¹ Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” ¹³ But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴ Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” ¹⁵ “Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. ¹⁷ And Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain built a city and named it after his son Enoch.

²⁶ At that time Joshua invoked this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho; at the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”

³⁴ In Ahab’s days, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. At the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his youngest he set up its gates, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through Joshua son of Nun.

¹³ “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages, ¹⁴ who says, ‘I will build myself a great palace, with spacious upper rooms.’ So he cuts windows in it, panels it with cedar, and paints it with vermilion. ¹⁵ Does it make you a king to excel in cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He administered justice and righteousness, and so it went well with him. ¹⁶ He took up the cause of the poor and needy, and so it went well with him. Is this not what it means to know Me?” declares the LORD. ¹⁷ “But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”

⁹ Yes, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the city of bloodshed! I, too, will pile the kindling high.

²⁷ Therefore, may my advice be pleasing to you, O king. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.” ²⁸ All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. ²⁹ Twelve months later, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, ³⁰ the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” ³¹ While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “It is decreed to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that the kingdom has departed from you.

¹⁰ who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity.

¹ Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.

⁴⁷ Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰ You do not realize that it is better for us that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

⁶ I could see that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly amazed at the sight of her.

⁶ And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them. ⁷ Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.

³¹ Now someone told David: “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David pleaded, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”

¹³ He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning. ¹⁴ They encounter darkness by day and grope at noon as in the night.

⁶ Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

¹ A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain. ² In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep to His beloved.

³⁰ There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.

⁵ The islands see and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward. ⁶ Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!” ⁷ The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who wields the hammer cheers him who strikes the anvil, saying of the welding, “It is good.” He nails it down so it will not be toppled. ⁸ “But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—

¹¹ Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who array yourselves with firebrands, walk in the light of your fire and of the firebrands you have lit! This is what you will receive from My hand: You will lie down in a place of torment.

⁵⁸ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames.”

⁶⁴ Then you are to say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will grow weary.’” Here end the words of Jeremiah.

⁴ Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever.

²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.

¹ For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song. May God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, Selah ² that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.

¹⁹ And blessed be His glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.

⁹ All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.

¹ A Psalm. Sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand and holy arm have gained Him the victory. ² The LORD has proclaimed His salvation and revealed His righteousness to the nations. ³ He has remembered His love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

³ And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”

⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.

⁸ And on that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the Eastern Sea and the other half toward the Western Sea, in summer and winter alike. ⁹ On that day the LORD will become King over all the earth—the LORD alone, and His name alone.

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”

⁴ Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.

³² Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.” ³³ So that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁴ The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.” ³⁵ So again that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

²⁵ Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them run wild and become a laughingstock to their enemies.

¹³ Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and he got Uriah drunk. And in the evening Uriah went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.

²⁶ “If not,” said Absalom, “please let my brother Amnon go with us.” “Why should he go with you?” the king asked. ²⁷ But Absalom urged him, so the king sent Amnon and the rest of his sons. ²⁸ Now Absalom had ordered his young men, “Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant!”

¹⁵ This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.

⁷ Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the LORD, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.

⁵ The princes are inflamed with wine on the day of our king; so he joins hands with those who mock him.

² The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and those who dwell on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.”

³ All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.”

⁸ For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs.

³⁵ The wise will inherit honor, but fools are held up to shame.

⁴ so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame.

⁷ These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments. ⁸ For all their tables are covered with vomit; there is not a place without filth.

³ Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”

²⁶ I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

²¹ Therefore now hear this, you afflicted one, drunken, but not with wine. ²² Thus says your Lord, the LORD, even your God, who defends His people: “See, I have removed from your hand the cup of staggering. From that goblet, the cup of My fury, you will never drink again. ²³ I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground, like a street to be traversed.”

²¹ So rejoice and be glad, O Daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass to you as well; you will get drunk and expose yourself.

⁷ The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; they exchanged their Glory for a thing of disgrace.

⁵ “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms. ⁶ I will pelt you with filth and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.

¹⁹ Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.

⁶ Give back to her as she has done to others; pay her back double for what she has done; mix her a double portion in her own cup.

²³ But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

¹⁷ A man burdened by bloodguilt will flee into the Pit; let no one support him.

³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out. ³⁵ May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” says the dweller of Zion. “May my blood be on the dwellers of Chaldea,” says Jerusalem. ³⁶ Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance on your behalf; I will dry up her sea and make her springs run dry. ³⁷ Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals, an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant.

⁸ Because you have plundered many nations, the remnant of the people will plunder you—because of your bloodshed against man and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers.

¹ Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may consume your cedars!

⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. ⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; ⁶ they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; ⁷ they have hands, but cannot feel; they have feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even clear their throats. ⁸ Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.

¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. ¹⁶ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; ¹⁷ they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths. ¹⁸ Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.

³¹ The strong man will become tinder and his work will be a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the flames.

³⁸ One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

¹⁷ But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.

⁹ All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame. ¹⁰ Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?

¹⁴ He cuts down cedars or retrieves a cypress or oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow. ¹⁵ It serves as fuel for man. He takes some of it to warm himself, and he kindles a fire and bakes his bread; he even fashions it into a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. ¹⁶ He burns half of it in the fire, and he roasts meat on that half. He eats the roast and is satisfied. Indeed, he warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” ¹⁷ From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.” ¹⁸ They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand. ¹⁹ And no one considers in his heart, no one has the knowledge or insight to say, “I burned half of it in the fire, and I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make something detestable with the rest of it? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?” ²⁰ He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

¹⁶ They will all be put to shame and humiliated; the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace.

²⁰ Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save.

¹ Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal. ² The gods cower; they crouch together, unable to relieve the burden; but they themselves go into captivity.

⁶ They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship. ⁷ They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles. ⁸ Remember this and be brave; take it to heart, you transgressors!

²⁷ say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces, yet in the time of trouble they beg, ‘Rise up and save us!’ ²⁸ But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O Judah.

³ For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman. ⁴ They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter. ⁵ Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”

⁸ But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

¹⁴ Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them. ¹⁵ They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.

² “Announce and declare to the nations; lift up a banner and proclaim it; hold nothing back when you say, ‘Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Marduk is shattered, her images are disgraced, her idols are broken in pieces.’

⁸ Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.

² For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. ²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.

²¹ What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.

² You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.

⁹ The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder, ¹⁰ and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. ¹¹ For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie,

¹ Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, ² influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.

¹¹ Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. This beast had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon. ¹² And this beast exercised all the authority of the first beast and caused the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. ¹³ And the second beast performed great signs to cause even fire from heaven to come down upon the earth in the presence of the people. ¹⁴ Because of the signs it was given to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived my own people who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image to the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet had lived. ¹⁵ The second beast was permitted to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship it to be killed.

²⁰ But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

²⁶ And they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound, and no one answered as they leaped around the altar they had made. ²⁷ At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!” ²⁸ So they shouted louder and cut themselves with knives and lances, as was their custom, until the blood gushed over them. ²⁹ Midday passed, and they kept on raving until the time of the evening sacrifice. But there was no response; no one answered, no one paid attention.

⁷ All worshipers of images are put to shame—those who boast in idols. Worship Him, all you gods!

¹⁷ they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths.

¹⁹ To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

¹⁷ From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”

⁶ They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

⁴ They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.

⁹ Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz—the work of a craftsman from the hands of a goldsmith. Their clothes are blue and purple, all fashioned by skilled workers.

¹⁴ Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.

⁴⁷ Therefore, behold, the days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her entire land will suffer shame, and all her slain will lie fallen within her.

¹ King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

⁷ Therefore, as soon as all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and all kinds of music, the people of every nation and language would fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

¹⁸ But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.”

²⁹ Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be cut into pieces and their houses reduced to rubble. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way.”

²³ Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.

⁵ The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.

²⁹ Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

⁴ The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.

⁴ The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.

¹⁰ “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.”

⁸ From heaven You pronounced judgment, and the earth feared and was still ⁹ when God rose up to judge, to save all the lowly of the earth. Selah

³ Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.

¹³ For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home: ¹⁴ “This is My resting place forever and ever; here I will dwell, for I have desired this home.

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple.

¹ This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?

⁶ Hear the uproar from the city; listen to the voice from the temple! It is the voice of the LORD, repaying His enemies what they deserve!

⁴ At this, I said, ‘I have been banished from Your sight; yet I will look once more toward Your holy temple.’

⁷ As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD. My prayer went up to You, to Your holy temple.

² Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it! May the Lord GOD bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.

⁷ Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD, for the Day of the LORD is near. Indeed, the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; He has consecrated His guests.

¹³ Be silent before the LORD, all people, for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.”

²¹ In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.