Judgment upon the wealth and pride of Judah

The Lord’s judgement-day

6 (Get you into the caves of the rocks,

and hide in the holes of the ground,

from the Lord’s dread face, when in glory majestic

he rises with terror to smile the earth.)

For he has forsaken his people,

the household of Jacob.

Filled is his land from the east with diviners,

with soothsayers like to the Philistines,

sorcerers, children of foreigners.

7 Filled in his land full of silver and gold,

and his treasure is endless.

Filled in his land full of horses,

his chariots are endless.

8 Filled is his land full of idols,

he worships the work of his hands,

the things that his fingers have made.

10 (Get you into the rocks,

and hide in the ground,

from the Lord’s dread presence

and glory majestic.)

11 So the pride of men will be humbled,

laid low will man’s loftiness be,

and that day will the Lord alone be exalted.

12 For a day of the Lord is coming

upon all that is haughty and proud,

upon all that is lofty and high-

13 upon cedars of Lebanon all,

and oaks of Bashan all,

14 upon all the great mountains

and all the high hills,

15 upon all the proud towers,

all fortified walls,

16 upon all ships of Tarshish

and all gallant craft.

17 Then the pride of men will be humbled,

laid low will man’s loftiness be,

and that day will the Lord alone be exalted.

18 The Idols will all of them vanish.

19 Get you into the caves of the rocks,

and the holes of the ground

from the Lord’s dread face, when in glory majestic

he rises with terror to smile the earth.

20 That day will men cast away

to the moles and to the bats

their idols of silver and gold,

which they made for themselves to worship;

21 And into the caves of the rocks they will get them,

and into the rents of the cliffs,

from the Lord’s dread face, when in glory majestic

he rises-with terror to smite the earth.

22 Oh cease your trust in man, in whose nostrils is but a breath. Of what account is he?

A reign of anarchy

3 Behold, the Lord the Lord of Hosts

take staff and stay from Jerusalem and Judah-

2 soldiers and Warriors, judges and prophets,

3 deviners and elders, and captains of fifty,

men of distinction, and men of sage counsel,

cunning magicians and skilful enchanters.

4 And boys I will give them for princes,

and men of caprice will rule over them.

5 The people will play the tyrant,

each man over his neighbour.

The young will be rude to the aged,

the man of low rank to the high.

6 One will take hold of his fellow, and say to him:

‘Your family has a robe;

come, and do you be our ruler,

and take this ruin in hand.’

7 Then will the other protest,

‘No, truly: I cannot dress your wounds.

In my own house there is no bread,

nor yet is there a robe.

You will not thrust upon me

The leadership of the people.’

8 Jerusalem is stumbling to ruin,

and Judah must surely fall;

for by word and by deed they defy the Lord,

provoking those glorious eyes of his.

9 Their respecting of persons is witness against them;

like Sodom they publish their sin undisguisedly.

Woe unto them! They have wrought their own ruin.

10 Happy righteous! For well they will fare,

they will reap the fruit of their doings.

11 But woe to the wicked! For ill they will fare,

their deeds will be recompensed unto them.

12 My people are cruelly governed,

extortions rule over them.

O My people, your leaders mislead,

and confuse the way you should go.

13 The Lord is taking his place for the trial,

he stands to judge his people.

14 The Lord summons to judgment

the elders and princes of his people.

‘Yes, you have devoured the vineyard,

the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

15 What mean you by crushing my people

and grinding the faces of the poor?’

says the Lord God of Hosts.

The doom of the haughty women

16 Moreover the Lord said:

‘Because Zion’s daughters are haughty,

walking with heads held high,

and eyes for ever ogling,

with dainty little steps,

and anklets ever jingling,

17 the Lord will smite with a scab

the head of the daughters of Zion,

and their shame will the Lord lay bare.

18 That day the Lord will remove

the finery of the anklets,

the net-bands and the moons,

19 the ear-drops and bracelets and veils,

20 the head-dresses, armlets, and sashes,

the perfume-boxes and amulets,

21 the signet-rings and the nose-rings,

22 the state-gowns, the mantles, the shawls, and the satchels,

23 the gauzes and linens, the turbans and veils.

24 Sweet scents will give place unto stench,

and the girdle be changed for a rope.

And well-set hair will be bald,

and for elegant robe will be sackcloth,

for beauty the brand (of a slave).

25 Your liegemen will fall by the sword,

and your mighty men in the battle.

26 Her gates will lament and mourn,

as she lies despoiled on the ground.

4 That day will seven women

take hold of one man and say,

‘Our own bread will we eat,

and our rainment will we wear;

but oh, let us bear your name,

and take our reproach away.’

Zion’s final glory

2 In that day

will the wild vegetation be glorious and fair,

and the fruit of the tilled land majestic and comely

for Israel’s sons who escape.

3 And those who remain in Zion,

and those who are left in Jerusalem,

will be called by the name of holy -

all who stand in the book of life.

4 When the Lord will have washed away

the filth of the daughters of Zion,

and rinsed away from her midst

the blood-stains of Jerusalem,

by means of the blast of judgment,

the blast of extermination,

5 then will the Lord come,

and o’er the whole site of mount Zion

and over all the glory

6 will cover and canopy be –

a shade by day from the heat,

a refuge and shelter from storm and rain.