- Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty, and makes it waste, and turns it upside down, and scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and fades away; the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. The new wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted do sigh. The mirth of tambourines ceases, the noise of them that rejoice ends, the joy of the harp ceases. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying for wine in the streets, all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction. When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning-grapes when the vintage is done. They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore, glorify the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea.
- From the farthest part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me. The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare. For the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his elders gloriously.
- O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you. I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. For you have made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. Therefore shall the strong people glorify you, the city of the terrible nations shall fear you. For you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. You shall bring down the noise of strangers as the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud; the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. And in this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of aged wines — of fat things full of marrow, of aged wines well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord has spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him and he will save us; this is the Lord, we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swims spreads forth his hands to swim; and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands. And the fortress of the high fort of your walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.
- In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on you because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength. For he brings down them that dwell on high, the lofty city he lays it low; he lays it low, even to the ground; he brings it even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy. The way of the just is uprightness; you, Most Upright, do weigh the path of the just. Yea, in the way of your judgments, O Lord, have we waited for you; the desire of our soul is to your name and to the remembrance of you. With my soul have I desired you in the night, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek you early; for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, when your hand is lifted up, they will not see; but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people, yea, the fire of your enemies shall devour them. Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for you also have wrought all our works in us. O Lord our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, but by you only will we make mention of your name. They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise. Therefore have you visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. You have increased the nation, O Lord, you have increased the nation. You are glorified, you had removed it far, unto all the ends of the earth.
- Lord, in trouble have they visited you, they poured out a prayer when your chastening was upon them. Like a woman with child that draws near the time of her delivery is in pain, and cries out in her pangs, so have we been in your sight, O Lord. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have, as it were, brought forth wind. We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. Your dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, you that dwell in dust, for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter into your chambers and shut your doors about you. Hide yourself as for a little moment, until the indignation be passed over. For behold, the Lord comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain.
- In that day, the Lord, with his severe and great and strong sword, shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
- In that day, sing unto her, A vineyard of red wine, I the Lord do keep it. I will water it every moment, lest any hurt it. I will keep it night and day. Fury is not in me. Who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me. He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root; Israel shall blossom, and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. Has he smitten him as he smote those that smote him? Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure, when it shoots forth, you will debate with it; he holds back his rough wind in the day of the east wind. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten asunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. Yet the fortified city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness. There shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down and consume the branches thereof. When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off; the women come and set them on fire For it is a people of no understanding, therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
Chapter 7