The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

The burden of the word of the LORD. In the land of Hadrach, and in Damascus shall be His resting-place; for the LORD'S is the eye of man and all the tribes of Israel.

And Hamath also shall border thereon; Tyre and Zidon, for she is very wise.

And Tyre did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.

Behold, the Lord will impoverish her, and He will smite her power into the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.

Ashkelon shall see it, and fear, Gaza also, and shall be sore pained, and Ekron, for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.

And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his detestable things from between his teeth, and he also shall be a remnant for our God; and he shall be as a chief in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

And I will encamp about My house against the army, that none pass through or return; and no oppressor shall pass through them any more; for now have I seen with Mine eyes.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy king cometh unto thee, he is triumphant, and victorious, lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass.

And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace unto the nations; and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As for thee also, because of the blood of thy covenant I send forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.

Return to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope; even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee.

For I bend Judah for Me, I fill the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Javan, and will make thee as the sword of a mighty man.

And the LORD shall be seen over them, and His arrow shall go forth as the lightning; and the Lord GOD will blow the horn, and will go with whirlwinds of the south.

The LORD of hosts will defend them; and they shall devour, and shall tread down the sling-stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like the basins, like the corners of the altar.

And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people; for they shall be as the stones of a crown, glittering over His land.

For how great is their goodness, and how great is their beauty! Corn shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maids.

Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain, even of the LORD that maketh lightnings; and He will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and the dreams speak falsely, they comfort in vain; therefore they go their way like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.

Mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats; for the LORD of hosts hath remembered His flock the house of Judah, and maketh them as His majestic horse in the battle.

Out of them shall come forth the corner-stone, out of them the stake, out of them the battle bow, out of them every master together.

And they shall be as mighty men, treading down in the mire of the streets in the battle, and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them; and the riders on horses shall be confounded.

And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back, for I have compassion upon them, and they shall be as though I had not cast them off; for I am the LORD their God, and I will hear them.

And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine; yea, their children shall see it, and rejoice, their heart shall be glad in the LORD.

I will hiss for them, and gather them, for I have redeemed them; and they shall increase as they have increased.

And I will sow them among the peoples, and they shall remember Me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and shall return.

I will bring them back also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not suffice them.

And over the sea affliction shall pass, and the waves shall be smitten in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up; and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.

And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in His name, saith the LORD.

Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.

Wail, O cypress-tree, for the cedar is fallen; because the glorious ones are spoiled; wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest is come down.

Hark! the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory is spoiled; Hark! the roaring of young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are spoiled.

Thus said the LORD my God: 'Feed the flock of slaughter;

whose buyers slay them, and hold themselves not guilty; and they that sell them say: Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich; and their own shepherds pity them not.

For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD; but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.'

So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily the poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Graciousness, and the other I called Binders; and I fed the flock.

And I cut off the three shepherds in one month; 'for My soul became impatient of them, and their soul also loathed Me.'

Then said I: 'I will not feed you; that which dieth, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let them that are left eat every one the flesh of another.'

And I took my staff Graciousness, and cut it asunder, 'that I might break My covenant which I had made with all the peoples.'

And it was broken in that day; and the poor of the flock that gave heed unto me knew of a truth that it was the word of the LORD.

And I said unto them: 'If ye think good, give me my hire; and if not, forbear.' So they weighed for my hire thirty pieces of silver.

And the LORD said unto me: 'Cast it into the treasury, the goodly price that I was prized at of them.' And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them into the treasury, in the house of the LORD.

Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Binders, that the brotherhood between Judah and Israel might be broken.

And the LORD said unto me: 'Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not think of those that are cut off, neither will seek those that are young, nor heal that which is broken; neither will he feed that which standeth still, but he will eat the flesh of the fat, and will break their hoofs in pieces.'

Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye; his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The saying of the LORD, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him:

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of staggering unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it fall to be in the siege against Jerusalem.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.

In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with bewilderment, and his rider with madness; and I will open Mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness.

And the chiefs of Judah shall say in their heart: 'The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength through the LORD of hosts their God.'

In that day will I make the chiefs of Judah like a pan of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire among sheaves; and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.

The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not magnified above Judah.

In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that stumbleth among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as a godlike being, as the angel of the LORD before them.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto Me because they have thrust him through; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.

In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

And the land shall mourn, every family apart: the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;

The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart;

All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for purification and for sprinkling.

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.

And it shall come to pass that, when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begot him shall say unto him: 'Thou shalt not live, for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD'; and his father and his mother that begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be brought to shame every one through his vision, when he prophesieth; neither shall they wear a hairy mantle to deceive;

but he shall say: 'I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondman from my youth.'

And one shall say unto him: 'What are these wounds between thy hands?' Then he shall answer: 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'

Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is near unto Me, saith the LORD of hosts; smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn My hand upon the little ones.

And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say: 'It is My people', and they shall say: 'The LORD is my God.'

Behold, a day of the LORD cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, but the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fighteth in the day of battle.

And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, so that there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel; yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the LORD my God shall come, and all the holy ones with Thee.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall not be light, but heavy clouds and thick;

And there shall be one day which shall be known as the LORD'S, not day, and not night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening time there shall be light.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter shall it be.

And the LORD shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall the LORD be One, and His name one.

All the land shall be turned as the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel unto the king's winepresses.

And men shall dwell therein, and there shall be no more extermination; but Jerusalem shall dwell safely.

And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

And Judah also shall fight against Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.

And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in those camps, as this plague.

And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

And it shall be, that whoso of the families of the earth goeth not up unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain.

And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, they shall have no overflow; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the nations that go not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that go not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses: HOLY UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD'S house shall be like the basins before the altar.

Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy unto the LORD of hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein; and in that day there shall be no more a trafficker in the house of the LORD of hosts.

THE BURDEN of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.

I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say: 'Wherein hast Thou loved us?' Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD; yet I loved Jacob;

But Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.

Whereas Edom saith: 'We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places'; thus saith the LORD of hosts: They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall be called The border of wickedness, and The people whom the LORD execrateth for ever.

And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say: 'The LORD is great beyond the border of Israel.'

A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master; if then I be a father, where is My honour? and if I be a master, where is My fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise My name. And ye say: 'Wherein have we despised Thy name?'

Ye offer polluted bread upon Mine altar. And ye say: 'Wherein have we polluted thee?' In that ye say: 'The table of the LORD is contemptible.'

And when ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it no evil! And when ye offer the lame and sick, is it no evil! Present it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee? or will he accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.

And now, I pray you, entreat the favour of God that He may be gracious unto us! — This hath been of your doing. — Will He accept any of your persons? saith the LORD of hosts.

Oh that there were even one among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle fire on Mine altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.