Bible Reading Plan

¹ Look, the Lord is stripping the earth bare
and making it desolate.
He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:
² people and priest alike,
servant and master,
female servant and mistress,
buyer and seller,
lender and borrower,
creditor and debtor.
³ The earth will be stripped completely bare
and will be totally plundered,
for the Lord has spoken this message.^(a)

⁴ The earth mourns and withers;
the world wastes away and withers;
the exalted people of the earth waste away.
⁵ The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,^(b)
for they have transgressed teachings,
overstepped decrees,
and broken the everlasting covenant.^(c)
6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,^(d)
and its inhabitants have become guilty;
the earth's inhabitants have been burned,
and only a few survive.
⁷ The new wine mourns;^(e)
the vine withers.
All the carousers now groan.
⁸ The joyful tambourines^(f) have ceased.
The noise of the jubilant has stopped.
The joyful lyre has ceased.
⁹ They no longer sing and drink wine;
beer is bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰ The city of chaos is shattered;^(g)
every house is closed to entry.^(h)
11 In the streets they cry^[a] for wine.
All joy grows dark;
earth's rejoicing goes into exile.
¹² Only desolation remains in the city;
its gate has collapsed in ruins.
¹³ For this is how it will be on earth
among the nations:
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.⁽ⁱ⁾

¹⁴ They raise their voices, they sing out;
they proclaim in the west
the majesty of the Lord .
¹⁵ Therefore, in the east honor the Lord !
In the islands of the west
honor the name of Yahweh,
the God of Israel.
¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we hear songs:
The Splendor of the Righteous One.^(j)

But I said, "I waste away! I waste away!^[b]
Woe is me."
The treacherous act treacherously;
the treacherous deal very treacherously.^(k)

¹⁷ Panic, pit, and trap await you^(l)
who dwell on the earth.^(m)
18 Whoever flees at the sound of panic
will fall into a pit,
and whoever escapes from the pit
will be caught in a trap.
For the windows are opened from heaven,⁽ⁿ⁾
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.^(o)
19 The earth is completely devastated;
the earth is split open;
the earth is violently shaken.
²⁰ The earth staggers like a drunkard^(p)
and sways like a hut.
Earth's rebellion weighs it down,
and it falls, never to rise again.

²¹ On that day^(q) the Lord will punish
the host of heaven above
and kings of the earth below.
²² They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a pit.^(r)
They will be confined to a dungeon;^(s)
after many days they will be punished.
²³ The moon will be put to shame
and the sun disgraced,
because the Lord of Hosts will reign as king
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
and He will display His glory
in the presence of His elders.^(t)

¹ Yahweh, You are my God;^(a)
I will exalt You. I will praise Your name,
for You have accomplished wonders,
plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
² For You have turned the city into a pile of rocks,^(b)
a fortified city, into ruins;
the fortress of barbarians^(c) is no longer a city;
it will never be rebuilt.
³ Therefore, a strong people will honor You.
The cities of violent nations will fear You.
⁴ For You have been a stronghold for the poor,
a stronghold for the needy^(d) person in his distress,
a refuge from the rain, a shade from the heat.^(e)
When the breath of the violent
is like rain against a wall,
⁵ like heat in a dry land,
You subdue the uproar of barbarians.
As^[a] the shade of a cloud cools the heat of the day,
so He silences the song of the violent.

⁶ The Lord of Hosts will prepare a feast^(f)
for all the peoples on this mountain^[b](g)—
a feast of aged wine, choice meat,^[c] finely aged wine.
⁷ On this mountain
He will destroy the burial shroud,
the shroud over all the peoples,
the sheet covering all the nations;^(h)
8 He will destroy death forever.⁽ⁱ⁾
The Lord God will wipe away the tears
from every face^(j)
and remove His people's disgrace^(k)
from the whole earth,
for the Lord has spoken.

⁹ On that day it will be said,
"Look, this is our God;
we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.
This is the Lord ; we have waited for Him.
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."^(l)
10 For the Lord 's power will rest on this mountain.

But Moab^(m) will be trampled in his place^[d]
as straw is trampled in a dung pile.
¹¹ He will spread out his arms in the middle of it,
as a swimmer spreads out his arms to swim.
His pride will be brought low,
along with the trickery of his hands.^(n)
12 The high-walled fortress will be brought down,
thrown to the ground, to the dust.^(o)

We have a strong city.
Salvation is established as walls and ramparts.^(a)
2 Open the gates
so a righteous nation can come in—
one that remains faithful.
³ You will keep the mind that is dependent on You
in perfect peace,^(b)
for it is trusting in You.
⁴ Trust in the Lord forever,
because in Yah, the Lord , is an everlasting rock!^(c)
5 For He has humbled those who live in lofty places—
an inaccessible city.^(d)
He brings it down; He brings it down to the ground;
He throws it to the dust.
⁶ Feet trample it,
the feet of the humble,
the steps of the poor.

⁷ The path of the righteous is level;^(e)
You clear a straight path for the righteous.
⁸ Yes, Yahweh, we wait for You
in the path of Your judgments.
Our desire is for Your name and renown.^(f)
9 I long for You in the night;^(g)
yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks You,
for when Your judgments are in the land,
the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
¹⁰ But if the wicked man is shown favor,
he does not learn righteousness.
In a righteous land he acts unjustly
and does not see the majesty of the Lord .

¹¹  Lord , Your hand is lifted up to take action,
but they do not see it.
They will see Your zeal for Your people,
and they will be put to shame.
The fire for Your adversaries will consume them!
¹²  Lord , You will establish peace for us,
for You have also done all our work for us.
¹³ Yahweh our God, lords other than You have ruled over us,
but we remember Your name alone.^(h)

¹⁴ The dead do not live;
departed spirits do not rise up.
Indeed, You have visited and destroyed them;
You have wiped out all memory of them.^(i)
15 You have added to the nation, Lord .^(j)
You have added to the nation; You are honored.
You have expanded all the borders of the land.^(k)
16  Lord , they went to You in their distress;^(l)
they poured out whispered prayers
because Your discipline fell on them.^[a]
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth
writhes and cries out in her pains,^(m)
so we were before You, Lord .
¹⁸ We became pregnant, we writhed in pain;
we gave birth to wind.
We have won no victories on earth,
and the earth's inhabitants have not fallen.

¹⁹ Your dead will live; their bodies^[b] will rise.⁽ⁿ⁾
Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust!
For you will be covered with the morning dew,^[c]
and the earth will bring out the departed spirits.

²⁰ Go, my people, enter your rooms
and close your doors behind you.
Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed.^(o)
21 For look, the Lord is coming from His place^(p)
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.^(q)
The earth will reveal the blood shed on it
and will no longer conceal her slain.

² On that day
sing about a desirable vineyard:^(c)
3 I, Yahweh, watch over it;
I water it regularly.
I guard it night and day
so that no one disturbs it.
⁴ I am not angry,
but if it produces thorns and briers^(d) for Me,
I will fight against it, trample it,
and burn it to the ground.
⁵ Or let it take hold of My strength;
let it make peace with Me—
make peace with Me.
⁶ In days to come, Jacob will take root.^(e)
Israel will blossom and bloom^(f)
and fill the whole world with fruit.

⁷ Did the Lord strike Israel
as He struck the one who struck Israel?^(g)
Was he killed like those killed by Him?
⁸ You disputed with her
by banishing and driving her away.^[a]
He removed her with His severe storm
on the day of the east wind.
⁹ Therefore Jacob's iniquity^(h) will be purged in this way,
and the result of the removal of his sin will be this:⁽ⁱ⁾
when he makes all the altar stones
like crushed bits of chalk,
no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
¹⁰ For the fortified city will be deserted,
pastures abandoned and forsaken like a wilderness.
Calves will graze there,
and there they will spread out and strip its branches.
¹¹ When its branches dry out, they will be broken off.
Women will come and make fires with them,
for they are not a people with understanding.^(j)
Therefore their Maker^(k) will not have compassion on them,
and their Creator will not be gracious to them.

¹² On that day^(l)
the Lord will thresh grain from the Euphrates River
as far as the Wadi of Egypt,^(m)
and you Israelites will be gathered one by one.
¹³ On that day
a great trumpet⁽ⁿ⁾ will be blown,
and those lost in the land of Assyria will come,
as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt;
and they will worship the Lord
at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.

¹ Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim's drunkards,^(a)
and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor,
which is on the summit above the rich valley.
Woe to those overcome with wine.
² Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty one^(b)—
like a devastating hail storm,
like a storm with strong flooding waters.
He will bring it across the land with His hand.
³ The majestic crown of Ephraim's drunkards
will be trampled underfoot.
⁴ The fading flower of his beautiful splendor,
which is on the summit above the rich valley,
will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest.^(c)
Whoever sees it will swallow it
while it is still in his hand.
⁵ On that day
the Lord of Hosts will become a crown of beauty
and a diadem of splendor^(d)
to the remnant of His people,
⁶ a spirit of justice
to the one who sits in judgment,^(e)
and strength
to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

⁷ These also stagger because of wine
and stumble under the influence of beer:
priest and prophet stagger because of beer,
they are confused by wine.^(f)
They stumble because of beer,
they are muddled in their visions,
they stumble in their judgments.
⁸ Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit;
there is no place without a stench.
⁹ Who is he^[a] trying to teach?
Who is he^[b] trying to instruct?
Infants^[c] just weaned from milk?
Babies^[d] removed from the breast?
¹⁰ For he says: "Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there."^[e][f]
11 So He will speak to this people
with stammering speech
and in a foreign language.^(g)
12 He had said to them:
"This is the place of rest,
let the weary rest;^(h)
this is the place of repose."
But they would not listen.

¹³ Then the word of the Lord came to them:
"Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there,"^[g][h]
so they go stumbling backward,
to be broken, trapped, and captured.⁽ⁱ⁾

¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the Lord ,^(j) you mockers^(k)
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
¹⁵ For you said, "We have cut a deal with Death,
and we have made an agreement with Sheol;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,^(l)
it will not touch us,
because we have made falsehood our refuge
and have hidden behind treachery."
¹⁶ Therefore the Lord God said:
"Look, I have laid a stone^(m) in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;⁽ⁿ⁾
the one who believes will be unshakable.^[i](o)
17 And I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the mason's level."^(p)
Hail will sweep away the false refuge,
and water will flood your hiding place.
¹⁸ Your deal with Death will be dissolved,
and your agreement with Sheol will not last.
When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
you will be trampled.
¹⁹ Every time it passes through,
it will carry you away;
it will pass through every morning—
every day and every night.
Only terror^(q) will cause you
to understand the message.^[j]
20 Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on,
and its cover too small to wrap up in.
²¹ For the Lord will rise up as He did at Mount Perazim.^(r)
He will rise in wrath, as at the Valley of Gibeon,^(s)
to do His work, His strange work,
and to perform His task, His disturbing task.
²² So now, do not mock,
or your shackles will become stronger.
Indeed, I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts
a decree of destruction for the whole land.^(t)

²³ Listen and hear my voice.
Pay attention and hear what I say.
²⁴ Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?
Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?
²⁵ When he has leveled its surface,
does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin?
He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots,
with spelt as their border.
²⁶ His God teaches him order;
He instructs him.
²⁷ Certainly black cumin is not threshed
with a threshing board,
and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin.
But black cumin is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
²⁸ Bread grain is crushed,
but is not threshed endlessly.
Though the wheel of the farmer's cart rumbles,
his horses do not crush it.
²⁹ This also comes from the Lord of Hosts.
He gives wonderful advice;
He gives great wisdom.^(u)