by Septuagint
[5] Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord God Almighty, and I will uncover thy skirts in thy presence, and I will shew the nations thy shame, and the kingdoms thy disgrace. [6] And I will cast abominable filth upon thee according to thine unclean ways, and will make thee a public example. [7] And it shall be that every one that sees thee shall go down from thee, and shall say, Wretched Nineve! who shall lament for her? whence shall I seek comfort for her?
[8] Prepare thee a portion, tune the chord, prepare a portion for Ammon: she that dwells among the rivers, water is round about her, whose dominion is the sea, and whose walls are water. [9] And Ethiopia is her strength, and Egypt; and there was no limit of the flight of her enemies; and the Libyans became her helpers. [10] Yet she shall go as a prisoner into captivity, and they shall dash her infants against the ground at the top of all her ways: and they shall cast lots upon all her glorious possessions, and all her nobles shall be bound in chains. [11] And thou shalt be drunken, and shalt be overlooked; and thou shalt seek for thyself strength because of thine enemies. [12] All thy strong-holds are as fig-trees having watchers: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater. [13] Behold, thy people within thee are as women: the gates of thy land shall surely be opened to thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.
[14] Draw thee water for a siege, and well secure thy strong-holds: enter into the clay, and be thou trodden in the chaff, make the fortifications stronger than brick. [15] There the fire shall devour thee; the sword shall utterly destroy thee, it shall devour thee as the locust, and thou shalt be pressed down as a palmerworm. [16] Thou hast multiplied thy merchandise beyond the stars of heaven: the palmerworm has attacked it, and has flown away. [17] Thy mixed multitude has suddenly departed as the grasshopper, as the locust perched on a hedge in a frosty day; the sun arises, and it flies off, and knows not its place: woe to them!
[18] Thy shepherds have slumbered, the Assyrian king has laid low thy mighty men: thy people departed to the mountains, and there was none to receive them.
[19] There is no healing for thy bruise; thy wound has rankled: all that hear the report of thee shall clap their hands against thee; for upon whom has not thy wickedness passed continually?
Habakkuk
Chapter 1
[1] The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw.
[2] How long, O Lord, shall I cry out, and thou wilt not hearken? how long shall I cry out to thee being injured, and thou wilt not save? [3] Wherefore hast thou shown me troubles and griefs to look upon, misery and ungodliness? judgment is before me, and the judge receives a reward. [4] Therefore the law is frustrated, and judgment proceeds not effectually, for the ungodly man prevails over the just; therefore perverse judgment will proceed.
[5] Behold, ye despisers, and look, and wonder marvelously, and vanish: for I work a work in your days, which ye will in no wise believe, though a man declare it to you. [6] Wherefore, behold, I stir up the Chaldeans, the bitter and hasty nation, that walks upon the breadth of the earth, to inherit tabernacles not his own. [7] He is terrible and famous; his judgment shall proceed of himself, and his dignity shall come out of himself. [8] And his horses shall bound more swiftly than leopards, and they are fiercer than the wolves of Arabia: and his horsemen shall ride forth, and shall rush from far; and they shall fly as an eagle hasting to eat. [9] Destruction shall come upon ungodly men, resisting with their adverse front, and he shall gather the captivity as the sand. [10] And he shall be at his ease with kings, and princes are his toys, and he shall mock at every strong-hold, and shall cast a mound, and take possession of it. [11] Then shall he change his spirit, and he shall pass through, and make an atonement, saying, This strength belongs to my god.
[12] Art not thou from the beginning, O Lord God, my Holy One? and surely we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast established it for judgment, and he has formed me to chasten with his correction. [13] His eye is too pure to behold evil doings, and to look upon grievous afflictions: wherefore dost thou look upon despisers? wilt thou be silent when the ungodly swallows up the just? [14] And wilt thou make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the reptiles which have no guide? [15] He has brought up destruction with a hook, and drawn one with a casting net, and caught another in his drags: therefore shall his heart rejoice and be glad. [16] Therefore will he sacrifice to his drag, and burn incense to his casting-net, because by them he has made his portion fat, and his meats choice. [17] Therefore will he cast his net, and will not spare to slay the nations continually.
Chapter 2
[1] I will stand upon my watch, and mount upon the rock, and watch to see what he will say by me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. [2] And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision, and that plainly on a tablet, that he that reads it may run. [3] For the vision is yet for a time, and it shall shoot forth at the end, and not in vain: though he should tarry, wait for him; for he will surely come, and will not tarry.
[4] If he should draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him: but the just shall live by my faith.5 But the arrogant man and the scorner, the boastful man, shall not finish anything; who has enlarged his desire as the grave, and like death he is never satisfied, and he will gather to himself all the nations, and will receive to himself all the peoples. [6] Shall not all these take up a parable against him? and a proverb to tell against him? and they shall say, Woe to him that multiplies to himself the possessions which are not his! how long? and who heavily loads his yoke. [7] For suddenly there shall arise up those that bite him, and they that plot against thee shall awake, and thou shalt be a plunder to them. [8] Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the nations that are left shall spoil thee, because of the blood of men, and the sins of the land and city, and of all that dwell in it.
[9] Woe to him that covets an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evils. [10] Thou hast devised shame to thy house, thou hast utterly destroyed many nations, and thy soul has sinned. [11] For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beetle out of the timber shall speak.
[12] Woe to him that builds a city with blood, and establishes a city by unrighteousness. [13] Are not these things of the Lord Almighty? surely many people have been exhausted in the fire, and many nations have fainted. [14] For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord; it shall cover them as water.
[15] Woe to him that gives his neighbour to drink the thick lees of wine, and intoxicates him, that he may look upon their secret parts. [16] Drink thou also thy fill of disgrace instead of glory: shake, O heart, and quake, the cup of the right hand of the Lord has come round upon thee, and dishonour has gathered upon thy glory. [17] For the ungodliness of Libanus shall cover thee, and distress because of wild beasts shall dismay thee, because of the blood of men, and the sins of the land and city, and of all that dwell in it.
[18] What profit it the graven image, that they have graven it? one has made it a molten work, a false image; for the maker has trusted in his work, to make dumb idols.
[19] Woe to him that says to the wood, Awake, arise; and to the stone, Be thou exalted! whereas it is an image, and this is a casting of gold and silver, and there is no breath in it. [20] But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth fear before him.
Chapter 3
[1] A PRAYER OF THE PROPHET AMBACUM, WITH A SONG.
[2] O Lord, I have heard thy report, and was afraid: I considered thy works, and was amazed: thou shalt be known between the two living creatures, thou shalt be acknowledged when the years draw nigh; thou shalt be manifested when the time is come; when my soul is troubled, thou wilt in wrath remember mercy.
[3] God shall come from Thaeman, and the Holy One from the dark shady mount Pharan. Pause. [4] His excellence covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness shall be as light; there were horns in his hands, and he caused a mighty love of his strength. [5] Before his face shall go a report, and it shall go forth
into the plains, [6] the earth stood at his feet and trembled: he beheld, and the nations melted away: the mountains were violently burst through, the everlasting hills melted at his everlasting going forth. [7] Because of troubles I looked upon the tents of the Ethiopians: the tabernacles also of the land of Madiam shall be dismayed.
[8] Wast thou angry, O Lord, with the rivers? or was thy wrath against the rivers, or thine anger against the sea? for thou wilt mount on thine horses, and thy chariots are salvation. [9] Surely thou didst bend they bow at scepters, saith the Lord. Pause. The land of rivers shall be torn asunder. [10] The nations shall see thee and be in pain, as thou dost divide the moving waters: the deep uttered her voice, and raised her form on high. [11] The sun was exalted, and the moon stood still in her course: thy darts shall go forth at the light, at the brightness of the gleaming of thine arms. [12] Thou wilt bring low the land with threatening, and in wrath thou wilt break down the nations. [13] Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, to save thine anointed: thou shalt bring death on the heads of transgressors; thou has brought bands upon their neck. Pause. [14] Thou didst cut asunder the heads of princes with amazement, they shall tremble in it; they shall burst their bridles, they shall be as a poor man devouring in secret. [15] And thou dost cause thine horses to enter the sea, disturbing much water.
[16] I watched, and my belly trembled at the sound of the prayer of my lips, and trembling entered into my bones, and my frame was troubled within me; I will rest in the day of affliction, from going up to the people of my sojourning.
[17] For though the fig-tree shall bear no fruit, and there shall be no produce on the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall produce no food: the sheep have failed from the pasture, and there are no oxen at the cribs; [18] yet I will exult in the Lord, I will joy in God my Saviour. [19] The Lord God is my strength, and he will perfectly strengthen my feet; he mounts me upon high places, that I may conquer by his song.
Zephaniah
Chapter 1
[1] The word of the Lord which came to Sophonias the son of Chusi, the son of Godolias, the son of Amorias, the son of Ezekias, in the days of Josias son of Amon, king of Juda.
[2] Let there be an utter cutting off from the face of the land, saith the Lord. [3] Let man and cattle be cut off; let the birds of the air and the fishes of the sea be cut off; and the ungodly shall fail, and I will take away the transgressors from the face of the land, saith the Lord. [4] And I will stretch out mine hand upon Juda, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will remove the names of Baal out of this place, and the names of the priests; [5] and them that worship the host of heaven upon the house-tops; and them that worship and swear by the Lord, and them that swear by their king; [6] and them that turn aside from the Lord, and them that seek not the Lord, and them that cleave not to the Lord.
[7] Fear ye before the Lord God; for the day of the Lord is near; for the Lord has prepared his sacrifice, and has sanctified his guests. [8] And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will take vengeance on the princes, and on the king’s house, and upon all that wear strange apparel. [9] And I will openly take vengeance on the porches in that day, on the men that fill the house of the Lord their God with ungodliness and deceit.
[10] And there shall be in that day, saith the Lord, the sound of a cry from the gate of men slaying, and a howling from the second gate, and a great crashing from the hills. [11] Lament, ye that inhabit the city that has been broken down, for all the people has become like Chanaan; and all that were exalted by silver have been utterly destroyed. [12] And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will search Jerusalem with a candle, and will take vengeance on the men that despise the things committed to them; but they say in their hearts, The Lord will not do any good, neither will he do any evil.
[13] And their power shall be for a spoil, and their houses for utter desolation; and they shall build houses, but shall not dwell in them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine of them.
[14] For the great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and very speedy; the sound of the day of the Lord is made bitter and harsh. [15] A mighty day of wrath is that day, a day of affliction and distress, a day of desolation and destruction, a day of gloominess and darkness, a day of cloud and vapour, [16] a day of the trumpet and cry against the strong cities, and against the high towers. [17] And I will greatly afflict the men, and they shall walk as blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; therefore he shall pour out their blood as dust, and their flesh as dung. [18] And their silver and their gold shall in nowise be able to rescue them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealously; for he will bring a speedy destruction on all them that inhabit the land.
Chapter 2
[1] Be ye gathered and closely joined together, O unchastened nation; [2] before ye become as the flower that passes away, before the anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the wrath of the Lord come upon you. [3] Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth; do judgment, and seek justice, and answer accordingly; that ye may be hid in the day of the wrath of the Lord.
[4] For Gaza shall be utterly spoiled, and Ascalon shall be destroyed; and Azotus shall be cast forth at noon-day, and Accaron shall be rooted up. [5] Woe to them that dwell on the border of the sea, neighbours of the Cretans! the word of the Lord is against you, O Chanaan, land of the Philistines, and I will destroy you out of your dwelling-place. [6] And Crete shall be a pasture of flocks, and a fold of sheep. [7] And the sea cost shall be for the remnant of the house of Juda; they shall pasture upon them in the houses of Ascalon; they shall rest in the evening because of the children of Juda; for the Lord their God has visited them, and he will turn away their captivity.
[8] I have heard the revilings of Moab, and the insults of the children of Ammon, wherewith they have reviled my people, and magnified themselves against my coasts. [9] Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab shall be as Sodoma, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrha; and Damascus shall be left as a heap of the threshing-floor, and desolate for ever: and the remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the remnant of my nations shall inherit them. [10] This is their punishment in return for their haughtiness, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the Lord Almighty. [11] The Lord shall appear against them, and shall utterly destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth; and they shall worship him every one from his place, even all the islands of the nations.
[12] Ye Ethiopians also are the slain of my sword.
[13] And he shall stretch forth his hand against the north and destroy the Assyrian, and make Nineve a dry wilderness, even as a desert. [14] And flocks, and all the wild beasts of the land, and chameleons shall feed in the midst thereof: and hedgehogs shall lodge in the ceilings thereof; and wild beasts shall cry in the breaches thereof, and ravens in her porches, whereas her loftiness was as as cedar.
Chapter 3
[1] This is the scornful city that dwells securely, that says in her heart, I am, and there is no longer any to be after me: how is she become desolate, a habitation of wild beasts! every one that passes through her shall hiss, and shake his hands.
Alas the glorious and ransomed city. [2] The dove hearkened not to the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord, and she drew not near to her God. [3] Her princes within her were as roaring lions, her judges as the wolves of Arabia; they remained not till the morrow. [4] Her prophets are light and scornful men: her priests profane the holy things, and sinfully transgress the law.
[5] But the just Lord is in the midst of her, and he will never do an unjust thing: morning by morning he will bring out his judgment to the light, and it is not hidden, and he knows not injustice by extortion, nor injustice in strife. [6] I have brought down the proud with destruction; their corners are destroyed: I will make their ways completely waste, so that none shall go through: the
ir cities are come to an end, by reason of no man living or dwelling in them. [7] I said, But do ye fear me, and receive instruction, and ye shall not be cut off from the face of the land for all the vengeance I have brought upon her: prepare thou, rise early: all their produce is spoilt.
[8] Therefore wait upon me, saith the Lord, until the day when I rise up for a witness: because my judgment shall be on the gatherings of the nations, to draw to me kings, to pour out upon them all my fierce anger: for the whole earth shall be consumed with the fire of my jealousy.
[9] For then will I turn to the peoples a tongue for her generation, that all may call on the name of the Lord, to serve him under one yoke. [10] From the boundaries of the rivers of Ethiopia will I receive my dispersed ones; they shall offer sacrifices to me. [11] In that day thou shalt not be ashamed of all thy practices, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then will I take away from thee thy disdainful pride, and thou shalt no more magnify thyself upon my holy mountain. [12] And I will leave in thee a meek and lowly people; [13] and the remnant of Israel shall fear the name of the Lord, and shall do no iniquity, neither shall they speak vanity; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed, and lie down, and there shall be none to terrify them.
[14] Rejoice, O daughter of Sion; cry aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem; rejoice and delight thyself with all thine heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. [15] The Lord has taken away thine iniquities, he has ransomed thee from the hand of thine enemies: the Lord, the King of Israel, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.
