Habakkuk 2

1 I will stand firm during my watch, and fix my position over the fortification. And I will observe carefully, to see what might be said to me and what I might respond to my opponent.

2 And the Lord responded to me and said: Write the vision and explain it on tablets, so that he who reads it may run through it.

3 For as yet the vision is far off, and it will appear in the end, and it will not lie. If it expresses any delay, wait for it. For it is arriving and it will arrive, and it will not be hindered.

4 Behold, he who is unbelieving, his soul will not be right within himself; but he who is just shall live in his faith.

5 And in the manner that wine deceives the heavy drinker, so will the arrogant man be deceived, and he will not be honored. He has enlarged his life like hellfire, and himself like death, and he is never fulfilled. And he will gather to himself all nations, and he will amass for himself all peoples.

6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and an enigmatic utterance about him? And it will be said, “Woe to him who increases what is not his own.” How long, then, will he lay down dense clay against himself?

7 Shall they not suddenly rise up, who would bite you, and be stirred up, who would tear you, so that you will be a prey for them?

8 Because you have despoiled many peoples, all those who are left of the people shall despoil you, because of the blood of men, and the iniquity of the earth, of the city and all who dwell therein.

9 Woe to him who gathers together an evil greed for his house, so that his nest may be exalted, and thinking that he might free himself from the hand of evil.

10 You have devised confusion for your house, you have cut to pieces many peoples, and your soul has sinned.

11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the wood that is between the joints of the building will respond.

12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood and prepares a city by iniquity.

13 Are not these things before the Lord of hosts? For the people will labor amid a great fire, and the nations will labor in emptiness, and they will fail.

14 For the earth shall be filled, that they might know the glory of the Lord, like the waters spreading over the sea.

15 Woe to anyone who gives a drink to a friend, releasing a drug and inebriating, so as to look upon their nakedness.

16 You are filled with disgrace in place of glory. So then, drink and fall fast asleep, for the cup of the right hand of the Lord will surround you, and a disgraceful vomit will cover your glory.

17 For the iniquity of Lebanon will cover you, and the devastation of animals which will deter them from the blood of men, and the iniquity of the earth and the city, and of all who dwell therein.

18 Of what benefit is the graven image? For its maker has formed it, a molten and imaginary deception. For its maker has hoped in a figment of his own creation, so as to make a dumb likeness.

19 Woe to him who says to wood, “Awaken,” to the silent stone, “Arise.” Is it able to teach? Behold, it has been entirely covered with gold and silver; and there is no spirit at all in its inner workings.

20 But the Lord is in his holy temple. May all the earth be silent before his face.

Habakkuk 3

1 A Prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet on Behalf of Those Who Are Ignorant.

2 Lord, I heard what has been said about you, and I was afraid. Lord, your work, in the midst of years, revive it. In the midst of years, you will make it known. When you have become angry, you will remember mercy.

3 God will come from the south, and the Holy One from mount Pharan. His glory has covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.

4 His brightness shall be like the light; horns are in his hands. There, his strength has been hidden.

5 Death will go forth before his face. And the devil shall depart before his feet.

6 He stood, and measured the earth. He looked, and dissolved the Gentiles. And the mountains of ages past have been shattered. The hills of the world became curved by the journeys of his eternity.

7 I saw the tents of Ethiopia for their iniquity; the tent-skins of the land of Midian will be thrown into confusion.

8 Could you have been angry with the rivers, Lord? Or was your fury within the rivers, or your indignation in the sea? He will ascend upon your horses, and your four-horse chariots are salvation.

9 Being stirred up, you will take up your bow, the oaths you have spoken to the tribes. You will split apart the Rivers of the earth.

10 They saw you, and the mountains grieved. The great body of waters crossed over. The abyss uttered its voice. The pinnacle lifted up its hands.

11 The sun and the moon have stood firm in their dwelling place; with the light of your arrows, they shall go forth in the splendor of your flashing spear.

12 With a roar, you will trample the earth. In your fury, you will cause the nations to be stupefied.

13 You have gone forth for the salvation of your people, for salvation with your Christ. You struck the head of the house of the impious. You have laid bare his foundation all the way to the neck.

14 You have cursed his scepters, the head of his warriors, those who approached like a whirlwind so as to scatter me. Their exultation was like one who devours the poor in secret.

15 You made a way in the sea for your horses, in the mud of great waters.

16 I heard, and my stomach became troubled. My lips trembled at the voice. Let decay enter into my bones and gush forth from within me. Then I may rest in the day of tribulation, so that I may ascend to our people well-prepared.

17 For the fig tree will not flower, and there will be no bud on the vines. The labor of the olive tree will be misleading, and the farmland will produce no food. The sheep will be cut off from the sheepfold, and there will be no herd at the manger.

18 But I will rejoice in the Lord; and I will exult in God my Jesus.

19 The Lord God is my strength. And he will set my feet like those of the stag. And he, the victor, will lead me beyond my high places while singing psalms.

Nahum 1

1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2 God is a rival, and the Lord is avenging. The Lord is avenging, and one who applies wrath. The Lord is avenging with his enemies, and he becomes angry with his adversaries.

3 The Lord is patient and great in strength, and those who are not clean, he makes innocent. The Lord is in a tempest, and his way is a whirlwind, and the clouds are dust at his feet.

4 He is the one who rebukes the sea, and who dries it up, and who leads all the rivers to the desert. Basan has been weakened, and also Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon has languished.

5 The mountains have trembled before him, and the hills have become desolate, and the earth has quaked before his face, both the world and all that dwells in it.

6 Who can stand firm before the face of his indignation? And who can continue against the fury of his wrath? His indignation has broken out like a fire, and the rocks have been dissolved before him.

7 The Lord is good, and a comforter in the day of tribulation, and he knows those who hope in him.

8 And in the flood that passes over, he brings to consummation the end of his place. And darkness shall pursue his adversaries.

9 What are you thinking up against the Lord? He will accomplish the consummation. There shall not rise up a double tribulation.

10 For just as thorns entwine one another, so also, while they are feasting and drinking together, they will be consumed like stubble that is completely dry.

11 Out of you will go forth one who thinks up evil against the Lord, dragging betrayals through his mind.

12 Thus says the Lord: If they had been perfect, and many of them so, yet still they would be pruned, and it will cross through them. I have afflicted you, and I shall afflict you no more.

13 And now I will shatter his rod from your back, and I will break open your bonds.

14 And the Lord will place a commandment over you; nothing more from your name will be sown. From the house of your God, I will order destroyed the graven image and the molten image. I will prepare your grave, because you are not honorable.

15 Behold, over the mountains, the feet of the Evangelizer and the Announcer of peace. Judah, celebrate your festivals and keep your vows. For Belial will never again pass through you; he has completely passed away.

Nahum 2

1 He ascends, who would scatter before your eyes, who would maintain the blockade. Contemplate the way, fortify your back, reinforce virtue greatly.

2 For the Lord has repaid the arrogance of Jacob, just like the arrogance of Israel. For the despoilers have scattered them, and they have corrupted their procreation.

3 The shield of his strong ones is fire, the men of war are in scarlet. The reins of the chariot are fiery in the day of his preparation, and the drivers have been drugged.

4 They have become confused on their journey. The four-horse chariots have collided in the streets. Their appearance is like torches, like lightning dashing around.

5 He will call to mind his strong ones; they will destroy along their journey. They will quickly ascend its walls, and a shelter will be prepared.

6 The gates of the rivers have been opened, and the temple has been pulled down to the ground.

7 And the foot soldier has been led away captive, and her handmaids were driven away, mourning like doves, murmuring in their hearts.

8 And Nineveh, her waters are like a fish pond. Yet truly, they have fled away: “Stand, stand!” But there is no one who will turn back.

9 Despoil the silver, despoil the gold. And there is no end to all the riches of desirable equipment.

10 She has been scattered, and cut, and torn apart. And the heart melts, and the knees buckle, and weakness is in every temperament. And the faces of them all are like a black kettle.

11 Where is the dwelling place of the lions, and the feeding ground of the young lions, to which the lion went, so as to open a way for the young lion, and so that there would be none to make them afraid?

12 The lion seized enough for his young, and killed enough for his lionesses, and he filled his caves with prey, and his den with spoils.

13 Behold, I will come to you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots even to smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. And I will exterminate your prey from the land, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.

Nahum 3

1 Woe to the city of blood, filled with all manner of lies and violence. Crime shall not depart from you:

2 the voice of the whip, and the voice of the turning wheels, and of the neighing horse, and the burning chariot, and the horsemen who ride,

3 and of the flashing sword and the shining spear, and of a multitude executed and a grievous ruination. Neither is there an end to the dead bodies, and they will fall down upon their dead bodies.

4 Because of the multitude of fornications of the kept woman, beautiful and pleasing and practicing evil deeds, who sold nations by her fornications, and families by her evil doing:

5 behold, I will come to you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will reveal your shame to your face, and I will show your nakedness to the Gentiles, and your disgrace to kingdoms.

6 And I will cast abominations over you, and I will afflict you with abuse, and I will make an example of you.

7 And this shall be: everyone who sees you, will recoil from you, and he will say: “Nineveh has been devastated.” Who will shake his head over you? Where might I seek consolation for you?

8 Are you better than the populous Alexandria, which dwells along the rivers? Waters encircle it: the sea, with its riches. The waters are its walls.

9 Ethiopia and Egypt were its strength, and there is no limit. Africa and Northern Africa have been your helpers.

10 Nevertheless, she has been led away with the transmigration into captivity. Her little ones have been dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they have cast lots over her celebrities, and all her elite have been fastened together in shackles.

11 Therefore, you also will become inebriated, and you will be despised, and you will seek help from the opposition.

12 All your fortresses will be like fig trees with their green figs. If they are shaken violently, they will fall into the mouth of the one who devours.

13 Behold, women are at the center of your people. The gates of your land will be opened wide for your enemies; fire will devour your bars.

14 Draw in water because of the blockade; build up your fortresses. Go into the clay and tread; work it to make brick.

15 There, fire will devour you. You will perish by the sword; it will devour you like the beetle. Gather together like the beetle. Multiply like the locust.

16 You have made more negotiations than there are stars in the sky. The beetle has spread out and flown away.

17 Your guardians are like locusts, and your little ones are like locusts among locusts, which alight on hedges on a cold day. The sun rose up, and they flew away, and there was no way to know the place where they had been.

18 Your shepherds have become drowsy, king Assur. Your princes will be buried. Your people have remained hidden in the mountains, and there is no one to gather them.

19 Your destruction is not hidden; your wound is grievous. All who have heard of your fame have clenched their hands over you, because over whom has your wickedness not trampled continually?

Micah 1

1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Moreshethite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw about Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 All peoples, listen. And may the earth and its fullness pay attention. And may the Lord God be a witness to you, the Lord from his holy temple.

3 For behold, the Lord will go forth from his place. And he will descend, and he will trample over the high places of the earth.

4 And the mountains will be consumed under him, and the valleys will be torn apart, like wax before the face of fire, and like waters that rush swiftly downward.

5 All this is for the wickedness of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the wickedness of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the loftiness of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

6 And I will place Samaria like a pile of stones in the field, when a vineyard is planted. And I will pull down its stones into the valley, and I will reveal her foundations.

7 And all her graven images will be cut to pieces, and all her rewards will be burned with fire, and I will place all her idols in perdition. For they have been gathered together from the pay of a kept woman, and even to the pay of a kept woman, they will return.

8 I will lament and wail about this. I will go out despoiled and naked. I will make a howl like the dragons, and a mourning like the ostriches.

9 For her wound has been in despair. For it has come even to Judah. It has touched the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

10 Do not be willing to announce it in Gath; may you not lament with tears. In the house of Dust, besprinkle yourselves with dust.

11 And cross over to your dwelling place, Beauty, bewildered by disgrace. She did not depart, who dwells at the place of departure. The House nearby, which remained firm by herself, will receive mourning from you.

12 For she has been weakened in goodness, who dwells in bitterness. For disaster has descended from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem.

13 A tumult of four-horse chariots has stupefied the inhabitants of Lachish. The beginning has been sin for the daughter of Zion, because in you have been found the evil deeds of Israel.

14 Because of this, she will send emissaries to the inheritance of Gath: the house of Lying in order to deceive the kings of Israel.

15 Nevertheless, I will lead an heir to you, who dwell in Mareshah: the glory of Israel will reach all the way to Adullam.

16 Become bald and shaved for your delicate sons. Increase your baldness like the eagle. For they have been carried into captivity from you.

Micah 2

1 Woe to you who devise useless things and who work evil in your beds. In the morning light, they undertake it, because their hand is against God.

2 And they have desired fields and have taken them by violence, and they have stolen houses. And they have made false accusations against a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.

3 For this reason, thus says the Lord: Behold, I devise an evil against this family, from which you will not steal away your necks. And you will not walk in arrogance, because this is a most wicked time.

4 In that day, a parable will be taken up about you, and a song will be sung with sweetness, saying: “We have been devastated by depopulation.” The fate of my people has been altered. How can he withdraw from me, when he might be turned back, he who might tear apart our country?

5 Because of this, there will be for you no casting of the cord of fate in the assembly of the Lord.

6 Do not speak by saying, “It will not drop on these ones; shame will not embrace them.”

7 The house of Jacob says, “Has the Spirit of the Lord been weakened, or are such things his thoughts?” Are not my words good for him who walks uprightly?

8 But, to the contrary, my people have risen up in opposition. You have lifted the cover from the undergarment, and those who passed by harmlessly, you have converted into war.

9 You have evicted the women among my people from their delicate houses. You have taken my praise forever from their little ones.

10 Rise and depart, for there is no relief for you here. Because of its uncleanness, it will be corrupted with a most wicked decay.

11 I wish that I were not a man who has breath, and that I rather spoke a lie. I will drop it down to you in wine and in drunkenness. And it will be this people on whom it will rain down.

12 I will gather together in a congregation all of you, Jacob. I will lead together as one, the remnant of Israel. I will set them together like a flock in the fold, like a sheep in the midst of the sheep pen. They will cause a tumult before the multitude of men.

13 For he will ascend, opening the way before them. They will separate, and they will cross the gate and enter through it. And their king will pass by, before their very eyes, and the Lord will be at their head.

Micah 3

1 And I said: Listen, leaders of Jacob and chiefs of the house of Israel. Does it not belong to you to know judgment,

2 you who hold hatred for good, and love evil, who violently steal their skins from over them and their flesh from over their bones?

3 They have devoured the flesh of my people, and have stripped their skin from over them, and they have shattered and chopped their bones, as if for the kettle, and like flesh in the middle of the pot.

4 Then they will cry out to the Lord, and he will not heed them. And he will hide his face from them in that time, just as they have acted wickedly with their inventions.

5 Thus says the Lord about the prophets who seduce my people: They bite with their teeth and preach peace, and if anyone does not give something to their mouth, they sanctify a battle against him.

6 Because of this, night will be yours for vision, and darkness yours for divination, and the sun will meet with death over the prophets, and the day will be darkened over them.

7 And those who see visions will be confounded, and the diviners will be confounded. And they will all cover their faces, because there is no response from God.

8 Nevertheless, truly I have been filled with the strength of the Spirit of the Lord, with judgment and virtue, in order to announce to Jacob his wickedness and to Israel his sin.

9 Hear this, leaders of the house of Jacob and judges of the house of Israel, you who abominate judgment and who pervert all that is right.

10 You build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11 Her leaders have judged for tributes, and her priests have taught for payment, and her prophets divined for money. And they leaned upon the Lord, saying: “Is not the Lord in our midst? No disaster will overcome us.”

12 For this reason, because of you, Zion will be plowed under like a field, and Jerusalem will become like a pile of stones, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of the forests.

Micah 4

1 And this shall be: In the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be prepared at the top of the mountains and high above the hills. And the people will flow to it.

2 And many nations will hurry, and will say: “Come, let us ascend to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will teach us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

3 And he will judge among the many peoples, and he will correct strong nations, even from afar. And they will cut up their swords into plows, and their spears into hoes. Nation will not take up the sword against nation, and they will no longer learn to wage war.

4 And a man will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one to fear, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

5 For all people will walk, each one in the name of his god. But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God, forever and ever.

6 In that day, says the Lord, I will gather together the lame. And I will recover her whom I had rejected, and her whom I had afflicted.

7 And I will place the lame within the remnant, and she who had been in distress, within a healthy people. And the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion, from the present time and even unto eternity.

8 And you, cloudy tower of the flock of the daughter of Zion, even to you it will come. And the first power will arrive, the kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem.

9 Now, why have you come together in grief? Is there not a king in you, or has your counselor gone away? For sorrow has overtaken you, like the pain of giving birth.

10 Be grieved and overwhelmed, daughter of Zion, like a woman giving birth. For now you must depart from the city and dwell in the countryside, and you will approach even to Babylon. There you will be delivered. There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your adversaries.

11 And now many peoples have been gathered together against you, and they say, “Let her be stoned and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”

12 But they have not known the thoughts of the Lord, and they have not understood his counsel. For he has gathered them together like hay on a threshing floor.

13 Rise and thresh, daughter of Zion. For I will set your horn like iron, and I will set your hoofs like brass. And you will shatter many peoples, and you will immolate their spoils for the Lord, and their strength for the Lord of the whole earth.

Micah 5

1 Now you will be devastated, you daughter of a robber. They have placed a blockade against us, with a rod they will strike the jaw of the judge of Israel.

2 And you, Bethlehem Ephrata, are a little one among the thousands of Judah. From you will go forth he who shall be the ruler in Israel, and his landing place has been set from the beginning, from the days of eternity.

3 Because of this, he will provide for them, even until the time in which she who bears him gives birth. And the remnant of his brothers will be converted to the sons of Israel.

4 And he will stand firm and feed on the strength of the Lord, according to the sublime name of the Lord his God. And they will be converted, for now he will be magnified, even to the ends of the earth.

5 And this man will be our peace, when the Assyrian will come into our land, and when he will trample on our houses; and we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight principal men.

6 And they will graze on the land of Assur with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with its spears; and he will free us from Assur, when he will come into our land, and when he will trample our borders.

7 And there will be a remnant of Jacob in the midst of many peoples, like a dew from the Lord and like drops upon the grass, which awaits no man and does not stand before the sons of men.

8 And there will be a remnant of Jacob within the Gentiles, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forests, and like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, when he will pass through and trample down and seize, there is none who can rescue.

9 Your hand will be exalted over your enemies, and all your adversaries will pass away.

10 And it will be in that day, says the Lord: I will take away your horses from your midst, and I will utterly ruin your four-horse chariots.

11 And I will destroy the cities of your land, and I will pull down all your fortifications, and I will take away evil-doing from your hand, and there will be no divinations among you.

12 And I will cause your graven images to perish, and your statues, from your midst. And you will no longer adore the works of your hands.

13 And I will root out your sacred groves from your midst, and I will crush your cities.

14 And I will exact vengeance, in fury and in indignation, among all the nations which have not listened.