A Call to Repentance

¹Gather yourselves, gather together,O shameful nation,

²before the decree takes effectand the day passes like chaff,before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you,before the Day of the LORD’s anger comes upon you.

³Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earthwho carry out His justice.Seek righteousness; seek humility.Perhaps you will be shelteredon the day of the LORD’s anger.

Judgment on the Philistines

⁴For Gaza will be abandoned,and Ashkelon left in ruins.Ashdod will be driven out at noon,and Ekron will be uprooted.

⁵Woe to the dwellers of the seacoast,O nation of the Cherethites!The word of the LORD is against you,O Canaan, land of the Philistines:“I will destroy you,and no one will be left.”

⁶So the seacoast will become a land of pastures,with wellsfor shepherds and folds for sheep.

⁷The coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah;there they will find pasture.They will lie down in the eveningamong the houses of Ashkelon,for the LORD their God will attend to themand restore their captives.

Judgment on Moab and Ammon

⁸“I have heard the reproach of Moaband the insults of the Ammonites,who have taunted My peopleand threatened their borders.

⁹Therefore, as surely as I live,”declares the LORD of Hosts,the God of Israel,“surely Moab will be like Sodomand the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits,a perpetual wasteland.The remnant of My people will plunder them;the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.”

¹⁰This they shall have in return for their pride,for taunting and mocking the peopleof the LORD of Hosts.

¹¹The LORD will be terrifying to themwhen He starves all the gods of the earth.Then the nations of every shorewill bow in worship to Him,each in its own place.

Judgment on Cush and Assyria

¹²“You too, O Cushites,will be slain by My sword.”

¹³And He will stretch out His hand against the northand destroy Assyria;He will make Nineveh a desolation,as dry as a desert.

¹⁴Herds will lie down in her midst,creatures of every kind.Both the desert owl and screech owlwill roost atop her pillars.Their calls will sound from the window,but desolation will lie on the threshold,for He will expose the beams of cedar.

¹⁵This carefree citythat dwells securely,that thinks to herself:“I am it, and there is none besides me,”what a ruin she has become,a resting place for beasts.Everyone who passes by herhisses and shakes his fist.

Out of Egypt I Called My Son

¹When Israel was a child, I loved him,and out of Egypt I called My son.

²But the more I called Israel,the farther they departed from Me.They sacrificed to the Baalsand burned incense to carved images.

³It was I who taught Ephraimto walk,taking them by the arms,but they never realizedthat it was I who healed them.

⁴I led them with cords of kindness,with ropes of love;I lifted the yoke from their necksand bent down to feed them.

⁵Will they not return to the land of Egyptand be ruled by Assyriabecause they refused to repent?

⁶A sword will flash through their cities;it will destroy the bars of their gatesand consume them in their own plans.

⁷My people are bent on turning from Me.Though they call to the Most High,He will by no means exalt them.

God’s Love for Israel

⁸How could I give you up, O Ephraim?How could I surrender you, O Israel?How could I make you like Admah?How could I treat you like Zeboiim?My heart is turned within Me;My compassion is stirred!

⁹I will not execute the full fury of My anger;I will not destroy Ephraim again.For I am God and not man—the Holy One among you—and I will not come in wrath.

¹⁰They will walk after the LORD;He will roar like a lion.When He roars,His children will come trembling from the west.

¹¹They will come trembling like birds from Egyptand like doves from the land of Assyria.Then I will settle them in their homes,declares the LORD.

¹²Ephraim surrounds Me with lies,the house of Israel with deceit;but Judah still walks with Godand is faithful to the Holy One.

Praise to the Victorious God

¹O LORD, You are my God!I will exalt You;I will praise Your name.For You have worked wonders—plans formed long ago—in perfect faithfulness.

²Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble,the fortified town a ruin.The fortress of strangers is a city no more;it will never be rebuilt.

³Therefore, a strong people will honor You.The cities of ruthless nations will revere You.

⁴For You have been a refuge for the poor,a stronghold for the needy in distress,a refuge from the storm,a shade from the heat.For the breath of the ruthlessis like rain against a wall,

⁵like heat in a dry land.You subdue the uproar of foreigners.As the shade of a cloud cools the heat,so the song of the ruthless is silenced.

⁶On this mountain the LORD of Hostswill prepare a lavish banquet for all the peoples,a feast of aged wine, of choice meat,of finely aged wine.

⁷On this mountain He will swallow upthe shroud that enfolds all peoples,the sheet that covers all nations;

⁸He will swallow up death forever.The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every faceand remove the disgrace of His peoplefrom the whole earth.For the LORD has spoken.

⁹And in that day it will be said, “Surely this is our God;we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.This is the LORD for whom we have waited.Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

¹⁰For the hand of the LORDwill rest on this mountain.But Moab will be trampled in his placeas straw is trodden into the dung pile.

¹¹He will spread out his hands within it,as a swimmer spreads his arms to swim.His pride will be brought low,despitethe skill of his hands.

¹²The high-walled fortress will be brought down,cast to the ground, into the dust.

Why Do You Boast of Evil?

¹Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?The loving devotion of God endures all day long.

²Your tongue devises destructionlike a sharpened razor,O worker of deceit.

³You love evil more than good,falsehood more than speaking truth.Selah

⁴You love every word that devours,O deceitful tongue.

⁵Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin;He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent;He will uproot you from the land of the living.Selah

⁶The righteous will see and fear;they will mock the evildoer, saying,

⁷“Look at the manwho did not make God his refuge,but trusted in the abundance of his wealthand strengthened himself by destruction.”

⁸But I am like an olive treeflourishing in the house of God;I trust in the loving devotion of Godforever and ever.

⁹I will praise You forever,because You have done it.I will wait on Your name—for it is good—in the presence of Your saints.