 1. The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Techoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. He said, 2. Yahweh will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the pastors of the shepherds will mourn, and the top of Carmel will wither. Thus says Yahweh, 3. For three transgression of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, as they have threshed Gilead with threshing, instruments of iron. But I will send a fire into the house of Haseel, and it will devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad. I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the valley of Avon, and him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden, and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kyr, says Yahweh. 4. Thus says Yahweh, for three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they carried away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom. But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its palaces. I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines will perish, says the Lord Yahweh. 4. Thus says Yahweh, for three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they delivered up the whole community to Edom, and didn't remember the brotherly covenant. But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it will devour its palaces. Thus says Yahweh. 5. For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and his anger raged continually, and he kept his wrath for ever. But I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour the palaces of Basra. 6. Thus says Yahweh. 7. For three transgressions of the children of Amun, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Geliad, that they may enlarge their border. But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabah, and it will devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a storm in the day of the whirlwind, and their king will go into captivity, he and his princes together. 6. Thus says Yahweh. 7. For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. But I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kiryoth, and Moab will die with two moat, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. And I will cut off the judge from their midst, and will kill all its princes with him. 6. Thus says Yahweh. 7. For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have rejected Yahweh's law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked. But I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem. 8. Thus says Yahweh. 9. For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes. They trampled the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and denied justice to the oppressed, and a man and his father used the same maiden to profane my holy name. And they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks, yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath. Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite. I raised up some of your sons for prophets and some of your young men for Nazarites. Isn't this true, you children of Israel? says Yahweh. But you gave the Nazarites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, Don't prophesy. Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that is full of grain. Flight will perish from the swift, and the strong won't strengthen his force. Neither shall the mighty deliver himself. Neither shall he stand who handles the bow, and he who is swift afoot won't escape. Neither shall he who rides the horse deliver himself. And he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked on that day. Says Yahweh. CHAPTER III Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, children of Israel, and against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins. Did you two walk together, unless they have agreed? Will a lion roar in the thicket when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den if he has caught nothing? Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground when there is nothing to catch? Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn't done it? Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord Yahweh has spoken. Who can but prophesy? Proclaim in the palaces at Ashtad, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression is among them. Indeed they don't know to do right, says Yahweh, who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces. Therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh, an adversary will overrun the land, and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered. Thus says Yahweh, as the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be rescued, who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed. Listen and testify against the house of Jacob, says the Lord Yahweh, the God of armies. For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him I will also visit the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. I will strike the winter house with the summer house, and the houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses will have an end, says Yahweh. Chapter 4. Listen to this word, you cows of Beshan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, bring us drinks. The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks. You will go out at the breaks in the wall, every one straight before her, and you will cast yourselves into harmun, says Yahweh. Go to Bethel and sin, to Gilgal and sin no more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days, offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them, for this pleases you, you children of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh. I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in every town, yet you haven't returned to me, says Yahweh. I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest, and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One place was rained on, and the place where it didn't rain withered. So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water and were not satisfied, yet you haven't returned to me, says Yahweh. I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards, and your fig trees and your olive trees have the swarming locust devoured, yet you haven't returned to me, says Yahweh. I sent plagues among you like I did in Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses. And I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven't returned to me, says Yahweh. I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire, yet you haven't returned to me, says Yahweh. Therefore thus will I do to you, Israel, because I will do this to you. Prepare to meet your God, Israel, for behold he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness and treads on the high places of the earth. Yahweh, the God of armies, is his name. Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O House of Israel. The Virgin of Israel has fallen, she shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land, there is no one to raise her up. For thus says the Lord Yahweh. The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel. For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel. Seek me, and you will live. But don't seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don't pass to bear Sheba. For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing. Seek Yahweh, and you will live, lest he break out like a fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel. You who churn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth, seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth. Yahweh is his name, who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress. They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly. For as much, therefore, as you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many your offenses, and how greater your sins. You who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the courts. Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. Seek good and not evil, that you may live. And so Yahweh, the God of armies, be with you, as you say. Be evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. Therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of armies, the Lord. Wailing will be in all the broad ways, and they will say in all the streets, Alas, Alas, and they will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing. In all vineyards they will be wailing, for I will pass through the midst of you, says Yahweh. Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why do you long for the day of Yahweh? It is darkness and not light, as if a man fled from a lion and a bear met him, or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a snake bit him. Won't the day of Yahweh be darkness and not light? Even very dark and no brightness in it. I hate I despise your feasts, and can't stand your solemn assemblies. Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them. Neither will I regard the peace offering of your fat animals. Take away from me the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel? You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your God, which you made for yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into the captivity beyond Damascus, says Yahweh, whose name is the God of armies. CHAPTER VI. Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations to whom the house of Israel come. Go to Calna and see, and from there go to Hamath the great. Then go down into Goth of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms, or is their border greater than your border? Those who put away the evil day, and cause the seed of violence to come near, who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall, who strum on the strings of a harp, who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David, who drink wine and bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils, they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore they will now go captive with the first to go captive, and the feasting and lounging will end. The Lord Yahweh has sworn by Himself, says Yahweh, the God of armies, I abhor the pride of Jacob, and attest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it. It will happen if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. When a man's relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him, who is in the innermost parts of the house, is there yet any with you, and he says no, then he will say hush, indeed we must not mention the name of Yahweh. For behold Yahweh commands and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits. Do horses run on the rocky crags, does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness. You who rejoice in the thing of nothing, who say, haven't we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength? For behold I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel, says Yahweh, the God of armies, and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah. CHAPTER VII. Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me, and behold he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the later growth, and behold it was the later growth after the king's harvest. It happened that, when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, Lord Yahweh, forgive, I beg you. How could Jacob stand, for he is small? Yahweh relented concerning this. It shall not be, says Yahweh. Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me, and behold the Lord Yahweh called for the judgment by fire, and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land. Then I said, Lord Yahweh, stop, I beg you. How could Jacob stand, for he is small? Yahweh relented concerning this. This also shall not be, says the Lord Yahweh. Thus he showed me, and behold the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plum-line, with a plum-line in his hand. Yahweh said to me, Amos, what do you see? I said, a plum-line. Then the Lord said, Behold, I will set a plum-line in the midst of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more. The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. Then Amosiah, the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For Amos says, Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away, captive, out of his land. Amosiah also said to Amos, you, seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there. But don't prophesy again any more at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house. Then Amos answered Amosiah. I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of Sycamore figs. And Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, go, prophesy to my people Israel. Now, therefore, listen to the word of Yahweh. You say, don't prophesy against Israel, and don't preach against the house of Isaac. Therefore, thus says Yahweh, your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line, and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away, captive, out of his land. CHAPTER 8 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me, behold, a basket of summer fruit. He said, Amos, what do you see? I said, a basket of summer fruit. Then Yahweh said to me, The end has come on my people Israel. I will not pass by them any more. The songs of the temple will be wailings in that day, says the Lord Yahweh. The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence. Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, saying, When will the new moon be gone that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath that we may market wheat, making the Ephists small and the Shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the sweepings with the wheat. Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. Won't the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up holy like the river, and it will be stirred up and sink again like the river of Egypt. What will happen in that day, says the Lord Yahweh, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. I will turn your feast into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. And I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only sun, and its end like a bitter day. Behold, the days come, says Lord Yahweh, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Yahweh. They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north, even to the east. They will run back and forth to seek the word of Yahweh, and will not find it. In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst. Those who swear by the sin of Samaria and say, As your God, Dan, lives, and as the way of Beersheba lives, they will fall and never rise up again. I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, Strike the tops of the pillars that the thresholds may shake, and break them in pieces on the head of all of them, and I will kill the last of them with the sword. There shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape. Though they dig into sheol, there my hand will take them, and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there, and though they be hid from my side in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them. Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil and not for good. For the Lord Yahweh of armies is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn, and it will rise up wholly like the river, and will sink again like the river of Egypt. It is he who builds his chambers in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth. He who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth. Yahweh is his name. Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel, says Yahweh? Haven't I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Cattor, and the Syrians from Kyre? Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says Yahweh. For behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth. All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, Evil won't overtake nor meet us. In that day I will raise up the tent of David who has fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name, says Yahweh, who does this. Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that the plowmen shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes, him who sow seed, and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills. I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them, and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land, which I have given them, says Yahweh, your God. End of the Book of Amos The Book of Obadiah from the World English Bible This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Book of Obadiah from the World English Bible The Vision of Obadiah This is what the Lord Yahweh says about Edom. We have heard news from Yahweh, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, Arise, and let's rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have made you small among the nations. You are greatly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you. You who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, Who will bring me down to the ground? Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there, says Yahweh. If thieves came to you, if robbers by night owe a disaster awaits you, wouldn't they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn't they leave some gleaning grapes? How iso will be ransacked, how his hidden treasures are sought out. All the men of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you. There is no understanding in him. Won't I, in that day, says Yahweh, destroy the wise men out of Edom and understanding out of the mountain of Iso? Your mighty men, teamon, will be dismayed to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Iso by slaughter. For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off for ever. In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gate, and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them. But don't look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don't rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don't speak proudly in the day of distress. Don't enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Don't look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity. Neither sees their wealth on the day of their calamity. Don't stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape. Don't deliver up those of his who remain in the day of distress. For the day of Yahweh is near all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head. For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been. But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. The house of Jacob will possess their possessions. The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph, a flame, and the house of Ezo, forstable. They will burn among them and devour them. There will not be any remaining to the house of Ezo. Indeed, Yahweh has spoken. Those of the south will possess the mountain of Ezo, and those of the lowland, the Philistines. They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samai Rear. Benjamin will possess Gilead. The captives of this army of the children of Israel, who are among the Kainanites, will possess even to Zairaphath. And the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Saffirad, will possess the cities of the Negev. Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Ezo, and the kingdom will be Yahweh's. End of the Book of Abedaya, recording by Ezoa in Belgium in January 2008. The Book of Jonah from the World English Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Book of Jonah from the World English Bible. CHAPTER ONE Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah, the son of Amitai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Jopah, and found the ship going to Tarshish, so he paid its fare, and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up. Then the mariners were afraid and cried every man to his God. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him and said to him, What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God. Maybe your God will notice us so that we won't perish? They all said to each other, Come, let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is on us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they asked him, Tell us, please, for whose cause this evil is on us? What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you? He said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid and said to him, What is this that you have done? For the man knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh because he had told them. Then said they to him, What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm to us? For the sea grew more and more stormy. He said to them, Take me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you. For I know that because of me this great storm is on you. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get them back to the land. But they could not. For the sea grew more and more stormy against them. Therefore they cried to Yahweh and said, We beg you, Yahweh, we beg you, let us not perish for this man's life, and don't lay on us innocent blood. For you, Yahweh, have done as it pleased you. So they took up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea seized its raging. Then the man feared Yahweh exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made vows. Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Chapter 2 Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God, out of the fish's belly. He said, I called because of my affliction to Yahweh. He answered me, Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, you heard my voice. For you threw me into the depths, in the heart of the seas. The flood was all around me. All your waves and your billows passed over me. I said, I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look again toward your holy temple. The water surrounded me, even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever. Yet have you brought up my life from the pit, Yahweh, my God? When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came into you, into your holy temple. Those who regard lying vanity is forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh. Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land. Chapter 3 The word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I give you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey across. Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried out and said, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. The people of Nineveh believed God, and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and set in ashes. He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water, but let them be covered with sackcloth, both men and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish. God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn't do it. Chapter 4 But it displaced Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. He prayed to Yahweh and said, Please Yahweh, wasn't this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried too little to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm. Therefore now Yahweh, take I beg you my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. Yahweh said, Is it right for you to be angry? Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city. Yahweh God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine. But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered. It happened when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head, so that he fainted, and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. God said to Jonah, Is it right for you to be angry about the vine? He said, I am right to be angry even to death. Yahweh said, You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night. Shouldn't I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than 120,000 persons who can't discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much livestock? End of the Book of Jonah. Recording by Eswar in Belgium in January 2008. Here, you peoples, all of you, listen, O earth, and all that is therein, and let the Lord Yahweh be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For behold, Yahweh comes forth out of his place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place. All this for the disobedience of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the disobedience of Jacob? Isn't it Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Aren't they Jerusalem? Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field, like places for planting vineyards, and I will pour down its stones into the valley, and I will uncover its foundations. All her idols will be beaten to pieces, and all her temple gifts will be burned with fire, and all her images I will destroy, for of the higher of a prostitute she has gathered them, and to the higher of a prostitute shall they return. For this I will lament and wail, I will go stripped and naked, I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls. For her wounds are incurable, for it has come even to Judah, it reaches even to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. Don't tell it in gath, don't weep at all. At Beth Ofra I have rolled myself in the dust. Pass on, inhabitant of Shafir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Zanon won't come out. The wailing of Beth Ezal will take you from his protection. For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from Yahweh to the gate of Jerusalem. Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lakish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion. For the transgressions of Israel were found in you. Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath. The houses of Aksib will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel. I will yet bring you inhabitant of Marasha. He who is the glory of Israel will come to Adulam. Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture, for they have gone into captivity from you. CHAPTER II Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds. When the morning is light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and seize them, and houses and take them away. And they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. Therefore, thus says Yahweh, Behold, I am planning against these people a disaster, from which you will not remove your necks. Neither will you walk haughtily, for it is an evil time. In that day they will take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, saying, We are utterly ruined. My people's possession is divided up. Indeed, he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors. Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in the assembly of Yahweh. Don't prophesy, they prophesy. Don't prophesy about these things. Disgrace won't overtake us. Shall it be said, O house of Jacob, is the spirit of Yahweh angry? Are these his doings? Don't my words do good to him who walks blamelessly? But lately my people have risen up as an enemy. You strip the robe and clothing from those who pass by without a care returning from battle. You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses, from their young children you take away my blessing for ever. Arise and depart, for this is not your resting place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction. If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies, I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink. He would be the prophet of this people. I will surely assemble, Jacob, all of you. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together as the sheep of Basra. As a flock in the midst of their pasture, they will swarm with people. He who breaks open the way goes before them. They break through the gate and go out, and their king passes on before them, with Yahweh at their head. CHAPTER III I said, please listen, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel. Isn't it for you to know justice? You who hate the good and love the evil, who tear off their skin and their flesh from off their bones, who also eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin from off them and break their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot and as a flesh within the cauldron. Then they will cry to Yahweh, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil. Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who led my people astray. For those who feed their teeth they proclaim peace, and whoever doesn't provide for their mouths they prepare war against him. Therefore night is over you with no vision, and it is dark to you that you may not divine, and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them. The seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God. But as for me I am full of power by the spirit of Yahweh, and of judgment and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience and to Israel his sin. Please listen to this, you heads of the House of Jacob, and rulers of the House of Israel who abhor justice and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean on Yahweh and say, Isn't Yahweh in the midst of us? No disaster will come on us. Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of the forest. CHAPTER IV. But in the latter days it will happen that the mountain of Yahweh's temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream into it. Many nations will go and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, and to the House of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem, and he will judge between many peoples, and will decide concerning strong nations afar off. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more. But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the mouth of Yahweh of armies has spoken. Indeed, all the nations may walk in the name of their gods, but we will walk in the name of Yahweh, our God, for ever and ever. In that day, says Yahweh, I will assemble that which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away, and that which I have afflicted, and I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation, and Yahweh will reign over them on Mount Zion from then on, even for ever. You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come. Yes, the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. Now why do you cry out loud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pains have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail? Be in pain and labor to bring forth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail, for now you will go forth out of the city, and will dwell in the field, and will come even to Babylon. There you will be rescued. There Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. Now many nations have assembled against you that say, let her be defiled, and let our eye gloat over Zion. But they don't know the thoughts of Yahweh, neither do they understand his counsel, for he has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor. Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hooves brass, and you will beat in pieces many peoples, and I will devote their gain to Yahweh and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth. CHAPTER V Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek. But you, Bethlehem, Ephrath, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel. He shall stand and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God, and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth. He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land, and when he marches through our fortresses, then we will raise against him seven separds and eight leaders of men. They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its gates. He will deliver us from the Assyrian when he invades our land, and when he marches within our border. The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from Yahweh, like showers on the grass, that don't wait for man, nor wait for the sons of men. The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who if he goes through treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver. Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off. It will happen in that day, says Yahweh, that I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy your chariots. I will cut off the cities of your land, and will tear down all your strongholds. I will destroy witchcraft from your hand, and you shall have no soothsayers. I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars out of your midst, and you shall no more worship the work of your hands. I will uproot your Assyrim out of your midst, and I will destroy your cities. I will execute vengeance and anger, and wrath on the nations that don't listen. CHAPTER VI Listen now to what Yahweh says. Arise, clean your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say. Here, you mountains, Yahweh's controversy, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for Yahweh has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. My people, remember now what Balik, king of Moab devised, and what Balam, the son of Beor, answered him from Shittum to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh. How shall I come before Yahweh and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn from my disobedience, the fruit of my body, for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? Yahweh's voice calls you to the city, and wisdom sees your name. Listen to the rod, and he who appointed it. Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short efftaff that is cursed? Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, and with a bag of deceitful weights? Her rich men are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their speech. Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins. You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your humiliation will be in your midst. You will store up, but not save. And that which you save I will give up to the sword. You will sow, but won't reap. You will tread the olives, but won't anoint yourself with oil. And crush grapes, but won't drink the wine. For the statutes of Amri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab. You walk in their councils, that I may make you a ruin, and her inhabitants a hissing, and you will bear the reproach of my people. CHAPTER 7. Misery is mine. Indeed, I am like the one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleaning of the vineyard. There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig. The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie and wait for blood. Every man hunts his brother with a net. Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe, and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together. The best of them is like a briar. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation has come. Now is the time of their confusion. Don't trust in a neighbor. Don't put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth. For the son dishonours the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the men of his own house. But as for me, I will look to Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Don't rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will rise. When I sit in darkness, Yahweh will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of Yahweh, because I have sinned against him. Until he pleads my case and executes judgment for me. He will bring me forth to the light. I will see his righteousness. Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, There is Yahweh, your God. Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets. A day to build your walls. In that day he will extend your boundary. In that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the river, and from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain. Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell therein. For the fruit of their doings, shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage, who dwell by themselves in a forest. In the midst of fertile pasture land let them feed, in Baishan and Gilead as in the days of old. As in the days of your coming forth out of the land of Egypt I will show them marvellous things. The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf. They will lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their dens. They will come with fear to Yahweh our God and be afraid because of you. Who is a God like you who pardons iniquity and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn't retain his anger for ever because he delights in loving kindness. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. End of the book of Micah. The book of Nahum. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please contact LibriVox.org. The following is a book included in the Holy Scriptures as translated in the World English Bible. This translation is in the public domain. The book of Nahum. Chapter 1. An Oracle about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum. The Elkishite. Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries and he maintains wrath against his enemies. Yahweh is slow to anger and great in power and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds of the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry and dries up all the rivers. Bayesian languages and Carmel and the flower of Lebanon languages. The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence. Yes, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken apart by him. Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a full end of her place and will pursue his enemies into darkness. What do you plot against Yahweh? He will make a full end. Affliction won't rise up the second time. Frontangled like thorns and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble. There is one gone forth out of you who devises evil against Yahweh who counsels wickedness. Thus says Yahweh, though they be in full strength and likewise many, even so will they will be cut down and he shall pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. Now will I break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds apart. Yahweh has commanded concerning you. No more descendants will bear your name. Out of the house of your gods will I cut off the engraved image and the molten image. I will make your grave for your vile. Behold, on the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace. Keep your feasts, Judah. Perform your vows, for the wicked one will no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off. End of chapter 1. Chapter 2 He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress. Watch the way. Strengthen your waist. Fortify your power mightily, for Yahweh restores the Excellency of Jacob as the Excellency of Israel, for the destroyers have destroyed them and ruined their vine branches. The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation and the pine spears are brandished. The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the broad ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings. He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place. The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. It is decreed. She is uncovered. She is carried away, and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts. But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water. Yet they flee away. Stop, stop, they cry. But no one looks back. Take the spoil of silver. Take the spoil of gold, for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture. She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts. The knees knock together. Their bodies and faces have grown pale. Where is the den of the lions and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked? The lion's cubs, and no one made them afraid? The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey. Behold, I am against you, said Yahweh of armies, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions, and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard. Prancing horses, and bounding chariots, the horsemen mounting, and the flashing sword, the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies. They stumble on their bodies, because of the multitude of the prostitution of the alluring prostitute, the mistress of witchcraft, who sells nations through her prostitution, and families through her witchcraft. Behold, I am against you, says Yahweh of armies, and I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame. I will throw abominable filth on you, and make you vile, and will set you a spectacle. It will happen that all those who look at you will flee from you, and say, Nineveh is laid waste. Who will mourn for her? Where will I seek comforters for you? Are you better than Noamun, who is situated among the rivers, who had the waters around her, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea? Kush and Egypt were her boundless strength. Pot and Libya were her helpers. Yet was she carried away. She went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets, and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. You will also be drunken. You will be hidden. You will also will seek a stronghold because of the enemy. All your fortresses will be like fig trees with the first ripe figs. If they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, your troops in your midst are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars. Draw water for the siege. Strengthen your fortresses. Go into the clay and tread the mortar. Make the brick kiln strong. There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the grasshopper. Multiply like grasshoppers. Multiply like the locust. You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips and flees away. Your guards are like the locusts, and your officials like the swarms of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day. But when the sun appears, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. Your shepherd slumber, king of Assyria. Your nobles lie down. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them. There is no healing your wound, for your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you clap their hands over you, for who hasn't felt your endless cruelty? End of Chapter 3 End of The Book of Nahum The Book of Habakkuk from the World English Bible This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org Recording by Mark Penfold The Book of Habakkuk from the World English Bible The Oracle which Habakkuk the Prophet saw Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you, violence, and will you not save? Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous. Therefore justice goes forth perverted. Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously. For I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe, though it is told to you. For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour. All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand. Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it. Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his God. Aren't you from everlasting? Yahweh, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish. You, who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity. Why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he, and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things that have no ruler over them? He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good. Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy? I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. Yahweh answered me, write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it, for the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won't prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it, because it will surely come. It won't delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him. But the righteous will live by his faith. Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn't stay at home, who enlarges his desire as sheol. And he is like death, and can't be satisfied. But gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples. Won't all these take up a parable against him? And a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion. How long won't your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim? Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city, and to all who dwell in it. Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil. You have devised shame to your house by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul. For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it. Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity. Behold, isn't it of Yahweh of armies, that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea. Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies. You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink and be exposed. The cup of Yahweh's right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals which made them afraid. Because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city, and to those who dwell in them. What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it? The molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols. Woe to him who says to the wood, awake! Or to the mute stone, arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in its midst. But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him. A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music. Yahweh, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh. Renew your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy. God came from Teemun, the Holy One from Mount Peron, Silah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth. His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden. Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet. He stood and shook the earth. He looked and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal. I saw the tents of Kushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled. Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation? You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Silah. You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear. You marched through the land in wrath. You thrashed the nations in anger. You went forth for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Silah. You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret. You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters. I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us. For though the fig tree doesn't flourish, nor fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive fails. The fields yield no food. The flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. Yahweh the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like deer's feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments. End of Habakkuk. Recording by Mark Penfold. The Book of Zephaniah from the World English Bible. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Chapter 1. The Word of Yahweh which came to Zephaniah. The son of Kushi, the son of Jetaliah, the son of Amoriah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah. I will utterly sweep away everything off of the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, the name of the idolatrous and pagan priests, those who worship the army of the sky and housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcolm, those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven't sought Yahweh nor inquired after Him. Be silent at the presence of the Lord Yahweh, for the day of the Lord Yahweh is at hand, for Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests. It will happen in the day of Yahweh's sacrifice that I will punish the princes, the king's sons, and all those who are clothed with foreign clothing. In that day I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master's house with violence and deceit. In that day, says Yahweh, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. Well, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone. All those who are loaded with silver are cut off. It will happen at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil. Their wealth will become a spoil, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won't inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, but won't drink their wine. The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high battlements. I will bring distress on men that they will walk like blind men because they have sinned against Yahweh, and their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh's wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy, for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land. End of chapter 1. Chapter 2. Gather yourselves together. Yes, gather together, you nation that has no shame, before the appointed time when the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of Yahweh comes on you, before the day of Yahweh's anger comes on you. Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land who have kept His ordinances. Seek righteousness, seek humility, it may well be that you will be hidden in the day of Yahweh's anger. For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation, they will drive out Ashdod at Noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up. Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the charathites, the word of Yahweh is against you, Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you, that there will be no inhabitant. The sea coast will be pastures with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks. The coast will be the remnant of the house of Judah. They will find pasture, in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down for the evening. For Yahweh their God will visit them, and restore them. I have heard the approach of Moab, and the insults of the children of Amon, with which they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border. Therefore as I live, says Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Amon, as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will inherit them. This they will have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Yahweh of armies. Yahweh will be awesome to them, for he will famish all the gods of the land. Men will worship him, everyone from his place, even all the shores of the nations. You Kushites also, you will be killed by my sword. He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like the wilderness. Herds will lie down in the midst of her. All the animals of the nations, both the Pelican and the Porcupine, will lodge in its capitals. Their calls will echo through the windows. Desolation will be in the thresholds, for he has laid bare the cedar beams. This is the joyous city that lived carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me. How she will become a desolation, a place for animals to lie down in. Everyone who passes by her will hiss and shake their fists. End of chapter 2. Chapter 3 Woe to her was rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city. She didn't obey the voice. She didn't receive correction. She didn't trust in Yahweh. She didn't draw near to her god. Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day. Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law. Yahweh in the midst of her is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn't fail. But the unjust know no shame. I have cut off nations. Their battlements are desolate. I have made their streets waste so that no one passes by. Their cities are destroyed so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant. I said, just fear me. Receive correction so that your dwelling won't be cut off, according to all that I have appointed concerning her. But they rose early and corrupted all their doings. Therefore wait for me, says Yahweh, until the day that I rise up to the prey. For my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger. For all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on the name of Yahweh, to serve him shoulder to shoulder. From beyond the rivers of Kush my worshipers, even the daughter of my dispersed people, will bring my offering. In that day you will not be disappointed for all your doings, in which you have transgressed against me. For then I will take away out of the midst of you your proudly exulting ones, and you will no more be haughty in my holy mountain. But I will leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they will take refuge in the name of Yahweh. The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity, nor speak lies. Neither will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they will feed and lie down, and no one will make them afraid. Sing, daughter of Zion. Shout, Israel. Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. Yahweh has taken away your judgments. He has thrown out your enemy. The king of Israel, Yahweh, is in the midst of you. You will not be afraid of evil anymore. In that day I will be sad of Jerusalem. Don't be afraid, Zion. Don't let your hands be slack. Yahweh, your God, is in the midst of you. A mighty one who will save you. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will rest in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing. Those who are sad for the appointed feasts I will remove from you. They are a burden and a reproach to you. Behold, at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you, and I will save those who are lame and gather those who are driven away. I will give them praise and honor, whose shame has been in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, and at that time I will gather you, for I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I bring back your captivity before your eyes, says Yahweh. End of Chapter 3. End of the Book of Zephaniah. The Book of Haggai from the World English Bible This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Book of Haggai from the World English Bible In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zirababal, the son of Shialtio, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozelech, the high priest, saying, This is what Yahweh of armies says. These people say, The time hasn't yet come, the time for Yahweh's house to be built. Then the word of Yahweh came by Haggai, the prophet, saying, Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste? Now therefore, this is what Yahweh of armies says. Consider your ways. You have so much and bring in little. You eat, but you don't have enough. You drink, but you aren't filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages, earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it. This is what Yahweh of armies says. Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build a house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, says Yahweh. You looked for much, and behold, it came too little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says Yahweh of armies, because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, for your sake, the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. I called for a draught on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground brings forth, on man, on livestock, and on all the labour of the hands. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehazadak, the High Priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of Yahweh, their God, and the words of Haggai the Prophet as Yahweh their God had sent him, and the people feared Yahweh. Then Haggai, Yahweh's messenger, spoke Yahweh's message to the people, saying, I am with you, says Yahweh. Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehazadak, the High Priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and worked on the house of Yahweh of armies, their God, in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. Chapter 2 In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came by Haggai, the Prophet, saying, Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehazadak, the High Priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Isn't it in your eyes as nothing? Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says Yahweh. Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehazadak, the High Priest. Be strong all you people of the land, says Yahweh, and work, for I am with you, says Yahweh of armies. This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my spirit lived among you. Don't be afraid. For this is what Yahweh of armies says. Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land, and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of armies. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says Yahweh of armies. The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says Yahweh of armies, and in this place will I give peace, says Yahweh of armies. In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came by Haggai, the prophet, saying, thus says Yahweh of armies. Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, if someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with his fold touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it become holy? The priests answered, no. Then Haggai said, if one who is unclean by reason of dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean? The priests answered, it will be unclean. Then Haggai answered, so is this people, and so is this nation before me, says Yahweh, and so is every work of their hands, that which they offer there is unclean. Now please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in the temple of Yahweh. Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine-vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty. I struck you with a blight, milled you and hail in all the work of your hands. Yet you didn't turn to me, says Yahweh. Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of Yahweh's temple was laid. Consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig tree, the palm granite, the olive tree, heaven brought forth. From this day will I bless you. The word of Yahweh came the second time to Haggai in the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth. I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, says Yahweh of armies, will I take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says Yahweh, and will make you a signet, for I have chosen you, says Yahweh of armies. End of the book of Haggai, recording by Ezwa, in Belgium, in January 2008.