Today's Reading

¹I 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.

²The Lord answered me, "Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.

³For 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.

⁴Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

⁵Yes, 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.

⁶Won'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?'

⁷Won't your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?

⁸Because 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.

⁹Woe 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!

¹⁰You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.

¹¹For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.

¹²Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!

¹³Behold, isn't it of the Lord of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

¹⁴For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵"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!

¹⁶You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of the Lord's right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.

¹⁷For 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.

¹⁸"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?

¹⁹Woe 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.

²⁰But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!"

¹A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.

²Lord, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Renew your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy.

³God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.

⁴His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.

⁵Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet.

⁶He 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.

⁷I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled.

⁸Was the Lord 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?

⁹You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.

¹⁰The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.

¹¹The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.

¹²You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.

¹³You 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. Selah.

¹⁴You 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.

¹⁵You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters.

¹⁶I 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.

¹⁷For 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:

¹⁸yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

¹⁹The Lord, 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.

¹The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.

²I will utterly sweep away everything off of the surface of the earth, says the Lord.

³I 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 the Lord.

⁴I 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,

⁵those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by the Lord and also swear by Malcam,

⁶those who have turned back from following the Lord, and those who haven't sought the Lord nor inquired after him.

⁷Be silent at the presence of the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is at hand. For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests.

⁸It will happen in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, the king's sons, and all those who are clothed with foreign clothing.

⁹In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master's house with violence and deceit.

¹⁰In that day, says the Lord, 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.

¹¹Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone! All those who were loaded with silver are cut off.

¹²It 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, "The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil."

¹³Their 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.

¹⁴The great day of the Lord is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of the Lord. The mighty man cries there bitterly.

¹⁵That 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,

¹⁶a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements.

¹⁷I will bring distress on men, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.

¹⁸Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord'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.

¹After these things I looked and saw a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, like a trumpet speaking with me, was one saying, "Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after this."

²Immediately I was in the Spirit. Behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne.

³And the one who sat there looked like a jasper stone and a sardius. There was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald to look at.

⁴Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. On the thrones were twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white garments, with crowns of gold on their heads.

⁵Out of the throne proceed lightnings, sounds, and thunders. There were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

⁶Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the midst of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.

⁷The first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf, and the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

⁸The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!"

⁹When the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever,

¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever, and throw their crowns before the throne, saying,

¹¹"Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed, and were created!"

¹These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.

²It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

³As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, so the hearts of kings are unsearchable.

⁴Take away the dross from the silver, and material comes out for the refiner;

⁵Take away the wicked from the king's presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.

⁶Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king, or claim a place among great men;

⁷for it is better that it be said to you, "Come up here," than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince, whom your eyes have seen.

⁸Do not be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you?

⁹Debate your case with your neighbor, and do not betray the confidence of another;

¹⁰lest one who hears it put you to shame, and your bad reputation never depart.

¹¹A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

¹²As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover to an obedient ear.

¹³As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him; for he refreshes the soul of his masters.

¹⁴As clouds and wind without rain, so is he who boasts of gifts deceptively.

¹⁵By patience a ruler is persuaded. A soft tongue breaks the bone.

¹⁶Have you found honey? Eat as much as is sufficient for you, lest you eat too much, and vomit it.

¹⁷Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house, lest he be weary of you, and hate you.

¹⁸A man who gives false testimony against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, or a sharp arrow.

¹⁹Confidence in someone unfaithful in time of trouble is like a bad tooth, or a lame foot.

²⁰As one who takes away a garment in cold weather, or vinegar on soda, so is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.

²¹If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink:

²²for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

²³The north wind brings forth rain: so a backbiting tongue brings an angry face.

²⁴It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than to share a house with a contentious woman.

²⁵Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

²⁶Like a muddied spring, and a polluted well, so is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.

²⁷It is not good to eat much honey; nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor.

²⁸Like a city that is broken down and without walls is a man whose spirit is without restraint.