Old/New Testament
A New Trial against Israel
Chapter 6
My People, What Have I Done to You?
1 Listen to what the Lord has to say:
Arise and state your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
2 Hearken, you mountains, to the Lord’s accusations;
listen, you foundations that support the earth.
For the Lord has a case against his people;
he intends to present it to Israel.
3 O my people, what, have I done to you?
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
I redeemed you from the place of slavery,
and I sent as your leaders
Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5 My people, remember the plan
that Balak, the king of Moab, devised,
and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him.
Recall also your journey from Shittim[a] to Gilgal
so that you may know the saving justice of the Lord.
True Religion
6 With what will I come before the Lord
when I bow down before God on high?
Will I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Should I offer my firstborn son for my transgressions,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?[b]
8 The Lord has told you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
Only this: to do what is right, to show mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.[c]
Those Who Commit Fraud Will Themselves Be Frustrated
9 Consider carefully what the Lord cries out to the city,
for to fear his name is a mark of wisdom:
10 “Listen, you tribe of assembled citizens!
How can I ignore the false measure
and the accursed short bushel?
11 Can I overlook rigged scales
or a bag of fraudulent weights?
12 The wealthy men of the city are steeped in violence;
its inhabitants are liars
and their tongues speak deceitfully.
13 Therefore, I intend to strike you with devastation
because of your sins.
14 You will eat but not be satisfied,
for your stomach will continue to experience hunger.
You will acquire but be unable to save,
and what you do save,
I will deliver up to the sword.
15 You will sow
but you will not reap;
you will press the olives
but you will not anoint yourself with oil;
you will tread the grapes
but you will not drink the wine.
16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri
and all the practices of the house of Ahab;
you have adopted all their policies.
Therefore, I will make your land desolate
and your citizens an object of scorn.
From this time on
you will endure the scorn of other nations.”
Chapter 7
More than One Righteous Person among the People
1 How great is my misery!
I have become like one who,
when the summer fruit has been gathered
and the vines have been gleaned,
finds not a single cluster of grapes to eat,
nor any of those early figs for which I long.
2 The faithful have vanished from the land;
there is no honest person to be found.
They all lie in wait to shed blood;
each one hunts his brother with a net.
3 Their hands are skilled in performing evil deeds;
the ruler demands gifts,
the judge asks for a bribe,
the powerful man follows his own desires.
4 The best of them is like a briar,
the most upright like a thorn hedge.
The day of their punishment now approaches;
now they will be seized by confusion.
5 Put no trust in a friend:
have no confidence in a loved one.
Guard the portals of your mouth
against her who lies in your embrace.
6 For a son maligns his father,
a daughter rebels against her mother,
a daughter-in-law rises up against her mother-in-law;
your enemies are to be found in your own household.
7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord.
I place my hope in God my savior;
my God will hear me.
Poems of Hope[d]
I Shall Rise Up
8 Do not gloat over me, O my enemy.
Although I have fallen, I will arise.
Although I sit in darkness,
the Lord is my light.
9 I must endure the anger of the Lord
because I have sinned against him,
until he takes up my cause
and forgives my wrongs,
until he brings me into the light
and I will behold his saving justice.
10 When my enemies see this,
they will be filled with shame,
those who said to me,
“Where is the Lord, your God?”
My eyes will see their downfall
as they are trampled underfoot
like mud in the streets.
11 That will be the day for rebuilding your walls,
the day for extending your boundaries.
12 On that day a people will come to you,
all the way from Assyria and from Egypt,
from Tyre to the Euphrates,
from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
13 And the earth will be a wasteland
because of its inhabitants,
as a suitable punishment for their deeds.[e]
Make Us See Wonders
14 Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock that is your heritage,
that lives by itself in a forest
with meadows surrounding it.
Let them graze in Bashan[f] and Gilead,
as in the days of old.
15 Show us wondrous signs
as in the days when you came out
from the land of Egypt.
16 The nations will see and be confounded
despite all their power.
They will put their hands over their mouths;
their ears will become deaf.
17 They will lick the dust like snakes,
like reptiles that crawl on the ground.
They will come trembling out of their strongholds
and turn in dread to behold the Lord, our God,
as they approach him in awe and terror.
The God Who Forgives
18 What god can compare with you,
the God who takes away guilt
and forgives the transgressions
of the remnant of your people?
You will not allow your anger to fester forever,
for your delight is in bestowing mercy.
19 You will again show us compassion
and wash away our guilt;
you will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and unswerving mercy to Abraham
as you swore to our ancestors
from the days of old.
Chapter 13
1 Then I saw a beast rising out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names. 2 The beast that I saw resembled a leopard, but it had feet like those of a bear, and its mouth was like the mouth of a lion. The dragon conferred on the beast his own power and his throne, as well as great authority.
3 One of his heads appeared to me to have been mortally wounded, but its mortal wound had been healed. The whole world then became fascinated with the beast, 4 and they worshiped the dragon because he had conferred authority on the beast. They also worshiped the beast, saying, “Who can compare with the beast? Who can fight against it?”
5 It was allowed to mouth its haughty and blasphemous words, and it was granted permission to exercise its authority for forty-two months.[a] 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, as well as against his name and his dwelling and all those who live in heaven.
7 The beast was also allowed to wage war on the saints and conquer them, and it was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. 8 All the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, all those whose names have not been written from the creation of the world[b] in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.
9 Whoever has ears should listen to these words:
10 “If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is destined to be slain by the sword,
by the sword he must be slain.”
This demands patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
11 A Beast Rises from the Earth.[c] Then I saw another beast, this one rising up out of the earth. It had two horns like those of a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It wielded all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it forced the earth and all its inhabitants to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. 13 It performed great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all.
14 By the signs it was allowed to perform on behalf of the beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth, persuading them to erect an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 It was permitted to give life to the beast’s image so that it could even speak and cause all those to be put to death who would not worship the image of the beast.
16 It also forced all the people, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be branded on the right hand or on the forehead. 17 No one could buy or sell anything except one who has been branded with the name of the beast or with the number of its name.
18 There is wisdom here. Let anyone who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. The number is six hundred and sixty-six.
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