I will bring back my people, Israel; ¹  they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble ²  and settle down. ³  They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; ⁴  they will grow orchards ⁵  and eat the fruit they produce. ⁶ 

Certainly ¹  I am aware of ²  your many rebellious acts ³  and your numerous sins. You ⁴  torment the innocent, you take bribes, and you deny justice to ⁵  the needy at the city gate. ⁶ 

“Be sure of this, ¹  the time is ²  coming,” says the Lord, “when the plowman will catch up to the reaper ³  and the one who stomps the grapes ⁴  will overtake ⁵  the planter. ⁶  Juice will run down the slopes, ⁷  it will flow down all the hillsides. ⁸ 

I made some of your sons prophets and some of your young men Nazirites. ¹  Is this not true, you Israelites?” The Lord is speaking!

The Lord decided not to do this. ¹  The sovereign Lord said, “This will not happen either.”

I saw the sovereign One ¹  standing by the altar ²  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ³  so the thresholds shake! Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ⁴  and I will kill the survivors ⁵  with the sword. No one will be able to run away; ⁶  no one will be able to escape. ⁷ 

Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls; ¹  you will be thrown out ²  toward Harmon.” ³  The Lord is speaking!

“But surely I gave ¹  you no food to eat in any of your cities; you lacked food everywhere you live. ²  Still you did not come back to me.” The Lord is speaking!

Seek good and not evil so you can live! Then the Lord, the God who commands armies, just might be with you, as you claim he is.

Woe ¹  to those who wish for the day of the Lord! Why do you want the Lord’s day of judgment to come? It will bring darkness, not light.

So now listen to the Lord’s message! You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel! Don’t preach ¹  against the family of Isaac!’

We’re eager to trade silver for the poor, ¹  a pair of sandals ²  for the needy! We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!” ³ 

Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! ¹  Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! ²  For you love to do this, you Israelites.” The sovereign Lord is speaking!

“I destroyed your crops ¹  with blight and disease. Locusts kept ²  devouring your orchards, ³  vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees. Still you did not come back to me.” The Lord is speaking!

The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ¹  him making locusts just as the crops planted late ²  were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. ³ )

He builds the upper rooms of his palace ¹  in heaven and sets its foundation supports ²  on the earth. ³  He summons the water of the sea and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name.

“For look, I am giving a command and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations. It will resemble a sieve being shaken, when not even a pebble falls to the ground. ¹ 

(But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion; he can turn the darkness into morning and daylight ¹  into night. He summons the water of the seas and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name!