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Habakkuk 1

 ¹ The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk's Complaint

 ³ Why do you make me look at injustice?
       Why do you tolerate wrong?
       Destruction and violence are before me;
       there is strife, and conflict abounds.

 ⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed,
       and justice never prevails.
       The wicked hem in the righteous,
       so that justice is perverted.

The Lord 's Answer

 ⁶ I am raising up the Babylonians, ^[a]
       that ruthless and impetuous people,
       who sweep across the whole earth
       to seize dwelling places not their own.

 ⁷ They are a feared and dreaded people;
       they are a law to themselves
       and promote their own honor.

 ⁸ Their horses are swifter than leopards,
       fiercer than wolves at dusk.
       Their cavalry gallops headlong;
       their horsemen come from afar.
       They fly like a vulture swooping to devour;

 ⁹ they all come bent on violence.
       Their hordes ^[b] advance like a desert wind
       and gather prisoners like sand.

 ¹⁰ They deride kings
       and scoff at rulers.
       They laugh at all fortified cities;
       they build earthen ramps and capture them.

 ¹¹ Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
       guilty men, whose own strength is their god."

Habakkuk's Second Complaint

 ¹³ Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
       you cannot tolerate wrong.
       Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
       Why are you silent while the wicked
       swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

 ¹⁴ You have made men like fish in the sea,
       like sea creatures that have no ruler.

 ¹⁵ The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
       he catches them in his net,
       he gathers them up in his dragnet;
       and so he rejoices and is glad.

 ¹⁶ Therefore he sacrifices to his net
       and burns incense to his dragnet,
       for by his net he lives in luxury
       and enjoys the choicest food.

 ¹⁷ Is he to keep on emptying his net,
       destroying nations without mercy?

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Zephaniah 3

The Future of Jerusalem

 ² She obeys no one,
       she accepts no correction.
       She does not trust in the LORD,
       she does not draw near to her God.

 ³ Her officials are roaring lions,
       her rulers are evening wolves,
       who leave nothing for the morning.

 ⁴ Her prophets are arrogant;
       they are treacherous men.
       Her priests profane the sanctuary
       and do violence to the law.

 ⁵ The LORD within her is righteous;
       he does no wrong.
       Morning by morning he dispenses his justice,
       and every new day he does not fail,
       yet the unrighteous know no shame.

 ⁶ "I have cut off nations;
       their strongholds are demolished.
       I have left their streets deserted,
       with no one passing through.
       Their cities are destroyed;
       no one will be left—no one at all.

 ⁷ I said to the city,
       'Surely you will fear me
       and accept correction!'
       Then her dwelling would not be cut off,
       nor all my punishments come upon her.
       But they were still eager
       to act corruptly in all they did.

 ⁸ Therefore wait for me," declares the LORD,
       "for the day I will stand up to testify. ^[a]
       I have decided to assemble the nations,
       to gather the kingdoms
       and to pour out my wrath on them—
       all my fierce anger.
       The whole world will be consumed
       by the fire of my jealous anger.

 ⁹ "Then will I purify the lips of the peoples,
       that all of them may call on the name of the LORD
       and serve him shoulder to shoulder.

 ¹⁰ From beyond the rivers of Cush ^[b]
       my worshipers, my scattered people,
       will bring me offerings.

 ¹¹ On that day you will not be put to shame
       for all the wrongs you have done to me,
       because I will remove from this city
       those who rejoice in their pride.
       Never again will you be haughty
       on my holy hill.

 ¹² But I will leave within you
       the meek and humble,
       who trust in the name of the LORD.

 ¹³ The remnant of Israel will do no wrong;
       they will speak no lies,
       nor will deceit be found in their mouths.
       They will eat and lie down
       and no one will make them afraid."

 ¹⁴ Sing, O Daughter of Zion;
       shout aloud, O Israel!
       Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
       O Daughter of Jerusalem!

 ¹⁵ The LORD has taken away your punishment,
       he has turned back your enemy.
       The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you;
       never again will you fear any harm.

 ¹⁶ On that day they will say to Jerusalem,
       "Do not fear, O Zion;
       do not let your hands hang limp.

 ¹⁷ The LORD your God is with you,
       he is mighty to save.
       He will take great delight in you,
       he will quiet you with his love,
       he will rejoice over you with singing."

 ¹⁸ "The sorrows for the appointed feasts
       I will remove from you;
       they are a burden and a reproach to you. ^[c]

 ¹⁹ At that time I will deal
       with all who oppressed you;
       I will rescue the lame
       and gather those who have been scattered.
       I will give them praise and honor
       in every land where they were put to shame.

 ²⁰ At that time I will gather you;
       at that time I will bring you home.
       I will give you honor and praise
       among all the peoples of the earth
       when I restore your fortunes ^[d]
       before your very eyes,"
       says the LORD.

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Haggai 1

A Call to Build the House of the LORD

 ² This is what the LORD Almighty says: "These people say, 'The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built.' "

 ³ Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: ⁴ "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"

 ⁵ Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. ⁶ You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."

 ⁷ This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. ⁸ Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the LORD. ⁹ "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. ¹¹ I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands."

 ¹² Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD.

 ¹³ Then Haggai, the LORD's messenger, gave this message of the LORD to the people: "I am with you," declares the LORD. ¹⁴ So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God, ¹⁵ on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.