Your beginning will seem so small, since your future will flourish.

“I have fresh meat at home; today I have fulfilled my vows!

“At that time,” says the Lord who commands armies, “the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose. It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off.” Indeed, the Lord has spoken.

They lament, ‘Why don’t you notice when we fast? Why don’t you pay attention when we humble ourselves?’ Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, you oppress your workers.

So, watch out!” says the Lord. “The time will soon come when people will no longer call those places Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom. But they will call that valley the Valley of Slaughter and they will bury so many people in Topheth they will run out of room.

Then I said, “Lord, you give me strength and protect me. You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. Nations from all over the earth will come to you and say, ‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods – worthless idols that could not help them at all.

For I, the Lord, affirm that the time will come when I will reverse the plight of my people, Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors and they will take possession of it once again.’”

“But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the Lord. “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people.

like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds after the rain. This was the appearance of the surrounding brilliant light; it looked like the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I threw myself face down, and I heard a voice speaking.

“At that time I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will abolish the warrior’s bow and sword – that is, every weapon of warfare – from the land, and I will allow them to live securely.”

The leaders offered gifts for the dedication of the altar when it was anointed. And the leaders presented their offering before the altar.

You, however, the Lord has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace, to be his special people as you are today.

Today realize and carefully consider that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below – there is no other!

You must be sure to let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself. Do this so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.

And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments.

The woman arrived back at daybreak and was sprawled out on the doorstep of the house where her master was staying until it became light.

But respond favorably to your servant’s prayer and his request for help, O Lord my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you today.

Let its morning stars be darkened; let it wait for daylight but find none, nor let it see the first rays of dawn,

There will be a highway leading out of Assyria for the remnant of his people, just as there was for Israel, when they went up from the land of Egypt.

Is this really your boisterous city whose origins are in the distant past, and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?