But be happy and rejoice forevermore over what I am about to create! For look, I am ready to create Jerusalem to be a source of joy, and her people to be a source of happiness.

What will you do on judgment day, when destruction arrives from a distant place? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

Like a shepherd he tends his flock; he gathers up the lambs with his arm; he carries them close to his heart; he leads the ewes along.

This is the message the Lord previously announced about Moab.

“This will be your reminder that I have spoken the truth: This year you will eat what grows wild, and next year what grows on its own. But the year after that you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce.

At that time those who live on this coast will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”

We were pregnant, we strained, we gave birth, as it were, to wind. We cannot produce deliverance on the earth; people to populate the world are not born.

We grope along the wall like the blind, we grope like those who cannot see; we stumble at noontime as if it were evening. Though others are strong, we are like dead men.

At that time men will throw their silver and gold idols, which they made for themselves to worship, into the caves where rodents and bats live,

They say, “Let’s attack Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it. Then we’ll set up the son of Tabeel as its king.”

You will be broken, O nations; you will be shattered! Pay attention, all you distant lands of the earth! Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered!

“Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ every time these people say the word. Don’t be afraid of what scares them; don’t be terrified.

At that time the Lord will remove their burden from your shoulders, and their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be taken off because your neck will be too large.

At that time you will say: “I praise you, O Lord, for even though you were angry with me, your anger subsided, and you consoled me.

No one will live there again; no one will ever reside there again. No bedouin will camp there, no shepherds will rest their flocks there.

I will fasten him like a peg into a solid place; he will bring honor and respect to his father’s family.

For at that time everyone will get rid of the silver and gold idols your hands sinfully made.

For this reason my people will know my name, for this reason they will know at that time that I am the one who says, ‘Here I am.’”

I was angry because of their sinful greed; I attacked them and angrily rejected them, yet they remained disobedient and stubborn.

Their webs cannot be used for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are sinful; they commit violent crimes.