Just as birds hover over a nest, so the Lord who commands armies will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it; as he passes over he will rescue it.

Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns; thickets and weeds will grow in her fortified cities. Jackals will settle there; ostriches will live there.

Now they come into being, not in the past; before today you did not hear about them, so you could not say, ‘Yes, I know about them.’

I am the Lord your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves surge. The Lord who commands armies is his name!

They will be called, “The Holy People, the Ones Protected by the Lord.” You will be called, “Sought After, City Not Abandoned.”

Why do you constantly go about changing your political allegiances? You will get no help from Egypt just as you got no help from Assyria.

For the Lord says, “I will now throw out those who live in this land. I will bring so much trouble on them that they will actually feel it.”

But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong, I will cancel the destruction I intended to do to it.

But I will punish you as your deeds deserve,’ says the Lord. ‘I will set fire to your palace; it will burn up everything around it.’”

Do not pay allegiance to other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do. Then I will not cause you any harm.’

For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.

On all the housetops in Moab and in all its public squares there will be nothing but mourning. For I will break Moab like an unwanted jar. I, the Lord, affirm it!

Therefore you will no longer see false visions and practice divination. I will rescue my people from your power, and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

“This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The Philistines have exacted merciless revenge, showing intense scorn in their effort to destroy Judah with unrelenting hostility.

The horn that was broken and in whose place there arose four others stands for four kingdoms that will arise from his nation, though they will not have his strength.

I will destroy both the winter and summer houses. The houses filled with ivory will be ruined, the great houses will be swept away.” 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.

For this reason I will mourn and wail; I will walk around barefoot and without my outer garments. I will howl like a wild dog, and screech like an owl.

Shave your heads bald as you mourn for the children you love; shave your foreheads as bald as an eagle, for they are taken from you into exile.

Do not rely on a friend; do not trust a companion! Don’t even share secrets with the one who lies in your arms!