<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> will certainly have compassion on Jacob;<n id="1" /> he will again choose Israel as his special people<n id="2" /> and restore<n id="3" /> them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family<n id="4" /> of Jacob.

<p class="bodytext">For this is what the sovereign master<n id="1" /> has told me: &#8220;Within exactly one year<n id="2" /> all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.

<p class="poetry">He said,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;You will no longer celebrate,p> <p class="poetry">oppressed<n id="1" /> virgin daughter Sidon!p> <p class="poetry">Get up, travel to Cyprus,p> <p class="poetry">but you will find no relief there.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The sovereign master<n id="1" /> will give you distress to eatp> <p class="poetry">and suffering to drink;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">but your teachers will no longer be hidden;p> <p class="poetry">your eyes will see them.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I thought,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I will no longer see the <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> in the land of the living,p> <p class="poetry">I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">So now, listen to this,p> <p class="poetry">O one who lives so lavishly,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">who lives securely,p> <p class="poetry">who says to herself,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;I am unique! No one can compare to me!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will never have to live as a widow;p> <p class="poetry">I will never lose my children.&#8217;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">You were complacent in your evil deeds;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you thought,<n id="2" /> &#8216;No one sees me.&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">Your self-professed<n id="3" /> wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,p> <p class="poetry">when you say, &#8216;I am unique! No one can compare to me!&#8217;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Sounds of violence<n id="1" /> will no longer be heard in your land,p> <p class="poetry">or the sounds of<n id="2" /> destruction and devastation within your borders.p> <p class="poetry">You will name your walls, &#8216;Deliverance,&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">and your gates, &#8216;Praise.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">Your sun will no longer set;p> <p class="poetry">your moon will not disappear;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the <sc>Lordsc> will be your permanent source of light;p> <p class="poetry">your time<n id="2" /> of sorrow will be over.p>

<p class="poetry">But our tents have been destroyed.p> <p class="poetry">The ropes that held them in place have been ripped apart.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Our children are gone and are not coming back.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">There is no survivor to put our tents back up,p> <p class="poetry">no one left to hang their tent curtains in place.p>

<p class="poetry">People of Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> I have seen your adulterous worship,p> <p class="poetry">your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I have seen your disgusting acts of worship<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">on the hills throughout the countryside.p> <p class="poetry">You are doomed to destruction!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">How long will you continue to be unclean?&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Yet<n id="1" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="2" /> &#8220;A new time will certainly come.<n id="3" /> People now affirm their oaths with &#8216;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.&#8217;

<p class="poetry">Sometimes I think, &#8220;I will make no mention of his message.p> <p class="poetry">I will not speak as his messenger<n id="1" /> any more.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">But then<n id="2" /> his message becomes like a firep> <p class="poetry">locked up inside of me, burning in my heart and soul.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I grow weary of trying to hold it in;p> <p class="poetry">I cannot contain it.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;Do not weep for the king who was killed.p> <p class="poetry">Do not grieve for him.p> <p class="poetry">But weep mournfully for the king who has gone into exile.p> <p class="poetry">For he will never return to see his native land again.<n id="1" />p>

For he will die in the country where they took him as a captive. He will never see this land again.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

I will install rulers<n id="1" /> over them who will care for them. Then they will no longer need to fear or be terrified. None of them will turn up missing.<n id="2" /> I, the <sc>Lordsc>, promise it!<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;A new time will certainly come.<n id="2" /> People now affirm their oaths with &#8220;I swear as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.&#8221;

You must no longer say that the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s message is burdensome.<n id="1" /> For what is &#8216;burdensome&#8217;<n id="2" /> really pertains to what a person himself says.<n id="3" /> You are misrepresenting<n id="4" /> the words of our God, the living God, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="5" />

<p class="poetry">When the time for them to be rescued comes,&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I will rescue you from foreign subjugation.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will deliver you from captivity.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.p>

For the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8220;Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.&#8221;&#8217;<n id="2" />p>