But the horde of invaders will be like fine dust, the horde of tyrants ¹  like chaff that is blown away. It will happen suddenly, in a flash.

¹ Zion will be freed by justice, ²  and her returnees by righteousness. ³ 

At that time ¹  the Lord will punish ²  the heavenly forces in the heavens ³  and the earthly kings on the earth.

A cow and a bear will graze together, their young will lie down together. ¹  A lion, like an ox, will eat straw.

The Lord who commands armies told me this: ¹  “Many houses will certainly become desolate, large, impressive houses will have no one living in them. ² 

Shout for joy, O sky! ¹  Rejoice, O earth! Let the mountains give a joyful shout! For the Lord consoles his people and shows compassion to the ²  oppressed.

Sheol ¹  below is stirred up about you, ready to meet you when you arrive. It rouses ²  the spirits of the dead for you, all the former leaders of the earth; ³  it makes all the former kings of the nations rise from their thrones. ⁴ 

For you are a protector for the poor, a protector for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm, a shade from the heat. Though the breath of tyrants ¹  is like a winter rainstorm, ² 

like heat ¹  in a dry land, you humble the boasting foreigners. ²  Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, ³  so he causes the song of tyrants to cease. ⁴ 

Lambs ¹  will graze as if in their pastures, amid the ruins the rich sojourners will graze. ² 

The earth ¹  dries up ²  and withers, the world shrivels up and withers; the prominent people of the earth ³  fade away.

The Lord says, ¹  “I will make youths their officials; malicious young men ²  will rule over them.

Your ¹  men will fall by the sword, your strong men will die in battle. ² 

Remember this, so you can be brave! ¹  Think about it, you rebels! ² 

So listen to this, oppressed one, who is drunk, but not from wine!

He will lift a signal flag for the nations; he will gather Israel’s dispersed people ¹  and assemble Judah’s scattered people from the four corners of the earth.

O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor, ¹  what I have heard from the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel, I have reported to you.

They pronounce the guilty innocent for a payoff, they ignore the just cause of the innocent. ¹ 

Their children will be smashed to pieces before their very eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives raped.

So a strong nation will extol you; the towns of ¹  powerful nations will fear you.