<t /><p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions<n id="1" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">make that four!<n id="2" /> &#8211; I will not revoke my decree of judgment.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They sold the innocent<n id="4" /> for silver,p> <p class="poetry">the needy for a pair of sandals.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;But surely I gave<n id="1" /> you no food to eat in any of your cities;p> <p class="poetry">you lacked food everywhere you live.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Still you did not come back to me.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> is speaking!p>

<p class="poetry">People from<n id="1" /> two or three cities staggered into one city to get<n id="2" /> water,p> <p class="poetry">but remained thirsty.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Still you did not come back to me.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> is speaking!p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I destroyed your crops<n id="1" /> with blight and disease.p> <p class="poetry">Locusts kept<n id="2" /> devouring your orchards,<n id="3" /> vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees.p> <p class="poetry">Still you did not come back to me.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> is speaking!p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I overthrew some of you the way God<n id="1" /> overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You were like a burning stick<n id="3" /> snatched from the flames.p> <p class="poetry">Still you did not come back to me.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> is speaking!p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;For the day of the <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> is approaching<n id="2" /> for all the nations!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Just as you have done, so it will be done to you.p> <p class="poetry">You will get exactly what your deeds deserve.<n id="4" />p>

Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly<n id="1" /> to God, and everyone<n id="2" /> must turn from their<n id="3" /> evil way of living<n id="4" /> and from the violence that they do.<n id="5" />

When God saw their actions &#8211; they turned<n id="1" /> from their evil way of living!<n id="2" /> &#8211; God relented concerning the judgment<n id="3" /> he had threatened them with<n id="4" /> and he did not destroy them.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">So the <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> will hand the people of Israel<n id="2" /> over to their enemies<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">until the time when the woman in labor<n id="4" /> gives birth.<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">Then the rest of the king&#8217;s<n id="6" /> countrymen will returnp> <p class="poetry">to be reunited with the people of Israel.<n id="7" />p>

<p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> will restore<n id="1" /> the majesty<n id="2" /> of Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">as well as<n id="3" /> the majesty of Israel,p> <p class="poetry">though<n id="4" /> their enemies have plundered them<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">and have destroyed their fields.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will stand at my watch post;p> <p class="poetry">I will remain stationed on the city wall.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I will keep watching, so I can see what he says to mep> <p class="poetry">and can know<n id="2" /> how I should answerp> <p class="poetry">when he counters my argument.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">Those who are left from the kingdom of Judah<n id="1" /> will take possession of it.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">By the sea<n id="3" /> they<n id="4" /> will graze,p> <p class="poetry">in the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down in the evening,p> <p class="poetry">for the <sc>Lordsc> their God will intervene for them<n id="5" /> and restore their prosperity.<n id="6" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;Therefore,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8216;I have become compassionate<n id="1" /> toward Jerusalem<n id="2" /> and will rebuild my temple<n id="3" /> in it,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all. &#8216;Once more a surveyor&#8217;s measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.&#8217;

<t /><p class="bodytext">Once more I looked, and this time I saw four chariots emerging from between two mountains of bronze.<n id="1" />

&#8216;Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.&#8217; Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful<n id="1" /> land a waste.&#8221;p>

The Lord says, &#8216;I have returned to Zion and will live within Jerusalem.<n id="1" /> Now Jerusalem will be called &#8220;truthful city,&#8221; &#8220;mountain of the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,&#8221; &#8220;holy mountain.&#8221;&#8217;

so, to the contrary, I have planned in these days to do good to Jerusalem and Judah &#8211; do not fear!

Then I will surround my temple<n id="1" /> to protect it like a guard<n id="2" /> from anyone crossing back and forth; so no one will cross over against them anymore as an oppressor, for now I myself have seen it.p>

I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria.<n id="1" /> I will bring them to the lands of Gilead and Lebanon, for there will not be enough room for them in their own land.

He taught what was true;<n id="1" /> sinful words were not found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity, and he turned many people away from sin.