Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast? ¹  Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? ²  Even if mothers ³  were to forget, I could never forget you! ⁴ 

The one who vindicates me is close by. Who dares to argue with me? Let us confront each other! ¹  Who is my accuser? ²  Let him challenge me! ³ 

I am ready to vindicate, ¹  I am ready to deliver, ²  I will establish justice among the nations. ³  The coastlands ⁴  wait patiently for me; they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. ⁵ 

All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. ¹ 

Each one says, ¹  ‘Come on, I’ll get some wine! Let’s guzzle some beer! Tomorrow will be just like today! We’ll have everything we want!’ ² 

I spread out my hands all day long to my rebellious people, who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable, and who did what they desired. ¹ 

They sit among the tombs ¹  and keep watch all night long. ²  They eat pork, ³  and broth ⁴  from unclean sacrificial meat is in their pans.

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I look the other way; ¹  when you offer your many prayers, I do not listen, because your hands are covered with blood. ² 

Your officials are rebels, ¹  they associate with ²  thieves. All of them love bribery, and look for ³  payoffs. ⁴  They do not take up the cause of the orphan, ⁵  or defend the rights of the widow. ⁶ 

In the future ¹  the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure ²  as the most important of mountains, and will be the most prominent of hills. ³  All the nations will stream to it,

Seven women will grab hold of one man at that time. ¹  They will say, “We will provide ²  our own food, we will provide ³  our own clothes; but let us belong to you ⁴  – take away our shame!” ⁵ 

They will pass through the land ¹  destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, ²  and they will curse their king and their God ³  as they look upward.

Syria from the east, and the Philistines from the west, they gobbled up Israelite territory. ¹  Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. ² 

What will you do on judgment day, ¹  when destruction arrives from a distant place? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

At that time ¹  those left in Israel, those who remain of the family ²  of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. ³  Instead they will truly ⁴  rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. ⁵ 

A wolf will reside ¹  with a lamb, and a leopard will lie down with a young goat; an ox and a young lion will graze together, ²  as a small child leads them along.

You said to yourself, ¹  “I will climb up to the sky. Above the stars of El ²  I will set up my throne. I will rule on the mountain of assembly on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ³ 

Indeed, the waters of Dimon ¹  are full of blood! Indeed, I will heap even more trouble on Dimon. ²  A lion will attack ³  the Moabite fugitives and the people left in the land.

Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, ¹  when he shouts at ²  them, they will flee to a distant land, driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills, or like dead thistles ³  before a strong gale.

At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will visit Egypt, and the Egyptians will visit Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. ¹