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

Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time? ¹  Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground?

The oxen and donkeys used in plowing ¹  will eat seasoned feed winnowed with a shovel and pitchfork. ² 

He will water the seed you plant in the ground, and the ground will produce crops in abundance. ¹  At that time ²  your cattle will graze in wide pastures.

Your land is devastated, your cities burned with fire. Right before your eyes your crops are being destroyed by foreign invaders. ¹  They leave behind devastation and destruction. ² 

I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said, “Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated, and houses are uninhabited, and the land is ruined and devastated,

Here is why this will be so: ¹  Before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right, the land ²  whose two kings you fear will be desolate. ³ 

The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; ¹  he will again choose Israel as his special people ²  and restore ³  them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family ⁴  of Jacob.

Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. ¹  They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.

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.

At the end of seventy years ¹  the Lord will revive ²  Tyre. She will start making money again by selling her services to all the earth’s kingdoms. ³ 

Mourn ¹  over the land of my people, which is overgrown with thorns and briers, and over all the once-happy houses ²  in the city filled with revelry. ³ 

One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, ¹  one who is like a mere ²  shard among the other shards on the ground! The clay should not say to the potter, ³  “What in the world ⁴  are you doing? Your work lacks skill!” ⁵ 

The land of Judah will humiliate Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be afraid because of what the Lord who commands armies is planning to do to them. ¹