“‘It then came about that just as I ¹  cried out, but they would not obey, so they will cry out, but I will not listen,’ the Lord Lord who rules over all had said.

And it will come about that just as you (both Judah and Israel) were a curse to the nations, so I will save you and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid! Instead, be strong!’

“For the Lord who rules over all says, ‘As I had planned to hurt ¹  you when your fathers made me angry,’ says the Lord who rules over all, ‘and I was not sorry,

But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers? ¹  Then they paid attention ²  and confessed, ‘The Lord who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.’”

by asking both the priests of the temple ¹  of the Lord who rules over all and the prophets, “Should we weep in the fifth month, ²  fasting as we have done over the years?”

“I (says the Lord) will strengthen the kingdom ¹  of Judah and deliver the people of Joseph ²  and will bring them back ³  because of my compassion for them. They will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and therefore I will hear them.

Then you will escape ¹  through my mountain valley, for the mountains will extend to Azal. ²  Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah ³  of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come with all his holy ones with him.