How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? ¹  Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure; the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.

At that time ¹  the Lord who commands armies will become a beautiful crown and a splendid diadem for the remnant of his people.

In unison give a joyful shout, O ruins of Jerusalem! For the Lord consoles his people; he protects ¹  Jerusalem.

The Lord comes to pronounce judgment on the leaders of his people and their officials. He says, ¹  “It is you ²  who have ruined ³  the vineyard! ⁴  You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor. ⁵ 

It was reported to the family ¹  of David, “Syria has allied with ²  Ephraim.” They and their people were emotionally shaken, just as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. ³ 

There will be a highway leading out of Assyria for the remnant of his people, ¹  just as there was for Israel, when ²  they went up from the land of Egypt.

Like a frightened gazelle ¹  or a sheep with no shepherd, each will turn toward home, ²  each will run to his homeland.

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.

His people remembered the ancient times. ¹  Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea, along with the shepherd of ²  his flock? Where is the one who placed his holy Spirit among them, ³ 

At that time ¹  the sovereign master ²  will again lift his hand ³  to reclaim ⁴  the remnant of his people ⁵  from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, ⁶  Cush, ⁷  Elam, Shinar, ⁸  Hamath, and the seacoasts. ⁹ 

he will swallow up death permanently. ¹  The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face, and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. Indeed, the Lord has announced it! ² 

The light of the full moon will be like the sun’s glare and the sun’s glare will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, ¹  when the Lord binds up his people’s fractured bones ²  and heals their severe wound. ³ 

This is what your sovereign master, ¹  the Lord your God, says: “Look, I have removed from your hand the cup of intoxicating wine, ²  the goblet full of my anger. ³  You will no longer have to drink it.

No foreigner who becomes a follower of ¹  the Lord should say, ‘The Lord will certainly ²  exclude me from his people.’ The eunuch should not say, ‘Look, I am like a dried-up tree.’”