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The Lord’s Promises

10 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime.
    The Lord makes the clouds.
He sends the showers.
    And he gives everyone green fields.
Idols tell lies.
    Fortune-tellers see false visions.
They tell about false dreams.
    The comfort they give is worth nothing.
So the people are like lost sheep.
    They are abused because there is no shepherd.

The Lord says, “I am angry at my shepherds.
    I will punish the leaders.
I, the Lord of heaven’s armies, will care
    for my flock, which is the people of Judah.
    I will make them like my proud war horses.
From Judah will come the cornerstone
    and the tent peg.
    From him will come the battle bow.
    From him will come every ruler.
They will be like soldiers
    marching to battle through muddy streets.
The Lord is with them.
    So they will fight and defeat the horsemen.

“I will strengthen the people of Judah.
    And I will save the people of Joseph.
I will bring them back
    because I care for them.
It will be as though
    I had never left them.
I am the Lord their God,
    and I will answer their calls for help.
The people of Ephraim will be strong like soldiers.
    They will be glad as when they have drunk wine.
Their children will see it and rejoice.
    They will be happy in the Lord.
I will call my people
    and gather them together.
I will save them.
    And there will be as many of them as there used to be.
I have scattered them among the nations.
    But in those faraway places, they will remember me.
    They and their children will live and return.
10 I will bring them back from Egypt.
    I will gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon.
    There won’t be enough room in the land for them all.
11 They will come through their sea of trouble.
    The waves of the sea will be calm.
    And the Nile River will dry up.
I will defeat Assyria’s pride.
    I will destroy Egypt’s power over other countries.
12 I will make my people strong.
    And they will live as I say,” says the Lord.

10 Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.

Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.

Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.

And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.

And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them.

And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.

I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.

And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.

10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.

11 And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.

12 And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord.