¹² He will raise a banner^(A) for the nations
    and gather^(B) the exiles of Israel;^(C)
he will assemble the scattered people^(D) of Judah
    from the four quarters of the earth.^(E)

¹³ Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,
    and Judah’s enemies^[a] will be destroyed;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
    nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.^(A)

“Virgin Daughter^(A) Zion^(B)
    despises and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
    tosses her head^(C) as you flee.
²³ Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?^(D)
    Against whom have you raised your voice^(E)
and lifted your eyes in pride?^(F)
    Against the Holy One^(G) of Israel!
²⁴ By your messengers
    you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,
    ‘With my many chariots^(H)
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
    the utmost heights^(I) of Lebanon.^(J)
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
    the choicest of its junipers.^(K)
I have reached its remotest heights,
    the finest of its forests.
²⁵ I have dug wells in foreign lands^[a]
    and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
    I have dried up^(L) all the streams of Egypt.^(M)’

²⁶ “Have you not heard?
    Long ago I ordained^(N) it.
In days of old I planned^(O) it;
    now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
    into piles of stone.^(P)
27 Their people, drained of power,
    are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
    like tender green shoots,
like grass^(Q) sprouting on the roof,^(R)
    scorched^[b] before it grows up.

²⁸ “But I know where you are
    and when you come and go^(S)
    and how you rage^(T) against me.