⁹ If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    had not spared a few of us,^[a]
we would have been wiped out like Sodom,
    destroyed like Gomorrah.

²³ So he declared he would destroy them.
    But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people.
    He begged him to turn from his anger and not destroy them.

“Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore,
    only a remnant will be saved.

¹⁵ Hate evil and love what is good;
    turn your courts into true halls of justice.
Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies
    will have mercy on the remnant of his people.^[a]

¹⁷ Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence,
    stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.
Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!
    Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.
Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say,
    ‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”

⁷ “Listen to me, you who know right from wrong,
    you who cherish my law in your hearts.
Do not be afraid of people’s scorn,
    nor fear their insults.
⁸ For the moth will devour them as it devours clothing.
    The worm will eat at them as it eats wool.
But my righteousness will last forever.
    My salvation will continue from generation to generation.”