Jeremiah 29:11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.(A)
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Isaiah 55:8-12
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.(A)
10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,(B)
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.(C)
12 For you shall go out in joy
and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.(D)
Psalm 33:11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the thoughts of his heart to all generations.(A)
Psalm 40:5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you.
Were I to proclaim and tell of them,
they would be more than can be counted.(A)
Micah 4:12
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
12 But they do not know
the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,
that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.(A)
Job 23:13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
13 But he stands alone, and who can dissuade him?
What he desires, that he does.(A)
Lamentations 3:26
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
26 It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.(A)
Isaiah 46:10-11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
10 declaring the outcome from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, “My purpose shall stand,
and I will fulfill my intention,”(A)
11 calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man for my purpose from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have planned, and I will do it.(B)
Ezekiel 34:11-31
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God, the True Shepherd
11 For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep and will sort them out.(A) 12 As shepherds sort out their flocks when they are among scattered sheep,[a] so I will sort out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.(B) 13 I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them into their own land, and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land.(C) 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.(D) 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strays, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.(E)
17 As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats:(F) 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? 19 And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet and drink what you have fouled with your feet?
20 Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you pushed with flank and shoulder and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, 22 I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged, and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
23 I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them; he shall feed them and be their shepherd.(G) 24 And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.(H)
25 I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild animals from the land, so that they may live in the wild and sleep in the woods securely.(I) 26 I will make them and the region around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.(J) 27 The trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase. They shall be secure on their soil, and they shall know that I am the Lord when I break the bars of their yoke and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them.(K) 28 They shall no more be plunder for the nations, nor shall the animals of the land devour them; they shall live in safety, and no one shall make them afraid.(L) 29 I will provide for them a splendid vegetation so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land and no longer suffer the insults of the nations.(M) 30 They shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord God. 31 You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture,[b] and I am your God, says the Lord God.(N)
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Jeremiah 3:12-19
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say:
Return, faithless Israel,
says the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
for I am merciful,
says the Lord;
I will not be angry forever.(A)
13 Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you have rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree
and have not obeyed my voice,
says the Lord.(B)
14 Return, O faithless children,
says the Lord,
for I am your husband;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.(C)
15 I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.(D) 16 And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the Lord, they shall no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed, nor shall another one be made.(E) 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no longer stubbornly follow their own evil will.(F) 18 In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your ancestors for a heritage.(G)
19 I thought
how I would set you among my children
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful heritage of all the nations.
And I thought you would call to me, “My Father,”
and would not turn from following me.(H)
Jeremiah 31:1-33
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Joyful Return of the Exiles
31 At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.(A)
2 Thus says the Lord:
The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,(B)
3 the Lord appeared to him[a] from far away.[b]
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.(C)
4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!
Again you shall adorn yourself with your tambourines
and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.(D)
5 Again you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
and shall enjoy the fruit.(E)
6 For there shall be a day when sentinels will call
in the hill country of Ephraim:
“Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.”(F)
7 For thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
“Save, O Lord, your people,
the remnant of Israel.”(G)
8 See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child and those in labor together;
a great company, they shall return here.(H)
9 With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations[c] I will lead them back;
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path where they shall not stumble,
for I have become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.(I)
10 Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him
and will keep him as a shepherd does a flock.”(J)
11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.(K)
12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall never languish again.(L)
13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.[d]
I will turn their mourning into joy;
I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow.(M)
14 I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty,
says the Lord.(N)
15 Thus says the Lord:
A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.(O)
16 Thus says the Lord:
Keep your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
says the Lord:
they shall come back from the land of the enemy;(P)
17 there is hope for your future,
says the Lord:
your children shall come back to their own country.(Q)
18 Indeed, I heard Ephraim pleading:
“You disciplined me, and I took the discipline;
I was like an untrained calf.
Bring me back; let me come back,
for you are the Lord my God.(R)
19 For after I had turned away I repented,
and after I was discovered, I struck my thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was dismayed
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”(S)
20 Is Ephraim my dear son?
Is he the child in whom I delight?
As often as I speak against him,
I still remember him.
Therefore I am deeply moved for him;
I will surely have mercy on him,
says the Lord.(T)
21 Set up road markers for yourself;
make yourself signposts;
consider well the highway,
the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
return to these your cities.(U)
22 How long will you waver,
O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
a woman encompasses[e] a man.
23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its towns when I restore their fortunes:
“The Lord bless you, O abode of righteousness,
O holy hill!”(V)
24 And Judah and all its towns shall live there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks.(W)
25 I will satisfy the weary,
and all who are faint I will replenish.(X)
26 Thereupon I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.
Individual Retribution
27 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals.(Y) 28 And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord.(Z) 29 In those days they shall no longer say:
“The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”(AA)
30 But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of the one who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.(AB)
A New Covenant
31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.(AC) 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.(AD) 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.(AE)
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Joel 2:28-32
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God’s Spirit Poured Out
28 [a]Then afterward
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.(A)
29 Even on the male and female slaves,
in those days I will pour out my spirit.(B)
30 I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.(C) 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.(D) 32 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.(E)
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- 2.28 3.1 in Heb
Hosea 14:2-9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 Take words with you
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
“Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
and we will offer
the fruit[a] of our lips.(A)
3 Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride upon horses;
we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”(B)
Assurance of Forgiveness
4 I will heal their disloyalty;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.(C)
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon.[b](D)
6 His shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like that of Lebanon.(E)
7 They shall again live beneath my[c] shadow;
they shall flourish as a garden;[d]
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.(F)
8 O Ephraim, what have I[e] to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.[f]
I am like an evergreen cypress;
your fruit comes from me.(G)
9 Those who are wise understand these things;
those who are discerning know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.(H)
Isaiah 40
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God’s People Are Comforted
40 Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.(A)
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.(B)
3 A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.(C)
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.(D)
5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out!”
And I said,[a] “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass;
their constancy is like the flower of the field.(E)
7 The grass withers; the flower fades,
[[when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.(F)
8 The grass withers; the flower fades,]][b]
but the word of our God will stand forever.(G)
9 Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;[c]
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;[d]
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”(H)
10 See, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him
and his recompense before him.(I)
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms
and carry them in his bosom
and gently lead the mother sheep.(J)
12 Who has measured the waters of the sea[e] in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?(K)
13 Who has directed the spirit of the Lord
or as his counselor has instructed him?(L)
14 Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,
and who taught him the path of justice?
[[Who taught him knowledge
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket
and are accounted as dust on the scales;
see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.(M)
16 Lebanon would not provide fuel enough,
nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering.]][f]
17 All the nations are as nothing before him;
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.(N)
18 To whom, then, will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?(O)
19 An idol? A workman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.(P)
20 As a gift one chooses mulberry wood[g]
—wood that will not rot—
then seeks out a skilled artisan
to set up an image that will not topple.(Q)
21 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?(R)
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
and spreads them like a tent to live in,(S)
23 who brings princes to naught
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.(T)
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.(U)
25 To whom, then, will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.(V)
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.(W)
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?(X)
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.(Y)
29 He gives power to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.(Z)
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted,
31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.(AA)
Hosea 2:14-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 Therefore, I will now allure her
and bring her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.(A)
15 From there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.(B)
16 On that day, says the Lord, you will call me “my husband,” and no longer will you call me “my Baal.”[a] 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more.(C) 18 I will make for you[b] a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground, and I will abolish[c] the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you[d] lie down in safety.(D) 19 And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.(E) 20 I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.(F)
21 On that day I will answer, says the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,[e](G)
23 and I will sow him[f] for myself in the land.
And I will have pity on Lo-ruhamah,[g]
and I will say to Lo-ammi,[h] “You are my people,”
and he shall say, “You are my God.”(H)
Zephaniah 3:14-20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
A Song of Joy
14 Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!(A)
15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall fear disaster no more.(B)
16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Do not fear, O Zion;
do not let your hands grow weak.(C)
17 The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will renew you[a] in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing(D)
18 as on a day of festival.”[b]
I will remove disaster from you,[c]
so that you will not bear reproach for it.
19 I will deal with all your oppressors
at that time.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.(E)
20 At that time I will bring you home,
at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes, says the Lord.(F)
Zechariah 12:5-10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, “The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.”(A)
6 On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot on a pile of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves, and they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.(B)
7 And the Lord will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over that of Judah.(C) 8 On that day the Lord will shield the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, at their head.(D) 9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.(E)
Mourning for the Pierced One
10 And I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that, when they look on the one[a] whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn.(F)
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- 12.10 Heb on me
Jeremiah 30:18-22
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
18 Thus says the Lord:
I am going to restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob
and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound
and the citadel set on its rightful site.(A)
19 Out of them shall come thanksgiving
and the sound of merrymakers.
I will make them many, and they shall not be few;
I will make them honored, and they shall not be disdained.(B)
20 Their children shall be as of old;
their congregation shall be established before me,
and I will punish all who oppress them.
21 Their prince shall be one of their own;
their ruler shall come from their midst;
I will bring him near, and he shall approach me,
for who would otherwise dare to approach me?
says the Lord.(C)
22 And you shall be my people,
and I will be your God.(D)
Zechariah 8:14-15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 “For thus says the Lord of hosts: Just as I purposed to bring disaster upon you when your ancestors provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts,(A) 15 so again I have purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; do not be afraid.
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Micah 7:14-20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock that belongs to you,
which lives alone in a forest
in the midst of a garden land;
let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old.
15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
show us[a] marvelous things.(A)
16 The nations shall see and be ashamed
of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
their ears shall be deaf;(B)
17 they shall lick dust like a snake,
like the crawling things of the earth;
they shall come trembling out of their fortresses;
they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
and they shall stand in fear of you.(C)
God’s Compassion and Steadfast Love
18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over the transgression
of the remnant of his possession?
He does not retain his anger forever
because he delights in showing steadfast love.(D)
19 He will again have compassion upon us;
he will tread our iniquities under foot.
You will cast all our[b] sins
into the depths of the sea.(E)
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our ancestors
from the days of old.(F)
Zechariah 9:9-17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Coming Ruler of God’s People
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.(A)
10 He[a] will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.(B)
11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.(C)
12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.(D)
13 For I have bent Judah as my bow;
I have made Ephraim its arrow.[b]
I will arouse your sons, O Zion,
against your sons, O Greece,
and wield you like a warrior’s sword.(E)
14 Then the Lord will appear over them,
and his arrow go forth like lightning;
the Lord God will sound the trumpet
and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.(F)
15 The Lord of hosts will protect them,
and they shall consume and conquer the slingers;[c]
they shall drink their blood[d] like wine
and be full like a bowl,
drenched like the corners of the altar.(G)
16 On that day the Lord their God will save them,
for they are the flock of his people,
for like the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on his land.(H)
17 For what goodness and beauty are his!
Grain shall make the young men flourish,
and new wine the young women.(I)
Hosea 3:5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 Afterward the Israelites shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; they shall come in awe to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.(A)
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Amos 9:8-15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
8 The eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from the face of the earth
—except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,
says the Lord.(A)
9 For I will command
and shake the house of Israel among all the nations,
as one shakes with a sieve
but no pebble shall fall to the ground.(B)
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
who say, “Evil shall not overtake or meet us.”(C)
The Restoration of David’s Kingdom
11 On that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its[a] breaches
and raise up its[b] ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,(D)
12 in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,
says the Lord who does this.(E)
13 The time is surely coming, says the Lord,
when the one who plows shall catch up with the one who reaps
and the treader of grapes with the one who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.(F)
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.(G)
15 I will plant them upon their land,
and they shall never again be plucked up
out of the land that I have given them,
says the Lord your God.(H)
Micah 5:4-7
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth,(A)
5 and he shall be the one of peace.
If the Assyrians come into our land
and tread upon our soil,[a]
we will raise against them seven shepherds
and eight rulers.(B)
6 They shall rule the land of Assyria with the sword
and the land of Nimrod with the drawn sword;[b]
they[c] shall rescue us from the Assyrians
if they come into our land
or tread within our border.(C)
The Future Role of the Remnant
7 Then the remnant of Jacob,
surrounded by many peoples,
shall be like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass,
which do not depend upon people
or wait for any mortal.(D)
Ezekiel 36:1-37
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Blessing on Israel
36 And you, mortal, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord God: Because the enemy said of you, “Aha!” and, “The ancient heights have become our possession,”(A) 3 therefore prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God: Because they made you desolate indeed and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations and an object of gossip and slander among the people,(B) 4 therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the deserted towns, which have become a source of plunder and an object of derision to the rest of the nations all around;(C) 5 therefore thus says the Lord God: I am speaking in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who, with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, took my land as their possession, because of its pasture, to plunder it.(D) 6 Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and hills, to the watercourses and valleys: Thus says the Lord God: I am speaking in my jealous wrath because you have suffered the insults of the nations;(E) 7 therefore thus says the Lord God: I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer insults.
8 But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot out your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they shall soon come home. 9 See now, I am for you; I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown, 10 and I will multiply your population, the whole house of Israel, all of it; the towns shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt,(F) 11 and I will multiply humans and animals upon you. They shall increase and be fruitful, and I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.(G) 12 I will lead people upon you—my people Israel—and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance. No longer shall you bereave them of children.
13 Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, “You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,” 14 therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, says the Lord God, 15 and no longer will I let you hear the insults of the nations; no longer shall you bear the disgrace of the peoples, and no longer shall you cause your nation to stumble, says the Lord God.(H)
The Renewal of Israel
16 The word of the Lord came to me: 17 Mortal, when the house of Israel lived on their own soil, they defiled it with their ways and their deeds; their conduct in my sight was like the uncleanness of a menstrual period.(I) 18 So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land and for the idols with which they had defiled it.(J) 19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; in accordance with their conduct and their deeds I judged them.(K) 20 But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that it was said of them, “These are the people of the Lord, yet they had to go out of his land.”(L) 21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.(M)
22 Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.(N) 23 I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations and which you have profaned among them, and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I display my holiness before their eyes.(O) 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.(P) 25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.(Q) 26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.(R) 27 I will put my spirit within you and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.(S) 28 Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.(T) 29 I will save you from all your uncleannesses, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.(U) 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field abundant, so that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you shall remember your evil ways and your dealings that were not good, and you shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominable deeds.(V) 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, says the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and dismayed for your ways, O house of Israel.(W)
33 Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the towns to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. 34 The land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. 35 And they will say, “This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined towns are now inhabited and fortified.”(X) 36 Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate; I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.(Y)
37 Thus says the Lord God: I will also let the house of Israel ask me to do this for them: to multiply their people like sheep.
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