For this is what the Lord said to me:

As a lion or young lion growls over its prey(A)
when a band of shepherds is called out against it,
and it is not terrified by their shouting
or subdued by their noise,
so the Lord of Armies will come down
to fight on Mount Zion
and on its hill.(B)

Like hovering birds,
so the Lord of Armies will protect Jerusalem;(C)
by protecting it, he will rescue it;
by passing over it, he will deliver it.

Return to the one the Israelites have greatly rebelled against.(D)

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For thus the Lord said to me,
(A)“As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,
    and when a band of shepherds is called out against him
he is not terrified by their shouting
    or daunted at their noise,
(B)so the Lord of hosts will come down
    to fight[a] on Mount Zion and on its hill.
(C)Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts
    will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
    he will spare and rescue it.”

(D)Turn to him from whom people[b] have (E)deeply revolted, O children of Israel.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 31:4 The Hebrew words for hosts and to fight sound alike
  2. Isaiah 31:6 Hebrew they