¹¹ I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, ¹² while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Israel’s Disobedience and Rejection

²⁴ “What shall I do to you, O Jacob? You would not obey me, O Judah. I will turn to other nations and will give them my name, that they may keep my statutes. ²⁵ Because you have forsaken me, I also will forsake you. When you beg mercy of me, I will show you no mercy. ²⁶ When you call upon me, I will not listen to you; for you have defiled your hands with blood, and your feet are swift to commit murder. ²⁷ It is not as though you had forsaken me; you have forsaken yourselves, says the Lord.

²⁸ “Thus says the Lord Almighty: Have I not entreated you as a father entreats his sons or a mother her daughters or a nurse her children, ²⁹ that you should be my people and I should be your God, and that you should be my sons and I should be your father? ³⁰ I gathered you as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. But now, what shall I do to you? I will cast you out from my presence. ³¹ When you offer oblations to me, I will turn my face from you; for I have rejected your feast days, and new moons, and circumcisions of the flesh. ³² I sent to you my servants the prophets, but you have taken and slain them and torn their bodies in pieces; their blood I will require of you, says the Lord.

³³ “Thus says the Lord Almighty: Your house is desolate; I will drive you out as the wind drives straw; ³⁴ and your sons will have no children, because with you they have neglected my commandment and have done what is evil in my sight. ³⁵ I will give your houses to a people that will come, who without having heard me will believe. Those to whom I have shown no signs will do what I have commanded. ³⁶ They have seen no prophets, yet will recall their former state.^{[a] 37} I call to witness the gratitude of the people that is to come, whose children rejoice with gladness; though they do not see me with bodily eyes, yet with the spirit they will believe the things I have said.

³⁸ “And now, father, look with pride and see the people coming from the east; ³⁹ to them I will give as leaders Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Hose′a and Amos and Micah and Jo′el and Obadi′ah and Jonah ⁴⁰ and Nahum and Hab′akkuk, Zephani′ah, Haggai, Zechari′ah and Mal′achi, who is also called the messenger of the Lord.