²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,

⁹ By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, ^(A)dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, ^(B)the heirs with him of the same promise; ¹⁰ for he waited for ^(C)the city which has foundations, ^(D)whose builder and maker is God.

¹⁵ They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of ^(A)Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

¹⁶ But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed ^(A)to be called their God, for He has ^(B)prepared a city for them.

¹⁰ “Thus says the Lord: ‘Again there shall be heard in this place—^(A)of which you say, “It is desolate, without man and without beast”—in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, ¹¹ the ^(B)voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say:

and of those who will bring ^(D)the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,’ says the Lord.

¹² “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(E)‘In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. ^13 (F)In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again ^(G)pass under the hands of him who counts them,’ says the Lord.