⁴ “In those days, at that time,”
    declares the Lord,
“the people of Israel and the people of Judah together^(A)
    will go in tears^(B) to seek^(C) the Lord their God.
⁵ They will ask the way^(D) to Zion
    and turn their faces toward it.
They will come^(E) and bind themselves to the Lord
    in an everlasting covenant^(F)
    that will not be forgotten.

⁶ “My people have been lost sheep;^(G)
    their shepherds^(H) have led them astray^(I)
    and caused them to roam on the mountains.
They wandered over mountain and hill^(J)
    and forgot their own resting place.^(K)
7 Whoever found them devoured^(L) them;
    their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty,^(M)
for they sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture,
    the Lord, the hope^(N) of their ancestors.’

⁸ “Flee^(O) out of Babylon;^(P)
    leave the land of the Babylonians,
    and be like the goats that lead the flock.
⁹ For I will stir^(Q) up and bring against Babylon
    an alliance of great nations^(R) from the land of the north.^(S)
They will take up their positions against her,
    and from the north she will be captured.^(T)
Their arrows^(U) will be like skilled warriors
    who do not return empty-handed.
¹⁰ So Babylonia^[a] will be plundered;^(V)
    all who plunder her will have their fill,”
declares the Lord.