A bull knows its master, and a donkey knows where its owner feeds it. But Israel does not know me. My people do not understand.”

Even children will defeat my people, and women will rule over them. My people, your guides lead you the wrong way, and they destroy the path you should follow.

What gives you the right to hurt my people? What gives you the right to push the faces of the poor into the dirt?” The Lord God All-Powerful said this.

My people don’t really know God. So they will be captured and taken away. Everyone, the respected leaders and the common people as well, will be hungry and thirsty.

The Lord God All-Powerful says, “My people living in Zion, don’t be afraid of Assyria! Yes, he will beat you, and it will be just as the time when Egypt beat you with a stick.

I will destroy the king of Assyria in my country. I will walk on him on my mountains. He forced my people to be his slaves; he put a yoke on their necks. But that pole will be taken off Judah’s neck, and that burden will be removed.

But even the poorest of my people will be able to eat safely. And their children will be able to lie down and feel safe. But I will make your family die from hunger, and your enemy will kill anyone who survives.

The Lord All-Powerful will bless these countries. He will say, “Egypt, you are my people. Assyria, I made you. Israel, I own you. You are all blessed!”

My people, you will be like the grain crushed on my threshing floor. I have told you everything I heard from the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel.

But the Lord says, “Your people have died, but they will live again. The bodies of my people will rise from death. Dead people in the ground, stand and be happy! The dew covering you is like the dew sparkling in the light of a new day. It shows that a new time is coming, when the earth will give birth to the dead who are in it.”

Judgment: Reward or Punishment

My people, go into your rooms and lock your doors. Hide in there for a short time until God’s anger is finished.

Many of my people are now lost in Assyria. Some of my people have run away to Egypt. But at that time a great trumpet will be blown, and all those people will come back to Jerusalem. They will bow down before the Lord on that holy mountain.

Cry for the land of my people. Cry because only thorns and weeds will grow there. Cry for the city and for all the houses that were once filled with joy.

My people will be safe in their homes and in their calm, peaceful fields.

Israel’s Punishment Will End

Your God says, “Comfort, comfort my people.

Then I will lead the blind along a path they never knew to places where they have never been before. I will change darkness into light for them. I will make the rough ground smooth. I will do these things for them; I will not abandon my people.

My people see what they should do, but they do not obey me. They can hear with their ears, but they refuse to listen to me.”

I will tell the north: Give my people to me. I will tell the south: Don’t keep my people in prison. Bring my sons and daughters to me from the faraway places.

I was right to give power to Cyrus, and I will make his work easy. He will rebuild my city, and he will set my people free without bribes or payment.” The Lord All-Powerful said this.

“My people say, ‘God saves us. His name is the Lord All-Powerful, the Holy One of Israel.’”

“I was angry with my people. They were mine, but I turned against them. I let you punish them, but you showed them no mercy. Even for those who were old you made the work hard.

You said, ‘I will live forever. I will always be the queen.’ You didn’t care what you did to my people. You didn’t think about what might happen later.

“Jacob, listen to me! Israel, I called you to be my people. So listen to me! I am the Beginning, and I am the End.

My people, leave Babylon! My people, run from the Chaldeans! Tell the news with joy. Spread the news around the world. Tell them, “The Lord rescued his servant Jacob.”

I will make a road for my people. The mountains will be made flat, and the low roads will be raised.