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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!”
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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My people will be safe in their homes and in their calm, peaceful fields.
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Israel’s Punishment Will End
Your God says, “Comfort, comfort my people.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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“My people say, ‘God saves us. His name is the Lord All-Powerful, the Holy One of Israel.’”
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“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.
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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.
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“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.
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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.”
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I will make a road for my people. The mountains will be made flat, and the low roads will be raised.
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“My people, listen to me! My decisions will be like lights showing people how to live.
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“My servant, I gave you the words I want you to say, and I covered you with my hands to protect you. I did this to make a new heaven and earth and so that you would say to Israel, ‘You are my people.’”
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The Lord God says, “First, my people went down to Egypt and became slaves. Then Assyria made them slaves.
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Now look what has happened. Another nation has taken my people,” says the Lord. “That country did not pay to take my people, but they rule over them and laugh at them, and they say bad things about me all the time.” The Lord is the one saying these things.
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“This happened so that my people will learn about me. My people will know who I am. My people will know my name, and they will know that I Am He is speaking to them.”
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So I will put a memorial stone in my Temple for them. Their name will be remembered in my city! Yes, I will give those eunuchs something better than sons and daughters. I will give them a name that will last forever! They will not be cut off from my people.
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The Lord Will Save His People
Clear the road! Clear the road! Make the way clear for my people!
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I will not accuse my people forever. I will not always be angry. If I continued to show my anger, then the human spirit, the life I gave them, would die before me.
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That’s because I am the Lord and I love justice. I hate stealing and everything that is wrong. So I will give the people what they deserve. I will make an agreement with my people forever.
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I chose a time to punish people. Now the time has come for me to save and protect my people.
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I looked around, but I saw no one to help me. I was surprised that no one supported me. So I used my own power to save my people. My own anger supported me.
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He said, “These are my people. These are my real children.” So he saved them.
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Then Sharon Valley will be a field for sheep. The Valley of Achor will be a place for cattle to rest. All this will be for my people—for the people who come to me for help.
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My people will be happy and rejoice forever and ever because of what I will make. I will make a Jerusalem that is full of joy, and I will make her people happy.
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“Then I will rejoice with Jerusalem. I will be happy with my people. There will never again be crying and sadness in that city.
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Never again will one person build a house and another person live there. Never again will one person plant a garden and another eat the fruit from it. My people will live as long as the trees. My chosen people will get full use of whatever they make.
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Never again will a woman suffer childbirth and have her baby die. Women will not fear childbirth. I, the Lord, will bless all my people and their children.