The Restoration for Judah and Israel

¹Ask rain bfrom the Lord

in the season of cthe spring rain,

from the Lord dwho makes the storm clouds,

and ehe will give them showers of rain,

to everyone the vegetation in the field.

²For fthe household gods gutter nonsense,

and the diviners see lies;

hthey tell false dreams

and give empty consolation.

Therefore ithe people wander like sheep;

they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.

³j“My anger is hot against the shepherds,

and kI will punish the leaders;1

for lthe Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,

and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.

⁴From him shall come mthe cornerstone,

from him nthe tent peg,

from him the battle bow,

from him every ruler—oall of them together.

⁵They shall be like mighty men in battle,

ptrampling the foe in the mud of the streets;

they shall fight because the Lord is with them,

and they shall put to shame qthe riders on horses.

⁶r“I will strengthen the house of Judah,

and sI will save the house of Joseph.

tI will bring them back ubecause I have compassion on them,

and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,

for vI am the Lord their God and I will answer them.

⁷Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior,

and wtheir hearts shall be glad as with wine.

Their children shall see it and be glad;

their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord.

⁸x“I will whistle for them and ygather them in,

for I have redeemed them,

and zthey shall be as many as they were before.

⁹aThough I scattered them among the nations,

yet in far countries bthey shall remember me,

and with their children they shall live and return.

¹⁰cI will bring them home from the land of Egypt,

and gather them from Assyria,

and dI will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,

etill there is no room for them.

¹¹fHe shall pass through the sea of troubles

and strike down the waves of the sea,

gand all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up.

The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,

and hthe scepter of Egypt shall depart.

¹²iI will make them strong in the Lord,

and jthey shall walk in his name,”

declares the Lord.