Judah and Israel will be Restored

¹ Ask of the Lord for rain in the spring time,
the Lord who makes storm clouds.
He gives rain showers to everyone
for the plants in the field.
² For the idols speak vanity
and the diviners have seen a lie,
and they have told of false dreams.
They comfort in vain.
Therefore they go their way like sheep.
They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.

³ My anger is burning against the shepherds,
and I will punish the leaders.
For the Lord of Hosts cares for his flock,
the house of Judah,
and will make them his majestic warhorse.
⁴ From Judah, will come the cornerstone,
from him the nail,
from him the battle bow,
from him every ruler.
⁵ Together they shall be mighty in battle,
treading down their enemies in the mud,
and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them,
and the rival horsemen will be put to shame.

⁶ “I will strengthen the house of Judah,
and I will save the house of Joseph,
and I will bring them back,
for I have compassion for them,
and they will be as if I had never rejected them,
for I am the Lord their God, and I will hear them.
⁷ Ephraim will be like a warrior,
and their heart will rejoice as if from wine.
Yes, their children will see it and rejoice.
Their heart will be glad in the Lord.

⁸ I will signal for them and gather them,
for I have redeemed them,
and they will increase as they had been increasing.
⁹ I will sow them among the peoples,
and they will remember me in faraway lands,
and they will live, along with their children, and will return.
¹⁰ And I will bring them back from the land of Egypt,
and gather them out of Assyria,
and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon,
and there will not be room enough for them.
¹¹ They will pass through the sea of affliction
and will strike the waves of the sea,
and all the depths of the Nile will dry up,
and the pride of Assyria will be brought down,
and the scepter of Egypt will depart.
¹² I will strengthen them in the Lord,
and they will come and go, walking in his name,” says the Lord.

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