Edom ¹  says, “Though we are devastated, we will once again build the ruined places.” So the Lord who rules over all ²  responds, “They indeed may build, but I will overthrow. They will be known as ³  the land of evil, the people with whom the Lord is permanently displeased.

And they threw dust on their heads and were shouting with weeping and mourning, ¹  “Woe, Woe, O great city – in which all those who had ships on the sea got rich from her wealth – because in a single hour she has been destroyed!” ² 

The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible land, ¹  so he is to send the goat away ²  in the wilderness.

and who brought you through the great, fearful desert of venomous serpents ¹  and scorpions, an arid place with no water. He made water flow ²  from a flint rock and

The Lord ¹  found him ²  in a desolate land, in an empty wasteland where animals howl. ³  He continually guarded him ⁴  and taught him; ⁵  he continually protected him ⁶  like the pupil ⁷  of his eye.

The Lord was angry at Judah and Jerusalem and made them an appalling object of horror at which people hiss out their scorn, ¹  as you can see with your own eyes.

He lifted me out of the watery pit, ¹  out of the slimy mud. ²  He placed my feet on a rock and gave me secure footing. ³ 

So do not be excessively righteous or excessively ¹  wise; ²  otherwise ³  you might ⁴  be disappointed. ⁵ 

Daughter Zion ¹  is left isolated, like a hut in a vineyard, or a shelter in a cucumber field; she is a besieged city. ² 

If the Lord who commands armies ¹  had not left us a few survivors, we would have quickly become like Sodom, ²  we would have become like Gomorrah.

Here is why this will be so: ¹  Before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right, the land ²  whose two kings you fear will be desolate. ³ 

“I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals ¹  and covered with pools of stagnant water. I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom,” ²  says the Lord who commands armies.

This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven. ¹  Then the desert will become an orchard and the orchard will be considered a forest. ² 

Highways are empty, ¹  there are no travelers. ²  Treaties are broken, ³  witnesses are despised, ⁴  human life is treated with disrespect. ⁵ 

I will make streams flow down the slopes and produce springs in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water and the arid land into springs.

“O afflicted one, driven away, ¹  and unconsoled! Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony and I lay your foundation with lapis-lazuli.

Sounds of violence ¹  will no longer be heard in your land, or the sounds of ²  destruction and devastation within your borders. You will name your walls, ‘Deliverance,’ and your gates, ‘Praise.’

“A noise is heard on the hilltops. It is the sound of the people of Israel crying and pleading to their gods. Indeed they have followed sinful ways; ¹  they have forgotten to be true to the Lord their God. ² 

“At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem ¹  will be told, ‘A scorching wind will sweep down from the hilltops in the desert on ²  my dear people. ³  It will not be a gentle breeze for winnowing the grain and blowing away the chaff. ⁴ 

I see ¹  one destruction after another taking place, so that the whole land lies in ruins. I see our ²  tents suddenly destroyed, their ³  curtains torn down in a mere instant. ⁴