From there I will give back her vineyards to her, and turn the “Valley of Trouble” ¹  into an “Opportunity ²  for Hope.” There she will sing as she did when she was young, ³  when ⁴  she came up from the land of Egypt.

Then I will plant her as my own ¹  in the land. I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah). I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’ And he ²  will say, ‘You are ³  my God!’”

They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice ¹  under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!

The time of judgment ¹  is about to arrive! ²  The time of retribution ³  is imminent! ⁴  Let Israel know! ⁵ The prophet is considered a fool ⁶  – the inspired man ⁷  is viewed as a madman ⁸  – because of the multitude of your sins and your intense ⁹  animosity.

Even though he flourishes like a reed plant, ¹  a scorching east wind will come, a wind from the Lord rising up from the desert. As a result, his spring will dry up; ²  his well will become dry. That wind ³  will spoil all his delightful foods in the containers in his storehouse.

I will remove the one from the north ¹  far from you. I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place. Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea, ²  and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. ³  His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” ⁴  Indeed, the Lord ⁵  has accomplished great things.

It will so happen that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. ¹  For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem ²  there will be those who survive, ³  just as the Lord has promised; the remnant ⁴  will be those whom the Lord will call. ⁵ 

This is what the Lord says: “Just as a shepherd salvages from the lion’s mouth a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be salvaged. ¹  They will be left with just a corner of a bed, ²  and a part ³  of a couch.”

I will turn your festivals into funerals, ¹  and all your songs into funeral dirges. I will make everyone wear funeral clothes ²  and cause every head to be shaved bald. ³  I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; ⁴  when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day. ⁵ 

So they cried out to the Lord, “Oh, please, Lord, don’t let us die on account of this man! Don’t hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood. ¹  After all, you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.” ² 

All her carved idols will be smashed to pieces; all her metal cult statues will be destroyed by fire. ¹  I will make a waste heap ²  of all her images. Since ³  she gathered the metal ⁴  as a prostitute collects her wages, the idols will become a prostitute’s wages again.” ⁵ 

Twist and strain, ¹  Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor! For you will leave the city and live in the open field. You will go to Babylon, but there you will be rescued. There the Lord will deliver ²  you from the power ³  of your enemies.

Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod, ¹  the flock that belongs to you, ²  the one that lives alone in a thicket, in the midst of a pastureland. ³  Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead, ⁴  as they did in the old days. ⁵ 

Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, ¹  along with the whole remnant of the people, ²  obeyed ³  the Lord their God. They responded favorably to the message of the prophet Haggai, who spoke just as the Lord their God had instructed him, ⁴  and the people began to respect the Lord. ⁵ 

As for the stone ¹  I have set before Joshua – on the one stone there are seven eyes. ²  I am about to engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord who rules over all, ‘to the effect that I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. ³ 

Indeed, he will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed in splendor, sitting as king on his throne. Moreover, there will be a priest ¹  with him on his throne and they will see eye to eye on everything.

For the household gods ¹  have spoken wickedness, the soothsayers have seen a lie, and as for the dreamers, they have disclosed emptiness and give comfort in vain. Therefore the people set out like sheep and become scattered because they have no shepherd. ² 

“I (says the Lord) will strengthen the kingdom ¹  of Judah and deliver the people of Joseph ²  and will bring them back ³  because of my compassion for them. They will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and therefore I will hear them.

“I will pour out on the kingship ¹  of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, ²  the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. ³ 

Then you will escape ¹  through my mountain valley, for the mountains will extend to Azal. ²  Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah ³  of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come with all his holy ones with him.