Owls and wild animals ¹  will live there, ²  all kinds of wild birds ³  will settle in it. The Lord ⁴  will stretch out over her the measuring line of ruin and the plumb line ⁵  of destruction. ⁶ 

He assigns them their allotment; ¹  he measures out their assigned place. ²  They will live there ³  permanently; they will settle in it through successive generations.

Among the smooth stones of the stream are the idols you love; they, they are the object of your devotion. ¹  You pour out liquid offerings to them, you make an offering. Because of these things I will seek vengeance. ² 

All of your people will be godly; ¹  they will possess the land permanently. I will plant them like a shoot; they will be the product of my labor, through whom I reveal my splendor. ² 

Instead of shame, you will get a double portion; ¹  instead of humiliation, they will rejoice over the land they receive. ²  Yes, ³  they will possess a double portion in their land and experience lasting joy.

I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains. My chosen ones will take possession of the land; ¹  my servants will live there.

Before I restore them ¹  I will punish them in full ²  for their sins and the wrongs they have done. For they have polluted my land with the lifeless statues of their disgusting idols. They have filled the land I have claimed as my own ³  with their detestable idols.” ⁴ 

The Lord spoke about the Ammonites. ¹  “Do you think there are not any people of the nation of Israel remaining? Do you think there are not any of them remaining to reinherit their land? Is that why you people who worship the god Milcom ²  have taken possession of the territory of Gad and live in his cities? ³ 

Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: You eat the meat with the blood still in it, ¹  pray to ²  your idols, and shed blood. Do you really think you will possess ³  the land?

Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all the insults you spoke against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are desolate, they have been given to us for food.”

I will lead people, my people Israel, across you; they will possess you and you will become their inheritance. No longer will you bereave them of their children.

This is what the sovereign Lord says: “Here ¹  are the borders ²  you will observe as you allot the land to the twelve tribes of Israel. (Joseph will have two portions.) ³ 

You must divide it equally just as I vowed to give it to your forefathers; ¹  this land will be assigned as your inheritance. ² 

I brought you up from the land of Egypt; I led you through the wilderness for forty years so you could take the Amorites’ land as your own.

The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ¹  the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. ²  It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.

As a result they ¹  will conquer those left in Edom ²  and all the nations subject to my rule.” ³  The Lord, who is about to do this, is speaking!

The people of the Negev ¹  will take possession ²  of Esau’s mountain, and the people of the Shephelah ³  will take possession ⁴  of the land of ⁵  the Philistines. They will also take possession of the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, and the people of Benjamin will take possession ⁶  of Gilead. ⁷ 

The exiles of this fortress ¹  of the people of Israel will take possession ²  of what belongs to the people of Canaan, as far as Zarephath, ³  and the exiles of Jerusalem ⁴  who are in Sepharad ⁵  will take possession of the towns of the Negev.

Our ¹  ancestors ²  received possession of it and brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors, ³  until the time ⁴  of David.

And now I entrust ¹  you to God and to the message ²  of his grace. This message ³  is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.