Look, they are like straw, which the fire burns up; they cannot rescue themselves from the heat ¹  of the flames. There are no coals to warm them, no firelight to enjoy. ² 

Look all around you! ¹  All of them gather to you. As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry; you will put them on as if you were a bride.

Your children faint; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a snare. They are left in a stupor by the Lord’s anger, by the battle cry of your God. ¹ 

All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. ¹ 

Pay attention and come to me! Listen, so you can live! ¹  Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ²  you, just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ³ 

No foreigner who becomes a follower of ¹  the Lord should say, ‘The Lord will certainly ²  exclude me from his people.’ The eunuch should not say, ‘Look, I am like a dried-up tree.’”

Each one says, ¹  ‘Come on, I’ll get some wine! Let’s guzzle some beer! Tomorrow will be just like today! We’ll have everything we want!’ ² 

Then your light will shine like the sunrise; ¹  your restoration will quickly arrive; ²  your godly behavior ³  will go before you, and the Lord’s splendor will be your rear guard. ⁴ 

In the west, people respect ¹  the Lord’s reputation; ²  in the east they recognize his splendor. ³  For he comes like a rushing ⁴  stream driven on by wind sent from the Lord. ⁵ 

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 

“For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem ¹  I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines brightly ²  and her deliverance burns like a torch.”

Like an animal that goes down into a valley to graze, ¹  so the Spirit of the Lord granted them rest. In this way ²  you guided your people, gaining for yourself an honored reputation. ³ 

A wolf and a lamb will graze together; ¹  a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, ²  and a snake’s food will be dirt. ³  They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain,” ⁴  says the Lord.

Israel was set apart to the Lord; they were like the first fruits of a harvest to him. ¹  All who tried to devour them were punished; disaster came upon them,” says the Lord.’”

Like a lion that has come up from its lair ¹  the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base. ²  He is coming out to lay your land waste. Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.

I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. ¹  They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. ²  They do not know what their God requires of them. ³ 

Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught, ¹  their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit. ²  That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful. ³ 

I answered, ¹  “Who would listen if I spoke to them and warned them? ²  Their ears are so closed ³  that they cannot hear! Indeed, ⁴  what the Lord says is offensive to them. They do not like it at all. ⁵ 

The people cry out, ¹  “We have heard reports about them! We have become helpless with fear! ²  Anguish grips us, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!

So I will destroy this temple which I have claimed as my own, ¹  this temple that you are trusting to protect you. I will destroy this place that I gave to you and your ancestors, ²  just like I destroyed Shiloh. ³