and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. I will subdue all your enemies. “‘“I declare to you that the Lord will build a dynastic house ¹  for you!

“But who am I and who are my people, that we should be in a position to contribute this much? ¹  Indeed, everything comes from you, and we have simply given back to you what is yours. ² 

Are you not aware of what I and my predecessors ¹  have done to all the nations of the surrounding lands? Have the gods of the surrounding lands actually been able to rescue their lands from my power? ² 

Then I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, and I presented to them the letters from the king. The king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.

You prolonged your kindness ¹  with them for many years, and you solemnly admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they paid no attention, ²  so you delivered them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. ³ 

For how can I watch the calamity that will befall my people, and how can I watch the destruction of my relatives?” ¹ 

to keep the poor from getting fair treatment, and to deprive ¹  the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own, and loot what belongs to orphans. ² 

The Lord who commands armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying, ¹  “Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, ²  Israel!”

So I say: “Don’t look at me! ¹  I am weeping bitterly. Don’t try ²  to console me concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.” ³ 

Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms! Close your doors behind you! Hide for a little while, until his angry judgment is over! ¹ 

Mourn ¹  over the land of my people, which is overgrown with thorns and briers, and over all the once-happy houses ²  in the city filled with revelry. ³ 

The wild animals of the desert honor me, the jackals and ostriches, because I put water in the desert and streams in the wilderness, to quench the thirst of my chosen people,

I was angry at my people; I defiled my special possession and handed them over to you. You showed them no mercy; ¹  you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. ² 

Pay attention to me, my people! Listen to me, my people! For ¹  I will issue a decree, ²  I will make my justice a light to the nations. ³ 

I commission you ¹  as my spokesman; ²  I cover you with the palm of my hand, ³  to establish ⁴  the sky and to found the earth, to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” ⁵ 

For this is what the sovereign Lord says: “In the beginning my people went to live temporarily in Egypt; Assyria oppressed them for no good reason.

He was led away after an unjust trial ¹  – but who even cared? ²  Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living; ³  because of the rebellion of his own ⁴  people he was wounded.

No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, ¹  or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, ²  for my people will live as long as trees, ³  and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. ⁴ 

“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 

The Lord answered, ¹  “This will happen ²  because my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are like children who have no sense. ³  They have no understanding. They are skilled at doing evil. They do not know how to do good.”