Now I will triumph over my enemies who surround me! ¹  I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy! ²  I will sing praises to the Lord!

“At that time,” ¹  says the Lord who commands armies, “the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose. It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off.” ²  Indeed, ³  the Lord has spoken.

you whom I am bringing back ¹  from the earth’s extremities, and have summoned from the remote regions – I told you, “You are my servant.” I have chosen you and not rejected you.

Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your beautiful clothes, O Jerusalem, ¹  holy city! For uncircumcised and unclean pagans will no longer invade you.

This is what the Lord who rules over all ¹  said to me: ²  “Those who remain in Israel will be like the grapes thoroughly gleaned ³  from a vine. So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvester passing your hand over the branches one last time.” ⁴ 

But our tents have been destroyed. The ropes that held them in place have been ripped apart. ¹  Our children are gone and are not coming back. ²  There is no survivor to put our tents back up, no one left to hang their tent curtains in place.

You will probably ask yourself, ¹  ‘Why have these things happened to me? Why have I been treated like a disgraced adulteress whose skirt has been torn off and her limbs exposed?’ ²  It is because you have sinned so much. ³ 

“I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them. I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies. I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses. ¹ 

But for now I, the Lord, say: ¹  “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. ² 

In the past I saw to it that they were uprooted and torn down, that they were destroyed and demolished. But now I will see to it that they are built up and firmly planted. ¹  I, the Lord, affirm it!” ² 

Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him stood up, pulled out their swords, and killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. Thus Ishmael killed the man that the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the country.

In the shadows of the walls of Heshbon those trying to escape will stand helpless. For a fire will burst forth from Heshbon. Flames will shoot out from the former territory of Sihon. They will burn the foreheads of the people of Moab, the skulls of those war-loving people. ¹ 

I will punish the god Bel in Babylon. I will make him spit out what he has swallowed. The nations will not come streaming to him any longer. Indeed, the walls of Babylon will fall.” ¹ 

Then the nations which remain around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruins and replanted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken – and I will do it!’

Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain; I myself put a fine yoke ¹ on her neck. I will harness Ephraim. Let Judah plow! ²  Let Jacob break up ³  the unplowed ground for himself!

Will I deliver them from the power of Sheol? No, I will not! ¹  Will I redeem them from death? No, I will not! O Death, bring on your plagues! ²  O Sheol, bring on your destruction! ³  My eyes will not show any compassion! ⁴ 

“I overthrew some of you the way God ¹  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ²  You were like a burning stick ³  snatched from the flames. Still you did not come back to me.” The Lord is speaking!

I went down ¹  to the very bottoms ²  of the mountains; ³  the gates ⁴  of the netherworld ⁵  barred me in ⁶  forever; ⁷  but you brought me ⁸  up from the Pit, ⁹  O Lord, my God.

Those survivors from Jacob will live among the nations, in the midst of many peoples. They will be like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which attacks when it passes through; it rips its prey ¹  and there is no one to stop it. ² 

My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you, ¹  how Balaam son of Beor responded to him. Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal, so you might acknowledge that the Lord has treated you fairly.” ²