So when the Midianite ¹  merchants passed by, Joseph’s brothers pulled ²  him ³  out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites ⁴  then took Joseph to Egypt.

From the Israelites’ half-share you are to take one portion out of fifty of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep – from every kind of animal – and you are to give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.”

Also, your infants, who you thought would die on the way, ¹  and your children, who as yet do not know good from bad, ²  will go there; I will give them the land and they will possess it.

King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his eunuchs surrendered ¹  to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, ²  took Jehoiachin ³  prisoner.

They attacked Judah and swept through it. ¹  They carried off everything they found in the royal palace, ²  including his sons and wives. None of his sons was left, except for his youngest, Ahaziah.

Anyone who survives in any of those places where he is a resident foreigner must be helped by his neighbors ¹  with silver, gold, equipment, and animals, along with voluntary offerings for the temple of God which is in Jerusalem.’”

Then Ezra got up from in front of the temple of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he stayed ¹  there, he did not eat food or drink water, for he was in mourning over the infidelity of the exiles.

A putrid stench will replace the smell of spices, ¹  a rope will replace a belt, baldness will replace braided locks of hair, a sackcloth garment will replace a fine robe, and a prisoner’s brand will replace beauty.

At that time ¹  those who live on this coast ²  will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”

So the Lord’s word to them will sound like meaningless gibberish, senseless babbling, a syllable here, a syllable there. ¹  As a result, they will fall on their backsides when they try to walk, ²  and be injured, ensnared, and captured. ³ 

But these people are looted and plundered; all of them are trapped in pits ¹  and held captive ²  in prisons. They were carried away as loot with no one to rescue them; they were carried away as plunder, and no one says, “Bring that back!” ³ 

Now, this is what the Lord says, the one who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel: “Don’t be afraid, for I will protect ¹  you. I call you by name, you are mine.

Leave Babylon! Flee from the Babylonians! Announce it with a shout of joy! Make this known! Proclaim it throughout the earth! ¹  Say, ‘The Lord protects ²  his servant Jacob.

You will say ¹  to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those who are in dark dungeons, ²  ‘Emerge.’ ³  They will graze beside the roads; on all the slopes they will find pasture.

“Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. ¹  Tell them, ‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the Lord. ‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. ²  For I am merciful,’ says the Lord. ‘I will not be angry with you forever.

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.

I will look after their welfare ¹  and will restore them to this land. There I will build them up and will not tear them down. I will plant them firmly in the land ²  and will not uproot them. ³ 

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 

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 

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.