25O Lord, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them.H3068H430H7311H3034H8034H6213H6382H6098H7350H530H544 2You turn mighty cities into heaps of ruins. Cities with strong walls are turned to rubble. Beautiful palaces in distant lands disappear and will never be rebuilt.H7760H5892H1530H1219H7151H4654H759H2114H5892H5769H1129 3Therefore, strong nations will declare your glory; ruthless nations will fear you.H5794H5971H3513H7151H6184H1471H3372 4But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O Lord, a tower of refuge to the needy in distress. You are a refuge from the storm and a shelter from the heat. For the oppressive acts of ruthless people are like a storm beating against a wall,H4581H1800H4581H34H6862H4268H2230H6738H2721H7307H6184H2230H7023 5or like the relentless heat of the desert. But you silence the roar of foreign nations. As the shade of a cloud cools relentless heat, so the boastful songs of ruthless people are stilled.H3665H7588H2114H2721H6724H2721H6738H5645H2159H6184H6030 6In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat.H2022H3068H6635H6213H5971H4960H8081H4960H8105H8081H4229H8105H2212 7There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth.H1104H2022H6440H3875H3874H5971H4541H5259H1471 8He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The Lord has spoken!H1104H4194H5331H136H3069H4229H1832H6440H2781H5971H5493H776H3068H1696 9In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!”H559H3117H430H6960H3467H3068H6960H1523H8055H3444 10For the Lord’s hand of blessing will rest on Jerusalem. But Moab will be crushed. It will be like straw trampled down and left to rot.H2022H3027H3068H5117H4124H1758H4963H1758H1119H4087H4325 11God will push down Moab’s people as a swimmer pushes down water with his hands. He will end their pride and all their evil works.H6566H3027H7130H7811H6566H7811H8213H1346H698H3027 12The high walls of Moab will be demolished. They will be brought down to the ground, down into the dust.H4013H4869H2346H7817H8213H5060H776H6083
26In that day, everyone in the land of Judah will sing this song. Our city is strong! We are surrounded by the walls of God’s salvation.H3117H7892H7891H776H3063H5797H5892H3444H7896H2346H2426 2Open the gates to all who are righteous; allow the faithful to enter.H6605H8179H6662H1471H8104H529H935 3You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!H5341H7965H7965H3336H5564H982 4Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.H982H3068H5703H3050H3068H5769H6697 5He humbles the proud and brings down the arrogant city. He brings it down to the dust.H7817H3427H4791H7682H7151H8213H8213H776H5060H6083 6The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot, and the needy walk all over it.H7272H7429H7272H6041H6471H1800 7But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them.H734H6662H4339H3477H6424H4570H6662 8Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.H734H4941H3068H6960H8378H5315H8034H2143 9All night long I search for you; in the morning I earnestly seek for God. For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right.H5315H183H3915H7307H7130H7836H4941H776H3427H8398H3925H6664 10Your kindness to the wicked does not make them do good. Although others do right, the wicked keep doing wrong and take no notice of the Lord’s majesty.H2603H7563H1077H3925H6664H776H5229H5765H1077H7200H1348H3068 11O Lord, they pay no attention to your upraised fist. Show them your eagerness to defend your people. Then they will be ashamed. Let your fire consume your enemies.H3068H3027H7311H2372H2372H954H7068H5971H784H6862H398 12Lord, you will grant us peace; all we have accomplished is really from you.H3068H8239H7965H6466H4639 13O Lord our God, others have ruled us, but you alone are the one we worship.H3068H430H113H2108H1166H2142H8034 14Those we served before are dead and gone. Their departed spirits will never return! You attacked them and destroyed them, and they are long forgotten.H4191H2421H7496H6965H6485H8045H2143H6 15O Lord, you have made our nation great; yes, you have made us great. You have extended our borders, and we give you the glory!H3254H1471H3068H3254H1471H3513H7368H7099H776 16Lord, in distress we searched for you. We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline.H3068H6862H6485H6694H3908H4148 17Just as a pregnant woman writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth, so were we in your presence, Lord.H3644H2030H7126H3205H2342H2199H2256H6440H3068 18We, too, writhe in agony, but nothing comes of our suffering. We have not given salvation to the earth, nor brought life into the world.H2029H2342H3644H3205H7307H6213H3444H776H1077H3427H8398H5307 19But those who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For your life-giving light will fall like dew on your people in the place of the dead!H4191H2421H5038H6965H6974H7442H7931H6083H2919H2919H219H776H5307H7496 20Go home, my people, and lock your doors! Hide yourselves for a little while until the Lord’s anger has passed.H3212H5971H935H2315H5462H1817H2247H4592H7281H2195H5674 21Look! The Lord is coming from heaven to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will no longer hide those who have been killed. They will be brought out for all to see.H3068H3318H4725H6485H3427H776H5771H776H1540H1818H3680H2026
27In that day the Lord will take his terrible, swift sword and punish Leviathan, the swiftly moving serpent, the coiling, writhing serpent. He will kill the dragon of the sea.H3117H3068H7186H1419H2389H2719H6485H3882H1281H5175H3882H6129H5175H2026H8577H3220 2“In that day, sing about the fruitful vineyard.H3117H6031H3754H2561H2531 3I, the Lord, will watch over it, watering it carefully. Day and night I will watch so no one can harm it.H3068H5341H8248H7281H6485H5341H3915H3117 4My anger will be gone. If I find briers and thorns growing, I will attack them; I will burn them up—H2534H5414H8068H7898H4421H6585H6702H3162 5unless they turn to me for help. Let them make peace with me; yes, let them make peace with me.”H2388H4581H6213H7965H6213H7965 6The time is coming when Jacob’s descendants will take root. Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole earth with fruit!H935H3290H8327H3478H6692H6524H4390H6440H8398H8570 7Has the Lord struck Israel as he struck her enemies? Has he punished her as he punished them?H5221H4347H5221H2026H2027H2026 8No, but he exiled Israel to call her to account. She was exiled from her land as though blown away in a storm from the east.H5432H7971H7378H1898H7186H7307H3117H6921 9The Lord did this to purge Israel’s wickedness, to take away all her sin. As a result, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust. No Asherah pole or pagan shrine will be left standing.H2063H5771H3290H3722H6529H5493H2403H7760H68H4196H1615H5310H842H2553H6965 10The fortified towns will be silent and empty, the houses abandoned, the streets overgrown with weeds. Calves will graze there, chewing on twigs and branches.H1219H5892H910H5116H7971H5800H4057H5695H7462H7257H3615H5585 11The people are like the dead branches of a tree, broken off and used for kindling beneath the cooking pots. Israel is a foolish and stupid nation, for its people have turned away from God. Therefore, the one who made them will show them no pity or mercy.H7105H3001H7665H802H935H215H5971H998H6213H7355H3335H2603 12Yet the time will come when the Lord will gather them together like handpicked grain. One by one he will gather them—from the Euphrates River in the east to the Brook of Egypt in the west.H3117H3068H2251H7641H5104H5158H4714H3950H259H259H1121H3478 13In that day the great trumpet will sound. Many who were dying in exile in Assyria and Egypt will return to Jerusalem to worship the Lord on his holy mountain.H3117H1419H7782H8628H935H6H776H804H5080H776H4714H7812H3068H6944H2022H3389
28What sorrow awaits the proud city of Samaria—the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel. It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower. It is the pride of a people brought down by wine.H1945H5850H1348H7910H669H6643H8597H5034H6731H7218H8081H1516H1986H31962For the Lord will send a mighty army against it. Like a mighty hailstorm and a torrential rain, they will burst upon it like a surging flood and smash it to the ground.H136H2389H533H2230H1259H6986H8178H2230H3524H4325H7857H3240H776H30273The proud city of Samaria—the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel—will be trampled beneath its enemies’ feet.H5850H1348H7910H669H7429H72724It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower. Whoever sees it will snatch it up, as an early fig is quickly picked and eaten.H6643H8597H7218H8081H1516H5034H6733H1061H7019H7200H7200H3709H11045Then at last the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will himself be Israel’s glorious crown. He will be the pride and joy of the remnant of his people.H3117H3068H6635H5850H6643H6843H8597H7605H59716He will give a longing for justice to their judges. He will give great courage to their warriors who stand at the gates.H7307H4941H3427H4941H1369H7725H4421H81797Now, however, Israel is led by drunks who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol. The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol and lose themselves in wine. They reel when they see visions and stagger as they render decisions.H428H7686H3196H7941H8582H3548H5030H7686H7941H1104H4480H3196H8582H7941H7686H7203H6328H64178Their tables are covered with vomit; filth is everywhere.H7979H4390H6892H6675H47259“Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask. “Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, just recently weaned?H3384H1844H995H8052H1580H2461H6267H769910He tells us everything over and over—one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!”H6673H6673H6673H6673H6957H6957H6957H6957H2191H219111So now God will have to speak to his people through foreign oppressors who speak a strange language!H3934H8193H312H3956H1696H597112God has told his people, “Here is a place of rest; let the weary rest here. This is a place of quiet rest.” But they would not listen.H559H4496H5889H5117H4774H14H808513So the Lord will spell out his message for them again, one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there, so that they will stumble and fall. They will be injured, trapped, and captured.H1697H3068H6673H6673H6673H6673H6957H6957H6957H6957H2191H2191H3212H3782H268H7665H3369H392014Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord, you scoffing rulers in Jerusalem.H8085H1697H3068H3944H582H4910H5971H338915You boast, “We have struck a bargain to cheat death and have made a deal to dodge the grave. The coming destruction can never touch us, for we have built a strong refuge made of lies and deception.”H559H3772H1285H4194H7585H6213H2374H7857H7752H7885H5674H5674H935H7760H3577H4268H8267H564116Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says. “Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken.H559H136H3069H3245H6726H68H976H68H3368H6438H3245H4143H539H236317I will test you with the measuring line of justice and the plumb line of righteousness. Since your refuge is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it down. Since it is made of deception, a flood will sweep it away.H4941H7760H6957H6666H4949H1259H3261H4268H3577H4325H7857H564318I will cancel the bargain you made to cheat death, and I will overturn your deal to dodge the grave. When the terrible enemy sweeps through, you will be trampled into the ground.H1285H4194H3722H2380H7585H6965H7857H7752H5674H482319Again and again that flood will come, morning after morning, day and night, until you are carried away.” This message will bring terror to your people.H1767H5674H3947H1242H1242H5674H3117H3915H2113H995H805220The bed you have made is too short to lie on. The blankets are too narrow to cover you.H4702H7114H8311H4541H6887H366421The Lord will come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim and against the Amorites at Gibeon. He will come to do a strange thing; he will come to do an unusual deed.H3068H6965H2022H6559H7264H6010H1391H6213H4639H2114H4639H5647H5656H5237H565622For the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, has plainly said that he is determined to crush the whole land. So scoff no more, or your punishment will be even greater.H3887H4147H2388H8085H136H3069H6635H3617H2782H77623Listen to me; listen, and pay close attention.H238H8085H6963H7181H8085H56524Does a farmer always plow and never sow? Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting?H2790H2790H3117H2232H6605H7702H12725Does he not finally plant his seeds—black cumin, cumin, wheat, barley, and emmer wheat—each in its proper way, and each in its proper place?H7737H6440H6327H7100H2236H3646H7760H7795H2406H5567H8184H3698H136726The farmer knows just what to do, for God has given him understanding.H430H3256H4941H338427A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin; rather, it is beaten with a light stick. A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin; instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail.H7100H1758H2742H5699H212H5437H3646H7100H2251H4294H3646H762628Grain for bread is easily crushed, so he doesn’t keep on pounding it. He threshes it under the wheels of a cart, but he doesn’t pulverize it.H3899H1854H5331H156H1758H2000H1536H5699H1854H657129The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher, and he gives the farmer great wisdom.H3318H3068H6635H6381H6098H1431H8454
Unknown
, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat.H2022
