19 For a people shall dwell rin Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the sbread of adversity and the swater of affliction, tyet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 uAnd your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is vthe way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. wYou will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”

23 xAnd he will give yrain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. zIn that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and athe oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And bon every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, cwhen the towers fall. 26 dMoreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when ethe Lord binds up fthe brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

27  Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,

burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;4

his lips are full of fury,

and his tongue is like a devouring fire;

28  ghis breath is hlike an overflowing stream

that reaches up to the neck;

to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,

and to place on the jaws of the peoples ia bridle that leads astray.

29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, jas when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to kthe mountain of the Lord, to lthe Rock of Israel. 30 And the Lord mwill cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger nand a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst oand storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, pwhen he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them qwill be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. rBattling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For sa burning place5 has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, tits pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; uthe breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt

31 Woe1 to vthose who go down to Egypt for help

and rely on horses,

who wtrust in chariots because they are many

and in horsemen because they are very strong,

but xdo not look to the Holy One of Israel

or consult the Lord!

2  And yyet he is wise and brings disaster;

zhe does not call back his words,

but awill arise against the house of the evildoers

and against the helpers of bthose who work iniquity.

3  The Egyptians are man, and not God,

and their horses care flesh, and not spirit.

When the Lord stretches out his hand,

the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,

and they will all perish together.

4  For thus the Lord said to me,

d“As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,

and when a band of shepherds is called out against him

he is not terrified by their shouting

or daunted at their noise,

eso the Lord of hosts will come down

to fight2 on Mount Zion and on its hill.

5  fLike birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts

will protect Jerusalem;

he will protect and deliver it;

he will spare and rescue it.”

6 gTurn to him from whom people3 have hdeeply revolted, O children of Israel. 7 For in that day ieveryone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.

8  j“And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man;

and a sword, not of man, shall devour him;

and he shall flee from the sword,

and his young men shall be kput to forced labor.

9  lHis rock shall pass away in terror,

and his officers desert the standard in panic,”

declares the Lord, whose mfire is in Zion,

and whose nfurnace is in Jerusalem.

A King Will Reign in Righteousness

32 Behold, oa king will reign in righteousness,

and princes will rule in justice.

2  pEach will be like a hiding place from the wind,

a shelter from the storm,

qlike streams of water in a dry place,

like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.

3  rThen the eyes of those who see will not be closed,

and the ears of those who hear will give attention.

4  The heart of the hasty will understand and know,

sand the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.

5  tThe fool will no more be called noble,

nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.

6  For uthe fool speaks folly,

and his heart is busy with iniquity,

to practice ungodliness,

to utter error concerning the Lord,

vto leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,

and to deprive the thirsty of drink.

7  As for the scoundrel—whis devices are evil;

he plans wicked schemes

to ruin the poor with lying words,

even when the plea of the needy is right.

8  But he who is noble plans noble things,

and on noble things he stands.

Complacent Women Warned of Disaster

9  xRise up, you women ywho are at ease, hear my voice;

you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.

10  In little more than a year

you will shudder, you complacent women;

for the grape harvest fails,

the fruit harvest will not come.

11  Tremble, you women ywho are at ease,

shudder, you complacent ones;

zstrip, and make yourselves bare,

aand tie sackcloth around your waist.

12  bBeat your breasts for the pleasant fields,

for the fruitful vine,

13  cfor the soil of my people

growing up in thorns and briers,

dyes, for all the joyous houses

in the exultant city.

14  For the palace is forsaken,

the populous city deserted;

the hill and the watchtower

will become dens forever,

ea joy of wild donkeys,

a pasture of flocks;

15  until fthe Spirit is poured upon us from on high,

and gthe wilderness becomes a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.

16  Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,

and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.

17  hAnd the effect of righteousness will be peace,

and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust1 forever.

18  My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,

in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.

19  iAnd it will hail when the forest falls down,

jand the city will be utterly laid low.

20  kHappy are you who sow beside all waters,

who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.