The Lord Will Care for Judah

10 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;

it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms.

He gives showers of rainq to all people,

and plants of the fieldr to everyone.

2 The idolss speak deceitfully,

divinerst see visions that lie;

they tell dreamsu that are false,

they give comfort in vain.v

Therefore the people wander like sheep

oppressed for lack of a shepherd.w

3 “My anger burns against the shepherds,

and I will punish the leaders;x

for the Lord Almighty will care

for his flock, the people of Judah,

and make them like a proud horse in battle.y

4 From Judah will come the cornerstone,z

from him the tent peg,a

from him the battle bow,b

from him every ruler.

5 Together theya will be like warriors in battle

trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets.c

They will fight because the Lord is with them,

and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.d

6 “I will strengthene Judah

and save the tribes of Joseph.

I will restore them

because I have compassionf on them.g

They will be as though

I had not rejected them,

for I am the Lord their God

and I will answerh them.

7 The Ephraimites will become like warriors,

and their hearts will be glad as with wine.i

Their children will see it and be joyful;

their hearts will rejoicej in the Lord.

8 I will signalk for them

and gather them in.

Surely I will redeem them;

they will be as numerousl as before.

9 Though I scatter them among the peoples,

yet in distant lands they will remember me.m

They and their children will survive,

and they will return.

10 I will bring them back from Egypt

and gather them from Assyria.n

I will bring them to Gileado and Lebanon,

and there will not be roomp enough for them.

11 They will pass through the sea of trouble;

the surging sea will be subdued

and all the depths of the Nile will dry up.q

Assyria’s prider will be brought down

and Egypt’s scepters will pass away.t

12 I will strengthenu them in the Lord

and in his name they will live securely,v”

declares the Lord.