his people, through his prophet, to turn back from their evil ways and return to their true faith in God. And the prophet’s own words of encouragement explain the reason for this extraordinary sequence of events: it is in God’s very nature to be gracious, merciful, long-suffering and full of love towards his people. Judgment is a consequence of the stubborn resistance of people, persistently refusing to return to God; in a sense it is always self-induced. The will of the Judging God is always that