The Lord Will Not Abandon His People

30:18 For this reason the Lord is ready to show you mercy;

he sits on his throne, ready to have compassion on you.41

Indeed, the Lord is a just God;

all who wait for him in faith will be blessed.42

30:19 For people will live in Zion;

in Jerusalem43 you will weep no more.44

When he hears your cry of despair, he will indeed show you mercy;

when he hears it, he will respond to you.45

30:20 The sovereign master46 will give you distress to eat

and suffering to drink;47

but your teachers will no longer be hidden;

your eyes will see them.48

30:21 You49 will hear a word spoken behind you, saying,

“This is the correct50 way, walk in it,”

whether you are heading to the right or the left.

30:22 You will desecrate your silver-plated idols51

and your gold-plated images.52

You will throw them away as if they were a menstrual rag,

saying to them, “Get out!”

30:23 He will water the seed you plant in the ground,

and the ground will produce crops in abundance.53

At that time54 your cattle will graze in wide pastures.

30:24 The oxen and donkeys used in plowing55

will eat seasoned feed winnowed with a shovel and pitchfork.56

30:25 On every high mountain

and every high hill

there will be streams flowing with water,

at the time of57 great slaughter when the fortified towers collapse.

30:26 The light of the full moon will be like the sun’s glare

and the sun’s glare will be seven times brighter,

like the light of seven days,58

when the Lord binds up his people’s fractured bones59

and heals their severe wound.60

30:27 Look, the name61 of the Lord comes from a distant place

in raging anger and awesome splendor.62

He speaks angrily

and his word is like destructive fire.63

30:28 His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river64

that reaches one’s neck.

He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff;65

he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction.66

30:29 You will sing

as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival.

You will be happy like one who plays a flute

as he goes to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock who shelters Israel.67

30:30 The Lord will give a mighty shout68

and intervene in power,69

with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire,70

with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.

30:31 Indeed, the Lord’s shout will shatter Assyria;71

he will beat them with a club.

30:32 Every blow from his punishing cudgel,72

with which the Lord will beat them,73

will be accompanied by music from the74 tambourine and harp,

and he will attack them with his weapons.75

30:33 For76 the burial place is already prepared;77

it has been made deep and wide for the king.78

The firewood is piled high on it.79

The Lord’s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone,

will ignite it.