Restoration Will Follow Crisis
4:6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame,
and assemble the outcasts whom I injured.18
4:7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation,19
and those far off20 into a mighty nation.
The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion,
from that day forward and forevermore.”21
4:8 As for you, watchtower for the flock,22
fortress of Daughter Zion23—
your former dominion will be restored,24
the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.
4:9 Jerusalem, why are you25 now shouting so loudly?26
Has your king disappeared?27
Has your wise leader28 been destroyed?
Is this why29 pain grips30 you as if you were a woman in labor?
4:10 Twist and strain,31 Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!
For you will leave the city
and live in the open field.
You will go to Babylon,
but there you will be rescued.
There the Lord will deliver32 you
from the power33 of your enemies.
4:11 Many nations have now assembled against you.
They say, “Jerusalem must be desecrated,34
so we can gloat over Zion!”35
4:12 But they do not know what the Lord is planning;
they do not understand his strategy.
He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed36 at the threshing floor.
4:13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion!
For I will give you iron horns;37
I will give you bronze hooves,
and you will crush many nations.”38
You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them,
and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler39 of the whole earth.40
5:1 (4:14)1 But now slash yourself,2 daughter surrounded by soldiers!3
We are besieged!
With a scepter4 they strike Israel’s ruler5
on the side of his face.
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