Who has ever seen or heard of such a wonder?
Could a country be born in a day?
Can a nation be birthed so suddenly?
Yet no sooner does Zion go into labor
than she gives birth to sons!
YAHWEH, your God, says,
“Do I allow you to conceive and not to give birth?
Do I shut the womb when I’m the one who delivers?”
So rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her!
All who love her, join in with her great joy,
especially those who remember her grief!
You, her children, will drink the milk of her prosperity
and nurse with delight from her glorious abundance!
For YAHWEH says:
“I will extend to her prosperity like a river
and the wealth of gentiles like a flooding river.
You will nurse from her breast, be cradled in her arms,
and delightfully bounced on her knees.
As a mother tenderly comforts her child,
so will I tenderly comfort you,
and you will find comfort in Jerusalem.”
When you feast your eyes on this,
your heart will leap for joy and be revived;
your body will flourish and sprout like grass.
The mighty power of YAHWEH will be revealed,
resting on his servants,
but his fury will be shown to his enemies!
Look! YAHWEH is coming as a raging fire
and his chariots like a whirlwind
to unleash his anger with fiery fury
and with the fiery lightning of his rebuke!
For with fire and with his sword
YAHWEH will judge humanity—
many will be the slain of YAHWEH!
“The end is near for those who ‘consecrate’ and ‘purify’ themselves to enter their cultic groves! They go in procession one after another into their ceremonies. They eat disgusting foods—pork, mice, and rodents. I despise their evil works and their thoughts,” says YAHWEH.
“The time is coming for me to gather people together from all over the world, and they will come and gaze on my radiance. I will set an amazing sign among them. I will send some of the remnant to other nations—to Tarshish, Put, Lud (known for its archers), Tubal, Javan, and distant islands that have never heard of my fame nor gazed on my glory. They will declare my glory among the gentiles! And they will bring back from the nations your own people as an offering to me,” says YAHWEH.
“They will come on horseback, in chariots, in wagons, on mules and camels to my holy mountain, Jerusalem,” says YAHWEH. “In the same way my people bring a grain offering in a sacred vessel to the temple, they will be brought as grain offerings to my holy mountain, Jerusalem, as a holy offering to me.
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