Jeremiah 50:4-7, 17-20, 33-34

“In those days, at that time”—GOD’s Decree— “the people of Israel will come, And the people of Judah with them. Walking and weeping, they’ll seek me, their GOD. They’ll ask directions to Zion and set their faces toward Zion. They’ll come and hold tight to GOD, bound in a covenant eternal they’ll never forget. “My people were lost sheep. Their shepherds led them astray. They abandoned them in the mountains where they wandered aimless through the hills. They lost track of home, couldn’t remember where they came from. Everyone who met them took advantage of them. Their enemies had no qualms: ‘Fair game,’ they said. ‘They walked out on GOD. They abandoned the True Pasture, the hope of their parents.’

“Israel is a scattered flock, hunted down by lions. The king of Assyria started the carnage. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, Has completed the job, gnawing the bones clean.” And now this is what GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, has to say: “Just watch! I’m bringing doom on the king of Babylon and his land, the same doom I brought on the king of Assyria. But Israel I’ll bring home to good pastures. He’ll graze on the hills of Carmel and Bashan, On the slopes of Ephraim and Gilead. He will eat to his heart’s content. In those days and at that time”—GOD’s Decree— “they’ll look high and low for a sign of Israel’s guilt—nothing; Search nook and cranny for a trace of Judah’s sin—nothing. These people that I’ve saved will start out with a clean slate. * * *

And here’s more from GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies: “The people of Israel are beaten down, the people of Judah along with them. Their oppressors have them in a grip of steel. They won’t let go. But the Rescuer is strong: GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies. Yes, I will take their side, I’ll come to their rescue. I’ll soothe their land, but rough up the people of Babylon.