“Sword, get moving against my shepherd,
against my close associate!”
Decree of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Kill the shepherd! Scatter the sheep!
The back of my hand against even the lambs!
All across the country”—GOD’s Decree—
“two-thirds will be devastated
and one-third survive.
I’ll deliver the surviving third to the refinery fires.
I’ll refine them as silver is refined,
test them for purity as gold is tested.
Then they’ll pray to me by name
and I’ll answer them personally.
I’ll say, ‘That’s my people.’
They’ll say, ‘GOD—my God!’”