God

I have no anger in me. If it gives me briars and thorns, then, as in war, I will trample it down and burn it up at once;

unless it takes hold of my strength, in order to make peace with me, yes, to make peace with me."

[ADONAI] will not strike Isra'el, as he did others who struck Isra'el; he will not kill them, as he did the others.

Your controversy with her is fully resolved by sending her [into exile]. He removes her with a rough gust of wind on a day when it's blowing from the east.

So the iniquity of Ya'akov is atoned for by this, and removing his sin produces this result: he chops up all the altar stones like chalk - sacred poles and sun-pillars stand no more.

When its harvest dries up, it is broken off; women come and set it on fire. For this is a people without understanding. Therefore he who made them will not pity them, he who formed them will show them no mercy.

On that day ADONAI will beat out the grain between the Euphrates River and the Vadi of Egypt; and you will be gathered, one by one, people of Isra'el!

On that day a great shofar will sound. Those lost in the land of Ashur will come, also those scattered through the land of Egypt; and they will worship ADONAI on the holy mountain in Yerushalayim.

Adonai has someone strong and powerful. He comes like a hailstorm, a destructive tempest, like a flood of water, rushing, overwhelming; with his hand he hurls them to the ground.

On that day, ADONAI-Tzva'ot will be a glorious crown, a brilliant diadem for the remnant of his people.

So with stammering lips, in a foreign accent, [ADONAI] will speak to this people.

He once told this people, "It's time to rest, the exhausted can rest, now you can relax" - but they wouldn't listen.

So now the word of ADONAI for them comes "precept by precept, precept by precept, line by line, line by line, a little here, a little there," so that when they walk, they stumble backward, and are broken, trapped and captured!

So listen to the word of ADONAI, you scoffers, composing taunts for this people in Yerushalayim:

therefore here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: "Look, I am laying in Tziyon a tested stone, a costly cornerstone, a firm foundation-stone; he who trusts will not rush here and there.

I will make justice the plumbline and righteousness the plumb-bob; hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, water will overflow the hiding place,

For ADONAI will arise, as at Mount P'ratzim, and storm with rage, as in the Giv'on Valley; so he can do his deed, his strange deed, and perform his task, his alien task.

Therefore, now, stop your scoffing, or your bonds will be further tightened; for I have heard from Adonai ELOHIM-Tzva'ot that destruction is decreed for the whole land.

because his God has taught him this, has given him instruction.

This too comes from ADONAI-Tzva'ot - his counsel is wonderful, his wisdom great.

You will be visited by ADONAI-Tzva'ot with thunder, earthquakes and loud noises, whirlwinds, tempests, flaming firestorms.

For ADONAI has poured over you a spirit of lethargy; he has closed your eyes (that is, the prophets) and covered your heads (that is, the seers).

Then Adonai said: "Because these people approach me with empty words, and the honor they bestow on me is mere lip-service; while in fact they have distanced their hearts from me, and their 'fear of me' is just a mitzvah of human origin

therefore, I will have to keep shocking these people with astounding and amazing things, until the 'wisdom' of their 'wise ones' vanishes, and the 'discernment' of their 'discerning ones' is hidden away."

Woe to those who burrow down deep to hide their plans from ADONAI! They work in the dark and say to themselves, "Nobody sees us, nobody knows us."