God

"I will strengthen the house of Y'hudah and save the house of Yosef. I will bring them back in my compassion for them; they will be as if I hadn't driven them out; for I am ADONAI their God, and I will answer them.

Efrayim's men will be like warriors; their hearts will be cheered as if from wine. Their children will see it and rejoice, their hearts will be glad in ADONAI.

"I will whistle for them and gather them, because I have redeemed them; they will be as numerous as they were before;

and I will sow them among the peoples. In distant lands they will remember me; they will rear their children and then return.

I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them out of Ashur. I will bring them into Gil'ad and the L'vanon, until there is no more room for them.

But I will strengthen [Isra'el] in ADONAI; they will travel here and there in his name," says ADONAI.

ADONAI my God says this: "Shepherd the flock for slaughter.

Their buyers kill them and go unpunished; while those who sell them say, 'Barukh ADONAI! Now I'm rich!' Even their own shepherds show them no pity.

I will no longer show pity to the inhabitants of the land," says ADONAI. "No, I will hand every one of them over to the power of a neighbor and to the power of his king; they will crush the land; and I won't rescue them from their power."

On that day when it was broken, the most miserable of the sheep who paid attention to me knew that this was indeed a message from ADONAI.

Concerning that "princely sum" at which they valued me, ADONAI said, "Throw it into the treasury!" So I took the thirty silver [shekels] and threw them into the treasury in the house of ADONAI.

ADONAI said to me, "This time, take the equipment of a worthless shepherd.

For I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who won't bother about the ones who have been destroyed, won't seek out the young, won't heal the broken and won't feed those standing still; on the contrary, he will eat the meat of the fat ones and break their hoofs in pieces.

A prophecy, the word of ADONAI concerning Isra'el - here is the message from ADONAI, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth and formed the spirit inside human beings:

"I will make Yerushalayim a cup that will stagger the surrounding peoples. Even Y'hudah will be caught up in the siege against Yerushalayim.

When that day comes, I will make Yerushalayim a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who try to lift it will hurt themselves, and all the earth's nations will be massed against her.

When that day comes," says ADONAI, "I will strike all the horses with panic and their riders with madness; I will keep watch over Y'hudah, but I will strike blind all the horses of the peoples.

The leaders of Y'hudah will say to themselves, 'Those living in Yerushalayim are my strength through ADONAI-Tzva'ot their God.'

When that day comes, I will make the leaders of Y'hudah like a blazing fire pan in a pile of wood, like a fiery torch among sheaves of grain; they will devour all the surrounding peoples, on the right and on the left. Yerushalayim will be inhabited in her own place, Yerushalayim.

ADONAI will save the tents of Y'hudah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of those living in Yerushalayim will not appear greater than that of Y'hudah.

When that day comes, ADONAI will defend those living in Yerushalayim. On that day, even someone who stumbles will be like David; and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of ADONAI before them.

"When that day comes, I will seek to destroy all nations attacking Yerushalayim;

and I will pour out on the house of David and on those living in Yerushalayim a spirit of grace and prayer; and they will look to me, whom they pierced." They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son; they will be in bitterness on his behalf like the bitterness for a firstborn son.

"When that day comes," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "I will cut off the very names of the idols from the land, so that no one even remembers them any more. I will also expel the [false] prophets and the spirit of uncleanness from the land;

so that if anyone continues to prophesy, his own father and mother who brought him into the world will tell him, 'You cannot continue to live, because you are speaking lies in the name of ADONAI'; then his own father and mother who brought him into the world will stab him to death.