The Lord Will Not Abandon His People

18 For this reason the Lord is ready to show you mercy;

he sits on his throne, ready to have compassion on you.

Indeed, the Lord is a just God;

all who wait for him in faith will be blessed.

19 For people will live in Zion;

in Jerusalem you will weep no more.

When he hears your cry of despair, he will indeed show you mercy;

when he hears it, he will respond to you.

20 The sovereign master will give you distress to eat

and suffering to drink;

but your teachers will no longer be hidden;

your eyes will see them.

21 You will hear a word spoken behind you, saying,

“This is the correct way, walk in it,”

whether you are heading to the right or the left.

22 You will desecrate your silver-plated idols

and your gold-plated images.

You will throw them away as if they were a menstrual rag,

saying to them, “Get out!”

23 He will water the seed you plant in the ground,

and the ground will produce crops in abundance.

At that time your cattle will graze in wide pastures.

24 The oxen and donkeys used in plowing

will eat seasoned feed winnowed with a shovel and pitchfork.

25 On every high mountain

and every high hill

there will be streams flowing with water,

at the time of great slaughter when the fortified towers collapse.

26 The light of the full moon will be like the sun’s glare

and the sun’s glare will be seven times brighter,

like the light of seven days,

when the Lord binds up his people’s fractured bones

and heals their severe wound.

27 Look, the name of the Lord comes from a distant place

in raging anger and awesome splendor.

He speaks angrily

and his word is like destructive fire.

28 His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river

that reaches one’s neck.

He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff;

he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction.

29 You will sing

as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival.

You will be happy like one who plays a flute

as he goes to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock who shelters Israel.

30 The Lord will give a mighty shout

and intervene in power,

with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire,

with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.

31 Indeed, the Lord’s shout will shatter Assyria;

he will beat them with a club.

32 Every blow from his punishing cudgel,

with which the Lord will beat them,

will be accompanied by music from the tambourine and harp,

and he will attack them with his weapons.

33 For the burial place is already prepared;

it has been made deep and wide for the king.

The firewood is piled high on it.

The Lord’s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone,

will ignite it.

31 Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead,

those who rely on war horses,

and trust in Egypt’s many chariots

and in their many, many horsemen.

But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel

and do not seek help from the Lord.

2 Yet he too is wise and he will bring disaster;

he does not retract his decree.

He will attack the wicked nation,

and the nation that helps those who commit sin.

3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;

their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.

The Lord will strike with his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish.