The Restoration for Judah and Israel
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Ask rain b from the Lord
in the season of c the spring rain,
from the Lord d who makes the storm clouds,
and e he will give them showers of rain,
to everyone the vegetation in the field.
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For f the household gods g utter nonsense,
and the diviners see lies;
h they tell false dreams
and give empty consolation.
Therefore i the people wander like sheep;
they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.
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j "My anger is hot against the shepherds,
and k I will punish the leaders;
for l the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
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From him shall come m the cornerstone,
from him n the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
from him every ruler - o all of them together.
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They shall be like mighty men in battle,
p trampling the foe in the mud of the streets;
they shall fight because the Lord is with them,
and they shall put to shame q the riders on horses.
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r "I will strengthen the house of Judah,
and s I will save the house of Joseph.
t I will bring them back u because I have compassion on them,
and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,
for v I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.
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Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior,
and w their hearts shall be glad as with wine.
Their children shall see it and be glad;
their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord.
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x "I will whistle for them and y gather them in,
for I have redeemed them,
and z they shall be as many as they were before.
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a Though I scattered them among the nations,
yet in far countries b they shall remember me,
and with their children they shall live and return.
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c I will bring them home from the land of Egypt,
and gather them from Assyria,
and d I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
e till there is no room for them.
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f He shall pass through the sea of troubles
and strike down the waves of the sea,
g and all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up.
The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,
and h the scepter of Egypt shall depart.
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i I will make them strong in the Lord,
and j they shall walk in his name,"
declares the Lord.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 14:22
Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 11:14
He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.
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Cross References
Psalms 135:7
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 34:26
And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.
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Cross References
Genesis 31:19
Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father's household gods.
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Cross References
Habakkuk 2:18
What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!
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Cross References
Jeremiah 23:25
I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!
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Cross References
Ezekiel 34:5 - 6
So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 34:10
Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 34:17
As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God : Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats.
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Cross References
Zephaniah 2:7
The seacoast shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of Judah, on which they shall graze, and in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening. For the Lord their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes.
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Cross References
Psalms 118:22
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
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Cross References
Isaiah 22:23
And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house.
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Cross References
Zechariah 9:8
Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again march over them, for now I see with my own eyes.
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Cross References
Zechariah 9:15
The Lord of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar.
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Cross References
Psalms 20:7
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
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Cross References
Zechariah 10:12
I will make them strong in the Lord, and they shall walk in his name," declares the Lord.
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Cross References
Zechariah 8:7
Thus says the Lord of hosts: behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country.
Zechariah 8:13
And as you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 3:18
In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
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Cross References
Isaiah 14:1
For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.
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Cross References
Zechariah 13:9
And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are my people'; and they will say, 'The Lord is my God.'
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Cross References
Zechariah 9:15
The Lord of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar.
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Cross References
Isaiah 5:26
He will raise a signal for nations far away, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
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Cross References
Jeremiah 31:10 - 11
"Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.'
Hosea 1:11
And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 36:10 - 11
And I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt.
Ezekiel 36:37
Thus says the Lord God : This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock.
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Cross References
Hosea 2:23
And I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.'
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Cross References
Ezekiel 6:9
Then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations.
Deuteronomy 30:1 - 3
And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you.
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Cross References
Isaiah 11:11
In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
Isaiah 27:13
And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Hosea 11:11
They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord.
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Cross References
Micah 7:14
Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.
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Cross References
Isaiah 49:20
The children of your bereavement will yet say in your ears: 'The place is too narrow for me; make room for me to dwell in.
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Cross References
Isaiah 11:15
And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching breath, and strike it into seven channels, and he will lead people across in sandals.
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Cross References
Amos 8:8
Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who dwells in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?
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Cross References
Ezekiel 30:13
Thus says the Lord God : "I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis; there shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt; so I will put fear in the land of Egypt.
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Cross References
Zechariah 10:6
I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.
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Cross References
Micah 4:5
For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.