But a tenth of the people will be allowed to stay in the land. These people will return \{to the Lord\} even though they were to be destroyed. These people will be like an oak tree. When the tree is chopped down, a stump is left. This stump (the people remaining) is a very special seed.
Tell the people that the Lord and Master says these things: ‘I will take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around, and I will bring them into their own land.
They will live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob. Your ancestors {\cf2\super [297]} lived in that place. And my people will live there. They and their children, and their grandchildren will live there forever. And David my servant will be their leader forever.
They will know that I am the Lord their God. Why? Because I made them to leave their homes and go as prisoners to other countries. And then I gathered them together and brought them back to their own land.
There I will give her fields of grapes. I will give her Achor Valley as a doorway of hope. Then she will answer like the time she came out of the land of Egypt.”
After this the people of Israel will come back. Then they will look for the Lord their God, and for David their king. In the last days, they will come to honor the Lord and his goodness.
But God has decided to make that terrible time short. If that time were not made short, then no person would continue living. But God will make that time short to help the people he has chosen.