He will raise a banner for the nations ⌞to gather around⌟. He will gather the outcasts of Israel and bring together the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
At that time the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the people ⌞to gather around⌟. The nations will come to him. His resting place will be glorious.
From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise that honor the Righteous One. But I kept saying, “I’m wasting away! I’m wasting away! How horrible it is for me! Traitors continue to betray, and their treachery grows worse and worse.”
On that day a ram’s horn will be blown loudly. Those who are dying in Assyria and those who are banished to Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
I will say to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south, “Do not keep them.” Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the ends of the earth.
This is what the Almighty Lord says: I will lift my hand ⌞to signal⌟ the nations. I will raise my flag for the people. They will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
The Lord formed me in the womb to be his servant in order to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to him. (The Lord honors me, and my God has become my strength.)
The people of the west will fear the name of the Lord. Those in the east will fear his glory. He will come like a rushing stream. The wind of the Lord pushes him.
I will set up a sign among them and send some of their survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Meshech, Rosh, Tubal, Javan, and to the distant coastlands who have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will tell about my glory among the nations.
“Then I will gather the remaining part of my flock from all the countries where I chased them. I will bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fertile and increase in number.
Raise your battle flag in front of the walls of Babylon. Strengthen the guards. Station watchmen. Prepare ambushes. The Lord will carry out his plans against the people who live in Babylon.
“ ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: When I gather the people of Israel from the nations where they were scattered, I will show that I am holy as the nations watch. The people of Israel will live in their own land, the land I gave to my servant Jacob.
The people of Judah and Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint one leader for themselves, and they will grow in the land. The day of Jezreel will be a great day.
“Plead with your mother; plead with her. She no longer acts like my wife. She no longer treats me like her husband. Tell her to stop acting like a prostitute. Tell her to remove the lovers from between her breasts.
“I will strengthen the people of Judah. I will rescue Joseph’s people. I will bring them back, because I have compassion for them. It will be as though I had never rejected them, because I am the Lord their God, and I will answer them.
The Jews said among themselves, “Where does this man intend to go so that we won’t find him? Does he mean that he’ll live with the Jews who are scattered among the Greeks and that he’ll teach the Greeks?
Then they sang a new song, “You deserve to take the scroll and open the seals on it, because you were slaughtered. You bought people with your blood to be God’s own. They are from every tribe, language, people, and nation.
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They were holding back the four winds of the earth to keep them from blowing on the land, the sea, or any tree.