May there be plenty of grain in the land. May it wave ⌞in the breeze⌟ on the mountaintops, its fruit like ⌞the treetops of⌟ Lebanon. May those from the city flourish like the grass on the ground.
He will judge the poor justly. He will make fair decisions for the humble people on earth. He will strike the earth with a rod from his mouth. He will kill the wicked with the breath from his lips.
The Lord will give you rain for the seed that you plant in the ground, and the food that the ground provides will be rich and nourishing. When that day comes, your cattle will graze in large pastures.
Rain down from above, you heavens, and pour down righteousness, you skies. Let the earth open. Let salvation and righteousness sprout. Let them spring up. I, the Lord, have created them.
He grew up in his presence like a young tree, like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that would make us look at him. He had nothing in his appearance that would make us desire him.
Then all your people will be righteous, and they will possess the land permanently. They will be the seedling I have planted, the honored work of my hands.
Like the ground that brings forth its crops and like a garden that makes the seed in it grow, so the Almighty Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up in front of all nations.
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will grow a righteous branch for David. He will be a king who will rule wisely. He will do what is fair and right in the land.
None of the people of Judah who went to live in Egypt will survive or return to Judah, where they long to return and live. Only a few refugees will return there.
Those who escape the wars will return to Judah from Egypt. Then all the people of Judah who went to live in Egypt will know whose words have come true, mine or theirs.
I will give them a place that is known for its good crops. They will no longer experience hunger in the land, and they will no longer suffer the insults of other nations.
Then whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Those who escape will be on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. Among the survivors will be those whom the Lord calls, as the Lord has promised.
On that day new wine will cover the mountains. Milk will flow on the hills. Water will flow in all the brooks of Judah. A spring will flow from the Lord’s temple. It will water the valley of Shittim.
Then say to him, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: Here is the man whose name is Branch. He will branch out from where he is, and he will rebuild the Lord’s temple.
“They will be mine,” says the Lord of Armies. “On that day I will make them my special possession. I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.
The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness and truth.
We are his servants because the same God who said that light should shine out of darkness has given us light. For that reason we bring to light the knowledge about God’s glory which shines from Christ’s face.
When we apostles told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we didn’t base our message on clever myths that we made up. Rather, we witnessed his majesty with our own eyes.