Don’t let the Egyptians say, ‘He was planning all along to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth. That’s why he brought them out ⌞of our land⌟.’ Don’t be so angry. Reconsider your decision to bring this disaster on your people.
You turn things upside down! Is the potter no better than his clay? Can something that has been made say about its maker, “He didn’t make me”? Can a piece of pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?
The Lord reclaimed you. He formed you in the womb. This is what the Lord says: I, the Lord, made everything. I stretched out the heavens by myself. I spread out the earth all alone.
The Lord is the Holy One and the maker of Israel. This is what the Lord says: Ask me about what is going to happen to my children! Are you going to give me orders concerning my handiwork?
How horrible it will be for the one who quarrels with his maker. He is pottery among other earthenware pots. Does the clay ask the one who shapes it, “What are you making?” Does your work say to you, “There are no handles”?
I will not accuse you forever. I will not be angry with you forever. Otherwise, the spirits, the lives of those I’ve made, would grow faint in my presence.
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.
You are our Father. Even though Abraham doesn’t know us and Israel doesn’t pay attention to us, O Lord, you are our Father. Your name is our Defender From Everlasting.
A child will be born for us. A son will be given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. He will be named: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
They will cry as they return. They will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams on a level path where they will not stumble. I will be a Father to Israel, and Ephraim will be my firstborn.
“Yet, the Israelites will become as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore. No one will be able to measure them or count them. Wherever they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be told, ‘You are the children of the living God.’
Don’t all of us have the same father? Hasn’t the same God created us? Why are we unfaithful to each other? And why do we dishonor the promise given to our ancestors?