I will bring them back from Egypt and Assyria. I will bring them to the area of Gilead. And since there will not be enough room, I will also let them live in nearby Lebanon.
They will come from Egypt, shaking like birds. They will come shaking like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will take them back home.” This is what the Lord said.
So rule your people with your rod. Rule the flock of people who belong to you. That flock lives alone in the woods and up on Mount Carmel. That flock lives in Bashan and Gilead as they did in the past.
People from Israel were forced to leave their homes, but they will take back the land of Canaan, all the way to Zarephath. People from Judah were forced to leave Jerusalem and live in Sepharad. But they will take back the cities of the Negev.
“‘I will bring Israel back to his own fields. He will eat food that grows on Mount Carmel and in the land of Bashan. He will eat and be full. He will eat on the hills in the lands of Ephraim and Gilead.’”
This is what the Lord says about the palace where the king of Judah lives: “The palace is tall like the forests of Gilead, like the mountains of Lebanon. But I will make it like a desert, as empty as a city where no one lives.
The smallest family will become a large family group. The smallest tribe will become a powerful nation. When the time is right, I, the Lord, will come quickly. I will make these things happen.”