The Lord stopped your punishment. He destroyed your enemies’ strong towers. King of Israel, the Lord is with you. You don’t need to worry about anything bad happening.
Your God is the one who fights for his people. He is your Lord GOD, and he says to you, “Look, I am taking this ‘cup of poison’ away from you. It is full of my anger, and I am taking it out of your hand. You will not be punished by my anger again.
But the Lord is still in that city, and he continues to be good. He does not do anything wrong. He continues to help his people. Morning after morning he makes good decisions for them. Not a day passes without his justice. He never gives a decision that is crooked or is something to be ashamed of.
But I will make Jerusalem like a heavy rock—those who try to take it will hurt themselves. They will be cut and scratched. All the nations on earth will come together to fight against Jerusalem.
There will never again be news of violence in your country. People will never again attack your country and steal from you. You will name your walls, ‘Salvation’ and your gates, ‘Praise.’
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, “The victory and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah have now come. These things have come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown out. He is the one who accused them day and night before our God.
People of Zion, rejoice! People of Jerusalem, shout with joy! Look, your king is coming to you! He is the good king who won the victory, but he is humble. He is riding on a donkey, on a young donkey born from a work animal.
The Lord your God is with you. He is like a powerful soldier. He will save you. He will show how much he loves you and how happy he is with you. He will laugh and be happy about you,
You hurt many people in Lebanon and stole many animals there. So you will be afraid because of the people who died and because of the bad things you did to that country. You will be afraid because of what you did to those cities and to the people who lived there.”
My enemy said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” But my enemy will see this, and she will be ashamed. At that time I will laugh at her. People will walk over her, like mud in the streets.
“Then you will know that I am the Lord your God. I live on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will become holy. Strangers will never pass through that city again.
But death will be destroyed forever. And the Lord GOD will wipe away every tear from every face. In the past, all of his people were sad, but God will take away that sadness from the earth. All of this will happen because the Lord said it would.
You have stolen things from many nations, so they will take much from you. You have killed many people and destroyed lands and cities. You have killed all the people there.
The Lord will make his people free, and they will come back to him. They will come into Zion rejoicing. They will be happy forever. Their happiness will be like a crown on their heads. Gladness and joy will fill them completely. Sorrow and sadness will be far, far away.
“I can do nothing alone. I judge only the way I am told. And my judgment is right, because I am not trying to please myself. I want only to please the one who sent me.
Listen to my people. Everywhere in this country, people are crying for help. They say, “Is the Lord still at Zion? Is Zion’s King still there?” But God says, “The people of Judah worshiped their worthless foreign idols. That made me very angry! Why did they do that?”
“I will not let those other nations insult you anymore. You will not be hurt by them anymore. You will not take the children away from your people again.” This is what the Lord GOD said.