Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning wrath; change your mind about punishing your people.
Why do you make us wander, Lord, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we do not fear you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.
How could I give you up, Ephraim, or deliver you up, Israel? How could I treat you as Admah, or make you like Zeboiim? My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred.
Therefore, thus says the Lord: I return to Jerusalem in mercy; my house will be rebuilt there—oracle of the Lord of hosts— and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.
Surely, the Lord will do justice for his people; on his servants he will have pity. When he sees their strength is gone, and neither bond nor free is left,