Lord, God of Israel, by your goodness a few of us are left alive today. We admit that we are guilty and none of us should be allowed to stand before you.”
All of us growl like the bears. We call out sadly like the doves. We look for justice, but there isn’t any. We want to be saved, but salvation is far away.
You can hear crying on the bare hilltops. It is the people of Israel crying and praying for mercy. They have become very evil and have forgotten the Lord their God.
They will be crying as they come, but they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead those people by streams of water on an even road where they will not stumble. I am Israel’s father, and Israel is my firstborn son.
Of the people of Judah who were left alive and have gone to live in Egypt, none will escape my punishment. They want to return to Judah and live there, but none of them will live to return to Judah, except a few people who will escape.”
A few will escape being killed by the sword and will come back to Judah from Egypt. Then, of the people of Judah who came to live in Egypt, those who are left alive will know if my word or their word came true.
The sound of loud crying is heard from Jerusalem: ‘We are truly ruined! We are truly ashamed! We must leave our land, because our houses are in ruins.’ ”
But some people will escape; some sons and daughters will be led out. They will come out to you, and you will see what happens to people who live as they did. Then you will be comforted after the disasters I have brought against Jerusalem, after all the things I have brought against it.
My flock wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered all over the face of the earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
Then you will remember your evil ways and actions that were not good, and you will hate yourselves because of your sins and your terrible acts that I hate.
It has been announced that the people of Nineveh will be captured and carried away. The slave girls moan like doves and beat their breasts, because they are sad.