Israel, your people are many, like the grains of sand by the sea. But only a few of them will be left alive to return to the Lord. God has announced that he will destroy the land completely and fairly.
One-tenth of the people will be left in the land, but it will be destroyed again. These people will be like an oak tree whose stump is left when the tree is chopped down. The people who remain will be like a stump that will sprout again.”
This is what the Lord says: “When there is juice left in the grapes, people do not destroy them, because they know there is good left in them. So I will do the same thing to my servants— I will not completely destroy them.
The Lord says, “Walk up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and discover these things. Search the public squares of the city. If you can find one person who does honest things, who searches for the truth, I will forgive this city.
“I looked for someone to build up the walls and to stand before me where the walls are broken to defend these people so I would not have to destroy them. But I could not find anyone.
God has decided to make that terrible time short. Otherwise, no one would go on living. But God will make that time short to help the people he has chosen.