Then each ruler will be like a shelter from the wind, like a safe place in a storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like a cool shadow from a large rock in a hot land.
They say: “Help us. Tell us what to do. Protect us from our enemies as shade protects us from the noon sun. Hide us, because we are running for safety! Don’t give us to our enemies.
You protect the poor; you protect the helpless when they are in danger. You are like a shelter from storms, like shade that protects them from the heat. The cruel people attack like a rainstorm beating against the wall,
I will use justice as a measuring line and goodness as the standard. The lies you hide behind will be destroyed as if by hail. They will be washed away as if in a flood.
I will make rivers flow on the dry hills and springs flow through the valleys. I will change the desert into a lake of water and the dry land into fountains of water.
Even the wild animals will be thankful to me— the wild dogs and owls. They will honor me when I put water in the desert and rivers in the dry land to give water to my people, the ones I chose.
I will pour out water for the thirsty land and make streams flow on dry land. I will pour out my Spirit into your children and my blessing on your descendants.
A child has been born to us; God has given a son to us. He will be responsible for leading the people. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace.
“Sword, hit the shepherd. Attack the man who is my friend,” says the Lord All-Powerful. “Kill the shepherd, and the sheep will scatter, and I will punish the little ones.”
Without doubt, the secret of our life of worship is great: He was shown to us in a human body, proved right in spirit, and seen by angels. He was proclaimed to the nations, believed in by the world, and taken up in glory.