Let the fields grow plenty of grain and the hills be covered with crops. Let the land be as fertile as Lebanon, and let the cities grow like the grass in a field.
But he will judge the poor honestly; he will be fair in his decisions for the poor people of the land. At his command evil people will be punished, and by his words the wicked will be put to death.
In the days to come, the people of Jacob will be like a plant with good roots; Israel will grow like a plant beginning to bloom. Then the world will be filled with their children.
At that time the Lord will send rain for the seeds you plant in the ground, and the ground will grow food for you. The harvest will be rich and great, and you will have plenty of food in the fields for your animals.
“Sky above, make victory fall like rain; clouds, pour down victory. Let the earth receive it, and let salvation grow, and let victory grow with it. I, the Lord, have created it.
He grew up like a small plant before the Lord, like a root growing in a dry land. He had no special beauty or form to make us notice him; there was nothing in his appearance to make us desire him.
“You have been hated and left empty with no one passing through. But I will make you great from now on; you will be a place of happiness forever and ever.
All of your people will do what is right. They will receive the earth forever. They are the plant I have planted, the work of my own hands to show my greatness.
The earth causes plants to grow, and a garden causes the seeds planted in it to grow. In the same way the Lord God will make goodness and praise come from all the nations.
“The days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up a good branch in David’s family. He will be a king who will rule in a wise way; he will do what is fair and right in the land.
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.
I will give them a place famous for its good crops, so they will no longer suffer from hunger in the land. They will not suffer the insults of other nations anymore.
Then anyone who calls on the Lord will be saved, because on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be people who will be saved, just as the Lord has said. Those left alive after the day of punishment are the people whom the Lord called.
“On that day wine will drip from the mountains, milk will flow from the hills, and water will run through all the ravines of Judah. A fountain will flow from the Temple of the Lord and give water to the valley of acacia trees.
But on Mount Zion some will escape the judgment, and it will be a holy place. The people of Jacob will take back their land from those who took it from them.
“ ‘Listen, Joshua, the high priest, and your friends who are sitting in front of you. They are symbols of what will happen. I am going to bring my servant called the Branch.
Tell him this is what the Lord All-Powerful says: ‘A man whose name is the Branch will branch out from where he is, and he will build the Temple of the Lord.
The Lord All-Powerful says, “They belong to me; on that day they will be my very own. As a parent shows mercy to his child who serves him, I will show mercy to my people.
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.
So be ready all the time. Pray that you will be strong enough to escape all these things that will happen and that you will be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
God once said, “Let the light shine out of the darkness!” This is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts by letting us know the glory of God that is in the face of Christ.
When we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not telling just clever stories that someone invented. But we saw the greatness of Jesus with our own eyes.