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.
Jerusalem, you have good news to tell. Go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, you have good news to tell. Shout out loud the good news. Shout it out and don’t be afraid. Say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God.”
You will be given what you need from the nations, like a child drinking milk from its mother. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who saves you. You will know that the Powerful One of Jacob protects you.
The Lord is speaking to all the faraway lands: “Tell the people of Jerusalem, ‘Look, your Savior is coming. He is bringing your reward to you; he is bringing his payment with him.’ ”
All this disaster came to us just as it is written in the Teachings of Moses. But we have not pleaded with the Lord our God. We have not stopped sinning. We have not paid attention to your truth.
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.
I began telling people that they should change their hearts and lives and turn to God and do things to show they really had changed. I told this first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and in every part of Judea, and also to the other people.