My servants will shout for joy because of the goodness of their hearts, but you evil people will cry, because you will be sad. You will cry loudly, because your spirits will be broken.
But instead, some of you want to light your own fires and make your own light. So, go, walk in the light of your fires, and trust your own light to guide you. But this is what you will receive from me: You will lie down in a place of pain.
The people the Lord has freed will return and enter Jerusalem with joy. Their happiness will last forever. They will have joy and gladness, and all sadness and sorrow will be gone far away.
When you see these things, you will be happy, and you will grow like the grass. The Lord’s servants will see his power, but his enemies will see his anger.
God, you have caused the nation to grow and made the people happy. And they have shown their happiness to you, like the joy during harvest time, like the joy of people taking what they have won in war.
This is what the Lord says: “Be happy and sing for the people of Jacob. Shout for Israel, the greatest of the nations. Sing your praises and shout this: ‘Lord, save your people, those who are left alive from the nation of Israel!’
So the king told some servants, ‘Tie this man’s hands and feet. Throw him out into the darkness, where people will cry and grind their teeth with pain.’
You will cry and grind your teeth with pain when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s kingdom, but you yourselves thrown outside.