At that time some people will be left alive in Israel from the family of Jacob. They will not continue to depend on the person who defeated them. They will learn truly to depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
Some people make idols, but they are worth nothing. People treasure them, but they are useless. Those people are witnesses for the statues, but those people cannot see. They know nothing, so they will be ashamed.
“You people who have escaped from other nations, gather together and come before me; come near together. People who carry idols of wood don’t know what they are doing. They pray to a god who cannot save them.
Who is this coming from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, dressed in red? Who is this dressed in fine clothes and marching forward with his great power? He says, “I, the Lord, speak what is right. I have the power to save you.”
You are our father. Abraham doesn’t know we are his children, and Israel doesn’t recognize us. Lord, you are our father. You are called “the one who has always saved us.”
God, the Hope of Israel, you have saved Israel in times of trouble. Why are you like a stranger in the land, or like a traveler who only stays one night?
When King Josiah was ruling Judah, the Lord said to me, “Did you see what unfaithful Israel did? She was like a prostitute with her idols on every hill and under every green tree.
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!’
When I had brought them into the land I promised to give them, they saw every high hill and every leafy tree. There they offered their sacrifices to gods. They brought offerings that made me angry and burned their incense and poured out their drink offerings.
But I will show pity to the people of Judah. I will save them, but not by using bows or swords, horses or horsemen, or weapons of war. I, the Lord their God, will save them.”