But if you return to me and obey my commands, I will gather your people from the far ends of the earth. And I will bring them from captivity to where I have chosen to be worshiped.’
They will truly turn back to you in the land of their enemies. They will pray to you, facing this land you gave their ancestors, this city you have chosen, and the Temple I have built for you.
The Lord said to him: “I have heard your prayer and what you have asked me to do. You built this Temple, and I have made it a holy place. I will be worshiped there forever and will watch over it and protect it always.
God has chosen Jerusalem as the place he is to be worshiped. May he punish any king or person who tries to change this order and destroy this Temple. I, Darius, have given this order. Let it be obeyed quickly and carefully.
God will raise a banner as a sign for all nations, and he will gather the people of Israel who were forced from their country. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from all parts of the earth.
At that time the Lord will begin gathering his people one by one from the Euphrates River to the brook of Egypt. He will separate them from others as grain is separated from chaff.
The Lord God says— he who gathers the Israelites that were forced to leave their country: “I will bring together other people to join those who are already gathered.”
“Come back to me, you unfaithful children,” says the Lord, “because I am your master. I will take one person from every city and two from every family group, and I will bring you to Jerusalem.
“Nations, listen to the message from the Lord. Tell this message in the faraway lands by the sea: ‘The one who scattered the people of Israel will bring them back, and he will watch over his people like a shepherd.’
I forced the people of Israel and Judah to leave their land, because I was furious and very angry with them. But soon I will gather them from all the lands where I forced them to go, and I will bring them back to this place, where they may live in safety.
“So say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Change your hearts and lives, and stop worshiping idols. Stop doing all the things I hate.
If the Lord your God chooses a place where he is to be worshiped that is too far away from you, you may kill animals from your herds and flocks, which the Lord has given to you. I have commanded that you may do this. You may eat as much of them as you want in your own towns,
When all these blessings and curses I have described happen to you, and the Lord your God has sent you away to other nations, think about these things.