Many will be cut down by the sword or scattered as prisoners to many countries. And Jerusalem shall be trampled down by nations until the days of world empires come to an end.”
Inside Jerusalem, a third of your people will die of plague or starvation. Outside the city, a third will fall by the sword. And a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with my sword.
The nations are roaring like the roar of a massive waterfall, but when God rebukes them they disperse like chaff on the mountains, like a tumbleweed whirling in the wind.
God, rebuke the beast-life that hides within us! Rebuke those who claim to be “strong ones,” who lurk within the congregation and abuse the people out of their love for money. God scatters the people who are spoiling for a fight.
Don’t kill them; stagger them all with a vivid display of power and scatter them with your armies of angels, O mighty God, our protector! Use your awesome power to make them wanderers and vagabonds and then bring them down.
Yahweh, may all who hate you perish in the same way! But may those who love you shine like the sun, bright in its strength as it crosses the sky! Then the land had peace for forty years.
I know you are about to arise and show your tender love to Zion. Now is the time, Lord, for your compassion and mercy to be poured out— the appointed time has come for your prophetic promises to be fulfilled!