They sang the response songs, {\cf2\super [14]} Songs of Praise and Praise the Lord Because He is Good. His True Love Continues Forever. And then all the people cheered—they gave a loud shout and praised the Lord. They did this because the foundation of the Lord’s temple had been laid.
But the Lord says:\par “Bad people stole from the poor people.\par They took things from helpless people.\par But now I will stand and defend those weary (tired) people.”\par
With my whole self I will say,\par “Lord, there is no one like you.\par You save a poor person from people that are stronger.\par You take things from strong people,\par and you give those things\par to that poor, helpless person.”\par
Sometimes it seems that God forgets about people with troubles.\par It seems those poor people have no hope.\par But God doesn’t really forget them forever.\par
There will be sounds of joy and happiness. There will be the happy sounds of a bride and groom. There will be the sounds of people bringing their gifts to the Lord’s temple. {\cf2\super [278]} Those people will say, ‘Praise the Lord All-Powerful! The Lord is good! The Lord’s kindness continues forever!’ The people will say these things because I will again do good things to Judah. It will be like in the beginning.” The Lord said these things.