Crossing the Read Sea

Deuteronomy 12:5-12

A Dwelling for God's Name

5 Rather, you must seek the Lord your God at the place of worship he himself will choose from among all the tribes—the place where his name will be honored. 6 There you will bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your voluntary offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your herds and flocks. 7 There you and your families will feast in the presence of the Lord your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 “Your pattern of worship will change. Today all of you are doing as you please, 9 because you have not yet arrived at the place of rest, the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession. 10 But you will soon cross the Jordan River and live in the land the Lord your God is giving you. When he gives you rest from all your enemies and you’re living safely in the land, 11 you must bring everything I command you—your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, and your offerings to fulfill a vow—to the designated place of worship, the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored.

12 “You must celebrate there in the presence of the Lord your God with your sons and daughters and all your servants. And remember to include the Levites who live in your towns, for they will receive no allotment of land among you.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 26

1 “When you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, you must take possession of it and settle in it.

2 Of all the first fruits of the earth that you harvest from your land that God, your God, is giving you, you must take one specimen. You must place these fruits in a basket and go to the place to which God, your God, will choose to attach His Name.

3 You must approach the priest who will be in those days and say to him, ‘I declare today to God, your God, that I have come to the land that God swore to our forefathers to give us.’

4 The priest will take the basket from your hands, and place it before the Altar of God, your God.

5 You must raise your voice and you must say before God, your God: ‘An Aramean sought to be the destroyer of my forefather. He went down to Egypt and sojourned there with his family, a small number of people, and he became a great, mighty, and populous nation there.

6 The Egyptians treated us cruelly, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor upon us.

7 So we cried out to God, God of our fathers, and God heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression,

8 and God took us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with a great manifestation of His presence, and with signs and marvels,

9 and He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and date- and fig-honey.

10 Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the soil that You, God, have given me.’ You must then place the basket before God, your God, and prostrate yourself before God, your God.

11 You will rejoice over all the good that God, your God, has granted you and your household—you, the Levite, and the convert who is among you.

2 Chronicles 30:1-9, 26-27

An Act of Repentance and Renewal

30 King Hezekiah now sent word to all Israel and Judah, and he wrote letters of invitation to the people of Ephraim and Manasseh. He asked everyone to come to the Temple of the Lord at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of the Lord, the God of Israel. 2 The king, his officials, and all the community of Jerusalem decided to celebrate Passover a month later than usual. 3 They were unable to celebrate it at the prescribed time because not enough priests could be purified by then, and the people had not yet assembled at Jerusalem.

4 This plan for keeping the Passover seemed right to the king and all the people. 5 So they sent a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north, inviting everyone to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of the Lord, the God of Israel. The people had not been celebrating it in great numbers as required in the Law.

6 At the king’s command, runners were sent throughout Israel and Judah. They carried letters that said:

“O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he will return to the few of us who have survived the conquest of the Assyrian kings. 7 Do not be like your ancestors and relatives who abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and became an object of derision, as you yourselves can see. 8 Do not be stubborn, as they were, but submit yourselves to the Lord. Come to his Temple, which he has set apart as holy forever. Worship the Lord your God so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.

9 “For if you return to the Lord, your relatives and your children will be treated mercifully by their captors, and they will be able to return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful. If you return to him, he will not continue to turn his face from you.”

26 There was great joy in the city, for Jerusalem had not seen a celebration like this one since the days of Solomon, King David’s son. 27 Then the priests and Levites stood and blessed the people, and God heard their prayer from his holy dwelling in heaven.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 26

12 When you have finished taking all the tithes of your produce that grew in the third year of the sabbatical cycle—the year of the first tithe, and you have given them to the Levite, the convert, the orphan, and the widow, each one enough so that they can eat to satiation in your cities,

13 you must declare before God, your God: ‘I have removed from my house the holy produce; and I have also given the first tithe to the Levite and the tithe for the poor to the convert, the orphan, and the widow, in accordance with all Your commandments that You commanded me. I have not transgressed any of Your commandments, nor have I forgotten to thank You.

14 I did not consume any of the second tithe while in my grief. Nor did I consume any of it while I or it was ritually defiled; neither did I use any of it for the dead. I have obeyed God, my God; I have acted in accordance with all that You commanded me.

15 Look down favorably from Your holy dwelling, heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land that You have given to us as You swore to our forefathers—a land flowing with milk and date- and fig-honey.’

Matthew 22:36-40

The Command to Love

36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 26

16 Today, God, your God, is commanding you to fulfill these rules and ordinances. You will safeguard them by studying how to perform them and perform them with all your heart and with all your soul.

17 Today, you have singled out God to be your God, to walk in His ways, to safeguard His rules, commandments, and ordinances by studying how to perform them, and to obey Him.

18 God has set you apart today to be His treasured people, just as He spoke concerning you; to have you safeguard all His commandments by studying how to perform them;

19 to make you supreme above all the nations that He established, so they will accord you praise, a distinguished name, and glory; and for you to be a holy people devoted solely to God, your God, just as He spoke.”

Romans 2:9-16

Keep God's Laws a n d Do Good

9 There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. 10 But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.

12 When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it. 13 For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. 14 Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. 15 They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. 16 And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 27

1 Moses, together with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying, “You must unceasingly safeguard all the commandments that I am commanding you this day by studying how to perform them.

2 On the day that you cross the Jordan River into the land that God, your God, is giving you, you must set up for yourself boulders. You must plaster them with lime

3 and write upon them all the words of this Torah when you cross, in order that you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you—a land flowing with milk and date- and fig-honey—as God, God of your forefathers, has spoken to you.

4 After you have crossed the Jordan River, you must set up these boulders, regarding which I command you this day, on Mount Eival. You must plaster them with lime.

5 You will build there an altar to God, your God—an altar constructed out of these boulders. You must not wield any iron tool upon them to cut them to size;

6 you must build the altar of God, your God, out of whole boulders. You must offer up ascent-offerings on it to God, your God.

7 You must slaughter animals as peace-offerings, and you must eat your portions of them there. You must rejoice before God, your God.

8 You must write upon the boulders all the words of this Torah, translated very clearly.”

9 Moses and the Levitic priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Pay attention and listen, people of Israel! Today you have become a people bound to God, your God.

10 You must therefore obey God, your God, and fulfill His commandments and His rules concerning which I command you today.”

Deuteronomy 30:1-10

Promised Restoration

A Call to Return to the Lord

30 “In the future, when you experience all these blessings and curses I have listed for you, and when you are living among the nations to which the Lord your God has exiled you, take to heart all these instructions. 2 If at that time you and your children return to the Lord your God, and if you obey with all your heart and all your soul all the commands I have given you today, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you. 4 Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you from there and bring you back again. 5 The Lord your God will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. Then he will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors!

6 “The Lord your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live! 7 The Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate and persecute you. 8 Then you will again obey the Lord and keep all his commands that I am giving you today.

9 “The Lord your God will then make you successful in everything you do. He will give you many children and numerous livestock, and he will cause your fields to produce abundant harvests, for the Lord will again delight in being good to you as he was to your ancestors. 10 The Lord your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 27

11 Moses commanded the people on that day, saying,

12 “When you cross the Jordan River, the following tribes will stand on Mount Gerizim, and the priests and Levites will face them in order to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

13 The following tribes will stand on Mount Eival so the priests and Levites can turn and face them for the purpose of pronouncing the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

14 The Levites will speak up, saying to every individual of Israel in a loud voice:

15 ‘Cursed be the man who makes any sculpted or molten image, which is an abomination to God—being the handiwork of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret!’ All the people will respond, saying, ‘Amen!’

16 ‘Cursed be he who disrespects his father and mother!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’

17 ‘Cursed be he who pushes back his neighbor’s landmark!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’

18 ‘Cursed be he who figuratively misguides a “blind person” on the way!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’

19 ‘Cursed be he who perverts the judgment of the convert, the orphan, or the widow!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’

20 ‘Cursed be he who fornicates with his father’s wife, thus figuratively uncovering the corner of his father’s garment!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’

21 ‘Cursed be he who engages in carnal relations with any animal!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’

22 ‘Cursed be he who fornicates with his sister, whether she be the daughter of his father or of his mother!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’

23 ‘Cursed be he who fornicates with his mother-in-law!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’

24 ‘Cursed be he who “strikes his fellow” in secret!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’

25 ‘Cursed be he who takes a bribe to put an innocent person to death!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’

26 ‘Cursed be he who does not uphold all the words of this Torah by fulfilling them!’ All the people will say, ‘Amen!’

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 28

1 If you obey God, your God, being sure to safeguard and to perform all His commandments that I am commanding you to perform today, God, your God, will place you supreme above all the nations of the earth.

2 All the following blessings will pursue you and overtake you if you obey God, your God:

3 You will be blessed both in the city and in the field.

4 Blessed will be your children, the fruit of your womb; your crops, the fruit of your soil; the fruit of your domestic animals: the offspring of your cattle and the choice of your flocks.

5 Blessed will be your food basket and your kneading bowl.

6 Just as you are blessed when you enter the world, being free of sin, so will you be similarly blessed when you depart the world.

Deuteronomy 30:11-21

Choose Life

The Choice of Life or Death

11 “This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach. 12 It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’ 13 It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’ 14 No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.

15 “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. 16 For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.

17 “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, 18 then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.

19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 20 You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 28

7 God will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be beaten by you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will flee from you in seven directions.

8 God will command the blessing of success to accompany you in your granaries and in all your endeavors. He will bless you in the land that God, your God, is giving you.

9 God will establish you as His holy people, as He swore to you, if you safeguard the commandments of God, your God, by studying how to perform them properly, and walk in His ways.

10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the Name of God is associated only with you, and they will fear you.

11 God will make you superior to them with regard to children, the fruit of your womb; with regard to your cattle, the fruit of your domestic animals; and with regard to your produce, the fruit of your soil, on the land that God swore to your forefathers to give you.

12 God will open up His good treasury—heaven—for you, in order to provide your land with its rain in its right time and thereby bless everything you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will not need to borrow.

13 God will place you at the head of the world, as leaders, and not at the tail, as subordinates; and you will be only at the top in all senses, and not at the bottom, if you obey the commandments of God, your God, regarding which I am commanding you today to safeguard them by studying how to perform them, and to perform them.

14 You must veer neither right nor left from all of the matters about which I am commanding you today, by following other peoples’ deities and worshiping them.

15 If, on the other hand, you do not obey God, your God—neglecting to safeguard His commandments by studying the Torah’s instructions regarding how to properly perform all His commandments and rules that I am commanding you to perform today—all the following curses will pursue you and overtake you:

16 You will be cursed both in the city and in the field.

17 Cursed will be your food basket and your kneading bowl.

18 Cursed will be your children, the fruit of your womb; your crops, the fruit of your soil; as well as the offspring of your cattle and the choice of your flocks.

19 You will be cursed when you enter your home and you will be cursed when you leave it.

20 God will send shortages, pandemonium, and self-rebuke against you in all of your endeavors that you undertake, until you are destroyed and quickly vanish, because of the evil you did in forsaking Me.

21 God will infect you with a disease that will spread like an epidemic and that will persist until it has eradicated you from the land that you are entering in order to possess.

22 God will strike you with diseases accompanied by consumption and blisters, regular fever, high fever, and unquenchable thirst; with the sword of invading armies; with a crop-destroying east wind and with drought; and they all will pursue you until you perish.

23 Your skies above you will be like copper, and the earth below you will be like iron.

24 God will turn the rain of your land into a cause of dust and mud. It will rain down upon you from the sky until you are destroyed for lack of food.

25 God will cause you to be beaten by your enemy: you will attack them from one direction, but you will flee from them in seven directions. You, as an example, will become a source of terror for all the kingdoms on earth.

26 Your corpse will be food for all the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, and no one will frighten them.

27 God will strike you with the horrible boils of Egypt, with hemorrhoids, with oozing boils, and with dry boils, from all of which you will be unable to be healed.

28 God will strike you with insanity, blindness, and bewilderment.

29 You will grope at midday as the blind man gropes in the dark, and you will be unsuccessful in your undertakings. You will be nothing but constantly contested in whatever you do and robbed, and there will be no one who will rescue you.

30 You will betroth a woman, but another man will fornicate with her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not redeem its fourth-year fruits.

31 Your work-bull will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat from it. Your donkey will be robbed from you right in front of you, and it will not return to you. Your flock will be given over to your enemies, and there will be no one who will rescue it for you.

32 Your sons and daughters will be given over to another people as your own eyes see it happen; you will long for them all day long, but be powerless to do anything about it.

33 A people unknown to you will consume the fruit of your soil and the results of all your toil. You will be nothing but constantly contested in whatever you do, and crushed.

34 You will go insane from the vision that you will behold before your eyes.

35 God will strike you on the knees and on the legs with a terrible skin eruption, from which you will be unable to be healed; it will eventually cover you from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.

36 God will lead you and your king, whom you will have appointed over yourself, to a nation unknown to you or your fathers; there, you will serve those who serve other peoples’ deities of wood and stone.

37 You will become an object of astonishment, an archetype of extraordinary misfortune, and a topic of discussion among all the peoples to whose lands God will lead you.

38 You will take out a great deal of seed to sow in the field, yet you will gather in little produce, for the locusts will finish it off.

39 You will plant vineyards and work them, but you will neither drink their wine nor gather their grapes, for the worms will devour them.

40 You will have olive trees throughout all your boundaries, but you will not anoint yourself with their oil, for your olive tree will drop all its fruit before it ripens.

41 You will bear sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, for they will go into captivity.

42 The locust will denude all your trees of their fruit and all your fields of the fruit of your soil.

43 The resident alien who lives among you will rise higher and higher in wealth and stature above you, while you descend lower and lower.

44 He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be at the head, while you will be at the tail.

45 All these curses will befall you, pursuing you and overtaking you until they destroy you, because you did not obey God, your God, neglecting to safeguard His commandments and rules concerning which He commanded you, by studying how to perform them.

46 These curses will serve as a sign and a marvel for you and your descendants forever.

47 Since you did not serve God, your God, with joy and with heartfelt gladness when you had an abundance of everything—

48 you will instead serve your enemies, whom God will send against you, when you are in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and lacking everything. Your enemy will place an iron yoke upon your neck, working you until he has destroyed you.

49 God will bring upon you a nation from afar, from the end of the earth, who will conquer you the way the griffon vulture swoops down upon its prey. It will be a nation whose language you will not understand,

50 a brazen nation who neither respects the elderly nor shows favor to the young.

51 They will devour your young domestic animals, the fruit of your domestic animals; and your produce, the fruit of your soil; until they destroy you through starvation. They will be a nation who will not leave you any grain, wine, oil, the offspring of your cattle, or the choice of your flocks, until they annihilate you through starvation.

52 They will besiege you in all your cities, until your high and fortified walls in which you trust are overcome throughout all your land. They will besiege you in all your cities of the land that God, your God, has given you.

53 You will eat your children, the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom God, your God, gave you, on account of the siege and the oppression of famine to which your enemies will subject you.

54 The most tender and delicate man among you will begrudge his own brother, the wife of his embrace, and the rest of his surviving children,

55 of giving any one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating, because nothing will remain for him, on account of the siege and the oppression of famine to which your enemies will subject you in all your cities.

56 The most tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set her foot upon the ground out of delicateness and tenderness, will begrudge the husband of her embrace, her own grown son and grown daughter,

57 the newborn infants who emerge from between her legs, and her own small children whom she will bear, for out of destitution she will eat them in secret, on account of the siege and the oppression of famine to which your enemies will subject you in your cities.

58 If you do not safeguard God’s commandments by studying how to fulfill all the words of this Torah, which are written in this scroll, thereby learning how to revere this glorious and awesome Name, that of God, your God,

59 God will intensify the plagues that He will bring upon you and your offspring beyond other plagues, afflicting you with terrible, unyielding plagues and evil, unyielding sicknesses.

60 He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded when you were in Egypt, and they will cleave to you.

61 In addition, God will bring upon you every disease and plague that is not written in the scroll of this Torah in order to destroy you.

62 You will remain few in number instead of being how you once were—as numerous as the stars of the heavens—because you did not obey God, your God.

63 Just as God rejoiced over you to do good for you and to make you numerous, so will God make your enemies rejoice over you as they proceed to annihilate you and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land that you are entering in order to possess.

64 God will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve those who serve other peoples’ deities, which were unknown to you or your forefathers—deities of wood and stone.

65 You will find no respite among those nations, nor will your foot find any rest. There, God will give you a frightened, trembling heart, dashed hopes, and a depressed soul.

66 Your life will hang in suspense before you. You will be afraid night and day, and you will not believe in the reliability of your own life.

67 You will say in the morning, ‘If only it were last night!’ and you will say in the night, ‘If only it were this morning!’ because of the fear in your heart that you will experience over the future and because of the sights that you will behold.

68 God will bring you back to Egypt in slave-ships, via the path about which I said to you, ‘You will never see it again.’ There, you will offer yourselves for sale to your other enemies as slaves and bondwomen; but there will be no buyer.”

69 These are the words that constitute the covenant that God commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab, in addition to the covenant of blessings and curses that He made with them at Mount Horeb.

Hebrews 1:13-2:4

13 And God never said to any of the angels,

“Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
    until I humble your enemies,
    making them a footstool under your feet.”

14 Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.

A Warning against Drifting Away

2
1So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. 2 For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. 3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? 4 And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 29

1 Moses summoned all of Israel and said to them, “You have seen before your very eyes all that God did in Egypt, to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to his entire land:

2 the great trials that you saw with your own eyes and those great signs and marvels.

3 Until this day, God did not give you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear

4 how I led you through the desert for 40 years, during which your garments did not wear out from being worn on you, nor did your shoes wear out from being worn on your feet.

5 You neither ate bread nor drank new wine or old wine, in order that you would know that I am God, your God.

6 You came to this place, and King Sichon of Cheshbon and King Og of Bashan came out toward us in battle, but we smote them.

7 We took their land, and we gave it as an inheritance to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to half of the tribe of Manasseh.

8 You must safeguard the words that constitute this covenant by studying them diligently, and fulfill them, in order that you succeed in all you do.”

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) Chapter 60

1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has shone upon you.

2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and a gross darkness the kingdoms, and the Lord shall shine upon you, and His glory shall appear over you.

3 And nations shall go by your light and kings by the brilliance of your shine.

4 Lift up your eyes all around and see, they all have gathered, they have come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be raised on [their] side.

5 Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart shall be startled and become enlarged, for the abundance of the west shall be turned over to you, the wealth of the nations that will come to you.

6 A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah, all of them shall come from Sheba; gold and frankincense they shall carry, and the praises of the Lord they shall report.

7 All the sheep of Kedar shall be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall serve you; they shall be offered up with acceptance upon My altar, and I will glorify My glorious house.

8 Who are these that fly like a cloud and like doves to their cotes?

9 For the isles will hope for Me, and the ships of Tarshish [as] in the beginning, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, in the name of the Lord your God and for the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you.

10 And foreigners shall build your walls, and their kings shall serve you, for in My wrath I struck you, and in My grace have I had mercy on you.

11 And they shall open your gates always; day and night they shall not be closed, to bring to you the wealth of the nations and their kings in procession.

12 For the nation and the kingdom that shall not serve you shall perish, and the nations shall be destroyed.

13 The glory of the Lebanon shall come to you, box trees, firs, and cypresses together, to glorify the place of My sanctuary, and the place of My feet I will honor.

14 And the children of your oppressors shall go to you bent over, and those who despised you shall prostrate themselves at the soles of your feet, and they shall call you 'the city of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.'

15 Instead of your being forsaken and hated without a passerby, I will make you an everlasting pride, the joy of every generation.

16 And you shall suck the milk of nations and the breast of kings you shall suck, and you shall know that I am the Lord, your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

17 Instead of the copper I will bring gold, and instead of the iron I will bring silver, and instead of the wood, copper, and instead of the stones, iron, and I will make your officers peace and your rulers righteousness.

18 Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither robbery nor destruction within your borders, and you shall call salvation your walls and your gates praise.

19 You shall no longer have the sun for light by day, and for brightness, the moon shall not give you light, but the Lord shall be to you for an everlasting light, and your God for your glory.

20 Your sun shall no longer set, neither shall your moon be gathered in, for the Lord shall be to you for an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be completed.

21 And your people, all of them righteous, shall inherit the land forever, a scion of My planting, the work of My hands in which I will glory.

22 The smallest shall become a thousand and the least a mighty nation; I am the Lord, in its time I will hasten it.