From Death to Life, Lost to Found

⁷ Let Israel’s salvation come out of Zion! When the LORD changes his people’s circumstances for the better, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will celebrate!

¹¹ At that time, this people and Jerusalem will be told: A blistering wind from the bare heights; it rages in the desert toward my people, not merely to winnow or cleanse. ¹² This wind is too devastating for that. Now I, even I, will pronounce my sentence against them. ²² My people are foolish. They don’t even know me! They are thoughtless children without understanding; they are skilled at doing wrong, inept at doing right. ²³ I looked at the earth, and it was without shape or form; at the heavens and there was no light. ²⁴ I looked at the mountains and they were quaking; all the hills were rocking back and forth. ²⁵ I looked and there was no one left; every bird in the sky had taken flight. ²⁶ I looked and the fertile land was a desert; all its towns were in ruins before the LORD, before his fury. ²⁷ The LORD proclaims: The whole earth will become a desolation, but I will not destroy it completely. ²⁸ Therefore, the earth will grieve and the heavens grow dark because I have declared my plan and will neither change my mind nor cancel the plan.