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Restoration of Judah and Israel

Ask rain from the L ord

in the season of the spring rain,

from the L ord who makes the storm clouds,

who gives showers of rain to you,

the vegetation in the field to everyone.

For the teraphim utter nonsense,

and the diviners see lies;

the dreamers tell false dreams,

and give empty consolation.

Therefore the people wander like sheep;

they suffer for lack of a shepherd.

My anger is hot against the shepherds,

and I will punish the leaders;

for the L ord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,

and will make them like his proud war-horse.

Out of them shall come the cornerstone,

out of them the tent peg,

out of them the battle bow,

out of them every commander.

Together they shall be like warriors in battle,

trampling the foe in the mud of the streets;

they shall fight, for the L ord is with them,

and they shall put to shame the riders on horses.

I will strengthen the house of Judah,

and I will save the house of Joseph.

I will bring them back because I have compassion on them,

and they shall be as though I had not rejected them;

for I am the L ord their God and I will answer them.

Then the people of Ephraim shall become like warriors,

and their hearts shall be glad as with wine.

Their children shall see it and rejoice,

their hearts shall exult in the L ord.

I will signal for them and gather them in,

for I have redeemed them,

and they shall be as numerous as they were before.

Though I scattered them among the nations,

yet in far countries they shall remember me,

and they shall rear their children and return.

I will bring them home from the land of Egypt,

and gather them from Assyria;

I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,

until there is no room for them.

They shall pass through the sea of distress,

and the waves of the sea shall be struck down,

and all the depths of the Nile dried up.

The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,

and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.

I will make them strong in the L ord,

and they shall walk in his name,

says the L ord.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Here at length he includes the substance of what we have noticed, that there would be sufficient help in God to raise up and support his people, and to render them victorious over all their enemies. He had already proved this by saying, that God had formerly sufficiently testified by many miracles how much superior he was to the whole world; but he briefly completes the whole of this proof, and shows, that the Jews, provided that they relied on God and expected from him what he had promised, would be sufficiently strong, though the whole power of the world were to rise up against them.

He also mentions the name of God, They shall walk, he says, in his name, that is, under his auspices. In short, there is here an implied contrast between the name of God and the wealth and the forces of their enemies, which might have filled the minds of the faithful with fear, and cast them down. Hence the Prophet bids the Jews to give the glory to God, and not to doubt but that they would be victorious, whatever hindrance the world might throw in their way. And by this word walk, he means a continued course of life, as though he had said, that the people indeed had returned from exile, that is, in part; but that more of them were to be expected, for the Lord had not only been a leader in their return, but that he would be also their perpetual guardian, and defend them to the end.