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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.

He confirms what I have already said — that the Jews would be victorious over all nations. Though the Church is fighting under the cross, she yet triumphs over all the wicked, partly by hope and partly by present success; for God wonderfully sustains it, and makes the faithful to possess their souls in patience; and he also protects them by his own power, and renders them safe amidst all the roarings and insatiable rage of their enemies. Since then God thus strengthens the minds of his people, and cherishes in them the hope of salvation, and also defends them against raging assaults, it is no wonder that the Prophet testifies that the church would be victorious, treading down, as a giant or a strong man, her enemies in the mire.

He gives the reason, For Jehovah will be with them; and this he said, that they might know that nothing in this case would be their own, but that they might, on the contrary, learn to depend on God’s aid alone. And he explains this still more clearly at the end of the verse, by saying, Ashamed shall be the riders on horses; ¹¹⁹¹¹⁹ Henderson says, that this refers to the numerous cavalry of the SyroGrecian army. See 1 Maccabees 3:39. — Ed. that is, their strength and velour, their use of arms and their skill in handling them, shall avail them nothing, for the Lord will lay prostrate, notwithstanding their arrogance and pride, all those wicked men who in their cruelty devour the faithful, and think that they have strength more than enough to destroy the Church: the Lord will cause all these things to pass away like mist.

¹¹⁹ Henderson says, that this refers to the numerous cavalry of the SyroGrecian army. See 1 Maccabees 3:39. — Ed.