A Prophecy of Restoration

¹¹A day for the building of your walls!
   In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
¹²In that day they will come to you
   from Assyria to^* Egypt,
and from Egypt to the River,
   from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
¹³But the earth will be desolate
   because of its inhabitants,
   for the fruit of their doings.

¹⁴Shepherd your people with your staff,
   the flock that belongs to you,
which lives alone in a forest
   in the midst of a garden land;
let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
   as in the days of old.
¹⁵As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
   show us^* marvellous things.
¹⁶The nations shall see and be ashamed
   of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
   their ears shall be deaf;
¹⁷they shall lick dust like a snake,
   like the crawling things of the earth;
they shall come trembling out of their fortresses;
   they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
   and they shall stand in fear of you.

God’s Compassion and Steadfast Love

¹⁸Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
   and passing over the transgression
   of the remnant of your^* possession?
He does not retain his anger for ever,
   because he delights in showing clemency.
¹⁹He will again have compassion upon us;
   he will tread our iniquities under foot.
You will cast all our^* sins
   into the depths of the sea.
²⁰You will show faithfulness to Jacob
   and unswerving loyalty to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our ancestors
   from the days of old.