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The Joyful Return of the Exiles

31At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
² Thus says the Lord:
The people who survived the sword
   found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,
³   the Lord appeared to him^* from far away.^*
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
   therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
⁴ Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
   O virgin Israel!
Again you shall take^* your tambourines,
   and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
⁵ Again you shall plant vineyards
   on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant,
   and shall enjoy the fruit.
⁶ For there shall be a day when sentinels will call
   in the hill country of Ephraim:
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
   to the Lord our God.’

⁸ Who are these that fly like a cloud,
   and like doves to their windows?
⁹ For the coastlands shall wait for me,
   the ships of Tarshish first,
to bring your children from far away,
   their silver and gold with them,
for the name of the Lord your God,
   and for the Holy One of Israel,
   because he has glorified you.
¹⁰ Foreigners shall build up your walls,
   and their kings shall minister to you;
for in my wrath I struck you down,
   but in my favour I have had mercy on you.
¹¹ Your gates shall always be open;
   day and night they shall not be shut,
so that nations shall bring you their wealth,
   with their kings led in procession.
¹² For the nation and kingdom
   that will not serve you shall perish;
   those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
¹³ The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
   the cypress, the plane, and the pine,
to beautify the place of my sanctuary;
   and I will glorify where my feet rest.
¹⁴ The descendants of those who oppressed you
   shall come bending low to you,
and all who despised you
   shall bow down at your feet;
they shall call you the City of the Lord,
   the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵ Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
   with no one passing through,
I will make you majestic for ever,
   a joy from age to age.
¹⁶ You shall suck the milk of nations,
   you shall suck the breasts of kings;
and you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Saviour
   and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.