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Peace That Lasts Forever

This is the message[a] I was given about Judah and Jerusalem:

In the future, the mountain
with the Lord's temple
    will be the highest of all.
It will reach above the hills;
    every nation will rush to it.
Many people will come and say,
    “Let's go to the mountain
of the Lord God of Jacob
    and worship in his temple.”

The Lord will teach us his Law
from Jerusalem,
    and we will obey him.
(A) He will settle arguments
    between nations.
They will pound their swords
and their spears
    into rakes and shovels;
they will never make war
    or attack one another.
People of Israel, let's live
    by the light of the Lord.

Following Sinful Customs

Our Lord, you have deserted
    your people, Israel,
because they follow customs
    of nations from the east.
They worship Philistine gods
and are close friends
    of foreigners.[b]
They have endless treasures
    of silver and gold;
they have countless horses
    and war chariots.
Everywhere in the country
they worship the idols
    they have made.
And so, all of them
will be ashamed and disgraced.
    Don't forgive them!

A Day of Judgment

10 (B) Every one of you,
go hide among the rocks
    and in the ground,
because the Lord is fearsome,
    marvelous, and glorious.
11 When the Lord comes,
everyone who is proud
    will be made humble,
and the Lord alone
    will be honored.
12 The Lord All-Powerful
    has chosen a day
when those who are proud
and conceited
    will be put down.

13 The tall and towering
cedars of Lebanon
    will be destroyed.
So will the oak trees of Bashan,
14 all high mountains and hills,
15     every strong fortress,
16 all the seagoing ships,[c]
    and every beautiful boat.
17 When that day comes,
everyone who is proud
    will be put down.
Only the Lord will be honored.
18     Idols will be gone for good.

19 You had better hide
    in caves and holes—
the Lord will be fearsome,
    marvelous, and glorious
when he comes to terrify
    people on earth.

20 On that day everyone will throw
    to the moles and bats
their idols of silver and gold
    they made to worship.
21 The Lord will be fearsome,
    marvelous, and glorious
when he comes to terrify
    people on earth—
they will hide in caves
    and in the hills.

22 Stop trusting the power
    of humans.
They are all going to die,
    so how can they help?

Footnotes

  1. 2.1 message: See the note at 1.1.
  2. 2.6 because … foreigners: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  3. 2.16 seagoing ships: The Hebrew text has “ships of Tarshish,” which may have been a Phoenician city in Spain. “Ships of Tarshish” probably means large, seagoing ships.

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