Return to the Lord
12 "Yet even now," declares the LORD,
1"return to me with all your heart,
2with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13
and
3rend your hearts and not
4your garments." Return to the LORD your God,
5for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
6and he relents over disaster.
14
7Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and
8leave a blessing behind him,
9a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?
15
10Blow the trumpet in Zion;
11consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly;
16
gather the people.
12Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders;
13gather the children, even nursing infants.
14Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.
17
15Between the
16vestibule and the
17altar
18let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, "Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations.
19Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"
The Lord Had Pity
18 20Then the LORD became jealous for his land
21and had pity on his people.
19
The LORD answered and said to his people, "Behold,
22I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil,
23and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.
20
"I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard into
24the eastern sea, and his rear guard into
25the western sea;
26the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things.
21
"Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for
27the LORD has done great things!
22
Fear not,
28you beasts of the field, for
29the pastures of the wilderness are green;
30the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and
31vine give their full yield.
23
32"Be glad, O children of Zion, and
33rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given
34the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain,
35the early and
36the latter rain, as before.
24
"The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25
I will restore to you the years that
37the swarming locust has eaten,
38the hopper,
39the destroyer, and
40the cutter,
41my great army, which I sent among you.
26
42"You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people
43shall never again be put to shame.
27
44You shall know that I am
45in the midst of Israel, and that
46I am the LORD your God
47and there is none else. And my people
48shall never again be put to shame.