Study Desk

But those from Jacob who are still living and scattered among the nations will be like dew from the Lord that does not depend on anyone. They will be like rain on the grass that does not wait for anyone.

Your people will come back to your land. They will come back from Assyria and from the cities of Egypt. They will come from Egypt and from the other side of the Euphrates River. They will come from the sea in the west and from the mountains in the east.

The land was ruined by the people who lived there and by what they did.

So rule your people with your rod. Rule the flock of people who belong to you. That flock lives alone in the woods and up on Mount Carmel. That flock lives in Bashan and Gilead as they did in the past.

The nations will see those miracles, and they will be ashamed. They will see that their "power" is nothing compared to mine. They will be amazed and put their hands over their mouths. They will cover their ears and refuse to listen.

They will crawl in the dust like a snake. They will shake with fear. They will be like insects crawling from their holes in the ground and coming to the Lord our God. God, they will fear and respect you!

Judah, look! There, coming over the mountains, is a messenger bringing good news! He says there is peace. Judah, celebrate your special festivals and do what you promised. Those worthless troublemakers will not come through and attack you again. They have all been destroyed.

The chariots race wildly through the streets and rush back and forth through the square. They look like burning torches, like lightning flashing from place to place!

The enemy calls for his best soldiers. They stumble as they rush ahead. They run to the wall and set up their shield over the battering ram.

The enemy takes away the queen, and her slave girls moan sadly like doves. They beat their breasts to show their sadness.

But Nineveh, all your strong places will be like fig trees. When new figs become ripe, people come and shake the tree. The figs fall into their mouths. They eat them, and the figs are gone.

You have many traders who go places and buy things. They are as many as the stars in the sky. They are like locusts that come and eat until everything is gone and then leave.

Nineveh, you have been hurt badly, and nothing can heal your wound. Everyone who hears the news of your destruction claps their hands. They are all happy, because they all felt the pain you caused again and again.

People are stealing things and hurting others. They are arguing and fighting. Why do you make me look at these terrible things?

I will make the Babylonians a strong nation. They are cruel and powerful fighters. They will march across the earth. They will take houses and cities that don't belong to them.

The Babylonians will scare the other people. They will do what they want to do and go where they want to go.

Their horses will be faster than leopards and more dangerous than wolves at sunset. Their horse soldiers will come from faraway places. They will attack their enemies quickly, like a hungry eagle swooping down from the sky.

The one thing they all want to do is fight. Their armies will march fast like the wind in the desert. And the Babylonian soldiers will take many prisoners—as many as the grains of sand.

"The Babylonian soldiers will laugh at the kings of other nations. Foreign rulers will be like jokes to them. The Babylonian soldiers will laugh at the cities with tall, strong walls. They will simply build dirt roads up to the top of the walls and easily defeat the cities.

Then they will leave like the wind and go on to fight against other places. The only thing the Babylonians worship is their own strength."