1 The Lord declares,
2 They go to Egypt without asking me.
3 But Pharaoh’s protection will be their shame,
4 Although Pharaoh’s officials are in Zoan
5 the people of Judah will be put to shame
6 This is the divine revelation about the animals in the Negev.
7 Egypt’s help is completely useless.
8 Now, write this on a tablet for them, and inscribe it in a book
9 These people are rebellious and deceitful children,
10 They say to the seers, ‘Don’t see ⌞the future⌟.’
11 Get out of our way! Stop blocking our path!
12 This is what the Holy One of Israel says:
13 That is why your sin will be
14 It will break like pottery.
15 This is what the Almighty Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
16 You’ve said, “No, we’ll flee on horses.”
17 One thousand people will flee when one person threatens them,
18 The Lord is waiting to be kind to you.
19 You will live in Zion, in Jerusalem. You won’t cry anymore. The Lord will certainly have pity on you when you cry for help. As soon as he hears you, he will answer you.
20 The Lord may give you troubles and hardships. But your teacher will no longer be hidden from you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
21 You will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way. Follow it, whether it turns to the right or to the left.”
22 Then you will dishonor your silver-plated idols and your gold-covered statues. You will throw them away like clothing ruined by stains. You will say to them, “Get out!”
23 The Lord will give you rain for the seed that you plant in the ground, and the food that the ground provides will be rich and nourishing. When that day comes, your cattle will graze in large pastures.
24 The oxen and the donkeys which work the soil will eat a mixture of food that has been winnowed with forks and shovels.
25 There will be brooks and streams on every lofty mountain and every high hill. When the day of the great slaughter comes, towers will fall.
26 Then the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun. The light of the sun will be seven times as strong, like the light of seven days. When that day comes, the Lord will bandage his people’s injuries and heal the wounds he inflicted.
27 The name of the Lord is going to come from far away.
28 His breath is like an overflowing stream.
29 You will sing a song
30 The Lord will make his majestic voice heard.
31 At the sound of the Lord, the people of Assyria will be shattered.
32 To the sound of tambourines and lyres, the Lord will pound on them.
33 Topheth was prepared long ago.