Israel’s Great Misery (Matthew 10:34–39; Luke 12:49–53)
2 UDB Everyone who honored God has disappeared from this land; not one of them is left. The people who are left are all murderers; it is as though everyone is eager to kill his fellow countryman. BSB BSB: The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
3 UDB They do what is evil with all their might. Government officials and judges all ask for bribes. Important people tell others what they want, and they plot together about how to get it. BSB BSB: Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.
4 UDB Even the best people are as worthless as briers; the people who we thought to be the most honest are worse than thornbushes. But Yahweh will soon judge them. Now is the time that he will punish people, when they will be very confused because of it. BSB BSB: The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day for your watchmen has come, the day of your visitation. Now is the time of their confusion.
5 UDB So do not trust anyone! Do not trust even a friend; even be careful what you say to your wife, whom you love. BSB BSB: Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.
Israel’s Confession and Comfort 7 UDB As for me, I wait for Yahweh to help me. I confidently expect that God, my Savior, will answer me when I pray. BSB BSB: But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
8 UDB You who are our enemies, do not gloat about what has happened to us, because even if we have experienced disasters, those disasters will end, and we will be prosperous again. Even if it is as though we are sitting in the darkness, Yahweh will be our light. BSB BSB: Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
9 UDB We must be patient while Yahweh punishes us because we have sinned against him. But later, it will be as though he will go to court and defend us. He will make sure that the judge makes a right decision about us. It will be as though he will bring us out into the light, and we will see him rescue us. BSB BSB: Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the LORD, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.
10 UDB Our enemies will also see it, and they will be disgraced because they ridiculed us, saying "Why is Yahweh, that God of yours, not helping you?" But with our own eyes we will see them be defeated; we will see them trampled like mud in the streets. BSB BSB: Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame—she who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.
11 UDB You people of Israel, at that time your cities will be rebuilt, and your territory will become larger. BSB BSB: The day for rebuilding your walls will come—the day for extending your boundary.
12 UDB Your people will come back to you from many countries, from Assyria, from near the Euphrates River in the east, and from Egypt in the south, from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from many mountains. BSB BSB: On that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates, from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.
13 UDB But the other countries on the earth will become desolate because of the evil deeds that their people have done. BSB BSB: Then the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the fruit of their deeds.
God’s Compassion on Israel 14 UDB Yahweh, protect your people as a shepherd protects his sheep with his staff. Lead the people whom you have chosen to belong to you. Even though some of them live by themselves in a forest, give them the fertile pastureland in the regions of Bashan and Gilead, which they possessed long ago. BSB BSB: Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
15 UDB Yahweh says, "Yes, I will perform miracles for you like the miracles that I performed when I rescued your ancestors from being slaves in Egypt." BSB BSB: As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show My wonders.
16 UDB People from many nations will see what Yahweh does for you, and they will be ashamed because they do not have any power. They will put their hands over their mouths and their ears because they will be very amazed at what Yahweh does. They will not be able to say anything or hear anything, because they will be terrified. BSB BSB: Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their might. They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will become deaf.
17 UDB Being very humiliated, they will crawl on the ground like snakes. They will come out of their homes trembling and stand to honor Yahweh our God. They will be very afraid of him and will tremble in front of him. BSB BSB: They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will come trembling from their strongholds in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of You.
18 UDB Yahweh, there is no God like you; you forgive the sins that the people who have survived committed, the people who belong to you. You do not remain angry forever; you are very happy to show us that you faithfully love us. BSB BSB: Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
19 UDB You will again act kindly toward us. You will get rid of the scroll on which you have written the sins that we have committed, as though you were trampling it under your feet or throwing it into the deep ocean. BSB BSB: He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.
20 UDB You will show that you faithfully do what you promised for us and faithfully love us, just as you solemnly promised long ago to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob that you would do. BSB BSB: You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.