Acts 15:16

Look down from heaven, and see from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory. Where are your zeal and your mighty acts? The yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me.

Yahweh says: “Behold, I will reverse the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places. The city will be built on its own hill, and the palace will be inhabited in its own place.

“But afterward I will reverse the captivity of the children of Ammon,” says Yahweh.

Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness,

“Yet I will reverse the captivity of Moab in the latter days,” says Yahweh. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

There happened to be there a wicked fellow, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite; and he blew the trumpet, and said, “We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, Israel!”

Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;

For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land. I will build them, and not pull them down. I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

For Yahweh says: “Just as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.

Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until they are all gone.

‘But it will happen in the latter days that I will reverse the captivity of Elam,’ says Yahweh.”

A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and they will be consumed with famine within you. A third part will fall by the sword around you. A third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.

For Yahweh of Armies says: “As I thought to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I didn’t repent;

The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.

Thanksgiving will proceed out of them with the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small.

Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance; the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.

Then the nations that are left around you will know that I, Yahweh, have built the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate. I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and I will do it.”

that then Yahweh your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.

For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone; that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.

Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn’t he the son of Jerubbaal? Isn’t Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem, but why should we serve him?

Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

Yahweh makes poor and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up.

Saul said to his servants who stood around him, “Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse give everyone of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds,

but if you return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there.’

“Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;

Return, Yahweh. Deliver my soul, and save me for your loving kindness’ sake.

from men by your hand, Yahweh, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life. You fill the belly of your cherished ones. Your sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children.

Relent, Yahweh! How long? Have compassion on your servants!

Let them praise his name in the dance! Let them sing praises to him with tambourine and harp!

If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed, as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stump remains when they are cut down; so the holy seed is its stock.”

Therefore Yahweh says: “Ask now among the nations, ‘Who has heard such things?’ The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.”

Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you will go out to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul will live, and this city will not be burned with fire. You will live, along with your house.

“You shall tell him, Yahweh says: ‘Behold, that which I have built, I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in the whole land.

But it was plucked up in fury. It was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were broken off and withered. The fire consumed them.

Therefore Yahweh has watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice.

When he stands up, his kingdom will be broken, and will be divided toward the four winds of the sky, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom will be plucked up, even for others besides these.

Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.

“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.

Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.

Yahweh relented concerning this. “It shall not be,” says Yahweh.

Yahweh relented concerning this. “This also shall not be,” says the Lord Yahweh.

I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat their fruit.

God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.

He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.

Therefore tell them: Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Return to me,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says Yahweh of Armies.

Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.

Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.

and one third of the living creatures which were in the sea died. One third of the ships were destroyed.

We will not return to our houses until the children of Israel have all received their inheritance.

until Yahweh gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they also possess the land which Yahweh your God gives them beyond the Jordan. Then you shall each return to his own possession, which I have given you.”

It will happen that as Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Yahweh will rejoice over you to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be plucked from the land that you are going in to possess.

Yahweh your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good; for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers,

However I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.”

I will give one tribe to his son, that David my servant may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there.

When all Israel saw that the king didn’t listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion have we in David? We don’t have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David.” So Israel departed to their tents.

He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. Yahweh said, ‘These have no master. Let them each return to his house in peace.’ ”

then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

When all Israel saw that the king didn’t listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion do we have in David? We don’t have an inheritance in the son of Jesse! Every man to your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David.” So all Israel departed to their tents.

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;

Let the congregation of the peoples surround you. Rule over them on high.

Yahweh looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men.

Surely the wrath of man praises you. The survivors of your wrath are restrained.

Turn again, we beg you, God of Armies. Look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine,

I will make the horn of David to bud there. I have ordained a lamp for my anointed.

a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

If she is a wall, we will build on her a turret of silver. If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

David’s house was told, “Syria is allied with Ephraim.” His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.

O Yahweh, why do you make us wander from your ways, and harden our heart from your fear? Return for your servants’ sake, the tribes of your inheritance.

It will happen that after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them. I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.

But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it,” says Yahweh.

I will build you again, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel. You will again be adorned with your tambourines, and will go out in the dances of those who make merry.

It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” says Yahweh.

‘If you will still live in this land, then I will build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I grieve over the distress that I have brought on you.

What shall I testify to you? What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is as big as the sea. Who can heal you?

Turn us to yourself, Yahweh, and we will be turned. Renew our days as of old.

Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to Yahweh, your God.

Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when there is nothing to catch?

“The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.”

It shall happen that in all the land,” says Yahweh, “two parts in it will be cut off and die; but the third will be left in it.

From the days of your fathers you have turned away from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of Armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned for you, and you didn’t lament.’

“Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”

Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.