17. One thousand will flee at the threat of one,and at the threat of five you will flee,until you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,like a flag on a hill.
18. Nonetheless, the Lord is waiting to be merciful to you,and will rise up to show you compassion.The Lord is a God of justice;happy are all who wait for him.
19. People in Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. God will certainly be merciful to you. Hearing the sound of your outcry, God will answer you.
20. Though the Lord gives you the bread of distress and the water of oppression, your teacher will no longer hide, but you will see your teacher.
21. If you stray to the right or the left, you will hear a word that comes from behind you: "This is the way; walk in it."
22. You will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-covered priestly vest, and you will scatter them like menstrual rags. "Get out," you will say to them.
23. God will provide rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food the ground produces will be rich and abundant. On that day, your cattle will graze in large pastures.