9. The lord did this to purge Israel’s wickedness,to take away all her sin.As a result, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust.No Asherah pole or pagan shrine will be left standing.
10. The fortified towns will be silent and empty,the houses abandoned, the streets overgrown with weeds.Calves will graze there,chewing on twigs and branches.
11. The people are like the dead branches of a tree,broken off and used for kindling beneath the cooking pots.Israel is a foolish and stupid nation,for its people have turned away from God.Therefore, the one who made themwill show them no pity or mercy.
12. Yet the time will come when the lord will gather them together like handpicked grain. One by one he will gather them—from the Euphrates River in the east to the Brook of Egypt in the west.
13. In that day the great trumpet will sound. Many who were dying in exile in Assyria and Egypt will return to Jerusalem to worship the lord on his holy mountain.