6. This is the divine revelation about the animals in the Negev.“My people travel through landswhere they experience distress and hardship.Lions and lionesses live there.Vipers and poisonous snakes live there.They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeysand their treasures on the humps of camelsto a nation that can’t help them.
7. Egypt’s help is completely useless.That is why I call it, ‘Rahab who sits still.’
8. Now, write this on a tablet for them, and inscribe it in a bookso that it will be there in the future as a permanent witness.
9. These people are rebellious and deceitful children,children who refuse to listen to the Lord’s teachings.
10. They say to the seers, ‘Don’t see ⌊the future⌋.’They say to those who have visions,‘Don’t have visions that tell us what is right.Tell us what we want to hear. See illusions.
11. Get out of our way! Stop blocking our path!Get the Holy One of Israel out of our sight.’ ”
12. This is what the Holy One of Israel says:You have rejected this warning,trusted oppression and deceit,and leaned on them.
13. That is why your sin will belike a high wall with a bulging crack, ready to fall.All of a sudden it will fall.
14. It will break like pottery.It will be smashed, and nothing will be left of it.No piece will be big enough to carry live coals from a fireplaceor to dip water from a reservoir.
15. This is what the Almighty Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:You can be saved by returning to me.You can have rest.You can be strong by being quiet and by trusting me.But you don’t want that.
16. You’ve said, “No, we’ll flee on horses.”So you flee.You’ve added, “We’ll ride on fast horses.”So those who chase you will also be fast.
17. One thousand people will flee when one person threatens them,and you will flee when five threaten you.Then you will be left alonelike a flagpole on top of a mountain,like a signpost on a hill.
18. The Lord is waiting to be kind to you.He rises to have compassion on you.The Lord is a God of justice.Blessed are all those who wait for him.
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.”