22. Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?At whom have you shouted,and looked so arrogantly?At the Holy One of Israel!
23. Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ‘With my many chariotsI climbed up the high mountains, the slopes of Lebanon.I cut down its tall cedars,and its best evergreens.I invaded its most remote regions,its thickest woods.
24. I dug wells and drankwater in foreign lands.With the soles of my feet I dried upall the rivers of Egypt.’
25. Certainly you must have heard!Long ago I worked it out,In ancient times I planned it;and now I am bringing it to pass.The plan is this:Fortified cities will crashinto heaps of ruins.
26. Their residents are powerless,they are terrified and ashamed.They are as short-lived as plants in the field,or green vegetation.They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftopswhen it is scorched by the east wind.
27. I know where you live,and everything you do.
28. Because you rage against me,and the uproar you create has reached my ears;I will put my hook in your nose,and my bridle between your lips,and I will lead you back the wayyou came.”
29. This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth: This year you will eat what grows wild, and next year what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce.
30. Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.
31. For a remnant will leave Jerusalem; survivors will come out of Mount Zion.The intense devotion of the sovereign Lord to his people will accomplish this.