protecting israel

³I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

⁶Petition for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem, and for abundance for those who love you.

⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts: After the glory, he has sent me to the Gentiles, which have despoiled you. For he who touches you, touches the pupil of my eye.

¹“So then, if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so as to keep and do all of his commandments, which I instruct to you this day, the Lord your God will cause you to be more exalted than all the nations which exist upon the earth. ²And all these blessings shall come to you and take hold of you, but only if you listen to his precepts. ³Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed in the field. ⁴Blessed shall be the fruit of your loins, and the fruit of your land, and the fruit of your cattle, the droves of your herds, and the folds of your sheep. ⁵Blessed shall be your barns, and blessed your storehouses. ⁶Blessed shall you be entering and departing.

¹²For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve you will perish. And the Gentiles will be devastated by solitude.

¹For, behold, in those days and in that time, when I will have converted the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

¹¹Behold, all who fight against you shall be confounded and ashamed. They will be as if they did not exist, and the men who contradict you will perish. ¹²You will seek them, and you will not find them. The men who rebel against you will be as if they did not exist. And the men who make war against you will be like something that has been consumed.

⁹Lying down, he has slept like a lion, and like a lioness, whom no one would dare to awaken. He who blesses you, shall himself also be blessed. He who curses you, shall be considered cursed.”

¹The burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel. The Lord, stretching forth the heavens and founding the earth and forming the spirit of man within him, says: ²Behold, I will set Jerusalem as a lintel of the effects of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, yet even Judah will be in the blockade against Jerusalem. ³And this shall be: In that day, I will set Jerusalem as a burdensome stone to every people. All who will lift it up will be torn to pieces. And all the kingdoms of the earth will be gathered together against her. ⁴In that day, says the Lord, I will strike every horse with stupor and his rider with madness. And I will open my eyes upon the house of Judah, and I will strike every horse of the people with blindness. ⁵And the governors of Judah will say in their heart, “Let the inhabitants of Jerusalem be strengthened for me, in the Lord of hosts, their God.” ⁶In that day, I will set the governors of Judah like a flaming furnace among wood, and like a flaming torch among hay. And they will devour, to the right and to the left, all the surrounding peoples. And Jerusalem will be inhabited again, in her own place, in Jerusalem.

⁶For I am the Lord, and I do not change. And you, the sons of Jacob, have not been consumed.

¹Therefore, I say: Has God driven away his people? Let it not be so! For I, too, am an Israelite of the offspring of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. ²God has not driven away his people, whom he foreknew. And do you not know what Scripture says in Elijah, how he calls upon God against Israel? ³“Lord, they have slain your Prophets. They have overturned your altars. And I alone remain, and they are seeking my life.” ⁴But what is the Divine response to him? “I have retained for myself seven thousand men, who have not bent their knees before Baal.” ⁵Therefore, in the same way, again in this time, there is a remnant that has been saved in accord with the choice of grace. ⁶And if it is by grace, then it is not now by works; otherwise grace is no longer free.

²O God, who will ever be like you? Do not be silent, and do not be unmoved, O God. ³For behold, your enemies have sounded off, and those who hate you have carried out a head. ⁴They have acted with malice in counsel over your people, and they have plotted against your holy ones. ⁵They have said, “Come, let us scatter them from the nations and not allow the name of Israel to be remembered any longer.” ⁶For they plotted unanimously. Joined together against you, they ordained a covenant: ⁷the tabernacle of Edomites and Ishmaelites, and Moab and the Hagarites,

¹For, behold, in those days and in that time, when I will have converted the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, ²I will gather all the Gentiles, and will lead them into the valley of Jehoshaphat. And there I will dispute with them over my people, and over Israel, my inheritance, for they have scattered them among the nations and have divided my land. ³And they have cast lots over my people; and the boy they have placed in the brothel, and the girl they have sold for wine, so that they might drink.