The Restoration of Jacob
1 nFor the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and owill set them in their own land, and psojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 And qthe peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord’s land ras male and female slaves.1 sThey will take captive those who were their captors, tand rule over those who oppressed them.
Israel’s Remnant Taunts Babylon
3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, 4 you will take up this utaunt against the king of Babylon:
“How the oppressor has ceased,
5 The Lord has broken the wstaff of the wicked,
the wscepter of rulers,
6 xthat struck the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
ythey break forth into singing.
8 zaThe cypresses rejoice at you,
bthe cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
no woodcutter comes up against us.’
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
10 cAll of them will answer
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!’
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers.
12 “How dyou are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, eson of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart,
f‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
gI will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;3
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 hBut you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
‘Is this ithe man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
17 who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
jwho did not let his prisoners go home?’
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;4
19 but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like a loathed branch,
kclothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the pit,
like a dead body trampled underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.
“May lthe offspring of evildoers
nevermore be named!
21 Prepare slaughter for his sons
mbecause of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the face of the world with cities.”
22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and nremnant, odescendants and posterity,” declares the Lord. 23 “And I will make it a possession of the phedgehog,5 and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.
The Day of the Lord Will Come
1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them gI am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 hthat you should remember the predictions of ithe holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come jin the last days with scoffing, kfollowing their own sinful desires. 4 lThey will say, “Where is the promise of mhis coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth nwas formed out of water and through water oby the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed pwas deluged with water and qperished. 7 But by the same word rthe heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and sdestruction of the ungodly.
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and ta thousand years as one day. 9 uThe Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise vas some count slowness, but wis patient toward you,1 xnot wishing that any should perish, but ythat all should reach repentance. 10 But zthe day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then athe heavens will pass away with a roar, and bthe heavenly bodies2 will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.3
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, cwhat sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 dwaiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and ethe heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for fnew heavens and a new earth gin which righteousness dwells.
Final Words
14 hTherefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him iwithout spot or jblemish, and kat peace. 15 And count lthe patience of our Lord as salvation, just as mour beloved brother Paul also wrote to you naccording to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. oThere are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, pas they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, qknowing this beforehand, rtake care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But sgrow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. tTo him be the glory both now and to the day of ueternity. Amen.
