among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not; so again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not. Zech. viii. 7, 8, 11—15. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me. And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and aa honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them and they (the nations) shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it. Thus saith the Lord; Again there shall be beard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, That are desolate without man and without inhabitant and without beast, * The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, • This evidently means without any of those that belong to Judah or to Israel. and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that that say. Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his mercy endureth for ever; and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities there of, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them, saith the Lord. Jeremiah xxxiii. 7—13. Behold the days come saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: &c. Jeremiah xxxi. 31. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, thou shalt call me, My Father; * Do not these words naturally remind us of the com mencement of that prayer which Messiah bath taught us, and which is commonly called The Lord's Prayer? and shalt not turn away for me. Jer. iii. 18, 19. At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have Idrawn thee. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel; thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephriam shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. Jeremiah xxxi. 1—6. Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I bave executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that And I am the Lord their God. Ezek. xxviii. 25, 26. Awake, awake, stand up O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up, These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation and destruction, and the famine, and the sword by whom shall I comfort thee? Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God. Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted and drunken (but not with wine :) Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again : But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over. Isaiah li. 17—23. Fear not for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east; and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, give up; and to the south, keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of F |