But the earth will become a desert because of the wickedness of those who live on it.

So at harvest time I will take back my gifts of grain and wine, and will take away the wool and the linen I gave her for clothing.

So I am going to take her into the desert again; there I will win her back with words of love.

You will eat, but not be satisfied---in fact you will still be hungry. You will carry things off, but you will not be able to save them; anything you do save I will destroy in war.

The LORD will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned and led the people of Israel into sin."

Do not be like your ancestors and your Israelite relatives who were unfaithful to the LORD their God. As you can see, he punished them severely.

"How can I give you up, Israel? How can I abandon you? Could I ever destroy you as I did Admah, or treat you as I did Zeboiim? My heart will not let me do it! My love for you is too strong.

Twist and groan, people of Jerusalem, like a woman giving birth, for now you will have to leave the city and live in the open country. You will have to go to Babylon, but there the LORD will save you from your enemies.

"My holy city is like a woman who suddenly gives birth to a child without ever going into labor.

Has anyone ever seen or heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a day? Zion will not have to suffer long, before the nation is born.

She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus---because he will save his people from their sins."

Then a great and mysterious sight appeared in the sky. There was a woman, whose dress was the sun and who had the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

She was soon to give birth, and the pains and suffering of childbirth made her cry out.

They are crippled and far from home, but I will make a new beginning with those who are left, and they will become a great nation. I will rule over them on Mount Zion from that time on and forever."

A time is coming when the people of Israel who have survived will not rely any more on the nation that almost destroyed them. They will truly put their trust in the LORD, Israel's holy God.

A few of the people of Israel will come back to their mighty God.

When that day comes, the Lord will once again use his power and bring back home those of his people who are left in Assyria and Egypt, in the lands of Pathros, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, and Hamath, and in the coastlands and on the islands of the sea.

The LORD says, "The time is coming when I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel, and they will be my people.

The LORD says, "Sing with joy for Israel, the greatest of the nations. Sing your song of praise, 'The LORD has saved his people; he has rescued all who are left.'

My people will return weeping, praying as I lead them back. I will guide them to streams of water, on a smooth road where they will not stumble. I am like a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my oldest son."

And Isaiah exclaims about Israel: "Even if the people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand by the sea, yet only a few of them will be saved;

for the Lord will quickly settle his full account with the world."

What answer did God give him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not worshiped the false god Baal."

His choice is based on his grace, not on what they have done. For if God's choice were based on what people do, then his grace would not be real grace.

Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother."

The King will reply, 'I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!'

Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers.

They will disappear, but you will remain; they will all wear out like clothes.

You will fold them up like a coat, and they will be changed like clothes. But you are always the same, and your life never ends."