“And from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail.
But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price.
Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found. “Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle.
He despised the oath in breaking the covenant, and behold, he gave his hand and did all these things; he shall not escape.
You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit; you are near in their mouth and far from their heart.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day—
May his days be few; may another take his office!
But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.
For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others. Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they called lands by their own names. Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish. This is the path of those who have foolish confidence; yet after them people approve of their boasts. Selah
“For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.