1 God Will Bless Judah and Ephraim Askforrain from the Lat the time of the spring rain.It is the Lwho makes the thunder clouds;And He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field to everyone.
2 For the teraphim (household idols) speak wickedness (emptiness, worthlessness),And the diviners see lying visionsAnd tell false dreams;They comfort in vain.Therefore the people wander like sheep,They are afflictedandsuffer because there is no shepherd.
3 “My anger is kindled against the shepherds [who are not true shepherds],And I shall punish the male goats (leaders);For the Lof hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah (the Southern Kingdom),And will make them like His beautifulandmajestic horse in the battle.
4 From them (Judah) shall come theProbably Messianic, see the “Cornerstone” imagery of Ps 118:22, 23; Is 28:16; Matt 21:42; Acts 4:11; Eph 2:19-22; 1 Pet 2:6-8.Cornerstone,From them the tent peg,From them the bow of battle,From them every ruler, all of them together.
5 They will be like mighty menTrampling downtheir enemiesin the mire of the streets in the battle;And they will fight because the Lis with them,And the [enemies’] riders on horses will be shamed.
6 I will strengthen the house of Judah [making it superior],And I will save the house of Joseph.I will bring them back [and allow them to live securely],Because I have had compassion on them.They will be as though I had not rejected them,For I am the Ltheir God, and I will listenandanswer them.
7 ThenA reference to the Northern Kingdom.Ephraim will be like a mighty warrior,And their heart will rejoice as if from wine;Yes, their children will see it and rejoice;Their heart will rejoiceandshout triumphantly in the L.
8 I willOr hiss. From this verse a rabbinical tradition was invented that if a vulture settles on the ground and hisses, the Messiah will come immediately. It was reported to have happened once, but instead of the Messiah coming, the story went that a stone fell on the vulture’s head and killed it because it was a liar.whistle for them and gather them together,For I have redeemed them;And they will increase [again] as they have increased before [in Egypt].
9 When I scatter them among the nations,They will remember Me in far countries,And with their children they will live and come back [to Me and the land I gave them].
10 I will bring them (all Israel) back home again from the land of EgyptAnd gather them from Assyria,And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon [the land on the east and on the west of the Jordan]Until no room can be found for them.
11 And they will pass through the sea of distressandanxiety [with the Lleading His people, as at the Red Sea]And He will strike the waves in the sea,So that all the depths of the Nile will dry up;And the pride of Assyria will be brought downAnd the scepter [of the taskmasters] of Egypt will pass away.
12 And I will strengthen Israel in the L,And they will walk [and glory] in His name,” declares the L.