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10. The Lord Will Care for Judah

¹ Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime;
   it is the LORD who sends the thunderstorms.
He gives showers of rain to all people,
   and plants of the field to everyone.
² The idols speak deceitfully,
   diviners see visions that lie;
they tell dreams that are false,
   they give comfort in vain.
Therefore the people wander like sheep
   oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

    ³ “My anger burns against the shepherds,
   and I will punish the leaders;
for the LORD Almighty will care
   for his flock, the people of Judah,
   and make them like a proud horse in battle.
⁴ From Judah will come the cornerstone,
   from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
   from him every ruler.
⁵ Together they Or ruler, all of them together. / They will be like warriors in battle
   trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets.
They will fight because the LORD is with them,
   and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.

    ⁶ “I will strengthen Judah
   and save the tribes of Joseph.
I will restore them
   because I have compassion on them.
They will be as though
   I had not rejected them,
for I am the LORD their God
   and I will answer them.
⁷ The Ephraimites will become like warriors,
   and their hearts will be glad as with wine.
Their children will see it and be joyful;
   their hearts will rejoice in the LORD.
⁸ I will signal for them
   and gather them in.
Surely I will redeem them;
   they will be as numerous as before.
⁹ Though I scatter them among the peoples,
   yet in distant lands they will remember me.
They and their children will survive,
   and they will return.
¹⁰ I will bring them back from Egypt
   and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon,
   and there will not be room enough for them.
¹¹ They will pass through the sea of trouble;
   the surging sea will be subdued
   and all the depths of the Nile will dry up.
Assyria’s pride will be brought down
   and Egypt’s scepter will pass away.
¹² I will strengthen them in the LORD
   and in his name they will live securely,” declares the LORD.

He confirms what I have already said — that the Jews would be victorious over all nations. Though the Church is fighting under the cross, she yet triumphs over all the wicked, partly by hope and partly by present success; for God wonderfully sustains it, and makes the faithful to possess their souls in patience; and he also protects them by his own power, and renders them safe amidst all the roarings and insatiable rage of their enemies. Since then God thus strengthens the minds of his people, and cherishes in them the hope of salvation, and also defends them against raging assaults, it is no wonder that the Prophet testifies that the church would be victorious, treading down, as a giant or a strong man, her enemies in the mire.

He gives the reason, For Jehovah will be with them; and this he said, that they might know that nothing in this case would be their own, but that they might, on the contrary, learn to depend on God’s aid alone. And he explains this still more clearly at the end of the verse, by saying, Ashamed shall be the riders on horses; ¹¹⁹¹¹⁹ Henderson says, that this refers to the numerous cavalry of the SyroGrecian army. See 1 Maccabees 3:39. — Ed. that is, their strength and velour, their use of arms and their skill in handling them, shall avail them nothing, for the Lord will lay prostrate, notwithstanding their arrogance and pride, all those wicked men who in their cruelty devour the faithful, and think that they have strength more than enough to destroy the Church: the Lord will cause all these things to pass away like mist.