⁸ On that day the Lord will shield^(A) those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest^(B) among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God,^(C) like the angel of the Lord going before^(D) them. ⁹ On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations^(E) that attack Jerusalem.^(F)

Israel Doubts God’s Love

² “I have loved^(A) you,” says the Lord.

“But you ask,^(B) ‘How have you loved us?’

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,^{(C) 3} but Esau I have hated,^(D) and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland^(E) and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.^(F)”

⁴ Edom^(G) may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild^(H) the ruins.”

But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish.^(I) They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord.^{(J) 5} You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great^(K) is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’^(L)

²⁷ For as lightning^(A) that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming^(B) of the Son of Man.^{(C) 28} Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.^(D)

²⁹ “Immediately after the distress of those days

³⁰ “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth^[b] will mourn^(F) when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven,^(G) with power and great glory.^[c]

³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.^{(A) 32} He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.^(B) The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,^{(C) 33} and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom^(D) will never end.”^(E)

¹⁴ Simon^[a] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.^{(A) 15} The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: