1 Ask the LORD for rain when the late rains are due; it is the LORD who makes the thunderclouds, and he will give them heavy showers, green plants in the field for everyone.
2 For the teraphim talk emptiness, and the diviners see falsehood; they recount worthless dreams and offer hollow comfort. So the people stray like sheep and suffer, having no shepherd.
3 My anger blazes against the shepherds, and I will call the he-goats to account; for the LORD of hosts has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his splendid warhorse.
4 Out of him will come the cornerstone, out of him the tent peg, out of him the bow of battle, out of him every leader together.
5 They will be like warriors stamping the enemy into the mire of the streets in battle; they will fight, since the LORD is with them, and the horsemen will be put to shame.
6 I will make the house of Judah mighty and rescue the house of Joseph; I will settle them again, for I have compassion on them, and it will be as if I had never cast them off; for I am the LORD their God, and I will answer them.
7 Ephraim will be like a warrior, their hearts cheered as if by wine; their children will see it and be happy; their hearts will exult in the LORD.
8 I will signal for them with a whistle and bring them together, for I have redeemed them, and they will grow as numerous as they once were.
9 Though I sow them among the peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember me; they will live, they and their children, and they will come back.
10 I will bring them back out of the land of Egypt and collect them from Assyria; I will lead them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, and even that will not be enough room for them.
11 He will cross the sea of distress and beat down its waves, and every depth of the Nile will run dry; Assyria's pride will be brought low, and Egypt's scepter will be taken away.
12 I will strengthen them in the LORD, and in his name they will go about, declares the LORD.