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Joel 2:3
A fire consumes before them, And behind them a flame devours. The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, But a desolate wilderness behind them, And nothing at all escapes them.
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Isaiah 45:13
I have stirred him in righteousness, And I will make all his ways smooth. He will build My city and let My exiles go free, Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of armies.
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Isaiah 13:19-22
And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, Nor will shepherds allow their flocks to lie down there.But desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy goats will frolic there.Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers And jackals in their luxurious palaces. Her fateful time also will soon come, And her days will not be prolonged.
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Ezra 1:2-4
“ This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:‘ The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to rebuild for Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem.And every survivor, at whatever place he may live, the people of that place are to support him with silver and gold, with equipment and cattle, together with a voluntary offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’ ”
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Isaiah 58:6
Is this not the fast that I choose: To release the bonds of wickedness, To undo the ropes of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And break every yoke?
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Isaiah 64:10
Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
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2 Chronicles 28 8-2 Chronicles 28 15
The sons of Israel led away captive two hundred thousand of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters; and they also took a great deal of spoils from them, and brought the spoils to Samaria.But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army which came to Samaria and said to them,“ Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, He has handed them over to you, and you have killed them in a rage which has even reached heaven.Now you are proposing to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves. Are you not, however guilty yourselves of offenses against the Lord your God?Now then, listen to me and return the captives whom you captured from your brothers, for the burning anger of the Lord is against you.”Then some of the leading men of the sons of Ephraim— Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai— rose up against those who were coming from the battle,and said to them,“ You must not bring the captives in here, for you are proposing to bring guilt upon us before the Lord, adding to our sins and our guilt; for our guilt is great, and His burning anger is against Israel.”So the armed men left the captives and the spoils before the officers and all the assembly.Then the men who were designated by name got up, took the captives, and they clothed all their naked people from the spoils; they gave them clothes and sandals, fed them and gave them drink, anointed them with oil, led all their feeble ones on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers; then they returned to Samaria.
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Ezekiel 6:14
So through all their dwelling places I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land more desolate and waste than the wilderness toward Diblah; so they will know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”
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Zephaniah 2:13-14
And He will stretch out His hand against the north And eliminate Assyria, And He will make Nineveh a desolation, Parched like the wilderness.Flocks will lie down in her midst, All animals that range in herds; Both the pelican and the hedgehog Will spend their nights in the tops of her pillars; Birds will sing in the window, Devastation will be on the threshold; For He has uncovered the cedar work.