12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,“Because you despise this wordand trust in oppression and perversenessand rely on them,
13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse,whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14 and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vesselthat is smashed so ruthlesslythat among its fragments not a shard is foundwith which to take fire from the hearth,or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,“In returning and rest you shall be saved;in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”But you were unwilling,
16 and you said,“No! We will flee upon horses”;therefore you shall flee away;and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;at the threat of five you shall flee,till you are leftlike a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,like a signal on a hill.
18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.