1 Ask rain from Yahweh in the season of the spring rain -

  Yahweh, who makes storm clouds,

  and he gives showers of rain to them,

    to everyone vegetation in the field.

2   Because the household gods speak deceit,

    and those who practice divination see a lie,

  and the dreamers of vanity speak in vain.

    Therefore the people wander like sheep;

  they are afflicted because there is no shepherd.

3   My anger burns against the shepherds,

    and I will punish the leaders,

  because Yahweh of hosts watches over his flock,

    the house of Judah;

      and he will make them like his majestic horse in war.

4   From them the cornerstone will go out,

    from them the tent peg,

  from them the battle bow,

    from them every ruler,

      all together.

5   And they will be like warriors,

    trampling in the mud of the streets in the battle.

  They will fight, because Yahweh is with them,

    and they will put to shame the riders on horses.

6   And I will strengthen the house of Judah,

    and the house of Joseph I will save.

  And I will bring them back, because I have compassion on them,

    and they will be as if I had not rejected them,

    for I am Yahweh their God, and I will answer them.

7   And the people of Ephraim will be like a warrior,

    and their heart will be glad as with wine.

  And their children will see and rejoice;

    their heart will shout in exultation in Yahweh.

8   I will whistle to them and gather them,

    for I have redeemed them,

    and they will become numerous as they have been numerous before.

9   Though I sow them among the nations,

    in the distant places they will remember me,

    and they will stay alive with their children, and they will return.

10   And I will bring them back from the land of Egypt,

    and from Assyria I will gather them.

  To the land of Gilead and Lebanon I will bring them,

    until no room will be found for them there.

11   And he will pass through the sea of distress,

    and he will strike the waves of the sea,

    and all the depths of the Nile will dry up.

  The pride of Assyria will be brought low,

    and the scepter of Egypt will depart.

12   I will make them strong in Yahweh,

    and in his name they will walk,

      declares Yahweh.