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Selected Scripture Passages
Creation suffers from human sin
Jeremiah 4:23-26, 12:4 (NRSV)
I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste
and void;
and to the heavens, and they had no light.
I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were
quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
I looked, and lo, there was no one at all,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before his fierce anger. .
. .
How long will the land mourn,
and the grass of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who live in it
the animals and the birds are swept away,
and because people said, "He is blind
to our ways."
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God’s
people restored on the land
Ezekiel 34:25-31 (NIV)
“I will make a covenant of peace with
them and rid the land of wild beasts so that
they may live in the desert and sleep in the
forests in safety.
I will bless them and the places surrounding
my hill. I will send down showers in season;
there will be showers of blessing.
"The trees of the field will yield their
fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the
people will be secure in their land. They will
know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars
of their yoke and rescue them from the hands
of those who enslaved them. They will no longer
be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals
devour them. They will live in safety, and no
one will make them afraid. I will provide for
them a land renowned for its crops, and they
will no longer be victims of famine in the land
or bear the scorn of the nations. Then they
will know that I, the LORD their God, am with
them and that they, the house of Israel, are
my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. You
my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people,
and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD."
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