'My People' in the Bible

“The ox [instinctively] knows its owner,And the donkey its master’s feeding trough,But Israel does not know [Me as Lord],My people do not understand.”

O My people! Children are their oppressors,And women rule over them.O My people! Your leaders lead you astrayAnd confuse (destroy, swallow up) the direction of your paths.

“What do you mean by crushing My peopleAnd grinding the face of the poor?”Declares the Lord God of hosts.

“And now, says the Lord, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,Judge between Me and My vineyard (My people).

Therefore My people go into exile because they lack knowledge [of God];And their honorable men are famished,And their common people are parched with thirst.

So as to deprive the needy of justiceAnd rob the poor of My people of rightful claims,So that widows may be their spoilAnd that they may plunder the fatherless.

Therefore, the Lord God of hosts says this, “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian who strikes you with a rod and lifts up his staff against you, as [the king of] Egypt did.

whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage.”

Therefore I say, “Look away from me;Let me weep bitterly.Do not try to comfort me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

Come, my people, enter your chambersAnd shut your doors behind you;Hide for a little whileUntil the [Lord’s] wrath is past.

For the land of my people growing over with thorns and briars—Yes, [mourn] for all the houses of joy in the joyous city.

Then my people will live in a peaceful surrounding,And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places.

“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.

“The beasts of the field will honor Me,Jackals and ostriches,Because I have given waters in the wildernessAnd rivers in the desert,To give drink to My people, My chosen.

“I was angry with My people,I profaned [Judah] My inheritanceAnd gave them into your hand [Babylon].You showed them no mercy;You made your yoke very heavy on the aged.

“Listen carefully to Me [says the Lord], O My people,And hear Me, O My nation;For a [divine] law will go forth from Me,And I will quickly establish My justice as a light to the peoples.

I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the [renewed] heavens and lay the foundations of the [renewed] earth, and to say to Zion (Jerusalem), ‘You are My people.’”

For the Lord God says this, “My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there; and [many years later Sennacherib] the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

But now, what do I have here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that My people have been taken away without reason? Those who rule over them howl [with taunting and mockery of salvation],” declares the Lord, “and My name is continually blasphemed all day long.

Therefore My people shall know My Name and what it means. Therefore in that day I am the One who is speaking, ‘Here I am.’”

And it will be said,“Build up, build up, clear the way.Remove the stumbling block out of the way [of the spiritual return] of My people.”

“Cry aloud, do not hold back;Lift up your voice like a trumpet,And declare to My people their transgressionAnd to the house of Jacob their sins.

For He said, “Be assured, they are My people,Sons who will not be faithless.”So He became their Savior [in all their distresses].

“And [the plain of] Sharon will be a place for flocks to graze,And the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds,For My people who seek Me [who long for Me and require My presence in their lives].

“I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;And there will no longer be heard in herThe voice of weeping and the sound of crying.

“They will not build and another occupy;They will not plant and another eat [the fruit].For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people,And My chosen [people] will fully enjoy [and long make use of] the work of their hands.