'People' in the Bible

It has made My vine (My people) a waste and object of horror,And splintered and broken My fig tree.It has stripped them completely bare and thrown them away;Their branches have become white.

A day of darkness and gloom,A day of clouds and of thick [dark] mist,Like the dawn spread over the mountains;There is a [pagan, hostile] people numerous and mighty,The like of which has never been beforeNor will be again afterwardEven for years of many generations.

Like the noise of chariotsThey leap on the tops of the mountains,Like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble,Like a mighty people set in battle formation.

Gather the people, sanctify the congregation,Assemble the elders,Gather the children and the nursing infants.Let the bridegroom come out of his roomAnd the bride out of her bridal chamber. [No one is excused from the assembly.]

Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord,Weep between the porch and the altar,And let them say, “Have compassion and spare Your people, O Lord,And do not make Your inheritance (Israel) an object of ridicule,Or a [humiliating] byword among the [Gentile] nations.Why should they say among the peoples,‘Where is their God?’”

Then the Lord will be jealous for His land [ready to defend it since it is rightfully and uniquely His]And will have compassion on His people [and will spare them].

The Lord will answer and say to His people,“Behold, I am going to send you grain and new wine and oil,And you will be satisfied in full with them;And I will never again make you an object of ridicule among the [Gentile] nations.

“You will have plenty to eat and be satisfiedAnd praise the name of the Lord your GodWho has dealt wondrously with you;And My people shall never be put to shame.

“And you shall know [without any doubt] that I am in the midst of Israel [to protect and bless you],And that I am the Lord your God,And there is no other;My people will never be put to shame.

I will gather together all the [Gentile] nations [that were hostile to My people]And bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat (the Lord has judged).And there I will deal with them and enter into judgment with them thereFor [their treatment of] My people, My inheritance, Israel,Whom they have scattered among the nations,And [because] they have encroached on My land and divided it up.

“They have also cast lots for My people,And have traded a boy for a prostituteAnd have sold a girl for wine that they may drink.

The Lord thunders and roars from ZionAnd utters His voice from Jerusalem [in judgment of His enemies],And the heavens and the earth tremble and shudder;But the Lord is a refuge for His peopleAnd a stronghold [of protection] to the children of Israel.