“This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of he LORD.: Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. Perhaps they will listen and each will tum from his evil way. Then I will relent and not bring on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done.

Here is that re-occurring theme: with repentance comes relief from the Lord’s proclaimed disaster. When the people turn from their wicked ways God turns back His intended punishment. My dad worked in he San Joaquin Valley of California on the system of canals and waterways. He was part of a crew reclaiming the desert, turning it from a dry and dusty, fruitless place ,into a land where fruits and vegetables grew in abundance. God is in the original business of reclamation: re-claiming all people from the way of sin, and restoring them to His way, the way of godliness.