“And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters will return to their former estate, and you and your daughters will return to your former estate.”

Eventually both Palestine and the Jordan valley would be restored to their former state, and the judgment on them will have been lifted Whether in the case of Samaria we are to read into this the return of some of the exiles we are not told. But it was inevitable that once the opportunity arose some would make their way back to the land, whether to Samaria or to Judah and Jerusalem, and meanwhile Samaria would again prosper.

But most astonishing of all, Jerusalem and Judah would also be restored and would once again prosper, having learned well that idolatry must be allowed no more. Of the many lessons that they did not learn, that was one lesson that they learned to the full.

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