God announces that after the glory (His presence and purposes) He will send judgment against the nations that have plundered Israel and Jerusalem, establishing that deliverance of His people necessarily includes judgment of their oppressors. The sequence is crucial: God's glory is revealed in restoration first (as experienced by returning Israel), and the nations' judgment follows as a necessary consequence of their opposition to God's purposes. The specific charge is plunder\u2014robbery of Israel's substance\u2014establishing that the nations' sin is not merely political but involves economic exploitation and material damage to God's people. The promise of judgment against the nations reassures the returning community that their suffering has not gone unnoticed and that those responsible will face reckoning. In the context of the restoration, this judgment motif ensures that return is not merely rescue but vindication: God reverses not only Israel's condition but executes justice against those who exulted over her affliction.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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