| 1 | I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, "Here am I, here am I," to a nation that did not call on my name. |
| 2 | I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; |
| 3 | a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense upon bricks; |
| 4 | who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; |
| 5 | who say, "Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am set apart from you." These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. |
| 6 | Behold, it is written before me: "I will not keep silent, but I will repay, yea, I will repay into their bosom |
| 7 | their iniquities and their fathers' iniquities together, says the LORD; because they burned incense upon the mountains and reviled me upon the hills, I will measure into their bosom payment for their former doings." |
| 8 | Thus says the LORD: "As the wine is found in the cluster, and they say, `Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,' so I will do for my servants' sake, and not destroy them all. |
| 9 | I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah inheritors of my mountains; my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. |
| 10 | Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me. |
| 11 | But you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny; |
| 12 | I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter; because, when I called, you did not answer, when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes, and chose what I did not delight in." |
| 13 | Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame; |
| 14 | behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit. |
| 15 | You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse, and the Lord GOD will slay you; but his servants he will call by a different name. |
| 16 | So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hid from my eyes. |
| 17 | "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. |
| 18 | But be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. |
| 19 | I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. |
| 20 | No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. |
| 21 | They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. |
| 22 | They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. |
| 23 | They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their children with them. |
| 24 | Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. |
| 25 | The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the LORD." |
| 1 | Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; what is the house which you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? |
| 2 | All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the LORD. But this is the man to whom I will look, he that is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. |
| 3 | "He who slaughters an ox is like him who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like him who breaks a dog's neck; he who presents a cereal offering, like him who offers swine's blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like him who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations; |
| 4 | I also will choose affliction for them, and bring their fears upon them; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight." |
| 5 | Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: "Your brethren who hate you and cast you out for my name's sake have said, `Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy'; but it is they who shall be put to shame. |
| 6 | "Hark, an uproar from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of the LORD, rendering recompense to his enemies! |
| 7 | "Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she was delivered of a son. |
| 8 | Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her sons. |
| 9 | Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? says the LORD; shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb? says your God. |
| 10 | "Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; |
| 11 | that you may suck and be satisfied with her consoling breasts; that you may drink deeply with delight from the abundance of her glory." |
| 12 | For thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will extend prosperity to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall suck, you shall be carried upon her hip, and dandled upon her knees. |
| 13 | As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. |
| 14 | You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and it shall be known that the hand of the LORD is with his servants, and his indignation is against his enemies. |
| 15 | "For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the stormwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. |
| 16 | For by fire will the LORD execute judgment, and by his sword, upon all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many. |
| 17 | "Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating swine's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, says the LORD. |
| 18 | "For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, |
| 19 | and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. |
| 20 | And they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their cereal offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. |
| 21 | And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. |
| 22 | "For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, says the LORD; so shall your descendants and your name remain. |
| 23 | From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the LORD. |
| 24 | "And they shall go forth and look on the dead bodies of the men that have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh." |
