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I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’
to a nation that had not called on My name.
2 I held out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
following after their own devices;
3 a people who provoke Me
to My face, continually;
sacrificing in gardens,
and burning incense on altars of brick;
4 who sit among the graves,
and spend the night in secret vigils;
who eat the flesh of swines,
and put the broth of abominable things in their bowls.
5 They say, ‘Keep to yourself,
don't come near me, for I am too holy for you!’
These people are smoke in My nostrils,
a fire that burns all day long.
6 “Behold, it is written before Me:
I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will fully repay them into their laps—
7both your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers,”
says the Lord,
“Because they burned incense on the mountains,
and defied Me on the hills,
therefore I will measure into their laps
full payment for their former deeds.”
8 This is what the Lord says:
“As the new wine is found in the cluster,
and one says, ‘Don't destroy it,
for there is yet some good in it’,
so I will do on behalf of My servants,
and not destroy them all.
9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and from Judah heirs to My mountains;
My chosen ones will inherit them,
and My servants will dwell there.
10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks,
and the Valley of Achor a place for cattle to lie down,
for My people who have sought Me.
11 “But as for you who forsake the Lord,
who forget My holy mountain,
who prepare a table for Fortune,
and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny;
12 I will destine you for the sword,
and you will all bow down to be slaughtered,
for when I called, you did not answer;
when I spoke, you did not listen.
You did what was evil before My eyes,
and chose what I do not delight in.”
13 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says:
“Behold, My servants will eat,
but you will go hungry;
behold, My servants will drink,
but you will go thirsty;
behold, My servants will rejoice,
but you will be ashamed;
14 behold, My servants will sing for gladness of heart,
but you will cry out from anguish of heart,
and wail from brokenness of spirit.
15 You will leave your name behind
to use as a curse by My chosen ones;
and the Lord God will put you to death,
but to His servants He will give a different name.
16 Then he who is blessed in the land,
will be blessed by the God of truth;
and he who takes an oath in the land,
will swear by the God of truth.
For the former troubles will be forgotten,
and hidden from My eyes.”
17 “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth;
the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create;
for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and its people to be a delight.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in My people.
No more will the sound of weeping be heard in her,
or the sound of crying.
20 “No longer will there be in it
an infant from there live but a few days,
or an old man who has not lived out his days.
For one who dies at a hundred years
will be considered a youth,
but the one who misses a hundred years
will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They will not build and others live there;
they will not plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of My people;
My chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They will not toil in vain,
or bring forth children destined for calamity;
but they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
and their descendants with them.
24 “It will come to pass that before they call, I will answer;
and while they are still speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and of the lion will eat straw like the ox,
but the serpent’s food will be dust!
They will neither hurt nor destroy
on all My holy mountain,”
says the Lord.