Judgment and Salvation
aI was ready to be sought by bthose who did not ask for me;
I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
to a nation that was not called by my name.
2 aI 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,
asacrificing in gardens
and making offerings on bricks;
4 who sit in tombs,
and spend the night in secret places;
awho eat pig’s flesh,
and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;
5 who say, “Keep to yourself,
do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
aThese are a smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that burns all the day.
6 Behold, ait is written before me:
b“I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
cI will indeed repay into their lap
7 both your iniquities aand your fathers’ iniquities together,
says the Lord;
bbecause they made offerings on the mountains
band insulted me on the hills,
I will measure into their lap
payment for their former deeds.”
8 Thus says the Lord:
a“As the new 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,
band not destroy them all.
9 aI will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
and from Judah possessors of my mountains;
my chosen shall possess it,
and my servants shall dwell there.
10 aSharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
and bthe Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
for my people cwho have sought me.
11 But ayou who forsake the Lord,
who forget bmy holy mountain,
who cset a table for Fortune
and cfill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,
12 I will destine you to the sword,
and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
abecause, when I called, you did not answer;
when I spoke, you did not listen,
bbut you did what was evil in my eyes
and chose what I did not delight in.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, amy 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, amy servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
but you shall cry out for pain of heart
and shall wail for breaking of spirit.
15 You shall leave your name to amy chosen bfor a curse,
and the Lord God will put you to death,
but his servants che will call by another name,
16 so that he who ablesses himself in the land
shall bless himself by athe God of truth,
and he who takes an oath in the land
shall swear by bthe God of truth;
cbecause the former troubles are forgotten
and are hidden from my eyes.
New Heavens and a New Earth
17 “For behold, aI 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 forever
in that which I create;
for behold, aI create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
19 aI will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
bno 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 who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for athe young man shall die a hundred years old,
and bthe sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 aThey shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 aThey shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
bfor 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 aThey shall not labor in vain
bor bear children for calamity,
for cthey shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
and their descendants with them.
24 aBefore they call I will answer;
bwhile they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 aThe wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and bdust shall be the serpent’s food.
cThey shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.