1. “I was sought by those who did not ask; I was 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. I spread out My hands all day longto a rebellious people who walk in the wrong path,following their own thoughts.
3. These people continually provoke Meto My face,sacrificing in gardens, burning incense on bricks,
4. sitting among the graves,spending nights in secret places,eating the meat of pigs, and putting polluted broth in their bowls.
5. They say, ‘Keep to yourself,don’t come near me, for I am too holy for you! ’These practices are smoke in My nostrils,a fire that burns all day long.
6. It is written before Me:I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will repay them fully
7. for your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,”says the Lord.“Because they burned incense on the mountainsand reproached Me on the hills, I will reward them fully for their former deeds.”
8. The Lord says this:As the new wine is found in a bunch of grapes,and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it,for there’s some good in it,’so I will act because of My servantsand not destroy them all.
9. I will produce descendants from Jacob, and heirs to My mountains from Judah;My chosen ones will possess it,and My servants will dwell there.
10. Sharon will be 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 you who abandon the Lord,who forget My holy mountain,who prepare a table for Fortuneand fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
12. I will destine you for the sword,and all of you will kneel down to be slaughtered,because I called and you did not answer,I spoke and you did not hear;you did what was evil in My sightand chose what I did not delight in.
13. Therefore, this is what the Lord God says:My servants will eat,but you will be hungry;My servants will drink,but you will be thirsty;My servants will rejoice,but you will be put to shame.
14. My servants will shout for joy from a glad heart,but you will cry out from an anguished heart,and you will lament out of a broken spirit.
15. You will leave your name behindas a curse for My chosen ones, and the Lord God will kill you;but He will give His servants another name.
16. Whoever is blessed in the landwill be blessed by the God of truth, and whoever swears in the landwill swear by the God of truth.For the former troubles will be forgottenand hidden from My sight.
17. “For I will create a new heaven and a new earth; the past events will not be remembered or come to mind.
18. Then be glad and rejoice foreverin what I am creating;for I will create Jerusalem to be a joyand its people to be a delight.
19. I will rejoice in Jerusalemand be glad in My people.The sound of weeping and cryingwill no longer be heard in her.
20. In her, a nursing infant will no longer liveonly a few days, or an old man not live out his days.Indeed, the youth will die at a hundred years,and the one who misses a hundred years will be cursed.
21. People will build houses and live in them;they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22. They will not build and others live in them;they will not plant and others eat.For My people’s lives will belike the lifetime of a tree. My chosen ones will fully enjoythe work of their hands.
23. They will not labor without success or bear children destined for disaster,for they will be a people blessed by the Lordalong with their descendants.
24. Even before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.
25. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the serpent’s food will be dust! They will not do what is evil or destroyon My entire holy mountain,” says the Lord.