6. Look, I have decreed:I will not keep silent, but will pay them back;I will pay them back exactly what they deserve,
7. for your sins and your ancestors’ sins,” says the Lord.“Because they burned incense on the mountainsand offended me on the hills,I will punish them in full measure.”
8. This is what the Lord says:“When juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes,someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for it contains juice.’So I will do for the sake of my servants – I will not destroy everyone.
9. I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains.My chosen ones will take possession of the land;my servants will live there.
10. Sharon will become a pasture for sheep,and the Valley of Achor a place where cattle graze; they will belong to my people, who seek me.
11. But as for you who abandon the Lordand forget about worshiping at my holy mountain,who prepare a feast for the god called ‘Fortune,’and fill up wine jugs for the god called ‘Destiny’ –
12. I predestine you to die by the sword,all of you will kneel down at the slaughtering block,because I called to you, and you did not respond,I spoke and you did not listen.You did evil before me;you chose to do what displeases me.”
13. So this is what the sovereign Lord says:“Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry!Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty!Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!
14. Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts!But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts;you will wail because your spirits will be crushed.
15. Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones.The sovereign Lord will kill you,but he will give his servants another name.
16. Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earthwill do so in the name of the faithful God;whoever makes an oath in the earthwill do so in the name of the faithful God.For past problems will be forgotten;I will no longer think about them.
17. For look, I am ready to create new heavens and a new earth!The former ones will not be remembered;no one will think about them anymore.
18. But be happy and rejoice forevermoreover what I am about to create!For look, I am ready to create Jerusalem to be a source of joy,and her people to be a source of happiness.