1-2. God’s Message:“Heaven’s my throne,earth is my footstool.What sort of house could you build for me?What holiday spot reserve for me?I made all this! I own all this!”God’s Decree.“But there is something I’m looking for:a person simple and plain,reverently responsive to what I say.
3-4. “Your acts of worshipare acts of sin:Your sacrificial slaughter of the oxis no different from murdering the neighbor;Your offerings for worship,no different from dumping pig’s blood on the altar;Your presentation of memorial gifts,no different from honoring a no-god idol.You choose self-serving worship,you delight in self-centered worship—disgusting!Well, I choose to expose your nonsenseand let you realize your worst fears,Because when I invited you, you ignored me;when I spoke to you, you brushed me off.You did the very things I exposed as evil,you chose what I hate.”
5. But listen to what God has to sayto you who reverently respond to his Word:“Your own families hate youand turn you out because of me.They taunt you, ‘Let us see God’s glory!If God’s so great, why aren’t you happy?’But they’re the oneswho are going to end up shamed.”
6. Rumbles of thunder from the city!A voice out of the Temple!God’s voice,handing out judgment to his enemies:
7-9. “Before she went into labor,she had the baby.Before the birth pangs hit,she delivered a son.Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?Has anyone seen anything like this?A country born in a day?A nation born in a flash?But Zion was barely in laborwhen she had her babies!Do I open the womband not deliver the baby?Do I, the One who delivers babies,shut the womb?
10-11. “Rejoice, Jerusalem,and all who love her, celebrate!And all you who have shed tears over her,join in the happy singing.You newborns can satisfy yourselvesat her nurturing breasts.Yes, delight yourselves and drink your fillat her ample bosom.”
12-13. God’s Message:“I’ll pour robust well-being into her like a river,the glory of nations like a river in flood.You’ll nurse at her breasts,nestle in her bosom,and be bounced on her knees.As a mother comforts her child,so I’ll comfort you.You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”
14-16. You’ll see all this and burst with joy—you’ll feel ten feet tall—As it becomes apparent that God is on your sideand against his enemies.For God arrives like wildfireand his chariots like a tornado,A furious outburst of anger,a rebuke fierce and fiery.For it’s by fire that God brings judgment,a death sentence on the human race.Many, oh so many,are under God’s sentence of death:
17. “All who enter the sacred groves for initiation in those unholy rituals that climaxed in that foul and obscene meal of pigs and mice will eat together and then die together.” God’s Decree.