Judgment for idolators

¹I was ready to respond to those who didn’t ask.

I was ready to be found by those who didn’t look for me.

I said, “I’m here! I’m here!” to a nation

that didn’t call on my name.

²I extended my hands all day

to a rebellious people

³people who provoke me to my face continually,

⁴who sit in tombs

who eat swine’s flesh

⁵who say, “Keep to yourself!

Keep away from me! I’m too holy for you.”

These people ignite my anger

like a fire that burns all day.

⁶Look, this stands written before me.

I won’t be silent, but I will repay;

I will repay in full measure

⁷your sins and the sins of your ancestors as well,

Since they burned incense on the mountains,

and mocked me in the hills,

I will count out to them

full payment for their actions.

⁸The LORD proclaims:

As new wine is found in the grape cluster,

and someone says, “Don’t destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,”

so I will do for the sake of my servants

and not destroy everything:

⁹I will bring out offspring from Jacob,

and from Judah, heirs to my mountains.

My chosen ones will take possession;

my servants will dwell there.

¹⁰Sharon will become a pasture for sheep,

and the Achor Valley a resting place for cattle,

for my people who seek me.

¹¹But you who abandon the LORD ,

¹²I will offer you to the sword.

¹³Therefore, the LORD God says:

Look, my servants will eat, but you will hunger.

My servants will drink, but you will thirst.

My servants will rejoice, but you will be ashamed.

¹⁴My servants will sing with contented hearts,

but you will cry out from heartache;

with broken spirits you will wail.

¹⁵You will leave your name behind for my chosen ones to curse:

“May the LORD God kill you!

May he call his servants by a different name!”

¹⁶Those who pronounce a blessing in the land

will do so by the God called Amen;

those who make a solemn pledge in the land will do so by the God called Amen.

Past troubles will be forgotten

and hidden from my sight.

New creation and new Jerusalem

¹⁷Look! I’m creating a new heaven and a new earth:

past events won’t be remembered;

they won’t come to mind.

¹⁸Be glad and rejoice forever

in what I’m creating,

because I’m creating Jerusalem as a joy

and her people as a source of gladness.

¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad about my people.

No one will ever hear the sound of weeping or crying in it again.

²⁰No more will babies live only a few days,

or the old fail to live out their days.

The one who dies at a hundred will be like a young person,

and the one falling short of a hundred will seem cursed.

²¹They will build houses and live in them;

they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

²²They won’t build for others to live in,

nor plant for others to eat.

Like the days of a tree will be the days of my people;

my chosen will make full use of their handiwork.

²³They won’t labor in vain,

nor bear children to a world of horrors,

because they will be people blessed by the LORD ,

they along with their descendants.

²⁴Before they call, I will answer;

while they are still speaking, I will hear.

²⁵Wolf and lamb will graze together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox,

but the snake—its food will be dust.

They won’t hurt or destroy at any place on my holy mountain,

says the LORD .