Judgment and Salvation

¹I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;

I was found of those who did not seek Me.

I said, “Here I am, here I am,”

to a nation that did not call on My name.

²I have spread out My hands all day

to a rebellious people

who walk in a way that was not good,

after their own thoughts;

³a people who provoke Me continually

to My face,

presenting sacrifices in gardens

and burning incense on altars of brick;

⁴who sit among the graves

and lodge in the monuments;

who eat swine’s flesh,

and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels;

⁵who say, “Stand by yourself; do not come near to me,

for I am holier than you!”

These are smoke in My nose,

a fire that burns all day.

⁶Behold, it is written before Me:

I will not keep silent, but I will recompense,

even recompense into their bosom,

⁷your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,[#Ex 20:5]

says the Lord ;

because they have burned incense on the mountains

and blasphemed Me on the hills,

therefore, I will measure their former work

into their bosom.

⁸Thus says the Lord :

As the new wine is found in the cluster,

and one says, “Do not destroy it

for a blessing is in it,”

so I will do for the sake of My servants

that I may not destroy them all.

⁹I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,

and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains;

and My chosen ones shall inherit it,

and My servants shall dwell there.

¹⁰Sharon shall be a fold of flocks,[#Isa 33:9; 35:2]

and the Valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in,

for My people who seek Me.

¹¹But you are those who forsake the Lord ,

who forget My holy mountain,

who prepare a table for Fortune,

and who furnish the drink offering for Destiny.

¹²I will destine you for the sword,

and you all shall bow down to the slaughter;

because when I called, you did not answer;

when I spoke, you did not hear

but did evil before My eyes

and chose that in which I did not delight.

¹³Therefore, thus says the Lord God :

Behold, My 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 ashamed;

¹⁴behold, My servants shall sing

for gladness of heart,

but you shall cry

with a heavy heart,

and shall wail with grief of spirit.

¹⁵You shall leave your name

for a curse to My chosen ones;

for the Lord God shall slay you,

but My servants shall be called by another name;

¹⁶because he who is blessed in the earth

shall bless himself in the God of truth;

and he who swears in the earth

shall swear by the God of truth;

because the former troubles are forgotten

and because they are hidden from My eyes.

The New Creation

¹⁷For behold, I create

new heavens and a new earth;

the former things shall not be remembered

or come to mind.

¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever[#Ps 98]

in that which I create;

for behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing,

and her people for joy.

¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem

and be glad in My people;

and the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her,

nor the voice of crying.

²⁰There shall no longer be

an infant who lives only a few days,

nor an old man who has not filled out his days.

For the child shall die

at one hundred years old,

but the sinner being one hundred years old

shall be accursed.

²¹They shall build houses and inhabit them;

and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.

²²They shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat;

for as the days of a tree

are the days of My people,

and My chosen ones shall long enjoy

the work of their hands.

²³They shall not labor in vain

nor bring forth children for trouble;

for they are the descendants of the blessed of the Lord

and their offspring with them.

²⁴Before they call, I will answer;

and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,

and the lion shall eat straw like the bull,

and dust shall be the serpent’s food.

They shall not hurt or destroy

in all My holy mountain,

says the Lord .