Read the Bible

¹ "I let myself be sought by those who did not ask;
    I let myself be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, ‘Here I am; here I am!' to a nation that did not call on my name;
²     I spread out my hands all day to a stubborn people,
those who walk after their thoughts in the way that is not good,
³     the people who provoke^[a] me to anger continually to my face,
slaughtering for sacrifices in the garden,
    and making smoke offerings on bricks,
⁴ who sit^[b] in graves
    and spend the night in secret places,^[c]
who eat^[d] the flesh of swine
    with^[e] a fragment^[f] of impurity in their vessels,
⁵ who say,^[g] "Keep to yourself!^[h]
    You must not come near me, for I am too holy for you!"
These are a smoke in my nostrils,^[i]
    a fire burning all day.
⁶ Look! It is written before me: I will not be silent, but I will repay;
    and I will repay in^[j] the fold of their garment
⁷ your iniquities and the iniquities of your ancestors^[k] together, says Yahweh,
because they made smoke offerings on the mountains
    and they taunted me on the hills,
I will measure their punishment from the beginning into the fold of their garment."

⁹ And I will bring descendant s^[n] out from Jacob,
    and a people^[o] from Judah to take possession of my mountain,
and my chosen ones shall inherit it,
    and my servants shall settle there.
¹⁰ And Sharon shall become a pasture for^[p] flocks,^[q]
    and the valley of Achor a resting place for^[r] herds^[s]
    for my people who have sought me.
¹¹ But^[t] you who forsake^[u] Yahweh,
    forgetting my holy mountain,^[v]
who set a table for Fortune,
    and who pour out^[w] a jug of mixed wine for Destiny,
¹² and I will remit you to the sword,
    and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
because I called, but^[x] you did not answer;
    I spoke, but^[y] you did not listen,
but^[z] you did the evil in my eyes,
    and you chose that in which I do not delight."

"Look! My servants shall eat but^[aa] you, you shall be hungry.
Look! My servants shall drink but^[ab] you, you shall be thirsty.
Look! My servants shall rejoice but^[ac] you, you shall be ashamed.
¹⁴ Look! My servants shall shout for joy,^[ad] but^[ae] you, you shall cry out for pain^[af] and howl for sadness.^[ag]
15 And you shall leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse,
    and the Lord Yahweh will kill you, and he will give^[ah] his servants another name.
¹⁶ Whoever blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of trustworthiness,
    and the one who swears an oath in the land shall swear by the God of trustworthiness,
because the former troubles are forgotten,
    and they are hidden from my eyes.

¹⁷ For look! I am about to create new heavens and a new earth,
    and the former things shall not be remembered,
and they shall not come to mind.^[ai]
18     But rejoice and shout in exultation forever and ever over what I am about to create!
For look! I am about to create Jerusalem as a source of rejoicing,
    and her people as a source of joy.
¹⁹ And I will shout in exultation over Jerusalem,
    and I will rejoice over my people,
and the sound of weeping shall no longer be heard in it,
    or^[aj] the sound of a cry for help.
²⁰ There will no longer be a nursing infant who lives only a few^[ak] days,
    or^[al] an old man who does not fill his days,
for the boy will die a hundred years old,^[am]
    and the one who fails to reach^[an] a hundred years^[ao] will be considered^[ap] accursed.
²¹ And they shall build houses and inhabit them,
    and they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² They shall not build and another inhabit;
    they shall not plant and another eat.
For the days of my people shall be like the days of a tree,
    and my chosen ones shall enjoy the work of their hands.
²³ They shall not labor for nothing,
    and they shall not give birth to horror,
for they shall be offspring blessed by^[aq] Yahweh,
    and their descendants with them.
²⁴ And this will happen: before they call, I myself will answer;
    while still they are speaking, I myself will hear.
²⁵ The wolf and the lamb shall feed like one,
    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
        but^[ar] dust shall be the serpent's food.
They shall do no evil,
    and they shall not destroy on all my holy mountain,"^[as] says Yahweh.