Read the Bible

¹ "I made myself available to those who did not ask for me;
I appeared to those who did not look for me.
I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!'
to a nation that did not invoke my name.
² I spread out my hands all day long
to my rebellious people,
who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable,
and who did what they desired.
³ These people continually and blatantly offend me
as they sacrifice in their sacred orchards
and burn incense on brick altars.
⁴ They sit among the tombs
and keep watch all night long.
They eat pork,
and broth from unclean sacrificial meat is in their pans.
⁵ They say, ‘Keep to yourself!
Don't get near me, for I am holier than you!'
These people are like smoke in my nostrils,
like a fire that keeps burning all day long.
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 mountains
and 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 Lord
and 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 earth
will do so in the name of the faithful God;
whoever makes an oath in the earth
will 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 forevermore
over 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.
¹⁹ Jerusalem will bring me joy,
and my people will bring me happiness.
The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow
will never be heard in her again.
²⁰ Never again will one of her infants live just a few days
or an old man die before his time.
Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred,
anyone who fails to reach the age of a hundred will be considered cursed.
²¹ They will build houses and live in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it,
or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit,
for my people will live as long as trees,
and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced.
²³ They will not work in vain,
or give birth to children that will experience disaster.
For the Lord will bless their children
and their descendants.
²⁴ Before they even call out, I will respond;
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
²⁵ A wolf and a lamb will graze together;
a lion, like an ox, will eat straw,
and a snake's food will be dirt.
They will no longer injure or destroy
on my entire royal mountain," says the Lord.