Study Desk

^[a]Oh, that you would rend the heavens^(a) and come down,^(b) that the mountains^(c) would tremble before you!

As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name^(d) known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake^(e) before you!

For when you did awesome^(f) things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled^(g) before you.

Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you,^(h) who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.⁽ⁱ⁾

You come to the help of those who gladly do right,^(j) who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry.^(k) How then can we be saved?

All of us have become like one who is unclean,^(l) and all our righteous^(m) acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf,⁽ⁿ⁾ and like the wind our sins sweep us away.^(o)

No one^(p) calls on your name^(q) or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden^(r) your face from us and have given us over^(s) to^[b] our sins.

Yet you, Lord , are our Father.^(t) We are the clay, you are the potter;^(u) we are all the work of your hand.^(v)

Do not be angry^(w) beyond measure, Lord ; do not remember our sins^(x) forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people.^(y)

Your sacred cities^(z) have become a wasteland; even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.^(aa)

Our holy and glorious temple,^(ab) where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured^(ac) lies in ruins.

After all this, Lord , will you hold yourself back?^(ad) Will you keep silent^(ae) and punish us beyond measure?

"I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.^(a) To a nation^(b) that did not call on my name,^(c) I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.'

All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people,^(d) who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations^(e)—

a people who continually provoke me to my very face,^(f) offering sacrifices in gardens^(g) and burning incense^(h) on altars of brick;

who sit among the graves⁽ⁱ⁾ and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs,^(j) and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;

who say, ‘Keep away; don't come near me, for I am too sacred^(k) for you!' Such people are smoke^(l) in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.

"See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent^(m) but will pay back⁽ⁿ⁾ in full; I will pay it back into their laps^(o)—

both your sins^(p) and the sins of your ancestors,"^(q) says the Lord . "Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills,^(r) I will measure into their laps the full payment^(s) for their former deeds."

This is what the Lord says: "As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes^(t) and people say, ‘Don't destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,' so will I do in behalf of my servants;^(u) I will not destroy them all.

I will bring forth descendants^(v) from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess^(w) my mountains; my chosen^(x) people will inherit them, and there will my servants live.^(y)

Sharon^(z) will become a pasture for flocks,^(aa) and the Valley of Achor^(ab) a resting place for herds, for my people who seek^(ac) me.

"But as for you who forsake^(ad) the Lord and forget my holy mountain,^(ae) who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine^(af) for Destiny,

I will destine you for the sword,^(ag) and all of you will fall in the slaughter;^(ah) for I called but you did not answer,^(ai) I spoke but you did not listen.^(aj) You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me."^(ak)

Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: "My servants will eat,^(al) but you will go hungry;^(am) my servants will drink,^(an) but you will go thirsty;^(ao) my servants will rejoice,^(ap) but you will be put to shame.^(aq)

My servants will sing^(ar) out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out^(as) from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit.

You will leave your name for my chosen ones to use in their curses;^(at) the Sovereign Lord will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name.^(au)

Whoever invokes a blessing^(av) in the land will do so by the one true God;^(aw) whoever takes an oath in the land will swear^(ax) by the one true God. For the past troubles^(ay) will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.

"See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.^(az) The former things will not be remembered,^(ba) nor will they come to mind.

But be glad and rejoice^(bb) forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem^(bc) to be a delight and its people a joy.

I will rejoice^(bd) over Jerusalem and take delight^(be) in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying^(bf) will be heard in it no more.

"Never again will there be in it an infant^(bg) who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years;^(bh) the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach^[a] a hundred will be considered accursed.

They will build houses^(bi) and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.^(bj)

No longer will they build houses and others live in them,^(bk) or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree,^(bl) so will be the days^(bm) of my people; my chosen^(bn) ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.

They will not labor in vain,^(bo) nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;^(bp) for they will be a people blessed^(bq) by the Lord , they and their descendants^(br) with them.

Before they call^(bs) I will answer;^(bt) while they are still speaking^(bu) I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb^(bv) will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox,^(bw) and dust will be the serpent's^(bx) food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,"^(by) says the Lord .

This is what the Lord says: "Heaven is my throne,^(a) and the earth is my footstool.^(b) Where is the house^(c) you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?

Has not my hand made all these things,^(d) and so they came into being?" declares the Lord . "These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit,^(e) and who tremble at my word.^(f)

But whoever sacrifices a bull^(g) is like one who kills a person, and whoever offers a lamb is like one who breaks a dog's neck; whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig's^(h) blood, and whoever burns memorial incense⁽ⁱ⁾ is like one who worships an idol. They have chosen their own ways,^(j) and they delight in their abominations;^(k)

so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring on them what they dread.^(l) For when I called, no one answered,^(m) when I spoke, no one listened. They did evil⁽ⁿ⁾ in my sight and chose what displeases me."^(o)

Hear the word of the Lord , you who tremble at his word:^(p) "Your own people who hate^(q) you, and exclude you because of my name, have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy!' Yet they will be put to shame.^(r)

Hear that uproar from the city, hear that noise from the temple! It is the sound^(s) of the Lord repaying^(t) his enemies all they deserve.

"Before she goes into labor,^(u) she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son.^(v)

Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen^(w) things like this? Can a country be born in a day^(x) or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.^(y)

Do I bring to the moment of birth^(z) and not give delivery?" says the Lord . "Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?" says your God.

"Rejoice^(aa) with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love^(ab) her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn^(ac) over her.

For you will nurse^(ad) and be satisfied at her comforting breasts;^(ae) you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance."^(af)

For this is what the Lord says: "I will extend peace^(ag) to her like a river,^(ah) and the wealth^(ai) of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried^(aj) on her arm and dandled on her knees.

As a mother comforts her child,^(ak) so will I comfort^(al) you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem."

When you see this, your heart will rejoice^(am) and you will flourish^(an) like grass; the hand^(ao) of the Lord will be made known to his servants,^(ap) but his fury^(aq) will be shown to his foes.

See, the Lord is coming with fire,^(ar) and his chariots^(as) are like a whirlwind;^(at) he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke^(au) with flames of fire.

For with fire^(av) and with his sword^(aw) the Lord will execute judgment^(ax) on all people, and many will be those slain^(ay) by the Lord .

"Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens,^(az) following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs,^(ba) rats^(bb) and other unclean things—they will meet their end^(bc) together with the one they follow," declares the Lord .

"And I, because of what they have planned and done,^(bd) am about to come^[a] and gather the people of all nations^(be) and languages, and they will come and see my glory.^(bf)

"I will set a sign^(bg) among them, and I will send some of those who survive^(bh) to the nations—to Tarshish,^(bi) to the Libyans^[b] and Lydians^(bj) (famous as archers), to Tubal^(bk) and Greece,^(bl) and to the distant islands^(bm) that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory.^(bn) They will proclaim my glory among the nations.

And they will bring^(bo) all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain^(bp) in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord —on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,"^(bq) says the Lord . "They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels.^(br)

And I will select some of them also to be priests^(bs) and Levites," says the Lord .

"As the new heavens and the new earth^(bt) that I make will endure before me," declares the Lord , "so will your name and descendants endure.^(bu)

From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath^(bv) to another, all mankind will come and bow down^(bw) before me," says the Lord .

"And they will go out and look on the dead bodies^(bx) of those who rebelled^(by) against me; the worms^(bz) that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched,^(ca) and they will be loathsome to all mankind."