1 "I let myself be consulted by those who did not ask; I let myself be found by those who did not look for me. To a nation that was not called by my name I said, 'Here I am, here I am.'
2 All day long I have held out my hands to a rebellious people, who walk a road that is not good, following their own notions;
3 a people who keep provoking me to my face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks;
4 who sit among the tombs and spend their nights in hidden places; who eat pork, with a broth of unclean meat in their pots;
5 who say, 'Stay where you are, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.' These people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all day.
6 See, it stands written before me: I will not keep quiet, but I will pay back, yes, I will pay it back into their laps,
7 your iniquities and your fathers' iniquities together," says the LORD. "Because they burned incense on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure out into their laps full payment for what they did before."
8 This is what the LORD says: "As when juice is found in a cluster of grapes and someone says, 'Do not ruin it, there is a blessing in it,' so I will act for my servants' sake and not destroy them all.
9 I will bring out offspring from Jacob, and from Judah one who will inherit my mountains; my chosen ones will take possession of it, and my servants will live there.
10 Sharon will become pastureland for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for cattle to lie down, for my people who have sought me.
11 But you who abandon the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
12 I will destine you for the sword, and you will all kneel down to be slaughtered; because I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not listen; you did what is evil in my sight and chose what I take no pleasure in."
13 So this is what the Lord GOD says: "See, my servants will eat, but you will go hungry; see, my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; see, my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.
14 See, my servants will shout for joy from a glad heart, but you will cry out from an aching heart and howl from a broken spirit.
15 You will leave your name behind as a curse word for my chosen ones, and the Lord GOD will put you to death; but his servants he will call by a different name.
16 So whoever invokes a blessing in the land will bless himself by the God of truth, and whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of truth; for the troubles of the past will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.
17 For see, I am creating new heavens and a new earth; the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
18 Instead, be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for see, I am creating Jerusalem to be a delight and her people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and be glad over my people; never again will the sound of weeping or the sound of crying be heard in her.
20 Never again will there be in her a baby who lives only a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; for one who dies at a hundred will still be a youth, and the sinner who reaches a hundred will be held accursed.
21 They will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They will not build for someone else to live in, or plant for someone else to eat; for my people's days will be like the days of a tree, and my chosen ones will wear out the work of their own hands.
23 They will not toil for nothing or bear children for sudden disaster; for they will be offspring blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will graze side by side, the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the snake's food. They will do no harm and cause no ruin anywhere on my holy mountain," says the LORD.