Beginning
64 Tear open the skies and come down to earth.
The mountains would tremble before you.
2 Be like a fire that burns twigs.
Be like a fire that makes water boil.
Do this so that your enemies will know who you are.
Then all nations will shake with fear when they see you.
3 You have done amazing things that we did not expect.
You came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 From long ago no one has ever heard of a God like you.
No one has ever seen a God besides you.
You help the people who trust you.
5 You help those who enjoy doing good.
You help those who remember how you want them to live.
But you were angry because we sinned.
For a long time we disobeyed.
How will we be saved?
6 All of us are dirty with sin.
All the right things we have done are like filthy pieces of cloth.
All of us are like dead leaves.
Like the wind our sins have carried us away.
7 No one worships you.
No one even asks you to help us.
So you have turned away from us.
And we are destroyed because of our sins.
8 But Lord, you are our father.
We are like clay, and you are the potter.
Your hands made us all.
9 Lord, don’t continue to be angry with us.
Don’t remember our sins forever.
Please, look at us
because we are your people.
10 Your holy cities are empty like the desert.
Jerusalem is like a desert;
Jerusalem is destroyed.
11 Our ancestors worshiped you
in our holy and wonderful Temple.
But now it has been burned with fire.
All our precious things have been destroyed.
12 When you see these things, will you hold yourself back from helping us, Lord?
Will you be silent and punish us beyond what we can stand?
All People Will Learn About God
65 The Lord says, “I made myself known to people who were not looking for me.
I was found by those who were not asking me for help.
I spoke to a nation that was not praying to me.
I said, ‘Here I am. Here I am.’
2 All day long I stood ready to accept
people who turned against me.
But the way they continue to live is not good.
They do anything they want to do.
3 Right in front of me they continue
to do things that make me angry.
They offer sacrifices to their false gods in their gardens.
They burn incense on altars of brick.
4 They sit among the graves.
They spend their nights waiting to get messages from the dead.
They eat the meat of pigs.
Their pots are full of soup made from meat that is wrong to eat.
5 But they tell others, ‘Stay away. Don’t come near me.
I am too holy for you.’
These people are like smoke in my nose.
Like a fire that burns all the time, they continue to make me angry.
6 “Look, it is written here before me.
I will not be quiet. Instead, I will repay you in full.
I will punish you for what you have done.
7 I will punish you for your sins and your ancestors’ sins,”
says the Lord.
“They burned incense to false gods on the mountains.
They shamed me on those hills.
So I will punish them as they should be punished
for what they did.”
8 This is what the Lord says:
“When there is juice left in the grapes,
people do not destroy them.
They know there is good left in them.
I will do the same thing to my servants.
I will not completely destroy them.
9 I will leave some of the children of Jacob.
Some of the people of Judah will receive my mountain.
I will choose the people who will live there.
My servants will live there.
10 Then the Plain of Sharon will be a field for sheep.
The Valley of Achor will be a place for cattle to rest.
They will be for the people who want to follow me.
11 “But you who left the Lord will be punished.
You forgot about my holy mountain.
You worship the false god Luck.
You hold religious feasts for the false god Fate.
12 But I decide your fate, and I will punish you with my sword.
You will all be killed.
This is because I called you, but you refused to answer.
I spoke to you, but you wouldn’t listen.
You did the things I said were evil.
You chose to do things that displease me.”
13 So the Lord God said these things:
“My servants will eat.
But you evil people will be hungry.
My servants will drink.
But you evil people will be thirsty.
My servants will be happy.
But you evil people will be shamed.
14 My servants will shout for joy
because of the goodness of their hearts.
But you evil people will cry,
because you will be sad.
You will cry loudly because your spirits will be broken.
15 Your names will be like curses to my servants.
And the Lord God will put you to death.
But he will call his servants by another name.
16 People in the land who ask for blessings
will ask for them from the faithful God.
People in the land who make a promise
will promise in the name of the faithful God.
This is because the troubles of the past will be forgotten.
I will make those troubles go away.
A New Time Is Coming
17 “Look, I will make new heavens and a new earth.
And people will not remember the past.
They will not think about those things.
18 My people will be happy forever
because of the things I will make.
I will make a Jerusalem that is full of joy.
And I will make her people a delight.
19 Then I will rejoice over Jerusalem.
I will be delighted with my people.
There will never again be
crying and sadness in that city.
20 There will never be a baby from that city
who lives only a few days.
And there will never be an older person
who doesn’t have a long life.
A person who lives 100 years will be called young.
And the person who dies before he is 100 will be thought of as a sinner.
21 In that city the person who builds a house will live there.
The person who plants vineyards will get to eat grapes.
22 No more will one person build a house and someone else live there.
One person will not plant a garden and someone else eat its fruit.
My people will live a long time
as trees live long.
My chosen people will live there
and enjoy the things they make.
23 People will never again work for nothing.
They will never again give birth to children who die young.
All my people will be blessed by the Lord.
My people and their children will be blessed.
24 I will provide for their needs before they ask.
I will help them while they are still asking for help.
25 Wolves and lambs will eat together in peace.
Lions will eat hay like oxen.
A snake on the ground will not hurt anyone.
They will not hurt or destroy each other
on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
God Will Judge All Nations
66 This is what the Lord says:
“The skies are my throne.
The earth is my footstool.
So do you think you can build a house for me?
There is no place where I need to rest.
2 My hand made all things.
All things are here because I made them,”
says the Lord.
“These are the people I am pleased with.
They are those who are not proud or stubborn.
They fear me and obey me.
3 But those people who kill bulls as a sacrifice to me
are like those who kill men.
Those who kill sheep as a sacrifice to me
are like those who break the necks of dogs.
Those who give me grain offerings
are like those who offer me the blood of pigs.[a]
Those who burn incense
are like those who worship idols.
These people choose their own ways—not mine.
They love the terrible things they do.
4 So I will punish them.
I will punish them using what they fear most.
I called to them, but they did not listen.
I spoke to them, but they did not hear me.
They did things I said were evil.
They chose to do things I did not like.”
5 You people who obey the words of the Lord,
listen to what he says:
“Your brothers hated you.
They turned against you because you followed me.
Your brothers said, ‘When the Lord is honored,
we will come back and rejoice with you.’
But they will be punished.
6 Listen to the loud noise coming from the city.
Hear the noise from the Temple.
It is the Lord punishing his enemies.
He is giving them the punishment they should have.
7 “A woman does not give birth before she feels the pain.
She does not give birth to a son before she feels the pain of birth.
8 No one has ever heard of that happening.
No one has ever seen that happen.
In the same way no one ever saw a country begin in one day.
No one has ever heard of a new nation beginning in one day.
But Jerusalem will give birth to her children
just as soon as she feels the birth pains.
9 In the same way I will not cause pain
without allowing something new to be born,” says the Lord.
“If I cause you the pain,
I will not stop you from giving birth to your new nation,” says your God.
10 “Jerusalem, rejoice.
All you people who love Jerusalem, be happy.
Those of you who felt sad for Jerusalem
should now feel happy with her.
11 You will enjoy her good things and be satisfied
as a child is nursed by its mother.
You will receive her good things
and enjoy her wealth.”
12 This is what the Lord says:
“I will give her peace that will flow to her like a river.
The wealth of the nations will come flowing to her.
Like babies you will be nursed and held in my arms.
You will be bounced on my knees.
13 I will comfort you
as a mother comforts her child.
You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”
14 When you see these things, you will be happy.
You will grow like the grass.
The Lord’s servants will see his power.
But the Lord’s enemies will see his anger.
15 Look, the Lord is coming with fire.
The Lord’s armies are coming with clouds of dust.
He will punish those people with his anger.
He will punish them with flames of fire.
16 The Lord will judge the people with fire.
He will destroy many people with his sword.
He will kill many people.
17 “These people make themselves holy and pure to go to worship their false gods in their gardens. They follow each other into their special gardens. They eat the meat of pigs and rats and other hated things. But they will all be destroyed together,” says the Lord.
18 “I know they have evil thoughts and do evil things. So I am coming to punish them. I will gather all nations and all people. All people will come together and see my glory.
19 “I will put a mark on some of the people. And I will send some of these saved people to the nations. I will send them to Tarshish, Libya, Lud (the land of archers), Tubal, Greece and all the faraway lands. These people have never heard about what I have done. They have never seen my glory. So the saved people will tell the nations about my glory. 20 And they will bring all your fellow Israelites from all nations. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem. Your fellow Israelites will come on horses, donkeys, camels and in chariots and wagons. They will be like the grain offerings that the people bring in clean containers to the Temple,” says the Lord. 21 “And I will choose some of these people to be priests and Levites,” says the Lord.
22 “I will make new heavens and the new earth. And they will last forever,” says the Lord. “In the same way, your names and your children will always be with me. 23 All people will come to worship me. They will come to worship me every Sabbath and every New Moon,” says the Lord. 24 “They will go out and see the dead bodies of the people who sinned against me. The worms that eat them will never die. The fires that burn them will never stop. And everyone will hate to see those bodies.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.