Beginning

¹ As when brushwood is set ablaze,
    or fire makes the water boil!
Then your name would be made known to your enemies
    and the nations would tremble before you,
² While you worked awesome deeds we could not hope for,^[a]
3     such as had not been heard of from of old.
No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen,
    any God but you
    working such deeds for those who wait for him.^(A)
4 Would that you might meet us doing right,
    that we might be mindful of you in our ways!
Indeed, you are angry; we have sinned,
    we have acted wickedly.
⁵ We have all become like something unclean,
    all our just deeds are like polluted rags;
We have all withered like leaves,
    and our crimes carry us away like the wind.^(B)
6 There are none who call upon your name,
    none who rouse themselves to take hold of you;
For you have hidden your face from us
    and have delivered us up to our crimes.

^7 [b]Yet, Lord, you are our father;
    we are the clay and you our potter:
    we are all the work of your hand.
⁸ Do not be so very angry, Lord,
    do not remember our crimes forever;
    look upon us, who are all your people!
⁹ Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become wilderness, Jerusalem desolation!^(C)
10 Our holy and glorious house
    in which our ancestors praised you
Has been burned with fire;
    all that was dear to us is laid waste.
¹¹ Can you hold back, Lord, after all this?
    Can you remain silent, and afflict us so severely?

^1 [c]I was ready to respond to those who did not ask,
    to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said: Here I am! Here I am!
    To a nation that did not invoke my name.^(D)
2 I have stretched out my hands all day
    to a rebellious people,
Who walk in a way that is not good,
    following their own designs;^(E)
3 A people who provoke me
    continually to my face,
Offering sacrifices in gardens
    and burning incense on bricks,
⁴ Sitting in tombs
    and spending the night in caves,
Eating the flesh of pigs,
    with broth of unclean meat in their dishes;
⁵ Crying out, “Hold back,
    do not come near me, lest I render you holy!”^[d]
These things are smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that burns all the day.
⁶ See, it stands written before me;
    I will not remain quiet until I have repaid in full
⁷ Your crimes and the crimes of your ancestors as well,
    says the Lord.
Since they burned incense on the mountains,
    and insulted me on the hills,
I will at once pour out in full measure
    their recompense into their laps.

^{8     [e]}Thus says the Lord:
As when the juice is pressed from a cluster,
    and someone says, “Do not destroy it,
    for there is still good in it,”
So will I do for the sake of my servants:
    I will not destroy them all.
⁹ From Jacob I will bring forth offspring,
    from Judah, those who are to possess my mountains;
My chosen ones shall possess the land,
    my servants shall dwell there.
¹⁰ Sharon shall become a pasture for the flocks,
    the Valley of Achor a resting place for the cattle,
    for my people who have sought me.^(F)
11 But you who forsake the Lord,
    who forget my holy mountain,
Who spread a table for Fortune
    and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,^[f]
12 You I will destine for the sword;
    you shall all bow down for slaughter;
Because I called and you did not answer,
    I spoke and you did not listen,
But did what is evil in my sight
    and things I do not delight in, you chose,^(G)
13     therefore thus says the Lord God:
My servants shall eat,
    but you shall go hungry;
My servants shall drink,
    but you shall be thirsty;
My servants shall rejoice,
    but you shall be put to shame;
¹⁴ My servants shall shout
    for joy of heart,
But you shall cry out for grief of heart,
    and howl for anguish of spirit.
¹⁵ You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen ones
    when the Lord God slays you,
    and calls his servants by another name.
¹⁶ Whoever invokes a blessing in the land
    shall bless by the God of truth;^[g]
Whoever takes an oath in the land
    shall swear by the God of truth;
For the hardships of the past shall be forgotten
    and hidden from my eyes.

^17 [h]See, I am creating new heavens
    and a new earth;
The former things shall not be remembered
    nor come to mind.^(H)
18 Instead, shout for joy and be glad forever
    in what I am creating.
Indeed, I am creating Jerusalem to be a joy
    and its people to be a delight;
¹⁹ I will rejoice in Jerusalem
    and exult in my people.
No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there,
    or the sound of crying;
²⁰ No longer shall there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    nor anyone who does not live a full lifetime;
One who dies at a hundred years shall be considered a youth,
    and one who falls short of a hundred shall be thought accursed.^(I)
21 They shall build houses and live in them,
    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit;
²² They shall not build and others live there;
    they shall not plant and others eat.
As the years of a tree, so the years of my people;
    and my chosen ones shall long enjoy
    the work of their hands.
²³ They shall not toil in vain,
    nor beget children for sudden destruction;
For they shall be a people blessed by the Lord
    and their descendants with them.
²⁴ Before they call, I will answer;
    while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
^25 [i]The wolf and the lamb shall pasture together,
    and the lion shall eat hay like the ox—
    but the serpent’s food shall be dust.^(J)
None shall harm or destroy
    on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

^{1     [j]}Thus says the Lord:
The heavens are my throne,
    the earth, my footstool.
What house can you build for me?
    Where is the place of my rest?^(K)
2 My hand made all these things
    when all of them came to be—oracle of the Lord.
This is the one whom I approve:
    the afflicted one, crushed in spirit,
    who trembles at my word.^(L)
3 [k]The one slaughtering an ox, striking a man,
    sacrificing a lamb, breaking a dog’s neck,
Making an offering of pig’s blood,
    burning incense, honoring an idol—
These have chosen their own ways,
    and taken pleasure in their own abominations.^(M)
4 I in turn will choose affliction for them
    and bring upon them what they fear.
Because when I called, no one answered,
    when I spoke, no one listened.
Because they did what was evil in my sight,
    and things I do not delight in they chose,^(N)
5 Hear the word of the Lord,
    you who tremble at his word!
Your kin who hate you
    and cast you out because of my name say,
“May the Lord show his glory,
    that we may see your joy”;
    but they shall be put to shame.
⁶ A voice roaring from the city,
    a voice from the temple;
The voice of the Lord
    rendering recompense to his enemies!^(O)

^7 [l]Before she is in labor,
    she gives birth;^(P)
Before her pangs come upon her,
    she delivers a male child.
⁸ Who ever heard of such a thing,
    or who ever saw the like?
Can a land be brought forth in one day,
    or a nation be born in a single moment?
Yet Zion was scarcely in labor
    when she bore her children.
⁹ Shall I bring a mother to the point of birth,
    and yet not let her child be born? says the Lord.
Or shall I who bring to birth
    yet close her womb? says your God.
^10 [m]Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her,
    all you who love her;
Rejoice with her in her joy,
    all you who mourn over her—^(Q)
11 So that you may nurse and be satisfied
    from her consoling breast;
That you may drink with delight
    at her abundant breasts!
¹²     For thus says the Lord:
I will spread prosperity over her like a river,
    like an overflowing torrent,
    the wealth of nations.
You shall nurse, carried in her arms,
    cradled upon her knees;
¹³ As a mother comforts her child,
    so I will comfort you;
    in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.^(R)
14 You will see and your heart shall exult,
    and your bodies shall flourish like the grass;
The Lord’s power shall be revealed to his servants,
    but to his enemies, his wrath.
¹⁵ For see, the Lord will come in fire,
    his chariots like the stormwind;
To wreak his anger in burning rage
    and his rebuke in fiery flames.
¹⁶ For with fire the Lord shall enter into judgment,
    and, with his sword, against all flesh;
    Those slain by the Lord shall be many.^(S)