| Chapter 65 |
1 | They have sought me that before asked not for me, they have found me that sought me not. I said: Behold me, behold me, to a nation that did not call upon my name. |
2 | I have spread forth my hands all the day to an unbelieving people, who walk in a way that is not good after their own thoughts. |
3 | A people that continually provoke me to anger before my face: that immolate in gardens, and sacrifice upon bricks. |
4 | That dwell in sepulchres, and sleep in the temple of idols: that eat swine's flesh, and profane broth is in their vessels. |
5 | That say: Depart from me, come not near me, because thou art unclean: these shall be smoke in my anger, a fire burning all the day. |
6 | Behold it is written before me: I will not be silent, but I will render and repay into their bosom. |
7 | Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, who have sacrificed upon the mountains, and have reproached me upon the hills; and I will measure back their first work in their bosom. |
8 | Thus saith the Lord: As if a grain be found in a cluster, and it be said: Destroy it not, because it is a blessing: so will I do for the sake of my servants, that I may not destroy the whole. |
9 | And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Juda a possessor of my mountains: and my elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. |
10 | And the plains shall be turned to folds of hocks, and the valley of Achor into a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me. |
11 | And you, that have forsaken the Lord, that have forgotten my holy mount, that set a table for fortune, and offer libations upon it, |
12 | I will number you in the sword, and you shall all fall by slaughter: because I called and you did not answer: I spoke, and you did not hear: and you did evil in my eyes, and you have chosen the things that displease me. |
13 | Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry: behold my servants shall drink, and you shall be thirsty. |
14 | Behold my servants shall rejoice, and you shall be confounded: behold my servants shall praise for joyfulness of heart, and you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit. |
15 | And you shall leave your name for an execration to my elect: and the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name. |
16 | In which he that is blessed upon the earth, shall be blessed in God, amen: and he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by God, amen: because the former distresses are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes. |
17 | For behold I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former things shall not be in remembrance, and they shell not come upon the heart. |
18 | But you shall be glad and rejoice for ever in these things, which I create: for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, end the people thereof joy. |
19 | And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. |
20 | There shall no more be an infant of days there, nor an old man that shall not fill up his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. |
21 | And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruits of them. |
22 | They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people, and the works of their hands shall be of long continuance. |
23 | My elect shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth in trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their posterity with them. |
24 | And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will hear; as they are yet speaking, I will hear. |
25 | The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; the lion and the ox shall eat straw; and dust shall be the serpent's food: they shall not hurt nor kill in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. |