65The Lord says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name.H1875H7592H3808H4672H1245H3808H559H1471H7121H80342All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes.H6566H3027H3117H5637H5971H1980H1870H2896H310H42843All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens. They burn incense on pagan altars.H5971H3707H8548H6440H2076H1593H6999H38434At night they go out among the graves, worshiping the dead. They eat the flesh of pigs and make stews with other forbidden foods.H3427H6913H3885H5341H398H2386H1320H4839H6564H6292H36275Yet they say to each other, ‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!’ These people are a stench in my nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away.H559H7126H5066H6942H6227H639H784H3344H31176“Look, my decree is written out① in front of me. I will not stand silent; I will repay them in full! Yes, I will repay them—/ ①Or their sins are written out; Hebrew reads it stands writtenH3789H6440H2814H7999H7999H24367both for their own sins and for those of their ancestors,” says the Lord. “For they also burned incense on the mountains and insulted me on the hills. I will pay them back in full!H5771H5771H1H3162H559H3068H6999H2022H2778H1389H4058H7223H6468H24368“But I will not destroy them all,” says the Lord. “For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones (and someone will say, ‘Don’t throw them all away—some of those grapes are good!’), so I will not destroy all Israel. For I still have true servants there.H559H3068H8492H4672H811H559H7843H1293H6213H5650H78439I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel and of Judah to possess my land. Those I choose will inherit it, and my servants will live there.H3318H2233H3290H3063H3423H2022H972H3423H5650H793110The plain of Sharon will again be filled with flocks for my people who have searched for me, and the valley of Achor will be a place to pasture herds.H8289H5116H6629H6010H5911H1241H7258H5971H187511“But because the rest of you have forsaken the Lord and have forgotten his Temple, and because you have prepared feasts to honor the god of Fate and have offered mixed wine to the god of Destiny,H5800H3068H7913H6944H2022H6186H7979H1409H1408H4390H4469H450712now I will ‘destine’ you for the sword. All of you will bow down before the executioner. For when I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen. You deliberately sinned—before my very eyes—and chose to do what you know I despise.”H4487H2719H3766H2874H7121H6030H1696H8085H6213H7451H5869H977H265413Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says. “My servants will eat, but you will starve. My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. My servants will rejoice, but you will be sad and ashamed.H559H136H3069H5650H398H7456H5650H8354H6770H5650H8055H95414My servants will sing for joy, but you will cry in sorrow and despair.H5650H7442H2898H3820H6817H3511H3820H3213H7667H730715Your name will be a curse word among my people, for the Sovereign Lord will destroy you and will call his true servants by another name.H3240H8034H7621H972H136H3069H4191H7121H5650H312H803416All who invoke a blessing or take an oath will do so by the God of truth. For I will put aside my anger and forget the evil of earlier days.H1288H776H1288H430H543H7650H776H7650H430H543H7223H6869H7911H5641H586917“Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.H1254H2319H8064H2319H776H7223H2142H5927H382018Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy.H7797H1523H5703H1254H1254H3389H1525H5971H488519I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more.H1523H3389H7797H5971H6963H1065H8085H6963H220120“No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only the cursed will die that young!H5764H3117H2205H4390H3117H5288H4191H3967H8141H1121H2398H3967H8141H1121H704321In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.H1129H1004H3427H5193H3754H398H652922Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses and confiscate their vineyards. For my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.H1129H312H3427H5193H312H398H3117H6086H3117H5971H972H1086H4639H302723They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the Lord, and their children, too, will be blessed.H3021H7385H3205H928H2233H1288H3068H663124I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!H7121H6030H1696H808525The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. But the snakes will eat dust. In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain. I, the Lord, have spoken!”H2061H2924H7462H259H738H398H8401H1241H6083H5175H3899H7489H7843H6944H2022H559H3068
Isaiah 66
66This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that? Could you build me such a resting place?H559H3068H8064H3678H776H7272H1916H1004H1129H4725H44962My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are mine. I, the Lord, have spoken! “I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word.H3027H6213H5002H3068H5027H6041H5223H7307H2730H16973But those who choose their own ways—delighting in their detestable sins—will not have their offerings accepted. When such people sacrifice a bull, it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice. When they sacrifice a lamb, it’s as though they had sacrificed a dog! When they bring an offering of grain, they might as well offer the blood of a pig. When they burn frankincense, it’s as if they had blessed an idol.H7819H7794H5221H376H2076H7716H6202H3611H6202H5927H4503H2386H1818H2142H3828H1288H205H977H1870H5315H2654H82514I will send them great trouble—all the things they feared. For when I called, they did not answer. When I spoke, they did not listen. They deliberately sinned before my very eyes and chose to do what they know I despise.”H977H8586H935H4035H7121H6030H1696H8085H6213H7451H5869H977H26545Hear this message from the Lord, all you who tremble at his words. “Your own people hate you and throw you out for being loyal to my name. ‘Let the Lord be honored!’ they scoff. ‘Be joyful in him!’ But they will be put to shame.H8085H1697H3068H2730H1697H251H8130H5077H8034H559H3068H3513H7200H8057H9546What is all the commotion in the city? What is that terrible noise from the Temple? It is the voice of the Lord taking vengeance against his enemies.H6963H7588H5892H6963H1964H6963H3068H7999H1576H3417“Before the birth pains even begin, Jerusalem gives birth to a son.H2342H3205H2256H935H4422H21458Who has ever seen anything as strange as this? Who ever heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment? But by the time Jerusalem’s birth pains begin, her children will be born.H8085H7200H776H2342H259H3117H1471H3205H6471H1571H6726H2342H3205H11219Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord. “No! I would never keep this nation from being born,” says your God.H7665H3205H559H3068H589H3205H6113H559H43010“Rejoice with Jerusalem! Be glad with her, all you who love her and all you who mourn for her.H8055H3389H1523H157H7797H4885H5611Drink deeply of her glory even as an infant drinks at its mother’s comforting breasts.”H3243H7646H7699H8575H4711H6026H2123H351912This is what the Lord says. “I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity. The wealth of the nations will flow to her. Her children will be nursed at her breasts, carried in her arms, and held on her lap.H559H3068H5186H7965H5104H3519H1471H7857H5158H3243H5375H6654H8173H129013I will comfort you there in Jerusalem as a mother comforts her child.”H376H517H5162H5162H5162H338914When you see these things, your heart will rejoice. You will flourish like the grass! Everyone will see the Lord’s hand of blessing on his servants—and his anger against his enemies.H7200H3820H7797H6106H6524H1877H3027H3068H3045H5650H2194H34115See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his swift chariots roar like a whirlwind. He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke.H3068H935H784H4818H5492H7725H639H2534H1606H3851H78416The Lord will punish the world by fire and by his sword. He will judge the earth, and many will be killed by him.H784H2719H3068H8199H1320H2491H3068H723117“Those who ‘consecrate’ and ‘purify’ themselves in a sacred garden with its idol in the center—feasting on pork and rats and other detestable meats—will come to a terrible end,” says the Lord.H6942H2891H1593H310H259H8432H398H2386H1320H8263H5909H5486H3162H5002H306818“I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory.H4639H4284H935H6908H1471H3956H935H7200H351919I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations.H7760H226H7971H6412H1471H8659H6322H3865H4900H7198H8422H3120H339H7350H8085H8088H7200H3519H5046H3519H147120They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord. They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord.H935H251H4503H3068H1471H5483H7393H6632H6505H3753H6944H2022H3389H559H3068H1121H3478H935H4503H2889H3627H1004H306821“And I will appoint some of them to be my priests and Levites. I, the Lord, have spoken!H3947H3548H3881H559H306822“As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain, so will you always be my people, with a name that will never disappear,” says the Lord.H2319H8064H2319H776H6213H5975H6440H5002H3068H2233H8034H597523“All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month.H1767H2320H2320H1767H7676H7676H1320H935H7812H6440H559H306824And as they go out, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me. For the worms that devour them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out. All who pass by will view them with utter horror.”H3318H7200H6297H582H6586H8438H4191H784H3518H1860H1320
Psalms 121
121[A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.] I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there?H7892H4609H5375H5869H2022H370H935H58282My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!H5828H3068H6213H8064H7763He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.H5414H7272H4132H8104H51234Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.H8104H3478H5123H34625The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.H3068H8104H3068H6738H3225H30276The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.H8121H5221H3119H3394H39157The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.H3068H8104H7451H8104H53158The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.H3068H8104H3318H935H5704H5769
Dublin, OH
.H1875
