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The Glorious New Creation

¹⁷ For I am about to create new heavens
   and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
   or come to mind.
¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice for ever
   in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
   and its people as a delight.
¹⁹ I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
   and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
   or the cry of distress.
²⁰ No more shall there be in it
   an infant that lives but a few days,
   or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
   and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
²¹ They shall build houses and inhabit them;
   they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² They shall not build and another inhabit;
   they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
   and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
²³ They shall not labour in vain,
   or bear children for calamity;^*
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
   and their descendants as well.
²⁴ Before they call I will answer,
   while they are yet speaking I will hear.
²⁵ The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
   the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
   but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
   on all my holy mountain,

says the Lord.

Warning against Idleness

6 Now we command you, beloved,^* in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are^* living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they^* received from us. ⁷For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, ⁸and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labour we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. ⁹This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. ¹⁰For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. ¹¹For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. ¹²Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. ¹³Brothers and sisters,^* do not be weary in doing what is right.