Bible Browser

The Righteousness of God’s Judgement

65I was ready to be sought out by 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 call on my name.
² I held out my hands all day long
   to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
   following their own devices;
³ a people who provoke me
   to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens
   and offering incense on bricks;
⁴ who sit inside tombs,
   and spend the night in secret places;
who eat swine’s flesh,
   with broth of abominable things in their vessels;
⁵ who say, ‘Keep to yourself,
   do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.’
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
   a fire that burns all day long.
⁶ See, it is written before me:
   I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will indeed repay into their laps
⁷   their^* iniquities and their^* ancestors’ iniquities together,

says the Lord;
because they offered incense on the mountains
   and reviled me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
   full payment for their actions.
⁸ Thus says the Lord:
As the wine is found in the cluster,
   and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,
   for there is a blessing in it’,
so I will do for my servants’ sake,
   and not destroy them all.
⁹ I will bring forth descendants^* from Jacob,
   and from Judah inheritors^* of my mountains;
my chosen shall inherit it,
   and my servants shall settle there.
¹⁰ Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
   and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
   for my people who have sought me.
¹¹ But you who forsake the Lord,
   who forget my holy mountain,
who set a table for Fortune
   and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,
¹² I will destine you to the sword,
   and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter;
because, when I called, you did not answer,
   when I spoke, you did not listen,
but you did what was evil in my sight,
   and chose what I did not delight in.
¹³ Therefore thus says the Lord God:
My servants shall eat,
   but you shall be 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 sing for gladness of heart,
   but you shall cry out for pain of heart,
   and shall wail for anguish of spirit.
¹⁵ You shall leave your name to my chosen to use as a curse,
   and the Lord God will put you to death;
   but to his servants he will give a different name.
¹⁶ Then whoever invokes a blessing in the land
   shall bless by the God of faithfulness,
and whoever takes an oath in the land
   shall swear by the God of faithfulness;
because the former troubles are forgotten
   and are hidden from my sight.