I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;
        I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
    I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
        to a nation that was not called by my name.
    I spread out my hands all the day
        to a rebellious people,
    who walk in a way that is not good,
        following their own devices;
    a people who provoke me
        to my face continually,
    sacrificing in gardens
        and making offerings on bricks;
    who sit in tombs,
        and spend the night in secret places;
    who eat pig’s flesh,
        and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;
    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 the day.
    Behold, it is written before me:
        “I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
    I will indeed repay into their lap
        both your iniquities and your fathers’ iniquities together,
                                            says the LORD;
    because they made offerings on the mountains
        and insulted me on the hills,
    I will measure into their lap
        payment for their former deeds.”
    
    
    Thus says the LORD:
    “As the new 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.
    I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
        and from Judah possessors of my mountains;
    my chosen shall possess it,
        and my servants shall dwell there.
    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.
    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,
    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 eyes
        and chose what I did not delight in.”
    
    
    Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
    “Behold, my servants shall eat,
        but you shall be hungry;
    behold, my servants shall drink,
        but you shall be thirsty;
    behold, my servants shall rejoice,
        but you shall be put to shame;
    behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
        but you shall cry out for pain of heart
        and shall wail for breaking of spirit.
    You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse,
        and the Lord GOD will put you to death,
        but his servants he will call by another name,
    so that he who blesses himself in the land
        shall bless himself by the God of truth,
    and he who takes an oath in the land
        shall swear by the God of truth;
    because the former troubles are forgotten
        and are hidden from my eyes.
    
    
        “For behold, I create new heavens
        and a new earth,
    and the former things shall not be remembered
        or come into mind.
    But be glad and rejoice forever
        in that which I create;
    for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
        and her people to be a gladness.
    I will rejoice in Jerusalem
        and be glad in my people;
    no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
        and the cry of distress.
    No more shall there be in it
        an infant who lives but a few days,
        or an old man who does not fill out his days,
    for the young man shall die a hundred years old,
        and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
    They shall build houses and inhabit them;
        they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
    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.
    They shall not labor in vain
        or bear children for calamity,
    for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD,
        and their descendants with them.
    Before they call I will answer;
        while they are yet speaking I will hear.
    The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
        the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
        and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
    They shall not hurt or destroy
        in all my holy mountain,”
                                            says the LORD.
    
    
        Thus says the LORD:
    “Heaven is my throne,
        and the earth is my footstool;
    what is the house that you would build for me,
        and what is the place of my rest?
    All these things my hand has made,
        and so all these things came to be,
                                            declares the LORD.
    But this is the one to whom I will look:
        he who is humble and contrite in spirit
        and trembles at my word.
    
    
    “He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;
        he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck;
    he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig’s blood;
        he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.
    These have chosen their own ways,
        and their soul delights in their abominations;
    I also will choose harsh treatment for them
        and bring their fears upon them,
    because when I called, no one answered,
        when I spoke, they did not listen;
    but they did what was evil in my eyes
        and chose that in which I did not delight.”
    
    
    Hear the word of the LORD,
        you who tremble at his word:
    “Your brothers who hate you
        and cast you out for my name’s sake
    have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified,
        that we may see your joy’;
        but it is they who shall be put to shame.
    
    
    “The sound of an uproar from the city!
        A sound from the temple!
    The sound of the LORD,
        rendering recompense to his enemies!
    
    
        “Before she was in labor
        she gave birth;
    before her pain came upon her
        she delivered a son.
    Who has heard such a thing?
        Who has seen such things?
    Shall a land be born in one day?
        Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment?
    For as soon as Zion was in labor
        she brought forth her children.
    Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?”
        says the LORD;
    “shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?”
        says your God.
    
    
    “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
        all you who love her;
    rejoice with her in joy,
        all you who mourn over her;
    that you may nurse and be satisfied
        from her consoling breast;
    that you may drink deeply with delight
        from her glorious abundance.”
    
    
    For thus says the LORD:
    “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,
        and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;
    and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip,
        and bounced upon her knees.
    As one whom his mother comforts,
        so I will comfort you;
        you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
    You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
        your bones shall flourish like the grass;
    and the hand of the LORD shall be known to his servants,
        and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.
    
    
        “For behold, the LORD will come in fire,
        and his chariots like the whirlwind,
    to render his anger in fury,
        and his rebuke with flames of fire.
    For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment,
        and by his sword, with all flesh;
        and those slain by the LORD shall be many.
    
    
      “Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the LORD.

  “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.

    “For as the new heavens and the new earth
        that I make
    shall remain before me, says the LORD,
        so shall your offspring and your name remain.
    From new moon to new moon,
        and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
    all flesh shall come to worship before me,
    declares the LORD.
    
    
      “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” (ESV)

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

    “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
        and whose sins are covered;
    blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
    
    
      Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

  For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

  That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (ESV)