Chapter 65

  I have been ready to give an answer to those who did not make prayer to me; I have been offering myself to those who were not searching for me; I said, Here am I, here am I, to a nation which gave no respect to my name.  

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  All day my hands have been stretched out to an uncontrolled people, who go in an evil way, after the purposes of their hearts;  

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  A people who make me angry every day, making offerings in gardens, and burning perfumes on bricks.  

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  Who are seated in the resting-places of the dead, and by night are in the secret places; who take pig's flesh for food, and have the liquid of disgusting things in their vessels.  

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  Who say, Keep away, do not come near me, for fear that I make you holy: these are a smoke in my nose, a fire burning all day.  

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  See, it is recorded before me, says the Lord: I will not keep back my hand, till I have sent punishment,  

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  For their sins and the sins of their fathers, who were burning perfumes on the mountains, and saying evil things against me on the hills: so I will take the measure of their sins, and will send the punishment for them into their breast.  

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  This is the word of the Lord: As the new wine is seen in the grapes, and they say, Do not send destruction on it, for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants, in order that I may not put an end to them all.  

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  And I will take a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah one who will have my mountains for a heritage: and the people I have taken to be mine will have it for themselves, and my servants will have their resting-place there.  

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  And Sharon will be a grass-land for the flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting-place for the herds: for my people whose hearts have been turned back to me.  

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  But as for you who have given up the Lord, who have no care for my holy mountain, who get ready a table for Chance, and make offerings of mixed wine to Fate;  

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  Your fate will be the sword, and you will all go down to death: because when my voice came to you, you made no answer; you did not give ear to my word; but you did what was evil in my eyes, desiring what was not pleasing to me.  

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  For this cause says the Lord God, My servants will have food, but you will be in need of food: my servants will have drink, but you will be dry: my servants will have joy, but you will be shamed:  

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  My servants will make songs in the joy of their hearts, but you will be crying for sorrow, and making sounds of grief from a broken spirit.  

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  And your name will become a curse to my people, and the Lord God will put you to death, and give his servants another name:  

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  So that he who is requesting a blessing will make use of the name of the true God, and he who takes an oath will do so by the true God; because the past troubles are gone out of mind, and because they are covered from my eyes.  

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  For see, I am making a new heaven and a new earth: and the past things will be gone completely out of mind.  

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  But men will be glad and have joy for ever in what I am making; for I am making Jerusalem a delight, and her people a joy.  

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  And I will be glad over Jerusalem, and have joy in my people: and the voice of weeping will no longer be sounding in her, or the voice of grief.  

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  No longer will there be there a child whose days are cut short, or an old man whose days have not come to their full measure: for the young man at his death will be a hundred years old, and he whose life is shorter than a hundred years will seem as one cursed.  

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  And they will be building houses and living in them; planting vine-gardens and getting the fruit of them.  

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  They will no longer be building for the use of others, or planting for others to have the fruit: for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my loved ones will have joy in full measure in the work of their hands.  

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  Their work will not be for nothing, and they will not give birth to children for destruction; for they are a seed to whom the Lord has given his blessing, and their offspring will be with them.  

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  And before they make their request I will give an answer, and while they are still making prayer to me, I will give ear.  

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  The wolf and the lamb will take their food together, and the lion will make a meal of grass like the ox: but dust will be the snake's food. There will be no cause of pain or destruction in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.  

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