_Jehovah's Answer to the Church's Prayer._
1. I was discernible to those who did not inquire, discoverable by
those who did not seek Me.[1] I said, "Here am I, Here am I," to a
nation where My name was not called. 2. I spread out My hands all the
day to a refractory people, who walked in the way that was not good,
after their own thoughts. 3. The people that continually provoketh Me
by defying Me to My face, sacrificing in the gardens, and burning
incense upon the tiles; 4. who sit in the graves, and spend the night
in closed places; to eat the flesh of swine, and broken pieces of
abominations is in their dishes; 5. who say, Stop! come not too near
Me; for I am holy to thee; they are a smoke in My nose, a fire
blazing continually.
6. Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silence without
having recompensed, and I will recompense into their bosom. 7. Your
offences, and the offences of your fathers together, saith Jehovah,
that they have burned incense upon the mountains, and insulted Me
upon the hills, and I measure their reward first of all into their
bosom.
8. Thus saith Jehovah, As when the must is found in the cluster, men
say, Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing within it, so will I
do for the sake of My servants, that I may not destroy the whole.
9. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and an heir of My
mountains out of Judah, and My chosen ones shall inherit it, and My
servants shall dwell there. 10. And the plain of Sharon becomes a
meadow for flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting-place for oxen,
for My people that asketh for Me.
11. And ye, who are enemies to Jehovah, O ye that are unmindful of My
holy mountain, who prepare a table for Gad, and fill up mixed drink
for the goddess of destiny,--12. I have destined you to the sword,
and ye will bow down to the slaughter, because I have called, and ye
have not replied, I have spoken, and ye have not heard; and ye did
evil in Mine eyes, and ye chose that which I did not like.
13. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Jehovah: Behold My servants will
eat, but ye will hunger; behold My servants will drink, but ye will
thirst; behold My servants will rejoice, but ye will be put to shame;
14. behold My servants will exult for delight of heart, but ye will
cry for anguish of heart, and ye will lament for brokenness of
spirit. 15. And ye will leave your name for a curse to My chosen
ones, and the Lord, Jehovah, will slay thee; by His servants He will
call by another name, 16. so that whosoever blesseth himself in them
and will bless himself by the God of truthfulness,[2] and whosoever
sweareth in the land will swear by the God of truthfulness,[3]
because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they have
vanished from Mine eyes.
17. For behold I create a new heaven and a new earth; and men will
not remember the first, nor do they come to any one's mind. 18. No,
be ye joyful and exult for ever at that which I create; for behold I
turn Jerusalem into exulting, and her people into joy. 19. And I
shall exult over Jerusalem, and be joyous over My people, and the
voice of weeping and screaming will be heard in her no more. 20. And
there shall be no more come thence a suckling of a few days, and an
old man who has not lived out all his days; for the youth in it will
die as one a hundred years old, and the sinner be smitten with a
curse as one a hundred years old.[4]
21. And they will build houses and inhabit them, and plant vineyards
and enjoy the fruit thereof. 22. They will not build and another
inhabit, nor plant and another enjoy; for like the days of trees are
the days of My people, and My chosen ones will consume the work of
their hands. 23. They will not weary themselves in vain, nor bring
forth for sudden disaster; for they are a family of the blessed of
Jehovah, and their offspring are left to them.
24. And it will come to pass: before they call, I will answer; they
are still speaking, and I already hear. 25. Wolf and lamb then feed
together, and the lion eats chopped straw like the ox, and the
serpent--dust is its bread. They will neither do harm nor destroy in
all My holy mountain, saith Jehovah.