64 ¹If you would tear open the skies and come down to earth, {then everything would change}. The mountains would melt before you. ²{The mountains} would burst into flames like burning bushes. {The mountains would boil like} water on the fire. Then your enemies would learn about you. Then all nations would shake with fear when they see you. ³But we don’t really want you to do these things. The mountains would melt before you. ⁴Your people never really listened to you. Your people never really heard the things you said. No person has ever seen a God like you. There is no other God—only you. If people are patient and wait for you to help them, then you will do great things for them. ⁵You are with people that enjoy doing good. Those people remember you by living the way you want them to. But in the past we sinned against you. So you became angry at us. Now, how will we be saved? ⁶We are all dirty with sin. Even our good works {are not pure}. They are like blood-stained rags. We are all like dead leaves. Our sins have carried us away like wind. ⁷We don’t worship you. We don’t trust in your name. We aren’t excited about following you. So you have turned away from us. We are helpless before you, because we are full of sin. ⁸But Lord, you are our father. We are like clay. And you are the potter.* Your hands made us all. ⁹Lord, don’t continue to be angry with us! Don’t remember our sins forever! Please, look at us! We are your people. ¹⁰Your holy cities are empty. Those cities are like deserts now. Zion* is a desert! Jerusalem is destroyed! ¹¹Our ancestors worshiped you in our holy temple. Our temple was so wonderful, but now it has been burned in the fire! All our precious possessions have been destroyed. ¹²Will these things always keep you from {showing your love to us}? Will you continue to say nothing? Will you punish us forever?

potter A person that makes pots and other things from clay. Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on. Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.

All People Will Learn About God

65 The Lord says, “I helped people that had not come to me for advice. The people that found me were not looking for me. I spoke to a nation that does not wear my name. I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’ ²“I stood ready to accept people that turned against me. I was waiting for those people to come to me. But they continued living a way that is not good. They did anything their hearts wanted to do. ³Those people are in front of me always making me angry. Those people offer sacrifices* and burn incense* in their special gardens.* ⁴Those people sit among the graves. They wait to get messages from dead people. They even live among dead bodies. They eat pig meat. Their forks and knives are dirty with rotten meat. ⁵“But those people tell other people, ‘Don’t come near me! Don’t touch me until I make you clean.’ Those people are like smoke in my eyes. And their fire burns all the time.”

Israel Must Be Punished

⁶“Look, here is a bill that must be paid. {This bill shows you are guilty for your sins.} I will not be quiet until I pay this bill, and I will pay the bill by punishing you. ⁷“Your sins and your fathers’ sins are all the same.” The Lord said this, “Your fathers did these sins when they burned incense* in the mountains. They shamed me on those hills. And I punished them first. I gave them the punishment they should have.”

God Will Not Completely Destroy Israel

⁸The Lord says, “When there is new wine in the grapes, people squeeze out the wine. But they don’t completely destroy the grapes. They do this because the grapes can still be used. I will do the same thing to my servants. I will not completely destroy them. ⁹I will keep some of the people of Jacob (Israel). Some of the people of Judah will get my mountain. My servants will live there. I will choose the people that will live there. ¹⁰Then Sharon Valley* will be a field for sheep. The Valley of Achor* will be a place for cattle to rest. All these things will be for my people—the people that look for me. ¹¹“But you people left the Lord, so you will be punished. You people forgot about my holy mountain.* You began to worship Luck. You depend on the false god Fate.* ¹²{But I decide your future.} And I decided that you will be killed with a sword. You will all be killed. Why? Because I called to you, and you refused to answer me! I spoke to you, and you would not listen. You did the things that I say are evil. You decided to do the things that I don’t like.” ¹³So the Lord my Master said these things. “My servants will eat, but you evil people will be hungry. My servants will drink, but you evil people will be thirsty. My servants will be happy, but you evil people will be shamed. ¹⁴My servants will be happy with joy, but you evil people will cry with sadness.* Your spirits will be broken, and you will be very sad. ¹⁵Your names will be like bad words to my servants.” The Lord my Master will kill you. And he will call his servants by a new name. ¹⁶People now ask blessings from the earth. {But in the future,} they will ask blessings from the faithful God. People now trust in the power of the earth when they make a promise. {But in the future,} they will trust in the faithful God. Why? Because the troubles in the past will all be forgotten. My people will never again remember those troubles.

A New Time Is Coming

¹⁷“I will make a new heaven and a new earth. People will not remember the past. They won’t remember any of those things. ¹⁸My people will be happy. They will rejoice forever and ever. Why? Because of what I will make. I will make a Jerusalem that is full of joy, and I will make them a happy people. ¹⁹“Then I will be happy with Jerusalem. I will be happy with my people. There will never again be crying and sadness in that city. ²⁰There will never be a child from that city, that is born and lives only a few days. No person from that city will die after only a short life. Every child will live a long life, and every older person will live for a long, long time. A person that lives 100 years will be called young. And people will think a person was cursed if he does not live to be 100 years old. ²¹“In that city, if a person builds a house, that person will live there. If a person plants a garden of grapes, that person will eat the grapes from that garden. ²²Never again will one person build a house and another person live there. Never again will one person plant a garden and another person eat the fruit from it. My people will live as long as the trees. My chosen people will enjoy the things they make. ²³Women will never again suffer childbirth {only to have the baby die}. Women will never again be afraid of what might happen during childbirth. All my people and their children will be blessed by the Lord. ²⁴I will know what they need before they ask. And I will help them—even before they finish asking. ²⁵Wolves and little lambs will eat together. Lions will eat with cattle. A snake on the ground will not scare or hurt any person on my holy mountain.” The Lord said all those things.

sacrifices Gifts to God. Sometimes these were special kinds of animals that were killed and burned on an altar. incense A kind of spice that smells good when it is burned. It was burned as a gift to God. special gardens Gardens where people worshiped false gods. Sharon Valley The low land along the coast of Palestine. Valley of Achor A valley about ten miles north of Jerusalem. my holy mountain Mount Zion, the mountain Jerusalem is built on. Luck … Fate Two false gods. The people thought these gods controlled their futures. My servants … sadness Literally, “My servants will rejoice with good hearts and you will scream with painful hearts.”

God Will Judge All Nations

66 This is what the Lord says, “The skies are my throne. The earth is my footstool. So do you think you can build a house for me? No! You can’t! Can you give me a place to rest? No! You can’t! ²I myself made all things. All things are here because I made them.” The Lord himself said these things. “Tell me, what people do I care for? I care for the poor people. I care for the people that are very sad. I care for people that obey my words. ³Some people kill bulls {as a sacrifice}, but they also beat people. Those people kill sheep as a sacrifice, but they also break the necks of dogs! Those people offer up grain offerings, but they also offer the blood of pigs!* Those people burn incense,* but they also love their worthless idols.* Those people choose their own ways. And they also love their terrible idols. ⁴So I decided to use their own tricks! {I mean that} I will punish them using the things they are most afraid of. I called to those people, but they did not listen. I spoke to them, but they did not hear me. So I will do the same thing to them. Those people did things I said are evil. They chose to do things I did not like.” ⁵You people that obey the Lord’s commands should listen to the things the Lord says, “Your brothers hated you. They turned against you because you followed me. Your brothers said, ‘We will come back to you when the Lord is honored. Then we will be happy with you.’ Those bad people will be punished.

Punishment And A New Nation

⁶Listen! There is a loud noise coming from the city and the temple.* That noise is the Lord punishing his enemies. The Lord is giving them the punishment they should have. ^7–8“A woman does not give birth before she feels the pain. A woman must feel the pain of childbirth before she can see the boy she gives birth to. {In the same way,} no person ever saw a new world begin in one day. No person has ever heard of a new nation that began in one day. The land must first have pain like the pain of birth. After the birth pain then the land will give birth to her children—a new nation. ⁹{In the same way,} I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born.” The Lord says this. “I promise, if I cause you the pain of birth then I will not stop you from having your new nation.” Your God said this. ¹⁰Jerusalem, be happy! All you people who love Jerusalem, be happy! Sad things happened to Jerusalem, so some of you people are sad. But now you people should be happy. ¹¹Why? Because you will receive mercy like milk coming from her breast. That “milk” will truly satisfy you! You people will drink the milk, and you will truly enjoy the glory of Jerusalem. ¹²The Lord says, “Look, I will give you peace. This peace will come flowing to you like a great river. Wealth from all the nations on earth will come flowing to you. That wealth will come like a flood. {You will be like little babies}. You will drink that ‘milk’ (wealth) I will pick you up, hold you in my arms, and bounce you on my knees. ¹³I will comfort you like a mother comforts her child. And you will be in Jerusalem when I comfort you!” ¹⁴You will see the things that you truly enjoy. You will be free and grow like grass. The Lord’s servants will see his power, but the Lord’s enemies will see his anger. ¹⁵Look, the Lord is coming with fire. The Lord’s armies are coming with clouds of dust. The Lord will punish those people with his anger. The Lord will use flames of fire to punish those people while he is angry. ¹⁶The Lord will judge the people. Then the Lord will destroy the people with fire and with his sword. The Lord will destroy many people. ¹⁷Those people wash themselves to make themselves pure for worshiping in their special gardens.* These people follow each other into their special gardens. Then they worship their idols. But, the Lord will destroy all those people. “Those people eat the meat from pigs, rats, and other dirty things. But, all of those people will be destroyed together.” (The Lord himself said these things.) ¹⁸“Those people have evil thoughts and do evil things. So I am coming to punish them. I will gather all nations and all people. All people will come together and see my power. ¹⁹I will put a mark on some of the people—{I will save them}. I will send some of these saved people to the nations Tarshish,* Libya,* Lud* (the land of archers*), Tubal,* Greece, and all the faraway lands. Those people have never heard my teachings. Those people have never seen my Glory.* So the saved people will tell the nations about my glory. ²⁰And they will bring all your brothers and sisters from all nations. They will bring your brothers and sisters to my holy mountain,* Jerusalem. Your brothers and sisters will come on horses, donkeys, camels, and in chariots and wagons. Your brothers and sisters will be like the gifts that the people of Israel bring on clean plates to the Lord’s temple.* ²¹I will also choose some of these people to be priests and Levites.*” The Lord himself said these things.

The New Heavens and the New Earth

²²“I will make a new world—and the new heavens and the new earth {will last forever}. In the same way, your names and your children will always be with me. ²³All people will come to worship me on every worship day; they will come every Sabbath* and every first day of the month.* ²⁴“{These people will be in my holy city.} And if they go out {of the city} they will see the dead bodies of the people that sinned against me. {There will be worms in those bodies}—and the worms will never die. {Fires will burn those bodies}—and the fires will never stop.”

dogs … pigs God did not want his people to offer dogs and pigs as sacrifices. incense A kind of spice that smells good when it is burned. It was burned as a gift to God. idols Statues of false gods that people worshiped. temple A special building for worshiping God. God commanded the Jews to worship him at the temple in Jerusalem. special gardens Gardens where people worshiped false gods. Tarshish A city far away from Israel, probably in Spain. Tarshish was famous for its large ships that sailed the Mediterranean Sea. Libya A country in North Africa, west of Egypt. Lud This country was probably in the country that is now western Turkey. archers Soldiers that use bows and arrows in war. Tubal This country was probably in the country that is now eastern Turkey. my Glory The “Glory of the Lord,” one of the forms God used when he appeared to people. It was like a bright shining light. See Ex. 40:34–36. my holy mountain This is probably Mount Zion, the mountain Jerusalem is built on. temple A special building for worshiping God. God commanded the Jews to worship him at the temple in Jerusalem. Levites People from the family group of Levi. Only Levites could help the priests in the temple. Sabbath Saturday, a special day of rest and worship for Jews. first day of the month Literally, “new moon,” the first day of the Jewish month and a special day of worship.