Read the Bible

² Those who walk uprightly
enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.

³ "But you-come here, you sons of a sorceress,
you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!

⁴ Whom are you mocking?
At whom do you sneer
and stick out your tongue?
Are you not a brood of rebels,
the offspring of liars?

⁵ You burn with lust among the oaks
and under every spreading tree;
you sacrifice your children in the ravines
and under the overhanging crags.

⁶ The idols among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion;
they, they are your lot.
Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings
and offered grain offerings.
In the light of these things, should I relent?

⁷ You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill;
there you went up to offer your sacrifices.

⁸ Behind your doors and your doorposts
you have put your pagan symbols.
Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed,
you climbed into it and opened it wide;
you made a pact with those whose beds you love,
and you looked on their nakedness.

⁹ You went to Molech ^(F122) with olive oil
and increased your perfumes.
You sent your ambassadors ^(F123) far away;
you descended to the grave itself!

¹⁰ You were wearied by all your ways,
but you would not say, 'It is hopeless.'
You found renewal of your strength,
and so you did not faint.

¹¹ "Whom have you so dreaded and feared
that you have been false to me,
and have neither remembered me
nor pondered this in your hearts?
Is it not because I have long been silent
that you do not fear me?

¹² I will expose your righteousness and your works,
and they will not benefit you.

¹³ When you cry out for help,
let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
a mere breath will blow them away.
But the man who makes me his refuge
will inherit the land
and possess my holy mountain."

Comfort for the Contrite

¹⁴ And it will be said:
"Build up, build up, prepare the road!
Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people."

¹⁵ For this is what the high and lofty One says-
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
"I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.

¹⁶ I will not accuse forever,
nor will I always be angry,
for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me-
the breath of man that I have created.

¹⁷ I was enraged by his sinful greed;
I punished him, and hid my face in anger,
yet he kept on in his willful ways.

¹⁸ I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will guide him and restore comfort to him,

¹⁹ creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,"
says the LORD . "And I will heal them."

²⁰ But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
which cannot rest,
whose waves cast up mire and mud.

²¹ "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."