Study Desk

^[a]If only You would tear the heavens open and come down,^(a) so that mountains would quake at Your presence^(b)—

^[b]as fire kindles the brushwood, and fire causes water to boil— to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that nations will tremble at Your presence!

When You did awesome works^(c) that we did not expect, You came down,^(d) and the mountains quaked at Your presence.

From ancient times no one has heard, no one has listened, no eye has seen any God except You, who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him.^(e)

You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right; they remember You in Your ways. But we have sinned, and You were angry. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?^[c]

All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted^[d] garment;^(f) all of us wither like a leaf,^(g) and our iniquities^(h) carry us away like the wind.

No one calls on Your name, striving to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us⁽ⁱ⁾ and made us melt because of^[e][f] our iniquity.

Yet Lord , You are our Father;^(j) we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands.^(k)

Lord , do not be terribly angry or remember our iniquity forever.^(l) Please look—all of us are Your people!

Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.^(m)

Our holy and beautiful^[g] temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.⁽ⁿ⁾

Lord , after all this, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict severely?^(o)

"I was sought by those who did not ask;^[a] I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said: Here I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by^[b] My name.^(a)

I spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people^(b) who walk in the wrong path, following their own thoughts.

These people continually provoke Me to My face, sacrificing in gardens,^(c) burning incense on bricks,

sitting among the graves, spending nights in secret places, eating the meat of pigs,^(d) and putting polluted broth in their bowls.^[c]

They say, ‘Keep to yourself, don't come near me, for I am too holy for you!' These practices are smoke in My nostrils, a fire that burns all day long.

It is written before Me: I will not keep silent,^(e) but I will repay;^(f) I will repay them fully^[d]

for your iniquities and the iniquities^(g) of your^[e] fathers together," says the Lord . "Because they burned incense on the mountains and reproached Me on the hills,^(h) I will reward them fully^[f] for their former deeds."

The Lord says this: As the new wine is found in a bunch of grapes, and one says, ‘Don't destroy it, for there's some good^[g] in it,' so I will act because of My servants and not destroy them all.

I will produce descendants from Jacob,⁽ⁱ⁾ and heirs to My mountains from Judah; My chosen^(j) ones will possess it, and My servants will dwell there.^(k)

Sharon will be a pasture for flocks,^(l) and the Valley of Achor a place for cattle to lie down,^(m) for My people who have sought Me.⁽ⁿ⁾

But you who abandon the Lord , who forget My holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,^[h]

I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will kneel down to be slaughtered, because I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not hear; you did what was evil in My sight and chose what I did not delight in.^(o)

Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: My servants will eat, but you will be hungry; My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.

My servants will shout for joy from a glad heart, but you will cry out from an anguished heart, and you will lament out of a broken spirit.

You will leave your name behind as a curse for My chosen ones,^(p) and the Lord God will kill you; but He will give His servants another name.^(q)

Whoever is blessed in the land will be blessed by the God of truth,^(r) and whoever swears in the land will swear by the God of truth. For the former troubles will be forgotten and hidden from My sight.

"For I will create a new heaven and a new earth;^(s) the past events will not be remembered or come to mind.

Then be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people. The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her.^(t)

In her, a nursing infant will no longer live only a few days,^[i] or an old man not live out his days. Indeed, the youth will die at a hundred years, and the one who misses a hundred years will be cursed.^(u)

People will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.^(v)

They will not build and others live in them; they will not plant and others eat. For My people's lives will be like the lifetime of a tree.^(w) My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.

They will not labor without success^(x) or bear children destined for disaster, for they will be a people blessed by the Lord along with their descendants.^(y)

Even before they call, I will answer;^(z) while they are still speaking, I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb will feed together,^[j] and the lion will eat straw like the ox,^(aa) but the serpent's food will be dust!^(ab) They will not do what is evil or destroy on My entire holy mountain,"^(ac) says the Lord .

This is what the Lord says: Heaven^(a) is My throne,^(b) and earth is My footstool.^(c) What house could you possibly build for Me? And what place could be My home?^(d)

My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the Lord 's declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble,^(e) submissive^[a] in spirit,^(f) and trembles at My word.

One slaughters an ox, one kills a man; one sacrifices a lamb, one breaks a dog's neck; one offers a grain offering, one offers pig's blood; one offers incense, one praises an idol— all these have chosen their ways and delight in their detestable practices.^(g)

So I will choose their punishment, and I will bring on them what they dread because I called and no one answered; I spoke and they didn't hear; they did what was evil in My sight and chose what I didn't delight in.^(h)

You who tremble at His word,⁽ⁱ⁾ hear the word of the Lord :^(j) "Your brothers who hate and exclude you because of Me have said,^(k) ‘Let the Lord be glorified so that we can see your joy!' But they will be put to shame."^(l)

A sound of uproar from the city! A voice from the temple— the voice of the Lord , paying back His enemies what they deserve!^(m)

Before Zion was in labor, she gave birth; before she was in pain, she delivered a boy.

Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her sons.

"Will I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?" says the Lord ; "or will I who deliver, close the womb?" says your God.

Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her.⁽ⁿ⁾ Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her—

so that you may nurse and be satisfied from her comforting breast and drink deeply and delight yourselves from her glorious breasts.

For this is what the Lord says: I will make peace flow to her like a river,^(o) and the wealth^[b] of nations like a flood;^(p) you will nurse and be carried on her hip^(q) and bounced on her lap.

As a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you,^(r) and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.

You will see, you will rejoice, and you^[c] will flourish like grass;^(s) then the Lord 's power will be revealed to His servants, but He will show His wrath against His enemies.

Look, the Lord will come with fire^(t)— His chariots are like the whirlwind^(u)— to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.

For the Lord will execute judgment on all flesh^(v) with His fiery sword, and many will be slain by the Lord .

"Those who dedicate and purify themselves to enter the groves^(w) following their leader,^[d] eating meat from pigs, vermin, and rats, will perish together." This is the Lord 's declaration.

"Knowing^[e] their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages;^(x) they will come and see My glory.

I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put,^[f] Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan,^(y) and the islands far away—who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. And they will proclaim My glory among the nations.^(z)

They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,"^(aa) says the Lord , "just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord .

I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,"^(ab) says the Lord .

"For just as the new heavens and the new earth,^(ac) which I will make, will endure before Me"— this is the Lord 's declaration— "so your offspring and your name will endure.

All mankind will come to worship Me from one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another," says the Lord .

"As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against Me;^(ad) for their worm^(ae) will never die, their fire will never go out,^(af) and they will be a horror to all mankind."^(ag)