UST GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR EZRA NEH EST JOB PSA PROV ECC SNG ISA JER LAM EZE DAN HOS JOEL AMOS OBA YNA MIC NAH HAB ZEP HAG ZEC MAL MAT MARK LUKE YHN ACTs ROM 1 COR 2 COR GAL EPH PHP COL 1 TH 2 TH 1 TIM 2 TIM TIT PHM HEB YAC 1 PET 2 PET 1 YHN 2 YHN 3 YHN YUD REV

ISA C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36 C37 C38 C39 C40 C41 C42 C43 C44 C45 C46 C47 C48 C49 C50 C51 C52 C53 C54 C55 C56 C57 C58 C59 C60 C61 C62 C63 C64 C65 C66

UST ISA Chapter 66

◄ ISA 66 ║ ═ ©

66 This is what Yahweh says:

“I rule over everything in heaven,

and I have authority over the whole earth.

You could never build a temple

that would be great enough for me to live in!

2 By my power, I made everything in heaven and on earth.

That is why those things exist.”

This is what Yahweh declares.

I pay attention to people who are genuinely humble,

and who carefully obey my commands.

3 Because you continue to sin even though you worship me,

when someone slaughters an ox as a sacrifice,

that is as bad as if he had killed someone.

When someone sacrifices a lamb to me,

that is as bad as if he had killed a dog to sacrifice to me.

When someone brings a grain offering to me,

that is as bad as if he had offered pig’s blood to me.

When someone burns incense to me,

that is as bad as if he had worshiped an idol.

These people have chosen to commit sins.

They enjoy doing those wrong things.

4 So I will choose to punish them,

I will make things happen to them that terrify them.

I will do that because when I warned them not to keep sinning,

they did not respond by repenting.

Instead, they kept doing what I consider evil.

Yes, they chose to do what I hate.”

5 Listen to what Yahweh says,

you people who carefully obey his commands:

“Some of your own relatives hate you and shun you

because you belong to me.

They mock you by saying,

‘Yahweh should show how great he is!

We want to see him make you happy!’

But those people are going to feel shame for saying that.”

6 Listen! There is a loud noise coming from the city!

A noise is coming from the temple!

It is the sound of Yahweh

punishing his enemies for what they did!

7 The city of Jerusalem is like a woman

who had a baby boy

without having any pains or going into labor.

8 This is something that no one has seen or heard of before.

A whole nation has appeared in a very short time!

There are many people in Judah once again,

as if Zion had given birth to them all at once.

9 Yahweh, our God, says,

“It was as if Zion was a woman whom I made ready to have a baby.

I certainly would not have stopped her from having that baby!”

10 Everyone who loves Jerusalem,

rejoice greatly together with the people of that city!

Everyone who was sad because of what had happened to that city,

celebrate with its people now!

11 You may enjoy everything that Jerusalem provides.

That will satisfy you completely.

Yes, you may take great pleasure

in all the wonderful things the city has to offer.

12 That is true because Yahweh says this:

“I will make Jerusalem prosper continually.

I will have the people of other nations bring their wealth

to the city in great quantities.

I will take care of you

the way a mother lovingly holds her baby on her hip

and bounces her child on her knees.

13 I will comfort you people of Jerusalem

the way a mother comforts her child.”

14 When you see these things happen,

you will be very happy,

and you will become healthy and strong again.

Yahweh will use his power to help those who serve him,

but he will punish his enemies.

15 Pay attention! Yahweh will destroy his enemies as if he were burning them up.

It will be as if he commands chariots

that sweep them away like a windstorm.

He will punish them for doing things that made him so angry,

and it will be as if he were burning them up.

16 Yes, it will be as if Yahweh is punishing his enemies by burning them up

or by using a sword to kill them.

Yahweh will kill many people.

17 Yahweh declares, “Some of you perform rituals to make yourselves acceptable for worship, and then you go into gardens to worship idols. You follow your leader into those places. You eat the meat of pigs, mice, and other things that I have forbidden you to eat. So I will destroy all of you for doing those things.”

18 Yahweh also says, “I know what these people are doing and what they are thinking. Very soon I will gather together people from many different nations who speak many different languages. They will come and see how glorious I am.

19 I will do a sign among them, and I will send some of them as eyewitnesses to distant countries. I will send them to Tarshish, Pul, Lud (whose people are great archers), Tubal, Javan, and distant lands by the sea. The people of those nations have not heard about me and have not seen how glorious I am. The people I send out will tell them how glorious I am. 20 Then they will send back all of your fellow Israelites from every nation to which their enemies took them. It will be as if they are sending an offering to me, Yahweh. They will send them on horses, in chariots, in wagons, on mules, and on camels to the city of Jerusalem. I am present there in a special way on Mount Zion.” Yahweh says, “They will return your relatives just as the people of Israel bring grain offerings to my temple in clean containers. 21 Moreover, I will choose some of them to serve as priests and Levites,” says Yahweh.

22 “The new heavens and the new earth that I am making

will last forever in my presence,” declares Yahweh.

“In the same way, you will always have living descendants,

and you will always be a distinct nation.

23 Yahweh says, “On each new moon and on each Sabbath,

people from throughout the world will come and worship me at my temple,”

24 When they leave Jerusalem, they will see

the dead bodies of the people who rebelled against me.

Maggots will keep eating their bodies,

and fire will keep burning them up.

Everyone who sees them will feel disgusted.”