1 ARST “Come here! All you people who are in exile, and listen to me! If you are thirsty, now is the time for you to come to me and get your water! Now those who had no money, you can come and buy wine and milk from me, the finest wine and the best milk! You can get what you need from me, and you can buy it now! You can buy it even though you do not have any money, and even though you could never afford it! BSB BSB: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!
2 ARST Why do you spend money to buy things that do not supply what you really need? Why do you work hard to get money to buy things that do not truly satisfy you? Pay attention to what I say and acquire what is really good! If you come to me, then in your heart you will truly be happy. BSB BSB: Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.
3 ARST Listen to me and come to me; pay attention to me, and if you do that, you will have new life within you. I will make a covenant with you that will last forever to faithfully love you like my love for King David. BSB BSB: Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
4 ARST By what he did, I showed my power to many people groups; I caused him to be a leader and commander over the people of many nations. BSB BSB: Behold, I have made him a witness to the nations, a leader and commander of the peoples.
5 ARST And similarly, you will summon people of other nations to come to you, nations that previously you have not heard about, and they had not heard about you; and they will come to you quickly because they will have heard that I, Yahweh, your God, the Holy One of Israel, have honored you. BSB BSB: Surely you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed glory on you.”
6 ARST Seek to know Yahweh while it is still possible for you to do that; call to Yahweh while he is near! BSB BSB: Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
7 ARST Wicked people should abandon their wicked behavior, and evil people should stop thinking what is evil. They should turn to Yahweh, and if they do that, he will act mercifully toward them; they should turn to Yahweh, their God, because he will fully pardon them for all the wicked things that they have done. BSB BSB: Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
8 ARST Yahweh declares that what he thinks is not the same as what you think, and what he does is very different from what you do. BSB BSB: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
9 ARST Just as you people on the earth can never reach the sky, the thoughts of Yahweh are that much higher than the way you think. His ways are always different from what you do. And so, you can be sure that you can never fully understand the way Yahweh thinks or know the reasons for what Yahweh does. BSB BSB: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 ARST Yahweh sends the rain and snow down from the sky, and they water the ground. When the ground becomes moist, it causes plants to sprout and grow, with the result that the soil produces seed for the farmer to plant and grain to produce flour to make bread for people to eat. BSB BSB: For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,
11 ARST And similarly, the things that I promise to do, I will always cause to happen; my promises will always come true. They will accomplish the things for which I spoke them. BSB BSB: so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.
12 ARST This is why you will leave Babylon joyfully; you will have peace as Yahweh leads you out. It will be as though the hills and mountains sang joyfully, and the trees in the fields clapped their hands. BSB BSB: You will indeed go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
13 ARST Instead of thornbushes and briers, pine trees and myrtle trees will grow in your land. As a result of that, people will honor Yahweh much more; and what Yahweh does will cause everyone to remember what he has promised, and they will honor him.” BSB BSB: Instead of the thornbush, the cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, the myrtle will spring up; this will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.