1 ARST Yahweh also said this:“All of heaven is like my throne, and the whole earth is like my footstool. So you could certainly not build a house that would be adequate for me to live in and rest! BSB BSB: This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?
2 ARST I have created everything; all things exist because I made them. That is true because I, Yahweh, have said it. The people I am most pleased with are those who are humble, who patiently endure it when they suffer, and who tremble when they hear me rebuking them. BSB BSB: Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the LORD. “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.
3 ARST You have chosen to continually do the things that you want to do: some of you slaughter oxen to sacrifice them to me, but you also bring human sacrifices to your idols! You sacrifice lambs to me, but you kill dogs to offer them to your gods. You offer grain to me, but you also bring pigs’ blood to your idols. You burn incense to me, but you also praise your idols. You delight to do those disgusting things. BSB BSB: Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who slays a man; whoever sacrifices a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever presents a grain offering is like one who offers pig’s blood; whoever offers frankincense is like one who blesses an idol. Indeed, they have chosen their own ways and delighted in their abominations.
4 ARST When I called out to you, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not pay attention. You did many things that I say are evil, and you chose to do things that I did not like. So now I will punish you by causing you to experience the things that you yourselves have done, that you yourselves are afraid of.” BSB BSB: So I will choose their punishment and I will bring terror upon them, because I called and no one answered, I spoke and no one listened. But they did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight.”
5 ARST But you people who tremble when you hear what Yahweh says, listen to what he says now:“Some of your people hate you and drive you away because you belong to me. They make fun of you, and they say,‘Yahweh should show his glorious power! We want to see him do something to cause you to be truly happy.’ But some day those people will be very disgraced.” BSB BSB: You who tremble at His word, hear the word of the LORD: “Your brothers who hate you and exclude you because of My name have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified that we may see your joy!’ But they will be put to shame.”
6 ARST At that time, you will listen to the noise in the city. You will hear the shouting in the temple. It will be the sound of Yahweh paying back his enemies. BSB BSB: Hear the uproar from the city; listen to the voice from the temple! It is the voice of the LORD, repaying His enemies what they deserve!
7 ARST No one ever heard that a woman gave birth to a baby when she was just starting to have birth pains. BSB BSB: “Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before she was in pain, she delivered a boy.
8 ARST Certainly no one ever heard about such a thing happening, and no one has ever seen it happen. Similarly, no one ever heard that a nation was created in one instant, not in one day. But Jerusalem is like a woman who gives birth to children as soon as she starts to have birth pains. BSB BSB: Who has heard of such as this? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.
9 ARST Women certainly do not bring infants to the time when they are ready to be born and then do not allow them to be born. Similarly, Yahweh will do for Jerusalem what he has promised to do: he will cause Jerusalem to be full of people again. That will happen because Yahweh has said it. BSB BSB: Shall 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.
10 ARST You people in Jerusalem, rejoice! And all you people who love Jerusalem should also be happy. You people who were sad because of what happened to Jerusalem, you should now be glad. BSB BSB: Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her,
11 ARST You people in Jerusalem will have everything that you need, like a baby that gets all it needs from its mother’ s breasts. You will enjoy all the abundant and glorious things in the city. BSB BSB: so that you may nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you may drink deeply and delight yourselves in her glorious abundance.
12 ARST Yahweh has promised,“I will cause Jerusalem to be full of valuable things that come from other nations; those things will pour into Jerusalem; it will be like a big flood. I will take care of the people of Jerusalem like women care for the babies that they nurse. BSB BSB: For this is what the LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flowing stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm, and bounced upon her knees.
13 ARST I will comfort you people in Jerusalem like mothers comfort their children.” BSB BSB: As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”
14 ARST When you see those things happen, you will rejoice. Your old bones will become strong again like in the springtime, when the grass grows. When that happens, everyone will know that Yahweh has power to help those who worship and obey him, but that he is angry with his enemies. BSB BSB: When you see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the hand of the LORD will be revealed to His servants, but His wrath will be shown to His enemies.
15 ARST Yahweh will come down with flames of fire, and his chariots will come down like a whirlwind; he will be extremely angry, and he will punish his enemies by burning them in a fire. BSB BSB: For behold, the LORD will come with fire—His chariots are like a whirlwind—to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.
16 ARST It is as though Yahweh had a big sword, and he will judge and execute many people. BSB BSB: For by fire and by His sword, the LORD will execute judgment on all flesh, and many will be slain by the LORD.
17 ARST Yahweh says,“Some of you will prepare yourselves to enter the garden of idols by washings and special diets and clothing, and you follow into that place, those who eat the meat of pigs and mice, and other things that I have forbidden you to eat. I promise you, I will stop them and they will not do this any more!” BSB BSB: “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to enter the groves—to follow one in the center of those who eat the flesh of swine and vermin and rats—will perish together,” declares the LORD.
18 ARST I know all the evil things that they all think and do. It is now time for me to gather together the people who live in all nations and who speak all languages, and to show them that I am very great. BSB BSB: “And I, knowing their deeds and thoughts, am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory.
19 ARST I will do something among them to show everyone who they are, and those whom I have spared will go to various distant countries: To Tarshish, Put, Lud(home of archers), Meshech, Tubal, Javan, and to distant islands. I will send them to proclaim to nations that have never heard about me that I am very great and glorious. BSB BSB: I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from among them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, and the archers of Lud; to Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. So they will proclaim My glory among the nations.
20 ARST Then they will bring back here your relatives who have been exiled, like the offerings that my Israelite people used to bring in the correct manner to the temple. They will travel to Jerusalem, where my holy mountain is; they will come on horses and in chariots, in wagons, on mules and on camels. BSB BSB: And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the LORD on horses and chariots and wagons, on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.”
21 ARST I solemnly promise that I will appoint some of them to be priests, and others to do other work in my temple. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it. BSB BSB: “And I will select some of them as priests and Levites,” says the LORD.
22 ARST I also promise that just like the new heaven and the new earth will last forever, you will always have descendants, and you will always be honored. BSB BSB: “For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will endure before Me,” declares the LORD, “so your descendants and your name will endure.
23 ARST At every festival to celebrate the Sabbath each week and the new moon each month, everyone will come and worship me. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it. BSB BSB: From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come to worship before Me,” says the LORD.
24 ARST Then they will go out of Jerusalem and look at the corpses of those who rebelled against me. The maggots in those corpses will never die, the fire will never stop burning them, and everyone who sees their corpses will detest them.” BSB BSB: “As they go forth, they will see the corpses of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never be quenched, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”
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