¹The people reply, “Who would have believed what we now report? Who could have seen the Lord's hand in this?

²It was the will of the Lord that his servant grow like a plant taking root in dry ground. He had no dignity or beauty to make us take notice of him. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing that would draw us to him.

³We despised him and rejected him; he endured suffering and pain. No one would even look at him— we ignored him as if he were nothing.

⁴“But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. All the while we thought that his suffering was punishment sent by God.

⁵But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received.

⁶All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way. But the Lord made the punishment fall on him, the punishment all of us deserved.

⁷“He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly; he never said a word. Like a lamb about to be slaughtered, like a sheep about to be sheared, he never said a word.

⁸He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die, and no one cared about his fate. He was put to death for the sins of our people.

⁹He was placed in a grave with those who are evil, he was buried with the rich, even though he had never committed a crime or ever told a lie.”

¹⁰The Lord says, “It was my will that he should suffer; his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness. And so he will see his descendants; he will live a long life, and through him my purpose will succeed.

¹¹After a life of suffering, he will again have joy; he will know that he did not suffer in vain. My devoted servant, with whom I am pleased, will bear the punishment of many and for his sake I will forgive them.

¹²And so I will give him a place of honor, a place among the great and powerful. He willingly gave his life and shared the fate of evil men. He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven.”

The Lord's Love for Israel

¹Jerusalem, you have been like a childless woman, but now you can sing and shout for joy. Now you will have more children than a woman whose husband never left her.

²Make the tent you live in larger; lengthen its ropes and strengthen the pegs!

³You will extend your boundaries on all sides; your people will get back the land that the other nations now occupy. Cities now deserted will be filled with people.

⁴Do not be afraid—you will not be disgraced again; you will not be humiliated. You will forget your unfaithfulness as a young wife, and your desperate loneliness as a widow.

⁵Your Creator will be like a husband to you— the Lord Almighty is his name. The holy God of Israel will save you— he is the ruler of all the world.

⁶Israel, you are like a young wife, deserted by her husband and deeply distressed. But the Lord calls you back to him and says:

⁷“For one brief moment I left you; with deep love I will take you back.

⁸I turned away angry for only a moment, but I will show you my love forever.” So says the Lord who saves you.

⁹“In the time of Noah I promised never again to flood the earth. Now I promise not to be angry with you again; I will not reprimand or punish you.

¹⁰The mountains and hills may crumble, but my love for you will never end; I will keep forever my promise of peace.” So says the Lord who loves you.

The Future Jerusalem

¹¹The Lord says, “O Jerusalem, you suffering, helpless city, with no one to comfort you, I will rebuild your foundations with precious stones.

¹²I will build your towers with rubies, your gates with stones that glow like fire, and the wall around you with jewels.

¹³“I myself will teach your people and give them prosperity and peace.

¹⁴Justice and right will make you strong. You will be safe from oppression and terror.

¹⁵Whoever attacks you, does it without my consent; whoever fights against you will fall.

¹⁶“I create the blacksmith, who builds a fire and forges weapons. I also create the soldier, who uses the weapons to kill.

¹⁷But no weapon will be able to hurt you; you will have an answer for all who accuse you. I will defend my servants and give them victory.” The Lord has spoken.

God Condemns Idolatry

¹Some of the leaders of the Israelites came to consult me about the Lord's will.

²Then the Lord spoke to me.

³“Mortal man,” he said, “these men have given their hearts to idols and are letting idols lead them into sin. Do they think I will give them an answer?

⁴“Now speak to them and tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them: Each of you Israelites who have given your heart to idols and let them lead you into sin and who then come to consult a prophet, will get an answer from me—the answer that your many idols deserve!

⁵All those idols have turned the Israelites away from me, but by my answer I hope to win back their loyalty.

⁶“Now then, tell the Israelites what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: Turn back and leave your disgusting idols.

⁷“Whenever one of you Israelites or one of you foreigners who live in the Israelite community turn away from me and worship idols, and then go to consult a prophet, I, the Lord, will give you your answer!

⁸I will oppose you. I will make an example of you. I will remove you from the community of my people, so that all of you will know that I am the Lord.

⁹“If any prophets are deceived into giving a false answer, it is because I, the Lord, have deceived them. I will remove them from the people of Israel.

¹⁰Both prophets and anyone who consults them will get the same punishment.

¹¹I will do this to keep the Israelites from deserting me and defiling themselves by their sins. They are to be my people, and I will be their God.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

Noah, Danel, and Job

¹²The Lord spoke to me.

¹³“Mortal man,” he said, “if a country sins and is unfaithful to me, I will reach out and destroy its supply of food. I will send a famine and kill people and animals alike.

¹⁴Even if those three men, Noah, Danel, and Job, were living there, their goodness would save only their own lives.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

¹⁵“Or I might send wild animals to kill the people, making the land so dangerous that no one could travel through it,

¹⁶and even if those three men lived there—as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God—they would not be able to save even their own children. They would save only their own lives, and the land would become a wilderness.

¹⁷“Or I might bring war on that country and send destructive weapons to wipe out people and animals alike,

¹⁸and even if those three men lived there—as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God—they would not be able to save even their children, but only their own lives.

¹⁹“If I send an epidemic on that country and in my anger take many lives, killing people and animals,

²⁰even if Noah, Danel, and Job lived there—as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God—they would not be able to save even their own children. Their goodness would save only their own lives.”

²¹This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “I will send my four worst punishments on Jerusalem—war, famine, wild animals, and disease—to destroy people and animals alike.

²²If some survive and save their children, look at them when they come to you. See how evil they are, and be convinced that the punishment I am bringing on Jerusalem is justified;

²³then you will know that there was good reason for everything I did.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

A Parable about a Vine

¹The Lord spoke to me.

²“Mortal man,” he said, “how does a vine compare with a tree? What good is a branch of a grapevine compared with the trees of the forest?

³Can you use it to make anything? Can you even make a peg out of it to hang things on?

⁴It is only good for building a fire. And when the ends are burned up and the middle is charred, can you make anything out of it?

⁵It was useless even before it was burned. Now that the fire has burned it and charred it, it is even more useless.”

⁶Now this is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “Just as a vine is taken from the forest and burned, so I will take the people who live in Jerusalem

⁷and will punish them. They have escaped one fire, but now fire will burn them up. When I punish them, you will know that I am the Lord.

⁸They have been unfaithful to me, and so I will make the country a wilderness.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

²⁵Worry can rob you of happiness, but kind words will cheer you up.

²⁶The righteous person is a guide to his friend, but the path of the wicked leads them astray.

²⁷If you are lazy, you will never get what you are after, but if you work hard, you will get a fortune.

²⁸Righteousness is the road to life; wickedness is the road to death.