God's Offer of Mercy

¹The Lord says, “Come, everyone who is thirsty— here is water! Come, you that have no money— buy grain and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk— it will cost you nothing!

²Why spend money on what does not satisfy? Why spend your wages and still be hungry? Listen to me and do what I say, and you will enjoy the best food of all.

³“Listen now, my people, and come to me; come to me, and you will have life! I will make a lasting covenant with you and give you the blessings I promised to David.

⁴I made him a leader and commander of nations, and through him I showed them my power.

⁵Now you will summon foreign nations; at one time they did not know you, but now they will come running to join you! I, the Lord your God, the holy God of Israel, will make all this happen; I will give you honor and glory.”

⁶Turn to the Lord and pray to him, now that he is near.

⁷Let the wicked leave their way of life and change their way of thinking. Let them turn to the Lord, our God; he is merciful and quick to forgive.

⁸“My thoughts,” says the Lord, “are not like yours, and my ways are different from yours.

⁹As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways and thoughts above yours.

¹⁰“My word is like the snow and the rain that come down from the sky to water the earth. They make the crops grow and provide seed for planting and food to eat.

¹¹So also will be the word that I speak— it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do.

¹²“You will leave Babylon with joy; you will be led out of the city in peace. The mountains and hills will burst into singing, and the trees will shout for joy.

¹³Cypress trees will grow where now there are briers; myrtle trees will come up in place of thorns. This will be a sign that will last forever, a reminder of what I, the Lord, have done.”

God's People Will Include All Nations

¹The Lord says to his people, “Do what is just and right, for soon I will save you.

²I will bless those who always observe the Sabbath and do not misuse it. I will bless those who do nothing evil.”

³A foreigner who has joined the Lord's people should not say, “The Lord will not let me worship with his people.” A man who has been castrated should never think that because he cannot have children, he can never be part of God's people.

⁴The Lord says to such a man, “If you honor me by observing the Sabbath and if you do what pleases me and faithfully keep my covenant,

⁵then your name will be remembered in my Temple and among my people longer than if you had sons and daughters. You will never be forgotten.”

⁶And the Lord says to those foreigners who become part of his people, who love him and serve him, who observe the Sabbath and faithfully keep his covenant:

⁷“I will bring you to Zion, my sacred hill, give you joy in my house of prayer, and accept the sacrifices you offer on my altar. My Temple will be called a house of prayer for the people of all nations.”

⁸The Sovereign Lord, who has brought his people Israel home from exile, has promised that he will bring still other people to join them.

Israel's Leaders Are Condemned

⁹The Lord has told the foreign nations to come like wild animals and devour his people.

¹⁰He says, “All the leaders, who are supposed to warn my people, are blind! They know nothing. They are like watch dogs that don't bark—they only lie around and dream. How they love to sleep!

¹¹They are like greedy dogs that never get enough. These leaders have no understanding. They each do as they please and seek their own advantage.

¹²‘Let's get some wine,’ these drunkards say, ‘and drink all we can hold! Tomorrow will be even better than today!’”

Jerusalem the Unfaithful

¹The Lord spoke to me again.

²“Mortal man,” he said, “point out to Jerusalem what disgusting things she has done.

³Tell Jerusalem what the Sovereign Lord is saying to her: “You were born in the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.

⁴When you were born, no one cut your umbilical cord or washed you or rubbed you with salt or wrapped you in cloths.

⁵No one took enough pity on you to do any of these things for you. When you were born, no one loved you. You were thrown out in an open field.

⁶“Then I passed by and saw you squirming in your own blood. You were covered with blood, but I wouldn't let you die.

⁷I made you grow like a healthy plant. You grew strong and tall and became a young woman. Your breasts were well-formed, and your hair had grown, but you were naked.

⁸“As I passed by again, I saw that the time had come for you to fall in love. I covered your naked body with my coat and promised to love you. Yes, I made a marriage covenant with you, and you became mine.” This is what the Sovereign Lord says.

⁹“Then I took water and washed the blood off you. I rubbed olive oil on your skin.

¹⁰I dressed you in embroidered gowns and gave you shoes of the best leather, a linen headband, and a silk cloak.

¹¹I put jewels on you—bracelets and necklaces.

¹²I gave you a nose ring and earrings and a beautiful crown to wear.

¹³You had ornaments of gold and silver, and you always wore clothes of embroidered linen and silk. You ate bread made from the best flour, and had honey and olive oil to eat. Your beauty was dazzling, and you became a queen.

¹⁴You became famous in every nation for your perfect beauty, because I was the one who made you so lovely.” This is what the Sovereign Lord says.

¹⁵“But you took advantage of your beauty and fame to sleep with everyone who came along.

¹⁶You used some of your clothes to decorate your places of worship, and just like a prostitute, you gave yourself to everyone.

¹⁷You took the silver and gold jewelry that I had given you, used it to make male images, and committed adultery with them.

¹⁸You took the embroidered clothes I gave you and put them on the images, and you offered to the images the olive oil and incense I had given you.

¹⁹I gave you food—the best flour, olive oil, and honey—but you offered it as a sacrifice to win the favor of idols.” This is what the Sovereign Lord says.

²⁰“Then you took the sons and the daughters you had borne me and offered them as sacrifices to idols. Wasn't it bad enough to be unfaithful to me,

²¹without taking my children and sacrificing them to idols?

²²During your disgusting life as a prostitute you never once remembered your childhood—when you were naked, squirming in your own blood.”

Jerusalem's Life as a Prostitute

²³The Sovereign Lord said, “You are doomed! Doomed! You did all that evil, and then

²⁴by the side of every road you built places to worship idols and practice prostitution.

²⁵You dragged your beauty through the mud. You offered yourself to everyone who came by, and you were more of a prostitute every day.

²⁶You let your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, go to bed with you, and you used your prostitution to make me angry.

²⁷“Now I have raised my hand to punish you and to take away your share of my blessing. I have handed you over to the Philistines, who hate you and are disgusted with your immoral actions.

²⁸“Because you were not satisfied by the others, you went running after the Assyrians. You were their prostitute, but they didn't satisfy you either.

²⁹You were also a prostitute for the Babylonians, that nation of merchants, but they didn't satisfy you either.”

³⁰This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “You have done all this like a shameless prostitute.

³¹On every street you built places to worship idols and practice prostitution. But you are not out for money like a common prostitute.

³²You are like a woman who commits adultery with strangers instead of loving her husband.

³³A prostitute is paid, but you gave presents to all your lovers and bribed them to come from everywhere to sleep with you.

³⁴You are a special kind of prostitute. No one forced you to become one. You didn't get paid; you paid them! Yes, you are different.”

God's Judgment on Jerusalem

³⁵Now then, Jerusalem, you whore! Hear what the Lord is saying.

³⁶This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “You stripped off your clothes, and like a prostitute, you gave yourself to your lovers and to all your disgusting idols, and you killed your children as sacrifices to idols.

³⁷Because of this I will bring all your former lovers together—the ones you liked and the ones you hated. I will bring them around you in a circle, and then I will strip off your clothes and let them see you naked.

³⁸I will condemn you for adultery and murder, and in my anger and fury I will punish you with death.

³⁹I will put you in their power, and they will tear down the places where you engage in prostitution and worship idols. They will take away your clothes and jewels and leave you completely naked.

⁴⁰“They will stir up a crowd to stone you, and they will cut you to pieces with their swords.

⁴¹They will burn your houses down and let crowds of women see your punishment. I will make you stop being a prostitute and make you stop giving gifts to your lovers.

⁴²Then my anger will be over, and I will be calm. I will not be angry or jealous any more.

⁴³You have forgotten how I treated you when you were young, and you have made me angry by all the things you did. That is why I have made you pay for them all. Why did you add sexual immorality to all the other disgusting things you did?” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

⁴⁴The Lord said, “People will use this proverb about you, Jerusalem: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’

⁴⁵You really are your mother's daughter. She detested her husband and her children. You are like your sisters, who hated their husbands and their children. You and your sister cities had a Hittite mother and an Amorite father.

⁴⁶“Your older sister, with her villages, is Samaria, in the north. Your younger sister, with her villages, is Sodom, in the south.

⁴⁷Were you satisfied to follow in their footsteps and copy their disgusting actions? No, in only a little while you were acting worse than they were in everything you did.

⁴⁸“As surely as I am the living God,” the Sovereign Lord says, “your sister Sodom and her villages never did the evil that you and your villages have done.

⁴⁹She and her daughters were proud because they had plenty to eat and lived in peace and quiet, but they did not take care of the poor and the underprivileged.

⁵⁰They were proud and stubborn and did the things that I hate, so I destroyed them, as you well know.

⁵¹“Samaria did not sin half as much as you have. You have acted more disgustingly than she ever did. Your corruption makes your sisters look innocent by comparison.

⁵²And now you will have to endure your disgrace. Your sins are so much worse than those of your sisters that they look innocent beside you. Now blush and bear your shame, because you make your sisters look pure.”

Sodom and Samaria Will Be Restored

⁵³The Lord said to Jerusalem, “I will make them prosperous again—Sodom and her villages and Samaria and her villages. Yes, I will make you prosperous too.

⁵⁴You will be ashamed of yourself, and your disgrace will show your sisters how well-off they are.

⁵⁵They will become prosperous again, and you and your villages will also be restored.

⁵⁶Didn't you joke about Sodom in those days when you were proud

⁵⁷and before the evil you did had been exposed? Now you are just like her—a joke to the Edomites, the Philistines, and your other neighbors who hate you.

⁵⁸You must suffer for the obscene, disgusting things you have done.” The Lord has spoken.

A Covenant That Lasts Forever

⁵⁹The Sovereign Lord says, “I will treat you the way you deserve, because you ignored your promises and broke the covenant.

⁶⁰But I will honor the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will make a covenant with you that will last forever.

⁶¹You will remember how you have acted, and be ashamed of it when you get your older sister and your younger sister back. I will let them be like daughters to you, even though this was not part of my covenant with you.

⁶²I will renew my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord.

⁶³I will forgive all the wrongs you have done, but you will remember them and be too ashamed to open your mouth.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

¹Wise children pay attention when their parents correct them, but arrogant people never admit they are wrong.

²Good people will be rewarded for what they say, but those who are deceitful are hungry for violence.

³Be careful what you say and protect your life. A careless talker destroys himself.

⁴No matter how much a lazy person may want something, he will never get it. A hard worker will get everything he wants.