1Thus says Yahweh: “The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you would build for me, and where is the place of my rest?
2All these my hand has made, and so all these came to be, declares Yahweh. But to this one I will look: to the humble and contrite of spirit, who trembles at my word.
3One who slaughters an ox is like one who strikes down a man; one who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; one who offers a grain offering, like the blood of a pig; one who burns frankincense, like one who blesses wickedness. Indeed, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their detestable things.
4I too will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their terrors upon them, because I called out and no one answered, I spoke and they did not listen; they did the evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight.”
5Hear the word of Yahweh, you who tremble at his word: “Your brothers who hate you, who cast you out for the sake of my name, have said, ‘Let Yahweh be glorified, that we may see your joy!’ But it is they who will be put to shame.”
6A sound of uproar from the city, a sound from the temple! The sound of Yahweh dealing out recompense to his enemies.
7Before she went into labor, she gave birth; before pain came upon her, she was delivered of a son.
8Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be brought forth in one day? Can a nation be born in a single moment? Yet as soon as Zion went into labor, she also bore her children.
9“Shall I bring to the point of birth and not deliver?” says Yahweh. “Shall I, who cause to give birth, close the womb?” says your God.
10Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad in her, all who love her; exult with her in exultation, all who mourn over her,
11so that you may nurse and be satisfied from her comforting breast, so that you may drink deeply and delight from the abundance of her glory.
12For thus says Yahweh: “Behold, I am extending peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you will nurse, you will be carried on the hip and dandled on the knees.
13As a man whom his mother comforts, so I myself will comfort you; and in Jerusalem you will be comforted.
14You will see, and your heart will rejoice, and your bones will flourish like fresh grass; and the hand of Yahweh will be made known to his servants, but he will be indignant toward his enemies.
15For behold, Yahweh will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke in flames of fire.
16For by fire will Yahweh execute judgment, and by his sword, upon all flesh; and those slain by Yahweh will be many.
17“Those who consecrate and purify themselves for the gardens, following one in the midst, eating the flesh of the pig and the detestable thing and the mouse — together they will come to an end, declares Yahweh.
18“As for me — their deeds and their thoughts! — I am coming to gather all the nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory.
19And I will set a sign among them, and I will send survivors from among them to the nations — to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, the distant coastlands that have not heard my fame nor seen my glory — and they will declare my glory among the nations.
20And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to Yahweh, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain, Jerusalem,” says Yahweh, “just as the sons of Israel bring the offering in a clean vessel to the house of Yahweh.
21“And I will also take some of them for the priests, for the Levites,” says Yahweh.
22“For just as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making stand before me, declares Yahweh, so will your offspring and your name stand.
23And it will be that from new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh will come to bow down before me, says Yahweh.
24“And they will go out and look on the corpses of the men who rebelled against me; for their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched, and they will be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Open in the interactive reader →Where this passage connects across Scripture — each link typed and reasoned, part of the AIT Bible Nexus Chart.