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The Worship God Demands

Thus says the L ord:

Heaven is my throne

and the earth is my footstool;

what is the house that you would build for me,

and what is my resting place?

All these things my hand has made,

and so all these things are mine,

says the L ord.

But this is the one to whom I will look,

to the humble and contrite in spirit,

who trembles at my word.

Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who kills a human being;

whoever sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck;

whoever presents a grain offering, like one who offers swine’s blood;

whoever makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.

These have chosen their own ways,

and in their abominations they take delight;

I also will choose to mock them,

and bring upon them what they fear;

because, when I called, no one answered,

when I spoke, they did not listen;

but they did what was evil in my sight,

and chose what did not please me.

The L ord Vindicates Zion

Hear the word of the L ord,

you who tremble at his word:

Your own people who hate you

and reject you for my name’s sake

have said, “Let the L ord be glorified,

so that we may see your joy”;

but it is they who shall be put to shame.

Listen, an uproar from the city!

A voice from the temple!

The voice of the L ord,

dealing retribution to his enemies!

Before she was in labor

she gave birth;

before her pain came upon her

she delivered a son.

Who has heard of such a thing?

Who has seen such things?

Shall a land be born in one day?

Shall a nation be delivered in one moment?

Yet as soon as Zion was in labor

she delivered her children.

Shall I open the womb and not deliver?

says the L ord;

shall I, the one who delivers, shut the womb?

says your God.

Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,

all you who love her;

rejoice with her in joy,

all you who mourn over her—

that you may nurse and be satisfied

from her consoling breast;

that you may drink deeply with delight

from her glorious bosom.

For thus says the L ord:

I will extend prosperity to her like a river,

and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream;

and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm,

and dandled on her knees.

As a mother comforts her child,

so I will comfort you;

you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

The Reign and Indignation of God

You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;

your bodies shall flourish like the grass;

and it shall be known that the hand of the L ord is with his servants,

and his indignation is against his enemies.

For the L ord will come in fire,

and his chariots like the whirlwind,

to pay back his anger in fury,

and his rebuke in flames of fire.

For by fire will the L ord execute judgment,

and by his sword, on all flesh;

and those slain by the L ord shall be many.

¹⁷ Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following the one in the center, eating the flesh of pigs, vermin, and rodents, shall come to an end together, says the L ord.

¹⁸ For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, ¹⁹and I will set a sign among them. From them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud—which draw the bow—to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. ²⁰They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations as an offering to the L ord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the L ord, just as the Israelites bring a grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the L ord. ²¹And I will also take some of them as priests and as Levites, says the L ord.

For as the new heavens and the new earth,

which I will make,

shall remain before me, says the L ord;

so shall your descendants and your name remain.

From new moon to new moon,

and from sabbath to sabbath,

all flesh shall come to worship before me,

says the L ord.

²⁴ And they shall go out and look at the dead bodies of the people who have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

4. I also will choose their delusions. ²²⁰²²⁰ “‘That I may mock them.’ Here the word תעלוליהם (tagnalulehem) means להתעולל בם, (lehithgnolel bam,), that I may mock them,’ in the same sense as the words used in another passage, כי התעללת בי, (ki hith-gnallalt bi) ‘because thou hast mocked me.’ (Numbers 22:29.)” — Jarchi. The Prophet means that the Jews gain nothing by holding out various and plausible pretences and by searching for excuses; because God does not care for the cunning or fine speeches of men. And indeed it is not proper to measure God by our own capacity, and we ought not to depend on human judgment; but it is our duty to judge of the works of God from his word. I will choose; that is, “I will scatter the clouds which they endeavor to spread over themselves, so that their delusions shall be manifest and visible to all; for now they appear to be hidden, but one day they shall be dragged forth to public view.” The meaning may be thus summed up. “Because the Jews have indulged so freely in sinning that everything which they chose was preferred by them to the command ments of God, so also, in his turn, God will lay open their delusions at his pleasure.”

And will bring upon them their terror. ²²¹²²¹ “Et leur feray venir les choses qu’ils craignoyent.” “And will bring (or cause to come) upon them the things which they dreaded.” Under the word “terror” he repeats the same thing, according to the custom of Hebrew writers. “I will cause them to know that they have fallen into a mistake, and that the terrors which they indulged shall fall on their own heads. ²²²²²² “Je feray qu ils cognoistront avoir failli, tellement que ce qu ils craignoyent leur tombera dessus la teste.” “I will cause them to know that they have been mistaken, and that what they dreaded has fallen on their own head.” Thus their excuses or hypocritical pretences will be of no avail for confounding truth and falsehood and veiling superstitions; because the Lord will clearly distinguish between them.

Because I called. The Prophet again condemns the Jews for obstinacy, in not having suffered the Lord to correct them. This is the only remedy that remains for correcting our vices, that we hear the Lord speaking, when he endeavors to bring us back into the right way; but when we sear and harden our hearts, it is the worst of all evils. Whenever therefore men prefer their own inventions to the ordinances and commandments of God, they openly despise God, to whose will they ought to have yielded. This is especially the case when there is added such obstinate hardness of heart as shuts the door against holy warnings, and it is vain for them to allege that they cannot displease God by doing that which they undertake for the purpose of worshipping him; for all that men, by neglecting the word, choose and follow, the Lord rejects and abhors.

Before mine eyes. He repeats what he had formerly said, that the Jews sinned in the sight of God, as if they had resolved to provoke him to anger. At length he adds their manner of doing so, that, with perverse desire, they sought what God had forbidden; nor is it without good reason that he so frequently censures the wicked insolence of men, in defrauding God of his right, by treating contemptuously what he approves.

²²⁰ “‘That I may mock them.’ Here the word תעלוליהם (tagnalulehem) means להתעולל בם, (lehithgnolel bam,), that I may mock them,’ in the same sense as the words used in another passage, כי התעללת בי, (ki hith-gnallalt bi) ‘because thou hast mocked me.’ (Numbers 22:29.)” — Jarchi.

²²¹ “Et leur feray venir les choses qu’ils craignoyent.” “And will bring (or cause to come) upon them the things which they dreaded.”

²²² “Je feray qu ils cognoistront avoir failli, tellement que ce qu ils craignoyent leur tombera dessus la teste.” “I will cause them to know that they have been mistaken, and that what they dreaded has fallen on their own head.”