Isaiah 66

66This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that? Could you build me such a resting place?H559H3068H8064H3678H776H7272H1916H1004H1129H4725H44962My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are mine

. I, the Lord, have spoken! “I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word.H3027H6213H5002H3068H5027H6041H5223H7307H2730H16973But those who choose their own ways—delighting in their detestable sins—will not have their offerings accepted. When such people sacrifice a bull, it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice. When they sacrifice a lamb, it’s as though they had sacrificed a dog! When they bring an offering of grain, they might as well offer the blood of a pig. When they burn frankincense, it’s as if they had blessed an idol.H7819H7794H5221H376H2076H7716H6202H3611H6202H5927H4503H2386H1818H2142H3828H1288H205H977H1870H5315H2654H82514I will send them great trouble—all the things they feared. For when I called, they did not answer. When I spoke, they did not listen. They deliberately sinned before my very eyes and chose to do what they know I despise.”H977H8586H935H4035H7121H6030H1696H8085H6213H7451H5869H977H26545Hear this message from the Lord, all you who tremble at his words. “Your own people hate you and throw you out for being loyal to my name. ‘Let the Lord be honored!’ they scoff. ‘Be joyful in him!’ But they will be put to shame.H8085H1697H3068H2730H1697H251H8130H5077H8034H559H3068H3513H7200H8057H9546What is all the commotion in the city? What is that terrible noise from the Temple? It is the voice of the Lord taking vengeance against his enemies.H6963H7588H5892H6963H1964H6963H3068H7999H1576H3417“Before the birth pains even begin, Jerusalem gives birth to a son.H2342H3205H2256H935H4422H21458Who has ever seen anything as strange as this? Who ever heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment? But by the time Jerusalem’s

birth pains begin, her children will be born.H8085H7200H776H2342H259H3117H1471H3205H6471H1571H6726H2342H3205H11219Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord. “No! I would never keep this nation from being born,” says your God.H7665H3205H559H3068H589H3205H6113H559H43010“Rejoice with Jerusalem! Be glad with her, all you who love her and all you who mourn for her.H8055H3389H1523H157H7797H4885H5611Drink deeply of her glory even as an infant drinks at its mother’s comforting breasts.”H3243H7646H7699H8575H4711H6026H2123H351912This is what the Lord says. “I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity. The wealth of the nations will flow to her. Her children will be nursed at her breasts, carried in her arms, and held on her lap.H559H3068H5186H7965H5104H3519H1471H7857H5158H3243H5375H6654H8173H129013I will comfort you there in Jerusalem as a mother comforts her child.”H376H517H5162H5162H5162H338914When you see these things, your heart will rejoice. You will flourish like the grass! Everyone will see the Lord’s hand of blessing on his servants—and his anger against his enemies.H7200H3820H7797H6106H6524H1877H3027H3068H3045H5650H2194H34115See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his swift chariots roar like a whirlwind. He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke.H3068H935H784H4818H5492H7725H639H2534H1606H3851H78416The Lord will punish the world by fire and by his sword. He will judge the earth, and many will be killed by him.H784H2719H3068H8199H1320H2491H3068H723117“Those who ‘consecrate’ and ‘purify’ themselves in a sacred garden with its idol in the center—feasting on pork and rats and other detestable meats—will come to a terrible end,” says the Lord.H6942H2891H1593H310H259H8432H398H2386H1320H8263H5909H5486H3162H5002H306818“I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory.H4639H4284H935H6908H1471H3956H935H7200H351919I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans

and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations.H7760H226H7971H6412H1471H8659H6322H3865H4900H7198H8422H3120H339H7350H8085H8088H7200H3519H5046H3519H147120They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord. They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord.H935H251H4503H3068H1471H5483H7393H6632H6505H3753H6944H2022H3389H559H3068H1121H3478H935H4503H2889H3627H1004H306821“And I will appoint some of them to be my priests and Levites. I, the Lord, have spoken!H3947H3548H3881H559H306822“As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain, so will you always be my people, with a name that will never disappear,” says the Lord.H2319H8064H2319H776H6213H5975H6440H5002H3068H2233H8034H597523“All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month.H1767H2320H2320H1767H7676H7676H1320H935H7812H6440H559H306824And as they go out, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me. For the worms that devour them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out. All who pass by will view them with utter horror.”H3318H7200H6297H582H6586H8438H4191H784H3518H1860H1320