Isaiah 66 - Prayer Tents

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?H559H3068H8064H3678H776H7272H1916H1004H1129H4725H4496 2My 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.H3027H6213H5002H3068H5027H6041H5223H7307H2730H1697 3But 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.H7819H7794H5221H376H2076H7716H6202H3611H6202H5927H4503H2386H1818H2142H3828H1288H205H977H1870H5315H2654H8251 4I 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.”H977H8586H935H4035H7121H6030H1696H8085H6213H7451H5869H977H2654 5Hear 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.H8085H1697H3068H2730H1697H251H8130H5077H8034H559H3068H3513H7200H8057H954 6What 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.H6963H7588H5892H6963H1964H6963H3068H7999H1576H341 7“Before the birth pains even begin, Jerusalem gives birth to a son.H2342H3205H2256H935H4422H2145 8Who 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.H8085H7200H776H2342H259H3117H1471H3205H6471H1571H6726H2342H3205H1121 9Would 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.H7665H3205H559H3068H589H3205H6113H559H430 10“Rejoice with Jerusalem! Be glad with her, all you who love her and all you who mourn for her.H8055H3389H1523H157H7797H4885H56 11Drink deeply of her glory even as an infant drinks at its mother’s comforting breasts.”H3243H7646H7699H8575H4711H6026H2123H3519 12This 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.H559H3068H5186H7965H5104H3519H1471H7857H5158H3243H5375H6654H8173H1290 13I will comfort you there in Jerusalem as a mother comforts her child.”H376H517H5162H5162H5162H3389 14When 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.H7200H3820H7797H6106H6524H1877H3027H3068H3045H5650H2194H341 15See, 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.H3068H935H784H4818H5492H7725H639H2534H1606H3851H784 16The Lord will punish the world by fire and by his sword. He will judge the earth, and many will be killed by him.H784H2719H3068H8199H1320H2491H3068H7231 17“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.H6942H2891H1593H310H259H8432H398H2386H1320H8263H5909H5486H3162H5002H3068 18“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.H4639H4284H935H6908H1471H3956H935H7200H3519 19I 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.H7760H226H7971H6412H1471H8659H6322H3865H4900H7198H8422H3120H339H7350H8085H8088H7200H3519H5046H3519H1471 20They 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.H935H251H4503H3068H1471H5483H7393H6632H6505H3753H6944H2022H3389H559H3068H1121H3478H935H4503H2889H3627H1004H3068 21“And I will appoint some of them to be my priests and Levites. I, the Lord, have spoken!H3947H3548H3881H559H3068 22“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.H2319H8064H2319H776H6213H5975H6440H5002H3068H2233H8034H5975 23“All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month.H1767H2320H2320H1767H7676H7676H1320H935H7812H6440H559H3068 24And 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