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¹Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come.

²For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die.

³“But you — come here, you witches’ children, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!

⁴Whom do you mock, making faces and sticking out your tongues? You children of sinners and liars!

⁵You worship your idols with great passion beneath the oaks and under every green tree. You sacrifice your children down in the valleys, among the jagged rocks in the cliffs.

⁶Your gods are the smooth stones in the valleys. You worship them with liquid offerings and grain offerings. They, not I, are your inheritance. Do you think all this makes me happy?

⁷You have committed adultery on every high mountain. There you have worshiped idols and have been unfaithful to me.

⁸You have put pagan symbols on your doorposts and behind your doors. You have left me and climbed into bed with these detestable gods. You have committed yourselves to them. You love to look at their naked bodies.

⁹You have gone to Molech with olive oil and many perfumes, sending your agents far and wide, even to the world of the dead.

¹⁰You grew weary in your search, but you never gave up. Desire gave you renewed strength, and you did not grow weary.

¹¹“Are you afraid of these idols? Do they terrify you? Is that why you have lied to me and forgotten me and my words? Is it because of my long silence that you no longer fear me?

¹²Now I will expose your so-called good deeds. None of them will help you.

¹³Let’s see if your idols can save you when you cry to them for help. Why, a puff of wind can knock them down! If you just breathe on them, they fall over! But whoever trusts in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.”

¹⁴God says, “Rebuild the road! Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity.”

¹⁵The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.

¹⁶For I will not fight against you forever; I will not always be angry. If I were, all people would pass away — all the souls I have made.

¹⁷I was angry, so I punished these greedy people. I withdrew from them, but they kept going on their own stubborn way.

¹⁸I have seen what they do, but I will heal them anyway! I will lead them. I will comfort those who mourn,

¹⁹bringing words of praise to their lips. May they have abundant peace, both near and far,” says the LORD, who heals them.

²⁰“But those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt.

²¹There is no peace for the wicked,” says my God.

¹“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins!

²Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me.

³‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’ “I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.

⁴What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.

⁵You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the LORD?

⁶“No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.

⁷Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

⁸“Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.

⁹Then when you call, the LORD will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply. “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!

¹⁰Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

¹¹The LORD will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.

¹²Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.

¹³“Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the LORD’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.

¹⁴Then the LORD will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹Listen! The LORD’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.

²It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

³Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin. Your lips are full of lies, and your mouth spews corruption.

⁴No one cares about being fair and honest. The people’s lawsuits are based on lies. They conceive evil deeds and then give birth to sin.

⁵They hatch deadly snakes and weave spiders’ webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die; whoever cracks them will hatch a viper.

⁶Their webs can’t be made into clothing, and nothing they do is productive. All their activity is filled with sin, and violence is their trademark.

⁷Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder. They think only about sinning. Misery and destruction always follow them.

⁸They don’t know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good. They have mapped out crooked roads, and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace.

⁹So there is no justice among us, and we know nothing about right living. We look for light but find only darkness. We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.

¹⁰We grope like the blind along a wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. Even at brightest noontime, we stumble as though it were dark. Among the living, we are like the dead.

¹¹We growl like hungry bears; we moan like mournful doves. We look for justice, but it never comes. We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.

¹²For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us. Yes, we know what sinners we are.

¹³We know we have rebelled and have denied the LORD. We have turned our backs on our God. We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies.

¹⁴Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.

¹⁵Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The LORD looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.

¹⁶He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.

¹⁸He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds. His fury will fall on his foes. He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.

¹⁹In the west, people will respect the name of the LORD; in the east, they will glorify him. For he will come like a raging flood tide driven by the breath of the LORD.

²⁰“The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins,” says the LORD.

²¹“And this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the LORD, have spoken!