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¹The righteous person perishes, and no one takes it to heart; the faithful are taken away, with no one realizing that the righteous person is taken away because of evil.

²He will enter into peace — they will rest on their beds  — everyone who lives uprightly.

³But come here, you witch’s sons, offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute!

⁴Who are you mocking? Who are you opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue at? Isn’t it you, you rebellious children, you offspring of liars,

⁵who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree, who slaughter children in the wadis below the clefts of the rocks?

⁶Your portion is among the smooth stones of the wadi; indeed, they are your lot. You have even poured out a drink offering to them; you have offered a grain offering; should I be satisfied with these?

⁷You have placed your bed on a high and lofty mountain; you also went up there to offer sacrifice.

⁸You have set up your memorial behind the door and doorpost. For away from me, you stripped, went up, and made your bed wide, and you have made a bargain for yourself with them. You have loved their bed; you have gazed on their genitals.

⁹You went to the king with oil and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far away and sent them down even to Sheol.

¹⁰You became weary on your many journeys, but you did not say, “It’s hopeless!” You found a renewal of your strength; therefore you did not grow weak.

¹¹Who was it you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and didn’t remember me or take it to heart? I have kept silent for a long time, haven’t I? So you do not fear me.

¹²I will announce your righteousness, and your works — they will not profit you.

¹³When you cry out, let your collection of idols rescue you! The wind will carry all of them off, a breath will take them away. But whoever takes refuge in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.

¹⁴He said, “Build it up, build it up, prepare the way, remove every obstacle from my people’s way.”

¹⁵For the High and Exalted One, who lives forever, whose name is holy, says this: “I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the oppressed.

¹⁶For I will not accuse you forever, and I will not always be angry; for then the spirit would grow weak before me, even the breath, which I have made.

¹⁷Because of his sinful greed I was angry, so I struck him; I was angry and hid; but he went on turning back to the desires of his heart.

¹⁸I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,

¹⁹creating words of praise.” The LORD says, “Peace, peace to the one who is far or near, and I will heal him.

²⁰But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its water churns up mire and muck.

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

¹“Cry out loudly, don’t hold back! Raise your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.

²They seek me day after day and delight to know my ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not abandon the justice of their God. They ask me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”

³“Why have we fasted, but you have not seen? We have denied ourselves, but you haven’t noticed!” “Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast, and oppress all your workers.

⁴You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today, hoping to make your voice heard on high.

⁵Will the fast I choose be like this: A day for a person to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?

⁶Isn’t this the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke?

⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?

⁸Then your light will appear like the dawn, and your recovery will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the LORD’s glory will be your rear guard.

⁹At that time, when you call, the LORD will answer; when you cry out, he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you get rid of the yoke among you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,

¹⁰and if you offer yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.

¹¹The LORD will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose water never runs dry.

¹²Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the foundations laid long ago; you will be called the repairer of broken walls, the restorer of streets where people live.

¹³“If you keep from desecrating the Sabbath, from doing whatever you want on my holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, seeking your own pleasure, or talking business;

¹⁴then you will delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride over the heights of the land, and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

¹Indeed, the LORD’s arm is not too weak to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear.

²But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen.

³For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers, with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongues mutter injustice.

⁴No one makes claims justly; no one pleads honestly. They trust in empty and worthless words; they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.

⁵They hatch viper’s eggs and weave spider’s webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched.

⁶Their webs cannot become clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their works are sinful works, and violent acts are in their hands.

⁷Their feet run after evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and wretchedness are in their paths.

⁸They have not known the path of peace, and there is no justice in their ways. They have made their roads crooked; no one who walks on them will know peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we live in the night.

¹⁰We grope along a wall like the blind; we grope like those without eyes. We stumble at noon as though it were twilight; we are like the dead among those who are healthy.

¹¹We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions have multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:

¹³transgression and deception against the LORD, turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.

¹⁴Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil is plundered. The LORD saw that there was no justice, and he was offended.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man — he was amazed that there was no one interceding; so his own arm brought salvation, and his own righteousness supported him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness as body armor, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.

¹⁸So he will repay according to their deeds: fury to his enemies, retribution to his foes, and he will repay the coasts and islands.

¹⁹They will fear the name of the LORD in the west and his glory in the east; for he will come like a rushing stream driven by the wind of the LORD.

²⁰“The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

²¹“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children, from now on and forever,” says the LORD.