When you enter my presence, do you actually think I want this – animals trampling on my courtyards?

When you will look for your opponents, you will not find them; your enemies will be reduced to absolutely nothing.

To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot; he then seeks a skilled craftsman to make an idol that will not fall over.

The oppressed and the poor look for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched from thirst. I, the Lord, will respond to their prayers; I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.

I have not spoken in secret, in some hidden place. I did not tell Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain!’ I am the Lord, the one who speaks honestly, who makes reliable announcements.

“Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, who seek the Lord! Look at the rock from which you were chiseled, at the quarry from which you were dug!

“I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; I appeared to those who did not look for me. I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’ to a nation that did not invoke my name.