Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; you will wail because your spirits will be crushed.

Listen to me, you stubborn people, you who distance yourself from doing what is right.

The new wine dries up, the vines shrivel up, all those who like to celebrate groan.

Remember this, so you can be brave! Think about it, you rebels!

For I looked forward to the day of vengeance, and then payback time arrived.

Your mind will recall the terror you experienced, and you will ask yourselves, “Where is the scribe? Where is the one who weighs the money? Where is the one who counts the towers?”

I was angry because of their sinful greed; I attacked them and angrily rejected them, yet they remained disobedient and stubborn.

Why, Lord, do you make us stray from your ways, and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance!

Make the hearts of these people calloused; make their ears deaf and their eyes blind! Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.”

Tell those who panic, “Be strong! Do not fear! Look, your God comes to avenge! With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.”

“Let them produce evidence! Let them tell us what will happen! Tell us about your earlier predictive oracles, so we may examine them and see how they were fulfilled. Or decree for us some future events!

So he poured out his fierce anger on them, along with the devastation of war. Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; it burned against them, but they did notice.

He feeds on ashes; his deceived mind misleads him. He cannot rescue himself, nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’

You said, ‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’ You did not think about these things; you did not consider how it would turn out.

You were complacent in your evil deeds; you thought, ‘No one sees me.’ Your self-professed wisdom and knowledge lead you astray, when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’

Listen to me, you who know what is right, you people who are aware of my law! Don’t be afraid of the insults of men; don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

The godly perish, but no one cares. Honest people disappear, when no one minds that the godly disappear because of evil.

We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord; we turned back from following our God. We stir up oppression and rebellion; we tell lies we concocted in our minds.

For look, I am ready to create new heavens and a new earth! The former ones will not be remembered; no one will think about them anymore.

When you see this, you will be happy, and you will be revived. The Lord will reveal his power to his servants and his anger to his enemies.