<p class="bodytext">&#8220;At that time,&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies, &#8220;the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose. It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off.&#8221;<n id="2" /> Indeed,<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc> has spoken.p>

Her profits and earnings will be set apart for the <sc>Lordsc>. They will not be stored up or accumulated, for her profits will be given to those who live in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s presence and will be used to purchase large quantities of food and beautiful clothes.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s sword is dripping with blood,p> <p class="poetry">it is covered<n id="1" /> with fat;p> <p class="poetry">it drips<n id="2" /> with the blood of young rams and goatsp> <p class="poetry">and is covered<n id="3" /> with the fat of rams&#8217; kidneys.p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> is holding a sacrifice<n id="4" /> in Bozrah,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">a bloody<n id="6" /> slaughter in the land of Edom.p>

<p class="poetry">For this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says,p> <p class="poetry">the one who created the sky &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">he is the true God,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the one who formed the earth and made it;p> <p class="poetry">he established it,p> <p class="poetry">he did not create it without order,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">he formed it to be inhabited &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I am the <sc>Lordsc>, I have no peer.p>

<p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">the protector<n id="1" /> of Israel, their Holy One,<n id="2" /> saysp> <p class="poetry">to the one who is despised<n id="3" /> and rejected<n id="4" /> by nations,<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">a servant of rulers:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Kings will see and rise in respect,<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">princes will bow down,p> <p class="poetry">because of the faithful <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Certainly the <sc>Lordsc> will console Zion;p> <p class="poetry">he will console all her ruins.p> <p class="poetry">He will make her wilderness like Eden,p> <p class="poetry">her desert like the Garden of the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">Happiness and joy will be restored to<n id="1" /> her,p> <p class="poetry">thanksgiving and the sound of music.p>

<p class="poetry">And now, what do we have here?&#8221;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing,p> <p class="poetry">those who rule over them taunt,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;and my name is constantly slandered<n id="3" /> all day long.p>

<p class="poetry">No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;p> <p class="poetry">you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> will do for his servants &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">I will vindicate them,&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">No foreigner who becomes a follower of<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> should say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> will certainly<n id="2" /> exclude me from his people.&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">The eunuch should not say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Look, I am like a dried-up tree.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">As for foreigners who become followers of<n id="1" /> the <sc>Lordsc> and serve him,p> <p class="poetry">who love the name of the <sc>Lordsc> and want to be his servants &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">all who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,p> <p class="poetry">and who are faithful to<n id="2" /> my covenant &#8211;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;As for me, this is my promise to<n id="1" /> them,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>. &#8220;My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Listen, O heavens,p> <p class="poetry">pay attention, O earth!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">For the <sc>Lordsc> speaks:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I raised children,<n id="2" /> I brought them up,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">but<n id="4" /> they have rebelled<n id="5" /> against me!p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;I am stuffed with<n id="2" /> burnt sacrificesp> <p class="poetry">of rams and the fat from steers.p> <p class="poetry">The blood of bulls, lambs, and goatsp> <p class="poetry">I do not want.<n id="3" />p>

<n id="1" /><p class="poetry">Come, let&#8217;s consider your options,&#8221;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Though your sins have stained you like the color red,p> <p class="poetry">you can become<n id="3" /> white like snow;p> <p class="poetry">though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet,p> <p class="poetry">you can become<n id="4" /> white like wool.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">In the future<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">the mountain of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple will endure<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">as the most important of mountains,p> <p class="poetry">and will be the most prominent of hills.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">All the nations will stream to it,p>

<p class="poetry">They<n id="1" /> will go into caves in the rocky cliffsp> <p class="poetry">and into holes in the ground,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the <sc>Lordsc><n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and his royal splendor,p> <p class="poetry">when he rises up to terrify the earth.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffsp> <p class="poetry">and the openings under the rocky overhangs,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the <sc>Lordsc><n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and his royal splendor,p> <p class="poetry">when he rises up to terrify the earth.<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">Look, the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">is about to remove from Jerusalem<n id="2" /> and Judahp> <p class="poetry">every source of security, including<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">all the food and water,<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Jerusalem certainly stumbles,p> <p class="poetry">Judah falls,p> <p class="poetry">for their words and their actions offend the <sc>Lordsc>;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they rebel against his royal authority.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> comes to pronounce judgmentp> <p class="poetry">on the leaders of his people and their officials.p> <p class="poetry">He says,<n id="1" /> &#8220;It is you<n id="2" /> who have ruined<n id="3" /> the vineyard!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor.<n id="5" />p>