Prayer for Mercy

15 Look from heaven,

and see from the lofty residence of your holiness and glory.

Where are your zeal and strength?

⌊Your compassion⌋v and mercy to me hold themselves back.

16 For you are our father, although Abraham does not know us,

and Israel does not acknowledge us.

You, Yahweh are our father,

Our Redeemer from of old is your name.

17 Why do you make us wander from your ways, Yahweh?

You harden our heart ⌊so that we do not fear⌋w you.

Turn back for the sake of your servants,

the tribes of your inheritance.

18 ⌊Your holy people⌋x took possession for a little while;

our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.

19 We have been since antiquity; you did not rule them;

⌊they were not called by your name⌋.y

64 a Would that you would tear the heavens and come down;

the mountains would quake before you,

2b as fire kindles brushwood,

the fire causes water to boil,

to make your name known to your adversaries,

that the nations might tremble from your ⌊presence⌋.c

3 When you did terrible deeds which we did not ⌊expect⌋,d you came down;

the mountains quaked because of your ⌊presence⌋.e

4 And since ancient times they have not heard,

have not listened,

no eye has seen a God except you;

he ⌊acts⌋f for the one who waits for him.

5 You meet with the one who rejoices,

one who does righteousness.

In your ways they remember you.

Look! You were angry and we sinned against them in ancient times and we were saved.

6 And we all have become like the unclean,

and all our deeds of justice like a menstrual cloth,

And we all wither like a leaf,

and our iniquities take us away like the wind.

7 And there is no one who calls on your name,

who pulls himself up to keep hold of you,

for you have hidden your face from us,g

and melted us into the hand of our iniquity.

8 Yet now Yahweh, you are our father;

we are the clay and you are our ⌊potter⌋,h

and we all are the work of your hand.

9 You must not be exceedingly angry, Yahweh,

and you must not remember iniquity forever!

Look! Behold, now! We all are your people!

10 ⌊Your holy cities⌋i have become a wilderness;

Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

11 ⌊Our holy and beautiful temple⌋,j where our ancestorsk praised you has ⌊been burned⌋l by fire,

and all our precious objects have become ruins.m

12 Will you control yourself because of these, Yahweh?

Will you be silent?

And will you oppress us exceedingly?

Judgment and Salvation

65 “I let myself be sought by those who did not ask;

I let myself be found by those who did not seek me.

I said, ‘Here I am; here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name;

2 I spread out my hands all day to a stubborn people,

those who walk after their thoughts in the way that is not good,

3 the people ⌊who provoke⌋a me to anger continually to my face,

slaughtering for sacrifices in the garden,

and making smoke offerings on bricks,

4 ⌊who sit⌋b in graves

and spend the night in ⌊secret places⌋,c

⌊who eat⌋d the flesh of swine

withe a fragmentf of impurity in their vessels,

5 ⌊who say⌋,g “⌊Keep to yourself⌋!h

You must not come near me, for I am too holy for you!”

These are a smoke in my ⌊nostrils⌋,i

a fire burning all day.

6 Look! It is written before me: I will not be silent, but I will repay;

and I will repay inj the fold of their garment

7 your iniquities and the iniquities of your ancestorsk together, says Yahweh,

because they made smoke offerings on the mountains

and they taunted me on the hills,

I will measure their punishment from the beginning into the fold of their garment.”

8 Thus says Yahweh: “Just as the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say ‘You must not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,’ so I will do for the sake of my servants ⌊by⌋l not destroying ⌊everyone⌋.m

9 And I will bring descendantsn out from Jacob,

and a people from Judah to take possession of my mountain,

and my chosen ones shall inherit it,

and my servants shall settle there.

10 And Sharon shall become a pasture foro flocks,p

and the valley of Achor a resting place forq herdsr

for my people who have sought me.

11 Buts you ⌊who forsake⌋t Yahweh,

forgetting ⌊my holy mountain⌋,u

who set a table for Fortune,

and who ⌊pour out⌋v a jug of mixed wine for Destiny,

12 and I will remit you to the sword,

and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,

because I called, butw you did not answer;

I spoke, butx you did not listen,

buty you did the evil in my eyes,

and you chose that in which I do not delight.”

13 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“Look! My servants shall eat butz you, you shall be hungry.

Look! My servants shall drink buta you, you shall be thirsty.

Look! My servants shall rejoice butb you, you shall be ashamed.

14 Look! My servants shall shout ⌊for joy⌋c of heart, butd you, you shall cry out ⌊for pain⌋e and howl ⌊for sadness⌋.f

15 And you shall leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse,

and the Lord Yahweh will kill you, and he will ⌊give⌋g his servants another name.

16 Whoever blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of trustworthiness,

and the one who swears an oath in the land shall swear by the God of trustworthiness,

because the former troubles are forgotten,

and they are hidden from my eyes.

New Creation

17 For look! I am about to create new heavens and a new earth,

and the former things shall not be remembered,

and they shall not ⌊come to mind⌋.h

18 But rejoice and shout in exultation forever and ever over what I am about to create!

For look! I am about to create Jerusalem as a source of rejoicing,

and her people as a source of joy.

19 And I will shout in exultation over Jerusalem,

and I will rejoice over my people,

and the sound of weeping shall no longer be heard in it,

ori the sound of a cry for help.

20 There will no longer be a nursing infant ⌊who lives only a few⌋j days,

ork an old man who does not fill his days,

for the boy will die ⌊a hundred years old⌋,l

and the one who ⌊fails to reach⌋m ⌊a hundred years⌋n will be ⌊considered⌋o accursed.

21 And they shall build houses and inhabit them,

and they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

22 They shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat.

For the days of my people shall be like the days of a tree,

and my chosen ones shall enjoy the work of their hands.

23 They shall not labor for nothing,

and they shall not give birth to horror,

for they ⌊shall be offspring blessed by⌋p Yahweh,

and their descendants with them.

24 And this will happen: before they call, I myself will answer;

while still they are speaking, I myself will hear.

25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed like one,

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox,

butq dust shall be the serpent’s food.

They shall do no evil,

and they shall not destroy on all ⌊my holy mountain⌋,”r says Yahweh.