Isaiah 66:3-17

3You may kill a bull as a sacrifice to me, but you might also kill a man. You may offer a lamb to me as a sacrifice, but you might also break a dog's neck to offer to your idols. You may give me a grain offering, but you also offer pigs' blood. You may burn incense to worship me but you also worship false gods. Yes, these people have chosen how they want to live. They love to do these disgusting things.

4So I will cause great trouble to come to them. It will be the trouble that they are so afraid of. When I called out to them, nobody answered me. When I spoke to them, nobody listened. They did evil things against me. They chose to do things that I would hate.’

5Hear this message from the Lord, you people who respect his teaching. Some of your own people hate you. They throw you out, because you are faithful to me. They laugh at you and they say, ‘Let the Lord show how great he is! We want to see him make you happy!’ But it is those people who will be ashamed.

6Listen to the loud noise that is coming from the city! It is a noise that comes from the temple. The Lord is punishing his enemies as they deserve. That is what is making the noise!

7What is happening? Zion is giving birth to a son before she has her birth pains!

8Nobody has ever heard of anything like that. Nobody has ever seen that happen before. Can a country be born in just one day? Can a nation be born in a moment? But as soon as Zion's birth pains begin, she has already given birth to her children!

9The Lord your God says, ‘When I bring a baby to the moment of birth, the child is always born. I do not stop its birth.’

10All you people who love Jerusalem, join together with its people and be happy. You have been sad to see what has happened to the city, but now you should shout with joy!

11Jerusalem will take care of you like a mother. She will give you all that you need, like a mother that feeds her baby with milk. The great blessing that comes from her full breasts will make you very happy.

12The Lord says, ‘Look! I will give peace to Jerusalem, like a great river. Riches from other nations will pour into the city, like a stream that is full of water. Jerusalem will take care of you like a mother that feeds her baby. She will carry you in her arms, and she will hold you on her knees.

13I will comfort you, as a mother comforts her child. As you live in Jerusalem, you will be happy again.’

14And when you see these things happen, you will feel very happy! You will become strong and healthy, like fresh grass. The Lord's servants will know that he is there to bless them. But his enemies will see that he is angry with them.

15Look! The Lord is coming with fire. His chariots will blow in like a strong storm. People will see his great anger, as he comes to punish his enemies with flames of fire.

16The Lord will use fire and his sword to judge all people. The Lord will kill many people.

17The Lord says, ‘I will destroy people who prepare themselves to worship their false gods. They make themselves clean and they follow one another into their special gardens. They eat unclean meat from pigs and rats and other disgusting animals. They will all come to their deaths together.