1-7 “I’ve made myself availableto those who haven’t bothered to ask.I’m here, ready to be foundby those who haven’t bothered to look.I kept saying ‘I’m here, I’m right here’to a nation that ignored me.I reached out day after dayto a people who turned their backs on me,People who make wrong turns,who insist on doing things their own way.They get on my nerves,are rude to my face day after day,Make up their own kitchen religion,a potluck religious stew.They spend the night in tombsto get messages from the dead,Eat forbidden foodsand drink a witch’s brew of potions and charms.They say, ‘Keep your distance.Don’t touch me. I’m holier than thou.’These people gag me.I can’t stand their stench.Look at this! Their sins are all written out—I have the list before me.I’m not putting up with this any longer.I’ll pay them the wagesThey have coming for their sins.And for the sins of their parents lumped in,a bonus.” God says so.“Because they’ve practiced their blasphemous worship,mocking me at their hillside shrines,I’ll let loose the consequencesand pay them in full for their actions.”
8-10 God’s Message:“But just as one bad apple doesn’t ruin the whole bushel,there are still plenty of good apples left.So I’ll preserve those in Israel who obey me.I won’t destroy the whole nation.I’ll bring out my true children from Jacoband the heirs of my mountains from Judah.My chosen will inherit the land,my servants will move in.The lush valley of Sharon in the westwill be a pasture for flocks,And in the east, the valley of Achor,a place for herds to graze.These will be for the peoplewho bothered to reach out to me, who wanted me in their lives,who actually bothered to look for me.
11-12 “But you who abandon me, your God,who forget the holy mountains,Who hold dinners for Lady Luckand throw cocktail parties for Sir Fate,Well, you asked for it. Fate it will be:your destiny, Death.For when I invited you, you ignored me;when I spoke to you, you brushed me off.You did the very things I exposed as evil;you chose what I hate.”
13-16 Therefore, this is the Message from the Master, God:“My servants will eat,and you’ll go hungry;My servants will drink,and you’ll go thirsty;My servants will rejoice,and you’ll hang your heads.My servants will laugh from full hearts,and you’ll cry out heartbroken,yes, wail from crushed spirits.Your legacy to my chosenwill be your name reduced to a cussword.I, God, will put you to deathand give a new name to my servants.Then whoever prays a blessing in the landwill use my faithful name for the blessing,And whoever takes an oath in the landwill use my faithful name for the oath,Because the earlier troubles are gone and forgotten,banished far from my sight.