Isaiah 65:1-12

“I revealed myself to those who didn’t even ask to know me. Those who did not seek me found me. I said to a nation that did not call on my name, ‘Here I am! Here I am! I will help you!’ Day after day I have graciously outstretched my hands to a people who turned their backs to me, whose way of life is corrupt, who insist on going their own way. They are a people who continually insult me to my face. They openly and defiantly offer sacrifices to their gods in their sacred groves and burn incense on pagan altars. They sit inside tombs and spend the night in secret caves. They eat pork and their pots are polluted with the broth of unclean meat. They tell others, ‘Stay away! Don’t come near; I’m too holy for you to touch.’ These people are like a stench in my nostrils, a smoldering fire that doesn’t go out! Their verdict is determined before me, and I will not keep silent: ‘I will repay them for what they have done; I will pay them back for what their sins deserve, for both their sins and the sins of their fathers. Because they burned incense on the high places and blasphemed me on the hills, I will punish them severely, as their actions deserve,’ ” says YAHWEH. Here is what YAHWEH says: “As new wine is found in the cluster, and someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,’ that’s what I will do for my servants’ sake. I will not destroy them all. I will raise up offspring from Jacob and from my chosen ones of Judah to possess my mountains, and my servants will settle there. For my people who seek me, I will make the Plain of Sharon a pasture for flocks in the east, and in the west, the Valley of Trouble will be a resting place for cattle, for my people who seek me and no other god. “But you who forsake YAHWEH and ignore my holy mountain, who celebrate a feast for the goddess called Lady Luck and fill cups of wine to toast the god Destiny, know this: your luck has run out. For I will destine you for the sword! You will all kneel down to be slaughtered like sheep because when I called, you did not answer, and when I spoke, you did not listen! You did evil before me and chose what I despise.”