In the future ¹  the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure ²  as the most important of mountains, and will be the most prominent of hills. ³  All the nations will stream to it,

Indeed, O Lord, ¹  you have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. For diviners from the east are everywhere; ²  they consult omen readers like the Philistines do. ³  Plenty of foreigners are around. ⁴ 

Indeed, a man will grab his brother right in his father’s house ¹  and say, ²  ‘You own a coat – you be our leader! This heap of ruins will be under your control.’ ³ 

Indeed ¹  Israel ²  is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies, the people ³  of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got – disobedience! ⁴  He waited for fairness, but look what he got – cries for help! ⁵ 

Those who accumulate houses are as good as dead, ¹  those who also accumulate landed property ²  until there is no land left, ³  and you are the only landowners remaining within the land. ⁴ 

So Isaiah replied, ¹  “Pay attention, ²  family ³  of David. ⁴  Do you consider it too insignificant to try the patience of men? Is that why you are also trying the patience of my God?

The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; ¹  he will again choose Israel as his special people ²  and restore ³  them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family ⁴  of Jacob.

Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. ¹  They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.

He will wind you up tightly into a ball and throw you into a wide, open land. ¹  There you will die, and there with you will be your impressive chariots, ²  which bring disgrace to the house of your master. ³ 

His father’s family will gain increasing prominence because of him, ¹  including the offspring and the offshoots. ²  All the small containers, including the bowls and all the jars will hang from this peg.’ ³ 

Yet he too is wise ¹  and he will bring disaster; he does not retract his decree. ²  He will attack the wicked nation, ³  and the nation that helps ⁴  those who commit sin. ⁵ 

Hezekiah took the letter ¹  from the messengers and read it. ²  Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.

A carpenter takes measurements; ¹  he marks out an outline of its form; ²  he scrapes ³  it with chisels, and marks it with a compass. He patterns it after the human form, ⁴  like a well-built human being, and puts it in a shrine. ⁵ 

I want you ¹  to share your food with the hungry and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. ²  When you see someone naked, clothe him! Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood! ³ 

Our holy temple, our pride and joy, ¹  the place where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire; all our prized possessions have been destroyed. ² 

This is what the Lord says: “The heavens are my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where then is the house you will build for me? Where is the place where I will rest?

Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught, so the people of Israel ¹  will suffer dishonor for what they have done. ²  So will their kings and officials, their priests and their prophets.

Then Jeremiah left Topheth where the Lord had sent him to give that prophecy. He went to the Lord’s temple and stood ¹  in its courtyard and called out to all the people.

He says, “I will build myself a large palace with spacious upper rooms.” He cuts windows in its walls, panels it ¹  with cedar, and paints its rooms red. ² 

However, some of the officials ¹  of Judah heard about what was happening ²  and they rushed up to the Lord’s temple from the royal palace. They set up court ³  at the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s temple. ⁴