The Lord's Invitation
1 If you are thirsty,
come and drink water!
If you don't have any money,
come, eat what you want!
Drink wine and milk
without paying a cent.
2 Why waste your money
on what really isn't food?
Why work hard for something
that doesn't satisfy?
Listen carefully to me,
and you will enjoy
the very best foods.
3 Pay close attention!
Come to me and live.
I will promise you
the eternal love and loyalty
that I promised David.
4 I made him the leader and ruler
of the nations;
he was my witness to them.
5 You will call out to nations
you have never known.
And they have never known you,
but they will come running
because I am the Lord,
the holy God of Israel,
and I have honored you.
God's Words Are Powerful
6 Turn to the Lord!
He can still be found.
Call out to God! He is near.
7 Give up your evil ways
and your evil thoughts.
Return to the Lord our God.
He will be merciful
and forgive your sins.
8 The Lord says:
“My thoughts and my ways
are not like yours.
9 Just as the heavens
are higher than the earth,
my thoughts and my ways
are higher than yours.
10 “Rain and snow fall from the sky.
But they don't return
without watering the earth
that produces seeds to plant
and grain to eat.
11 That's how it is with my words.
They don't return to me
without doing everything
I send them to do.”
God's People Will Celebrate
12 When you are set free,
you will celebrate
and travel home in peace.
Mountains and hills will sing
as you pass by,
and trees will clap.
13 Cypress and myrtle trees
will grow in fields
once covered by thorns.
And then those trees will stand
as a lasting witness
to the glory of the Lord.
© Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®) © 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
