"If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
How the faithful city has become a harlot, she that was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Every one loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them.
Therefore the Lord says, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: "Ah, I will vent my wrath on my enemies, and avenge myself on my foes. I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy. And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city."
Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. For you shall be ashamed of the oaks in which you delighted; and you shall blush for the gardens which you have chosen. For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water. And the strong shall become tow, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them.
The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
God lays two paths before me. One of obedience and one of self-will. Obedience to Him will yield blessing but choosing the rebel path will be my soul's destruction. The Lord laments when His once faithful people turn into a spiritual harlot. And how He calls us all to repentance. The Lord promises to restore us to our once Faithful status. And when that happens, we will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.
O Lord, lead me to Your mountain, to your House will You can teach me Your ways. If I humbly ask, The Lord will instruct me in His precepts and I can walk in His paths. This prayer must be said, moment by moment for at ever turn, we are tempted to take the wrong path- to gossip about our neighbor, to think ill of those who mistreat us, to walk in the ways of sin. Happy is the man who takes the right path.
Lead me there, I pray, O Lord and teach me Your ways. Amen.
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