I will always love you
1The Lord says:
‘All of you who are thirsty, come to the water.
You who have no money, come and buy and eat.
Come and buy wine and milk.
It is free. It costs nothing.
2Why do you pay for something
that is not_really food?
Why do you work for something
that does not fill you or take away your hunger?
You must listen to Me carefully
so that you can eat something that is good,
and so that you can enjoy the best food.
3Listen and come to Me.
Listen so that you can live.
Yes, I want to make a covenant with you,
a covenant that will be forever.
I want to love you forever.
I want to love you like I loved David.
4I told David to show the nations who I am.
I made him a king who ruled over a lot of nations.
5And you, you will call a nation
that you do not know,
and a nation that you do not know will run to you.
Because I am the Lord your God,
the holy God of Israel,
I will give you honour again.’
6You must ask the Lord
what He wants. He wants to tell you.
You must pray to Him.
He wants to listen to your prayers.
7The people who are doing wrong,
the people who make plans
to do something bad, must stop.
They must stop thinking about things
that are bad and they must
come back to the Lord our God,
because the Lord is gracious,
and forgives sins.
8The Lord says:
‘Yes, I don't think like you do
and I don't do what you always do.
9The things that I think and do are far higher
than the things that you think and do,
like heaven is far higher than the earth.
10Yes, the rain and snow come from heaven
and they do not go back there.
They fall on the ground, and the plants
become wet and grow and give seeds
so that people have seeds to sow
and people have food to eat.
11It is the same with the words that I say.
They will go to people and do what I want them to do.
My words will do what I have told them to do,
and they will not come back to Me empty.
12Yes, you will be happy
when you come out of Babylon,
and you will have peace
when the Lord brings you back.
The mountains and hills
will be happy and rejoice,
and all the trees in the field will clap their hands
when they see you coming.
13Big cypress and myrtle trees
will grow where there were
only thorn-bushes and weeds before
and everyone will always know
that it was the Lord who did this.’
