Telling a New Story

¹⁷ Look! I’m creating a new heaven and a new earth: past events won’t be remembered; they won’t come to mind. ¹⁸ Be glad and rejoice forever in what I’m creating, because I’m creating Jerusalem as a joy and her people as a source of gladness. ¹⁹ I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad about my people. No one will ever hear the sound of weeping or crying in it again. ²⁰ No more will babies live only a few days, or the old fail to live out their days. The one who dies at a hundred will be like a young person, and the one falling short of a hundred will seem cursed. ²¹ They will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ²² They won’t build for others to live in, nor plant for others to eat. Like the days of a tree will be the days of my people; my chosen will make full use of their handiwork. ²³ They won’t labor in vain, nor bear children to a world of horrors, because they will be people blessed by the LORD, they along with their descendants. ²⁴ Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear. ²⁵ Wolf and lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the snake—its food will be dust. They won’t hurt or destroy at any place on my holy mountain, says the LORD.