¹⁸ If only you had given ear to my orders, then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea:

¹² For the Lord says, See, I will make her peace like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream, and she will take her children in her arms, gently caring for them on her knees.

²⁹ If only they were wise, if only this was clear to them, and they would give thought to their future!

¹⁶⁵ Great peace have lovers of your law; they have no cause for falling.

²⁹ If only they had such a heart in them at all times, so that they might go in fear of me and keep my orders and that it might be well for them and for their children for ever!

²⁴ But let the right go rolling on like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

¹⁵ Till the spirit comes on us from on high, and the waste land becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field is changed into a wood.

¹⁶ Then in the waste land there will be an upright rule, and righteousness will have its place in the fertile field.

¹⁷ And the work of righteousness will be peace; and the effect of an upright rule will be to take away fear for ever.

¹⁸ And my people will be living in peace, in houses where there is no fear, and in quiet resting-places.

¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

⁴¹ And when he got near and saw the town, he was overcome with weeping for it,

⁴² Saying, If you, even you, had knowledge today, of the things which give peace! but you are not able to see them.

³⁷ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, putting to death the prophets, and stoning those who are sent to her! Again and again would I have taken your children to myself as a bird takes her young ones under her wings, and you would not!

⁸ Let righteousness come down, O heavens, from on high, and let the sky send it down like rain: let the earth be open to give the fruit of salvation, causing righteousness to come up with it; I the Lord have made it come about.

¹³ If only my people would give ear to me, walking in my ways!

¹⁴ I would quickly overcome their haters: my hand would be turned against those who make war on them.

¹⁵ The haters of the Lord would be broken, and their destruction would be eternal.

¹⁶ I would give them the best grain for food; you would be full of honey from the rock.

⁸ The delights of your house will be showered on them; you will give them drink from the river of your pleasures.