For Discussion Easter 2013

 ISAIAH 65:17-25

¹⁷  For I am about to create new heavens 
          and a new earth; 
     the former things shall not be remembered 
          or come to mind. 
¹⁸  But be glad and rejoice forever 
          in what I am creating; 
     for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, 
          and its people as a delight. 
¹⁹  I will rejoice in Jerusalem, 
          and delight in my people; 
     no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, 
          or the cry of distress. 
²⁰  No more shall there be in it 
          an infant that lives but a few days, 
          or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; 
     for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, 
          and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. 
²¹  They shall build houses and inhabit them; 
          they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 
²²  They shall not build and another inhabit; 
          they shall not plant and another eat; 
     for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, 
          and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 
²³  They shall not labor in vain, 
          or bear children for calamity; 
     for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord — 
          and their descendants as well. 
²⁴  Before they call I will answer, 
          while they are yet speaking I will hear. 
²⁵  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, 
          the lion shall eat straw like the ox; 
          but the serpent — its food shall be dust! 
     They shall not hurt or destroy 
          on all my holy mountain, 
                         says the Lord.