Ho! Every thirsting spirit, every hollow heart in the dust—
Come! The waters rise unbidden, crystalline, inexhaustible,
From hidden fountains deeper than exile’s night, purer than forgotten dawn.
Come, though your coins are spent, your sacks hang empty,
Come buy—yes, buy!—without silver, without barter, without shame.
Wine that kindles joy in veins grown cold,
Milk that knits the broken frame and floods the famished soul,
Bread that satisfies where shadows once feasted.
Why squander sweat on chaff that scatters?
Why trade your labor for husks that mock the tongue,
For bread that turns to ash between the teeth,
For fleeting mirage that leaves the palate parched?
Hearken—O hearken with the inward ear that never sleeps—
And eat what is good; let your soul delight in fatness unmeasured,
In richness no market can weigh, no vault can hoard.

Bend low your ear, draw near, draw nearer still to Me;
Listen, and live—live the life that death cannot touch.
I seal with you My covenant eternal,
The loyal kindnesses sworn to David My servant—
Mercies steadfast as the polar star, sure as the turning seasons.
Behold: I have appointed him witness to the multitudes,
Prince and commander to peoples yet unnamed.
Nations you have never summoned will run to you,
Drawn by the splendor that clothes you,
Because the Holy One of Israel has exalted you,
Has set His glory upon you like a crown of living light.

Seek the Lord while breath still finds Him near,
While the door of seeking stands ajar.
Call upon Him while He may yet be called.
Let the wicked forsake his crooked path,
The man of iniquity abandon his venomous designs;
Let him return—return wholly—to the Lord,
And compassion will cascade upon him like thunder-rains after drought.
To our God let him turn, for He pardons with prodigal abundance—
Pardon wider than the sea’s embrace, deeper than the graves of memory.

For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor your ways My ways, says the Eternal Flame.
As the vaulted heavens tower immeasurable above this trembling dust,
So My ways rise exalted, My thoughts stretch vast—
Beyond the narrow compass of mortal fear,
Beyond the frantic calculus of earthbound minds.

See how the rain falls, how the snow descends from the high chambers of heaven:
They do not climb back until they have drenched the parched ground,
Until they have quickened seed to sprout, swelled bud to blossom,
Given seed to the sower, bread to the hungry mouth.
So My word proceeds from My mouth—
It shall not return to Me barren, void, or thwarted.
It shall accomplish the delight of My will,
Prosper in the purpose for which I dispatched it—
Irresistible as rivers that sculpt canyons through centuries,
Unfailing as the first light that shatters the longest dark.

Then you shall march forth in joy that cannot be contained,
Led forth in peace that stands sentinel at every step.
The mountains and hills shall erupt in song before you,
Bursting into melody fierce and jubilant;
All the trees of the field shall clap their hands in thunderous acclaim,
Limbs lifted like banners in the wind of triumph.
Where once the thorn drew blood and the brier tore the pilgrim’s flesh,
The stately cypress shall rise, fragrant and evergreen;
Where nettle choked the way and desolation reigned,
The myrtle shall spread verdant, resilient, and fair.
This transformation shall endure as an everlasting sign,
A name unfading for the Lord of Hosts,
A monument hewn not by hands, unshakable by time—
Eternal witness to the grace that summoned the thirsty home,
And turned the wilderness into a garden of unending praise.