8 Come near spiritually to God, and as a result he will come near to you. You who are sinners, stop doing what is wrong, and do only what is good [SYN, MET]. You who cannot decide whether you will ◄commit yourselves to God/obey God completely►, stop thinking wrong thoughts, and think only pure thoughts [MTY].

1 "All you people who are in exile,

listen to me!

It is as though [MET] you are thirsty,

so come and get water from me!

It is as though you have no money,

but you can come and get things from me that are like wine and milk!

You can get what you need from me,

and you will not need to give me any money for them!

2 What you really need is to have a close relationship with me,

so ◄why do you spend money to buy things that do not supply what you really need?/you should not spend money to buy things that do not supply what you really need.► [RHQ]

◄Why do you work hard to get money to buy things that do not <satisfy your inner beings/cause you to be happy>?► [RHQ]

Pay attention to what I say

and acquire what is really good [MET]!

If you do that, then you will truly be happy [MET].

3 Listen to me and come to me;

pay attention to me, and if you do that, you will have new life in your souls.

I will make an agreement with you that will last forever

to faithfully love you like I loved King David.

4 By what he did, I showed my power to many people-groups;

I caused him to be a leader and commander [DOU] over the people of many nations.

5 And similarly, you will summon people of other nations to come to you,

nations that previously you have not heard about,

and they had not heard about you;

and they will come to you quickly

because they will have heard that I, Yahweh, your God, the Holy One of Israel, have honored you.

6 Seek to know me while it is still possible for you to do that;

call to me while I am near!

24 Before they call to me to help them, I will answer;

I will answer their prayers while they are still praying for me to do something for them.

3 Call out to me, and then I will tell you great and wonderful things that you have not known before.’

11 I, Yahweh, know what I have planned for you. I am planning to cause things to go well for you, not to cause you to experience disasters. I am planning to give you many things that you confidently expect to receive in the future.

1 Deer pant, desiring to drink water from a stream when there is a drought (OR, when they are being pursued by hunters.)

In the same way [SIM], God, I need you very much.

2 I desire to have fellowship with [MET] you, the all-powerful God.

I wonder, "When will I be able to go back to the temple in Israel

and worship in your presence again?"

1 God, you are the God whom I worship.

I greatly desire to be with you

like [SIL] a person in a dry hot desert greatly desires some cool water.

2 So, I want to see you in your temple;

I want to see that you are great and glorious.

3 Your constantly loving me is ◄worth more/more precious► than my life,

so I [MTY] will always praise you.

4 I will praise you all the time that I live;

I will lift up my hands to you while I pray.

5 Knowing you satisfies me more than [IDM, MET] my eating a very big feast,

so I will praise you while I sing [MTY] joyful songs.

6 While I lie on my bed, I think about you.

I think/meditate about you all during the night,

7 because you have always helped me,

and I sing joyfully knowing that I am protected by you

as a little bird is protected under its mother’s wings [MET].

8 I cling to you;

and with your hand/power you protect me.

9 But those who are trying to kill me

will die and descend into the place of the dead;

10 they will be killed in battles [MTY]

and their corpses will be eaten by jackals/wild dogs.

11 But I, the king of Israel, will rejoice in what God has done;

and all those who revere and trust God will praise him,

but he will not allow liars to say anything.

22 I have honored my disciples just like you honored me, in order that they may be united, as we are united. 23 I want them to be united just like they are united with me and as you are united with me. May they be completely united, in order that those who do not belong to you [MTY] may know that you sent me and that you have loved them just like you have loved me.

17 because Yahweh your God is living among you.

He is mighty, and he will rescue/save you.

He will be very happy with you;

because he loves you, he will cause you to not be afraid;

he will sing loudly to rejoice over you."

9 But God will do what he says that he will do, and what he does is always right. So, if we confess to him that we have behaved sinfully, he will forgive us for our sins and ◄will free us from/remove► the guilt of all our sins. Because of that, we should confess to him that we have behaved sinfully.