1. "I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, `Here am I, here am I.'
2. All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations--
3. a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick;
4. who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat;
5. who say, `Keep away; don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you!' Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.
14. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
15. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
16. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?
17. Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.
Return