Isaiah 57:14-21

New International Version - UK

‘Build up, build up, prepare the road!
    Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.’
¹⁵ For this is what the high and exalted One says –
    he who lives for ever, whose name is holy:
‘I live in a high and holy place,
    but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.
¹⁶ I will not accuse them for ever,
    nor will I always be angry,
for then they would faint away because of me –
    the very people I have created.
¹⁷ I was enraged by their sinful greed;
    I punished them, and hid my face in anger,
    yet they kept on in their wilful ways.
¹⁸ I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;
    I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners,
¹⁹     creating praise on their lips.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,’
    says the Lord. ‘And I will heal them.’
²⁰ But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
    which cannot rest,
    whose waves cast up mire and mud.
²¹ ‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’