‘Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.’

² The Lord will extend your mighty sceptre from Zion, saying,
    ‘Rule in the midst of your enemies!’
³ Your troops will be willing
    on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendour,
    your young men will come to you
    like dew from the morning’s womb.^[b]

⁴ The Lord has sworn
    and will not change his mind:
‘You are a priest for ever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.’

⁵ The Lord is at your right hand^[c];
    he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
⁶ He will judge nations, heaping up the dead
    and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
⁷ He will drink from a brook along the way;^[d]
    and so he will lift his head high.

⁶ Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
⁷ Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

⁸ ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,’
declares the Lord.
⁹ ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    it will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
¹² You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.
¹³ Instead of the thorn-bush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure for ever.’

‘Maintain justice
    and do what is right,
for my salvation is close at hand
    and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
² Blessed is the one who does this –
    the person who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it,
    and keeps their hands from doing any evil.’

³ Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say,
    ‘The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.’
And let no eunuch complain,
    ‘I am only a dry tree.’

‘To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose what pleases me
    and hold fast to my covenant –
⁵ to them I will give within my temple and its walls
    a memorial and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
    that will endure for ever.
⁶ And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord
    to minister to him,
to love the name of the Lord,
    and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
    and who hold fast to my covenant –
⁷ these I will bring to my holy mountain
    and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
    will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
    a house of prayer for all nations.’
⁸ The Sovereign Lord declares –
    he who gathers the exiles of Israel:
‘I will gather still others to them
    besides those already gathered.’

57 The righteous perish,
    and no one takes it to heart;
the devout are taken away,
    and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
    to be spared from evil.
² Those who walk uprightly
    enter into peace;
    they find rest as they lie in death.

³ ‘But you – come here, you children of a sorceress,
    you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!
⁴ Who are you mocking?
    At whom do you sneer
    and stick out your tongue?
Are you not a brood of rebels,
    the offspring of liars?
⁵ You burn with lust among the oaks
    and under every spreading tree;
you sacrifice your children in the ravines
    and under the overhanging crags.
⁶ The idols among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion;
    indeed, they are your lot.
Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings
    and offered grain offerings.
    In view of all this, should I relent?
⁷ You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill;
    there you went up to offer your sacrifices.
⁸ Behind your doors and your doorposts
    you have put your pagan symbols.
Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed,
    you climbed into it and opened it wide;
you made a pact with those whose beds you love,
    and you looked with lust on their naked bodies.
⁹ You went to Molek^[a] with olive oil
    and increased your perfumes.
You sent your ambassadors^[b] far away;
    you descended to the very realm of the dead!
¹⁰ You wearied yourself by such going about,
    but you would not say, “It is hopeless.”
You found renewal of your strength,
    and so you did not faint.

¹¹ ‘Whom have you so dreaded and feared
    that you have not been true to me,
and have neither remembered me
    nor taken this to heart?
Is it not because I have long been silent
    that you do not fear me?
¹² I will expose your righteousness and your works,
    and they will not benefit you.
¹³ When you cry out for help,
    let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
    a mere breath will blow them away.
But whoever takes refuge in me
    will inherit the land
    and possess my holy mountain.’