On your walls, O Jerusalem,
    I have set (A)watchmen;
all the day and all the night
    they shall never be silent.
You who put the Lord in remembrance,
    take no rest,
and give him no rest
    until he establishes Jerusalem
    and makes it (B)a praise in the earth.
The Lord has sworn (C)by his right hand
    and by his mighty arm:
“I will not again give (D)your grain
    to be food for your enemies,
(E)and foreigners shall not drink your wine
    for which you have labored;
but (F)those who garner it shall eat it
    and praise the Lord,
and (G)those who gather it shall drink it
    in the courts of my sanctuary.”[a]

10 Go through, go through the gates;
    (H)prepare the way for the people;
(I)build up, build up the highway;
    clear it of stones;
    (J)lift up a signal over the peoples.
11 Behold, the Lord has proclaimed
    to the end of the earth:
(K)Say to the daughter of Zion,
    (L)“Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him,
    and his recompense before him.”
12 (M)And they shall be called The Holy People,
    The Redeemed of the Lord;
(N)and you shall be called Sought Out,
    A City Not Forsaken.

The Lord's Day of Vengeance

63 Who is this who comes from (O)Edom,
    in crimsoned garments from (P)Bozrah,
he who is splendid in his apparel,
    (Q)marching in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, speaking in righteousness,
    mighty to save.”

Why is your (R)apparel red,
    and your garments like his (S)who treads in the winepress?

(T)“I have trodden the winepress alone,
    (U)and from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
    and trampled them in my wrath;
their lifeblood[b] spattered on my garments,
    and stained all my apparel.
(V)For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
    and my year of redemption[c] had come.
I looked, but (W)there was no one to help;
    I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;
so my own arm brought me salvation,
    and my wrath upheld me.
I trampled down the peoples in my anger;
    (X)I made them drunk in my wrath,
    and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

The Lord's Mercy Remembered

I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord,
    the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord has granted us,
    (Y)and the great goodness to the house of Israel
that he has granted them according to his compassion,
    according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
For he said, “Surely they are my people,
    children who will not deal falsely.”
    And he became their Savior.
(Z)In all their affliction he was afflicted,[d]
    and the angel of his presence saved them;
(AA)in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
    (AB)he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

10 (AC)But they rebelled
    (AD)and grieved his Holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
    and himself fought against them.
11 Then he remembered (AE)the days of old,
    of Moses and his people.[e]
(AF)Where is he who brought them up out of the sea
    with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is he who put in the midst of them
    his Holy Spirit,
12 who caused his glorious arm
    to go at the right hand of Moses,
(AG)who divided the waters before them
    (AH)to make for himself an everlasting name,
13     who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
    they did not stumble.
14 Like livestock that go down into the valley,
    (AI)the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.
So you led your people,
    (AJ)to make for yourself a glorious name.

Prayer for Mercy

15 (AK)Look down from heaven and see,
    (AL)from your holy and beautiful[f] habitation.
Where are (AM)your zeal and your might?
    The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion
    are held back from me.
16 For (AN)you are our Father,
    though Abraham does not know us,
    and Israel does not acknowledge us;
you, O Lord, are our Father,
    (AO)our Redeemer from of old is your name.
17 O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways
    and (AP)harden our heart, so that we fear you not?
(AQ)Return for the sake of your servants,
    the tribes of your heritage.
18 (AR)Your holy people held possession for a little while;[g]
    (AS)our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.
19 (AT)We have become like those over whom you have never ruled,
    like those who are not called by your name.

64 (AU)Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    (AV)that the mountains might quake at your presence—
[h] as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
(AW)to make your name known to your adversaries,
    and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
(AX)When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
    you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
(AY)From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
(AZ)no eye has seen a God besides you,
    who acts for those who wait for him.
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
    those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
    in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?[i]
(BA)We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
(BB)We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
(BC)There is no one who calls upon your name,
    who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
    and have made us melt in[j] the hand of our iniquities.

(BD)But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
    (BE)we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    (BF)we are all the work of your hand.
(BG)Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,
    (BH)and remember not iniquity forever.
    Behold, please look, we are all your people.
10 (BI)Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become a wilderness,
    Jerusalem a desolation.
11 (BJ)Our holy and beautiful[k] house,
    where our fathers praised you,
has been burned by fire,
    and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
12 (BK)Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?
    Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

Judgment and Salvation

65 (BL)I was ready to be sought by (BM)those who did not ask for me;
    I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
    to a nation that was not called by[l] my name.
(BN)I spread out my hands all the day
    to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
    following their own devices;
a people who provoke me
    to my face continually,
(BO)sacrificing in gardens
    and making offerings on bricks;
who sit in tombs,
    and spend the night in secret places;
(BP)who eat pig's flesh,
    and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;
who say, “Keep to yourself,
    do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
(BQ)These are a smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that burns all the day.
Behold, (BR)it is written before me:
    (BS)“I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
(BT)I will indeed repay into their lap
    both your iniquities (BU)and your fathers' iniquities together,
says the Lord;
(BV)because they made offerings on the mountains
    (BW)and insulted me on the hills,
I will measure into their lap
    payment for their former deeds.”[m]

Thus says the Lord:
(BX)“As the new wine is found in the cluster,
    and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,
    for there is a blessing in it,’
so I will do for my servants' sake,
    (BY)and not destroy them all.
(BZ)I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
    and from Judah possessors of my mountains;
my chosen shall possess it,
    and my servants shall dwell there.
10 (CA)Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
    and (CB)the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
    for my people (CC)who have sought me.
11 But (CD)you who forsake the Lord,
    who forget (CE)my holy mountain,
who (CF)set a table for Fortune
    and (CG)fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,
12 I will destine you to the sword,
    and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
(CH)because, when I called, you did not answer;
    when I spoke, you did not listen,
(CI)but you did what was evil in my eyes
    and chose what I did not delight in.”

13 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, (CJ)my servants shall eat,
    but you shall be hungry;
behold, my servants shall drink,
    but you shall be thirsty;
behold, my servants shall rejoice,
    but you shall be put to shame;
14 behold, (CK)my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
    but you shall cry out for pain of heart
    and shall wail for breaking of spirit.
15 You shall leave your name to (CL)my chosen (CM)for a curse,
    and the Lord God will put you to death,
    but his servants (CN)he will call by another name,
16 so that he who (CO)blesses himself in the land
    shall bless himself by (CP)the God of truth,
and he who takes an oath in the land
    shall swear by (CQ)the God of truth;
(CR)because the former troubles are forgotten
    and are hidden from my eyes.

New Heavens and a New Earth

17 “For behold, (CS)I create new heavens
    and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
    or come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
    in that which I create;
for behold, (CT)I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
    and her people to be a gladness.
19 (CU)I will rejoice in Jerusalem
    and be glad in my people;
(CV)no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
    and the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for (CW)the young man shall die a hundred years old,
    and (CX)the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 (CY)They shall build houses and inhabit them;
    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 (CZ)They shall not build and another inhabit;
    they shall not plant and another eat;
(DA)for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
    and my chosen shall long enjoy[n] the work of their hands.
23 (DB)They shall not labor in vain
    (DC)or bear children for calamity,[o]
for (DD)they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
    and their descendants with them.
24 (DE)Before they call I will answer;
    (DF)while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 (DG)The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
    the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
    and (DH)dust shall be the serpent's food.
(DI)They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 62:9 Or in my holy courts
  2. Isaiah 63:3 Or their juice; also verse 6
  3. Isaiah 63:4 Or the year of my redeemed
  4. Isaiah 63:9 Or he did not afflict
  5. Isaiah 63:11 Or Then his people remembered the days of old, of Moses
  6. Isaiah 63:15 Or holy and glorious
  7. Isaiah 63:18 Or They have dispossessed your holy people for a little while
  8. Isaiah 64:2 Ch 64:1 in Hebrew
  9. Isaiah 64:5 Or in your ways is continuance, that we might be saved
  10. Isaiah 64:7 Masoretic Text; Septuagint, Syriac, Targum have delivered us into
  11. Isaiah 64:11 Or holy and glorious
  12. Isaiah 65:1 Or that did not call upon
  13. Isaiah 65:7 Or I will first measure their payment into their lap
  14. Isaiah 65:22 Hebrew shall wear out
  15. Isaiah 65:23 Or for sudden terror

Timothy and Epaphroditus

19 I hope in the Lord Jesus (A)to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one (B)like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all (C)seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy's[a] (D)proven worth, how (E)as a son[b] with a father (F)he has served with me in the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, 24 and (G)I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

25 I have thought it necessary to send to you (H)Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and (I)fellow soldier, and your messenger and (J)minister to my need, 26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 29 So (K)receive him in the Lord with all joy, and (L)honor such men, 30 for he nearly died[c] (M)for the work of Christ, risking his life (N)to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

Finally, my brothers,[d] (O)rejoice in the Lord. (P)To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

Look out for (Q)the dogs, look out for (R)the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For (S)we are the circumcision, (T)who worship (U)by the Spirit of God[e] and (V)glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—

Footnotes

  1. Philippians 2:22 Greek his
  2. Philippians 2:22 Greek child
  3. Philippians 2:30 Or he drew near to the point of death; compare verse 8
  4. Philippians 3:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 13, 17
  5. Philippians 3:3 Some manuscripts God in spirit

Book Three

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of (A)Asaph.

73 Truly God is good to (B)Israel,
    to those who are (C)pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
    my steps had nearly slipped.
(D)For I was (E)envious of the arrogant
    when I saw the (F)prosperity of the wicked.

For they have no pangs until death;
    their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not (G)stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is (H)their necklace;
    violence covers them as (I)a garment.
Their (J)eyes swell out through fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and (K)speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
    and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
    and find (L)no fault in them.[a]
11 And they say, (M)“How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
    always at ease, they (N)increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I (O)kept my heart clean
    and (P)washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been (Q)stricken
    and (R)rebuked (S)every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
    I would have betrayed (T)the generation of your children.

16 But when I thought how to understand this,
    it seemed to me (U)a wearisome task,
17 until I went into (V)the sanctuary of God;
    then I discerned their (W)end.

18 Truly you set them in (X)slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed (Y)in a moment,
    swept away utterly by (Z)terrors!
20 Like (AA)a dream when one awakes,
    O Lord, when (AB)you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
    when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was (AC)brutish and ignorant;
    I was like (AD)a beast toward you.

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
    you (AE)hold my right hand.
24 You (AF)guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will (AG)receive me to glory.
25 (AH)Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 (AI)My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is (AJ)the strength[b] of my heart and my (AK)portion (AL)forever.

27 For behold, those who are (AM)far from you shall perish;
    you put an end to everyone who is (AN)unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to (AO)be near God;
    I have made the Lord God my (AP)refuge,
    that I may (AQ)tell of all your works.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 73:10 Probable reading; Hebrew the waters of a full cup are drained by them
  2. Psalm 73:26 Hebrew rock

13 My son, (A)eat honey, for it is good,
    and (B)the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
14 Know that wisdom is such to your soul;
    if you find it, there will be (C)a future,
    and your hope will not be cut off.

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