Sin Keeps One from God

59 See, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save, and His ear is not closed that it cannot hear. ² But your wrong-doings have kept you away from your God. Your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear. ³ For your hands are sinful with blood, your fingers with wrong-doing, your lips have lied, and your tongue talks about sin. ⁴ No one wants what is right and fair in court. And no one argues his cause with the truth. They trust in what is false, and speak lies. They plan to make trouble and do what is sinful. ⁵ They bring young ones from the eggs of deadly snakes and make traps as a spider does. He who eats of their eggs dies, and a snake comes out of the egg that is crushed. ⁶ Clothing cannot be made from the work of the spider, so they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of sin. They hurt others with their hands. ⁷ And they are quick to sin and to kill people who are not guilty. Their thoughts are thoughts of sin. Wherever they go, they destroy and cause suffering. ⁸ They know nothing about peace, and there is nothing fair in their paths. Their roads are not straight. Whoever walks on them does not know peace.

⁹ So what is right and fair is far from us. What is right and good does not come to us. We hope for light, but see darkness. We hope for bright light, but we walk in the dark. ¹⁰ We feel for the wall like blind men. We feel our way like those who have no eyes. We trip at noon as in the night. Among those who are strong, we are like dead men. ¹¹ All of us make noise like bears, and cry inside ourselves like doves. We hope for what is right and fair, but it is not there. We hope to be saved, but it is far from us. ¹² For we have done much wrong before You, and our sins speak against us. Our wrong-doing is with us, and we know our sins. ¹³ We have gone against the Lord and have acted as if we do not know Him. We have turned away from our God. We have made it hard for others. We have thought and spoken lying words from the heart. ¹⁴ What is right and fair is turned back. What is right and good stands far away. Truth has fallen in the street, and what is right cannot come in. ¹⁵ Yes, truth is not there. And he who turns away from sin comes under the anger of sinners.

Now the Lord saw this, and it did not please Him to see that what is right and fair was not being done. ¹⁶ He saw and wondered that there was no man to speak up for what is right. Then His own arm brought saving power, and what is right with Him gave Him strength. ¹⁷ Being right and good was His covering for His breast, saving power was His headcovering, clothing of anger was his covering, and His strong desires were like a coat. ¹⁸ He will pay them back for their works. He will send anger upon those who are against Him, and will punish those who hate Him. He will send punishment on the islands. ¹⁹ They will fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His shining-greatness from the rising of the sun. When the one who hates us comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a wall against him. ²⁰ “The One Who saves from the punishment of sin will come to Zion, and He will come to those of Jacob who turn from their sinful ways,” says the Lord. ²¹ “And as for Me, this is My agreement with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit which is upon you, and My Words which I have put in your mouth, will not leave your mouth, or the mouth of your children, or the mouth of your children’s children,” say the Lord, “from now and forever.”

60 “Rise up and shine, for your light has come. The shining-greatness of the Lord has risen upon you. ² For see, darkness will cover the earth. Much darkness will cover the people. But the Lord will rise upon you, and His shining-greatness will be seen upon you. ³ Nations will come to your light. And kings will see the shining-greatness of the Lord on you.

⁴ “Lift up your eyes and look around you, and see. They all gather together. They come to you. Your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried in the arms. ⁵ Then you will see and shine with joy. Your heart will be glad and full of joy, because the riches of the sea will be turned to you. And the riches of the nations will come to you. ⁶ Many camels will cover your land, the young camels of Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and special perfume, and will carry good news of the praises of the Lord. ⁷ All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you. The male sheep of Nebaioth will be ready for your need. They will be received on My altar. And I will make My house beautiful. ⁸ Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows? ⁹ For sure the islands will wait for Me. And the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from far away, and their silver and gold with them. They will come because of the name of the Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for He has brought great honor to you.

¹⁰ “People from strange lands will build up your walls, and their kings will help you. For I destroyed you in My anger, but in My favor I have had loving-pity on you. ¹¹ Your gates will always be open. They will not be closed day or night, so that men may bring the riches of the nations to you with the kings leading the way. ¹² For the nation which does not serve you will be destroyed. Those nations will all be destroyed. ¹³ The beauty of Lebanon will come to you. The juniper, the box tree and the cypress will be brought to make My holy place beautiful. I will make the place of My feet a beautiful place. ¹⁴ The sons of those who made it hard for you will come bowing to you. All those who hated you will bow down at your feet. And they will call you the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ “You have been left and hated, with no one passing through. But I will make you a pride forever, a joy for all your children’s children. ¹⁶ You will drink the milk of nations. You will drink from the breast of kings. Then you will know that I, the Lord, am the One Who saves you, and the One Who bought you and made you free, the Powerful One of Jacob. ¹⁷ Instead of brass, I will bring gold. Instead of iron, I will bring silver. Instead of wood, I will bring brass. And instead of stones, I will bring iron. I will make peace your leader, and what is right and good will be your boss. ¹⁸ Fighting will not be heard again in your land. Nothing within your land will be destroyed. You will call your walls Saving Power and your gates Praise. ¹⁹ No more will the sun be your light during the day, and the moon during the night. But the Lord will be your light forever and your God will be your shining-greatness. ²⁰ Your sun will set no more, and your moon will not become less. For the Lord will be your light forever and ever, and the days of your sorrow will end. ²¹ Then all your people will be right with God. They will have the land forever. They are the branch I planted, the work of My hands, that I may be honored. ²² The smallest one will become a family of a thousand. And the least one will become a powerful nation. I, the Lord, will make it happen in its time.”

The Good News

61 The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has chosen me to bring good news to poor people. He has sent me to heal those with a sad heart. He has sent me to tell those who are being held and those in prison that they can go free. ² He has sent me to tell about the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day our God will bring punishment. He has sent me to comfort all who are filled with sorrow. ³ To those who have sorrow in Zion I will give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes. I will give them the oil of joy instead of sorrow, and a spirit of praise instead of a spirit of no hope. Then they will be called oaks that are right with God, planted by the Lord, that He may be honored.

⁴ They will build the cities again that were destroyed long ago. They will raise up what had been torn down, and will build the cities that were destroyed, and have lain waste through the years of many families and their children’s children. ⁵ Strangers will stand and feed your flocks. Men from other lands will be your farmers and care for your vines. ⁶ But you will be called the religious leaders of the Lord. Men will speak of you as servants of our God. You will eat the riches of the nations, and in their riches you will speak with pride. ⁷ Instead of your shame you will have a share that is twice as much. Instead of being without honor, they will sing for joy over all you receive. So they will have twice as much in their land, and joy that lasts forever will be theirs. ⁸ For I, the Lord, love what is right and fair. I hate stealing and what is wrong. I will be faithful to pay them what they should have. And I will make an agreement with them that will last forever. ⁹ Their children will be known among the nations. Their children’s children will be known among the people. All who see them will know them, because they are the people to whom the Lord has brought honor.

¹⁰ I will have much joy in the Lord. My soul will have joy in my God, for He has clothed me with the clothes of His saving power. He has put around me a coat of what is right and good, as a man at his own wedding wears something special on his head, and as a bride makes herself beautiful with stones of great worth. ¹¹ As the earth lets its new plants grow, and as a garden causes the things planted in it to grow, in the same way, the Lord God will cause what is right and good and words of praise to grow up in front of all the nations.

Paul Tells Them to Live Holy Lives

4 Christian brothers, we ask you, because of the Lord Jesus, to keep on living in a way that will please God. I have already told you how to grow in the Christian life. ² The Lord Jesus gave us the right and the power to tell you what to do. ³ God wants you to be holy. You must keep away from sex sins. ⁴ God wants each of you to use his body in the right way by keeping it holy and by respecting it. ⁵ You should not use it to please your own desires like the people who do not know God. ⁶ No man should do wrong to his Christian brother in anything. The Lord will punish a person who does. I have told you this before. ⁷ For God has not called us to live in sin. He has called us to live a holy life. ⁸ The one who turns away from this teaching does not turn away from man, but from God. It is God Who has given us His Holy Spirit.

⁹ You do not need anyone to write to you about loving your Christian brothers. God has taught you to love each other. ¹⁰ You love all the Christians in all the country of Macedonia. But we ask you to love them even more. ¹¹ Do your best to live a quiet life. Learn to do your own work well. We told you about this before. ¹² By doing this, you will be respected by those who are not Christians. Then you will not be in need and others will not have to help you.

The Lord Is Coming Again

¹³ Christian brothers, we want you to know for sure about those who have died. You have no reason to have sorrow as those who have no hope. ¹⁴ We believe that Jesus died and then came to life again. Because we believe this, we know that God will bring to life again all those who belong to Jesus. ¹⁵ We tell you this as it came from the Lord. Those of us who are alive when the Lord comes again will not go ahead of those who have died. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a loud call. The head angel will speak with a loud voice. God’s horn will give its sounds. First, those who belong to Christ will come out of their graves to meet the Lord. ¹⁷ Then, those of us who are still living here on earth will be gathered together with them in the clouds. We will meet the Lord in the sky and be with Him forever. ¹⁸ Because of this, comfort each other with these words.