Isaiah 62:6-65:25

Common English Bible

⁶ Upon your walls, Jerusalem,
    I have appointed sentinels.
Continually, all day and all night,
    they won’t keep silent.
You who call on the Lord, don’t rest,
⁷     and don’t allow God to rest
    until he establishes Jerusalem,
    and makes it the praise of the earth.
⁸ The Lord has promised
    with raised hand and strong arm:
    I will never again give your grain
    as food for your enemies.
    Foreigners won’t drink your wine
    for which you labored.
⁹ Those who harvest will eat it
    and will praise the Lord;
    those who gather will drink it
    in my holy courtyards.

¹⁰ Pass through, pass through the gates;
    prepare the way for the people!
Build, build the road;
    clear away the stones!
    Raise up a signal for the peoples.
¹¹ This is what the Lord announced
    to the earth’s distant regions:
Say to Daughter Zion, “Look! Your deliverer arrives,
    bringing reward and payment!”
¹² They will be called The Holy People,
    Redeemed By the Lord.
And you will be called Sought After—
    A City That Is Not Abandoned.

¹¹ Then they remembered earlier times,
    when he rescued his people.^[b]
Where was the one who drew them up from the sea,
    the shepherd^[c] of the flock?
Where was the one who put within them his holy spirit;
¹²     the one who guided Moses’ strong hand
    with his glorious arm;
    who split the water for them
    to create an enduring reputation for himself,
¹³     and who guided them through the depths?
    Like a horse in the desert, they didn’t stumble.
¹⁴ Like cattle descending to the valley,
    the Lord’s spirit brought them to rest.
In this way you led your people
    and made for yourself a glorious reputation.

¹⁵ Look down from heaven and see,
    from your holy and glorious perch.
Where are your energy and your might,
    your concern and your pity?
    Don’t hold back!^[d]
16 You are surely our father,
    even though Abraham doesn’t know us,
    and Israel doesn’t recognize us.
You, Lord, are our father;
    your reputation since long ago is that of our redeemer.
¹⁷ Why do you lead us astray, Lord,
    from your ways?
Why do you harden our heart
    so we don’t fear you?
Return for the sake of your servants
    the tribes that are your heritage!
¹⁸ Why did the wicked bring down your holy place?^[e]
    Why did our enemies trample your sanctuary?
¹⁹ For too long we have been like those you don’t rule,
    like those not known by your name.

64 ^[f] If only you would tear open the heavens and come down!
    Mountains would quake before you
²     like fire igniting brushwood or making water boil.
^[g] If you would make your name known to your enemies,
    the nations would tremble in your presence.

³ When you accomplished wonders beyond all our expectations;
    when you came down, mountains quaked before you.
⁴ From ancient times,
    no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
    no eye has seen any god but you
    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him!^[h]
5 You look after those who gladly do right;
    they will praise you for your ways.^[i]
But you were angry when we sinned;
    you hid yourself when we did wrong.^[j]
6 We have all become like the unclean;
    all our righteous deeds are like a menstrual rag.
All of us wither like a leaf;
    our sins, like the wind, carry us away.
⁷ No one calls on your name;
    no one bothers to hold on to you,
    for you have hidden yourself from us,
    and have handed us over^[k] to our sin.

⁸ But now, Lord, you are our father.
    We are the clay, and you are our potter.
    All of us are the work of your hand.
⁹ Don’t rage so fiercely, Lord;
    don’t hold our sins against us forever,
    but gaze now on your people, all of us:
¹⁰     Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a wasteland.
¹¹ Our holy, glorious house,
    where our ancestors praised you,
    has gone up in flames;
    all that we treasured has become a ruin.
¹² After all this, will you hold back, Lord?
    Will you keep silent and torment us so terribly?

⁸ The Lord proclaims:
As new wine is found in the grape cluster,
    and someone says, “Don’t destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,”
    so I will do for the sake of my servants
    and not destroy everything:
⁹ I will bring out offspring from Jacob,
    and from Judah, heirs to my mountains.
My chosen ones will take possession;
    my servants will dwell there.
¹⁰ Sharon will become a pasture for sheep,
    and the Achor Valley a resting place for cattle,
    for my people who seek me.
¹¹ But you who abandon the Lord,
        who forget my holy mountain,
        who set a table for a god of good fortune,
        and fill cups of mixed wine for a god of fate:
¹²     I will offer you to the sword.
        You will all bow down for slaughter,
        because I called and you didn’t answer;
        I spoke and you wouldn’t hear.
        You did what I considered evil,
        and chose what I didn’t want.
¹³ Therefore, the Lord God says:
    Look, my servants will eat, but you will hunger.
    My servants will drink, but you will thirst.
    My servants will rejoice, but you will be ashamed.
¹⁴     My servants will sing with contented hearts,
    but you will cry out from heartache;
    with broken spirits you will wail.
¹⁵ You will leave your name behind for my chosen ones to curse:
    “May the Lord God kill you!
    May he call his servants by a different name!”
¹⁶ Those who pronounce a blessing in the land
    will do so by the God called Amen;
    those who make a solemn pledge in the land will do so by the God called Amen.^[m]
Past troubles will be forgotten
    and hidden from my sight.