Isaiah 59-61

Contemporary English Version

Social Injustice Is Condemned

59 The Lord hasn't lost
    his powerful strength;
he can still hear
    and answer prayers.
²Your sins are the roadblock
    between you and your God.
That's why he doesn't answer
your prayers
    or let you see his face.

³Your talk is filled with lies
    and plans for violence;
every finger on your hands
    is covered with blood.
⁴You falsely accuse others
    and tell lies in court;
sin and trouble are the names
    of your children.
⁵You eat the deadly eggs
    of poisonous snakes,
and more snakes crawl out
    from the eggs left to hatch.
You weave spider webs,
⁶but you can't make clothes
    with those webs
    or hide behind them.

You're sinful and brutal.
⁷^(A) You hurry off to do wrong
    or murder innocent victims.
All you think about is sin;
you leave ruin and destruction
    wherever you go.
⁸You don't know how
to live in peace
    or to be fair with others.
The roads you make are crooked;
your followers cannot find peace.

The People Confess Their Sins

⁹No one has come to defend us
    or to bring about justice.
We hoped for a day of sunshine,
but all we found
    was a dark, gloomy night.
¹⁰We feel our way along,
    as if we were blind;
we stumble at noon,
    as if it were night.
We can see no better
    than someone dead.^[a]

¹¹We growl like bears
    and mourn like doves.
We hope for justice and victory,
    but they escape us.
¹²How often have we sinned
and turned against you,
    the Lord God?
Our sins condemn us!
    We have done wrong.
¹³We have rebelled and refused
    to follow you.
Our hearts were deceitful,
    and so we lied;
we planned to abuse others
    and turn our backs on you.

¹⁴Injustice is everywhere;
    justice seems far away.
Truth is chased out of court;
    honesty is shoved aside.
¹⁵Everyone tells lies;
those who turn from crime
    end up ruined.

The Lord Will Rescue His People

When the Lord noticed
that justice had disappeared,
    he became very displeased.
¹⁶^(B) It disgusted him even more
to learn that no one
    would do a thing about it.
So with his own powerful arm,
    he won victories for truth.
¹⁷^(C) Justice was the Lord's armor;
    saving power was his helmet;
anger and revenge
    were his clothes.

¹⁸Now the Lord will get furious
    and do to his enemies,
both near and far,
    what they did to his people.
¹⁹He will attack like a flood
    in a mighty windstorm.
Nations in the west and the east
will then honor and praise
    his wonderful name.
²⁰^(D) The Lord has promised to rescue
    the city of Zion
and Jacob's descendants
    who turn from sin.

²¹The Lord says: “My people,
I promise to give you my Spirit
and my message.
These will be my gifts to you
and your families forever.
I, the Lord, have spoken.”

A New Day for Jerusalem

60 Jerusalem, stand up! Shine!
    Your new day is dawning.
The glory of the Lord
    shines brightly on you.
²The earth and its people
    are covered with darkness,
but the glory of the Lord
    is shining upon you.
³Nations and kings
will come to the light
    of your dawning day.

Crowds Are Coming to Jerusalem

The Lord said:

⁴^(E) Open your eyes! Look around!
    Crowds are coming.
Your sons are on their way
    from distant lands;
your daughters are being carried
    like little children.
⁵When you see this,
    your faces will glow;
your hearts will pound
    and swell with pride.^[b]
Treasures from across the sea
and the wealth of nations
    will be brought to you.
⁶Your country will be covered
with caravans of young camels
    from Midian and Ephah.^[c]
The people of Sheba^[d]
will bring gold and spices
    in praise of me, the Lord.
⁷Every sheep of Kedar
    will come to you;
rams from Nebaioth^[e]
    will be yours as well.
I will accept them as offerings
    and bring honor to my temple.

⁸What is that sailing by
like clouds
    or like doves flying home?
⁹On those distant islands
your people are waiting
    for me, the Lord.^[f]
Seagoing ships^[g] lead the way
to bring them home
    with their silver and gold.
I, the holy Lord God of Israel,
do this to honor your people,
    so they will honor me.

Jerusalem Will Be Rebuilt

The Lord said:

¹⁰Jerusalem, your city walls
    will be rebuilt by foreigners;
their rulers will become
    your slaves.
I punished you in my anger;
now I will be kind
    and treat you with mercy.

¹¹^(F) Your gates will be open
    day and night
to let the rulers of nations
lead their people to you
    with all their treasures.
¹²Any nation or kingdom
that refuses to serve you
    will be wiped out.
¹³Wood from Lebanon's best trees
will be brought to you—
    the pines, the firs,
    and the cypress trees.
It will be used in my temple
to make beautiful the place
    where I rest my feet.

¹⁴^(G) The descendants of enemies
who hated and mistreated you
will kneel at your feet.
They will say, “You are Zion,
the city of the Lord,
the holy One of Israel.”

¹⁵You were hated and deserted,
    rejected by everyone.
But I will make you beautiful,
a city to be proud of
    for all time to come.
¹⁶You will drain the wealth
    of kings and foreign nations.
You will know that I,
the mighty Lord God of Israel,
    have saved and rescued you.

¹⁷I will bring bronze and iron
    in place of wood and stone;
in place of bronze and iron,
    I will bring gold and silver.
I will appoint peace and justice
    as your rulers and leaders.
¹⁸Violence, destruction, and ruin
will never again be heard of
    within your borders.
“Victory” will be the name
    you give to your walls;
“Praise” will be the name
    you give to your gates.

¹⁹^(H) You won't need the light
    of the sun or the moon.
I, the Lord your God,
will be your eternal light
    and bring you honor.
²⁰Your sun will never set
    or your moon go down.
I, the Lord, will be
    your everlasting light,
and your days of sorrow
    will come to an end.
²¹Your people will live right
    and always own the land;
they are the trees I planted
    to bring praise to me.
²²Even the smallest family
    will be a powerful nation.
I am the Lord,
and when the time comes,
    I will quickly do all this.

The Good News of Victory

61 ^(I)^(J) The Spirit of the Lord God
    has taken control of me!
The Lord has chosen and sent me
to tell the oppressed
    the good news,
to heal the brokenhearted,
and to announce freedom
    for prisoners and captives.
²^(K) This is the year
    when the Lord God
will show kindness to us
    and punish our enemies.

The Lord has sent me
to comfort those who mourn,
³    especially in Jerusalem.
He sent me to give them flowers
    in place of their sorrow,
olive oil in place of tears,
and joyous praise
    in place of broken hearts.
They will be called
    “Trees of Justice,”
planted by the Lord
    to honor his name.
⁴Then they will rebuild cities
that have been in ruins
    for many generations.

⁵They will hire foreigners
to take care of their sheep
    and their vineyards.
⁶But they themselves will be
priests and servants
    of the Lord our God.
The treasures of the nations
will belong to them,
    and they will be famous.^[h]
⁷They were terribly insulted
    and horribly mistreated;
now they will be greatly blessed
    and joyful forever.

The Lord Loves Justice

⁸I, the Lord, love justice!
But I hate robbery
    and injustice.^[i]
My people, I solemnly promise
to reward you
    with an eternal agreement.
⁹Your descendants will be known
    in every nation.
All who see them will realize
that they have been blessed,
    by me, the Lord.

Celebrate and Shout

¹⁰^(L) I celebrate and shout
    because of my Lord God.
His saving power and justice
    are the very clothes I wear.
They are more beautiful
than the jewelry worn
    by a bride or groom.
¹¹The Lord will bring about
justice and praise
    in every nation on earth,
like flowers blooming
    in a garden.

Footnotes

59.10 We can … dead: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
60.5 swell with pride: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
60.6 Midian … Ephah: Midian was the ancestor of a nomadic tribe of the Arabian desert, east of the Gulf of Aqaba. Ephah was a clan within the tribe of Midian.
60.6 Sheba: Perhaps a place in what is now southwest Arabia. The Queen of Sheba brought gifts to Solomon (1 Kings 10.1-13).
60.7 Kedar … Nebaioth: Regions in northern Arabia.
60.9 On … Lord: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
60.9 Seagoing ships: See the note at 2.16.
61.6 and … famous: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
61.8 But … injustice: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

2 Thessalonians 3

Contemporary English Version

Pray for Us

3 Finally, our friends, please pray for us. This will help the message about the Lord to spread quickly, and others will respect it, just as you do. ²Pray that we may be kept safe from worthless and evil people. After all, not everyone has faith. ³But the Lord can be trusted to make you strong and protect you from harm. ⁴He has made us sure that you are obeying what we taught you and that you will keep on obeying. ⁵I pray that the Lord will guide you to be as loving as God and as patient as Christ.

Warnings against Laziness

⁶My dear friends, in the name of^[a] the Lord Jesus, I beg you not to have anything to do with any of your people who loaf around and refuse to obey the instructions we gave you. ⁷You surely know that you should follow our example. We didn't waste our time loafing, ⁸and we didn't accept food from anyone without paying for it. We didn't want to be a burden to any of you, so night and day we worked as hard as we could.

⁹We had the right not to work, but we wanted to set an example for you. ¹⁰We also gave you this rule: If you don't work, you don't eat. ¹¹Now we learn that some of you just loaf around and won't do any work, except the work of a busybody. ¹²So, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask and beg these people to settle down and start working for a living. ¹³Dear friends, you must never become tired of doing right.

¹⁴Be on your guard against any followers who refuse to obey what we have written in this letter. Put them to shame by not having anything to do with them. ¹⁵Don't consider them your enemies. Instead, speak kindly to them as you would to any other follower.