Beginning
Guilt Separates People From God
59
Listen to me! The Lord’s arm is not too short to save,
and his ear is not too deaf to hear.
2 No, it is your guilt that has separated you from your God,
and your sins have hidden God’s face from you,
so that he does not hear.
3 Look, your hands are polluted with blood,
and your fingers drip guilt.
Your lips speak lies.
Your tongue mutters dishonesty.
4 No one calls for justice,
and no one argues his cases honestly.
They rely on empty arguments and commit perjury!
They conceive trouble and give birth to wickedness!
5 They hatch viper eggs,
and they weave spider webs.
Anyone who eats their eggs will die,
and a cracked egg hatches into a venomous snake.
6 They cannot make a garment from their webs,
and they will not be able to cover themselves with their deeds.
Their deeds are evil deeds,
and violent actions fill their hands.
7 Their feet run to do evil,
and they hurry to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are futile[a] thoughts.
Destruction and ruin are the destination of their highways.
8 They do not know the road to peace,
and there is no justice on the route they follow.
They made crooked paths for themselves.
No one who walks on them will experience peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We hope for light, but look, there is only darkness.
We hope for bright light, but we walk around in the darkest gloom.
10 We grope along a wall like blind men.
We grope like people with no eyes.
We stumble at noon as if it were twilight.
Among the healthy, we are like dead men.
11 We growl like bears—all of us—
and like doves we always mourn.
We hope for justice, but there is none.
We hope for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 Yes, our rebellious deeds are many before you,
and our sins testify against us.
Our rebellious deeds are with us,
and as for our guilty deeds, we are aware of them.
13 Those deeds are rebellion and treachery against the Lord.
We turn back from following our God.
We incite oppression and apostasy.
We conceive and mutter deceitful words from our hearts.
14 Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away,
for truth stumbles in the city square,
and honesty cannot enter it.
15 The truth is missing,
and anyone who turns from evil makes himself prey.[b]
The Lord looked and saw something evil—
there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no one.
He was appalled that there was no one who could intervene.
So his own arm worked salvation for him,
and his own righteousness supported him.
17 He clothed himself with righteousness like armor
and wore a helmet of salvation on his head.
He dressed in garments for vengeance,
and he wrapped himself with zeal like a cloak.
18 He will repay in full what they have earned,
namely, wrath to his foes and full payment to his enemies.
He will repay even the distant coastlands.
19 From the west they will fear the Lord’s name,
and from the rising of the sun they will fear his glory,
for he will come like a raging river,
driven by the Spirit[c] of the Lord.
20 Then a redeemer will come for Zion
and for those in Jacob who turn from rebellion.
This is the declaration of the Lord.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord. My Spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouth of your offspring or from the mouth of their offspring, from this time forward and forever, says the Lord.
A New Day Dawns for Zion
60
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord is dawning upon you.
2 Look, darkness covers the earth,
and deep darkness covers the peoples,
but the Lord will dawn upon you,
and his glory will be seen over you.
3 Nations will walk to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
4 Look up. Look all around and see!
All of them have been gathered. They are coming to you.
Your sons will come from far away,
and people will carry your daughters on their side.
5 Then you will look and be radiant.
Your heart will race with excitement and burst with joy.
For great riches from the sea will be delivered to you.
The wealth of the nations will come to you.
6 Caravans of camels will cover your land,
young camels from Midian and Ephah.
All those from Sheba will come.
They will carry gold and incense,
and they will announce the good news of the praise of the Lord.
7 All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you.
Rams from Nebaioth will serve as sacrifices for you.
They will be accepted as burnt offerings on my altar,
and I will beautify my splendid house.
8 Who are these who fly along like a cloud,
who fly like doves to their coops?
9 Yes, the coastlands will wait for me with hope,
and the ships of Tarshish will be the first
to bring your children from far away.
They will have their silver and gold with them,
for the name of the Lord your God
and for the Holy One of Israel,
because he makes you beautiful.
10 Then foreigners will rebuild your walls,
and their kings will serve you,
because in my wrath I struck you,
but in my favor I had mercy on you.
11 Then your gates will always remain open.
Day and night they will not be shut,
in order to bring you the wealth of the nations,
and their kings will be led in procession.
12 For the nation and the kingdom that do not serve you will perish.
Such nations will be completely devastated.
13 The glory of Lebanon will come to you:
the fir, the maple, and the pine tree together.
They will beautify my holy place,
and I will glorify my footstool.
14 Then the children of your oppressors will walk up to you and bow down.
All who despise you will fall down under the soles of your feet,
and they will call you the city of the Lord,
Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 You were abandoned and hated, with no one walking through you,
but now I will make you a source of everlasting pride,
a joy from generation to generation.
16 You will nurse on the milk of the nations,
and you will nurse at the breast of kings.
You will know that I am the Lord, your Savior,
and that your Redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold.
Instead of iron I will bring silver,
instead of wood, copper,
and instead of stones, iron.
And I will make peace your overseer,
and righteousness your strong ruler.
18 Violence will never again be heard in your land,
nor destruction and ruin in your boundaries.
Instead, you will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
19 The sun will never again be your light by day,
and the moon will not shine to provide brightness for you,
for the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your splendor.
20 Your sun will never again set,
and your moon will not wane,
because the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and the days of your mourning will be over.
21 As for your people, all of them will be righteous.
They will inherit the earth forever.
They are shoots I have planted,
the work of my hands, to display my beauty.
22 The smallest will become an army of a thousand,
and the least will become a powerful nation.
I am the Lord.
When the time is right, I will do it quickly.
The Fifth Servant Song
The Spirit Anoints Him[d]
61
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the afflicted.
He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release for those who are bound,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance for our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion,
to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
a cloak of praise instead of a faint spirit,
so that they will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord to display his beauty.
The Result of the Servant’s Work
4 Then they will rebuild ancient ruins.
They will raise up what was formerly devastated,
and they will renew ruined cities,
which have been devastated for generations.
5 Strangers will stand and shepherd your flock,
and foreigners will be your farmers and vinedressers.
6 You will be called the Lord’s priests.
You will be named ministers of our God.
You will eat the wealth of nations,
and you will boast about their riches.
7 In place of your shame, you will receive a double portion.
Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their share of the land.
In fact, in their land they will inherit a double portion.
Everlasting joy will be theirs.
8 Yes, I am the Lord. I love justice.
I hate robbery in a burnt offering.[e]
I will repay them in faithfulness,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring will be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples.
All who see them will recognize
that they are offspring whom the Lord has blessed.
10 I will rejoice greatly in the Lord.
My soul will celebrate because of my God,
for he has clothed me in garments of salvation.
With a robe of righteousness he covered me,
like a bridegroom who wears a beautiful headdress like a priest,
and like a bride who adorns herself with her jewelry.
11 For as the earth produces its growth,
and as a garden causes what has been sown to sprout up,
so God the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up
in the presence of all the nations.
For Zion’s Sake, Cry Out
62
For the sake of Zion I will not be silent.
For the sake of Jerusalem I will not be quiet,
until her righteousness goes forth shining brightly,
and her salvation burns like a torch.
2 Nations will see your righteousness,
and all kings will see your glory.
You will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will assign to you.
3 Then you will be a beautiful crown in the Lord’s hand,
and a royal diadem in the palm of your God.
4 You will never again be called Abandoned,[f]
and your land will never again be called Desolation,[g]
for you will be called My Delight Is in Her,[h]
and your land will be called Married,[i]
because the Lord delights in you,
and your land will be married.
5 For just as a young man marries a virgin,
your sons will marry[j] you,
and just as a bridegroom rejoices over a bride,
your God will rejoice over you.
6 Upon your walls, Jerusalem, I appointed watchmen.
All day and all night they will never be silent.
You who keep reminding the Lord, do not rest!
7 Do not give him rest
until he establishes Jerusalem,
and he causes her to be praised on the earth.
8 The Lord swore by his right hand
and by his strong arm:
I will certainly never again give up your grain as food
for your enemies,
and foreigners will not drink the sweet new wine you worked for.
9 For those who pick fruit will eat it, and they will praise the Lord,
and those who harvest grapes will drink in my holy courtyards.
10 Go through, go through the gates.
Prepare a way for the people.
Build up, build up the highway.
Clear it of stones.
Raise a banner for the peoples.
11 Listen, the Lord is making a proclamation to the end of the earth.
Tell the daughter of Zion:
“Look, your salvation is coming.
Look, his reward is with him,
and his compensation is out in front of him.”[k]
12 Then they will be called holy people,
the redeemed of the Lord.
Then you will be called Sought After,
A City Not Abandoned.
The Day of Vengeance
The Prophet’s Question
63
Who is this coming from Edom, with bright red garments?
Who is this coming from Bozrah, clothed majestically,
marching out[l] with great strength?
The Servant’s Response
It is I, the one who speaks in righteousness.
It is I, the one who is mighty to save.
The Prophet’s Question
2 Why is your clothing so red?
Why are your garments like those of someone
who has been trampling grapes in a winepress?
The Servant’s Response
3 I have trodden the winepress alone,
and from the peoples there was no one with me.
So I stomped on them in my anger,
and I trampled them in my wrath,
and their juice splattered on my garments.
I stained all my clothing.
4 For the day for vengeance was in my heart,
and the year for my redemption has come.
5 I looked intently but there was no helper.
I was shocked that no one supported me.
My arm delivered me,
and my wrath supported me.
6 I trampled the peoples in my anger.
I made them drunk in my wrath,
and I will pour out their juice[m] onto the ground.
Isaiah’s Announcement
7 I will tell about the Lord’s mercies,
about the praises of the Lord,
about all that the Lord has done for us,
about his great goodness to the house of Israel,
which he performed for them according to his abundant compassion,
and according to his great mercy.
8 He said, “Surely they are my people,
children who will not deal falsely,”
so he became their Savior.
9 In all their anguish he felt anguish,[n]
and the Angel of his Presence saved them.
In his love and in his pity he himself redeemed them,
and he took them up and carried them all the days of old.
10 But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit,
so he turned against them and became an enemy.
He himself fought against them.
11 Yet he remembered the days of old,
the days of Moses and his people.
Isaiah’s Plea
Where is the one who brought them up from the sea,
with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is the one who set his Holy Spirit in their midst,
12 who sent his majestic arm to the right hand of Moses,
who divided waters before them
to make an everlasting name for himself,
13 who let them walk through the depths?
Like a horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble.
14 Like cattle that descend into a valley,
they were given rest by the Lord’s Spirit.
This is how you led your people
to make a majestic name for yourself.
15 Gaze down from the heavens and see,
from your holy and beautiful dwelling place.
Where is your zeal and your might?
The feelings of your heart and your compassion
are withheld from me.
16 But you are our Father,
though Abraham does not know us,
though Israel does not acknowledge us.
You, the Lord, are our Father.
Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.
17 Why do you cause us to wander from your ways, Lord?
Why do you harden our heart so that we do not fear you?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes that are your heritage.
18 For a short time your holy people possessed the land.
Now our adversaries have trampled your sanctuary.
19 We have been your people from ancient times,
but you have not ruled over the other nations.
They were not called by your name.[o]
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.