Bible in 90 Days
The Suffering Servant
13 See, My servant shall deal prudently;
he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
14 Just as many were astonished at you,
his visage was so marred, more than any man,
and his form more than the sons of men;
15 so he shall sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths at him;
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard they shall consider.
53 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before Him as a tender plant
and as a root out of a dry ground.
He has no form or majesty that we should look upon him
nor appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected of men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from him;
he was despised, and we did not esteem him.
4 Surely he has borne our grief
and carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
the chastisement of our peace was upon him,
and by his stripes we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray;
each of us has turned to his own way,
but the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away,
and who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was struck.
9 His grave was assigned with the wicked,
yet with the rich in his death,
because he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; He has put him to grief.
If he made himself as an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days,
and the good pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the anguish of his soul
and be satisfied.
By his knowledge My righteous servant shall justify the many,
for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death,
and he was numbered with the transgressors,
thus he bore the sin of many
and made intercession for the transgressors.
The Covenant of Peace
54 Sing, O barren,
you who did not bear a child.
Break forth into singing and cry aloud,
you who did not travail with child.
For more are the children of the desolate
than the children of the married wife,
says the Lord.
2 Enlarge the place of your tent,
and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations;
spare not,
lengthen your cords,
and strengthen your stakes.
3 For you shall spread out to the right hand and to the left,
and your descendants shall inherit the nations
and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
4 Do not fear, for you shall not be ashamed nor be humiliated;
for you shall not be put to shame,
for you shall forget the shame of your youth
and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
5 For your Maker is your husband,
the Lord of Hosts is His name;
and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He shall be called the God of the whole earth.
6 For the Lord has called you
as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
and a wife of youth
when you were refused, says your God.
7 For a small moment I have forsaken you,
but with great mercies I will gather you.
8 In a little wrath
I hid My face from you for a moment;
but with everlasting kindness
I will have mercy on you,
says the Lord your Redeemer.
9 For this is as the waters of Noah to Me;
for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no longer cover the earth,
so I have sworn that I would not be wrathful with you
nor rebuke you.
10 For the mountains may be removed,
and the hills may shake,
but My kindness shall not depart from you,
nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,
says the Lord who has mercy on you.
11 O afflicted one, tossed with tempest and not comforted,
I will lay your stones with fair colors
and lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your windows of agates,
and your gates of crystal,
and all your borders of precious stones.
13 All your sons shall be taught of the Lord,
and great shall be the peace of your sons.
14 In righteousness you shall be established;
you shall be far from oppression,
for you shall not fear,
and from terror,
for it shall not come near you.
15 Indeed they shall surely assail you fiercely, but not from Me.
Whoever assails you shall fall for your sake.
16 See, I have created the smith
that blows the coals in the fire
and who brings forth an instrument for his work;
and I have created the destroyer in order to cause ruin.
17 No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper,
and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment, you shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
and their vindication is from Me,
says the Lord.
The Invitation to the Waters
55 Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good,
and let your soul delight itself in abundance.
3 Incline your ear, and come to Me.
Listen, so that your soul may live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
even the sure mercies of David.
4 See, I have given him as a witness to the people,
a leader and commander to the people.
5 Surely you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and nations that did not know you shall run to you
because of the Lord your God,
even the Holy One of Israel;
for He has glorified you.
6 Seek the Lord while He may be found,
call you upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him,
and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways My ways,
says the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain comes down,
and the snow from heaven,
and do not return there
but water the earth
and make it bring forth and bud
that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
it shall not return to Me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
12 For you shall go out with joy,
and be led out with peace;
the mountains and the hills
shall break forth into singing before you,
and all the trees of the field
shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree,
and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
for an everlasting sign
that shall not be cut off.
Salvation for the Nations
56 Thus says the Lord:
Preserve justice
and do righteousness,
for My salvation is about to come
and My righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man who does this,
and the son of man who takes hold of it,
who keeps from polluting the Sabbath
and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
3 Do not let the son of the foreigner
who has joined himself to the Lord
speak, saying,
“The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”;
do not let the eunuch say,
“I am only a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
and choose the things that please Me,
and take hold of My covenant,
5 to them I will give in My house and within My walls
a memorial, and a name
better than that of sons and of daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
6 Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord
to serve Him,
and to love the name of the Lord,
and to be His servants,
to everyone who keeps from polluting the Sabbath
and takes hold of My covenant,
7 even them I will bring to My holy mountain
and make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
shall be accepted on My altar;
for My house shall be called
a house of prayer for all people.
8 The Lord God
who gathers the outcasts of Israel says,
Yet I will gather others to them
besides those who already are gathered to him.
God Accuses the Wicked
9 All you beasts of the field,
all you beasts in the forest, come to devour.
10 His watchmen are blind;
they all are ignorant;
they all are dumb dogs,
unable to bark;
sleepers lying down,
who love to slumber.
11 They are greedy dogs
which can never have enough,
and they are shepherds who cannot understand;
they all turn to their own way,
every one for his gain, from his territory.
12 “Come,” they say, “let us get wine,
and let us fill ourselves with strong drink;
and tomorrow shall be as today,
only more so.”
Israel’s Futile Idolatry
57 The righteous man perishes,
and no man lays it to heart;
and merciful men are taken away
while no one understands,
for the righteous man is taken away
from the evil to come.
2 He shall enter into peace;
they shall rest in their beds,
each one walking in his uprightness.
3 But draw near to here, you sons of a sorceress,
offspring of an adulterer and prostitute.
4 Whom do you mock?
Against whom do you open wide your mouth
and stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of transgression,
offspring of falsehood,
5 inflaming yourselves with idols
under every green tree,
slaying the children in the valleys
under the clefts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion;
they are your lot.
Even to them you have poured out a drink offering;
you have offered a grain offering.
Should I relent concerning these things?
7 On a lofty and high mountain you have set your bed;
even there you went up to offer sacrifice.
8 Behind the doors and the doorposts
you have set up your memorial;
far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself;
you have enlarged your bed and made a covenant with them;
you have loved their bed,
you have looked on their nakedness.
9 You went to the king with ointment,
and increased your perfumes,
and sent your messengers far off,
and made them go down to Sheol.
10 You were wearied by the length of your road;
yet you did not say, “There is no hope.”
You have found renewed strength;
therefore, you did not faint.
11 Of whom were you afraid or fearful
when you lied
and you did not remember Me,
nor give Me a thought?
Have I not held My peace for a long time
so that you do not fear Me?
12 I will declare your righteousness, and your works,
yet they shall not profit you.
13 When you cry out,
let your collection of idols deliver you.
But the wind shall carry them all away,
a breath shall take them away.
But he who puts his trust in Me
shall possess the land
and shall inherit My holy mountain.
Healing for the Contrite
14 And it shall be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
take up every stumbling block out of the way of My people.”
15 For thus says the High and Lofty One
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place
and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
16 For I will not contend forever,
nor will I always be angry;
for the spirit would grow faint before Me,
and the souls whom I have made.
17 For the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him;
I hid My face and was wrathful,
and he went on turning away in the way of his heart.
18 I have seen his ways but will heal him;
I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,
19 by creating the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,
says the Lord, and I will heal him.
20 But the wicked are like the troubled
sea when it cannot rest,
whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
21 There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.
The Chosen Fast
58 Cry aloud, do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet,
and show My people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek Me daily
and delight to know My ways,
as a nation that has done righteousness
and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for the ordinances of justice;
they take delight in approaching God.
3 “Why have we fasted
and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves
and You take no notice?”
Certainly, on the day of your fast you find your desire
and are exacting on all your laborers.
4 Certainly, you fast for strife and debate
and to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You do not fast as you do this day,
to make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen,
a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast
and an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the heavy burdens,
and to let the oppressed go free,
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
and bring the poor who are outcasts into your house?
When you see the naked, to cover him
and not hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then your light shall break forth as the morning,
and your healing shall spring forth quickly,
and your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your reward.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord shall answer;
you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am.
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 and if you give yourself to the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted soul,
then your light shall rise in obscurity,
and your darkness shall become as the noonday.
11 And the Lord shall guide you continually,
and satisfy your soul in drought,
and strengthen your bones;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
12 Those from among you shall rebuild the old waste places;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
and you shall be called, the Repairer of the Breach,
the Restorer of Paths in which to Dwell.
13 If because of the Sabbath you turn away your foot
from doing your pleasure on My holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight,
the holy day of the Lord honorable,
and honor it, not doing your own ways,
nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,
14 then you shall delight yourself in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth,
and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
The Consequence of Sin
59 Certainly, the hand of the Lord is not so short that it cannot save,
nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have made a separation between
you and your God,
and your sins have hidden His face from you
so that He will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue has muttered perverseness.
4 No one calls for justice,
nor does anyone plead for truth.
They trust in vanity and speak lies;
they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs
and weave the spider’s web;
he who eats of their eggs dies,
and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
6 Their webs shall not become garments,
nor shall they cover themselves with their works;
their works are works of iniquity,
and an act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
devastation and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their ways;
they have made their paths crooked;
whoever walks in them does not know peace.
The Confession of Sin
9 Therefore, justice is far from us,
nor does righteousness overtake us;
we wait for light, but there is darkness,
for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope along the wall like the blind,
and we grope as if we had no eyes;
we stumble at noonday as in the night;
among those who are vigorous, we are as dead men.
11 We all roar like bears
and mourn sadly like doves;
we look for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before You,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us.
And as for our iniquities, we know them:
13 transgressing, and lying against the Lord,
and departing away from our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 Justice is turned backward,
and righteousness stands far off;
for truth is fallen in the street,
and equity cannot enter.
15 Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Redeemer of Zion
Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him
that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man
and was astonished that there was no intercessor;
therefore, His own arm brought salvation to Him,
and His righteousness sustained Him.
17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate
and a helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing
and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds,
accordingly He will repay:
fury to His adversaries,
recompense to His enemies;
to the islands He will make recompense.
19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west
and His glory from the rising of the sun;
when the enemy shall come in like a flood,
the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
20 The Redeemer shall come to Zion
and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,
says 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 have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your descendants, nor out of the mouth of your descendants’ descendants, says the Lord, from this time forth and forever.
The Glory of Zion
60 Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 For the darkness shall cover the earth
and deep darkness the peoples;
but the Lord shall rise upon you,
and His glory shall be seen upon you.
3 The nations shall come to your light
and kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 Lift up your eyes all around, and see:
They all gather themselves together; they come to you;
your sons shall come from afar,
and your daughters shall be carried at your side.
5 Then you shall see and be radiant,
and your heart shall thrill and rejoice
because the abundance of the sea shall be converted to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6 The multitude of camels shall cover your land,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come;
they shall bring gold and incense
and shall bear good news of the praises of the Lord.
7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you,
the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
they shall come up with acceptance on My altar,
and I will glorify My glorious house.
8 Who are these who fly as a cloud
and as the doves to their roosts?
9 Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me,
and the ships of Tarshish shall come first,
to bring your sons from afar,
their silver and their gold with them,
to the name of the Lord your God
and to the Holy One of Israel
because He has glorified you.
10 The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls,
and their kings shall minister to you;
for in My wrath I struck you,
but in My favor I have had mercy on you.
11 Therefore, your gates shall be open continually;
they shall not be shut day nor night,
so that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations,
and that their kings may be brought.
12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish,
and those nations shall be utterly destroyed.
13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box tree together,
to beautify the place of My sanctuary;
and I will make the place of My feet glorious.
14 The sons also of those who afflicted you shall come bowing before you,
and all those who despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet;
and they shall call you, The City of the Lord,
the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 Whereas you have been forsaken
and hated so that no man went through you,
I will make you an eternal excellency,
a joy of many generations.
16 You shall also suck the milk of the nations
and suck the breast of kings;
then you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
and instead of iron I will bring silver;
and instead of wood, bronze;
and instead of stones, iron.
I will also make your officers peace
and your exactors righteousness.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
nor devastation or destruction within your borders;
but you shall call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
19 The sun shall no longer be your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you;
but the Lord shall be an everlasting light to you
and your God for your glory.
20 Your sun shall no more go down,
nor shall your moon wane;
for the Lord shall be your everlasting light,
and the days of your mourning shall end.
21 Then all your people shall be righteous;
they shall inherit the land forever,
the branch of My planting,
the work of My hands,
that I may be glorified.
22 A little one shall become a thousand,
and a small one a strong nation.
I, the Lord,
will hasten it in its time.
The Lord’s Favor
61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor;
He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn,
3 to preserve those who mourn in Zion,
to give to them beauty
for ashes,
the oil of joy
for mourning,
the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord,
that He might be glorified.
4 They shall build the old ruins;
they shall raise up the former desolations,
and they shall repair the waste cities,
the desolations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But you shall be named the priests of the Lord;
men shall call you the ministers of our God.
You shall eat the riches of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame
you shall have double honor,
and instead of humiliation
they shall rejoice over their portion.
Therefore, in their land they shall possess a double portion;
everlasting joy shall be theirs.
8 For I, the Lord, love justice,
I hate robbery in the burnt offering;
and I will faithfully give them their recompense
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them shall acknowledge them
because they are the descendants whom the Lord has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my soul shall be joyful in my God;
for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth her buds,
and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring forth before all the nations.
The Salvation of Zion
62 For the sake of Zion I will not keep silent,
and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest
until her righteousness goes forth as brightness
and her salvation as a lamp that burns.
2 The nations shall see your righteousness,
and all kings your glory.
And you shall be called by a new name,
which the mouth of the Lord shall name.
3 You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
nor shall your land be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My Delight Is In Her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a virgin,
so your sons shall marry you;
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so your God shall rejoice over you.
6 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem,
who shall never hold their peace day nor night.
You who remind the Lord,
do not keep silent;
7 give Him no rest until He establishes
and makes Jerusalem a glory in the earth.
8 The Lord has sworn by His right hand
and by His strong arm:
Surely I will no longer give your grain
as food for your enemies;
and the sons of the foreigners shall not drink your wine
for which you have labored.
9 But those who have gathered it shall eat it
and praise the Lord;
and those who have brought it shall drink it
in the courts of My sanctuary.
10 Go through, go through the gates.
Prepare the way of the people;
build up, build up the highway.
Remove the stones;
lift up a standard over the peoples.
11 The Lord has proclaimed
to the ends of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
“See, your salvation comes;
see, His reward is with Him,
and His recompense before Him.”
12 They shall call them The Holy People,
the Redeemed of the Lord;
and you shall be called Sought Out,
a City Not Forsaken.
The Revenge of God
63 “Who is this who comes from Edom
with dyed garments from Bozrah?
This one who is glorious in His apparel,
traveling in the greatness of His strength?”
“It is I who speak in righteousness,
mighty to save.”
2 “Why is Your apparel red,
and Your garments like him who treads in the wine vat?”
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone;
and from the peoples there was no one with Me.
For I will tread them in My anger,
and trample them in My fury,
and their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments,
and I will stain all My raiment.
4 For the day of vengeance is in My heart,
and My year of redemption has come.
5 I looked and there was no one to help,
and I was astonished, and there was no one to uphold;
therefore, My own arm brought salvation to Me;
and My fury upheld Me.
6 I will tread down the peoples in My anger
and make them drunk in My fury,
and I will pour out their lifeblood on the earth.”
The Mercy of God Remembered
7 I will mention the steadfast love of the Lord
and the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us,
and the great goodness toward the house of Israel,
which He has bestowed on them
according to His mercy,
and according to the multitude of His kindnesses.
8 For He said, “Surely they are My people,
sons who will not lie.”
So He became their Savior.
9 In all their affliction He was afflicted,
and the angel of His presence saved them;
in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them;
and He lifted them and carried them
all the days of old.
10 But they rebelled
and grieved His Holy Spirit;
therefore, He turned Himself to be their enemy,
and He fought against them.
11 Then His people remembered the days of old,
of Moses, saying:
Where is He who brought them up out of the sea
with the shepherds of His flock?
Where is He who put
His Holy Spirit in their midst,
12 who led them with His glorious arm
by the right hand of Moses,
dividing the water before them,
to make Himself an everlasting name,
13 who led them through the deep,
as a horse in the wilderness,
that they should not stumble?
14 As the cattle which go down into the valley,
the Spirit of the Lord caused them to rest,
so You led Your people,
to make Yourself a glorious name.
A Prayer of Penitence
15 Look down from heaven and see,
from Your holy and glorious habitation.
Where are Your zeal and Your strength?
The stirrings of Your heart and Your mercies toward me are restrained.
16 For You are our Father,
though Abraham is ignorant of us
and Israel does not recognize us.
You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer;
Your name is from everlasting.
17 O Lord, why have You made us to err from Your ways
and hardened our heart from fearing You?
Return for Your servants’ sake,
the tribes of Your inheritance.
18 Your holy people possessed Your sanctuary for a little while;
our adversaries have trodden it down.
19 We have become
as those over whom You have never ruled,
as those who were not called by Your name.
64 Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might shake at Your presence,
2 as when the melting fire burns,
as the fire causes the waters to boil,
to make Your name known to Your adversaries,
that the nations may tremble at Your presence!
3 When You did awesome things for which we did not look,
You came down; the mountains quaked at Your presence.
4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard,
nor perceived by ear,
neither has the eye seen a God besides You,
who acts for the one who waits for Him.
5 You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness,
those who remember You in Your ways.
Indeed, You were angry, for we had sinned;
in our sins we remained a long time,
and shall we be saved?
6 But we all are as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousness is as filthy rags;
and we all fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
7 There is no one who calls on Your name,
who stirs up himself to take hold of You;
for You have hidden Your face from us
and have consumed us because of our iniquities.
8 But now, O Lord, You are our Father;
we are the clay, and You are our potter;
and we all are the work of Your hand.
9 Do not be wrathful beyond measure, O Lord,
nor remember iniquity forever;
look upon us, we pray,
we all are Your people.
10 Your holy cities are a wilderness;
Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and beautiful house where our fathers praised You
is burned up with fire;
and all our precious things are laid waste.
12 Will You refrain Yourself from these things, O Lord?
Will You hold Your peace and afflict us beyond measure?
Judgment and Salvation
65 I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I was found of those who did not seek Me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
to a nation that did not call on My name.
2 I have spread out My hands all day
to a rebellious people
who walk in a way that was not good,
after their own thoughts;
3 a people who provoke Me continually
to My face,
presenting sacrifices in gardens
and burning incense on altars of brick;
4 who sit among the graves
and lodge in the monuments;
who eat swine’s flesh,
and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
5 who say, “Stand by yourself; do not come near to me,
for I am holier than you!”
These are smoke in My nose,
a fire that burns all day.
6 See, it is written before Me:
I will not keep silent, but I will recompense,
even recompense into their bosom,
7 your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,
says the Lord;
because they have burned incense on the mountains
and blasphemed Me on the hills,
therefore, I will measure their former work
into their bosom.
8 Thus says the Lord:
As the new wine is found in the cluster,
and one says, “Do not destroy it
for a blessing is in it,”
so I will do for the sake of My servants
that I may not destroy them all.
9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains;
and My chosen ones shall inherit it,
and My servants shall dwell there.
10 Sharon shall be a fold of flocks,
and the Valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in,
for My people who seek Me.
11 But you are those who forsake the Lord,
who forget My holy mountain,
who prepare a table for Fortune,
and who furnish the drink offering for Destiny.
12 I will destine you for the sword,
and you all shall bow down to the slaughter;
because when I called, you did not answer;
when I spoke, you did not hear
but did evil before My eyes
and chose that in which I did not delight.
13 Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
My servants shall eat,
but you shall be hungry;
My servants shall drink,
but you shall be thirsty;
My servants shall rejoice,
but you shall be ashamed;
14 My servants shall sing for joy
with a glad heart,
but you shall cry
with a heavy heart
and shall wail with grief of spirit.
15 You shall leave your name
for a curse to My chosen ones;
for the Lord God shall slay you,
but My servants shall be called by another name;
16 because he who is blessed in the earth
shall bless himself in the God of truth;
and he who swears in the earth
shall swear by the God of truth;
because the former troubles are forgotten
and because they are hidden from My eyes.
The New Creation
17 For I create
new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
and her people for joy.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in My people;
and the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her,
nor the voice of crying.
20 There shall no longer be
an infant who lives only a few days
nor an old man who has not filled out his days.
For the child shall die
a hundred years old,
but the sinner being a hundred years old
shall be accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for as the days of a tree
are the days of My people,
and My chosen ones shall long enjoy
the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain
nor bring forth children for trouble;
for they are the descendants of the blessed of the Lord
and their offspring with them.
24 Before they call, I will answer;
and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the bull,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all My holy mountain,
says the Lord.
True Worship
66 Thus says the Lord:
Heaven is My throne,
and the earth is My footstool.
Where then is the house that you could build for Me?
And where is the place of My rest?
2 For My hand made all those things,
thus all those things have come to be,
says the Lord.
But to this man I will look,
even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and trembles at My word.
3 He who kills a bull
is as if he kills a man;
he who sacrifices a lamb,
as if he breaks a dog’s neck;
he who offers a grain offering,
as if he offers swine’s blood;
he who burns incense,
as if he blesses an idol.
They have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their abominations;
4 I also will choose their punishments
and will bring their fears on them,
because when I called, no one answered;
when I spoke, they did not listen;
but they did evil before My eyes
and chose that in which I did not delight.
The Vindication of Zion
5 Hear the word of the Lord,
you who tremble at His word:
Your brothers who hate you,
who cast you out for My name’s sake, said,
“Let the Lord be glorified
that we may see your joy.”
Yet they shall be ashamed.
6 A voice of noise from the city,
a voice from the temple,
the voice of the Lord
who renders recompense to His enemies.
7 Before she was in labor,
she gave birth;
before her pain came,
she delivered a son.
8 Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
she brought forth her sons.
9 Shall I bring to the point of birth
and not cause delivery? says the Lord.
Shall I who cause delivery
shut the womb? says your God.
10 Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice exceedingly with her,
all you who mourn for her,
11 that you may feed and be satisfied
with her consoling breasts,
that you may feed
and be delighted with the abundance of her bosom.
12 For thus says the Lord:
I will extend peace to her like a river
and the glory of the nations like a flowing stream.
Then you shall nurse, you shall be carried on her sides,
and dandled on her knees.
13 As one whom his mother comforts,
so I will comfort you;
and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
God’s Reign and Final Judgment
14 Then you shall see this, and your heart shall rejoice,
and your bones shall flourish like an herb;
and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants,
and His indignation toward His enemies.
15 For the Lord shall come with fire
and with His chariots like a whirlwind,
to render His anger with fury
and His rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by His sword on all flesh,
the Lord shall execute judgment;
and the slain of the Lord shall be many.
17 Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and abominable things, and mice shall be consumed together, says the Lord.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts. The time shall come to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.