Old/New Testament

50 Eternal One: Where is the document of My divorce from your mother, Israel?
    And to whom did I turn you over when I could no longer pay?
        No, it was you who amassed debt—a debt of constant wrongdoing—
    And that’s why your mother was sent away.
²     Why is it that when I came to visit, no one was there to greet Me;
        and when I called out for you, no one answered?
    Do you think My reach insufficient, My power too limited to rescue you?
    I need only to speak the words and entire oceans will evaporate;
        rivers will become deserts, leaving fish to stink and die for lack of water.
³     I can dress the heavens with blackness
        and trade its velvet skies for the scratchy clothes of mourning.

⁴ The Lord, the Eternal, equipped me for this job—
    with skilled speech, a smooth tongue for instruction.
I can find the words that comfort and soothe the downtrodden, tired, and despairing.
    And I know when to use them.
Each morning, it is God who wakes me and tells me what I should do,
    what I should say.
⁵ The Lord, the Eternal, has helped me to listen,
    and I do as He says. I have not been rebellious or run away from God’s work.
⁶ But it’s been hard. I offered My back to those who whipped me,
    my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not turn away from humiliation and spitting.

⁷ Because the Lord, the Eternal, helps me I will not be disgraced;
    so, I set my face like a rock, confident that I will not be ashamed.
⁸ My hero who sets things right is near.
    Who would dare to challenge me?
Let’s stand and debate this head-to-head!
    Who would dare to accuse me? Let him come near.
⁹ See here, the Lord, the Eternal, helps me—who could possibly win against me?
    All my accusers will wear out like a ratty old moth-eaten shirt.

¹⁰ So, you who are listening, do you acknowledge the Eternal One as God?
    And do you take seriously what the servant of God has to say?
If you are enveloped in darkness, with no light to see,
    take confidence in the name of the Eternal One; rely on your God.
¹¹ Ah, but if you’ve tried to go it alone,
    the light by which you go is your own consuming fire,
And the torches you light will be your undoing.

51 Listen closely, you who diligently work for justice
    and look for the Eternal One, for what is fair and true.
It would be good for you to look back, look to the place from where you came,
    the rock out of which you were shaped and the quarry from where you were mined.
² Look to your spiritual ancestors—
    Abraham, your father, and Sarah, who birthed you.
Abraham was only one person when I called him.
    But with generous goodness, I made from him a numerous people.

³ The Eternal One will relieve the troubles and worries of Zion
    and bring comfort to the rubble of its destruction.
God will turn deserted places into a flourishing garden like Eden of old;
    happy voices will ring out in the Eternal’s garden;
Buoyant music and thanksgiving will fill the air.

⁴ Eternal One: Listen closely, you who are Mine; lend an ear, My nation;
        for My instruction will go straight out into all the world
    And My justice will illuminate all people wherever they are.
⁵     My justice is coming closer. My rescue is on the way.
        My strong arm will extend justice to the nations.
    Distant shores are looking to Me with hope that I will accomplish it.
⁶     Don’t worry—look up at the sky and down at the earth.
        The sky will disappear like smoke; the earth will wear out like a well-used garment;
    Every last thing may perish and dissolve, but My salvation is for all time.
        My justice will not end.

⁷     Listen to Me, you who already live out what is true and right,
        who treasure My instruction within your hearts:
    Don’t be afraid of people’s scorn.
        Don’t let their dismissive criticism, bitter anger, or hatred get you down.
⁸     For they’ll come to nothing; they’ll be eaten up as a moth eats a shirt;
        they’ll be consumed as a worm feeds on wool.
    But My justice will endure. I will extend My saving action to every generation.

⁹ Get up, power of God! Rise up and strengthen Yourself, arm of God.
    Get up and do like in the olden days, when You saved Your special people—
Like when You cut Rahab, that dragon-monster of chaos, in two.
¹⁰ And remember when You made the sea dry up
    and the waters of the deep retreated for Moses and company;
Then You laid down a road right through for the people You saved to cross over?
¹¹ It’ll be like that for those the Eternal One ransomed from captivity
    to return to Zion, Jerusalem. And they’ll come singing with joy.
Overwhelming, never-ending joy will crown their heads with happiness and delight
    while desperation and depression melt away.

¹² Eternal One: I am the One who comforts you and gives you peace.
        So why are you afraid of human beings?
    The children of men are only grass; they’ll wither and die.

¹³     Have you forgotten Me, the One who made you and the whole world,
        who stretched out the skies and made sure the earth’s foundations?
    Yet you constantly worry about others—how they hate and might harm you.
        But their anger counts for nothing.
¹⁴     In an instant, those who cower in fear and trepidation will be free to go in confidence;
        they won’t die in chains or suffer from hunger.
¹⁵     Because I, the Eternal, am your God,
        I can make the oceans roil with storm and roll with great waves.
    They call Me, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.
¹⁶     I have given you My words to speak and protected you with the shadow of My hand.
        I am the One who pulled the skies tight and made the earth rock solid.
    And I am the same who said to Zion, “You are indeed Mine!”

¹⁷     Get up. Get up, and get moving! Stand up, Jerusalem,
        you who have experienced firsthand the punishing anger of God.
    You have drunk that terrible cup to the last gritty drop,
        and it left you reeling, drunk on distress.
¹⁸     Ah, poor Jerusalem! No one comes to guide her along.
        Of all her people, all the ones whom the city nurtured and raised to adulthood,
    None take her hand now in her stupor of pain.
¹⁹     Twin disasters have befallen you:
        devastation and destruction, famine and war.
    Who can relieve your anguish and pain?
        Who is left to provide comfort?
²⁰     Her people are lying around on every corner,
        weary and faint, like an antelope trapped in a net.
    Each is overcome with the Eternal’s anger; each suffers His rebuke.

²¹ But now, listen! Listen, you who are miserable,
    you who are intoxicated, but not on wine.
²² The Lord, your God, the Eternal, who pleads for His people, has this to say:

Eternal One: Look! I have taken away the cup that left you reeling—the cup of My anger—
        and sobered you up; I will never make you drink it again.
²³     And I will give that drink to those who abused and oppressed you—
        who ordered you, “Get down so we can walk all over you.”
    And your backs became the ground they walked on, the streets they passed by.

52 Wake up, fair Zion; dress in your strength.
    Put on your most elegant clothes, O Jerusalem, holy city.
Never again will outsiders—uncircumcised and the unclean—
    who once abused and denigrated you move within your elect borders.
² So brush off any dust and dirt; rise, take your place of honor, Jerusalem.
    Loose the chains from your neck and raise your head in freedom, captive children of Zion.
³ For the Eternal has this to say:

Eternal One: You were taken for nothing,
        and it’s nothing for Me to get you back.

Eternal One: My people willingly went to live in Egypt long ago;
        but now Assyria has oppressed My people for no good reason.

⁵     So what now? Babylon has assumed it can simply take My people away
        with no recompense and no respect.
    Their tyrannical rulers jeer and cheer
        and continually deride My name.
⁶     Well, it’s not over. My people will know My name.
        At the time that I determine,
    My people will see again who I am.
        I will tell them, “I am here. And I am ready.”

⁷ Ah, how beautiful the feet of those on the mountain
    who declare the good news of victory, of peace and liberation,^[a]
The voice that calls to Zion, that chosen place for God’s promise people,
    announcing to them “Your God rules!”
⁸ Listen! The ones who watch and wait are crying out and laughing for joy:
    Look now, for everyone will see the Eternal One coming back to Zion.
⁹ Let the rock and rubble of Jerusalem erupt in joyful song
    for the Eternal has brought comfort to His people and redeemed Jerusalem.
¹⁰ The Eternal has flexed His muscles, bared His holy arm
    for the world to see His power;
Every nation, every person, every place on earth
    will witness the victory of our God.

¹¹ Servants of God, turn away from that place;
As for those who carry the vessels for the Eternal’s temple,
    go, without touching any of Babylon’s impurity, and make yourselves pure.
¹² Go in confidence and grace—no rushing, no frantic escape.
    There’s no need to be anxious—the Eternal One goes before and behind you.
The God of Israel paves the way with assurance and strength.
    He watches your back.

¹³ Eternal One: See here! My servant will succeed.
        He will grow in character and reputation, achieving high standing and status.
¹⁴     Just as people used to be shocked by you,
        even so his appearance was disfigured;
    His form—once glorious—was marred until it hardly seemed human.
¹⁵     Now many nations will be astonished at his prominence;
        world rulers will be speechless in his presence,
    For they will see what they’ve never been told;
        they will understand what they’ve never heard.^[b]