Old/New Testament
50 This is what the Lord says to his people:
‘Did I send your mother away,
like a man sends away his wife?
Where is the paper to say
why I have sent her away?
Did I sell you to pay people that I was in debt to?
Where is the paper that shows
the reason for my debt?
Listen! I sold you because of your sins.
I sent your mother away
because you have not obeyed me.[a]
2 Nobody was there to meet me,
when I came to help you.
When I called out to you,
nobody answered me.
Do you think that my arm is too weak to rescue you?
Am I not strong enough to save you?
Look! I can speak to the sea so that it becomes dry!
I can cause rivers to become deserts.
Then the fish die because they have no water.
3 I can cause the sky to become dark,
as if I have covered it with sackcloth.’
The Lord's Servant
4 ‘The Almighty Lord has given his message to me, his servant.
I speak it on his behalf.
I know what to say to help weak and tired people.
The Lord wakes me up every morning
so that I can learn something.
I listen carefully to him,
as a student listens to his teacher.
5 The Almighty Lord has spoken clearly to me.
I have accepted his message,
and I have not turned back.
6 I offered my back
to the people who hit me.
I offered my face
to the people who pulled out my beard.
When they insulted me and they spat at me,
I did not hide my face from them.
7 The Almighty Lord helps me,
so I will not be ashamed.
I have decided to stand and be strong,
because I know that I will not be ashamed.
8 God is the one who says that I am right,
and he stands beside me.
So who will accuse me that I have done something wrong?
We should meet in court!
Anyone who accuses me should come and speak!
9 Look! The Almighty Lord himself helps me.
So nobody can say that I am guilty.
All the people who accuse me will soon disappear.
They will spoil like old clothes that moths have eaten!’
10 Do any of you respect the Lord with fear?
Do any of you obey his servant's message?
Are you walking in a place that is completely dark,
where there is no light?
Then you should trust in the Lord
as the God who will help you.
11 But no! You have lit your own fires.
You have burned branches to give yourselves light.
So now you must walk in the light of the fires that you have lit.
And this is what I will do for you:
I will punish you with great pain!
The Lord will bless his people
51 ‘Listen to me,
you people who want to do what is right.
You people who want to serve the Lord,
listen to me!
Think about the rock that you are a part of.[b]
Think about the ground that they dug you out from.
2 You all started from your ancestor Abraham,
and his wife Sarah.
When I first spoke to Abraham,
he had no children.
But I blessed him,
so that he had many descendants.’
3 Surely, the Lord will comfort Zion's people.
He will take care of the buildings
that enemies have destroyed.
Zion's land that is now a wilderness
will become like the beautiful Garden of Eden.
It will be the Lord's own garden!
People will be happy again in Zion.
They will sing with joy to thank God.
4 ‘Listen to me, my people.
Listen carefully, my nation.
I will tell all people about my laws.
I will cause my justice to be like a light to all nations.
5 I am ready to do what is right for them.
I am ready to save them.
I will judge all the nations fairly.
Lands that are far away will wait for me to help them.
They wait for me to come and rule them all with power.
6 Look up at the sky!
Look down at the earth below!
One day, the sky will disappear
like smoke that blows away.
The earth will become useless,
like old clothes.
The people who live on it will die.
They will fall like flies.
But I will keep my people safe for ever.
I will always rule with righteousness.
7 Listen to me,
you people who know what is right.
You people who think carefully about my law,
listen to me.
When people speak against you,
do not be afraid.
Do not be upset,
when they insult you.
8 Those people will soon disappear,
like clothes that moths have eaten,
like wool that worms have eaten.
But I will always rule with righteousness.
I will keep my people safe for ever.’
9 Wake up, Lord!
Get ready to show your strength!
Do great things, as you did in past days,
when our ancestors were alive.
Remember how you cut the monster, Rahab, into pieces.[c]
10 You made the sea become dry,
so that there was a path through the deep water.
The slaves that you rescued
could then cross over.[d]
11 The people that the Lord has rescued
will return from exile.
They will sing with joy
while they go into Zion city.
Their joy will be like a crown
that they wear on their heads for ever.
They will continue to be very happy.
They will never be sad or weep again.
12 ‘I am the Lord who comforts you.
You do not need to be afraid of people who are only human.
Remember that they will all die one day,
like grass that only lives for a short time.
13 Do not forget about the Lord who made you!
I hung up the sky like a curtain.
I made the foundation of the earth.
So why are you always shaking with fear?
Do not be afraid when your enemy is angry,
and he is ready to attack you.
Your enemy's anger is useless!
14 The people who have trouble and pain
will soon become free.
They will not stay in the prison of death.
They will have all the food that they need.
15 Remember that I am the Lord your God.
I shake the sea so that its waves roar!
My name is the Lord Almighty.
16 I have given you my message
to speak on my behalf.
I have kept you safe in my hand.
I hung up the sky like a curtain,
and I made the foundation of the earth.
I say to Zion, “You are my people.” ’
17 Wake up, people in Jerusalem! Get ready!
The Lord has been angry with you,
and he has punished you.
You had to receive all of his anger,
like you were drinking strong wine from a cup.
Now that you have drunk it all,
you cannot stand up straight!
18 Among all of Jerusalem's people,
there was nobody left to be your leader.
There was nobody who could take care of you.
19 War and famine have destroyed you.
Both those terrible things have happened to you.
Who feels sorry for you?
Who is there to comfort you?
20 Your children have become weak,
and they lie on the ground at the side of every street.
They are like deer that a trap has caught.
The anger of the Lord your God has made them helpless.
He has warned them loudly.
21 So listen to this, you people who are in trouble.
You walk like drunk people,
but wine has not done that to you.
22 The Lord God who is your Lord stands beside his people. He says,
‘Look! Now I have taken the cup of my punishment out of your hand.
You will no longer have to drink the strong wine of my anger
that makes you drunk.
23 Instead, I will give it to your cruel enemies
to punish them.
They said to you, “Lie down on the ground,
so that we can walk over you.”
You made your backs become like the ground.
You became like a street for your enemies to walk on.’
God will make Jerusalem safe again[e]
52 Wake up, Zion!
Be ready to show your strength!
Jerusalem, God's holy city,
Put on your beautiful clothes!
Foreign people who do not serve God
will not attack your city again.
2 Shake off the dirt, Jerusalem!
Get up and sit on your throne.
People of Zion, you are no longer prisoners,
so take the chains off your neck.
3 This is what the Lord says to you:
‘I received no money when I sold you.
And I will not pay anything to make you free again.’
4 The Almighty Lord says,
‘Long ago, my people went to live for some time in Egypt.
At a later time, Assyria's army was cruel to them.
5 But now, what is happening?
An enemy has taken my people away as slaves,
for no good reason.[f]
Their leaders boast loudly,
and they insult me all the time.
6 So I will cause my people to know my name.
When all this happens, they will know
that I am the God who speaks to them.
I tell them that I am with them.’
7 Somebody is coming across the mountains
to bring good news to us!
It is a beautiful thing to see him run towards us!
He has come to tell us that there will be peace,
because God will save our city.
He says to Zion,
‘Your God rules as king!’
8 Listen! The guards on the city's walls are shouting!
They all shout together with joy!
They can see for themselves
that the Lord is returning to Zion.
9 Jerusalem, your buildings have become heaps of stones,
but now you can all shout together with joy!
Sing aloud, because the Lord has comforted his people.
He has made Jerusalem safe again.
10 The Lord has shown all the nations how strong he is.
They can all see his holy power.
People all over the world will know
that our God has rescued his people.
11 Leave! Leave! Go out from there.[g]
Do not touch anything that is unclean.
Leave that foreign place!
The people who carry the Lord's special things
must keep themselves pure.
12 But you will not have to hurry and run away.
No, the Lord, Israel's God, will keep you safe.
He will lead you at the front,
and he will be your guard at the back.
The Lord's Servant
13 Look! My servant will do well.
He will move up to a high place
where people will honour him as great.
14 At one time, when people saw him,
they were very upset.
His body became completely spoiled,
so that he no longer seemed to be a man.
He did not seem to have a human body.
15 But now, he will cause the people in many nations
to be very surprised!
Kings will have nothing to say
when they see how great he is.
They will see something new
that nobody had told them about.
They will understand new things
that they had not heard about before.
We must be ready for Jesus to return
5 Friends, we do not need to write anything to you about the dates and times when these things will happen. 2 You know very well about how the great day of the Lord will happen. That day will surprise people very much, like when a robber comes in the night. 3 At that time, people will be saying, ‘We are safe and there is no trouble for us.’ But then, when they are not ready for it, great punishment will suddenly happen to them. It will be impossible for them to run away. Pain will suddenly come to them, like a woman who is giving birth to a baby.
4 But you, our Christian friends, know about these things. You are not like people who live in the dark. So when the great day of the Lord happens, it should not suddenly surprise you, like a robber might surprise you. 5 All of you are people who belong to the light and to the day. We who are believers do not belong to the night or to the dark. 6 So we must watch carefully. We should be like people who stay awake. We should not be like other people who are sleeping. 7 It is at night that people sleep. It is at night that people become drunk.
8 But we belong to the day, not to the night. So we should think clearly. We must prepare ourselves like a soldier who puts on his armour. We must continue to trust God and to love him. That will be like a metal shirt that keeps our body safe. We must also continue to hope that God will save us. That will be like a strong hat that keeps our head safe.
9 God did not choose us as his people so that he could be angry with us. He chose us so that he could save us because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. 10 Jesus died on our behalf so that we can live together with him. It does not matter whether we are alive or dead when he returns. We will all go to live with him. 11 Because of that, you should help each other to become stronger as believers. I know that you are already doing that.
Paul finishes his letter
12 Our friends, we ask you to respect your leaders who work hard among you. They lead you and they teach you what is right on the Lord's behalf. 13 Show them how valuable they are to you. And love them very much because of the work that they do. Live at peace among yourselves.
14 Friends, you must warn lazy people that they should work.[a] If people are afraid, help them to be brave. If people are weak, take care of them. Be patient with everyone.
15 If someone does something bad against you, do not do anything bad against them in return. Never do that. Instead, always try to do good things that will help one other and help everyone else.
16 Always be happy. 17 Pray at all times. 18 Whatever may happen to you, continue to thank God. God wants you to do that, because you belong to Christ Jesus. 19 Do not stop the work of God's Spirit. 20 When people speak messages on God's behalf, do not refuse to listen. 21 Instead, think carefully about everything, to see if it is true. Remember to obey anything that is good. 22 But keep away from any kind of bad thing.
23 I pray that God will help you to be completely good, as his people should be. He is the one who gives us peace in our minds. I pray that he will take care of you in every way, in your spirit, in your soul and in your body. Then you will not be guilty of anything that is bad, when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 24 God has chosen you to be his people. We can trust him to do what he has promised to do. So he will do all this for you.
25 Our Christian friends, please pray for us. 26 Say ‘hello’ to all the believers on our behalf, and kiss them as Christian brothers and sisters.
27 I tell you very seriously on the Lord's behalf, please read this letter to all the believers there. 28 I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you.
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