Old/New Testament
The Lord accuses his people
59 Listen! The Lord's hand is not too weak to save you.
His ear is not too deaf to hear you.
2 But the wrong things that you have done
have made you separate from your God.
Your sins have caused him to turn away from you,
so that he does not listen to your prayers.
3 Your hands are dirty with the blood of murder.
They are dirty with all the bad things that you do.
Your mouth tells lies,
and it says wicked things about other people.
4 When people accuse somebody in court,
the truth is not important.
They tell lies and they deceive the judge,
so that they will win.
They decide how they can cause trouble,
and then they do wicked things.
5 Their thoughts are like the eggs of a snake.
If anyone eats those eggs, they will die!
When an egg breaks open,
a dangerous snake is born!
They like to catch people,
like a spider that makes a web.[a]
6 Their webs are useless to make clothes.
They cannot cover themselves with them.
The things that they do are useless like that.
They do only wicked things.
They use their strength only to hurt people.
7 They rush to do evil things.
They hurry to kill people who have not done anything wrong.
They think only about sin.
They only want to be cruel and to hurt people.
8 They do not know how to live in peace.
They cannot be honest and fair.
Their way of life is all wrong.
Nobody who lives like that will have peace.
The people agree
9 Because of that, God's justice is far away from us.
He has not come to save us.
We look for light to come to us,
but everything is dark.
We need some light in our lives,
but all we have is darkness.
10 Like blind people,
we touch the wall to find our way.
It seems that we have no eyes to see with.
Even at midday, we trip and we fall down,
as if it was dark.
We are like dead people
who live among strong people.
11 We all make a noise, like hungry bears.
We make sad noises, like doves.
We are waiting for God to bring justice to us,
but nothing is happening.
We look for his salvation,
but it is still far away.
12 Lord, you see all the bad things that we have done.
Our many sins show that we are wrong.
We know about the wrong things that we have done.
We agree that our sins are many.
13 We have turned against the Lord.
We have refused to obey him.
We have chosen to be cruel to other people,
and we have turned against the truth.
We think about the lies that we can tell,
and we use them to deceive people.
14 Judges do not decide in a fair way.
Nobody tries to do what is right.
There is no place for truth on the streets of our towns.
Honest people have to leave.
15 Nobody can speak the truth.
If anyone tries to stop doing evil things,
other people will attack him.
The Lord comes to save his people
The Lord saw how his people were living.
He saw that there was no justice.
It made him very sad.
16 He saw that there was nobody who would help,
and he was very upset.
So he used his own strength to help.
Because he had to do what was right,
he made his people safe.
17 He always does what is right,
like a soldier who always puts on his armour.
His power to save people
is like the helmet that he wears.
He is angry against people who do evil things,
and he works hard to punish them.
That is like the clothes that he wears.
18 He will punish his enemies
for the bad things that they have done.
He will be very angry with them.
He will punish all his enemies,
even those who live in lands far away.
19 Then people who live in the west
will respect the Lord's name.
And people who live in the east
will see how great he is.
The Lord will attack them like a fast river.
He will blow them away with a strong wind.
20 The Lord says,
‘A Redeemer will come to Zion.
He will come to save Jacob's people
who turn away from their sins.’
21 The Lord says, ‘This is the covenant that I make with those people. My Spirit is now with you, and he will not leave you. I have put my words into your mouth, and they will always be with you. They will continue to be in the mouths of your children, and your descendants for ever.’
That is what the Lord says.
Zion's future glory
60 Stand up! Shine brightly!
Now your light has come![b]
The Lord's glory has risen to shine on you.
2 Look! Darkness covers all the earth and its people.
But the Lord shines his light on you,
so that his glory appears over you.
3 People of other nations will come to your light.
Kings will come to see the light of a new day that shines on you.
4 Look all round you!
All your people are coming together to return to you.
Your sons are coming from far away,
and they carry your daughters in their arms.
5 As you see this, your eyes will shine with joy.
Your hearts will beat fast,
and you will be proud to see them.
Traders will bring valuable things to you
from lands across the seas.
The riches of other nations will come to you.
6 Traders will bring things on their camels
so that your roads are full.
Young camels will come from Midian
and from Ephah.
People will come from Sheba.
They will bring gold and incense.
They will sing aloud to praise the Lord.
7 All the sheep and goats in Kedar will come to you.
They will give you sheep from Nebaioth,
and I will accept them as sacrifices on my altar.
I will make my temple great and beautiful.
8 See those ships that sail along like clouds!
They come like doves that are flying to their homes.
9 People from lands across the seas are coming to find me.
Their big ships are leading them.
They are bringing your children from far away,
as well as silver and gold.
They come to give honour to the name of the Lord your God.
He is Israel's Holy God.
They come here because he has shown that you are great.
10 Foreign people will build your walls again.
Their kings will be your servants.
I punished you when I was angry with you.
But now I will show my grace
and I will be kind to you.
11 The gates of your city will always be open.
People will never close them,
during the day or during the night.
Then other nations will bring their riches to you,
and their kings will lead them.
12 Any nation or kingdom that refuses to serve you
will come to an end.
Enemies will completely destroy those nations.
13 The beautiful things of Lebanon will come to you.
They will bring you its pine trees,
its fir trees and its cypress trees.
The wood will make my temple beautiful.
I will cause my home on earth to be great!
14 The descendants of your cruel enemies will come to you.
They will bend down low in front of you.
Everybody who insulted you before
will now give you honour.
They will call you, ‘The City of the Lord,
Zion that is home for Israel's Holy God.’
15 At one time, people kept away from you,
and they hated you.
Nobody travelled through you.
But now I will make you a great city,
so that people will be proud of you for ever.
Your people and their descendants will be very happy.
16 Other nations and their kings
will give you everything that you need.
They will be like mothers
who feed their babies with their milk.
Then you will know that I, the Lord,
have made you safe.
You will know that I am your Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 I will bring you gold instead of bronze.
I will bring you silver instead of iron.
I will give you bronze to use, instead of wood.
I will give you iron instead of stones.
I will cause peace to be your city's leader.
Righteousness will rule over you.
18 You will not hear the noise of violence in your land any more.
Inside its borders,
nobody will fight wars or destroy things.
You will call your city's walls ‘Salvation’,
and you will call your city's gates ‘Praise’.
19 You will no longer need the sun
to give you light in the day again.
You will not need the moon to shine at night.
Instead, the Lord will be the light
that shines on you for ever.
Yes, your God will be the light
that brings you honour.
20 Your sun will never go down again
and your moon will never disappear.
That is because the Lord will be the light
that shines on you for ever.
Then your sad days will come to an end.
21 All your people will be righteous.
The land will belong to them for ever.
I myself will plant them in the ground
like a young plant.
As they grow, they will show how great I am.
22 The least important person among you
will become a great family.
The smallest person will become a large nation.
I am the Lord.
When the right time comes,
I will cause it to happen quickly!
Good news of salvation
61 The Spirit of the Almighty Lord is on me,
because he has chosen me to serve him.[c]
He has sent me to tell good news to poor people.
He has sent me to comfort people who are very upset.
He has sent me to tell prisoners that they are now free.
They can go out of their prisons!
2 He has sent me to say,
‘This is the year when the Lord will be kind to his people.’
It is the time when our God will punish our enemies.
He has sent me to comfort people who are weeping
because they are sad.
3 In that way, the people in Zion who are sad
will become strong again.
They will not put ashes on their heads any more.[d]
Instead, they will wear beautiful hats.
Instead of weeping,
they will have olive oil to show their joy.
They will not feel upset,
but they will sing happy songs to praise God.
People will call them ‘Strong trees that show God's righteousness’.
They will be like trees that the Lord himself has planted
to show how great he is.
4 God's people will build again their towns
that became heaps of stones a long time ago.
Once again, they will live in the cities
that have been empty for so long.
5 The Lord says to his people,
‘Foreign people will take care of your sheep for you.
They will work on your farms,
and they will take care of your vines.[e]
6 People will call you
“The Lord's priests who are servants of our God”.
You will enjoy valuable things from other nations.
You will boast about all the riches
that you receive from them.
7 You will not be ashamed any more.
Instead, you will receive twice as much blessing.
People will not say that you are useless.
Instead, you will live happily on your own land.
Yes, my people will have twice the crops from their land,
And so they will always be very happy.
8 I, the Lord, love justice.
I hate it when people rob others,
or they do other wrong things.
Because I am faithful,
I will give help to my people.
I will make a covenant with them
that will continue for ever.
9 Their descendants will be famous
among the other nations.
Everyone who sees them will know
that the Lord has blessed them.’
10 I am very happy,
because of what the Lord, my God, has done.[f]
I have so much joy!
He has given salvation to me,
like clothes that I can wear all the time.
I have his righteousness as my coat!
He makes me handsome,
like a bridegroom who wears a priest's hat.
He makes me beautiful,
like a bride who wears her jewels.
11 The Almighty Lord will cause his righteousness
to grow everywhere.
It will grow like crops in the fields,
and like plants that grow in a garden.
Then his people will praise him,
and all the nations will see it!
Paul asks the Christians to pray for him and for his friends
3 Now, friends, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that more and more people will soon hear the Lord's message. Pray that people will receive the message well and accept it as true. That is how you received it. 2 Pray also that God will not let bad people cause trouble for us. Not everyone believes the message about our Lord. 3 But the Lord always does what he has promised. So he will help you to be strong inside yourselves. He will keep you safe when Satan attacks you.
4 Because you belong to the Lord, he makes us sure about you. We know that you are doing the things that we tell you to do. And we know that you will continue to do those things. 5 We pray that the Lord will lead you in your thoughts. Then you will understand God's love better and better. And you will be patient and strong, as Christ is.
Believers must not refuse to work
6 Our friends, you must stay away from every believer who is living in a lazy way. We tell you this with the authority that the Lord Jesus Christ gives to us. Lazy people like that are not living in the way that we taught you. 7 You yourselves know that you ought to copy our example. You know that we were not lazy when we lived among you. 8 We always paid for the food that anyone gave to us. We worked hard all the time, during the day and at night. We did that so that we would not make trouble for any of you. 9 We could have told you to give us what we needed. We have authority to do that. But we wanted to show you how to live properly. Then you could copy our example. 10 Even when we were there with you, we told you this rule: ‘If anyone refuses to work, you should not give food to him.’[a]
11 We say this because someone has told us news about you. They have told us that some people among you are living in a lazy way.[b] Those people do not work at their own jobs. Instead, they cause trouble to other people who are working. 12 We have something to say to people who are lazy like that. We warn them with the authority that the Lord Jesus Christ gives to us. They must stop causing trouble. They must work properly, so that they get their own food to eat.
13 But you must never stop doing what is right, our Christian friends, even when it causes trouble for you. 14 Maybe someone among you will not obey the message that we have written in this letter. Make sure that everyone knows about someone like that. Do not be friends with him, so that he may become ashamed. 15 But remember that he is a believer, as you are. So warn him carefully.
Paul finishes his letter
16 The Lord helps us to have peace in our minds. I pray that the Lord himself will give that peace to you at all times, whatever happens. I pray that the Lord will be with all of you.
17 I, Paul, am writing these words at the end of my letter with my own hand. I say ‘hello’ to you. That is how I write in every letter that comes from me.
18 I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to all of you.
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