Old/New Testament

¹ Truly the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
    nor is his ear too dull to hear.
² Rather, it is your iniquities that have been barriers
    between you and your God.
Your sins have caused him to hide his face
    so that he does not hear you.
³ For your hands are stained with blood
    and your fingers with guilt.
Your lips utter lies
    and your tongue mutters wicked things.
⁴ No one brings a suit justly
    or pleads honestly in court.
They all rely on empty words and utter lies;
    they conceive mischief and bring forth evil.
⁵ They hatch adders’ eggs
    and weave the spider’s web;
whoever eats their eggs will die;
    crush one and a viper emerges.
⁶ Their webs are useless for clothing;
    what they make cannot serve to cover them.
Their works are deeds of evil,
    and acts of violence flow from their hands.
⁷ Their feet rush headlong to do evil,
    and they do not hesitate to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are those of iniquity;
    their paths are marked by havoc and ruin.
⁸ They do not know the way of peace,
    and justice is not seen along their paths.
The roads they follow are crooked,
    and no one who travels on them knows any peace.
⁹ Therefore, justice is far removed from us,
    and righteousness is far beyond our reach.
We look for light but behold only darkness,
    for brightness but we walk in gloom.
¹⁰ Like blind men we grope along a wall,
    feeling our way like those bereft of eyes.
We stumble at noon as if it were twilight;
    in the midst of the strong we are like the dead.
¹¹ All of us growl like bears;
    like doves we continue to moan mournfully.
We wait for justice but receive none,
    for deliverance but it is far from us.
¹² For our transgressions against you are numerous,
    and our sins bear witness against us.
We are unable to forget our offenses,
    and we are well aware of our iniquities:
¹³ our rebellion and our denial of the Lord
    and our turning away from following him,
threatening acts of oppression and revolt,
    and uttering lies conceived in our hearts.
¹⁴ Justice has been rebuffed
    and righteousness stands at a distance.
For truth stumbles in the public square
    and uprightness cannot enter.
¹⁵ Truth has disappeared,
    and those who turn from evil are terrorized.

When the Lord witnessed this, he was displeased
    that justice had ceased to exist.
¹⁶ He saw that no help was in sight,
    and he was outraged that no one sought to intervene.
Therefore, his own arm effected the victory,
    with his righteousness as his support.
¹⁷ He put on justice like a breastplate
    and a helmet of salvation on his head.
He clothed himself with garments of vengeance
    and wrapped himself in a cloak of zeal.
¹⁸ He will repay his enemies
    according to their deeds:
wrath to his adversaries,
    retribution to his enemies;
he will render requital
    to the islands and the coastlands.
¹⁹ And so those in the west will fear the name of the Lord,
    and those in the east his glory.
He will come like a pent-up stream
    that is driven by the breath of the Lord.
²⁰ He will come as a redeemer to Zion,
    and to those in Jacob who cease to rebel.
    This is the word of the Lord.
²¹ As for me, says the Lord,
    this is my covenant with them:
my Spirit which rests upon you
    and my words that I have put into your mouth
will not depart from your mouth
    or out of the mouths of your children,
or out of the mouths of your children’s children,
    says the Lord, from now on and forevermore.

^1 [a]Arise and shine forth, for your light has come
    and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you.
² Even though darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness enshrouds the peoples,
upon you the Lord will shine,
    and over you his glory will appear.
³ Nations will be guided by your light
    and kings by the brightness of your radiance.
⁴ Raise your eyes and look around;
    they are all assembling and returning to you.
Your sons are coming from far away,
    and your daughters will be carried
    in the arms of their nurses.
^{5     [b]}Then you will be radiant at what you behold,
    and your hearts will throb and rejoice.
For the riches of the sea will be brought to you,
    and the wealth of the nations will come to you.
⁶ Droves of camels will cover your land,
    the young camels from Midian and Ephah;
all from Sheba will come,
    laden with gold and frankincense,
    while the people proclaim the praises of the Lord.
⁷ All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you;
    the rams of Nebaioth will serve your needs.
They will be acceptable offerings on my altar,
    and I will enhance the splendor of my house.
⁸ Who are these that fly along like clouds
    and like doves to their dovecotes?
⁹ All the vessels are assembled
    from the seacoasts and the islands,
    with the ships of Tarshish in the lead;
they are bringing your children from far away,
    along with their silver and gold,
to pay honor to the name of the Lord, your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has glorified you.
¹⁰ Foreigners will rebuild your walls,
    and their kings will be your servants.
Although I struck you down in my wrath,
    now in my mercy I will show you my favor.
¹¹ Your gates will always be open;
    day and night they will never be shut,
so that the wealth of the nations may be brought to you,
    led by their kings in triumphal procession.
¹² For the nation or the kingdom that refuses to serve you
    will be totally destroyed
    and suffer widespread devastation.
¹³ The glory of Lebanon will come to you,
    the cypress, the plane tree, and the pine,
    one and all,
to adorn my holy sanctuary
    and to honor the place where I stand.^[c]
14 The sons of those who oppressed you
    will come forward and bend low before you,
and all those who despised you
    will bow down at your feet;
they will call you “City of the Lord,”
    “Zion of the Holy One of Israel.”
¹⁵ Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
    with no one traveling through you,
I will make you an object of everlasting pride
    and a source of never-ending joy.
¹⁶ You will suck the milk of nations
    and be nursed at royal breasts.
Then you will know
    that I, the Lord, am your Savior
    and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁷ Instead of bronze I will bring you gold,
    instead of iron I will bring you silver;
instead of wood, bronze,
    and instead of stone, iron.
I will ensure that you will be governed in peace
    and be ruled with righteousness.
¹⁸ No longer will violence appear in your land,
    nor will devastation and ruin occur within your borders.
You will call your walls “Salvation”
    and your gates “Praise.”
¹⁹ The sun will no longer serve
    as the source of your light by day,
nor will the brightness of the moon
    afford light to you during the night.
Rather, the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and your God will be your splendor.
²⁰ Never again will your sun go down,
    nor will your moon withdraw its light.
For the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and your days of mourning will be ended.
²¹ Your people will all be righteous
    and possess the land forever.
They are the shoot that I have planted,
    my handiwork to exhibit my glory.
²² The least of you will become a thousand,
    and the weakest will become a mighty nation.
I am the Lord, and I will accomplish all this
    at the appointed time.

^{1     [d]}The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me
    because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to announce good news to the oppressed,
    to strengthen the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom to those held in captivity
    and release to those who have been imprisoned,
² to proclaim a year of the Lord’s favor
    and a day of vengeance for our God,
    to comfort all who mourn,
³ to give to all those who mourn in Zion
    a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    a glorious mantle instead of a spirit of despair.
And they will be called oaks of righteousness
    planted by the Lord to show forth his glory.

⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and raise up sites that have long been desolate.
They will restore the ruined cities
    that for generations have been merely ravaged wastes.
⁵ Strangers will come forth to shepherd your flocks;
    foreigners will farm your land and dress your vines.
⁶ But you will be called priests of the Lord;
    and you will be named ministers of our God.
You will enjoy the wealth of the nations,
    and their former glory will be yours.
⁷ Because you endured a double measure of shame
    and were regarded as deserving of dishonor and disgrace,
you will receive a double portion,
    and everlasting joy will be yours.
⁸ For I, the Lord, love justice,
    and I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
I will be faithful in rewarding such victims,
    and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
⁹ Their descendants will be renowned among the nations
    and their offspring among the peoples.
All who behold them will acknowledge
    that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.
¹⁰ I rejoice in the Lord with all my heart;
    my soul exults in my God.
For he has clothed me in garments of salvation
    and wrapped me in a robe of saving justice,
like a bridegroom adorned with a garland
    or a bride bedecked with her jewels.
¹¹ As the earth puts forth its shoots
    and a garden causes its seeds to sprout,
so the Lord God will cause his justice and praise
    to spring up in the sight of all the nations.