Old/New Testament

62 I will not keep quiet for Zion’s sake;
    I will not remain silent
Until Jerusalem’s justice shines like the light of a new day
    and her liberation blazes like a torch in the dead of night.
² Jerusalem, the nations of the world will witness your righteousness,
    the most powerful world leaders will see your brilliance,
And you will be called something new, something brand new,
    a name given by none other than the Eternal One.
³ And you will be the crowning glory of the Eternal’s power,
    a royal crown cradled in His palm and held aloft by your God for all to see.
⁴ People won’t talk about you anymore
    using words like “forsaken” or “empty.”
Instead, you will be called “My delight” and the land around you “Married,”
    because the Eternal is pleased with you and has bound Himself to your land.
⁵ As a young man marries the woman he loves,
    so your sons will marry you, Jerusalem.
As a groom takes joy in his bride,
    so your God will take joy in you.

⁶ I have stationed watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem.
    Day and night, they never stop calling out.
You, too, must not rest or grow silent;
    keep reminding the Eternal to watch over Jerusalem.
⁷ Tirelessly pester God—give Him no rest—until He reestablishes Jerusalem
    and makes it worthy of praise throughout the whole world.
⁸ The Eternal has promised with all divine power and might:

Eternal One: I will never again turn over your assets to your enemies,
        never feed them from your grain stores
    Or give them the wine you have labored to produce.
⁹     Instead, those who harvest the grain will eat its bounty,
        and offer praise to the Eternal;
    And those who gather the grapes will drink of their richness
        in the courtyards outside the temple.

¹⁰ So ready yourselves to pass through the gates, from old to new.
    Clear the way for the people;
Make it clear, easy, and straight.
    Unfurl the banners that proclaim these people are renewed!
¹¹ For none other than the Eternal has announced for all to hear—

Eternal One: Say to the daughter of Zion
        “See, your salvation is coming; your liberation is on the way—
    God’s reward is with Him: His work is by His side.”

¹² And they will be called “The Holy People, Redeemed by the Eternal”;
    Jerusalem’s new name will be “Desirable City, No Longer Forsaken.”

63 Who comes with long, strong strides, marching in strength
    from Edom, from Bozrah?
Who is coming, with such grand clothes, steeped in crimson and awesome to see?

Eternal One: It is I, the Eternal, who in righteousness declares victory.
        I am coming with great power and I’m ready to save.

² And why are all your clothes red,
    as if you’ve been stomping on the grapes in the winepress?

³ Eternal One: And so I have. I have pressed by Myself.
        No one was with Me. In my anger, I trampled them;
    In my fury, I alone squashed them till their blood soaked my clothes
        and stained everything I wore.
⁴     For it was time for Me to act, time for Me to pay back My enemies
        in response to their actions—My time to set things right again.
⁵     But I looked and there was no one to help.
        I was amazed, but none was ready to offer support.
    So I had to do it alone, and I did;
        My own power brought salvation; My own wrath energized Me.
⁶     I stomped and squashed them furiously.
        I made them reel and stagger on the wine of My anger,
    And I spilled their blood on the ground.

⁷ So let me remind you of the Eternal’s enduring love, and why we should praise Him.
    Let me tell you again how the Eternal gives and gives and gives.
All God’s wonders and goodness are done for Israel’s benefit
    according to His great mercy and compassion.

⁸ Eternal One: Surely, these are My people, and they will be true to Me.
        My children will not try to deceive Me.

And indeed, God became their Savior.
⁹     And when they suffered, God suffered too;
And the messenger of His presence acted to save them.
    Out of enduring love, compassion, and concern,
God Himself rescued them. Through all those years long ago,
    God picked them up and carried them through.
¹⁰ But they rebelled and ran away;
    they turned their backs on Him and grieved His Holy Spirit.
And then, God turned against them, became their enemy,
    went after them, and took them on.
¹¹ Then they remembered Moses and those days long ago:
    Where is the One who brought them safely through the perils of the sea
With the shepherd of His flock leading them?
    Where is the One who sent His Holy Spirit among the people?

¹² Where is the God who put His power in Moses’ right hand
    and divided the waters before the Israelites,
Making an everlasting name for Himself as the true and living God?
¹³ Where is the One who led them through the sea?
    Like a horse in the desert, they never stumbled.
¹⁴ Like cattle that move down to find rest in the valley,
    the Spirit of the Eternal led them to rest.
You did that for Your people and gained a glorious reputation in the world.

¹⁵ People: Look down from heaven—
        peer down from that sacred, magnificent place where You live.
    What happened to Your passion, love, and compassion that sought us out?
        Where are Your powerful actions that used to support us?
¹⁶     Even though Abraham would not know us and Israel would disown us,
        You are our Father!
    Nevertheless, from way back,
        You, the Eternal, are our Father;
        we have called You our Redeemer from long ago.
¹⁷     O Eternal One, why do You make us wander off and direct our minds
        and harden our hearts, so that we no longer respect You?
    Please come back to us, for we are Your servants;
        we are the tribes that have been Yours through the generations.
¹⁸     For such a short time Your holy people possessed Your holy place in Jerusalem;
        then our enemies invaded and trampled all over it.
¹⁹     We’ve become like strangers to You,
        like people You never ruled,
    Like those never associated with Your name.

64 If only You would rip open the heavens
    and come down to earth—
Its heights and depths would quake the moment You appear,
² Like kindling when it just begins to catch fire, or like water that’s about to boil.
    If only You would come like that so that all who deny or hate You
Would know who You are and be terrified of Your grandeur.

³ We remember that long ago You did amazing things for us
    that we had never dreamed You’d do.
You came down, and the mountains shook at Your presence.
⁴ Nothing like that had ever happened before—no eye had ever seen,
    and no ear had ever heard such wonders,
But You did them then for the sake of Your people, for those who trusted in You.
⁵ You meet whoever tries with sincerity of purpose to do what You want—
    to do justice and follow in Your ways.
But You became so angry when we rebelled and committed all sorts of wrongs;
    we have continued in our sins for a long time. So how can we be saved?
⁶ We are all messed up like a person compromised with impurity;
    even all our right efforts are like soiled rags.
We’re drying up like a leaf in autumn and are blown away by wrongdoing.
⁷ And it’s so sad because no one calls out to You
    or even bothers to approach You anymore.
You’ve been absent from us too long;
    You left us to dissolve away in the acrid power of our sins.
⁸ Still, Eternal One, You are our Father.
    We are just clay, and You are the potter.
We are the product of Your creative action, shaped and formed into something of worth.
⁹ Don’t be so angry anymore, O Eternal;
    don’t always remember our wrongs.
Please, look around and see that we are all Your people.
¹⁰ The places that You sanctified are reduced to nothing.
    Zion is a wasteland; Jerusalem sits in eerie desolation.
¹¹ Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors worshiped You,
    has been burned to the ground;
Everything we loved is ruined by our enemies,
    a smoking pile of ash and debris.
¹² Now with all this, Eternal, will You just stand by and watch?
    will You keep silent and let us continue to suffer?