Old/New Testament
The Servant, Israel’s Hope
50 Thus says the Lord:
“Where is (A)the certificate of your mother’s divorce,
Whom I have put away?
Or which of My (B)creditors is it to whom I have sold you?
For your iniquities (C)you have sold yourselves,
And for your transgressions your mother has been put away.
2 Why, when I came, was there no man?
Why, when I called, was there none to answer?
Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Indeed with My (D)rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a wilderness;
Their fish stink because there is no water,
And die of thirst.
3 (E)I clothe the heavens with blackness,
(F)And I make sackcloth their covering.”
4 “The(G) Lord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is (H)weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
5 The Lord God (I)has opened My ear;
And I was not (J)rebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
6 (K)I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And (L)My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and (M)spitting.
7 “For the Lord God will help Me;
Therefore I will not be disgraced;
Therefore (N)I have set My face like a flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
8 (O)He is near who justifies Me;
Who will contend with Me?
Let us stand together.
Who is [a]My adversary?
Let him come near Me.
9 Surely the Lord God will help Me;
Who is he who will condemn Me?
(P)Indeed they will all grow old like a garment;
(Q)The moth will eat them up.
10 “Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who (R)walks in darkness
And has no light?
(S)Let him trust in the name of the Lord
And rely upon his God.
11 Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—
(T)This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down (U)in torment.
The Lord Comforts Zion(V)
51 “Listen to Me, (W)you who [b]follow after righteousness,
You who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
2 (X)Look to Abraham your father,
And to Sarah who bore you;
(Y)For I called him alone,
And (Z)blessed him and increased him.”
3 For the Lord will (AA)comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert (AB)like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
4 “Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
(AC)For law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
(AD)As a light of the peoples.
5 (AE)My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
(AF)And My arms will judge the peoples;
(AG)The coastlands will wait upon Me,
And (AH)on My arm they will trust.
6 (AI)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For (AJ)the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
(AK)The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be (AL)forever,
And My righteousness will not be [c]abolished.
7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people (AM)in whose heart is My law:
(AN)Do not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
8 For (AO)the moth will eat them up like a garment,
And the worm will eat them like wool;
But My righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation from generation to generation.”
9 (AP)Awake, awake, (AQ)put on strength,
O arm of the Lord!
Awake (AR)as in the ancient days,
In the generations of old.
(AS)Are You not the arm that cut (AT)Rahab apart,
And wounded the (AU)serpent?
10 Are You not the One who (AV)dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the depths of the sea a road
For the redeemed to cross over?
11 So (AW)the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness;
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 “I, even I, am He (AX)who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
(AY)Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made (AZ)like grass?
13 And (BA)you forget the Lord your Maker,
(BB)Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
(BC)And where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,
(BD)That he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
15 But I am the Lord your God,
Who (BE)divided the sea whose waves roared—
The Lord of hosts is His name.
16 And (BF)I have put My words in your mouth;
(BG)I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
(BH)That I may [d]plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”
God’s Fury Removed
17 (BI)Awake, awake!
Stand up, O Jerusalem,
You who (BJ)have drunk at the hand of the Lord
The cup of His fury;
You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,
And drained it out.
18 There is no one to guide her
Among all the sons she has brought forth;
Nor is there any who takes her by the hand
Among all the sons she has brought up.
19 (BK)These two things have come to you;
Who will be sorry for you?—
Desolation and destruction, famine and sword—
(BL)By whom will I comfort you?
20 (BM)Your sons have fainted,
They lie at the head of all the streets,
Like an antelope in a net;
They are full of the fury of the Lord,
The rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk (BN)but not with wine.
22 Thus says your Lord,
The Lord and your God,
Who (BO)pleads the cause of His people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
23 (BP)But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to [e]you,
‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over.”
God Redeems Jerusalem
52 Awake, awake!
Put on your strength, O Zion;
Put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city!
For the uncircumcised (BQ)and the unclean
Shall no longer come to you.
2 (BR)Shake yourself from the dust, arise;
Sit down, O Jerusalem!
(BS)Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion!
3 For thus says the Lord:
4 For thus says the Lord God:
“My people went down at first
Into (BV)Egypt to [f]dwell there;
Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
5 Now therefore, what have I here,” says the Lord,
“That My people are taken away for nothing?
Those who rule over them
[g]Make them wail,” says the Lord,
“And My name is (BW)blasphemed continually every day.
6 Therefore My people shall know My name;
Therefore they shall know in that day
That I am He who speaks:
‘Behold, it is I.’ ”
7 (BX)How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
(BY)“Your God reigns!”
8 Your watchmen shall lift up their voices,
With their voices they shall sing together;
For they shall see eye to eye
When the Lord brings back Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together,
You waste places of Jerusalem!
For the Lord has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 (BZ)The Lord has [h]made bare His holy arm
In the eyes of (CA)all the nations;
And all the ends of the earth shall see
The salvation of our God.
11 (CB)Depart! Depart! Go out from there,
Touch no unclean thing;
Go out from the midst of her,
(CC)Be clean,
You who bear the vessels of the Lord.
12 For (CD)you shall not go out with haste,
Nor go by flight;
(CE)For the Lord will go before you,
(CF)And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
The Sin-Bearing Servant
13 Behold, (CG)My Servant shall [i]deal prudently;
(CH)He shall be exalted and [j]extolled and be very high.
14 Just as many were astonished at you,
So His (CI)visage[k] was marred more than any man,
And His form more than the sons of men;
15 (CJ)So shall He [l]sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
For (CK)what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider.
The Day of the Lord
5 But concerning (A)the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that (B)the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then (C)sudden destruction comes upon them, (D)as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 (E)But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all (F)sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 (G)Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but (H)let us watch and be [a]sober. 7 For (I)those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk (J)are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, (K)putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For (L)God did not appoint us to wrath, (M)but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 (N)who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
11 Therefore [b]comfort each other and [c]edify one another, just as you also are doing.
Various Exhortations
12 And we urge you, brethren, (O)to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and [d]admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. (P)Be at peace among yourselves.
14 Now we [e]exhort you, brethren, (Q)warn those who are [f]unruly, (R)comfort the fainthearted, (S)uphold the weak, (T)be patient with all. 15 (U)See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always (V)pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
16 (W)Rejoice always, 17 (X)pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19 (Y)Do not quench the Spirit. 20 (Z)Do not despise prophecies. 21 (AA)Test all things; (AB)hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
Blessing and Admonition
23 Now may (AC)the God of peace Himself (AD)sanctify[g] you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body (AE)be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is (AF)faithful, who also will (AG)do it.
25 Brethren, pray for us.
26 Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.
27 I charge you by the Lord that this [h]epistle be read to all the [i]holy brethren.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.