Old/New Testament

50 This is what the Lord says.
So where are the divorce papers of your mother,
whom I sent away?
To which of my creditors did I sell you?
It was because of your guilt that you were sold.
Because of your rebellions, your mother was sent away.
² When I came, why was no one there?
Why, when I called, was there no one who answered?
Is my arm really too short to redeem?
Do I not have enough power to rescue?
Yes! By my rebuke I can dry up the sea.
I can turn rivers into a wilderness,
so that their fish will stink from having no water,
and they will die of thirst.
³ I can clothe the heavens with blackness,
and I can cover them with sackcloth.

¹⁰ Who among you worships the Lord
and listens to the voice of his servant?
Anyone who walks in darkness
and who has no bright light—
let him trust in the name of the Lord,
and let him lean on his God.
¹¹ Watch out, all of you who are lighting fires
    to arm yourselves with flaming arrows.^[a]
Go ahead, walk by the light of your fires
and by the flaming arrows you lit!
But from my hand you will receive this:
You will lie down in a place of torment.

Listen to me, you people who pursue righteousness,
you people who seek the Lord!
Look confidently to the rock from which you were hewn
and to the quarry from which you were cut.
² Look confidently to Abraham your father,
and to Sarah, who gave birth to you.
Yes, when I called him, Abraham was only one person,
but I blessed him and multiplied him.
³ The Lord is certain to comfort Zion.
He will comfort all her ruins.
Certainly he will make her wilderness like Eden
and her wasteland like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of music.

⁴ Pay attention to me, O my people.
My nation, listen to me!
For the law^[b] will go out from me,
and I will establish my justice^[c] as a light to the peoples.
⁵ My righteousness is near.
My salvation goes forth,
and my arms will bring justice to the peoples.
The seacoasts will wait for me.
They will have confidence in my arm.
⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens.
Look closely at the earth beneath,
because the heavens will vanish like smoke,
and the earth will wear out like a garment,
and its inhabitants will die like gnats.^[d]
But my salvation will remain forever,
and my righteousness will never be abolished.
⁷ Listen to me, you people who know righteousness,
you people who have my law in your hearts.
Do not fear the insults of men,
and do not be discouraged by their abuse.
⁸ Because a moth will consume them like a garment,
and its worm will consume them like wool.
But my righteousness will remain forever,
and my salvation will last for all generations.

⁹ Wake up! Wake up!
Clothe yourself with strength, you arm of the Lord!
Awake as in days of old,
as in generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut Rahab^[e] to pieces,
and who pierced the sea monster?^[f]
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
    the waters of the great deep,
and who made a road through the depths of the sea
    for the redeemed to cross over?
¹¹ Then those ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will enter Zion with a joyful shout,
and everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Happiness and joy will overtake them.
Sorrow and sighing will flee away.

¹² I, even I, am the one who comforts you.
Who are you, Zion,^[g] that you fear humans, who die,
or a child of Adam, who passes away like grass?
¹³ You have forgotten the Lord, your Creator,
who stretches out the heavens,
who makes the earth stand firm.
You tremble continually all day,
because of the rage of the oppressor,
who is preparing to destroy.
But where is the rage of the oppressor now?
¹⁴ The prisoner^[h] will soon be released.
He will not die and go to the pit,
and he will not lack bread.

¹⁵ I am the Lord your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar.
The Lord of Armies is his name!
¹⁶ I have placed my words in your mouth,
and with the shadow of my hand I have covered you—
I, who planted the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth,
I, who say to Zion, “You are my people.”

Who will grieve for you?
Devastation and destruction and famine and sword!
Who will comfort you?^[j]
20 Your children faint and collapse at the corner of every street,
    like an antelope in a net.
They are full of the wrath of the Lord,
full of the rebuke of your God.
²¹ Therefore hear this, you afflicted woman,
a woman drunk, but not from wine.
²² This is what the Lord God says,
your God, who will contend for his people.
    Look, I am taking the cup that makes you stagger out of your hand,
    the chalice, the cup filled with my wrath.
    Never again will you drink from it,
²³     because I will place it into the hand of your tormentors,
    who have said to you,
    “Lie down so that we can walk over you.”
    You made your back like the ground
    and like the street for those who walked over you.

Wake, awake!
Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion.
Put on your beautiful garments,
Jerusalem, you holy city,
for never again will the uncircumcised
and the unclean enter you.
² Shake off the dust.
Get up and take your seat, Jerusalem.
Loosen the chains from your neck,
you captive daughter of Zion.

³ Yes, this is what the Lord says.
You were sold for nothing,
and you will be redeemed without money.

⁴ Yes, this is what the Lord God says.
In the beginning, my people went down to Egypt to stay there
    for a while.
Later Assyria oppressed them without cause.

⁵ Now what do I have here? declares the Lord.
Indeed, my people have been taken away for nothing.
Their rulers howl with mockery, declares the Lord.
My name is continually despised all day.
⁶ Therefore my people will know my name.
So on that day they will know that I am the one—
the one who is saying, “Here I am!”