Readings for Lent and Easter
Comfort Zion With Justice
51 “Listen to Me, you who pursue justice,
you who seek Adonai.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you.
For when I called him, he was but one,
then I blessed him and multiplied him.”
3 For Adonai will comfort Zion.
He will comfort all her waste places.
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of Adonai.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and a sound of melody.
4 “Pay attention to Me, My people,
give ear to Me, My nation.
For Torah will go out from Me,
My justice as a light to the peoples.[a]
5 My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone out,
and My arms will judge the nations.
The coastlands will wait for Me—
for My arm they will wait expectantly.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath.
For the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and its inhabitants will die like gnats,
but My salvation will be forever,
and My righteousness never wane.
7 Listen to Me, you who know justice,
a people with My Torah in their heart:
Do not fear the taunt of men,
nor be dismayed at their insults.
8 For the moth will eat them like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool.
But My righteousness will be forever
and My salvation for all generations.”
9 Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of Adonai,
awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago.
Was it not You who cut Rahab in pieces,
who pierced the dragon?
10 Was it not You who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made the depths of the sea a path
for the redeemed to pass over?
11 Now the ransomed of Adonai will return,
and come to Zion with singing.
Everlasting joy will be upon their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
12 “I, I am the One who comforts you.
Who are you that you should fear man,
who dies, or a son of man,
who is given up like grass?”
13 But you forgot Adonai your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth.
Are you in constant dread all day
because of the fury of the oppressor
as he makes ready to destroy?
But where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 Soon one bowed down will be released.
He will not die and go to the Pit,
nor will his bread be lacking.
15 “For I am Adonai your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name.
16 I have put My words in your mouth,
and covered you with the shadow of My hand—
I who set the heavens in place,
who laid the foundations of the earth,
and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.