Readings for Lent and Easter

51 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
    who seek Yahweh.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
    and to the excavation of the pit from which you were quarried.
² Look to Abraham your father,
    and to Sarah; she brought you forth.
For I called him alone,^[a]
    but^[b] I blessed him and made him numerous.”
³ For Yahweh will comfort Zion;
    he will comfort all its sites of ruins.
And he will make^[c] its wilderness like Eden,
    and its desert like the garden of Yahweh.
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
    thanksgiving and the sound^[d] of song.
⁴ “Listen attentively to me, my people,
    and my nation, listen to me!
For a teaching will go out from me,
    and I will cause my justice to rest for a light to the peoples.
⁵ My righteousness is near; my salvation has gone out,
    and my arms will judge the peoples.
The coastlands wait for me,
    and for my arm they wait.
⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens
    and look to the earth beneath,
for the heavens will be torn to pieces like smoke,
    and the earth will be worn out like a garment,
        and those who inhabit her will die like gnats.
But^[e] my salvation will be forever,
    and my righteousness will not be broken to pieces.
⁷ Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
    people who have my teaching in their heart;
you must not fear the reproach of men,
    or be terrified because of their abuse.
⁸ For a moth will eat them like garments;
    a moth will devour^[f] them like wool,
but^[g] my righteousness will be forever,
    and my salvation for generation after generation.^[h]”
⁹ Awake! Awake; put on strength, O arm of Yahweh!
    Awake as in days of long ago,
        the generations of a long time back!
Are you not the one who cut Rahab in pieces,
    the one who pierced the sea-dragon?
¹⁰ Are you not the one who dried up the sea,
    the waters of the great deep,
the one who made^[i] the depths of the sea a way
    for those who are redeemed to cross over?
¹¹ So^[j] the redeemed ones of Yahweh shall return,
    and they shall come to Zion with singing,
        and everlasting joy shall be on their heads.^[k]
Joy and gladness shall appear;^[l]
    sorrow and sighing shall flee away!
¹² “I, I am he who comforts you;
    who are you that^[m] you are afraid of man? He dies!
    And of the son of humankind? He is sacrificed^[n] as grass!
¹³ And you have forgotten Yahweh, your maker,
    who stretched out the heavens,
    and founded the earth.
And you tremble continually, all day,
    because of the wrath of the oppressor
    when he takes aim^[o] to destroy.
But^[p] where is the wrath of the oppressor?
¹⁴     The fettered one shall make haste to be freed.
And he shall not die in^[q] the pit,
    and he shall not lack his bread.
¹⁵ For^[r] I am Yahweh, your God,
    who stirs up^[s] the sea, so that^[t] its waves roar;
    Yahweh of hosts is his name.
¹⁶ And I have put my words in your mouth,
    and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand,
to plant the heavens
    and to found the earth,
        saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”