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The Vindication and Salvation of Zion

62 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
    and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
until her vindication shines out like the dawn
    and her salvation like a burning torch.(A)
The nations shall see your vindication
    and all the kings your glory,
and you shall be called by a new name
    that the mouth of the Lord will give.(B)
You shall be a beautiful crown in the hand of the Lord
    and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.(C)
You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
    and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her
    and your land Married,
for the Lord delights in you,
    and your land shall be married.(D)
For as a young man marries a young woman,
    so shall your builder[a] marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
    so shall your God rejoice over you.(E)
Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,
    I have posted sentinels;
all day and all night
    they shall never be silent.
You who remind the Lord,
    take no rest,(F)
and give him no rest
    until he establishes Jerusalem
    and makes it renowned throughout the earth.(G)
The Lord has sworn by his right hand
    and by his mighty arm:
I will not again give your grain
    to be food for your enemies,
and foreigners shall not drink the wine
    for which you have labored,(H)
but those who harvest it shall eat it
    and praise the Lord,
and those who gather it shall drink it
    in my holy courts.(I)

10 Go through, go through the gates;
    prepare the way for the people;
build up, build up the highway;
    clear it of stones;
    lift up an ensign over the peoples.(J)
11 The Lord has proclaimed
    to the end of the earth:
Say to daughter Zion,
    “Look, your savior comes;
his reward is with him
    and his recompense before him.”(K)
12 They shall be called, “The Holy People,
    The Redeemed of the Lord,”
and you shall be called, “Sought Out,
    A City Not Forsaken.”(L)

Vengeance on Edom

63 “Who is this coming from Edom,
    from Bozrah in garments stained crimson?
Who is this so splendidly robed,
    marching in his great might?”

“It is I, announcing vindication,
    mighty to save.”(M)

“Why are your robes red
    and your garments like theirs who tread the winepress?”(N)

“I have trodden the winepress alone,
    and from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
    and trampled them in my wrath;
their juice spattered on my garments,
    and I stained all my robes.(O)
For the day of vengeance was in my mind,
    and the year for my redeeming work had come.(P)
I looked, but there was no helper;
    I was abandoned, and there was no one to sustain me,
so my own arm brought me victory,
    and my wrath sustained me.(Q)
I trampled down peoples in my anger;
    I crushed them[b] in my wrath,
    and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”(R)

God’s Mercy Remembered

I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord,
    the praiseworthy acts of the Lord,
because of all that the Lord has done for us
    and the great favor to the house of Israel
that he has shown them according to his mercy,
    according to the abundance of his steadfast love.(S)
For he said, “Surely they are my people,
    children who will not act deceitfully,”
and he became their savior
    in all their distress.
It was no messenger or angel
    but his presence that saved them;
in his love and pity it was he who redeemed them;
    he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.(T)

10 But they rebelled
    and grieved his holy spirit;
therefore he became their enemy;
    he himself fought against them.(U)
11 Then they[c] remembered the days of old,
    of Moses his servant.[d]
Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea
    with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is the one who put within them
    his holy spirit,(V)
12 who caused his glorious arm
    to march at the right hand of Moses,
who divided the waters before them
    to make for himself an everlasting name,(W)
13     who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
    they did not stumble.(X)
14 Like cattle that go down into the valley,
    the spirit of the Lord gave them rest.
Thus you led your people,
    to make for yourself a glorious name.(Y)

A Prayer of Penitence

15 Look down from heaven and see,
    from your holy and glorious habitation.
Where are your zeal and your might?
    Your great pity and your compassion are withheld from me.(Z)
16 For you are our father,
    though Abraham does not know us
    and Israel does not acknowledge us;
you, O Lord, are our father;
    our Redeemer from of old is your name.(AA)
17 Why, O Lord, do you let us stray from your ways
    and let our heart harden, so that we do not fear you?
Turn back for the sake of your servants,
    the tribes that are your heritage.(AB)
18 Your holy people took possession for a little while,
    but now our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.(AC)
19 We have long been like those whom you do not rule,
    like those not called by your name.(AD)

64 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
    so that the mountains would quake at your presence—(AE)
[e]as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
    so that the nations might tremble at your presence!(AF)
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
    you came down; the mountains quaked at your presence.(AG)
From ages past no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
    who works for those who wait for him.(AH)
You meet those who gladly do right,
    those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
    because you hid yourself we transgressed.[f](AI)
We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.(AJ)
There is no one who calls on your name
    or attempts to take hold of you,
for you have hidden your face from us
    and have delivered[g] us into the hand of our iniquity.(AK)
Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
    we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.(AL)
Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,
    and do not remember iniquity forever.
    Now consider, we are all your people.(AM)
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become a wilderness,
    Jerusalem a desolation.(AN)
11 Our holy and beautiful house,
    where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned by fire,
    and all our pleasant places have become ruins.(AO)
12 After all this, will you restrain yourself, O Lord?
    Will you keep silent and punish us so severely?(AP)

The Righteousness of God’s Judgment

65 I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,
    to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
    to a nation that did not call on my name.(AQ)
I held out my hands all day long
    to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
    following their own devices;(AR)
a people who provoke me
    to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens
    and offering incense on bricks;(AS)
who sit inside tombs
    and spend the night in secret places;
who eat the flesh of pigs,
    with broth of abominable things in their vessels;(AT)
who say, “Keep to yourself;
    do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that burns all day long.(AU)
See, it is written before me:
    I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will indeed repay into their laps(AV)
    their[h] iniquities and their[i] ancestors’ iniquities together,
            says the Lord;
because they offered incense on the mountains
    and reviled me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
    full payment for their actions.(AW)
Thus says the Lord:
As the wine is found in the cluster,
    and they say, “Do not destroy it,
    for there is a blessing in it,”
so I will do for my servants’ sake
    and not destroy them all.
I will bring forth descendants from Jacob
    and from Judah inheritors of my mountains;
my chosen shall inherit it,
    and my servants shall settle there.(AX)
10 Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks
    and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
    for my people who have sought me.(AY)
11 But you who forsake the Lord,
    who forget my holy mountain,
who set a table for Fortune
    and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,(AZ)
12 I will destine you to the sword,
    and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter;
because, when I called, you did not answer,
    when I spoke, you did not listen,
but you did what was evil in my sight
    and chose what I did not delight in.(BA)
13 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
My servants shall eat,
    but you shall be hungry;
my servants shall drink,
    but you shall be thirsty;
my servants shall rejoice,
    but you shall be put to shame;(BB)
14 my servants shall sing with gladness of heart,
    but you shall cry out in pain of heart
    and shall wail in anguish of spirit.(BC)
15 You shall leave your name to my chosen to use as a curse,
    and the Lord God will put you to death,
    but to his servants he will give a different name.(BD)
16 Then whoever invokes a blessing in the land
    shall bless by the God of faithfulness,
and whoever takes an oath in the land
    shall swear by the God of faithfulness,
because the former troubles are forgotten
    and are hidden from my sight.(BE)

The Glorious New Creation

17 For I am about to create new heavens
    and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
    or come to mind.(BF)
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I am creating,
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy
    and its people as a delight.(BG)
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
    and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it
    or the cry of distress.(BH)
20 No more shall there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days
    or an old person who does not live out a lifetime,
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
    and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.(BI)
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.(BJ)
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
    they shall not plant and another eat,
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
    and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.(BK)
23 They shall not labor in vain
    or bear children for calamity,[j]
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord
    and their descendants as well.(BL)
24 Before they call I will answer,
    while they are yet speaking I will hear.(BM)
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together;
    the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
    but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
            says the Lord.(BN)

The Worship God Demands

66 Thus says the Lord:
Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool;
so what kind of house could you build for me,
    what sort of place for me to rest?(BO)
All these things my hand has made,
    so all these things are mine,[k]
            says the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look,
    to the humble and contrite in spirit
    who trembles at my word.(BP)

Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who kills a human,
    whoever sacrifices a lamb like one who breaks a dog’s neck,
whoever presents a grain offering like one who offers pig’s blood,
    whoever makes a memorial offering of frankincense like one who blesses an idol.
Just as these have chosen their own ways
    and in their abominations they take delight,(BQ)
so I will choose their punishments
    and bring upon them what they fear,
because, when I called, no one answered,
    when I spoke, they did not listen,
but they did what was evil in my sight
    and chose what did not please me.(BR)

The Lord Vindicates Zion

Hear the word of the Lord,
    you who tremble at his word:
Your own people who hate you
    and reject you for my name’s sake
have said, “Let the Lord be glorified,
    so that we may see your joy,”
    but it is they who shall be put to shame.(BS)

Listen, a roar from the city!
    A voice from the temple!
The voice of the Lord,
    dealing retribution to his enemies!(BT)

Before she was in labor
    she gave birth;
before her pain came upon her
    she delivered a son.(BU)
Who has heard of such a thing?
    Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
    Shall a nation be delivered in one moment?
Yet as soon as Zion was in labor
    she delivered her children.(BV)
Shall I open the womb and not deliver?
    says the Lord;
shall I, the one who delivers, shut the womb?
    says your God.

10 Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
    all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy,
    all you who mourn over her—(BW)
11 that you may nurse and be satisfied
    from her consoling breast,
that you may drink deeply with delight
    from her glorious bosom.(BX)

12 For thus says the Lord:
I will extend prosperity to her like a river
    and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream,
and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm
    and bounced on her knees.(BY)
13 As a mother comforts her child,
    so I will comfort you;
    you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.(BZ)

The Reign and Indignation of God

14 You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
    your bodies[l] shall flourish like the grass,
and it shall be known that the power of the Lord is with his servants,
    and his indignation is against his enemies.(CA)
15 For the Lord will come in fire
    and his chariots in a whirlwind,[m]
to vent his anger in fury
    and his rebuke in flames of fire.(CB)
16 For by fire will the Lord execute judgment,
    and by his sword on all flesh;
    and those slain by the Lord shall be many.(CC)

17 Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following the one in the center, eating the flesh of pigs, vermin, and rodents, shall come to an end together, says the Lord,(CD) 18 for I know[n] their works and their thoughts.

I am[o] coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and shall see my glory,(CE) 19 and I will set a sign among them. From them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put,[p] and Lud, to Meshech,[q] Tubal, and Javan, to the coastlands far away that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among the nations.(CF) 20 They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring a grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.(CG) 21 And I will also take some of them as priests and as Levites, says the Lord.(CH)

22 For as the new heavens and the new earth,
    which I will make,
shall remain before me, says the Lord,
    so shall your descendants and your name remain.(CI)
23 From new moon to new moon
    and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
says the Lord.(CJ)

24 And they shall go out and look at the dead bodies of the people who have rebelled against me, for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.(CK)

Footnotes

  1. 62.5 Cn: Heb your sons
  2. 63.6 Heb mss: MT I made them drunk
  3. 63.11 Heb he
  4. 63.11 Cn: Heb his people
  5. 64.2 64.1 in Heb
  6. 64.5 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  7. 64.7 Gk Syr OL Tg: Heb melted
  8. 65.7 Gk Syr: Heb your
  9. 65.7 Gk Syr: Heb your
  10. 65.23 Or sudden terror
  11. 66.2 Gk Syr: Heb these things came to be
  12. 66.14 Heb bones
  13. 66.15 Q ms: MT like a whirlwind
  14. 66.18 Gk Syr: Heb lacks know
  15. 66.18 Gk Syr Vg Tg: Heb it is
  16. 66.19 Gk: Heb Pul
  17. 66.19 Gk: Heb those drawing the bow