Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
Nor is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear.
2 But your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His [a]face from you so that He does not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood,
And your fingers with wrongdoing;
Your lips have spoken deceit,
Your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 No one sues righteously and no one pleads [b]honestly.
They trust in confusion and speak lies;
They conceive trouble and give birth to disaster.
5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;
The one who eats of their eggs dies,
And from what is crushed, a snake breaks out.
6 Their webs will not become clothing,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of wrongdoing,
And an act of violence is in their [c]hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
And they hurry to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of wrongdoing,
Devastation and destruction are in their paths.
8 They do not know the way of peace,
And there is no justice in their tracks;
They have made their paths crooked,
Whoever walks on [d]them does not know peace.
A Confession of Wickedness
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not reach us;
We hope for light, but there is darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope for the wall like people who are blind,
We grope like those who have no eyes.
We stumble at midday as in the twilight;
Among those who are healthy we are like the dead.
11 All of us growl like bears,
And moan sadly like doves;
We hope for justice, but there is none;
For salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our wrongful acts have multiplied before You,
And our sins have testified against us;
For our wrongful acts are with us,
And [e]we know our wrongdoings:
13 [f]Offending and denying the Lord,
And turning away from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.
14 Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands far away;
For truth has stumbled in the street,
And uprightness cannot enter.
15 Truth is lacking,
And one who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey.
Now the Lord saw,
And it was [g]displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.
16 And He saw that there was no one,
And was amazed that there was not one to intercede;
Then His own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His righteousness upheld Him.
17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing
And wrapped Himself with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, [h]so will He repay:
Wrath to His adversaries, [i]retribution to His enemies;
To the coastlands He will [j]deal [k]retribution.
19 So they will fear the name of the Lord from the west
And His glory from the rising of the sun,
For He will come like a [l]rushing stream
Which the wind of the Lord drives.
20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those in Jacob who turn from wrongdoing,” declares the Lord.
21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your [m]offspring, nor from the mouth of your [n]offspring’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from now and forever.”
“Arise, shine; for your light has come,
And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 For behold, darkness will cover the earth
And deep darkness the peoples;
But the Lord will rise upon you
And His glory will appear upon you.
3 Nations will come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 “Raise your eyes all around and see;
They all gather together, they come to you.
Your sons will come from afar,
And your daughters will be [a]carried on the hip.
5 Then you will see and be radiant,
And your heart will [b]thrill and rejoice;
Because the [c]abundance of the sea will be turned to you,
The wealth of the nations will come to you.
6 A multitude of camels will cover you,
The young camels of Midian and Ephah;
All those from Sheba will come;
They will bring gold and frankincense,
And proclaim good news of the praises of the Lord.
7 All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you,
The rams of Nebaioth will serve you;
They will go up on My altar with acceptance,
And I will glorify My glorious house.
8 Who are these who fly like a cloud
And like the doves to their windows?
9 Certainly the coastlands will wait for Me;
And the ships of Tarshish will come first,
To bring your sons from afar,
Their silver and their gold with them,
For the name of the Lord your God,
And for the Holy One of Israel because He has glorified you.
10 “Foreigners will build up your walls,
And their kings will serve you;
For in My wrath I struck you,
And in My favor I have had compassion on you.
11 Your gates will be open continually;
They will not be closed day or night,
So that people may bring you the wealth of the nations,
With their kings led in procession.
12 For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish,
And the nations will be utterly ruined.
13 The glory of Lebanon will come to you,
The juniper, the elm tree and the [d]cedar together,
To beautify the place of My sanctuary;
And I will make the place of My feet glorious.
14 The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you,
And all those who despised you will bow down at the soles of your feet;
And they will call you the city of the Lord,
The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Whereas you have been forsaken and hated
With no one passing through,
I will make you an object of pride forever,
A joy from generation to generation.
16 You will also suck the milk of nations,
And suck the breast of kings;
Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
And instead of iron I will bring silver,
And instead of wood, bronze,
And instead of stones, iron.
And I will make peace your administrators,
And righteousness your overseers.
18 Violence will not be heard again in your land,
Nor devastation or destruction within your borders;
But you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise.
19 No longer will you have the sun for light by day,
Nor will the moon give you light for brightness;
But you will have the Lord as an everlasting light,
And your God as your [e]glory.
20 Your sun will no longer set,
Nor will your moon wane;
For you will have the Lord as an everlasting light,
And the days of your mourning will be over.
21 Then all your people will be righteous;
They will possess the land forever,
The branch of [f]My planting,
The work of My hands,
That I may be glorified.
22 The smallest one will become a thousand,
And the least one a mighty nation.
I, the Lord, will bring it about quickly in its time.”
61 The Spirit of the Lord [a]God is upon me,
Because the Lord anointed me
To bring good news to the humble;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim [b]release to captives
And [c]freedom to prisoners;
2 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The cloak of praise instead of a disheartened spirit.
So they will be called [d]oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
4 Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins,
They will raise up the former devastations;
And they will repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.
5 Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks,
And [e]foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.
6 But you will be called the priests of the Lord;
You will be spoken of as ministers of our God.
You will eat the wealth of nations,
And you will boast in their [f]riches.
7 Instead of your shame you will have a double portion,
And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion.
Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land,
Everlasting joy will be theirs.
8 For I, the Lord, love justice,
I hate robbery [g]in the burnt offering;
And I will faithfully give them their reward,
And make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Then their offspring will be known among the nations,
And their descendants in the midst of the peoples.
All who see them will recognize them
Because they are the offspring whom the Lord has blessed.
10 I will rejoice greatly in the Lord,
My soul will be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,
He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness,
As a groom puts on a turban,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth produces its sprouts,
And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up,
So the Lord [h]God will cause righteousness and praise
To spring up before all the nations.