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.
2
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.
3
You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4
You shall no more be termed Forsaken,[a]
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;[b]
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,[c]
and your land Married;[d]
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5
For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your builder[e] marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
6
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,
7
and give him no rest
until he establishes Jerusalem
and makes it renowned throughout the earth.
8
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;
9
but those who garner it shall eat it
and praise the Lord,
and those who gather it shall drink it
in my holy courts.
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.
11
The Lord has proclaimed
to the end of the earth:
Say to daughter Zion,
“See, your salvation comes;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.”
12
They shall be called, “The Holy People,
The Redeemed of the Lord”;
and you shall be called, “Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken.”
Vengeance on Edom
63 “Who is this that comes 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.”
2
“Why are your robes red,
and your garments like theirs who tread the wine press?”
3
“I have trodden the wine press 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 stained all my robes.
4
For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
and the year for my redeeming work had come.
5
I looked, but there was no helper;
I stared, but there was no one to sustain me;
so my own arm brought me victory,
and my wrath sustained me.
6
I trampled down peoples in my anger,
I crushed them in my wrath,
and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
God’s Mercy Remembered
7
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.
8
For he said, “Surely they are my people,
children who will not deal falsely”;
and he became their savior
9
in all their distress.
It was no messenger[f] or angel
but his presence that saved them;[g]
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
10
But they rebelled
and grieved his holy spirit;
therefore he became their enemy;
he himself fought against them.
11
Then they[h] remembered the days of old,
of Moses his servant.[i]
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,
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,
13
who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
they did not stumble.
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.
A Prayer of Penitence
15
Look down from heaven and see,
from your holy and glorious habitation.
Where are your zeal and your might?
The yearning of your heart and your compassion?
They are withheld from me.
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.
17
Why, O Lord, do you make us stray from your ways
and harden our heart, so that we do not fear you?
Turn back for the sake of your servants,
for the sake of the tribes that are your heritage.
18
Your holy people took possession for a little while;
but now our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.
19
We have long been like those whom you do not rule,
like those not called by your name.
64 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
2
[j] 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!
3
When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4
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.
5
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.[k]
6
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.
7
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[l] us into the hand of our iniquity.
8
Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9
Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,
and do not remember iniquity forever.
Now consider, we are all your people.
10
Your holy cities have become a wilderness,
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11
Our holy and beautiful house,
where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned by fire,
and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
12
After all this, will you restrain yourself, O Lord?
Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?
Relations with Others
18
Do not exchange a friend for money,
or a real brother for the gold of Ophir.
19
Do not dismiss[a] a wise and good wife,
for her charm is worth more than gold.
20
Do not abuse slaves who work faithfully,
or hired laborers who devote themselves to their task.
21
Let your soul love intelligent slaves;[b]
do not withhold from them their freedom.
22
Do you have cattle? Look after them;
if they are profitable to you, keep them.
23
Do you have children? Discipline them,
and make them obedient[c] from their youth.
24
Do you have daughters? Be concerned for their chastity,[d]
and do not show yourself too indulgent with them.
25
Give a daughter in marriage, and you complete a great task;
but give her to a sensible man.
26
Do you have a wife who pleases you?[e] Do not divorce her;
but do not trust yourself to one whom you detest.
27
With all your heart honor your father,
and do not forget the birth pangs of your mother.
28
Remember that it was of your parents[f] you were born;
how can you repay what they have given to you?
29
With all your soul fear the Lord,
and revere his priests.
30
With all your might love your Maker,
and do not neglect his ministers.
31
Fear the Lord and honor the priest,
and give him his portion, as you have been commanded:
the first fruits, the guilt offering, the gift of the shoulders,
the sacrifice of sanctification, and the first fruits of the holy things.
32
Stretch out your hand to the poor,
so that your blessing may be complete.
33
Give graciously to all the living;
do not withhold kindness even from the dead.
34
Do not avoid those who weep,
but mourn with those who mourn.
35
Do not hesitate to visit the sick,
because for such deeds you will be loved.
36
In all you do, remember the end of your life,
and then you will never sin.
The Example of Jesus
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,[a] and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of[b] the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners,[c] so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children—
“My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
or lose heart when you are punished by him;
6
for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves,
and chastises every child whom he accepts.”
7 Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? 8 If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. 9 Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. 11 Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
Warnings against Rejecting God’s Grace
14 Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled. 16 See to it that no one becomes like Esau, an immoral and godless person, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent,[d] even though he sought the blessing[e] with tears.
18 You have not come to something[f] that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. 20 (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly[g] of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! 26 At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; 29 for indeed our God is a consuming fire.