Isaiah 62-66

Isaiah 62

¹For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be still, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a torch that burneth.

²And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah will name.

³And thou shalt be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.

⁴Thou shalt no more be termed, Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed, Desolate: but thou shalt be called, My delight is in her, and thy land, Married; for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

⁵For as a young man marrieth a virgin, shall thy sons marry thee; and with the joy of the bridegroom over the bride, shall thy God rejoice over thee.

⁶I have set watchmen upon thy walls, Jerusalem; all the day and all the night they shall never hold their peace: ye that put Jehovah in remembrance, keep not silence,

⁷and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

⁸Jehovah hath sworn by his right hand and by the arm of his strength, I will indeed no more give thy corn to be food for thine enemies; and the sons of the alien shall not drink thy new wine, for which thou hast laboured;

⁹for they that have garnered it shall eat it, and praise Jehovah; and they that have gathered it shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.

¹⁰Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a banner for the peoples.

¹¹Behold, Jehovah hath proclaimed unto the end of the earth, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompence before him.

¹²And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of Jehovah; and thou shalt be called, The sought out, The city not forsaken.

Isaiah 63

¹Who is this that cometh from Edom, with deep-red garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? -- I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

²-- Wherefore is redness in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winevat?

³I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples not a man was with me; and I have trodden them in mine anger, and trampled them in my fury; and their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all mine apparel.

⁴For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed had come.

⁵And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: and mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.

⁶And I have trodden down the peoples in mine anger, and made them drunk in my fury; and their blood have I brought down to the earth.

⁷I will record the loving-kindnesses of Jehovah, the praises of Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah hath bestowed upon us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel which he hath bestowed upon them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses.

⁸And he said, They are indeed my people, children that will not lie; and he became their Saviour.

⁹In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the Angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them and carried them all the days of old.

¹⁰But they rebelled and grieved his holy Spirit: and he turned to be their enemy; himself, he fought against them.

¹¹But he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people: Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he that put his holy Spirit within him,

¹²his glorious arm leading them by the right hand of Moses, dividing the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name,

¹³-- who led them through the depths, like a horse in the wilderness, and they stumbled not?

¹⁴As cattle go down into the valley, the Spirit of Jehovah gave them rest; so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name.

¹⁵Look down from the heavens, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory! Where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy tender mercies? Are they restrained toward me?

¹⁶For thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, Jehovah, art our Father; our Redeemer, from everlasting, is thy name.

¹⁷Why, O Jehovah, hast thou made us to err from thy ways, hast hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

¹⁸Thy holy people have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.

¹⁹We have become like those over whom thou never barest rule, those not called by thy name.

Isaiah 64

¹Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, -- that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

²-- as fire kindleth brushwood, as the fire causeth water to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations might tremble at thy presence!

³When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, and the mountains flowed down at thy presence.

⁴Never have men heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor hath eye seen a God beside thee, who acteth for him that waiteth for him.

⁵Thou meetest him that rejoiceth to do righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: (behold, thou wast wroth, and we have sinned:) in those is perpetuity, and we shall be saved.

⁶And we are all become as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have carried us away;

⁷and there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee; for thou hast hidden thy face from us, and hast caused us to melt away through our iniquities.

⁸And now, Jehovah, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

⁹Be not wroth very sore, O Jehovah, neither remember iniquity for ever. Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.

¹⁰Thy holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

¹¹Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burnt up with fire, and all our precious things are laid waste.

¹²Wilt thou restrain thyself in presence of these things, Jehovah? Wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

Isaiah 65

¹I am sought out of them that inquired not for me, I am found of them that sought me not; I have said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.

²I have stretched out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, who walk in a way not good, after their own thoughts;

³the people that provoke me to anger continually to my face, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense upon the bricks;

⁴who sit down among the graves, and lodge in the secret places; who eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;

⁵who say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.

⁶Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,

⁷your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith Jehovah, who have burned incense upon the mountains, and outraged me upon the hills; and I will measure their former work into their bosom.

⁸Thus saith Jehovah: As the new wine is found in the cluster, and it is said, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it; so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.

⁹And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah a possessor of my mountains; and mine elect shall possess it, and my servants shall dwell there.

¹⁰And the Sharon shall be a fold for flocks, and the valley of Achor a couching-place of the herds, for my people that have sought me.

¹¹But ye who forsake Jehovah, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Gad, and fill up mixed wine unto Meni:

¹²I will even assign you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down in the slaughter; because I called, and ye did not answer, I spoke, and ye did not hear; but ye did what was evil in mine eyes, and chose that wherein I delight not.

¹³Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, my servants shall eat, and *ye* shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, and *ye* shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, and *ye* shall be ashamed;

¹⁴behold, my servants shall sing aloud for gladness of heart, and *ye* shall cry out for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.

¹⁵And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto mine elect; for the Lord Jehovah will slay thee, and will call his servants by another name:

¹⁶so that he who blesseth himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the land shall swear by the God of truth: because the former troubles shall be forgotten, and because they shall be hidden from mine eyes.

¹⁷For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

¹⁸But be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

¹⁹And I will rejoice over Jerusalem, and will joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

²⁰There shall be no more thenceforth an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not completed his days; for the youth shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.

²¹And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof:

²²they shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

²³They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for terror; for they are the seed of the blessed of Jehovah, and their offspring with them.

²⁴And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith Jehovah.

Isaiah 66

¹Thus saith Jehovah: The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what is the house that ye will build unto me? and what is the place of my rest?

²Even all these things hath my hand made, and all these things have been, saith Jehovah. But to this man will I look: to the afflicted and contrite in spirit, and who trembleth at my word.

³He that slaughtereth an ox, smiteth a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, breaketh a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, it is as swine's blood; he that presenteth a memorial of incense, is as he that blesseth an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations,

⁴I also will choose their calamities, and will bring their fears upon them; because I called, and none answered, I spoke, and they did not hear, but did that which was evil in mine eyes, and chose that wherein I delight not.

⁵Hear the word of Jehovah, ye that tremble at his word: Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let Jehovah be glorified, and let us see your joy! but they shall be ashamed.

⁶A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of Jehovah that rendereth recompence to his enemies!

⁷Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child.

⁸Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Can a land be made to bring forth in one day? shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her sons.

⁹Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith Jehovah; I who cause to bring forth, shall I shut the womb? saith thy God.

¹⁰Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her:

¹¹because ye shall suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; because ye shall drink out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.

¹²For thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing torrent; and ye shall suck, ye shall be carried upon the side, and be dandled upon the knees.

¹³As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

¹⁴And ye shall see this, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants, and he will have indignation toward his enemies.

¹⁵For behold, Jehovah will come with fire, and his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.

¹⁶For by fire and by his sword will Jehovah enter into judgment with all flesh: and the slain of Jehovah shall be many.

¹⁷They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one in the midst; that eat swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall perish together, saith Jehovah.

¹⁸And I, -- their works and their thoughts are before me. ... The time cometh for the gathering of all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

¹⁹And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow; to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory: and they shall declare my glory among the nations.

²⁰And they shall bring all your brethren out of all the nations as an oblation unto Jehovah, upon horses, and in chariots, and in covered waggons, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain, to Jerusalem, saith Jehovah, as the children of Israel bring an oblation in a clean vessel into the house of Jehovah.

²¹And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith Jehovah.

²²For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain.

²³And it shall come to pass from new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, saith Jehovah.

²⁴And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorrence unto all flesh.