Day 219 of 364

^50:1The LORD says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away for your transgressions. ^50:2Why, when I came, was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can’t redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish stink because there is no water, and die of thirst. ^50:3I clothe the heavens with blackness. I make sackcloth their covering.” ^50:4The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary. He awakens morning by morning, he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. ^50:5The Lord GOD has opened my ear. I was not rebellious. I have not turned back. ^50:6I gave my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair. I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting. ^50:7For the Lord GOD will help me. Therefore I have not been confounded. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I won’t be disappointed. ^50:8He who justifies me is near. Who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. ^50:9Behold, the Lord GOD will help me! Who is he who will condemn me? Behold, they will all grow old like a garment. The moths will eat them up. ^50:10Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness and has no light, let him trust in the LORD’s name, and rely on his God. ^50:11Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves, walk in the flame of your fire, and among the torches that you have kindled. You will have this from my hand: you will lie down in sorrow. ^51:1“Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD. Look to the rock you were cut from, and to the quarry you were dug from. ^51:2Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, I blessed him, and made him many. ^51:3For the LORD has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in them, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. ^51:4“Listen to me, my people; and hear me, my nation, for a law will go out from me, and I will establish my justice for a light to the peoples. ^51:5My righteousness is near. My salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples. The islands will wait for me, and they will trust my arm. ^51:6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment. Its inhabitants will die in the same way, but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished. ^51:7“Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Don’t fear the reproach of men, and don’t be dismayed at their insults. ^51:8For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.” ^51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the LORD! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster? ^51:10Isn’t it you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? ^51:11Those ransomed by the LORD will return, and come with singing to Zion. Everlasting joy shall be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. ^51:12“I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who will be made as grass? ^51:13Have you forgotten the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth? Do you live in fear continually all day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he prepares to destroy? Where is the fury of the oppressor? ^51:14The captive exile will speedily be freed. He will not die and go down into the pit. His bread won’t fail. ^51:15For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. the LORD of Armies is his name. ^51:16I have put my words in your mouth and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, ‘You are my people.’” ^51:17Awake, awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the LORD’s hand the cup of his wrath. You have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it. ^51:18There is no one to guide her among all the sons to whom she has given birth; and there is no one who takes her by the hand among all the sons whom she has brought up. ^51:19These two things have happened to you— who will grieve with you?— desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword. How can I comfort you? ^51:20Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in a net. They are full of the LORD’s wrath, the rebuke of your God. ^51:21Therefore now hear this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: ^51:22Your Lord GOD, your God who pleads the cause of his people, says, “Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath. You will not drink it any more. ^51:23I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you;’ and you have laid your back as the ground, like a street to those who walk over.” ^52:1Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city, for from now on the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you. ^52:2Shake yourself from the dust! Arise, sit up, Jerusalem! Release yourself from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion! ^52:3For the LORD says, “You were sold for nothing; and you will be redeemed without money.” ^52:4For the Lord GOD says: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there; and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause. ^52:5“Now therefore, what do I do here,” says the LORD, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock,” says the LORD, “and my name is blasphemed continually all day long. ^52:6Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks. Behold, it is I.” ^52:7How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” ^52:8Your watchmen lift up their voice. Together they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when the LORD returns to Zion. ^52:9Break out into joy! Sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. ^52:10The LORD has made his holy arm bare in the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. ^52:11Depart! Depart! Go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Go out from among her! Cleanse yourselves, you who carry the LORD’s vessels. ^52:12For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go by flight; for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. ^52:13Behold, my servant will deal wisely. He will be exalted and lifted up, and will be very high. ^52:14Just as many were astonished at you— his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men— ^52:15so he will cleanse many nations. Kings will shut their mouths at him; for they will see that which had not been told them, and they will understand that which they had not heard. ^53:1Who has believed our message? To whom has the LORD’s arm been revealed? ^53:2For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. ^53:3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him. ^53:4Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. ^53:5But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. ^53:6All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. ^53:7He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth. ^53:8He was taken away by oppression and judgment. As for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people? ^53:9They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. ^53:10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days and the LORD’s pleasure will prosper in his hand. ^53:11After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities. ^53:12Therefore I will give him a portion with the great. He will divide the plunder with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors. ^54:1“Sing, barren, you who didn’t give birth! Break out into singing, and cry aloud, you who didn’t travail with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,” says the LORD. ^54:2“Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations; don’t spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. ^54:3For you will spread out on the right hand and on the left; and your offspring will possess the nations and settle in desolate cities. ^54:4“Don’t be afraid, for you will not be ashamed. Don’t be confounded, for you will not be disappointed. For you will forget the shame of your youth. You will remember the reproach of your widowhood no more. ^54:5For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of Armies is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He will be called the God of the whole earth. ^54:6For the LORD has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off,” says your God. ^54:7“For a small moment I have forsaken you, but I will gather you with great mercies. ^54:8In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer. ^54:9“For this is like the waters of Noah to me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah will no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. ^54:10For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed,” says the LORD who has mercy on you. ^54:11“You afflicted, tossed with storms, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires. ^54:12I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. ^54:13All your children will be taught by the LORD, and your children’s peace will be great. ^54:14You will be established in righteousness. You will be far from oppression, for you will not be afraid, and far from terror, for it shall not come near you. ^54:15Behold, they may gather together, but not by me. Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you. ^54:16“Behold, I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame, and forges a weapon for his work; and I have created the destroyer to destroy. ^54:17No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the LORD’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says the LORD. ^55:1“Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ^55:2Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness. ^55:3Turn your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul will live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. ^55:4Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples. ^55:5Behold, you shall call a nation that you don’t know; and a nation that didn’t know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you.” ^55:6Seek the LORD while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. ^55:7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, to our God, for he will freely pardon. ^55:8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says the LORD. ^55:9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. ^55:10For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; ^55:11so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do. ^55:12For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills will break out before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands. ^55:13Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up; and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up. It will make a name for the LORD, for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.”