Day 221 of 364

^61:1The Lord GOD’s Spirit is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound, ^61:2to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, ^61:3to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. ^61:4They will rebuild the old ruins. They will raise up the former devastated places. They will repair the ruined cities that have been devastated for many generations. ^61:5Strangers will stand and feed your flocks. Foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards. ^61:6But you will be called the LORD’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations. You will boast in their glory. ^61:7Instead of your shame you will have double. Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they will possess double. Everlasting joy will be to them. ^61:8“For I, the LORD, love justice. I hate robbery and iniquity. I will give them their reward in truth and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. ^61:9Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the offspring which the LORD has blessed.” ^61:10I will greatly rejoice in the LORD! My soul will be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. ^61:11For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. ^62:1For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning lamp. ^62:2The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You will be called by a new name, which the LORD’s mouth will name. ^62:3You will also be a crown of beauty in the LORD’s hand, and a royal diadem in your God’s hand. ^62:4You will not be called Forsaken any more, nor will your land be called Desolate any more; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD delights in you, and your land will be married. ^62:5For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you. ^62:6I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. They will never be silent day nor night. You who call on the LORD, take no rest, ^62:7and give him no rest until he establishes, and until he makes Jerusalem a praise on the earth. ^62:8The LORD has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, “Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners will not drink your new wine, for which you have labored, ^62:9but those who have harvested it will eat it, and praise the LORD. Those who have gathered it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.” ^62:10Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way of the people! Build up, build up the highway! Gather out the stones! Lift up a banner for the peoples. ^62:11Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your salvation comes! Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him!’” ^62:12They will call them “The Holy People, The LORD’s Redeemed”. You will be called “Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken”. ^63:1Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? Who is this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” ^63:2Why is your clothing red, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat? ^63:3“I have trodden the wine press alone. Of the peoples, no one was with me. Yes, I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath. Their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. ^63:4For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. ^63:5I looked, and there was no one to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold. Therefore my own arm brought salvation to me. My own wrath upheld me. ^63:6I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath. I poured their lifeblood out on the earth.” ^63:7I will tell of the loving kindnesses of the LORD and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has given to us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has given to them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. ^63:8For he said, “Surely, they are my people, children who will not deal falsely;” so he became their Savior. ^63:9In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore them, and carried them all the days of old. ^63:10But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them. ^63:11Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, “Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his Holy Spirit among them?” ^63:12Who caused his glorious arm to be at Moses’ right hand? Who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name? ^63:13Who led them through the depths, like a horse in the wilderness, so that they didn’t stumble? ^63:14As the livestock that go down into the valley, the LORD’s Spirit caused them to rest. So you led your people to make yourself a glorious name. ^63:15Look down from heaven, and see from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory. Where are your zeal and your mighty acts? The yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me. ^63:16For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn’t know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, LORD, are our Father. Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name. ^63:17O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways, and harden our heart from your fear? Return for your servants’ sake, the tribes of your inheritance. ^63:18Your holy people possessed it but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary. ^63:19We have become like those over whom you never ruled, like those who were not called by your name. ^64:1Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— ^64:2as when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the water to boil. Make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence! ^64:3When you did awesome things which we didn’t look for, you came down, and the mountains quaked at your presence. ^64:4For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him. ^64:5You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time. Shall we be saved? ^64:6For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. ^64:7There is no one who calls on your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities. ^64:8But now, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand. ^64:9Don’t be furious, LORD. Don’t remember iniquity forever. Look and see, we beg you, we are all your people. ^64:10Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. ^64:11Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised you is burned with fire. All our pleasant places are laid waste. ^64:12Will you hold yourself back for these things, LORD? Will you keep silent and punish us very severely? ^65:1“I am inquired of by those who didn’t ask. I am found by those who didn’t seek me. I said, ‘See me, see me,’ to a nation that was not called by my name. ^65:2I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts; ^65:3a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks; ^65:4who sit among the graves, and spend nights in secret places; who eat pig’s meat, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; ^65:5who say, ‘Stay by yourself, don’t come near to me, for I am holier than you.’ These are smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all day. ^65:6“Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will repay, yes, I will repay into their bosom ^65:7your own iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together”, says the LORD, “who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills. Therefore I will first measure their work into their bosom.” ^65:8The LORD says, “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for a blessing is in it:’ so I will do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all. ^65:9I will bring offspring out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains. My chosen will inherit it, and my servants will dwell there. ^65:10Sharon will be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me. ^65:11“But you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny; ^65:12I will destine you to the sword, and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you didn’t answer. When I spoke, you didn’t listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn’t delight.” ^65:13Therefore the Lord GOD says, “Behold, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry; behold, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, but you will be disappointed. ^65:14Behold, my servants will sing for joy of heart, but you will cry for sorrow of heart, and will wail for anguish of spirit. ^65:15You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen, and the Lord GOD will kill you. He will call his servants by another name, ^65:16so that he who blesses himself on the earth will bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears on the earth will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes. ^65:17“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind. ^65:18But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem to be a delight, and her people a joy. ^65:19I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; and the voice of weeping and the voice of crying will be heard in her no more. ^65:20“No more will there be an infant who only lives a few days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child will die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old will be accursed. ^65:21They will build houses and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ^65:22They will not build and another inhabit. They will not plant and another eat; for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands. ^65:23They will not labor in vain nor give birth for calamity; for they are the offspring of the LORD’s blessed and their descendants with them. ^65:24It will happen that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. ^65:25The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. Dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.