Category: Isaiah

Committed to Seeking God

1-3 “Listen to me, all you who are serious about right living

and committed to seekingGod.

Ponder the rock from which you were cut,

the quarry from which you were dug.

Yes, ponder Abraham, your father,

and Sarah, who bore you.

Think of it! One solitary man when I called him,

but once I blessed him, he multiplied.

Likewise I,God, will comfort Zion,

comfort all her mounds of ruins.

I’ll transform her dead ground into Eden,

her moonscape into the garden ofGod,

A place filled with exuberance and laughter,

thankful voices and melodic songs.

4-6 “Pay attention, my people.

Listen to me, nations.

Revelation flows from me.

My decisions light up the world.

My deliverance arrives on the run,

my salvation right on time.

I’ll bring justice to the peoples.

Even faraway islands will look to me

and take hope in my saving power.

Look up at the skies,

ponder the earth under your feet.

The skies will fade out like smoke,

the earth will wear out like work pants,

and the people will die off like flies.

But my salvation will last forever,

my setting-things-right will never be obsolete.

7-8 “Listen now, you who know right from wrong,

you who hold my teaching inside you:

Pay no attention to insults, and when mocked

don’t let it get you down.

Those insults and mockeries are moth-eaten,

from brains that are termite-ridden,

But my setting-things-right lasts,

my salvation goes on and on and on.”

9-11 Wake up, wake up, flex your muscles,God!

Wake up as in the old days, in the long ago.

Didn’t you once make mincemeat of Rahab,

dispatch the old chaos-dragon?

And didn’t you once dry up the sea,

the powerful waters of the deep,

And then made the bottom of the ocean a road

for the redeemed to walk across?

In the same wayGod’s ransomed will come back,

come back to Zion cheering, shouting,

Joy eternal wreathing their heads,

exuberant ecstasies transporting them—

and not a sign of moans or groans.

What Are You Afraid of—or Who?

12-16 “I, I’m the One comforting you.

What are you afraid of—or who?

Some man or woman who’ll soon be dead?

Some poor wretch destined for dust?

You’ve forgotten me,God, who made you,

who unfurled the skies, who founded the earth.

And here you are, quaking like an aspen

before the tantrums of a tyrant

who thinks he can kick down the world.

But what will come of the tantrums?

The victims will be released before you know it.

They’re not going to die.

They’re not even going to go hungry.

For I amGod, your very own God,

who stirs up the sea and whips up the waves,

namedGod-of-the-Angel-Armies.

I teach you how to talk, word by word,

and personally watch over you,

Even while I’m unfurling the skies,

setting earth on solid foundations,

and greeting Zion: ‘Welcome, my people!’”

17-20 So wake up! Rub the sleep from your eyes!

Up on your feet, Jerusalem!

You’ve drunk the cupGodhanded you,

the strong drink of his anger.

You drank it down to the last drop,

staggered and collapsed, dead-drunk.

And nobody to help you home,

no one among your friends or children

to take you by the hand and put you in bed.

You’ve been hit with a double dose of trouble

—does anyone care?

Assault and battery, hunger and death

—will anyone comfort?

Your sons and daughters have passed out,

strewn in the streets like stunned rabbits,

Sleeping off the strong drink ofGod’s anger,

the rage of your God.

21-23 Therefore listen, please,

you with your splitting headaches,

You who are nursing the hangovers

that didn’t come from drinking wine.

Your Master, yourGod, has something to say,

your God has taken up his people’s case:

“Look, I’ve taken back the drink that sent you reeling.

No more drinking from that jug of my anger!

I’ve passed it over to your abusers to drink, those who ordered you,

‘Down on the ground so we can walk all over you!’

And you had to do it. Flat on the ground,

you were the dirt under their feet.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/51-b72c0a968b6d5e35ca8ff35cc7883fb7.mp3?version_id=97—

God Is Leading You Out of Here

1-2 Wake up, wake up! Pull on your boots, Zion!

Dress up in your Sunday best, Jerusalem, holy city!

Those who want no part of God have been culled out.

They won’t be coming along.

Brush off the dust and get to your feet, captive Jerusalem!

Throw off your chains, captive daughter of Zion!

3 Godsays, “You were sold for nothing. You’re being bought back for nothing.”

4-6 Again, the Master,God, says, “Early on, my people went to Egypt and lived, strangers in the land. At the other end, Assyria oppressed them. And now, what have I here?”God’s Decree. “My people are hauled off again for no reason at all. Tyrants on the warpath, whooping it up, and day after day, incessantly, my reputation blackened. Now it’s time that my people know who I am, what I’m made of—yes, that I have something to say. Here I am!”

7-10 How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of the messenger bringing good news,

Breaking the news that all’s well,

proclaiming good times, announcing salvation,

telling Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Voices! Listen! Your scouts are shouting, thunderclap shouts,

shouting in joyful unison.

They see with their own eyes

Godcoming back to Zion.

Break into song! Boom it out, ruins of Jerusalem:

“Godhas comforted his people!

He’s redeemed Jerusalem!”

Godhas rolled up his sleeves.

All the nations can see his holy, muscled arm.

Everyone, from one end of the earth to the other,

sees him at work, doing his salvation work.

11-12 Out of here! Out of here! Leave this place!

Don’t look back. Don’t contaminate yourselves with plunder.

Just leave, but leave clean. Purify yourselves

in the process of worship, carrying the holy vessels ofGod.

But you don’t have to be in a hurry.

You’re not running from anybody!

Godis leading you out of here,

and the God of Israel is also your rear guard.

It Was Our Pains He Carried

13-15 “Just watch my servant blossom!

Exalted, tall, head and shoulders above the crowd!

But he didn’t begin that way.

At first everyone was appalled.

He didn’t even look human—

a ruined face, disfigured past recognition.

Nations all over the world will be in awe, taken aback,

kings shocked into silence when they see him.

For what was unheard of they’ll see with their own eyes,

what was unthinkable they’ll have right before them.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/52-b0391984127f5d4423ad5900d54155d7.mp3?version_id=97—

1 Who believes what we’ve heard and seen?

Who would have thoughtGod’s saving power would look like this?

2-6 The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,

a scrubby plant in a parched field.

There was nothing attractive about him,

nothing to cause us to take a second look.

He was looked down on and passed over,

a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.

One look at him and people turned away.

We looked down on him, thought he was scum.

But the fact is, it wasourpains he carried—

ourdisfigurements, all the things wrong withus.

We thought he brought it on himself,

that God was punishing him for his own failures.

But it was our sins that did that to him,

that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!

He took the punishment, and that made us whole.

Through his bruises we get healed.

We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.

We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.

AndGodhas piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,

on him, on him.

7-9 He was beaten, he was tortured,

but he didn’t say a word.

Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered

and like a sheep being sheared,

he took it all in silence.

Justice miscarried, and he was led off—

and did anyone really know what was happening?

He died without a thought for his own welfare,

beaten bloody for the sins of my people.

They buried him with the wicked,

threw him in a grave with a rich man,

Even though he’d never hurt a soul

or said one word that wasn’t true.

10 Still, it’s whatGodhad in mind all along,

to crush him with pain.

The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin

so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.

AndGod’s plan will deeply prosper through him.

11-12 Out of that terrible travail of soul,

he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.

Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,

will make many “righteous ones,”

as he himself carries the burden of their sins.

Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—

the best of everything, the highest honors—

Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,

because he embraced the company of the lowest.

He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,

he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/53-d47d31635226c1ef8ba032dd12526156.mp3?version_id=97—

Spread Out! Think Big!

1-6 “Sing, barren woman, who has never had a baby.

Fill the air with song, you who’ve never experienced childbirth!

You’re ending up with far more children

than all those childbearing women.”Godsays so!

“Clear lots of ground for your tents!

Make your tents large. Spread out! Think big!

Use plenty of rope,

drive the tent pegs deep.

You’re going to need lots of elbow room

for your growing family.

You’re going to take over whole nations;

you’re going to resettle abandoned cities.

Don’t be afraid—you’re not going to be embarrassed.

Don’t hold back—you’re not going to come up short.

You’ll forget all about the humiliations of your youth,

and the indignities of being a widow will fade from memory.

For your Maker is your bridegroom,

his name,God-of-the-Angel-Armies!

Your Redeemer is The Holy of Israel,

known as God of the whole earth.

You were like an abandoned wife, devastated with grief,

andGodwelcomed you back,

Like a woman married young

and then left,” says your God.

7-8 Your RedeemerGodsays:

“I left you, but only for a moment.

Now, with enormous compassion, I’m bringing you back.

In an outburst of anger I turned my back on you—

but only for a moment.

It’s with lasting love

that I’m tenderly caring for you.

9-10 “This exile is just like the days of Noah for me:

I promised then that the waters of Noah

would never again flood the earth.

I’m promising now no more anger,

no more dressing you down.

For even if the mountains walk away

and the hills fall to pieces,

My love won’t walk away from you,

my covenant commitment of peace won’t fall apart.”

TheGodwho has compassion on you says so.

11-17 “Afflicted city, storm-battered, unpitied:

I’m about to rebuild you with stones of turquoise,

Lay your foundations with sapphires,

construct your towers with rubies,

Your gates with jewels,

and all your walls with precious stones.

All your children will haveGodfor their teacher—

what a mentor for your children!

You’ll be built solid, grounded in righteousness,

far from any trouble—nothing to fear!

far from terror—it won’t even come close!

If anyone attacks you,

don’t for a moment suppose that I sent them,

And if any should attack,

nothing will come of it.

I create the blacksmith

who fires up his forge

and makes a weapon designed to kill.

I also create the destroyer—

but no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged.

Any accuser who takes you to court

will be dismissed as a liar.

This is whatGod’s servants can expect.

I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best.”

God’s Decree.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/54-b5ce84ec4d6cac3c7f375c52f32b523e.mp3?version_id=97—

Buy Without Money

1-5 “Hey there! All who are thirsty,

come to the water!

Are you penniless?

Come anyway—buy and eat!

Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.

Buy without money—everything’s free!

Why do you spend your money on junk food,

your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?

Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,

fill yourself with only the finest.

Pay attention, come close now,

listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.

I’m making a lasting covenant commitment with you,

the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.

I set him up as a witness to the nations,

made him a prince and leader of the nations,

And now I’m doing it to you:

You’ll summon nations you’ve never heard of,

and nations who’ve never heard of you

will come running to you

Because of me, yourGod,

because The Holy of Israel has honored you.”

6-7 SeekGodwhile he’s here to be found,

pray to him while he’s close at hand.

Let the wicked abandon their way of life

and the evil their way of thinking.

Let them come back toGod, who is merciful,

come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.

8-11 “I don’t think the way you think.

The way you work isn’t the way I work.”

God’s Decree.

“For as the sky soars high above earth,

so the way I work surpasses the way you work,

and the way I think is beyond the way you think.

Just as rain and snow descend from the skies

and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,

Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,

producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,

So will the words that come out of my mouth

not come back empty-handed.

They’ll do the work I sent them to do,

they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.

12-13 “So you’ll go out in joy,

you’ll be led into a whole and complete life.

The mountains and hills will lead the parade,

bursting with song.

All the trees of the forest will join the procession,

exuberant with applause.

No more thistles, but giant sequoias,

no more thornbushes, but stately pines—

Monuments to me, toGod,

living and lasting evidence ofGod.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/55-d1ebe0c7bfdae7513d2d87cc67009d75.mp3?version_id=97—

Salvation Is Just Around the Corner

1-3 God’s Message:

“Guard my common good:

Do what’s right and do it in the right way,

For salvation is just around the corner,

my setting-things-right is about to go into action.

How blessed are you who enter into these things,

you men and women who embrace them,

Who keep Sabbath and don’t defile it,

who watch your step and don’t do anything evil!

Make sure no outsider who now followsGod

ever has occasion to say, ‘Godput me in second-class.

I don’t really belong.’

And make sure no physically mutilated person

is ever made to think, ‘I’m damaged goods.

I don’t really belong.’”

4-5 ForGodsays:

“To the mutilated who keep my Sabbaths

and choose what delights me

and keep a firm grip on my covenant,

I’ll provide them an honored place

in my family and within my city,

even more honored than that of sons and daughters.

I’ll confer permanent honors on them

that will never be revoked.

6-8 “And as for the outsiders who now follow me,

working for me, loving my name,

and wanting to be my servants—

All who keep Sabbath and don’t defile it,

holding fast to my covenant—

I’ll bring them to my holy mountain

and give them joy in my house of prayer.

They’ll be welcome to worship the same as the ‘insiders,’

to bring burnt offerings and sacrifices to my altar.

Oh yes, my house of worship

will be known as a house of prayer for all people.”

The Decree of the Master,Godhimself,

who gathers in the exiles of Israel:

“I will gather others also,

gather them in with those already gathered.”

9-12 A call to the savage beasts: Come on the run.

Come, devour, beast barbarians!

For Israel’s watchmen are blind, the whole lot of them.

They have no idea what’s going on.

They’re dogs without sense enough to bark,

lazy dogs, dreaming in the sun—

But hungry dogs, they do know how to eat,

voracious dogs, with never enough.

And these are Israel’s shepherds!

They know nothing, understand nothing.

They all look after themselves,

grabbing whatever’s not nailed down.

“Come,” they say, “let’s have a party.

Let’s go out and get drunk!”

And tomorrow, more of the same:

“Let’s live it up!”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/56-a8118e168a698d35b33d9a2581f4103d.mp3?version_id=97—

Never Tired of Trying New Religions

1-2 Meanwhile, right-living people die

and no one gives them a thought.

God-fearing people are carted off

and no one even notices.

The right-living people are out of their misery,

they’re finally at rest.

They lived well and with dignity

and now they’re finally at peace.

3-10 “But you, children of a witch, come here!

Sons of a slut, daughters of a whore.

What business do you have taunting,

sneering, and sticking out your tongue?

Do you have any idea what wretches you’ve turned out to be?

A race of rebels, a generation of liars.

You satisfy your lust any place you find some shade

and fornicate at whim.

You kill your children at any convenient spot—

any cave or crevasse will do.

You take stones from the creek

and set up your sex-and-religion shrines.

You’ve chosen your fate.

Your worship will be your doom.

You’ve climbed a high mountain

to practice your foul sex-and-death religion.

Behind closed doors

you assemble your precious gods and goddesses.

Deserting me, you’ve gone all out, stripped down

and made your bed your place of worship.

You’ve climbed into bed with the ‘sacred’ whores

and loved every minute of it,

adoring every curve of their naked bodies.

You anoint your king-god with ointments

and lavish perfumes on yourselves.

You send scouts to search out the latest in religion,

send them all the way to hell and back.

You wear yourselves out trying the new and the different,

and never see what a waste it all is.

You’ve always found strength for the latest fad,

never got tired of trying new religions.

11-13 “Who talked you into the pursuit of this nonsense,

leaving me high and dry,

forgetting you ever knew me?

Because I don’t yell and make a scene

do you think I don’t exist?

I’ll go over, detail by detail, all your ‘righteous’ attempts at religion,

and expose the absurdity of it all.

Go ahead, cry for help to your collection of no-gods:

A good wind will blow them away.

They’re smoke, nothing but smoke.

“But anyone who runs to me for help

will inherit the land,

will end up owning my holy mountain!”

14 Someone says: “Build, build! Make a road!

Clear the way, remove the rocks

from the road my people will travel.”

15-21 A Message from the high and towering God,

who lives in Eternity,

whose name is Holy:

“I live in the high and holy places,

but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed,

And what I do is put new spirit in them,

get them up and on their feet again.

For I’m not going to haul people into court endlessly,

I’m not going to be angry forever.

Otherwise, people would lose heart.

These souls I created would tire out and give up.

Iwasangry, good and angry, because of Israel’s sins.

I struck him hard and turned away in anger,

while he kept at his stubborn, willful ways.

When I looked again and saw what he was doing,

I decided to heal him, lead him, and comfort him,

creating a new language of praise for the mourners.

Peace to the far-off, peace to the near-at-hand,” saysGod—

“and yes, I will heal them.

But the wicked are storm-battered seas

that can’t quiet down.

The waves stir up garbage and mud.

There’s no peace,” God says, “for the wicked.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/57-3133f693eeb70756528268fbb0063130.mp3?version_id=97—

Your Prayers Won’t Get Off the Ground

1-3 “Shout! A full-throated shout!

Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!

Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives,

face my family Jacob with their sins!

They’re busy, busy, busy at worship,

and love studying all about me.

To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—

law-abiding, God-honoring.

They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’

and love having me on their side.

But they also complain,

‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way?

Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’

3-5 “Well, here’s why:

“The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit.

You drive your employees much too hard.

You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.

You fast, but you swing a mean fist.

The kind of fasting you do

won’t get your prayers off the ground.

Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after:

a day to show off humility?

To put on a pious long face

and parade around solemnly in black?

Do you callthatfasting,

a fast day that I,God, would like?

6-9 “This is the kind of fast day I’m after:

to break the chains of injustice,

get rid of exploitation in the workplace,

free the oppressed,

cancel debts.

What I’m interested in seeing you do is:

sharing your food with the hungry,

inviting the homeless poor into your homes,

putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,

being available to your own families.

Do this and the lights will turn on,

and your lives will turn around at once.

Your righteousness will pave your way.

TheGodof glory will secure your passage.

Then when you pray,Godwill answer.

You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places

9-12 “If you get rid of unfair practices,

quit blaming victims,

quit gossiping about other people’s sins,

If you are generous with the hungry

and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,

Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,

your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

I will always show you where to go.

I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—

firm muscles, strong bones.

You’ll be like a well-watered garden,

a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,

rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,

restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,

make the community livable again.

13-14 “If you watch your step on the Sabbath

and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage,

If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,

God’s holy day as a celebration,

If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’

making money, running here and there—

Then you’ll be free to enjoyGod!

Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all.

I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.”

Yes!Godsays so!

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/58-8293d4e3772af7030e460c2a0452a5de.mp3?version_id=97—

We Long for Light but Sink into Darkness

1-8 Look! Listen!

God’s arm is not amputated—he can still save.

God’s ears are not stopped up—he can still hear.

There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is inyou.

Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God.

Your sins got between you so that he doesn’t hear.

Your hands are drenched in blood,

your fingers dripping with guilt,

Your lips smeared with lies,

your tongue swollen from muttering obscenities.

No one speaks up for the right,

no one deals fairly.

They trust in illusion, they tell lies,

they get pregnant with mischief and have sin-babies.

They hatch snake eggs and weave spider webs.

Eat an egg and die; break an egg and get a snake!

The spider webs are no good for shirts or shawls.

No one can wear these weavings!

They weave wickedness,

they hatch violence.

They compete in the race to do evil

and run to be the first to murder.

They plan and plot evil, think and breathe evil,

and leave a trail of wrecked lives behind them.

They know nothing about peace

and less than nothing about justice.

They make tortuously twisted roads.

No peace for the wretch who walks down those roads!

9-11 Which means that we’re a far cry from fair dealing,

and we’re not even close to right living.

We long for light but sink into darkness,

long for brightness but stumble through the night.

Like the blind, we inch along a wall,

groping eyeless in the dark.

We shuffle our way in broad daylight,

like the dead, but somehow walking.

We’re no better off than bears, groaning,

and no worse off than doves, moaning.

We look for justice—not a sign of it;

for salvation—not so much as a hint.

12-15 Our wrongdoings pile up before you, God,

our sins stand up and accuse us.

Our wrongdoings stare us down;

we know in detail what we’ve done:

Mocking and denyingGod,

not following our God,

Spreading false rumors, inciting sedition,

pregnant with lies, muttering malice.

Justice is beaten back,

Righteousness is banished to the sidelines,

Truth staggers down the street,

Honesty is nowhere to be found,

Good is missing in action.

Anyone renouncing evil is beaten and robbed.

15-19 Godlooked and saw evil looming on the horizon—

so much evil and no sign of Justice.

He couldn’t believe what he saw:

not a soul around to correct this awful situation.

So he did it himself, took on the work of Salvation,

fueled by his own Righteousness.

He dressed in Righteousness, put it on like a suit of armor,

with Salvation on his head like a helmet,

Put on Judgment like an overcoat,

and threw a cloak of Passion across his shoulders.

He’ll make everyone pay for what they’ve done:

fury for his foes, just deserts for his enemies.

Even the far-off islands will get paid off in full.

In the west they’ll fear the name ofGod,

in the east they’ll fear the glory ofGod,

For he’ll arrive like a river in flood stage,

whipped to a torrent by the wind ofGod.

20 “I’ll arrive in Zion as Redeemer,

to those in Jacob who leave their sins.”

God’s Decree.

21 “As for me,”Godsays, “this is my covenant with them: My Spirit that I’ve placed upon you and the words that I’ve given you to speak, they’re not going to leave your mouths nor the mouths of your children nor the mouths of your grandchildren. You will keep repeating these words and won’t ever stop.”God’s orders.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/59-7bd44255b156f17fdc272c33c28c3249.mp3?version_id=97—

People Returning for the Reunion

1-7 “Get out of bed, Jerusalem!

Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight.

God’s bright glory has risen for you.

The whole earth is wrapped in darkness,

all people sunk in deep darkness,

ButGodrises on you,

his sunrise glory breaks over you.

Nations will come to your light,

kings to your sunburst brightness.

Look up! Look around!

Watch as they gather, watch as they approach you:

Your sons coming from great distances,

your daughters carried by their nannies.

When you see them coming you’ll smile—big smiles!

Your heart will swell and, yes, burst!

All those people returning by sea for the reunion,

a rich harvest of exiles gathered in from the nations!

And then streams of camel caravans as far as the eye can see,

young camels of nomads in Midian and Ephah,

Pouring in from the south from Sheba,

loaded with gold and frankincense,

preaching the praises ofGod.

And yes, a great roundup

of flocks from the nomads in Kedar and Nebaioth,

Welcome gifts for worship at my altar

as I bathe my glorious Temple in splendor.

What’s That We See in the Distance?

8-22 “What’s that we see in the distance,

a cloud on the horizon, like doves darkening the sky?

It’s ships from the distant islands,

the famous Tarshish ships

Returning your children from faraway places,

loaded with riches, with silver and gold,

And backed by the name of yourGod, The Holy of Israel,

showering you with splendor.

Foreigners will rebuild your walls,

and their kings assist you in the conduct of worship.

When I was angry I hit you hard.

It’s my desire now to be tender.

Your Jerusalem gates will always be open

—open house day and night!—

Receiving deliveries of wealth from all nations,

and their kings, the delivery boys!

Any nation or kingdom that doesn’t deliver will perish;

those nations will be totally wasted.

The rich woods of Lebanon will be delivered

—all that cypress and oak and pine—

To give a splendid elegance to my Sanctuary,

as I make my footstool glorious.

The descendants of your oppressor

will come bowing and scraping to you.

All who looked down at you in contempt

will lick your boots.

They’ll confer a title on you: City ofGod,

Zion of The Holy of Israel.

Not long ago you were despised refuse—

out-of-the-way, unvisited, ignored.

But now I’ve put you on your feet,

towering and grand forever, a joy to look at!

When you suck the milk of nations

and the breasts of royalty,

You’ll know that I,God, am your Savior,

your Redeemer, Champion of Jacob.

I’ll give you only the best—no more hand-me-downs!

Gold instead of bronze, silver instead of iron,

bronze instead of wood, iron instead of stones.

I’ll install Peace to run your country,

make Righteousness your boss.

There’ll be no more stories of crime in your land,

no more robberies, no more vandalism.

You’ll name your main street Salvation Way,

and install Praise Park at the center of town.

You’ll have no more need of the sun by day

nor the brightness of the moon at night.

Godwill be your eternal light,

your God will bathe you in splendor.

Your sun will never go down,

your moon will never fade.

I will be your eternal light.

Your days of grieving are over.

All your people will live right and well,

in permanent possession of the land.

They’re the green shoot that I planted,

planted with my own hands to display my glory.

The runt will become a great tribe,

the weakling become a strong nation.

I amGod.

At the right time I’ll make it happen.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/85/32k/ISA/60-1d1023523aaab300f49f71b6dde4a6b8.mp3?version_id=97—