like a horse in the wilderness,
so that they didn’t stumble?
14 As 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.
15 Look 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 towards me.
16 For 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.
17 O 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.
18 Your holy people possessed it but a little while.
Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary.
19 We have become like those over whom you never ruled,
like those who were not called by your name.
64
1 Oh that you would tear the heavens,
that you would come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence—
2 as 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!
3 When you did awesome things which we didn’t look for,
you came down, and the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 For 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.
5 You 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?
6 For 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.
7 There 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.
8 But now, LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay and you our potter.
We all are the work of your hand.
9 Don’t be furious, LORD.
Don’t remember iniquity forever.
Look and see, we beg you,
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 our beautiful house where our fathers praised you
is burnt with fire.
All our pleasant places are laid waste.
12 Will you hold yourself back for these things, LORD?
Will you keep silent and punish us very severely?
65
1 “I am enquired 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.
2 I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
after their own thoughts;
3 a people who provoke me to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens,
and burning incense on bricks;
4 who sit amongst the graves,
and spend nights in secret places;
who eat pig’s meat,
and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
5 who 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.
6 “Behold, it is written before me:
I will not keep silence,
but will repay,
yes, I will repay into their bosom
7 your own iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together”, says the LORD,
“who have burnt incense on the mountains,
and blasphemed me on the hills.
Therefore I will first measure their work into their bosom.”
8 The 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.
9 I 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.
10 Sharon 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.
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;
12 I 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.”
13 Therefore 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.
14 Behold, my servants will sing for joy of heart,
but you will cry for sorrow of heart,
and will wail for anguish of spirit.
15 You 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,
16 so that he who blesses himself in the earth will bless himself in the God of truth;
and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of truth;
because the former troubles are forgotten,
and because they are hidden from my eyes.
17 “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
and the former things will not be remembered,
nor come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create;
for, behold, I create Jerusalem to be a delight,
and her people a joy.
19 I 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.
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.
21 They will build houses and inhabit them.
They will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They 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.
23 They will not labour in vain
nor give birth for calamity;
for they are the offspring of the LORD’s blessed
and their descendants with them.
24 It will happen that before they call, I will answer;
and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The 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.
66
1 The LORD says:
“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build to me?
Where will I rest?
2 For my hand has made all these things,
and so all these things came to be,” says the LORD:
“but I will look to this man,
even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and who trembles at my word.
3 He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man;
he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck;
he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig’s blood;
he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol.
Yes, they have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their abominations.
4 I also will choose their delusions,
and will bring their fears on them,
because when I called, no one answered;
when I spoke, they didn’t listen,
but they did that which was evil in my eyes,
and chose that in which I didn’t delight.”
5 Hear the LORD’s word,
you who tremble at his word:
“Your brothers who hate you,
who cast you out for my name’s sake, have said,
‘Let the LORD be glorified,
that we may see your joy;’
but it is those who shall be disappointed.
6 A voice of tumult from the city,
a voice from the temple,
a voice of the LORD that repays his enemies what they deserve.
7 “Before she travailed, she gave birth.
Before her pain came, she delivered a son.
8 Who has heard of such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
Shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion travailed,
she gave birth to her children.
9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to be delivered?” says the LORD.
“Shall I who cause to give birth shut the womb?” says your God.
10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her.
Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her;
11 that you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts;
that you may drink deeply,
and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.”
12 For the LORD says, “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream,
and you will nurse.
You will be carried on her side,
and will be dandled on her knees.
13 As one whom his mother comforts,
so I will comfort you.
You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”
14 You will see it, and your heart shall rejoice,
and your bones will flourish like the tender grass.
The LORD’s hand will be known amongst his servants;
and he will have indignation against his enemies.
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire,
and his chariots will be like the whirlwind;
to give his anger with fierceness,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For the LORD will execute judgement by fire and by his sword on all flesh;
and those slain by the LORD will be many.
17 “Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, following one in the middle, eating pig’s meat, abominable things, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together,” says the LORD.
18 “For I know their works and their thoughts. The time comes
