^51:1Give ear to me, you who are searching for righteousness, who are looking for the Lord: see the rock from which you were cut out, and the hole out of which you were taken. ^51:2Let your thoughts be turned to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth: for when he was but one, my voice came to him, and I gave him my blessing, and made him a great people. ^51:3For the Lord has given comfort to Zion: he has made glad all her broken walls; making her waste places like Eden, and changing her dry land into the garden of the Lord; joy and delight will be there, praise and the sound of melody. ^51:4Give attention to me, O my people; and give ear to me, O my nation; for teaching will go out from me, and the knowledge of the true God will be a light to the peoples. ^51:5Suddenly will my righteousness come near, and my salvation will be shining out like the light; the sea-lands will be waiting for me, and they will put their hope in my strong arm. ^51:6Let your eyes be lifted up to the heavens, and turned to the earth which is under them: for the heavens will go in flight like smoke, and the earth will become old like a coat, and its people will come to destruction like insects: but my salvation will be for ever, and my righteousness will not come to an end. ^51:7Give ear to me, you who have knowledge of righteousness, in whose heart is my law; have no fear of the evil words of men, and give no thought to their curses. ^51:8For like a coat they will be food for the insect, the worm will make a meal of them like wool: but my righteousness will be for ever, and my salvation to all generations. ^51:9Awake! awake! put on strength, O arm of the Lord, awake! as in the old days, in the generations long past. Was it not by you that Rahab was cut in two, and the dragon Wounded? ^51:10Did you not make the sea dry, the waters of the great deep? did you not make the deep waters of the sea a way for the Lord's people to go through? ^51:11Those whom the Lord has made free will come back with songs to Zion; and on their heads will be eternal joy: delight and joy will be theirs, and sorrow and sounds of grief will be gone for ever. ^51:12I, even I, am your comforter: are you so poor in heart as to be in fear of man who will come to an end, and of the son of man who will be like grass? ^51:13And you have given no thought to the Lord your Maker, by whom the heavens were stretched out, and the earth placed on its base; and you went all day in fear of the wrath of the cruel one, when he was making ready for your destruction. And where is the wrath of the cruel one? ^51:14The prisoner, bent under his chain, will quickly be made free, and will not go down into the underworld, and his bread will not come to an end. ^51:15For I am the Lord your God, who makes the sea calm when its waves are thundering: the Lord of armies is his name. ^51:16And I have put my words in your mouth, covering you with the shade of my hand, stretching out the heavens, and placing the earth on its base, and saying to Zion, You are my people. ^51:17Awake! awake! up! O Jerusalem, you who have taken from the Lord's hand the cup of his wrath; tasting in full measure the wine which overcomes. ^51:18She has no one among all her children to be her guide; not one of the sons she has taken care of takes her by the hand. ^51:19These two things have come on you; who will be weeping for you? wasting and destruction; death from need of food, and from the sword; how may you be comforted? ^51:20Your sons are overcome, like a roe in a net; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the punishment of your God. ^51:21So now give ear to this, you who are troubled and overcome, but not with wine: ^51:22This is the word of the Lord your master, even your God who takes up the cause of his people: See, I have taken out of your hand the cup which overcomes, even the cup of my wrath; it will not again be given to you: ^51:23And I will put it into the hand of your cruel masters, and of those whose yoke has been hard on you; who have said to your soul, Down on your face! so that we may go over you: and you have given your backs like the earth, even like the street, for them to go over.

^52:1Awake! awake! put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful robes, O Jerusalem, the holy town: for from now there will never again come into you the unclean and those without circumcision. ^52:2Make yourself clean from the dust; up! and take the seat of your power, O Jerusalem: the bands of your neck are loose, O prisoned daughter of Zion. ^52:3For the Lord says, You were given for nothing, and you will be made free without price. ^52:4For the Lord God says, My people went down at first into Egypt, to get a place for themselves there: and the Assyrian put a cruel yoke on them without cause. ^52:5Now then, what have I here? says the Lord, for my people are taken away without cause; they are made waste and give cries of sorrow, says the Lord, and all the day the nations put shame on my name. ^52:6For this cause I will make my name clear to my people; in that day they will be certain that it is my word which comes to them; see, here am I. ^52:7How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who comes with good news, who gives word of peace, saying that salvation is near; who says to Zion, Your God is ruling! ^52:8The voice of your watchmen! their voices are loud in song together; for they will see him, eye to eye, when the Lord comes back to Zion. ^52:9Give sounds of joy, make melody together, waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord has given comfort to his people, he has taken up the cause of Jerusalem. ^52:10The Lord has let his holy arm be seen by the eyes of all nations; and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. ^52:11Away! away! go out from there, touching no unclean thing; go out from among her; be clean, you who take up the vessels of the Lord. ^52:12For you will not go out suddenly, and you will not go in flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will come after you to keep you. ^52:13See, my servant will do well in his undertakings, he will be honoured, and lifted up, and be very high. ^52:14As peoples were surprised at him, And his face was not beautiful, so as to be desired: his face was so changed by disease as to be unlike that of a man, and his form was no longer that of the sons of men. ^52:15So will nations give him honour; kings will keep quiet because of him: for what had not been made clear to them they will see; and they will give their minds to what had not come to their ears.

^53:1Who would have had faith in the word which has come to our ears, and to whom had the arm of the Lord been unveiled? ^53:2For his growth was like that of a delicate plant before him, and like a root out of a dry place: he had no grace of form, to give us pleasure; ^53:3Men made sport of him, turning away from him; he was a man of sorrows, marked by disease; and like one from whom men's faces are turned away, he was looked down on, and we put no value on him. ^53:4But it was our pain he took, and our diseases were put on him: while to us he seemed as one diseased, on whom God's punishment had come. ^53:5But it was for our sins he was wounded, and for our evil doings he was crushed: he took the punishment by which we have peace, and by his wounds we are made well. ^53:6We all went wandering like sheep; going every one of us after his desire; and the Lord put on him the punishment of us all. ^53:7Men were cruel to him, but he was gentle and quiet; as a lamb taken to its death, and as a sheep before those who take her wool makes no sound, so he said not a word. ^53:8They took away from him help and right, and who gave a thought to his fate? for he was cut off from the land of the living: he came to his death for the sin of my people. ^53:9And they put his body into the earth with sinners, and his last resting-place was with the evil-doers, though he had done no wrong, and no deceit was in his mouth. ^53:10And the Lord was pleased ... see a seed, long life, ... will do well in his hand. ... ^53:11... made clear his righteousness before men ... had taken their sins on himself. ^53:12For this cause he will have a heritage with the great, and he will have a part in the goods of war with the strong, because he gave up his life, and was numbered with the evil-doers; taking on himself the sins of the people, and making prayer for the wrongdoers.

^54:1Let your voice be loud in song, O woman without children; make melody and sounds of joy, you who did not give birth: for the children of her who had no husband are more than those of the married wife, says the Lord. ^54:2Make wide the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your house be stretched out without limit: make your cords long, and your tent-pins strong. ^54:3For I will make wide your limits on the right hand and on the left; and your seed will take the nations for a heritage, and make the waste towns full of people. ^54:4Have no fear; for you will not be shamed or without hope: you will not be put to shame, for the shame of your earlier days will go out of your memory, and you will no longer keep in mind the sorrows of your widowed years. ^54:5For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of armies is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is he who takes up your cause; he will be named the God of all the earth. ^54:6For the Lord has made you come back to him, like a wife who has been sent away in grief of spirit; for one may not give up the wife of one's early days. ^54:7For a short time I gave you up; but with great mercies I will take you back again. ^54:8In overflowing wrath my face was veiled from you for a minute, but I will have pity on you for ever, says the Lord who takes up your cause. ^54:9For this is like the days of Noah to me: for as I took an oath that the waters of Noah would never again go over the earth, so have I taken an oath that I will not again be angry with you, or say bitter words to you. ^54:10For the mountains may be taken away, and the hills be moved out of their places, but my love will not be taken from you, or my agreement of peace broken, says the Lord, who has had mercy on you. ^54:11O troubled one, storm-crushed, uncomforted! see, your stones will be framed in fair colours, and your bases will be sapphires. ^54:12I will make your towers of rubies, and your doors of carbuncles, and the wall round you will be of all sorts of beautiful stones. ^54:13And all your builders will be made wise by the Lord; and great will be the peace of your children. ^54:14All your rights will be made certain to you: have no fear of evil, and destruction will not come near you. ^54:15See, they may be moved to war, but not by my authority: all those who come together to make an attack on you, will be broken against you. ^54:16See, I have made the iron-worker, blowing on the burning coals, and making the instrument of war by his work; and I have made the waster for destruction. ^54:17No instrument of war which is formed against you will be of any use; and every tongue which says evil against you will be judged false. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness comes from me, says the Lord.

^55:1Ho! everyone in need, come to the waters, and he who has no strength, let him get food: come, get bread without money; wine and milk without price. ^55:2Why do you give your money for what is not bread, and the fruit of your work for what will not give you pleasure? Give ear to me, so that your food may be good, and you may have the best in full measure. ^55:3Give ear, and come to me, take note with care, so that your souls may have life: and I will make an eternal agreement with you, even the certain mercies of David. ^55:4See, I have given him as a witness to the peoples, a ruler and a guide to the nations. ^55:5See, you will send for a nation of which you had no knowledge, and those who had no knowledge of you will come running to you, because of the Lord your God, and because of the Holy One of Israel, for he has given you glory. ^55:6Make search for the Lord while he is there, make prayer to him while he is near: ^55:7Let the sinner give up his way, and the evil-doer his purpose: and let him come back to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for there is full forgiveness with him. ^55:8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, or your ways my ways, says the Lord. ^55:9For 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 heaven, and does not go back again, but gives water to the earth, and makes it fertile, giving seed to the planter, and bread for food; ^55:11So will my word be which goes out of my mouth: it will not come back to me with nothing done, but it will give effect to my purpose, and do that for which I have sent it. ^55:12For you will go out with joy, and be guided in peace: the mountains and the hills will make melody before you, and all the trees of the fields will make sounds of joy. ^55:13In place of the thorn will come up the fir-tree, and in place of the blackberry the myrtle: and it will be to the Lord for a name, for an eternal sign which will not be cut off.

^56:1The Lord says, Let your way of life be upright, and let your behaviour be rightly ordered: for my salvation is near, and my righteousness will quickly be seen. ^56:2Happy is the man who does this, and the son of man whose behaviour is so ordered; who keeps the Sabbath holy, and his hand from doing any evil. ^56:3And let not the man from a strange country, who has been joined to the Lord, say, The Lord will certainly put a division between me and his people: and let not the unsexed man say, See, I am a dry tree. ^56:4For the Lord says, As for the unsexed who keep my Sabbaths, and give their hearts to pleasing me, and keep their agreement with me: ^56:5I will give to them in my house, and inside my walls, a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name which will not be cut off. ^56:6And as for those from a strange country, who are joined to the Lord, to give worship to him and honour to his name, to be his servants, even everyone who keeps the Sabbath holy, and keeps his agreement with me: ^56:7I will make them come to my holy mountain, and will give them joy in my house of prayer; I will take pleasure in the burned offerings which they make on my altar: for my house will be named a house of prayer for all peoples. ^56:8The Lord God, who gets together the wandering ones of Israel, says, I will get together others in addition to those of Israel who have come back. ^56:9All you beasts of the field, come together for your meat, even all you beasts of the wood. ^56:10His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dogs without tongues, unable to make a sound; stretched out dreaming, loving sleep. ^56:11Yes, the dogs are for ever looking for food; while these, the keepers of the sheep, are without wisdom: they have all gone after their pleasure, every one looking for profit; they are all the same. ^56:12Come, they say, I will get wine, and we will take strong drink in full measure; and tomorrow will be like today, full of pleasure.

^57:1The upright man goes to his death, and no one gives a thought to it; and god-fearing men are taken away, and no one is troubled by it; for the upright man is taken away because of evil-doing, and goes into peace. ^57:2They are at rest in their last resting-places, every one going straight before him. ^57:3But come near, you sons of her who is wise in secret arts, the seed of her who is false to her husband, and of the loose woman. ^57:4Of whom do you make sport? against whom is your mouth open wide and your tongue put out? are you not uncontrolled children, a false seed, ^57:5You who are burning with evil desire among the oaks, under every green tree; putting children to death in the valleys, under the cracks of the rocks? ^57:6Among the smooth stones of the valley is your heritage; they, even they, are your part: even to them have you made a drink offering and a meal offering. Is it possible for such things to be overlooked by me? ^57:7You have put your bed on a high mountain: there you went up to make your offering. ^57:8And on the back of the doors and on the pillars you have put your sign: for you have been false to me with another; you have made your bed wide, and made an agreement with them; you had a desire for their bed where you saw it ^57:9And you went to Melech with oil and much perfume, and you sent your representatives far off, and went as low as the underworld. ^57:10You were tired with your long journeys; but you did not say, There is no hope: you got new strength, and so you were not feeble. ^57:11And of whom were you in fear, so that you were false, and did not keep me in mind, or give thought to it? Have I not been quiet, keeping myself secret, and so you were not in fear of me? ^57:12I will make clear what your righteousness is like and your works; you will have no profit in them. ^57:13Your false gods will not keep you safe in answer to your cry; but the wind will take them, they will be gone like a breath: but he who puts his hope in me will take the land, and will have my holy mountain as his heritage. ^57:14And I will say, Make it high, make it high, get ready the way, take the stones out of the way of my people. ^57:15For this is the word of him who is high and lifted up, whose resting-place is eternal, whose name is Holy: my resting-place is in the high and holy place, and with him who is crushed and poor in spirit, to give life to the spirit of the poor, and to make strong the heart of the crushed. ^57:16For I will not give punishment for ever, or be angry without end: for from me breath goes out; and I it was who made the souls. ^57:17I was quickly angry with his evil ways, and sent punishment on him, veiling my face in wrath: and he went on, turning his heart from me. ^57:18I have seen his ways, and I will make him well: I will give him rest, comforting him and his people who are sad. ^57:19I will give the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is near and to him who is far off, says the Lord; and I will make him well. ^57:20But the evil-doers are like the troubled sea, for which there is no rest, and its waters send up earth and waste. ^57:21There is no peace, says my God, for the evil-doers.

^58:1Make a loud cry, do not be quiet, let your voice be sounding like a horn, and make clear to my people their evil doings, and to the family of Jacob their sins. ^58:2Though they make prayer to me every day, and take pleasure in the knowledge of my ways: like a nation which has done righteousness, and has not given up the rules of their God, they make requests to me for the right orders, it is their delight to come near to God. ^58:3They say, Why have we kept ourselves from food, and you do not see it? why have we kept ourselves from pleasure, and you take no note of it? If, in the days when you keep from food, you take the chance to do your business, and get in your debts; ^58:4If keeping from food makes you quickly angry, ready for fighting and giving blows with evil hands; your holy days are not such as to make your voice come to my ears on high. ^58:5Have I given orders for such a day as this? a day for keeping yourselves from pleasure? is it only a question of the bent head, of putting on haircloth, and being seated in the dust? is this what seems to you a holy day, well-pleasing to the Lord? ^58:6Is not this the holy day for which I have given orders: to let loose those who have wrongly been made prisoners, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the crushed go free, and every yoke be broken? ^58:7Is it not to give your bread to those in need, and to let the poor who have no resting-place come into your house? to put a robe on the unclothed one when you see him, and not to keep your eyes shut for fear of seeing his flesh? ^58:8Then will light be shining on you like the morning, and your wounds will quickly be well: and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will come after you. ^58:9Then at the sound of your voice, the Lord will give an answer; at your cry he will say, Here am I. If you take away from among you the yoke, the putting out of the finger of shame, and the evil word; ^58:10And if you give your bread to those in need of it, so that the troubled one may have his desire; then you will have light in the dark, and your night will be as the full light of the sun: ^58:11And the Lord will be your guide at all times; in dry places he will give you water in full measure, and will make strong your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like an ever-flowing spring. ^58:12And your sons will be building again the old waste places: you will make strong the bases of old generations: and you will be named, He who puts up the broken walls, and, He who makes ready the ways for use. ^58:13If you keep the Sabbath with care, not doing your business on my holy day; and if the Sabbath seems to you a delight, and the new moon of the Lord a thing to be honoured; and if you give respect to him by not doing your business, or going after your pleasure, or saying unholy words; ^58:14Then the Lord will be your delight; and I will put you on the high places of the earth; and I will give you the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the Lord has said it.

^59:1Truly, the Lord's hand has not become short, so that he is unable to give salvation; and his ear is not shut from hearing: ^59:2But your sins have come between you and your God, and by your evil doings his face has been veiled from you, so that he will give you no answer. ^59:3For your hands are unclean with blood, and your fingers with sin; your lips have said false things, and your tongue gives out deceit. ^59:4No one puts forward an upright cause, or gives a true decision: their hope is in deceit, and their words are false; they are with child with sin, and give birth to evil. ^59:5They give birth to snake's eggs, and make spider's threads: whoever takes their eggs for food comes to his death, and the egg which is crushed becomes a poison-snake. ^59:6Their twisted threads will not make clothing, and their works will give them nothing for covering themselves: their works are works of sin, and violent acts are in their hands. ^59:7Their feet go quickly to evil, and they take delight in the death of the upright; their thoughts are thoughts of sin; wasting and destruction are in their ways. ^59:8They have no knowledge of the way of peace, and there is no sense of what is right in their behaviour: they have made for themselves ways which are not straight; whoever goes in them has no knowledge of peace. ^59:9For this cause our right is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us: we are looking for light, but there is only the dark; for the shining of the sun, but our way is in the night. ^59:10We go on our way, like blind men feeling for the wall, even like those who have no eyes: we are running against things in daylight as if it was evening; our place is in the dark like dead men. ^59:11We make noises of grief, like bears, and sad sounds like doves: we are looking for our right, but it is not there; for salvation, but it is far from us. ^59:12For our evil doings are increased before you, and our sins give witness against us: for our evil doings are with us, and we have knowledge of our sins: ^59:13We have gone against the Lord, and been false to him, turning away from our God, our words have been uncontrolled, and in our hearts are thoughts of deceit. ^59:14And the right is turned back, and righteousness is far away: for good faith is not to be seen in the public places, and upright behaviour may not come into the town. ^59:15Yes, faith is gone; and he whose heart is turned from evil comes into the power of the cruel: and the Lord saw it, and he was angry that there was no one to take up their cause. ^59:16And he saw that there was no man, and was surprised that there was no one to take up their cause: so his arm gave salvation, and he made righteousness his support. ^59:17Yes, he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and salvation as a head-dress; and he put on punishment as clothing, and wrath as a robe. ^59:18He will give them the right reward of their doings, wrath to his attackers, punishment to his haters, and even on the sea-lands he will send punishment. ^59:19So they will see the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the east: for he will come like a rushing stream, forced on by a wind of the Lord. ^59:20And as a saviour he will come to Zion, turning away sin from Jacob, says the Lord. ^59:21And as for me, this is my agreement with them, says the Lord: my spirit which is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, will not go away from your mouth, or from the mouth of your seed, or from the mouth of your seed's seed, says the Lord, from now and for ever.

^60:1Up! let your face be bright, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is shining on you. ^60:2For truly, the earth will be dark, and the peoples veiled in blackest night; but the Lord will be shining on you, and his glory will be seen among you. ^60:3And nations will come to your light, and kings to your bright dawn. ^60:4Let your eyes be lifted up, and see: they are all coming together to you: your sons will come from far, and your daughters taken with loving care. ^60:5Then you will see, and be bright with joy, and your heart will be shaking with increase of delight: for the produce of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you. ^60:6You will be full of camel-trains, even the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all from Sheba will come, with gold and spices, giving word of the great acts of the Lord. ^60:7All the flocks of Kedar will come together to you, the sheep of Nebaioth will be ready for your need; they will be pleasing offerings on my altar, and my house of prayer will be beautiful. ^60:8Who are these coming like a cloud, like a flight of doves to their windows? ^60:9Vessels of the sea-lands are waiting for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, so that your sons may come from far, and their silver and gold with them, to the place of the name of the Lord your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has made you beautiful. ^60:10And men from strange countries will be building up your walls, and their kings will be your servants: for in my wrath I sent punishment on you, but in my grace I have had mercy on you. ^60:11Your doors will be open at all times; they will not be shut day or night; so that men may come into you with the wealth of the nations, with their kings at their head. ^60:12For the nation or kingdom which will not be your servant will come to destruction; such nations will be completely waste. ^60:13The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the cypress, the plane, and the sherbin-tree together, to make my holy place beautiful; and the resting-place of my feet will be full of glory. ^60:14And the sons of those who were cruel to you will come before you with bent heads; and those who made sport of you will go down on their faces at your feet; and you will be named, The Town of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. ^60:15And though you were turned away from, and hated, and had no helper, I will make you a pride for ever, a joy from generation to generation. ^60:16And you will take the milk of the nations, flowing from the breast of kings; and you will see that I, the Lord, am your saviour, and he who takes up your cause, the Strong One of Jacob. ^60:17In place of brass, I will give gold, and for iron silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: and I will make Peace your judge, and Righteousness your overseer. ^60:18Violent acts will no longer be seen in your land, wasting or destruction in your limits; but your walls will be named, Salvation, and your doors Praise. ^60:19The sun will not be your light by day, and the moon will no longer be bright for you by night: but the Lord will be to you an eternal light, and your God your glory. ^60:20Your sun will never again go down, or your moon keep back her light: for the Lord will be your eternal light, and the days of your sorrow will be ended. ^60:21Your people will all be upright, the land will be their heritage for ever; the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, to be for my glory. ^60:22The smallest of their families will become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I, the Lord, will make it come quickly in its time.

^61:1The spirit of the Lord is on me, because I am marked out by him to give good news to the poor; he has sent me to make the broken-hearted well, to say that the prisoners will be made free, and that those in chains will see the light again; ^61:2To give knowledge that the year of the Lord's good pleasure has come, and the day of punishment from our God; to give comfort to all who are sad; ^61:3To give them a fair head-dress in place of dust, the oil of joy in place of the clothing of grief, praise in place of sorrow; so that they may be named trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and so that he may have glory. ^61:4And they will be building again the old broken walls, and will make new the old waste places, and will put up again the towns which have been waste for long generations. ^61:5And men from strange countries will be your herdsmen, and those who are not Israelites will be your ploughmen and vine-keepers. ^61:6But you will be named the priests of the Lord, the servants of our God: you will have the wealth of the nations for your food, and you will be clothed with their glory. ^61:7As they had twice as much grief, and marks of shame were their heritage, so in their land they will be rewarded twice over, and will have eternal joy. ^61:8For I, the Lord, take pleasure in upright judging; I will not put up with the violent taking away of right; and I will certainly give them their reward, and I will make an eternal agreement with them. ^61:9And their seed will be noted among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples: it will be clear to all who see them that they are the seed to which the Lord has given his blessing. ^61:10I will be full of joy in the Lord, my soul will be glad in my God; for he has put on me the clothing of salvation, covering me with the robe of righteousness, as the husband puts on a fair head-dress, and the bride makes herself beautiful with jewels. ^61:11For as the earth puts out buds, and as the garden gives growth to the seeds which are planted in it, so the Lord will make righteousness and praise to be flowering before all the nations.

^62:1Because of Zion I will not keep quiet, and because of Jerusalem I will take no rest, till her righteousness goes out like the shining of the sun, and her salvation like a burning light. ^62:2And the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you will have a new name, given by the mouth of the Lord. ^62:3And you will be a fair crown in the hand of the Lord, and a king's head-dress in the hand of your God. ^62:4You will not now be named, She who is given up; and your land will no longer be named, The waste land: but you will have the name, My pleasure is in her, and your land will be named, Married: for the Lord has pleasure in you, and your land will be married. ^62:5For as a young man takes a virgin for his wife, so will your maker be married to you: and as a husband has joy in his bride, so will the Lord your God be glad over you. ^62:6I have put watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will not keep quiet day or night: you who are the Lord's recorders, take no rest, ^62:7And give him no rest, till he puts Jerusalem in her place to be praised in the earth. ^62:8The Lord has taken an oath by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Truly, I will no longer give your grain to be food for your haters; and men of strange countries will not take the wine for which your work has been done: ^62:9But those who have got in the grain will have it for their food, and will give praise to the Lord; and those who have got in the grapes will take the wine of them in the open places of my holy house. ^62:10Go through, go through the doors; make ready the way of the people; let the highway be lifted up; let the stones be taken away; let a flag be lifted up over the peoples. ^62:11The Lord has sent out word to the end of the earth, Say to the daughter of Zion, See, your saviour comes; those whom he has made free are with him, and those to whom he has given salvation go before him. ^62:12And they will be named, The holy people, Those whose cause has been taken up by the Lord: and you will be named, Desired, A town not given up.

^63:1Who is this who comes from Edom, with blood-red robes from Bozrah? he whose clothing is fair, stepping with pride in his great strength? I whose glory is in the right, strong for salvation. ^63:2Why is your clothing red, and why are your robes like those of one who is crushing the grapes? ^63:3I have been crushing the grapes by myself, and of the peoples there was no man with me: in my wrath and in my passion, they were crushed under my feet; and my robes are marked with their life-blood, and all my clothing is red. ^63:4For the day of punishment is in my heart, and the year for the payment of the price for my people has come. ^63:5And I saw that there was no helper, and I was wondering that no one gave them support: so my arm did the work of salvation, and my wrath was my support. ^63:6And in my passion the peoples were crushed under my feet, and broken in my wrath, and I put down their strength to the earth. ^63:7I will give news of the mercies of the Lord, and his great acts, even all the things the Lord has done for us, in his great grace to the house of Israel; even all he has done for us in his unnumbered mercies. ^63:8For he said, Truly they are my people, children who will not be false: so he was their saviour out of all their trouble. ^63:9It was no sent one or angel, but he himself who was their saviour: in his love and in his pity he took up their cause, and he took them in his arms, caring for them all through the years. ^63:10But they went against him, causing grief to his holy spirit: so he was turned against them, and made war on them. ^63:11Then the early days came to their minds, the days of Moses his servant: and they said, Where is he who made the keeper of his flock come up from the sea? where is he who put his holy spirit among them, ^63:12He who made the arm of his glory go at the right hand of Moses, by whom the waters were parted before them, to make himself an eternal name; ^63:13He who made them go through the deep waters, like a horse in the waste land? ^63:14Like the cattle which go down into the valley, they went without falling, the spirit of the Lord guiding them: so you went before your people, to make yourself a great name. ^63:15Let your eyes be looking down from heaven, from your holy and beautiful house: where is your deep feeling, the working of your power? do not keep back the moving of your pity and your mercies: ^63:16For you are our father, though Abraham has no knowledge of us, and Israel gives no thought to us: you, O Lord, are our father; from the earliest days you have taken up our cause. ^63:17O Lord, why do you send us wandering from your ways, making our hearts hard, so that we have no fear of you? Come back, because of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. ^63:18Why have evil men gone over your holy place, so that it has been crushed under the feet of our haters? ^63:19We have become as those who were never ruled by you, on whom your name was not named.

^64:1O let the heavens be broken open and come down, so that the mountains may be shaking before you, ^64:2As when fire puts the brushwood in flames, or as when water is boiling from the heat of the fire: to make your name feared by your haters, so that the nations may be shaking before you; ^64:3While you do acts of power for which we are not looking, and which have not come to the ears of men in the past. ^64:4The ear has not had news of, or the eye seen, ... any God but you, working for the man who is waiting for him. ^64:5Will you not have mercy on him who takes pleasure in doing righteousness, even on those who keep in mind your ways? Truly you were angry, and we went on doing evil, and sinning against you in the past. ^64:6For we have all become like an unclean person, and all our good acts are like a dirty robe: and we have all become old like a dead leaf, and our sins, like the wind, take us away. ^64:7And there is no one who makes prayer to your name, or who is moved to keep true to you: for your face is veiled from us, and you have given us into the power of our sins. ^64:8But now, O Lord, you are our father; we are the earth, and you are our maker; and we are all the work of your hand. ^64:9Be not very angry, O Lord, and do not keep our sins in mind for ever: give ear to our prayer, for we are all your people. ^64:10Your holy towns have become a waste, Zion has become a waste, Jerusalem is a mass of broken walls. ^64:11Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers gave praise to you, is burned with fire; and all the things of our desire have come to destruction. ^64:12In view of all this, will you still do nothing, O Lord? will you keep quiet, and go on increasing our punishment?

^65:1I have been ready to give an answer to those who did not make prayer to me; I have been offering myself to those who were not searching for me; I said, Here am I, here am I, to a nation which gave no respect to my name. ^65:2All day my hands have been stretched out to an uncontrolled people, who go in an evil way, after the purposes of their hearts; ^65:3A people who make me angry every day, making offerings in gardens, and burning perfumes on bricks. ^65:4Who are seated in the resting-places of the dead, and by night are in the secret places; who take pig's flesh for food, and have the liquid of disgusting things in their vessels. ^65:5Who say, Keep away, do not come near me, for fear that I make you holy: these are a smoke in my nose, a fire burning all day. ^65:6See, it is recorded before me, says the Lord: I will not keep back my hand, till I have sent punishment, ^65:7For their sins and the sins of their fathers, who were burning perfumes on the mountains, and saying evil things against me on the hills: so I will take the measure of their sins, and will send the punishment for them into their breast. ^65:8This is the word of the Lord: As the new wine is seen in the grapes, and they say, Do not send destruction on it, for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants, in order that I may not put an end to them all. ^65:9And I will take a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah one who will have my mountains for a heritage: and the people I have taken to be mine will have it for themselves, and my servants will have their resting-place there. ^65:10And Sharon will be a grass-land for the flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting-place for the herds: for my people whose hearts have been turned back to me. ^65:11But as for you who have given up the Lord, who have no care for my holy mountain, who get ready a table for Chance, and make offerings of mixed wine to Fate; ^65:12Your fate will be the sword, and you will all go down to death: because when my voice came to you, you made no answer; you did not give ear to my word; but you did what was evil in my eyes, desiring what was not pleasing to me. ^65:13For this cause says the Lord God, My servants will have food, but you will be in need of food: my servants will have drink, but you will be dry: my servants will have joy, but you will be shamed: ^65:14My servants will make songs in the joy of their hearts, but you will be crying for sorrow, and making sounds of grief from a broken spirit. ^65:15And your name will become a curse to my people, and the Lord God will put you to death, and give his servants another name: ^65:16So that he who is requesting a blessing will make use of the name of the true God, and he who takes an oath will do so by the true God; because the past troubles are gone out of mind, and because they are covered from my eyes. ^65:17For see, I am making a new heaven and a new earth: and the past things will be gone completely out of mind. ^65:18But men will be glad and have joy for ever in what I am making; for I am making Jerusalem a delight, and her people a joy. ^65:19And I will be glad over Jerusalem, and have joy in my people: and the voice of weeping will no longer be sounding in her, or the voice of grief. ^65:20No longer will there be there a child whose days are cut short, or an old man whose days have not come to their full measure: for the young man at his death will be a hundred years old, and he whose life is shorter than a hundred years will seem as one cursed. ^65:21And they will be building houses and living in them; planting vine-gardens and getting the fruit of them. ^65:22They will no longer be building for the use of others, or planting for others to have the fruit: for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my loved ones will have joy in full measure in the work of their hands. ^65:23Their work will not be for nothing, and they will not give birth to children for destruction; for they are a seed to whom the Lord has given his blessing, and their offspring will be with them. ^65:24And before they make their request I will give an answer, and while they are still making prayer to me, I will give ear. ^65:25The wolf and the lamb will take their food together, and the lion will make a meal of grass like the ox: but dust will be the snake's food. There will be no cause of pain or destruction in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

^66:1The Lord says, Heaven is the seat of my power, and earth is the resting-place for my feet: what sort of house will you make for me, and what place will be my resting-place? ^66:2For all these things my hand has made, and they are mine, says the Lord; but to this man only will I give attention, to him who is poor and broken in spirit, fearing my word. ^66:3He who puts an ox to death puts a man to death; he who makes an offering of a lamb puts a dog to death; he who makes a meal offering makes an offering of pig's blood; he who makes an offering of perfumes for a sign gives worship to an image: as they have gone after their desires, and their soul takes pleasure in their disgusting things; ^66:4So I will go after trouble for them, and will send on them what they are fearing: because no one made answer to my voice, or gave ear to my word; but they did what was evil in my eyes, going after that in which I took no pleasure. ^66:5Give ear to the word of the Lord, you who are in fear at his word: your countrymen, hating you, and driving you out because of my name, have said, Let the Lord's glory be made clear, so that we may see your joy; but they will be put to shame. ^66:6There is a noise of war from the town, a sound from the Temple, the voice of the Lord giving punishment to his haters. ^66:7Before her pains came, she gave birth; before her pains, she gave birth to a man-child. ^66:8When has such a story come to men's ears? who has seen such things? will a land come to birth in one day? will a nation be given birth in a minute? For when Zion's pains came on her, she gave birth to her children straight away. ^66:9Will I by whom the birth was started, not make it complete? says the Lord. Will I who make children come to birth, let them be kept back? says your God. ^66:10Have joy with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you her lovers: take part in her joy, all you who are sorrowing for her: ^66:11So that you may take of the comfort flowing from her breasts, and be delighted with the full measure of her glory. ^66:12For the Lord says, See, I will make her peace like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream, and she will take her children in her arms, gently caring for them on her knees. ^66:13As to one who is comforted by his mother, so will I give you comfort: and you will be comforted in Jerusalem. ^66:14And you will see it and your heart will be glad, and your bones will get new strength, like young grass: and the hand of the Lord will be seen at work for his servants, and his wrath against his haters. ^66:15For the Lord is coming with fire, and his war-carriages will be like the storm-wind; to give punishment in the heat of his wrath, and his passion is like flames of fire. ^66:16For with fire and sword will the Lord come, judging all the earth, and his sword will be on all flesh: and great numbers will be put to death by him. ^66:17As for those who keep themselves separate, and make themselves clean in the gardens, going after one in the middle, taking pig's flesh for food, and other disgusting things, such as the mouse: their works and their thoughts will come to an end together, says the Lord. ^66:18And I am coming to get together all nations and tongues: and they will come and will see my glory. ^66:19And I will put a sign among them, and I will send those who are still living to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud, Meshech and Rosh, Tubal and Javan, to the sea-lands far away, who have not had word of me, or seen my glory; and they will give the knowledge of my glory to the nations. ^66:20And they will take your countrymen out of all the nations for an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in carriages, and in carts, and on asses, and on camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, as the children of Israel take their offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. ^66:21And some of them will I take for priests and Levites, says the Lord. ^66:22For as the new heaven and the new earth which I will make will be for ever before me, says the Lord, so will your seed and your name be for ever. ^66:23And it will be, that from new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh will come to give worship before me, says the Lord. ^66:24And they will go out to see the dead bodies of the men who have done evil against me: for their worm will ever be living, and their fire will never be put out, and they will be a thing of fear to all flesh.

Jeremiah

^1:1The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: ^1:2To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his rule. ^1:3And it came again in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, up to the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah; till Jerusalem was taken away in the fifth month. ^1:4Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^1:5Before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you, and before your birth I made you holy; I have given you the work of being a prophet to the nations. ^1:6Then said I, O Lord God! see, I have no power of words, for I am a child. ^1:7But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am a child: for wherever I send you, you are to go, and whatever I give you orders to say, you are to say. ^1:8Have no fear because of them: for I am with you, to keep you safe, says the Lord. ^1:9Then the Lord put out his hand, touching my mouth; and the Lord said to me, See, I have put my words in your mouth: ^1:10See, this day I have put you over the nations and over the kingdoms, for uprooting and smashing down, for destruction and overturning, for building up and planting. ^1:11Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a branch of an almond-tree. ^1:12Then the Lord said to me, You have seen well: for I keep watch over my word to give effect to it. ^1:13And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling pot, and its face is from the north. ^1:14Then the Lord said to me, Out of the north evil will come, bursting out on all the people of the land. ^1:15For see, I will send for all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord; and they will come, everyone placing his high seat at the way into Jerusalem, and against its walls on every side, and against all the towns of Judah. ^1:16And I will give my decision against them on account of all their evil-doing; because they have given me up, burning perfumes to other gods and worshipping the works of their hands. ^1:17So make yourself ready, and go and say to them everything I give you orders to say: do not be overcome by fear of them, or I will send fear on you before them. ^1:18For see, this day have I made you a walled town, and an iron pillar, and walls of brass, against all the land, against the kings of Judah, against its captains, against its priests, and against the people of the land. ^1:19They will be fighting against you, but they will not overcome you: for I am with you, says the Lord, to give you salvation.

^2:1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^2:2Go and say in the ears of Jerusalem, The Lord says, I still keep the memory of your kind heart when you were young, and your love when you became my bride; how you went after me in the waste of sand, in an unplanted land. ^2:3Israel was holy to the Lord, the first-fruits of his increase: all who made attacks on him were judged as wrongdoers, evil came on them, says the Lord. ^2:4Give ear to the words of the Lord, O sons of Jacob and all the families of Israel: ^2:5These are the words of the Lord: What evil have your fathers seen in me that they have gone far from me, and, walking after what is false, have become false? ^2:6And they never said, Where is the Lord, who took us up out of the land of Egypt; who was our guide through the waste of sand, through an unplanted land full of deep holes, through a dry land of deep shade, which no one went through and where no man was living? ^2:7And I took you into a fertile land, where you were living on its fruit and its wealth; but when you came in, you made my land unclean, and made my heritage a disgusting thing. ^2:8The priests did not say, Where is the Lord? and those who were expert in the law had no knowledge of me: and the rulers did evil against me, and the prophets became prophets of the Baal, going after things without value. ^2:9For this reason, I will again put forward my cause against you, says the Lord, even against you and against your children's children. ^2:10For go over to the sea-lands of Kittim and see; send to Kedar and give deep thought to it; and see if there has ever been such a thing. ^2:11Has any nation ever made a change in their gods, though they are no gods? but my people have given up their glory in exchange for what is of no profit. ^2:12Be full of wonder, O heavens, at this; be overcome with fear, be completely waste, says the Lord. ^2:13For my people have done two evils; they have given up me, the fountain of living waters, and have made for themselves water-holes, cut out from the rock, broken water-holes, of no use for storing water. ^2:14Is Israel a servant? has he been a house-servant from birth? why has he been made waste? ^2:15The young lions have made an outcry against him with a loud voice: they have made his land waste; his towns are burned up, with no one living in them. ^2:16Even the children of Noph and Tahpanhes have put shame on you. ^2:17Has not this come on you because you have given up the Lord your God, who was your guide by the way? ^2:18And now, what have you to do on the way to Egypt, to get your drink from the waters of the Nile? or what have you to do on the way to Assyria, to get your drink from the waters of the River? ^2:19The evil you yourselves have done will be your punishment, your errors will be your judge: be certain then, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing to give up the Lord your God, and no longer to be moved by fear of me, says the Lord, the Lord of armies. ^2:20For in the past, your yoke was broken by your hands and your cords parted; and you said, I will not be your servant; for on every high hill and under every branching tree, your behaviour was like that of a loose woman ^2:21But when you were planted by me, you were a noble vine, in every way a true seed: how then have you been changed into the branching plant of a strange vine? ^2:22For even if you are washed with soda and take much soap, still your evil-doing is marked before me, says the Lord God. ^2:23How are you able to say, I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals? see your way in the valley, be clear about what you have done: you are a quick-footed camel twisting her way in and out; ^2:24An untrained ass, used to the waste land, breathing up the wind in her desire; at her time, who is able to send her away? all those who are looking for her will have no need to make themselves tired; in her month they will get her. ^2:25Do not let your foot be without shoes, or your throat dry from need of water: but you said, There is no hope: no, for I have been a lover of strange gods, and after them I will go. ^2:26As the thief is shamed when he is taken, so is Israel shamed; they, their kings and their rulers, their priests and their prophets; ^2:27Who say to a tree, You are my father; and to a stone, You have given me life: for their backs have been turned to me, not their faces: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Up! and be our saviour. ^2:28But where are the gods you have made for yourselves? let them come, if they are able to give you salvation in the time of your trouble: for the number of your gods is as the number of your towns, O Judah. ^2:29Why will you put forward your cause against me? You have all done evil against me, says the Lord. ^2:30I gave your children blows to no purpose; they got no good from training: your sword has been the destruction of your prophets, like a death-giving lion. ^2:31O generation, see the word of the Lord. Have I been a waste land to Israel? or a land of dark night? why do my people say, We have got loose, we will not come to you again? ^2:32Is it possible for a virgin to put out of her memory her ornaments, or a bride her robes? but my people have put me out of their memories for unnumbered days. ^2:33With what care are your ways ordered when you are looking for love! so ... your ways. ^2:34And in the skirts of your robe may be seen the life-blood of those who have done no wrong: ... ^2:35And still you said, I have done no wrong; truly, his wrath is turned away from me. See, I will take up the cause against you, because you say, I have done no wrong. ^2:36Why do you go about so much for the purpose of changing your way? you will be shamed on account of Egypt, as you were shamed on account of Assyria. ^2:37Truly, you will go out from him with your hands on your head: for the Lord has given up those in whom you have put your faith, and they will be of no help to you.

^3:1They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's, will he go back to her again? will not that land have been made unclean? but though you have been acting like a loose woman with a number of lovers, will you now come back to me? says the Lord. ^3:2Let your eyes be lifted up to the open hilltops, and see; where have you not been taken by your lovers? You have been seated waiting for them by the wayside like an Arabian in the waste land; you have made the land unclean with your loose ways and your evil-doing. ^3:3So the showers have been kept back, and there has been no spring rain; still your brow is the brow of a loose woman, you will not let yourself be shamed. ^3:4Will you not, from this time, make your prayer to me, crying, My father, you are the friend of my early years? ^3:5Will he be angry for ever? will he keep his wrath to the end? These things you have said, and have done evil and have had your way. ^3:6And the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen what Israel, turning away from me, has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every branching tree, acting like a loose woman there. ^3:7And I said, After she has done all these things she will come back to me; but she did not. And her false sister Judah saw it. ^3:8And though she saw that, because Israel, turning away from me, had been untrue to me, I had put her away and given her a statement in writing ending the relation between us, still Judah, her false sister, had no fear, but went and did the same. ^3:9So that through all her loose behaviour the land became unclean, and she was untrue, giving herself to stones and trees. ^3:10But for all this, her false sister Judah has not come back to me with all her heart, but with deceit, says the Lord. ^3:11And the Lord said to me, Israel in her turning away is seen to be more upright than false Judah. ^3:12Go, and give out these words to the north, and say, Come back, O Israel, though you have been turned away from me, says the Lord; my face will not be against you in wrath: for I am full of mercy, says the Lord, I will not be angry for ever. ^3:13Only be conscious of your sin, the evil you have done against the Lord your God; you have gone with strange men under every branching tree, giving no attention to my voice, says the Lord. ^3:14Come back, O children who are turned away, says the Lord; for I am a husband to you, and I will take you, one from a town and two from a family, and will make you come to Zion; ^3:15And I will give you keepers, pleasing to my heart, who will give you your food with knowledge and wisdom. ^3:16And it will come about, when your numbers are increased in the land, in those days, says the Lord, that they will no longer say, The ark of the agreement of the Lord: it will not come into their minds, they will not have any memory of it, or be conscious of the loss of it, and it will not be made again. ^3:17At that time Jerusalem will be named the seat of the Lord's kingdom; and all the nations will come together to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: and no longer will their steps be guided by the purposes of their evil hearts. ^3:18In those days the family of Judah will go with the family of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north into the land which I gave for a heritage to your fathers. ^3:19But I said, How am I to put you among the children, and give you a desired land, a heritage of glory among the armies of the nations? and I said, You are to say to me, My father; and not be turned away from me. ^3:20Truly, as a wife is false to her husband, so have you been false to me, O Israel, says the Lord. ^3:21A voice is sounding on the open hilltops, the weeping and the prayers of the children of Israel; because their way is twisted, they have not kept the Lord their God in mind. ^3:22Come back, you children who have been turned away, and I will take away your desire for wandering. See, we have come to you, for you are the Lord our God. ^3:23Truly, the hills, and the noise of an army on the mountains, are a false hope: truly, in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. ^3:24But the Baal has taken all the work of our fathers from our earliest days; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ^3:25Let us be stretched on the earth in our downfall, covering ourselves with our shame: for we have been sinners against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our earliest years even till this day: and we have not given ear to the voice of the Lord our God.