Isaiah 60-62

New Catholic Bible

^1 [a]Arise and shine forth, for your light has come
    and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you.
² Even though darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness enshrouds the peoples,
upon you the Lord will shine,
    and over you his glory will appear.
³ Nations will be guided by your light
    and kings by the brightness of your radiance.
⁴ Raise your eyes and look around;
    they are all assembling and returning to you.
Your sons are coming from far away,
    and your daughters will be carried
    in the arms of their nurses.
^{5     [b]}Then you will be radiant at what you behold,
    and your hearts will throb and rejoice.
For the riches of the sea will be brought to you,
    and the wealth of the nations will come to you.
⁶ Droves of camels will cover your land,
    the young camels from Midian and Ephah;
all from Sheba will come,
    laden with gold and frankincense,
    while the people proclaim the praises of the Lord.
⁷ All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you;
    the rams of Nebaioth will serve your needs.
They will be acceptable offerings on my altar,
    and I will enhance the splendor of my house.
⁸ Who are these that fly along like clouds
    and like doves to their dovecotes?
⁹ All the vessels are assembled
    from the seacoasts and the islands,
    with the ships of Tarshish in the lead;
they are bringing your children from far away,
    along with their silver and gold,
to pay honor to the name of the Lord, your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has glorified you.
¹⁰ Foreigners will rebuild your walls,
    and their kings will be your servants.
Although I struck you down in my wrath,
    now in my mercy I will show you my favor.
¹¹ Your gates will always be open;
    day and night they will never be shut,
so that the wealth of the nations may be brought to you,
    led by their kings in triumphal procession.
¹² For the nation or the kingdom that refuses to serve you
    will be totally destroyed
    and suffer widespread devastation.
¹³ The glory of Lebanon will come to you,
    the cypress, the plane tree, and the pine,
    one and all,
to adorn my holy sanctuary
    and to honor the place where I stand.^[c]
14 The sons of those who oppressed you
    will come forward and bend low before you,
and all those who despised you
    will bow down at your feet;
they will call you “City of the Lord,”
    “Zion of the Holy One of Israel.”
¹⁵ Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
    with no one traveling through you,
I will make you an object of everlasting pride
    and a source of never-ending joy.
¹⁶ You will suck the milk of nations
    and be nursed at royal breasts.
Then you will know
    that I, the Lord, am your Savior
    and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁷ Instead of bronze I will bring you gold,
    instead of iron I will bring you silver;
instead of wood, bronze,
    and instead of stone, iron.
I will ensure that you will be governed in peace
    and be ruled with righteousness.
¹⁸ No longer will violence appear in your land,
    nor will devastation and ruin occur within your borders.
You will call your walls “Salvation”
    and your gates “Praise.”
¹⁹ The sun will no longer serve
    as the source of your light by day,
nor will the brightness of the moon
    afford light to you during the night.
Rather, the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and your God will be your splendor.
²⁰ Never again will your sun go down,
    nor will your moon withdraw its light.
For the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and your days of mourning will be ended.
²¹ Your people will all be righteous
    and possess the land forever.
They are the shoot that I have planted,
    my handiwork to exhibit my glory.
²² The least of you will become a thousand,
    and the weakest will become a mighty nation.
I am the Lord, and I will accomplish all this
    at the appointed time.

^{1     [d]}The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me
    because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to announce good news to the oppressed,
    to strengthen the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom to those held in captivity
    and release to those who have been imprisoned,
² to proclaim a year of the Lord’s favor
    and a day of vengeance for our God,
    to comfort all who mourn,
³ to give to all those who mourn in Zion
    a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    a glorious mantle instead of a spirit of despair.
And they will be called oaks of righteousness
    planted by the Lord to show forth his glory.

⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and raise up sites that have long been desolate.
They will restore the ruined cities
    that for generations have been merely ravaged wastes.
⁵ Strangers will come forth to shepherd your flocks;
    foreigners will farm your land and dress your vines.
⁶ But you will be called priests of the Lord;
    and you will be named ministers of our God.
You will enjoy the wealth of the nations,
    and their former glory will be yours.
⁷ Because you endured a double measure of shame
    and were regarded as deserving of dishonor and disgrace,
you will receive a double portion,
    and everlasting joy will be yours.
⁸ For I, the Lord, love justice,
    and I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
I will be faithful in rewarding such victims,
    and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
⁹ Their descendants will be renowned among the nations
    and their offspring among the peoples.
All who behold them will acknowledge
    that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.
¹⁰ I rejoice in the Lord with all my heart;
    my soul exults in my God.
For he has clothed me in garments of salvation
    and wrapped me in a robe of saving justice,
like a bridegroom adorned with a garland
    or a bride bedecked with her jewels.
¹¹ As the earth puts forth its shoots
    and a garden causes its seeds to sprout,
so the Lord God will cause his justice and praise
    to spring up in the sight of all the nations.

¹ For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
    and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,
until her vindication shines forth like the dawn
    and her salvation like a burning torch.
² The nations will see your vindication
    and all the kings your glory.
You will be called by a new name
    that the mouth of the Lord will reveal.
³ You will be a glorious crown in the hand of the Lord,
    a royal diadem held by your God.
⁴ No longer will you be called “Forsaken,”
    nor will your land be known by the name “Desolate.”
Rather you will be called “My Delight Is in Her,”
    and your land will be known as “Married.”
For the Lord will take delight in you,
    and your land will be his spouse.
⁵ As a young man marries a virgin,
    so will your builder marry you,
and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride,
    so will your God rejoice over you.

⁶ Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,
    I have stationed sentinels.
Neither by day nor by night
    will they be silent.
You whose responsibility is to call upon the Lord,
    give yourselves no rest,
⁷ and also give no rest to him
    until he restores Jerusalem
    and makes her renowned throughout the earth.
⁸ The Lord has sworn by his right hand
    and by his mighty arm:
Never again will I give your grain
    to serve as food for your enemies,
nor shall foreigners drink the wine
    for which you have toiled.
⁹ However, those who harvest the grain will eat it
    and give praise to the Lord,
while those who gather the grapes will drink the wine
    within my sacred courts.
¹⁰ Pass through, pass through the gates,
    and clear a path for my people.
Build up, build up the highway;
    clear it of stones
    and lift up a standard over the nations.
¹¹ The Lord has made this proclamation
    to the farthest bounds of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
    “See, your Savior comes!
His reward is with him
    and his recompense precedes him.”^[e]
12 They will be called “The Holy People,”
    “The Redeemed of the Lord.”
And you will be called “Sought After,”
    “A City No Longer Forsaken.”