Isaiah 59-61
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Injustice and Oppression to Be Punished
59 See, the Lord’s arm is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.(A)
2 Rather, your iniquities have been barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.(B)
3 For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
your tongue mutters wickedness.(C)
4 No one brings suit justly;
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas; they speak lies,
conceiving mischief and bearing iniquity.(D)
5 They hatch adders’ eggs
and weave the spider’s web;
whoever eats their eggs dies,
and the crushed egg hatches out a viper.(E)
6 Their webs cannot serve as clothing;
they cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.(F)
7 Their feet run to evil,
and they rush to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
desolation and destruction are in their highways.(G)
8 The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their ways.
Their roads they have made crooked;
no one who walks in them knows peace.(H)
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and deliverance does not reach us;
we wait for light, but there is only darkness;
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.(I)
10 We grope like the blind along a wall,
groping like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among the vigorous[a] as though we were dead.(J)
11 We all growl like bears;
like doves we moan mournfully.
We wait for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.(K)
12 For our transgressions before you are many,
and our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions indeed are with us,
and we know our iniquities:(L)
13 transgressing and denying the Lord
and turning away from following our God,
talking oppression and revolt,
conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart.(M)
14 Justice is turned back,
and deliverance stands at a distance,
for truth stumbles in the public square,
and uprightness cannot enter.(N)
15 Truth is lacking,
and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.(O)
16 He saw that there was no one
and was appalled that there was no one to intervene,
so his own arm brought him victory,
and his righteousness upheld him.(P)
17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing
and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle.(Q)
18 According to their deeds, so will he repay
wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;
to the coastlands he will render requital.(R)
19 So those in the west shall fear the name of the Lord,
and those in the east, his glory,
for he will come like a pent-up stream
that the wind of the Lord drives on.(S)
20 And he will come to Zion as Redeemer,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the Lord.(T)
21 And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord: my spirit that is upon you and my words that I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouths of your children or out of the mouths of your children’s children, says the Lord, from now on and forever.(U)
The Ingathering of the Dispersed
60 Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.(V)
2 For darkness shall cover the earth
and thick darkness the peoples,
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.(W)
3 Nations shall come to your light
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.(X)
4 Lift up your eyes and look around;
they all gather together; they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried in their nurses’ arms.(Y)
5 Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice,[b]
because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you;
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.(Z)
6 A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.(AA)
7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;
the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
they shall be acceptable on my altar,[c]
and I will glorify my glorious house.(AB)
8 Who are these that fly like a cloud
and like doves to their windows?
9 For the coastlands shall wait for me,
the ships of Tarshish first,
to bring your children from far away,
their silver and gold with them,
for the name of the Lord your God
and for the Holy One of Israel,
because he has glorified you.(AC)
10 Foreigners shall build up your walls,
and their kings shall minister to you,
for in my wrath I struck you down,
but in my favor I have had mercy on you.(AD)
11 Your gates shall always be open;
day and night they shall not be shut,
so that nations shall bring you their wealth,
with their kings led in procession.(AE)
12 For the nation and kingdom
that will not serve you shall perish;
those nations shall be utterly laid waste.(AF)
13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
the cypress, the plane, and the pine,
to beautify the place of my sanctuary,
and I will glorify where my feet rest.(AG)
14 The descendants of those who oppressed you
shall come bending low to you,
and all who despised you
shall bow down at your feet;
they shall call you the City of the Lord,
the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.(AH)
15 Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
with no one passing through,
I will make you majestic forever,
a joy from age to age.(AI)
16 You shall suck the milk of nations;
you shall suck the breasts of kings,
and you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.(AJ)
17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold;
instead of iron I will bring silver;
instead of wood, bronze;
instead of stones, iron.
I will appoint Peace as your overseer
and Righteousness as your taskmaster.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
devastation or destruction within your borders;
you shall call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.(AK)
God the Glory of Zion
19 The sun shall no longer be
your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
give light to you by night,[d]
but the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.(AL)
20 Your sun shall no more go down
or your moon withdraw itself,
for the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your days of mourning shall be ended.(AM)
21 Your people shall all be righteous;
they shall possess the land forever.
They are the shoot that I planted, the work of my hands,
so that I might be glorified.(AN)
22 The least of them shall become a clan
and the smallest one a mighty nation;
I am the Lord;
in its time I will accomplish it quickly.(AO)
The Good News of Deliverance
61 The spirit of the Lord God is upon me
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and release to the prisoners,(AP)
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,(AQ)
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.(AR)
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.(AS)
5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks;
foreigners shall till your land and dress your vines,(AT)
6 but you shall be called priests of the Lord;
you shall be named ministers of our God;
you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations,
and in their riches you shall glory.(AU)
7 Because their[e] shame was double
and dishonor was proclaimed as their lot,
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
everlasting joy shall be theirs.(AV)
8 For I, the Lord, love justice,
I hate robbery and wrongdoing;[f]
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.(AW)
9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge
that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.(AX)
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my whole being shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.(AY)
11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.(AZ)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.