Holman Christian Standard Bible (220 page)

Read Holman Christian Standard Bible Online

Authors: B&H Publishing Group

BOOK: Holman Christian Standard Bible
3.85Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Israel's Prayer
15
 Look down from heaven and see 
from Your lofty home — holy and beautiful.
Where is Your zeal and Your might?
Your yearning and Your compassion
are withheld from me.
16
 Yet You are our Father,
even though Abraham does not know us
and Israel doesn't recognize us.
You,
•Yahweh
, are our Father;
from ancient times,
Your name is our Redeemer. 
17
 Why, Yahweh, do You make us stray from Your ways?
You harden our hearts so we do not
•fear
  You. 
Return, because of Your servants,
the tribes of Your heritage.
18
 Your holy people had a possession 
for a little while,
but our enemies have trampled down
Your sanctuary. 
19
 We have become like those You never ruled over,
like those not called by Your name. 
Isaiah
Chapter 64 
1
If only You would tear the heavens open
and come down, 
so that mountains would quake at Your presence  —
2
 as fire kindles the brushwood,
and fire causes water to boil —
to make Your name known to Your enemies,
so that nations will tremble at Your presence!
3
 When You did awesome works 
that we did not expect,
You came down, 
and the mountains quaked at Your presence.
4
 From ancient times no one has heard,
no one has listened,
no eye has seen any God except You,
who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him. 
5
 You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right;
they remember You in Your ways.
But we have sinned, and You were angry.
How can we be saved if we remain in our sins? 
6
 All of us have become like something 
•unclean
,
and all our righteous acts are like a polluted  garment; 
all of us wither like a leaf, 
and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
7
 No one calls on Your name,
striving to take hold of You.
For You have hidden Your face from us 
and made us melt because of our iniquity.
8
 Yet
Lord
, You are our Father; 
we are the clay, and You are our potter;
we all are the work of Your hands. 
9
 
Lord
, do not be terribly angry
or remember our iniquity forever. 
Please look — all of us are Your people!
10
 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
•Zion
has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation. 
11
 Our holy and beautiful  temple,
where our fathers praised You,
has been burned with fire,
and all that was dear to us lies in ruins. 
12
 
Lord
, after all this, will You restrain Yourself?
Will You keep silent and afflict severely? 
Isaiah
The
Lord
's Response
65
“I was sought by those who did not ask; 
I was found by those who did not seek Me.
I said: Here I am, here I am,
to a nation that was not called by  My name. 
2
 I spread out My hands all day long
to a rebellious people 
who walk in the wrong path,
following their own thoughts.
3
 These people continually provoke Me
to My face,
sacrificing in gardens, 
burning incense on bricks,
4
 sitting among the graves,
spending nights in secret places,
eating the meat of pigs, 
and putting polluted broth in their bowls. 
5
 They say, ‘Keep to yourself,
don't come near me, for I am too holy for you! '
These practices are smoke in My nostrils,
a fire that burns all day long.
6
 It is written before Me:
I will not keep silent, but I will repay; 
I will repay them fully 
7
 for your iniquities and the iniquities 
of your fathers together,”
says the
Lord
.
“Because they burned incense on the mountains
and reproached Me on the hills, 
I will reward them fully 
for their former deeds.”
8
 The
Lord
says this:
As the new wine is found in a bunch of grapes,
and one says, ‘Don't destroy it,
for there's some good in it,'
so I will act because of My servants
and not destroy them all.
9
 I will produce descendants from Jacob, 
and heirs to My mountains from Judah;
My chosen ones will possess it,
and My servants will dwell there. 
10
 Sharon will be a pasture for flocks, 
and the Valley of Achor a place for cattle to lie down, 
for My people who have sought Me. 
11
 But you who abandon the 
Lord
,
who forget My holy mountain,
who prepare a table for Fortune
and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, 
12
 I will destine you for the sword,
and all of you will kneel down to be slaughtered,
because I called and you did not answer,
I spoke and you did not hear;
you did what was evil in My sight
and chose what I did not delight in. 
13
 Therefore, this is what the Lord
God
says:
My servants will eat,
but you will be hungry;
My servants will drink,
but you will be thirsty;
My servants will rejoice,
but you will be put to shame.
14
 My servants will shout for joy from a glad heart,
but you will cry out from an anguished heart,
and you will lament out of a broken spirit.
15
 You will leave your name behind
as a curse for My chosen ones, 
and the Lord
God
will kill you;
but He will give His servants another name. 
16
 Whoever is blessed in the land
will be blessed by the God of truth, 
and whoever swears in the land
will swear by the God of truth.
For the former troubles will be forgotten
and hidden from My sight.
A New Creation
17
 “For I will create a new heaven and a new earth; 
the past events will not be remembered or come to mind.
18
 Then be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy
and its people to be a delight.
19
 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in My people.
The sound of weeping and crying
will no longer be heard in her. 
20
 In her, a nursing infant will no longer live
only a few days, 
or an old man not live out his days.
Indeed, the youth will die at a hundred years,
and the one who misses a hundred years will be cursed. 
21
 People will build houses and live in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 
22
 They will not build and others live in them;
they will not plant and others eat.
For My people's lives will be
like the lifetime of a tree. 
My chosen ones will fully enjoy
the work of their hands.
23
 They will not labor without success 
or bear children destined for disaster,
for they will be a people blessed by the 
Lord
along with their descendants. 
24
 Even before they call, I will answer; 
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
25
 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, 
and the lion will eat straw like the ox, 
but the serpent's food will be dust! 
They will not do what is evil or destroy
on My entire holy mountain,” 
says the
Lord
.
Isaiah
Final Judgment and Joyous Restoration
66
This is what the
Lord
says:
Heaven is My throne, 
and earth is My footstool. 
What house could you possibly build for Me?
And what place could be My home? 
2
 My hand made all these things,
and so they all came into being.
This is the 
Lord
's declaration.
I will look favorably on this kind of person:
one who is humble, submissive  in spirit, 
and trembles at My word.
3
 One slaughters an ox, one kills a man;
one sacrifices a lamb, one breaks a dog's neck;
one offers a 
•grain
 offering, one offers pig's blood;
one offers incense, one praises an idol —
all these have chosen their ways
and delight in their detestable practices. 
4
 So I will choose their punishment,
and I will bring on them what they dread
because I called and no one answered;
I spoke and they didn't hear;
they did what was evil in My sight
and chose what I didn't delight in. 
5
 You who tremble at His word, 
hear the word of the 
Lord

“Your brothers who hate and exclude you
because of Me have said, 
‘Let the
Lord
be glorified
so that we can see your joy! '
But they will be put to shame.” 
6
 A sound of uproar from the city!
A voice from the temple —
the voice of the 
Lord
,
paying back His enemies what they deserve! 
7
 Before
•Zion
was in labor, she gave birth;
before she was in pain, she delivered a boy.
8
 Who has heard of such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Can a land be born in one day
or a nation be delivered in an instant?
Yet as soon as Zion was in labor,
she gave birth to her sons.
9
 “Will I bring a baby to the point of birth
and not deliver it? ”
says the
Lord
;
“or will I who deliver, close the womb? ”
says your God.
10
 Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her,
all who love her. 
Rejoice greatly with her,
all who mourn over her —
11
 so that you may nurse and be satisfied
from her comforting breast
and drink deeply and delight yourselves
from her glorious breasts.
12
 For this is what the
Lord
says:
I will make peace flow to her like a river, 
and the wealth of nations like a flood; 
you will nurse and be carried on her hip 
and bounced on her lap.
13
 As a mother comforts her son,
so I will comfort you, 
and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.
14
 You will see, you will rejoice,
and you will flourish like grass; 
then the
Lord
's power will be revealed to His servants,
but He will show His wrath against His enemies.
15
 Look, the
Lord
will come with fire  —
His chariots are like the whirlwind  —
to execute His anger with fury
and His rebuke with flames of fire.
16
 For the
Lord
will execute judgment
on all flesh with His fiery sword,
and many will be slain by the 
Lord
.
17
 “Those who dedicate and purify themselves to enter the groves following their leader, eating meat from pigs, vermin, and rats, will perish together.”

Other books

Shade and Sorceress by Catherine Egan
A House in the Sunflowers by Ruth Silvestre
Rebellious Bride by Lizbeth Dusseau
The Book of Fame by Lloyd Jones
Resolute by Martin W. Sandler
Dogs of Orninica by Unedo, Daniel