Isaïe (NAB) 62
62 1 For Zion's sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, Until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch.2 Nations shall behold your vindication, and all kings your glory; You shall be called by a new name pronounced by the mouth of the LORD. 3 You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD, a royal diadem held by your God.4 No more shall men call you "Forsaken," or your land "Desolate," But you shall be called "My Delight," and your land "Espoused." For the LORD delights in you, and makes your land his spouse.5 As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.6 Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have stationed watchmen; Never, by day or by night, shall they be silent. O you who are to remind the LORD, take no rest 7 And give no rest to him, until he re-establishes Jerusalem And makes of it the pride of the earth.8 The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: No more will I give your grain as food to your enemies; Nor shall foreigners drink your wine, for which you toiled.9 But you who harvest the grain shall eat it, and you shall praise the LORD; You who gather the grapes shall drink the wine in the courts of my sanctuary.10 Pass through, pass through the gates, prepare the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, raise up a standard over the nations. 11 See, the LORD proclaims to the ends of the earth: Say to daughter Zion, your savior comes! Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.12 They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the LORD, And you shall be called "Frequented," a city that is not forsaken.
63 1 Who is this that comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments, from Bozrah- This one arrayed in majesty, marching in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, I who announce vindication, I who am mighty to save." 2 Why is your apparel red, and your garments like those of the wine presser?3 "The wine press I have trodden alone, and of my people there was no one with me. I trod them in my anger, and trampled them down in my wrath; Their blood spurted on my garments; all my apparel I stained.4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, my year for redeeming was at hand.5 I looked about, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that there was no one to lend support; So my own arm brought about the victory and my own wrath lent me its support.6 I trampled down the peoples in my anger, I crushed them in my wrath, and I let their blood run out upon the ground."
7 The favors of the LORD I will recall, the glorious deeds of the LORD, Because of all he has done for us; for he is good to the house of Israel, He has favored us according to his mercy and his great kindness. 8 He said: They are indeed my people, children who are not disloyal; So he became their savior9 in their every affliction. It was not a messenger or an angel, but he himself who saved them. Because of his love and pity he redeemed them himself, Lifting them and carrying them all the days of old.10 But they rebelled, and grieved his holy spirit; So he turned on them like an enemy, and fought against them.11 Then they remembered the days of old and Moses, his servant; Where is he who brought up out of the sea the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who put his holy spirit in their midst;12 Whose glorious arm was the guide at Moses' right; Who divided the waters before them, winning for himself eternal renown;13 Who led them without stumbling through the depths like horses in the open country,14 Like cattle going down into the plain, the spirit of the LORD guiding them? Thus you led your people, bringing glory to your name.
15 Look down from heaven and regard us from your holy and glorious palace! Where is your zealous care and your might, your surge of pity and your mercy? O Lord, hold not back,16 for you are our father. Were Abraham not to know us, nor Israel to acknowledge us, You, LORD, are our father, our redeemer you are named forever.17 Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.18 Why have the wicked invaded your holy place, why have our enemies trampled your sanctuary?19 Too long have we been like those you do not rule, who do not bear your name. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, with the mountains quaking before you,
64 1 As when brushwood is set ablaze, or fire makes the water boil! Thus your name would be made known to your enemies and the nations would tremble before you,2 While you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for,3 such as they had not heard of from of old. No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him.4 Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways! Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful;5 all of us have become like unclean men, all our good deeds are like polluted rags; We have all withered like leaves, and our guilt carries us away like the wind.6 There is none who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to cling to you; For you have hidden your face from us and have delivered us up to our guilt.7 Yet, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands.8 Be not so very angry, LORD, keep not our guilt forever in mind; look upon us, who are all your people.9 Your holy cities have become a desert, Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a waste.10 Our holy and glorious temple in which our fathers praised you Has been burned with fire; all that was dear to us is laid waste.11 Can you hold back, O LORD, after all this? Can you remain silent, and afflict us so severely?
65 1 I was ready to respond to those who asked me not, to be found by those who sought me not. I said: Here I am! Here I am! To a nation that did not call upon my name.2 I have stretched out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, Who walk in evil paths and follow their own thoughts,3 People who provoke me continually, to my face, Offering sacrifices in the groves and burning incense on bricks,4 Living among the graves and spending the night in caverns, Eating swine's flesh, with carrion broth in their dishes,5 Crying out, "Hold back, do not touch me; I am too sacred for you!" These things enkindle my wrath, a fire that burns all the day. 6 Lo, before me it stands written; I will not be quiet until I have paid in full7 Your crimes and the crimes of your fathers as well, says the LORD. Since they burned incense on the mountains, and disgraced me on the hills, I will at once pour out in full measure their recompense into their laps.
8 Thus says the LORD: When the juice is pressed from grapes, men say, "Do not discard them, for there is still good in them"; Thus will I do with my servants: I will not discard them all;9 From Jacob I will save offspring, from Judah, those who are to inherit my mountains; My chosen ones shall inherit the land, my servants shall dwell there.10 Sharon shall be a pasture for the flocks and the valley of Achor a resting place for the cattle of my people who have sought me.11 But you who forsake the LORD, forgetting my holy mountain, You who spread a table for Fortune and fill cups of blended wine for Destiny, 12 You I will destine for the sword; you shall all go down in slaughter. Since I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not listen, But did what was evil in my sight and preferred things which displease me,13 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Lo, my servants shall eat, but you shall go hungry; My servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; My servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame;14 My servants shall shout for joy of heart, But you shall cry out for grief of heart and howl for anguish of spirit.15 The Lord GOD shall slay you, and the name you leave Shall be used by my chosen ones for cursing; but my servants shall be called by another name16 By which he will be blessed on whom a blessing is invoked in the land; He who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; For the hardships of the past shall be forgotten, and hidden from my eyes.
17 Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind.18 Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; For I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight;19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people. No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there, or the sound of crying;20 No longer shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime; He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years, and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed.21 They shall live in the houses they build, and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant;22 They shall not build houses for others to live in, or plant for others to eat. As the years of a tree, so the years of my people; and my chosen ones shall long enjoy the produce of their hands.23 They shall not toil in vain, nor beget children for sudden destruction; For a race blessed by the LORD are they and their offspring.24 Before they call, I will answer; while they are yet speaking, I will hearken to them.25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze alike, and the lion shall eat hay like the ox (but the serpent's food shall be dust). None shall hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.
66 1 Thus says the LORD: The heavens are my throne, the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you build for me; what is to be my resting place?2 My hand made all these things when all of them came to be, says the LORD. This is the one whom I approve: the lowly and afflicted man who trembles at my word.3 Merely slaughtering an ox is like slaying a man; sacrificing a lamb, like breaking a dog's neck; Bringing a cereal offering, like offering swine's blood; burning incense, like paying homage to an idol. Since these have chosen their own ways and taken pleasure in their own abominations,4 I in turn will choose ruthless treatment for them and bring upon them what they fear. Because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened; Because they did what was evil in my sight, and chose what gave me displeasure,
5 Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: Your brethren who, because of my name, hate and reject you, say, "Let the LORD show his glory that we may see your joy"; but they shall be put to shame.6 A sound of roaring from the city, a sound from the temple, The sound of the LORD repaying his enemies their deserts!7 Before she comes to labor, she gives birth; Before the pains come upon her, she safely delivers a male child. 8 Who ever heard of such a thing, or saw the like? Can a country be brought forth in one day, or a nation be born in a single moment? Yet Zion is scarcely in labor when she gives birth to her children.9 Shall I bring a mother to the point of birth, and yet not let her child be born? says the LORD; Or shall I who allow her to conceive, yet close her womb? says your God.
10 Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her, all you who love her; Exult, exult with her, all you who were mourning over her!
11 Oh, that you may suck fully of the milk of her comfort, That you may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts!
12 For thus says the LORD: Lo, I will spread prosperity over her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent. As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms, and fondled in her lap;
13 As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.
14 When you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bodies flourish like the grass; The LORD'S power shall be known to his servants, but to his enemies, his wrath.
15 Lo, the LORD shall come in fire, his chariots like the whirlwind, To wreak his wrath with burning heat and his punishment with fiery flames.
16 For the LORD shall judge all mankind by fire and sword. and many shall be slain by the LORD.
17 They who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the groves, as followers of one who stands within, they who eat swine's flesh, loathsome things and mice, shall all perish with their deeds and their thoughts, says the LORD.
18 I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory.
19 I will set a sign among them; from them I will send fugitives to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations.
20 They shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their offering to the house of the LORD in clean vessels.
21 Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the LORD.
22 As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make Shall endure before me, says the LORD, so shall your race and your name endure.
23 From one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, All mankind shall come to worship before me, says the LORD.
24 They shall go out and see the corpses of the men who rebelled against me; Their worm shall not die, nor their fire be extinguished; and they shall be abhorrent to all mankind.
Isaïe (NAB) 62