Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 25

¹ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the afflicted.
He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release for those who are bound,
²     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance for our God,
    to comfort all who mourn,
³     to provide for those who mourn in Zion,
    to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
    the oil of joy instead of mourning,
    a cloak of praise instead of a faint spirit,
    so that they will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord to display his beauty.

⁴ Then they will rebuild ancient ruins.
They will raise up what was formerly devastated,
and they will renew ruined cities,
    which have been devastated for generations.
⁵ Strangers will stand and shepherd your flock,
and foreigners will be your farmers and vinedressers.
⁶ You will be called the Lord’s priests.
You will be named ministers of our God.
You will eat the wealth of nations,
and you will boast about their riches.
⁷ In place of your shame, you will receive a double portion.
Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their share of the land.
In fact, in their land they will inherit a double portion.
Everlasting joy will be theirs.
⁸ Yes, I am the Lord. I love justice.
I hate robbery in a burnt offering. ^[2]
I will repay them in faithfulness,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
⁹ Their offspring will be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples.
All who see them will recognize
    that they are offspring whom the Lord has blessed.
¹⁰ I will rejoice greatly in the Lord.
My soul will celebrate because of my God,
for he has clothed me in garments of salvation.
With a robe of righteousness he covered me,
like a bridegroom who wears a beautiful headdress like a priest,
and like a bride who adorns herself with her jewelry.

¹¹ For as the earth produces its growth,
and as a garden causes what has been sown to sprout up,
so God the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up
    in the presence of all the nations.

¹ For the sake of Zion I will not be silent.
For the sake of Jerusalem I will not be quiet,
until her righteousness goes forth shining brightly,
and her salvation burns like a torch.

² Nations will see your righteousness,
and all kings will see your glory.
You will be called by a new name
    that the mouth of the Lord will assign to you.
³ Then you will be a beautiful crown in the Lord’s hand,
and a royal diadem in the palm of your God.
⁴ You will never again be called Abandoned, ^[3]
and your land will never again be called Desolation, ^[4]
for you will be called My Delight Is in Her, ^[5]
and your land will be called Married, ^[6]
because the Lord delights in you,
and your land will be married.
⁵ For just as a young man marries a virgin,
your sons will marry ^[7] you,
and just as a bridegroom rejoices over a bride,
your God will rejoice over you.
⁶ Upon your walls, Jerusalem, I appointed watchmen.
All day and all night they will never be silent.
You who keep reminding the Lord, do not rest!
⁷ Do not give him rest
until he establishes Jerusalem,
and he causes her to be praised on the earth.

⁸ The Lord swore by his right hand
and by his strong arm:
    I will certainly never again give up your grain as food
        for your enemies,
    and foreigners will not drink the sweet new wine you worked for.
⁹     For those who pick fruit will eat it, and they will praise the Lord,
    and those who harvest grapes will drink in my holy courtyards.

¹⁰ Go through, go through the gates.
Prepare a way for the people.
Build up, build up the highway.
Clear it of stones.
Raise a banner for the peoples.

¹¹ Listen, the Lord is making a proclamation to the end of the earth.
Tell the daughter of Zion:
“Look, your salvation is coming.
Look, his reward is with him,
and his compensation is out in front of him.” ^[8]

¹² Then they will be called holy people,
the redeemed of the Lord.
Then you will be called Sought After,
A City Not Abandoned.

The Day of Vengeance

It is I, the one who speaks in righteousness.
It is I, the one who is mighty to save.

² Why is your clothing so red?
Why are your garments like those of someone
    who has been trampling grapes in a winepress?

³ I have trodden the winepress alone,
and from the peoples there was no one with me.
So I stomped on them in my anger,
and I trampled them in my wrath,
and their juice splattered on my garments.
I stained all my clothing.
⁴ For the day for vengeance was in my heart,
and the year for my redemption has come.
⁵ I looked intently but there was no helper.
I was shocked that no one supported me.
My arm delivered me,
and my wrath supported me.
⁶ I trampled the peoples in my anger.
I made them drunk in my wrath,
and I will pour out their juice ^[10] onto the ground.