Isaiah 60-66
Modern English Version
The Glory of Zion
60 Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 For the darkness shall cover the earth
and deep darkness the peoples;
but the Lord shall rise upon you,
and His glory shall be seen upon you.
3 The nations shall come to your light
and kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 Lift up your eyes all around, and see:
They all gather themselves together; they come to you;
your sons shall come from afar,
and your daughters shall be carried at your side.
5 Then you shall see and be radiant,
and your heart shall thrill and rejoice
because the abundance of the sea shall be converted to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6 The multitude of camels shall cover your land,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come;
they shall bring gold and incense
and shall bear good news of the praises of the Lord.
7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you,
the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
they shall come up with acceptance on My altar,
and I will glorify My glorious house.
8 Who are these who fly as a cloud
and as the doves to their roosts?
9 Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me,
and the ships of Tarshish shall come first,
to bring your sons from afar,
their silver and their gold with them,
to the name of the Lord your God
and to the Holy One of Israel
because He has glorified you.
10 The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls,
and their kings shall minister to you;
for in My wrath I struck you,
but in My favor I have had mercy on you.
11 Therefore, your gates shall be open continually;
they shall not be shut day nor night,
so that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations,
and that their kings may be brought.
12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish,
and those nations shall be utterly destroyed.
13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box tree together,
to beautify the place of My sanctuary;
and I will make the place of My feet glorious.
14 The sons also of those who afflicted you shall come bowing before you,
and all those who despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet;
and they shall call you, The City of the Lord,
the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 Whereas you have been forsaken
and hated so that no man went through you,
I will make you an eternal excellency,
a joy of many generations.
16 You shall also suck the milk of the nations
and suck the breast of kings;
then you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
and instead of iron I will bring silver;
and instead of wood, bronze;
and instead of stones, iron.
I will also make your officers peace
and your exactors righteousness.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
nor devastation or destruction within your borders;
but you shall call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
19 The sun shall no longer be your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you;
but the Lord shall be an everlasting light to you
and your God for your glory.
20 Your sun shall no more go down,
nor shall your moon wane;
for the Lord shall be your everlasting light,
and the days of your mourning shall end.
21 Then all your people shall be righteous;
they shall inherit the land forever,
the branch of My planting,
the work of My hands,
that I may be glorified.
22 A little one shall become a thousand,
and a small one a strong nation.
I, the Lord,
will hasten it in its time.
The Lord’s Favor
61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor;
He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn,
3 to preserve those who mourn in Zion,
to give to them beauty
for ashes,
the oil of joy
for mourning,
the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord,
that He might be glorified.
4 They shall build the old ruins;
they shall raise up the former desolations,
and they shall repair the waste cities,
the desolations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But you shall be named the priests of the Lord;
men shall call you the ministers of our God.
You shall eat the riches of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame
you shall have double honor,
and instead of humiliation
they shall rejoice over their portion.
Therefore, in their land they shall possess a double portion;
everlasting joy shall be theirs.
8 For I, the Lord, love justice,
I hate robbery in the burnt offering;
and I will faithfully give them their recompense
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them shall acknowledge them
because they are the descendants whom the Lord has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my soul shall be joyful 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 ornaments,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth her buds,
and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring forth before all the nations.
The Salvation of Zion
62 For the sake of Zion I will not keep silent,
and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest
until her righteousness goes forth as brightness
and her salvation as a lamp that burns.
2 The nations shall see your righteousness,
and all kings your glory.
And you shall be called by a new name,
which the mouth of the Lord shall name.
3 You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
nor shall your land be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My Delight Is In Her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a virgin,
so your sons shall marry you;
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so your God shall rejoice over you.
6 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem,
who shall never hold their peace day nor night.
You who remind the Lord,
do not keep silent;
7 give Him no rest until He establishes
and makes Jerusalem a glory in the earth.
8 The Lord has sworn by His right hand
and by His strong arm:
Surely I will no longer give your grain
as food for your enemies;
and the sons of the foreigners shall not drink your wine
for which you have labored.
9 But those who have gathered it shall eat it
and praise the Lord;
and those who have brought it shall drink it
in the courts of My sanctuary.
10 Go through, go through the gates.
Prepare the way of the people;
build up, build up the highway.
Remove the stones;
lift up a standard over the peoples.
11 The Lord has proclaimed
to the ends of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
“See, your salvation comes;
see, His reward is with Him,
and His recompense before Him.”
12 They shall call them The Holy People,
the Redeemed of the Lord;
and you shall be called Sought Out,
a City Not Forsaken.
The Revenge of God
63 “Who is this who comes from Edom
with dyed garments from Bozrah?
This one who is glorious in His apparel,
traveling in the greatness of His strength?”
“It is I who speak in righteousness,
mighty to save.”
2 “Why is Your apparel red,
and Your garments like him who treads in the wine vat?”
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone;
and from the peoples there was no one with Me.
For I will tread them in My anger,
and trample them in My fury,
and their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments,
and I will stain all My raiment.
4 For the day of vengeance is in My heart,
and My year of redemption has come.
5 I looked and there was no one to help,
and I was astonished, and there was no one to uphold;
therefore, My own arm brought salvation to Me;
and My fury upheld Me.
6 I will tread down the peoples in My anger
and make them drunk in My fury,
and I will pour out their lifeblood on the earth.”
The Mercy of God Remembered
7 I will mention the steadfast love of the Lord
and the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us,
and the great goodness toward the house of Israel,
which He has bestowed on them
according to His mercy,
and according to the multitude of His kindnesses.
8 For He said, “Surely they are My people,
sons who will not lie.”
So He became their Savior.
9 In all their affliction He was afflicted,
and the angel of His presence saved them;
in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them;
and He lifted them and carried them
all the days of old.
10 But they rebelled
and grieved His Holy Spirit;
therefore, He turned Himself to be their enemy,
and He fought against them.
11 Then His people remembered the days of old,
of Moses, saying:
Where is He who brought them up out of the sea
with the shepherds of His flock?
Where is He who put
His Holy Spirit in their midst,
12 who led them with His glorious arm
by the right hand of Moses,
dividing the water before them,
to make Himself an everlasting name,
13 who led them through the deep,
as a horse in the wilderness,
that they should not stumble?
14 As the cattle which go down into the valley,
the Spirit of the Lord caused them to rest,
so You led Your people,
to make Yourself a glorious name.
A Prayer of Penitence
15 Look down from heaven and see,
from Your holy and glorious habitation.
Where are Your zeal and Your strength?
The stirrings of Your heart and Your mercies toward me are restrained.
16 For You are our Father,
though Abraham is ignorant of us
and Israel does not recognize us.
You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer;
Your name is from everlasting.
17 O Lord, why have You made us to err from Your ways
and hardened our heart from fearing You?
Return for Your servants’ sake,
the tribes of Your inheritance.
18 Your holy people possessed Your sanctuary for a little while;
our adversaries have trodden it down.
19 We have become
as those over whom You have never ruled,
as those who were not called by Your name.
64 Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might shake at Your presence,
2 as when the melting fire burns,
as the fire causes the waters to boil,
to make Your name known to Your adversaries,
that the nations may tremble at Your presence!
3 When You did awesome things for which we did not look,
You came down; the mountains quaked at Your presence.
4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard,
nor perceived by ear,
neither has the eye seen a God besides You,
who acts for the one who waits for Him.
5 You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness,
those who remember You in Your ways.
Indeed, You were angry, for we had sinned;
in our sins we remained a long time,
and shall we be saved?
6 But we all are as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousness is as filthy rags;
and we all fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
7 There is no one who calls on Your name,
who stirs up himself to take hold of You;
for You have hidden Your face from us
and have consumed us because of our iniquities.
8 But now, O Lord, You are our Father;
we are the clay, and You are our potter;
and we all are the work of Your hand.
9 Do not be wrathful beyond measure, O Lord,
nor remember iniquity forever;
look upon us, we pray,
we all are Your people.
10 Your holy cities are a wilderness;
Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and beautiful house where our fathers praised You
is burned up with fire;
and all our precious things are laid waste.
12 Will You refrain Yourself from these things, O Lord?
Will You hold Your peace and afflict us beyond measure?
Judgment and Salvation
65 I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I was found of those who did not seek Me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
to a nation that did not call on My name.
2 I have spread out My hands all day
to a rebellious people
who walk in a way that was not good,
after their own thoughts;
3 a people who provoke Me continually
to My face,
presenting sacrifices in gardens
and burning incense on altars of brick;
4 who sit among the graves
and lodge in the monuments;
who eat swine’s flesh,
and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
5 who say, “Stand by yourself; do not come near to me,
for I am holier than you!”
These are smoke in My nose,
a fire that burns all day.
6 See, it is written before Me:
I will not keep silent, but I will recompense,
even recompense into their bosom,
7 your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,
says the Lord;
because they have burned incense on the mountains
and blasphemed Me on the hills,
therefore, I will measure their former work
into their bosom.
8 Thus says the Lord:
As the new wine is found in the cluster,
and one says, “Do not destroy it
for a blessing is in it,”
so I will do for the sake of My servants
that I may not destroy them all.
9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains;
and My chosen ones shall inherit it,
and My servants shall dwell there.
10 Sharon shall be a fold of flocks,
and the Valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in,
for My people who seek Me.
11 But you are those who forsake the Lord,
who forget My holy mountain,
who prepare a table for Fortune,
and who furnish the drink offering for Destiny.
12 I will destine you for the sword,
and you all shall bow down to the slaughter;
because when I called, you did not answer;
when I spoke, you did not hear
but did evil before My eyes
and chose that in which I did not delight.
13 Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
My servants shall eat,
but you shall be hungry;
My servants shall drink,
but you shall be thirsty;
My servants shall rejoice,
but you shall be ashamed;
14 My servants shall sing for joy
with a glad heart,
but you shall cry
with a heavy heart
and shall wail with grief of spirit.
15 You shall leave your name
for a curse to My chosen ones;
for the Lord God shall slay you,
but My servants shall be called by another name;
16 because he who is blessed in the earth
shall bless himself in the God of truth;
and he who swears in the earth
shall swear by the God of truth;
because the former troubles are forgotten
and because they are hidden from My eyes.
The New Creation
17 For I create
new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
and her people for joy.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in My people;
and the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her,
nor the voice of crying.
20 There shall no longer be
an infant who lives only a few days
nor an old man who has not filled out his days.
For the child shall die
a hundred years old,
but the sinner being a hundred years old
shall be accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for as the days of a tree
are the days of My people,
and My chosen ones shall long enjoy
the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain
nor bring forth children for trouble;
for they are the descendants of the blessed of the Lord
and their offspring with them.
24 Before they call, I will answer;
and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the bull,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all My holy mountain,
says the Lord.
True Worship
66 Thus says the Lord:
Heaven is My throne,
and the earth is My footstool.
Where then is the house that you could build for Me?
And where is the place of My rest?
2 For My hand made all those things,
thus all those things have come to be,
says the Lord.
But to this man I will look,
even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and trembles at My word.
3 He who kills a bull
is as if he kills a man;
he who sacrifices a lamb,
as if he breaks a dog’s neck;
he who offers a grain offering,
as if he offers swine’s blood;
he who burns incense,
as if he blesses an idol.
They have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their abominations;
4 I also will choose their punishments
and will bring their fears on them,
because when I called, no one answered;
when I spoke, they did not listen;
but they did evil before My eyes
and chose that in which I did not delight.
The Vindication of Zion
5 Hear the word of the Lord,
you who tremble at His word:
Your brothers who hate you,
who cast you out for My name’s sake, said,
“Let the Lord be glorified
that we may see your joy.”
Yet they shall be ashamed.
6 A voice of noise from the city,
a voice from the temple,
the voice of the Lord
who renders recompense to His enemies.
7 Before she was in labor,
she gave birth;
before her pain came,
she delivered a son.
8 Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion was in labor,
she brought forth her sons.
9 Shall I bring to the point of birth
and not cause delivery? says the Lord.
Shall I who cause delivery
shut the womb? says your God.
10 Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice exceedingly with her,
all you who mourn for her,
11 that you may feed and be satisfied
with her consoling breasts,
that you may feed
and be delighted with the abundance of her bosom.
12 For thus says the Lord:
I will extend peace to her like a river
and the glory of the nations like a flowing stream.
Then you shall nurse, you shall be carried on her sides,
and dandled on her knees.
13 As one whom his mother comforts,
so I will comfort you;
and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
God’s Reign and Final Judgment
14 Then you shall see this, and your heart shall rejoice,
and your bones shall flourish like an herb;
and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants,
and His indignation toward His enemies.
15 For the Lord shall come with fire
and with His chariots like a whirlwind,
to render His anger with fury
and His rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by His sword on all flesh,
the Lord shall execute judgment;
and the slain of the Lord shall be many.
17 Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and abominable things, and mice shall be consumed together, says the Lord.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts. The time shall come to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.
19 I will set a sign among them, and send from them survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud—who draw the bow—to Tubal, and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the nations. 20 They shall bring all your brothers out of all nations as an offering to the Lord on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on swift beasts to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, as the sons of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. 21 I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.
22 For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain. 23 From one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord. 24 And they shall go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm shall not die, nor shall their fire be quenched. And they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.