Chronological Plan

¹Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.

²But your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

³For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with wrongdoing; Your lips have spoken deceit, Your tongue mutters wickedness.

⁴No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly. They trust in confusion and speak lies; They conceive trouble and give birth to disaster.

⁵They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; The one who eats of their eggs dies, And from what is crushed, a snake breaks out.

⁶Their webs will not become clothing, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of wrongdoing, And an act of violence is in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil, And they hurry to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of wrongdoing, Devastation and destruction are in their paths.

⁸They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks; They have made their paths crooked, Whoever walks on them does not know peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not reach us; We hope for light, but there is darkness, For brightness, but we walk in gloom.

¹⁰We grope for the wall like people who are blind, We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; Among those who are healthy we are like the dead.

¹¹All of us growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none; For salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our wrongful acts have multiplied before You, And our sins have testified against us; For our wrongful acts are with us, And we know our wrongdoings:

¹³Offending and denying the LORD, And turning away from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.

¹⁴Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands far away; For truth has stumbled in the street, And uprightness cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is lacking, And one who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the LORD saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.

¹⁶And He saw that there was no one, And was amazed that there was not one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a cloak.

¹⁸According to their deeds, so will He repay: Wrath to His adversaries, retribution to His enemies; To the coastlands He will deal retribution.

¹⁹So they will fear the name of the LORD from the west And His glory from the rising of the sun, For He will come like a rushing stream Which the wind of the LORD drives.

²⁰“A Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those in Jacob who turn from wrongdoing,” declares the LORD.

²¹“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”

¹“Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

²For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.

³Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.

⁴“Raise your eyes all around and see; They all gather together, they come to you. Your sons will come from afar, And your daughters will be carried on the hip.

⁵Then you will see and be radiant, And your heart will thrill and rejoice; Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, The wealth of the nations will come to you.

⁶A multitude of camels will cover you, The young camels of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba will come; They will bring gold and frankincense, And proclaim good news of the praises of the LORD.

⁷All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you, The rams of Nebaioth will serve you; They will go up on My altar with acceptance, And I will glorify My glorious house.

⁸Who are these who fly like a cloud And like the doves to their windows?

⁹Certainly the coastlands will wait for Me; And the ships of Tarshish will come first, To bring your sons from afar, Their silver and their gold with them, For the name of the LORD your God, And for the Holy One of Israel because He has glorified you.

¹⁰“Foreigners will build up your walls, And their kings will serve you; For in My wrath I struck you, And in My favor I have had compassion on you.

¹¹Your gates will be open continually; They will not be closed day or night, So that people may bring you the wealth of the nations, With their kings led in procession.

¹²For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish, And the nations will be utterly ruined.

¹³The glory of Lebanon will come to you, The juniper, the elm tree and the cedar together, To beautify the place of My sanctuary; And I will make the place of My feet glorious.

¹⁴The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you, And all those who despised you will bow down at the soles of your feet; And they will call you the city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵“Whereas you have been forsaken and hated With no one passing through, I will make you an object of pride forever, A joy from generation to generation.

¹⁶You will also suck the milk of nations, And suck the breast of kings; Then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

¹⁷Instead of bronze I will bring gold, And instead of iron I will bring silver, And instead of wood, bronze, And instead of stones, iron. And I will make peace your administrators, And righteousness your overseers.

¹⁸Violence will not be heard again in your land, Nor devastation or destruction within your borders; But you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise.

¹⁹No longer will you have the sun for light by day, Nor will the moon give you light for brightness; But you will have the LORD as an everlasting light, And your God as your glory.

²⁰Your sun will no longer set, Nor will your moon wane; For you will have the LORD as an everlasting light, And the days of your mourning will be over.

²¹Then all your people will be righteous; They will possess the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified.

²²The smallest one will become a thousand, And the least one a mighty nation. I, the LORD, will bring it about quickly in its time.”

¹The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD anointed me To bring good news to the humble; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim release to captives And freedom to prisoners;

²To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,

³To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The cloak of praise instead of a disheartened spirit. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

⁴Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations; And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations.

⁵Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.

⁶But you will be called the priests of the LORD; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, And you will boast in their riches.

⁷Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs.

⁸For I, the LORD, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; And I will faithfully give them their reward, And make an everlasting covenant with them.

⁹Then their offspring will be known among the nations, And their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them Because they are the offspring whom the LORD has blessed.

¹⁰I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a groom puts on a turban, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹¹For as the earth produces its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations.

¹For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning.

²The nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.

³You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal headband in the hand of your God.

⁴It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,” Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”; But you will be called, “My delight is in her,” And your land, “Married”; For the LORD delights in you, And to Him your land will be married.

⁵For as a young man marries a virgin, So your sons will marry you; And as the groom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you.

⁶On your walls, Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who profess the LORD, take no rest for yourselves;

⁷And give Him no rest until He establishes And makes Jerusalem an object of praise on the earth.

⁸The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His mighty arm: “I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies, Nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored.”

⁹But those who harvest it will eat it and praise the LORD; And those who gather it will drink it in the courtyards of My sanctuary.

¹⁰Go through, go through the gates, Clear a way for the people! Build up, build up the highway, Remove the stones, lift up a flag over the peoples.

¹¹Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation is coming; Behold His reward is with Him, and His compensation before Him.”

¹²And they will call them, “The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD”; And you will be called, “Sought Out, A City Not Abandoned.”

¹Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I, the One who speaks in righteousness, mighty to save.”

²Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the wine press?

³“I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no one with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My clothes.

⁴For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come.

⁵I looked, but there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me.

⁶I trampled down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk with My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

⁷I will make mention of the mercies of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, According to all that the LORD has granted us, And the great goodness toward the house of Israel, Which He has granted them according to His compassion And according to the abundance of His mercies.

⁸For He said, “Certainly they are My people, Sons who will not deal falsely.” So He became their Savior.

⁹In all their distress He was distressed, 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.

¹⁰But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.

¹¹Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses. 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 the midst of them,

¹²Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, Who divided the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name,

¹³Who led them through the depths? Like the horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble;

¹⁴Like the cattle which go down into the valley, The Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So You led Your people, To make for Yourself a glorious name.

¹⁵Look down from heaven and see from Your holy and glorious lofty habitation; Where are Your zeal and Your mighty deeds? The stirrings of Your heart and Your compassion are restrained toward me.

¹⁶For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us And Israel does not recognize us. You, LORD, are our Father, Our Redeemer from ancient times is Your name.

¹⁷Why, LORD, do You cause us to stray from Your ways And harden our heart from fearing You? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.

¹⁸Your holy people possessed Your sanctuary for a little while, Our adversaries have trampled it down.

¹⁹We have become like those over whom You have never ruled, Like those who were not called by Your name.