6 On 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;
7 And give Him no rest until He establishes
And makes Jerusalem an object of praise on the earth.
8 The 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.”
9 But 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.
10 Go 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.
11 Behold, 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.”
12 And they will call them, “The holy people,
The redeemed of the Lord”;
And you will be called, “Sought Out, A City Not Abandoned.”
1 Who 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.”
2 Why 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.
4 For the day of vengeance was in My heart,
And My year of redemption has come.
5 I 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.
6 I trampled down the peoples in My anger
And made them drunk with My wrath,
And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
7 I 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.
8 For He said, “Certainly they are My people,
Sons who will not deal falsely.”
So He became their Savior.
9 In 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.
10 But they rebelled
And grieved His Holy Spirit;
Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy,
He fought against them.
11 Then 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,
12 Who 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,
13 Who led them through the depths?
Like the horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble;
14 Like 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.
15 Look 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.
16 For 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.
17 Why, 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.
18 Your holy people possessed Your sanctuary for a little while,
Our adversaries have trampled it down.
19 We have become like those over whom You have never ruled,
Like those who were not called by Your name.
1 Oh, that You would tear open the heavens and come down,
That the mountains would quake at Your presence—
2 As fire kindles brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—
To make Your name known to Your adversaries,
That the nations may tremble at Your presence!
3 When You did awesome things which we did not expect,
You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence.
4 For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear,
Nor has the eye seen a God besides You,
Who acts in behalf of one who waits for Him.
5 You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness,
Who remembers You in Your ways.
Behold, You were angry, for we sinned,
We continued in our sins for a long time;
Yet shall we be saved?
6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our wrongdoings, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls on Your name,
Who stirs himself to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us
And have surrendered us to the power of our wrongdoings.
8 But now, Lord, You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter,
And all of us are the work of Your hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord,
Nor remember wrongdoing forever.
Behold, 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 house,
Where our fathers praised You,
Has been burned by fire;
And all our precious things have become a ruin.
12 Will You restrain Yourself at these things, Lord?
Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?
1 “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’
To a nation which did not call on My name.
2 I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts,
3 A people who continually provoke Me to My face,
Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks;
4 Who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places;
Who eat pig’s flesh,
And the broth of unclean meat is in their pots.
5 Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me,
For I am holier than you!’
These are smoke in My nostrils,
A fire that burns all the day.
6 Behold, it is written before Me:
I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will even repay into their laps,
7 Both your own wrongdoings and the wrongdoings of your fathers together,” says the Lord.
“Because they have burned incense on the mountains
And scorned Me on the hills,
Therefore I will measure their former work into their laps.”
8 This is what the Lord says:
“Just as the new wine is found in the cluster,
And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is benefit in it,’
So I will act in behalf of My servants
In order not to destroy all of them.
9 I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
And an heir of My mountains from Judah;
My chosen ones shall inherit it,
And My servants will live there.
10 Sharon will be a pasture land for flocks,
And the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds,
For My people who seek Me.
11 But as for you who abandon the Lord,
Who forget My holy mountain,
Who set a table for Fortune,
And fill a jug of mixed wine for Destiny,
12 I will destine you for the sword,
And all of you will bow down to the slaughter.
Because I called, but you did not answer;
I spoke, but you did not listen.
Instead, you did evil in My sight
And chose that in which I did not delight.”
13 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says:
“Behold, My servants will eat, but you will be hungry.
Behold, My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty.
Behold, My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.
14 Behold, My servants will shout joyfully with a glad heart,
But you will cry out from a painful heart,
And you will wail from a broken spirit.
15 You will leave your name as a curse to My chosen ones,
And the Lord God will put you to death.
But My servants will be called by another name.
16 Because the one who is blessed on the earth
Will be blessed by the God of truth;
And the one who swears an oath on the earth
Will swear by the God of truth;
Because the former troubles are forgotten,
And because they are hidden from My sight!
17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
And her people for gladness.
19 I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;
And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.
20 No longer will there be in it an infant who lives only a few days,
Or an old person who does not live out his days;
For the youth will die at the age of a hundred,
And the one who does not reach the age of a hundred
Will be thought accursed.
21 They will build houses and inhabit them;
They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They will not build and another inhabit,
They will not plant and another eat;
For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people,
And My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain,
Or give birth to children for disaster;
For they are the descendants of those blessed by the Lord,
And their descendants with them.
24 It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will listen. 25 The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm on all My holy mountain,” says the Lord.
19 But I hope, in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. 22 But you know of his proven character, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father. 23 Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me; 24 and I trust in the Lord that I myself will also be coming shortly. 25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need, 26 because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. 27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you. 29 Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold people like him in high regard, 30 because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to compensate for your absence in your service to me.
1 Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you.
2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; 3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and take pride in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh,
BOOK 3
1 God certainly is good to Israel,
To those who are pure in heart!
2 But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling,
My steps had almost slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pains in their death,
And their belly is fat.
5 They are not in trouble like other people,
Nor are they tormented together with the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore arrogance is their necklace;
The garment of violence covers them.
7 Their eye bulges from fatness;
The imaginations of their heart overflow.
8 They mock and wickedly speak of oppression;
They speak from on high.
9 They have set their mouth against the heavens,
And their tongue parades through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return here,
And abundant waters are drunk by them.
11 They say, “How does God know?
And is there knowledge with the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
And always at ease, they have increased in wealth.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
And washed my hands in innocence;
14 For I have been stricken all day long,
And punished every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak this way,”
Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.
16 When I thought of understanding this,
It was troublesome in my sight
17 Until I entered the sanctuary of God;
Then I perceived their end.
18 You indeed put them on slippery ground;
You dropped them into ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment!
They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
Lord, when stirred, You will despise their image.
21 When my heart was embittered
And I was pierced within,
22 Then I was stupid and ignorant;
I was like an animal before You.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have taken hold of my right hand.
24 You will guide me with Your plan,
And afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom do I have in heaven but You?
And with You, I desire nothing on earth.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;
You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.
28 But as for me, the nearness of God is good for me;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
So that I may tell of all Your works.
13 My son, eat honey, for it is good;
Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;
14 Know that wisdom is the same for your soul;
If you find it, then there will be a future,
And your hope will not be cut off.
