Isaiah 54–55

People Will Return to Jerusalem

54The Lord says, “Sing, Jerusalem.

You are like a woman who never gave birth to children.

Start singing and shout for joy.

You never felt the pain of giving birth,

but you will have more children

than the woman who has a husband.

²Make your tent bigger;

stretch it out and make it wider.

Do not hold back.

Make the ropes longer

and its stakes stronger,

³because you will spread out to the right and to the left.

Your children will take over other nations,

and they will again live in cities that once were destroyed.

⁴“Don’t be afraid, because you will not be ashamed.

Don’t be embarrassed, because you will not be disgraced.

You will forget the shame you felt earlier;

you will not remember the shame you felt when you lost your husband.

⁵The God who made you is like your husband.

His name is the Lord All-Powerful.

The Holy One of Israel is the one who saves you.

He is called the God of all the earth.

⁶You were like a woman whose husband left her,

and you were very sad.

You were like a wife who married young

and then her husband left her.

But the Lord called you to be his,”

says your God.

⁷God says, “I left you for a short time,

but with great kindness I will bring you back again.

⁸I became very angry

and hid from you for a time,

but I will show you mercy with kindness forever,”

says the Lord who saves you.

⁹The Lord says, “This day is like the time of Noah to me.

I promised then that I would never flood the world again.

In the same way, I promise I will not be angry with you

or punish you again.

¹⁰The mountains may disappear,

and the hills may come to an end,

but my love will never disappear;

my promise of peace will not come to an end,”

says the Lord who shows mercy to you.

¹¹“You poor city. Storms have hurt you,

and you have not been comforted.

But I will rebuild you with turquoise stones,

and I will build your foundations with sapphires.

¹²I will use rubies to build your walls

and shining jewels for the gates

and precious jewels for all your outer walls.

¹³All your children will be taught by the Lord,

and they will have much peace.

¹⁴I will build you using fairness.

You will be safe from those who would hurt you,

so you will have nothing to fear.

Nothing will come to make you afraid.

¹⁵I will not send anyone to attack you,

and you will defeat those who do attack you.

¹⁶“See, I made the blacksmith.

He fans the fire to make it hotter,

and he makes the kind of tool he wants.

In the same way I have made the destroyer to destroy.

¹⁷So no weapon that is used against you will defeat you.

You will show that those who speak against you are wrong.

These are the good things my servants receive.

Their victory comes from me,” says the Lord.

God Gives What Is Good

55The Lord says, “All you who are thirsty,

come and drink.

Those of you who do not have money,

come, buy and eat!

Come buy wine and milk

without money and without cost.

²Why spend your money on something that is not real food?

Why work for something that doesn’t really satisfy you?

Listen closely to me, and you will eat what is good;

your soul will enjoy the rich food that satisfies.

³Come to me and listen;

listen to me so you may live.

I will make an agreement with you that will last forever.

I will give you the blessings I promised to David.

⁴I made David a witness of my power for all nations,

a ruler and commander of many nations.

⁵You will call for nations that you don’t yet know.

And these nations that do not know you will run to you

because of the Lord your God,

because of the Holy One of Israel who honors you.”

⁶So you should look for the Lord before it is too late;

you should call to him while he is near.

⁷The wicked should stop doing wrong,

and they should stop their evil thoughts.

They should return to the Lord so he may have mercy on them.

They should come to our God, because he will freely forgive them.

⁸The Lord says, “My thoughts are not like your thoughts.

Your ways are not like my ways.

⁹Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

¹⁰Rain and snow fall from the sky

and don’t return without watering the ground.

They cause the plants to sprout and grow,

making seeds for the farmer

and bread for the people.

¹¹The same thing is true of the words I speak.

They will not return to me empty.

They make the things happen that I want to happen,

and they succeed in doing what I send them to do.

¹²“So you will go out with joy

and be led out in peace.

The mountains and hills will burst into song before you,

and all the trees in the fields will clap their hands.

¹³Large cypress trees will grow where thornbushes were.

Myrtle trees will grow where weeds were.

These things will be a reminder of the Lord’s promise,

and this reminder will never be destroyed.”