Isaiah 62–63

Chapter 62

Isaiah’s Prayer for Jerusalem

¹Because I love Zion,

I will not keep still.

Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem,

I cannot remain silent.

I will not stop praying for her

until her righteousness shines like the dawn,

and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.

²The nations will see your righteousness.

World leaders will be blinded by your glory.

And you will be given a new name

by the Lord’s own mouth.

³The Lord will hold you in his hand for all to see—

a splendid crown in the hand of God.

⁴Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City”

or “The Desolate Land.”

Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight”

and “The Bride of God,”

for the Lord delights in you

and will claim you as his bride.

⁵Your children will commit themselves to you, O Jerusalem,

just as a young man commits himself to his bride.

Then God will rejoice over you

as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.

⁶O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls;

they will pray day and night, continually.

Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord.

⁷Give the Lord no rest until he completes his work,

until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.

⁸The Lord has sworn to Jerusalem by his own strength:

“I will never again hand you over to your enemies.

Never again will foreign warriors come

and take away your grain and new wine.

⁹You raised the grain, and you will eat it,

praising the Lord.

Within the courtyards of the Temple,

you yourselves will drink the wine you have pressed.”

¹⁰Go out through the gates!

Prepare the highway for my people to return!

Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders;

raise a flag for all the nations to see.

¹¹The Lord has sent this message to every land:

“Tell the people of Israel,

‘Look, your Savior is coming.

See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.’ ”

¹²They will be called “The Holy People”

and “The People Redeemed by the Lord.”

And Jerusalem will be known as “The Desirable Place”

and “The City No Longer Forsaken.”

Chapter 63

Judgment against the Lord’s Enemies

¹Who is this who comes from Edom,

from the city of Bozrah,

with his clothing stained red?

Who is this in royal robes,

marching in his great strength?

“It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation!

It is I, the Lord, who has the power to save!”

²Why are your clothes so red,

as if you have been treading out grapes?

³“I have been treading the winepress alone;

no one was there to help me.

In my anger I have trampled my enemies

as if they were grapes.

In my fury I have trampled my foes.

Their blood has stained my clothes.

⁴For the time has come for me to avenge my people,

to ransom them from their oppressors.

⁵I was amazed to see that no one intervened

to help the oppressed.

So I myself stepped in to save them with my strong arm,

and my wrath sustained me.

⁶I crushed the nations in my anger

and made them stagger and fall to the ground,

spilling their blood upon the earth.”

Praise for Deliverance

⁷I will tell of the Lord’s unfailing love.

I will praise the Lord for all he has done.

I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel,

which he has granted according to his mercy and love.

⁸He said, “They are my very own people.

Surely they will not betray me again.”

And he became their Savior.

⁹In all their suffering he also suffered,

and he personally rescued them.

In his love and mercy he redeemed them.

He lifted them up and carried them

through all the years.

¹⁰But they rebelled against him

and grieved his Holy Spirit.

So he became their enemy

and fought against them.

¹¹Then they remembered those days of old

when Moses led his people out of Egypt.

They cried out, “Where is the one who brought Israel through the sea,

with Moses as their shepherd?

Where is the one who sent his Holy Spirit

to be among his people?

¹²Where is the one whose power was displayed

when Moses lifted up his hand—

the one who divided the sea before them,

making himself famous forever?

¹³Where is the one who led them through the bottom of the sea?

They were like fine stallions

racing through the desert, never stumbling.

¹⁴As with cattle going down into a peaceful valley,

the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.

You led your people, Lord,

and gained a magnificent reputation.”

Prayer for Mercy and Pardon

¹⁵Lord, look down from heaven;

look from your holy, glorious home, and see us.

Where is the passion and the might

you used to show on our behalf?

Where are your mercy and compassion now?

¹⁶Surely you are still our Father!

Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us,

Lord, you would still be our Father.

You are our Redeemer from ages past.

¹⁷Lord, why have you allowed us to turn from your path?

Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you?

Return and help us, for we are your servants,

the tribes that are your special possession.

¹⁸How briefly your holy people possessed your holy place,

and now our enemies have destroyed it.

¹⁹Sometimes it seems as though we never belonged to you,

as though we had never been known as your people.