Isaiah 62–63

The Vindication and Salvation of Zion

⁶²For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,

and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,

until her vindication shines out like the dawn

and her salvation like a burning torch.^*

²The nations shall see your vindication

and all the kings your glory,

and you shall be called by a new name

that the mouth of the Lord will give.^*

³You shall be a beautiful crown in the hand of the Lord

and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.^*

⁴You shall no more be termed Forsaken,

and your land shall no more 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.^*

⁵For as a young man marries a young woman,

so shall your builderⁱ marry you,

and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,

so shall your God rejoice over you.^*

⁶Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,

I have posted sentinels;

all day and all night

they shall never be silent.

You who remind the Lord,

take no rest,^*

⁷and give him no rest

until he establishes Jerusalem

and makes it renowned throughout the earth.^*

⁸The Lord has sworn by his right hand

and by his mighty arm:

I will not again give your grain

to be food for your enemies,

and foreigners shall not drink the wine

for which you have labored,^*

⁹but those who harvest it shall eat it

and praise the Lord,

and those who gather it shall drink it

in my holy courts.^*

¹⁰Go through, go through the gates;

prepare the way for the people;

build up, build up the highway;

clear it of stones;

lift up an ensign over the peoples.^*

¹¹The Lord has proclaimed

to the end of the earth:

Say to daughter Zion,

“Look, your savior comes;

his reward is with him

and his recompense before him.”^*

¹²They shall be called, “The Holy People,

The Redeemed of the Lord,”

and you shall be called, “Sought Out,

A City Not Forsaken.”^*

Vengeance on Edom

⁶³“Who is this coming from Edom,

from Bozrah in garments stained crimson?

Who is this so splendidly robed,

marching in his great might?”

“It is I, announcing vindication,

mighty to save.”^*

²“Why are your robes red

and your garments like theirs who tread the winepress?”^*

³“I have trodden the winepress alone,

and from the peoples no one was with me;

I trod them in my anger

and trampled them in my wrath;

their juice spattered on my garments,

and I stained all my robes.^*

⁴For the day of vengeance was in my mind,

and the year for my redeeming work had come.^*

⁵I looked, but there was no helper;

I was abandoned, and there was no one to sustain me,

so my own arm brought me victory,

and my wrath sustained me.^*

⁶I trampled down peoples in my anger;

I crushed them^j in my wrath,

and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”^*

God’s Mercy Remembered

⁷I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord,

the praiseworthy acts of the Lord,

because of all that the Lord has done for us

and the great favor to the house of Israel

that he has shown them according to his mercy,

according to the abundance of his steadfast love.^*

⁸For he said, “Surely they are my people,

children who will not act deceitfully,”

and he became their savior

⁹in all their distress.

It was no messenger or angel

but his presence that saved them;

in his love and pity it was he who redeemed them;

he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.^*

¹⁰But they rebelled

and grieved his holy spirit;

therefore he became their enemy;

he himself fought against them.^*

¹¹Then they^k remembered the days of old,

of Moses his servant.^l

Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea

with the shepherds of his flock?

Where is the one who put within them

his holy spirit,^*

¹²who caused his glorious arm

to march 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 a horse in the desert,

they did not stumble.^*

¹⁴Like cattle that go down into the valley,

the spirit of the Lord gave them rest.

Thus you led your people,

to make for yourself a glorious name.^*

A Prayer of Penitence

¹⁵Look down from heaven and see,

from your holy and glorious habitation.

Where are your zeal and your might?

Your great pity and your compassion are withheld from me.^*

¹⁶For you are our father,

though Abraham does not know us

and Israel does not acknowledge us;

you, O Lord, are our father;

our Redeemer from of old is your name.^*

¹⁷Why, O Lord, do you let us stray from your ways

and let our heart harden, so that we do not fear you?

Turn back for the sake of your servants,

the tribes that are your heritage.^*

¹⁸Your holy people took possession for a little while,

but now our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.^*

¹⁹We have long been like those whom you do not rule,

like those not called by your name.^*