Deliverance Promised

12“Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called;

I am He, I am the first, I am also the last.

13Surely My hand founded the earth,

And My right hand spread out the heavens;

When I call to them, they stand together.

14Assemble, all of you, and listen!

Who among them has declared these things?

The Lord loves him; he will carry out His good pleasure on Babylon,

And His arm will be against the Chaldeans.

15I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him,

I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful.

16Come near to Me, listen to this:

From the first I have not spoken in secret,

From the time it took place, I was there.

And now the Lord God has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

17Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,

“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit,

Who leads you in the way you should go.

18If only you had paid attention to My commandments!

Then your well-being would have been like a river,

And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

19Your descendants would have been like the sand,

And your offspring like its grains;

Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence.”

20Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans!

Declare with the sound of joyful shouting, proclaim this,

Send it out to the end of the earth;

Say, “The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob.”

21They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts.

He made the water flow out of the rock for them;

He split the rock and the water gushed forth.

22“There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.

Salvation Reaches to the End of the Earth

1Listen to Me, O islands,

And pay attention, you peoples from afar.

The Lord called Me from the womb;

From the body of My mother He named Me.

2He has made My mouth like a sharp sword,

In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me;

And He has also made Me a select arrow,

He has hidden Me in His quiver.

3He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel,

In Whom I will show My glory.”

4But I said, “I have toiled in vain,

I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity;

Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the Lord,

And My reward with My God.”

5And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,

To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him

(For I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

And My God is My strength),

6He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant

To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;

I will also make You a light of the nations

So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

7Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One,

To the despised One,

To the One abhorred by the nation,

To the Servant of rulers,

“Kings will see and arise,

Princes will also bow down,

Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”

8Thus says the Lord,

“In a favorable time I have answered You,

And in a day of salvation I have helped You;

And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people,

To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;

9Saying to those who are bound, ‘Go forth,’

To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’

Along the roads they will feed,

And their pasture will be on all bare heights.

10They will not hunger or thirst,

Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down;

For He who has compassion on them will lead them

And will guide them to springs of water.

11I will make all My mountains a road,

And My highways will be raised up.

12Behold, these will come from afar;

And lo, these will come from the north and from the west,

And these from the land of Sinim.”

13Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth!

Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains!

For the Lord has comforted His people

And will have compassion on His afflicted.

Promise to Zion

14But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,

And the Lord has forgotten me.”

15“Can a woman forget her nursing child

And have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.

16Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;

Your walls are continually before Me.

17Your builders hurry;

Your destroyers and devastators

Will depart from you.

18Lift up your eyes and look around;

All of them gather together, they come to you.

As I live,” declares the Lord,

“You will surely put on all of them as jewels and bind them on as a bride.

19For your waste and desolate places and your destroyed land—

Surely now you will be too cramped for the inhabitants,

And those who swallowed you will be far away.

20The children of whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears,

‘The place is too cramped for me;

Make room for me that I may live here.’

21Then you will say in your heart,

‘Who has begotten these for me,

Since I have been bereaved of my children

And am barren, an exile and a wanderer?

And who has reared these?

Behold, I was left alone;

From where did these come?’ ”

22Thus says the Lord God,

“Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations

And set up My standard to the peoples;

And they will bring your sons in their bosom,

And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.

23Kings will be your guardians,

And their princesses your nurses.

They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth

And lick the dust of your feet;

And you will know that I am the Lord;

Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame.

24“Can the prey be taken from the mighty man,

Or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?”

25Surely, thus says the Lord,

“Even the captives of the mighty man will be taken away,

And the prey of the tyrant will be rescued;

For I will contend with the one who contends with you,

And I will save your sons.

26I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh,

And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine;

And all flesh will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior

And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

God Helps His Servant

1Thus says the Lord,

“Where is the certificate of divorce

By which I have sent your mother away?

Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you?

Behold, you were sold for your iniquities,

And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

2Why was there no man when I came?

When I called, why was there none to answer?

Is My hand so short that it cannot ransom?

Or have I no power to deliver?

Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke,

I make the rivers a wilderness;

Their fish stink for lack of water

And die of thirst.

3I clothe the heavens with blackness

And make sackcloth their covering.”

4The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples,

That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.

He awakens Me morning by morning,

He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

5The Lord God has opened My ear;

And I was not disobedient

Nor did I turn back.

6I gave My back to those who strike Me,

And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard;

I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.

7For the Lord God helps Me,

Therefore, I am not disgraced;

Therefore, I have set My face like flint,

And I know that I will not be ashamed.

8He who vindicates Me is near;

Who will contend with Me?

Let us stand up to each other;

Who has a case against Me?

Let him draw near to Me.

9Behold, the Lord God helps Me;

Who is he who condemns Me?

Behold, they will all wear out like a garment;

The moth will eat them.

10Who is among you that fears the Lord,

That obeys the voice of His servant,

That walks in darkness and has no light?

Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.

11Behold, all you who kindle a fire,

Who encircle yourselves with firebrands,

Walk in the light of your fire

And among the brands you have set ablaze.

This you will have from My hand:

You will lie down in torment.

The Christian’s Walk

17So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

25Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. 26Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. 29Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

PSALM 69

A Cry of Distress and Imprecation on Adversaries.

For the choir director; according to Shoshannim. A Psalm of David.

1Save me, O God,

For the waters have threatened my life.

2I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me.

3I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched;

My eyes fail while I wait for my God.

4Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head;

Those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies;

What I did not steal, I then have to restore.

5O God, it is You who knows my folly,

And my wrongs are not hidden from You.

6May those who wait for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord God of hosts;

May those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel,

7Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;

Dishonor has covered my face.

8I have become estranged from my brothers

And an alien to my mother’s sons.

9For zeal for Your house has consumed me,

And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.

10When I wept in my soul with fasting,

It became my reproach.

11When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became a byword to them.

12Those who sit in the gate talk about me,

And I am the song of the drunkards.

13But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, at an acceptable time;

O God, in the greatness of Your lovingkindness,

Answer me with Your saving truth.

14Deliver me from the mire and do not let me sink;

May I be delivered from my foes and from the deep waters.

15May the flood of water not overflow me

Nor the deep swallow me up,

Nor the pit shut its mouth on me.

16Answer me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good;

According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me,

17And do not hide Your face from Your servant,

For I am in distress; answer me quickly.

18Oh draw near to my soul and redeem it;

Ransom me because of my enemies!

5A wise man is strong,

And a man of knowledge increases power.

6For by wise guidance you will wage war,

And in abundance of counselors there is victory.