Future Blessings for Zion
1 “Sing, O barren one,
you who did not give birth.
Break out into singing and cry aloud,
you who did not labor with child.
For more are the children of the desolate
than the children of the married wife,” says the Lord.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations.
Do not hold back.
Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
3 For you will spread out on the right hand and on the left,
and your offspring will possess the nations
and settle in desolate cities.
4 Do not be afraid, for you will not be ashamed.
Do not be confounded, for you will not be disappointed.
For you will forget the shame of your youth.
You will remember the reproach of your widowhood no more.
5 For your Maker is your husband,
the Lord of Hosts is his name.
The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer.
He will be called the God of the whole earth.
6 For the Lord has called you as a wife, forsaken and grieved in spirit,
a wife of youth, when she is cast off,” says your God.
7 “For a small moment I have forsaken you,
but I will gather you with great mercies.
8 In overflowing wrath
I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting loving kindness
I will have mercy on you,”
says the Lord your Redeemer.
9 “For this is like the waters of Noah to me,
for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah
will no longer go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
10 For the mountains may depart,
and the hills be removed,
but my loving kindness will not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace will not be removed,”
says the Lord who has mercy on you.
11 “O afflicted, tossed with storms and not comforted,
I will set your stones in beautiful colors,
and lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
your gates of sparkling jewels,
and all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your children will be taught by the Lord,
and your children’s peace will be great.
14 You will be established in righteousness.
You will be far from oppression,
for you will not be afraid,
and far from terror,
for it shall not come near you.
15 They may gather together, but not by me.
Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you.
16 I have created the blacksmith
who fans the coals into flame
and forges a weapon for his work,
and I have created the destroyer to destroy.
17 No weapon that is formed against you will prevail,
and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the Lord’s servants,
and their righteousness is of me,” says the Lord.
Isaiah 55
Invitation to the Needy
1 “Come! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters!
Come, he who has no money, buy and eat!
Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me and eat that which is good
and let your soul delight itself in richness.
3 Turn your ear and come to me.
Hear, and your soul will live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
the sure mercies of David.
4 I have given him for a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander to the peoples.
5 You shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God
and for the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.”
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found.
Call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
Let him return to the Lord,
and he will have mercy on him,
to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways,” says the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky
and does not return, but waters the earth
and makes it grow and bud
and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so is my word that goes forth from my mouth:
it will not return to me void,
but it will accomplish that which I please,
and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
12 For you shall go out with joy
and be led out with peace.
The mountains and the hills will break out before you into singing,
and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up,
and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up.
It will make a name for God,
for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.”