True Justice, the Light That Breaks Through Darkness, and the Glory of Restoration
Isaiah 58
1 “Cry aloud! Don’t spare! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments. They delight to draw near to God.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find your own pleasure, and oppress all your laborers.
4 Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You don’t fast today so as to make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to humble his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahweh?
6 “Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
7 Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then your light will break out as the morning, and your healing will appear quickly; then your righteousness shall go before you; and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away from among you the yoke, finger pointing, and speaking wickedly;
10 and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will be as the noonday;
11 and Yahweh will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters don’t fail.
12 Those who will be of you will build the old waste places. You will raise up the foundations of many generations. You will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Paths with Dwellings.
13 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of Yahweh honorable; and shall honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,
14 then you will delight yourself in Yahweh; and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father:” for Yahweh’s mouth has spoken it.
Isaiah 59
1 Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; neither his ear heavy, that it can’t hear:
2 but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and give birth to iniquity.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
6 Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.
8 They don’t know the way of peace; and there is no justice in their ways. They have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them doesn’t know peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness doesn’t overtake us. We look for light, but, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind. Yes, we grope as those who have no eyes. We stumble at noon as if it were twilight. Among those who are strong, we are like dead men.
11 We all roar like bears, and moan sadly like doves. We look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them:
13 transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has fallen in the street, and uprightness can’t enter.
15 Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Yahweh saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him; and his righteousness sustained him.
17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle.
18 According to their deeds, he will repay: wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; he will repay the islands their due.
19 So shall they fear Yahweh’s name from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which Yahweh’s breath drives.
20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob,” says Yahweh.
21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says Yahweh. “My Spirit who is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your offspring, nor out of the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says Yahweh, “from now on and forever.”
Isaiah 60
1 “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory has risen on you!
2 For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you.
3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather themselves together. They come to you. Your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried in arms.
5 Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you. The wealth of the nations will come to you.
6 A multitude of camels will cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah. All from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense, and will proclaim the praises of Yahweh.
7 All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you. The rams of Nebaioth will serve you. They will be accepted as offerings on my altar; and I will beautify my glorious house.
8 “Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
9 Surely the islands will wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far away, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.
10 “Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will serve you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you.
11 Your gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive.
12 For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
13 “The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
14 The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you; and all those who despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet. They will call you Yahweh’s City, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one passed through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
16 You will also suck the milk of the nations, and will nurse at the breast of kings; and you will know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 For bronze I will bring gold; for iron I will bring silver; for wood, bronze; and for stones, iron. I will also make peace your governor, and righteousness your ruler.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land, desolation nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
19 The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but Yahweh will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory.
20 Your sun shall no more go down, neither shall your moon withdraw itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.
21 Then your people also will all be righteous. They will inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
22 The little one will become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation. I, Yahweh, will hasten it in its time.”
Scripture: World English Bible (WEB), public domain.
