Arise, Shine

A foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord must not say,“The Lord is sure to separate me from his people.”The eunuch must not say,“Look, I am a dry tree.”

For the Lord says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,choosing the things that please me,and holding on to my covenant,I will give them, in my house and inside my walls,a memorial and a namebetter than any sons or daughters.I will give them a name that lasts forever,one that will not be cut off.

“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lordto serve himand to love the Lord’s name,to be his servants,everyone who keeps the Sabbath without dishonoring it,and holds on to my covenant:I will bring these to my holy mountainand make them glad in my house of prayer.Their burnt offerings and their sacrificeswill be accepted on my altar,for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

The Lord God, who gathers Israel’s outcasts, says,“I will gather others to him as well,along with his own who have been gathered.”

The book goes on:

“But come here, you sons of a sorceress,children of adulterers and prostitutes.Whom are you making fun of?Against whom do you gape and stick out your tongue?Aren’t you children of disobedience,born of lies,you who burn with desire among the oaks,under every green tree,who kill the children in the valleys,under the overhanging rocks?

When you cry out,let the ones you have gathered rescue you!The wind will take them;a breath will carry them all away.But whoever takes refuge in me will own the landand will inherit my holy mountain.”

Further on:

The high and lofty One,whose home is eternity, whose name is Holy, says:“The high and holy place is where I live,and I live also with the one who is crushed and humble in spirit,to bring new life to the spirit of the humbleand new life to the heart of the crushed.”

“‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you don’t see?Why have we made ourselves suffer, and you don’t notice?’Look, on the day you fast, you go after your own pleasure,and you treat all your workers harshly.Look, you fast for arguing and fighting,and to hit out with a cruel fist.The fasting you do todaywon’t get your voice heard on high.

“Is this the fast I have chosen,a day when someone humbles himself?Is it for him to bow down his head like a reedand spread sackcloth and ashes under himself?Will you call this fasting,a day that pleases the Lord?

“Isn’t this the fast I have chosen:to untie the ropes of wickedness,to undo the straps of the yoke,to let the oppressed go free,and for you to break every yoke?Isn’t it to hand out your bread to the hungry,and to bring the poor who have been thrown out into your house?When you see someone with nothing to wear, to cover him,and not to hide from your own family?

“Then your light will break out like the morning,and you will quickly be healed.Your righteousness will go ahead of you,and the Lord’s glory will keep watch behind you.Then you will call, and the Lord will answer.You will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’If you take the yoke away from among you,and pointing fingers, and wicked talk,

and if you pour out your soul for the hungryand satisfy those who are suffering,then your light will rise in darkness,and your dimness will be like the middle of the day.The Lord will guide you continually.He will satisfy you in dry placesand make your bones strong.You will be like a watered garden,and like a spring of water whose waters don’t fail.People from among you will build up the places left in ruins long ago.You will raise up the foundations of many generations.You will be called Repairer of the Gap in the Wall,Restorer of Paths with Homes.

“If you turn your foot away from the Sabbath,from pleasing yourself on my holy day,and call the Sabbath a delight,and call what is holy to the Lord worthy of honor,and honor it, not doing things your own way,not following your own wishes,not speaking your own words,then you will delight yourself in the Lord,and I will have you ride over the high places of the earth,and I will feed you with the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.”The Lord’s own mouth has said it.

A little further on:

That is why justice is far from us,and what is right doesn’t catch up with us.We look for light, but see darkness,for brightness, but we walk in dim light.We feel for the wall like the blind.Yes, we feel about as if we had no eyes.We stumble at noon as if it were twilight.Among those who are strong, we are like dead men.We all roar like bearsand moan sadly like doves.We look for justice, but there is none,for salvation, but it is far off from us.

And then:

“A Redeemer will come to Zion,and to those who turn away from disobedience in Jacob,” says the Lord.

A little further on:

“Camels in great numbers will cover you,camels from Midian and Ephah.All from Sheba will come.They will bring gold and frankincenseand will proclaim the Lord’s praises.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 make my glorious house beautiful.

“Who are these, flying like a cloud,like the doves to their windows?Surely the islands will wait for me,and the ships of Tarshish first,to bring your sons from far away,and their silver and their gold with them,for the name of the Lord your God,and for the Holy One of Israel,because he has given you glory.

Further on:

“By day the sun will be your light no more,and the moon’s brightness won’t shine for you.The Lord will be your light forever,and your God will be your glory.Your sun will not go down anymore,and your moon will not slip away,for the Lord will be your light forever,and the days of your mourning will end.”

Further on:

I will be full of joy in the Lord!My soul will be glad in my God,for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,like a bridegroom who puts on a garland,like a bride who adorns herself with her jewels.For as the earth sends up its buds,and as a garden makes what is planted in it come up,so the Lord God will make righteousness and praise come upin front of all the nations.

And then:

For Zion’s sake I won’t be quiet,and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,until her righteousness shines out like the dawn,and her salvation like a burning lamp.The nations will see your righteousness,and all kings your glory.You will be called by a new name,which the Lord will name with his own mouth.You will be a crown of beauty in the Lord’s hand,a royal crown in your God’s hand.

You won’t be called Forsaken anymore,and your land won’t be called Desolate anymore,but you will be called Hephzibah, which means “I delight in her,”and your land Beulah, which means “married,”because the Lord delights in you,and your land will be married.For as a young man marries a virgin,so your sons will marry you.As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,so your God will rejoice over you.

Why is your clothing red,your clothes like a man’s who stamps the grapes in the wine vat?

“I have trodden the wine press alone.Not one of the peoples was with me.Yes, I trod them down in my angerand trampled them in my fury.Their blood has splashed on my garments,and I have stained all my clothes.For the day of vengeance was in my heart,and the year of my redeemed has come.I looked, and there was no one to help,and I wondered that there was no one to hold me up.So my own arm brought salvation for me,and my own fury held me up.I trod down the peoples in my anger,made them drunk with my fury,and poured their blood out on the earth.”

Oh, that you would tear the heavens,that you would come down,that the mountains would shake at your presence,as when fire catches dry brushand fire makes water boil!Make your name known to your foes,so that the nations tremble before you!

You meet the one who is glad to do what is right,those who remember you in your ways.Look, you were angry, and we sinned.We have been in sin a long time. Will we be saved?We have all become like someone who is unclean,and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment.We all fade like a leaf,and our wrongdoing, like the wind, takes us away.No one calls on your nameor rouses himself to hold on to you,because you have hidden your face from usand let our wrongdoing wear us away.

But now you are our Father, Lord.We are the clay, and you our potter.All of us are the work of your hand.Don’t be furious, Lord.Don’t remember wrongdoing forever.Look and see, we beg you:we are all your people.

Your holy cities have become a wilderness.Zion has become a wilderness,Jerusalem a ruin.Our holy and our beautiful house, where our ancestors praised you,is burned with fire.All our pleasant places have been destroyed.Lord, will you hold yourself back for all this?Will you keep silent and punish us very severely?

“No more will there be an infant who only lives a few days,nor an old man who has not filled his days;for the child will die one hundred years old,and the sinner being one hundred years old will be accursed.They will build houses and inhabit them.They will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.They will not build and another inhabit.They will not plant and another eat;for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree,and my chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands.They will not labor in vainnor give birth for calamity;for they are the offspring of the Lord’s blessedand their descendants with them.It will happen that before they call, I will answer;and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.The wolf and the lamb will feed together.The lion will eat straw like the ox.Dust will be the serpent’s food.They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,”says the Lord.

Further on:

“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her.Be full of joy with her, all you who mourn over her,that you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts,that you may drink deeplyand be delighted by the richness of her glory.”

For the Lord says, “Look, I will spread peace over her like a river,and the glory of the nations like a stream in flood,and you will nurse.You will be carried on her sideand rocked on her knees.Like a child whose mother comforts him,so I will comfort you.You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”

And then:

For look, the Lord will come with fire,and his chariots will be like the whirlwind,to bring his anger with fierceness,and his rebuke with flames of fire.For the Lord will judge all people by fire and by his sword,and many will die by the Lord’s hand.

The book ends with these words:

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says the Lord,“so your offspring and your name shall remain.It shall happen that from one new moon to another,and from one Sabbath to another,all flesh will come to worship before me,” says the Lord.“They will go out, and look at the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me;for their worm will not die,nor will their fire be quenched,and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”