Deliverance for Jerusalem

¹Awake, awake,clothe yourself with strength, O Zion!Put on your garments of splendor,O Jerusalem, holy city!For the uncircumcised and uncleanwill no longer enter you.

²Shake off your dust!Rise up and sit on your throne, O Jerusalem.Remove the chains from your neck,O captive Daughter of Zion.

³For this is what the LORD says:“You were sold for nothing,and without money you will be redeemed.”

⁴For this is what the Lord GOD says:“At first My people went down to Egypt to live,then Assyria oppressed them without cause.

⁵And now what have I here?declares the LORD.For My people have been taken without cause;those who rule them taunt,declares the LORD,and My name is blasphemed continuallyall day long.

⁶Therefore My people will know My name;therefore they will know on that daythat I am He who speaks.Here I am!”

⁷How beautiful on the mountainsare the feet of those who bring good news,who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings,who proclaim salvation,who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

⁸Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices,together they shout for joy.For every eye will seewhen the LORD returns to Zion.

⁹Break forth in joy, sing together,O ruins of Jerusalem,for the LORD has comforted His people;He has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The LORD has bared His holy armin the sight of all the nations;all the ends of the earth will seethe salvation of our God.

¹¹Depart, depart, go out from there!Touch no unclean thing;come out from it, purify yourselves,you who carry the vessels of the LORD.

¹²For you will not leave in a hurrynor flee in haste,for the LORD goes before you,and the God of Israel is your rear guard.

The Servant Exalted

¹³Behold, My Servant will prosper;He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

¹⁴Just as many were appalled at Him—His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man,and His form was marred beyond human likeness—

¹⁵so He will sprinklemany nations.Kings will shut their mouths because of Him.For they will see what they have not been told,and they will understand what they have not heard.

Drought, Famine, Sword, and Plague

¹This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

²“Judah mournsand her gates languish.Her people wail for the land,and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

³The nobles send their servants for water;they go to the cisterns, but find no water;their jars return empty.They are ashamed and humiliated;they cover their heads.

⁴The ground is crackedbecause no rain has fallen on the land.The farmers are ashamed;they cover their heads.

⁵Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawnbecause there is no grass.

⁶Wild donkeys stand on barren heights;they pant for air like jackals;their eyes fail for lack of pasture.”

⁷Although our iniquities testify against us, O LORD,act for the sake of Your name.Indeed, our rebellions are many;we have sinned against You.

⁸O Hope of Israel,its Savior in times of distress,why are You like a stranger in the land,like a traveler who stays but a night?

⁹Why are You like a man taken by surprise,like a warrior powerless to save?Yet You are among us, O LORD,and we are called by Your name.Do not forsake us!

¹⁰This is what the LORD says about this people:“Truly they love to wander;they have not restrained their feet.So the LORD does not accept them;He will now remember their iniquityand punish them for their sins.”

¹¹Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people.

¹²Although they may fast, I will not listen to their cry; although they may offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will finish them off by sword and famine and plague.”

¹³“Ah, Lord GOD!” I replied, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”

¹⁴“The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.

¹⁵Therefore this is what the LORD says about the prophets who prophesy in My name: I did not send them, yet they say, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’By sword and famine these very prophets will meet their end!

¹⁶And the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them or their wives, their sons or their daughters. I will pour out their own evil upon them.

¹⁷You are to speak this word to them:‘My eyes overflow with tears;day and night they do not cease,for the virgin daughter of my peoplehas been shattered by a crushing blow,a severely grievous wound.

¹⁸If I go out to the country,I see those slain by the sword;if I enter the city,I see those ravaged by famine!For both prophet and priesttravel to a land they do not know.’”

A Prayer for Mercy

¹⁹Have You rejected Judah completely?Do You despise Zion?Why have You stricken usso that we are beyond healing?We hoped for peace,but no good has come,and for the time of healing,but there was only terror.

²⁰We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD,the guilt of our fathers;indeed, we have sinned against You.

²¹For the sake of Your name do not despise us;do not disgrace Your glorious throne.Remember Your covenant with us;do not break it.

²²Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?Do the skies alone send showers?Is this not by You, O LORD our God?So we put our hope in You,for You have done all these things.

The Servant and Light to the Gentiles

¹Listen to Me, O islands;pay attention, O distant peoples:The LORD called Me from the womb;from the body of My mother He named Me.

²He made My mouth like a sharp sword;He hid Me in the shadow of His hand.He made Me like a polished arrow;He hid Me in His quiver.

³He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel,in whom I will display My glory.”

⁴But I said, “I have labored in vain,I have spent My strength in futility and vanity;yet My vindication is with the LORD,and My reward is with My God.”

⁵And now says the LORD,who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,to bring Jacob back to Him,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 not enough for You to be My Servant,to raise up the tribes of Jacob,and to restore the protected ones of Israel.I will also make You a light for the nations,to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

⁷Thus says the LORD,the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel,to Him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,to the Servant of rulers:“Kings will see You and rise,and princes will bow down,because of the LORD, who is faithful,the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You.”

⁸This is what the LORD says:“In the time of favor I will answer You,and in the day of salvation I will help You;I will keep You and appoint Youto be a covenant for the people,to restore the land,to apportion its desolate inheritances,

⁹to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’They will feed along the pathways,and find pasture on every barren hill.

¹⁰They will not hunger or thirst,nor will scorching heat or sun beat down on them.For He who has compassion on them will guide themand lead them beside springs of water.

¹¹I will turn all My mountains into roads,and My highways will be raised up.

¹²Behold, they will come from far away,from the north and from the west,and from the land of Aswan.”

¹³Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth;break forth in song, O mountains!For the LORD has comforted His people,and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.

¹⁴But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;the Lord has forgotten me!”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child,or lack compassion for the son of her womb?Even if she could forget,I will not forget you!

¹⁶Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;your walls are ever before Me.

¹⁷Your buildershasten back;your destroyers and wreckers depart from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes and look around.They all gather together; they come to you.As surely as I live,” declares the LORD,“you will wear them all as jewelryand put them on like a bride.

¹⁹For your ruined and desolate placesand your ravaged landwill now indeed be too small for your people,and those who devoured you will be far away.

²⁰Yet the children of your bereavementwill say in your hearing,‘This place is too small for us;make room for us to live here.’

²¹Then you will say in your heart,‘Who has begotten these for me?I was bereaved and barren;I was exiled and rejected.So who has reared them?Look, I was left all alone,so where did they come from?’”

²²This is what the Lord GOD says:“Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations,and raise My banner to the peoples.They will bring your sons in their armsand carry your daughters on their shoulders.

²³Kings will be your foster fathers,and their queens your nursing mothers.They will bow to you facedownand lick the dust at your feet.Then you will know that I am the LORD;those who hope in Me will never be put to shame.”

²⁴Can the plunder be snatched from the mighty,or the captives of a tyrantbe delivered?

²⁵Indeed, this is what the LORD says:“Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away,and the plunder of the tyrant will be retrieved;I will contend with those who contend with you,and I will save your children.

²⁶I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine.Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD,am your Savior and your Redeemer,the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Sing to the LORD a New Song

¹Sing to the LORD a new song,for He has done wonders;His right hand and holy armhave gained Him the victory.

²The LORD has proclaimed His salvationand revealed His righteousness to the nations.

³He has remembered His love and faithfulnessto the house of Israel;all the ends of the earthhave seen the salvation of our God.

⁴Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;break forth—let your cry ring out, and sing praises!

⁵Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,in melodious song with the harp.

⁶With trumpets and the blast of the ram’s hornshout for joy before the LORD, the King.

⁷Let the sea resound, and all that fills it,the world, and all who dwell in it.

⁸Let the rivers clap their hands,let the mountains sing together for joy

⁹before the LORD,for He comes to judge the earth.He will judge the world with righteousnessand the peoples with equity.