Psalm 80:1-19 Shine and Save
Observations: 80:1-6 The Shepherd is angry with Israel, and not answering their prayers. Guess why? He's feeding them with affliction of their enemies, and not shining His favor on them, nor saving them.
80:7-16 Asaph pleads with God to restore His people, comparing them to a vine God planted, tended, “made strong for Yourself”, and has now abandoned. They perish at His rebuke (for sinning). 80:15 uses the normal word for “son” as “branch”, for the son of a vine is a branch.
The metaphor continues in verse 16 with burning/destruction, clearly indicating a branch as the right translation. In verse 17 the same construction is used branch/son that you made strong for yourself. Since Asaph was a contemporary of David, the parallel references to the branches in verses 15 and 17 could be a reference to Saul who was strengthened and cut down, and David whom Asaph asks to be strengthened so he can lead the people to blessing. Or not. (Which, if so, fits perfectly between the Books of Samuel. Asaph would have been in his late teens or early twenties, precociously demonstrating the skill and insight which made him David's chief musician.)
80:17-19 Asaph asks God to strengthen the “man of your right hand,” the “son of man”, whom God had “made strong for Yourself” (a reference to David the king) so he will lead them. Then they will not turn away from God but will call upon His name, as originally intended. Asaph ends with a plea for God to revive them from the near death caused by their enemies, and restore them back into His good graces. His final plea is for God to cause His face to shine upon them in blessing, thus saving them from the consequences of their sin.
Application: God raises up and strengthens leaders to restore loyal obedience to His revelation, so He can shine on His people and save them.
Prayer: God, may I always live in the shining light of Your presence, regardless of whatever storm clouds are around me; and may others be attracted to Your light by my life. Amen.
Proverbs 20:10-12 God Knows What You're Doing
Observations: 20:10 Having one set of lighter weights or bigger measures to buy, and a heavier or smaller set to sell is unjust and stealing. God hates it, and sees it (20:12)
20:11 Looking at even a child's actions reveals his or her character. Even more so for adults.
20:12 If God made the ear and eye, He can hear and see what's going on. Those who aren't doing what's pure and right will reap correspondingly negative judgment.
Application: Conduct all your affairs with an awareness that the God who judges is watching everything you do. He's got a good memory too.
Prayer: God of justice and truth, may my actions and dealings with others reflect Your character as well as mine. Amen.
Isaiah 56-69 In these chapters God invites all people to experience the salvation and blessings of life He offers those rightly related to Him. He spells out what's necessary to get blessed, and what disqualifies from His eternal delights.
Isaiah 56 You're Invited
56:1 Thus says Yahweh, "Keep/preserve justice, and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. 2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."
3 Neither let the foreigner, who has joined himself to Yahweh, speak, saying, "Yahweh will surely separate me from his people"; neither let the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." 4 For thus says Yahweh, "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast my covenant: 5 to them I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. 6 Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh, to minister to him, and to love the name of Yahweh, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant; 7 even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples/nations." 8 The Lord Yahweh, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, "Yet will I gather others to him, besides his own who are gathered."
9 All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest. 10 His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they can’t bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yes, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds who can’t understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter. 12 "Come," say they, "I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, great beyond measure."
Observations: 56:1-2 Because God's righteousness and salvation are about to be revealed, pardoned believers (those who've experienced the benefits of Isaiah 53) have the responsibility to preserve justice and do righteousness. That's because God's salvation gives glory/reward to His faithful ones, and His righteousness demands justice be carried out in rewarding good and punishing evil. This is a hugely ignored truth. Verse 2 elaborates (in case you missed it): the one who God blesses when He returns is the one who preserves justice, does righteousness, fulfills his covenant obligations to keep the Sabbath holy (failure to do so is why they were in exile), and refrain from any evil (an apparent possibility). Getting pardoned from the death penalty of sin does not give one a license for lawlessness.
56:3-8 Non-Israelites and eunuchs, who join themselves to Yahweh by accepting the covenant obligations and choosing to do the things that please Him, will be blessed even more than some Israelites (who presumably don't do what's right in His sight). For the more serious Bible students, note how “name” is used in verse 5 (reputation/character/glory/power). Those faithful to the covenant will experience joy in God's “house of prayer” which will be for all nations/peoples. Unfortunately, in modern times people emphasize just praying, rather than the practices and piety that make God accept their offerings (which is the intent of the passage). Verse 8 indicates two distinct groups, Israel, and others that the Lord will gather in the future.
56:3-8 Non-Israelites and eunuchs, who join themselves to Yahweh by accepting the covenant obligations and choosing to do the things that please Him, will be blessed even more than some Israelites (who presumably don't do what's right in His sight). For the more serious Bible students, note how “name” is used in verse 5 (reputation/character/glory/power). Those faithful to the covenant will experience joy in God's “house of prayer” which will be for all nations/peoples. Unfortunately, in modern times people emphasize just praying, rather than the practices and piety that make God accept their offerings (which is the intent of the passage). Verse 8 indicates two distinct groups, Israel, and others that the Lord will gather in the future.
56:9-12 In contrast to those who please God and rejoice in His blessings, others seek to please themselves and escape the realities of life by deceiving themselves with positive thinking, that tomorrow will be just as “great” as today. God says they're blind and ignorant, ripe for destruction.
Application: Righteousness, justice, and being loyal to covenant obligations aren't just for God, they're required of His redeemed people if they're going to be blessed.
Prayer: God, thanks that You graciously invite everyone to enjoy a relationship with You forever; count me in. Amen.
Isaiah 57 Where God Lives
57:1 The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil. 2 He enters into peace; they rest in their beds, each one who walks in his uprightness.
3 "But draw near here, you sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the prostitute. 4 Against whom do you sport yourselves? Against whom do you make a wide mouth, and stick out your tongue? Aren’t you children of disobedience, a seed of falsehood, 5 you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? 6 Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; they, they are your lot; you have even poured a drink offering to them. You have offered an offering. Shall I be appeased for these things? 7 On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed; there also you went up to offer sacrifice. 8 Behind the doors and the posts you have set up your memorial: for you have uncovered to someone besides me, and have gone up; you have enlarged your bed, and made you a covenant with them: you loved their bed where you saw it. 9 You went to the king with oil, and increased your perfumes, and sent your ambassadors far off, and debased yourself even to Sheol. 10 You were wearied with the length of your way; yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain.’ You found a reviving of your strength; therefore you weren’t faint. 11 "Of whom have you been afraid and in fear, that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven’t I held my peace even of long time, and you don’t fear me? 12 I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they shall not profit you.
13 When you cry, let those who you have gathered deliver you; but the wind shall take them, a breath shall carry them all away: but he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain." 14 He will say, "Cast up, cast up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people." 15 For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
16 For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls who I have made. 17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I angry, and struck him; I hid myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. 18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. 19 I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near," says Yahweh; "and I will heal them." 20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can’t rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."
Observations: 57:1-2 To depart the planet and be with God is far better than enduring evil here. It's a matter of values. (Plus you get to enjoy a much better time on the planet when He sets up His righteous kingdom.)
57:3-14 The self-indulgent, disloyal quest for satisfaction doesn't and won't benefit those who don't fear and obey God. They will reap the rotten fruit of their ways, while the righteous will find refuge in God, and reward in the land.
57:15 I remember when I first saw this verse. I was a young believer, studying humility, looking up occurrences of the word in Strong's Concordance. I discovered that humility was used for a depression in the earth, as in lower than low, lower than it would normally be; and that contrite meant crushed to a powder, so that no one particle was bigger than another. For interpersonal relationships the lesson was that it's okay to be thought of as less than I am, for the benefit of others, since that was what the suffering Messiah was all about. But for my relationship with God, there was something even better: the eternally awesome God, who lives at 1 Eternity Drive, also stays at my place if I'm humble (which is pretty easy to do vis a vis God, if you think about it...His will trumps mine everyday.). God wants an intimate relationship with His creatures! I went on to learn that humility entails having an accurate, true estimation of oneself (and then keeping it under wraps if it will hinder helping others; after all Jesus kept aspects of Himself hidden, revealing them only in the best interest of others). If I was enjoying intimacy with my Creator, I didn't need worth and value from impressing others.
57:16-21 God graciously offers healing and peace to the backslider, but the wicked will never experience His peace and rest.
Application: Humbly living with God, experiencing Him, His healing and His peace is infinitely superior to scrounging around for debasing and destructive self-gratification.
Prayer: God, make Yourself at home in my humble heart; feel free to fix it up anyway You like; I know You'll do a better job than I would ever be capable of doing. Thanks. Amen.
Isaiah 58 Hypocrisy and Soul Stretching
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘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 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 this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? 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 bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? 7 Isn’t it to distribute your bread to 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 shall break forth as the morning, and your healing shall spring forth speedily; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Yahweh shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and Yahweh will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ "If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly; 10 and if you stretch out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then your light shall rise in darkness, and your obscurity be as the noonday; 11 and Yahweh will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make strong your bones; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters don’t fail. 12 Those who shall be of you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
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 shall 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 the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.
Observations: 58:1-5 God instructs Isaiah to forcefully denounce the disobedience and hypocrisy of His people, who delight in going to church and learning about His ways, but don't obey them. They delight in ritual, even fasting, but not for God's purposes.
58:6-14 The OT only commanded “fasting” on the Day of Atonement (Lev 23:27-32) and the word there is “afflict/humble,” although there are examples of people fasting in times of grief and need. Tradition had added days of fasting to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem (Zech 7:5). But God wasn't impressed, because they were not fasting in self-denial and other-centerdness, but selfishly and in injustice. If they engaged in sacrificial other-centered service, stretching themselves to satisfy the needs of others, then God would satisfy their needs and give them healing, delight, pleasure, and light/glory.
Application: If we make God's delight, our delight, He will delight us beyond our dreams (for our desires will change).
Prayer: God, I'm thankful that I can trust You to meet my needs as I seek to meet the needs of others according to Your will (which is my delight to do). Amen.
Isaiah 59 Separation and Salvation
9 Therefore is justice far from us, neither does righteousness 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 noonday as in the twilight; among those who are lusty we are as dead men. 11 We roar all like bears, and moan bitterly 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 afar off; for truth is 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, it upheld him. 17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle. 18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense. 19 So shall they fear the name of Yahweh from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Yahweh 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 seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed," says Yahweh, "from henceforth and forever."
Observations: 59:1-8 The reason God hasn't saved them is because of their sin, which has caused the separation between them and God. The description could equally apply to our day.
59:9-15 The consequence of separation is no justice, righteousness, nor salvation, but an self-indictment for rebelling against God (denying His right to rule their lives), turning away from Him and His ways, lying (truth is nowhere to be found), and those who try to be good are overwhelmed by the majority who follow the lies of Satan.
59:16-21 God provides the solution to their sin, saving by His righteousness, and repaying His enemies. The Redeemer will come to those who turn from their disobedience, and will make a new covenant with them, involving putting His Spirit on them and His words in them (cf New Covenant - Jeremiah 31:31-36).
Application: Separation is caused by going astray. Salvation is experienced by returning to God. See The Bridge to Life on Truthbase.net
Prayer: My Savior, thank You for reaching down to meet my need to be reconciled to You; may I daily respond to Your grace. Amen.
Digging Deeper:
God in a nutshell: The God who inhabits eternity, also dwells with people rightly related to Him, who have responded to His salvation with faith and obedience. God is serious about His people living in righteousness and justice, and will discipline them if they don't. He graciously offers the benefits of His salvation to anyone who will accept and fulfill His terms, not just Israel. He will one day give His Spirit and glory to His people, and put His word in their hearts, and cause them to experience His full blessing.
Us in a nutshell: Our sins cause a separation between us and God, so that we don't experience Him, nor His benefits. Humbling ourselves, repenting, and then seeking and doing His will in righteousness and justice, will result in eternal delights. Because of our lack of trust in God's promises, we seek our own will rather than His and reap disaster instead of delights.
Where to Go for More:
Truthbase.net
Isaiah complete text
Isaiah 56
56:1 Thus says Yahweh, "Keep justice, and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. 2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."
3 Neither let the foreigner, who has joined himself to Yahweh, speak, saying, "Yahweh will surely separate me from his people"; neither let the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." 4 For thus says Yahweh, "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast my covenant: 5 to them I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. 6 Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh, to minister to him, and to love the name of Yahweh, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant; 7 even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." 8 The Lord Yahweh, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, "Yet will I gather others to him, besides his own who are gathered."
9 All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest. 10 His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they can’t bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yes, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds who can’t understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter. 12 "Come," say they, "I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, great beyond measure."
Isaiah 57
57:1 The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil. 2 He enters into peace; they rest in their beds, each one who walks in his uprightness.
3 "But draw near here, you sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the prostitute. 4 Against whom do you sport yourselves? Against whom do you make a wide mouth, and stick out your tongue? Aren’t you children of disobedience, a seed of falsehood, 5 you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? 6 Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; they, they are your lot; you have even poured a drink offering to them. You have offered an offering. Shall I be appeased for these things? 7 On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed; there also you went up to offer sacrifice. 8 Behind the doors and the posts you have set up your memorial: for you have uncovered to someone besides me, and have gone up; you have enlarged your bed, and made you a covenant with them: you loved their bed where you saw it. 9 You went to the king with oil, and increased your perfumes, and sent your ambassadors far off, and debased yourself even to Sheol. 10 You were wearied with the length of your way; yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain.’ You found a reviving of your strength; therefore you weren’t faint. 11 "Of whom have you been afraid and in fear, that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven’t I held my peace even of long time, and you don’t fear me? 12 I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they shall not profit you.
13 When you cry, let those who you have gathered deliver you; but the wind shall take them, a breath shall carry them all away: but he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain." 14 He will say, "Cast up, cast up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people." 15 For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 16 For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls who I have made.
17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I angry, and struck him; I hid myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. 18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. 19 I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near," says Yahweh; "and I will heal them." 20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can’t rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."
Isaiah 58
58:1 "Cry aloud, don’t spare, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and 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,’ say they, ‘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 pleasure, and exact all your labours. 4 Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness: you don’t fast this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? 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 bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? 7 Isn’t it to distribute your bread to 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 shall break forth as the morning, and your healing shall spring forth speedily; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Yahweh shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and Yahweh will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ "If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly; 10 and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then your light shall rise in darkness, and your obscurity be as the noonday; 11 and Yahweh will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make strong your bones; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters don’t fail. 12 Those who shall be of you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
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 honourable; and shall honour it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: 14 then you shall 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 the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.
Isaiah 59
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 None sues in righteousness, and none pleads in truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth 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 shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths. 8 The way of peace they don’t know; and there is no justice in their goings: they have made them crooked paths; whoever goes therein does not know peace.
9 Therefore is justice far from us, neither does righteousness 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 noonday as in the twilight; among those who are lusty we are as dead men. 11 We roar all like bears, and moan bitterly 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 afar off; for truth is 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, it upheld him. 17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle. 18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense. 19 So shall they fear the name of Yahweh from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Yahweh 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 seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed," says Yahweh, "from henceforth and forever."
No comments:
Post a Comment