Day 275 of 730

¹"Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock you were cut from, and to the hold of the pit you were dug from.

²Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.

³For the Lord has comforted Zion; he has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

⁴"Attend to me, my people; and give ear to me, my nation: for a law shall go forth from me, and I will establish my justice for a light of the peoples.

⁵My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and my arms shall judge the peoples; the islands shall wait for me, and on my arm shall they trust.

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and those who dwell therein shall die in the same way: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

⁷"Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; do not fear the reproach of men, neither be dismayed at their insults.

⁸For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation to all generations."

⁹Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the Lord; awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn't it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?

¹⁰Isn't it you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?

¹¹The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹²"I, even I, am he who comforts you: who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who shall be made as grass;

¹³and have forgotten the Lord your Maker, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

¹⁴The captive exile shall speedily be freed; and he shall not die and go down into the pit, neither shall his bread fail.

¹⁵For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar: the Lord of hosts is his name.

¹⁶I have put my words in your mouth, and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, 'You are my people.'"

¹⁷Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath; you have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.

¹⁸There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any who takes her by the hand among all the sons who she has brought up.

¹⁹These two things have happened to you. Who will bemoan you? Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort you?

²⁰Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God.

²¹Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:

²²Thus says your Lord God, and your God who pleads the cause of his people, "Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath; you shall no more drink it again:

²³and I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, 'Bow down, that we may walk over you;' and you have laid your back as the ground, and as the street, to those who walk over."

¹Awake, awake, put on your strength, Zion; put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.

²Shake yourself from the dust! Arise, sit up, Jerusalem! Release yourself from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion!

³For thus says the Lord, "You were sold for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money."

⁴For thus says the Lord God, "My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there: and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.

⁵"Now therefore, what do I do here," says the Lord, "seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock," says the Lord, "and my name continually all the day is blasphemed.

⁶Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks; behold, it is I."

⁷How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

⁸The voice of your watchmen! they lift up the voice, together do they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord returns to Zion.

⁹Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The Lord has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

¹¹Depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing! Go out of the midst of her! Cleanse yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.

¹²For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

¹³Behold, my servant shall deal wisely, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.

¹⁴Just as many were astonished at you (his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men),

¹⁵so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand.

¹Those who trust in the Lord are as Mount Zion, which can't be moved, but remains forever.

²As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people from this time forth and forevermore.

³For the scepter of wickedness won't remain over the allotment of the righteous; so that the righteous won't use their hands to do evil.

⁴Do good, Lord, to those who are good, to those who are upright in their hearts.

⁵But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways, The Lord will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.

¹Do not boast about tomorrow; for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

²Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.

³A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.

⁴Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy?

⁵Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend; although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

⁷A full soul loathes a honeycomb; but to a hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.

⁸As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his home.

⁹Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man's friend.

¹⁰Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend. Do not go to your brother's house in the day of your disaster: better is a neighbor who is near than a distant brother.

¹¹Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart, then I can answer my tormentor.

¹²A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

¹³Take his garment when he puts up collateral for a stranger. Hold it for a wayward woman!

¹⁴He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse by him.

¹⁵A continual dropping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike:

¹⁶restraining her is like restraining the wind, or like grasping oil in his right hand.

¹⁷Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend's countenance.

¹⁸Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit. He who looks after his master shall be honored.

¹⁹As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man's eyes are never satisfied.

²¹The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but man is refined by his praise.

²²Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, yet his foolishness will not be removed from him.

²³Know well the state of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds:

²⁴for riches are not forever, nor does even the crown endure to all generations.

²⁵The hay is removed, and the new growth appears, the grasses of the hills are gathered in.

²⁶The lambs are for your clothing, and the goats are the price of a field.

²⁷There will be plenty of goats' milk for your food, for your family's food, and for the nourishment of your servant girls.