Day 270 of 365

¹Thus says the Lord, "Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, with which I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were you sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.

²Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can't redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.

³I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering."

⁴The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.

⁵The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward.

⁶I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.

⁷For the Lord God will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed.

⁸He is near who justifies me; who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.

⁹Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he who shall condemn me? Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.

¹⁰Who is among you who fears the Lord, who obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and rely on his God.

¹¹Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves; walk in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled. You shall have this of my hand; you shall lie down in sorrow.

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.

¹In my distress, I cried to the Lord. He answered me.

²Deliver my soul, Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.

³What will be given to you, and what will be done more to you, you deceitful tongue?

⁴Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.

⁵Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!

⁶My soul has had her dwelling too long with him who hates peace.

⁷I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.

¹A good name is more desirable than great riches, and loving favor is better than silver and gold.

²The rich and the poor have this in common: The Lord is the maker of them all.

³A prudent man sees danger, and hides himself; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

⁴The result of humility and the fear of the Lord is wealth, honor, and life.

⁵Thorns and snares are in the path of the wicked: whoever guards his soul stays from them.

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rule over the poor. The borrower is servant to the lender.

⁸He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

⁹He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out the mocker, and strife will go out; yes, quarrels and insults will stop.

¹¹He who loves purity of heart and speaks gracefully is the king's friend.

¹²The eyes of the Lord watch over knowledge; but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.

¹³The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets!"

¹⁴The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit: he who is under the Lord's wrath will fall into it.

¹⁵Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

¹⁶Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty.

¹⁷Turn your ear, and listen to the words of the wise. Apply your heart to my teaching.

¹⁸For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.

¹⁹That your trust may be in the Lord, I teach you today, even you.

²⁰Haven't I written to you thirty excellent things of counsel and knowledge,

²¹To teach you truth, reliable words, to give sound answers to the ones who sent you?

²²Do not exploit the poor, because he is poor; and do not crush the needy in court;

²³for the Lord will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them.

²⁴Do not befriend a hot-tempered man, and do not associate with one who harbors anger:

²⁵lest you learn his ways, and ensnare your soul.

²⁶Do not be one of those who strike hands, of those who are collateral for debts.

²⁷If you do not have means to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?

²⁸Do not move the ancient boundary stone, which your fathers have set up.

²⁹Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve kings. He won't serve obscure men.