Day 274 of 365

¹For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns.

²The nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.

³You shall also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

⁴You shall no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.

⁵For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons shall marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

⁶I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day nor night: you who call on the Lord, take no rest,

⁷and give him no rest, until he establishes, and until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

⁸The Lord has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, "Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies; and foreigners shall not drink your new wine, for which you have labored:

⁹but those who have garnered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord; and those who have gathered it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary."

¹⁰Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way of the people! Cast up, cast up the highway! Gather out the stones! Lift up a banner for the peoples.

¹¹Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth, "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your salvation comes. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.'"

¹²They shall call them The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and you shall be called Sought out, A city not forsaken.

¹Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? "It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save."

²Why are you red in your clothing, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat?

³"I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with me: yes, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing.

⁴For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come.

⁵I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation to me; and my wrath, it upheld me.

⁶I trod down the peoples in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."

⁷I will make mention of the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.

⁸For he said, "Surely, they are my people, children who will not deal falsely:" so he was their Savior.

⁹In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them, and carried them all the days of old.

¹⁰But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he himself fought against them.

¹¹Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his holy Spirit in their midst?

¹²who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses? who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name?

¹³who led them through the depths, as a horse in the wilderness, so that they did not stumble?

¹⁴As the livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused them to rest; so you led your people, to make yourself a glorious name.

¹⁵Look down from heaven, and see from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory: where are your zeal and your mighty acts? the yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me.

¹⁶For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn't know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us: you, Lord, are our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.

¹⁷O Lord, why do you make us to stray from your ways, and harden our heart from your fear? Return for your servants' sake, the tribes of your inheritance.

¹⁸Your holy people possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary.

¹⁹We have become as they over whom you never bear rule, as those who were not called by your name.

¹Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence,

²as when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the waters to boil; to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence!

³When you did awesome things which we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

⁴For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him.

⁵You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time; and shall we be saved?

⁶For we have all become as one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is as a polluted garment: and we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

⁷There is none who calls on your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.

⁸But now, Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.

⁹Do not be furious, Lord, neither remember iniquity forever: see, look, we beg you, we are all your people.

¹⁰Your holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

¹¹Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste.

¹²Will you refrain yourself for these things, Lord? Will you hold your peace, and afflict us very severely?

¹If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say,

²if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us;

³then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;

⁴then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul;

⁵then the proud waters would have gone over our soul.

⁶Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.

⁷Our soul has escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare. The snare is broken, and we have escaped.

⁸Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

¹Like snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.

²Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow, so the undeserved curse doesn't come to rest.

³A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools!

⁴Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.

⁵Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

⁶One who sends a message by the hand of a fool is cutting off feet and drinking violence.

⁷Like the legs of the lame that hang loose: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

⁸As one who binds a stone in a sling, so is he who gives honor to a fool.

⁹Like a thornbush that goes into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

¹⁰As an archer who wounds all, so is he who hires a fool or he who hires those who pass by.

¹¹As a dog that returns to his vomit, so is a fool who repeats his folly.

¹²Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion roams the streets!"

¹⁴As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed.

¹⁵The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. He is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.

¹⁶The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer with discretion.

¹⁷Like one who grabs a dog's ears is one who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own.

¹⁸Like a madman who shoots firebrands, arrows, and death,

¹⁹is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, "Am I not joking?"

²⁰For lack of wood a fire goes out. Without gossip, a quarrel dies down.

²¹As coals are to hot embers, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindling strife.

²²The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, they go down into the innermost parts.

²³Like silver dross on an earthen vessel are the lips of a fervent one with an evil heart.

²⁴A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but he harbors evil in his heart.

²⁵When his speech is charming, do not believe him; for there are seven abominations in his heart.

²⁶His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

²⁷Whoever digs a pit shall fall into it. Whoever rolls a stone, it will come back on him.

²⁸A lying tongue hates those it hurts; and a flattering mouth works ruin.