Isaiah 61-64; Psalms 120 - Prayer Tents

61The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.H7307H136H3069H3068H4886H1319H6035H7971H2280H7665H3820H7121H1865H7617H6495H631 2He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.H7121H7522H8141H3068H3117H5359H430H5162H57 3To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.H7760H57H6726H5414H6287H665H8081H8342H60H4594H8416H7307H3544H7121H352H6664H4302H3068H6286 4They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago. They will revive them, though they have been deserted for many generations.H1129H5769H2723H6965H7223H8074H2318H2721H5892H8074H1755H1755 5Foreigners will be your servants. They will feed your flocks and plow your fields and tend your vineyards.H2114H5975H7462H6629H1121H5236H406H3755 6You will be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God. You will feed on the treasures of the nations and boast in their riches.H7121H3548H3068H559H8334H430H398H2428H1471H3519H3235 7Instead of shame and dishonor, you will enjoy a double share of honor. You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.H1322H4932H3639H7442H2506H776H3423H4932H5769H8057 8“For I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing. I will faithfully reward my people for their suffering and make an everlasting covenant with them.H3068H157H4941H8130H1498H5930H5414H6468H571H3772H5769H1285 9Their descendants will be recognized and honored among the nations. Everyone will realize that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”H2233H3045H1471H6631H8432H5971H7200H5234H2233H3068H1288 10I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels.H7797H7797H3068H5315H1523H430H3847H899H3468H3271H4598H6666H2860H3547H6287H3618H5710H3627 11The Sovereign Lord will show his justice to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise him! His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring, with plants springing up everywhere.H776H3318H6780H1593H2221H6779H136H3069H6666H8416H6779H1471

62Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.H6726H2814H3389H8252H6664H3318H5051H3444H3940H1197 2The nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory. And you will be given a new name by the Lord’s own mouth.H1471H7200H6664H4428H3519H7121H2319H5344H6310H3068H8034 3The Lord will hold you in his hand for all to see—a splendid crown in the hand of God.H5850H8597H3027H3068H4410H6797H6797H3709H430 4Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City” or “The Desolate Land.” Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight” and “The Bride of God,” for the Lord delights in you and will claim you as his bride.H559H5800H776H559H8077H7121H2657H776H1166H3068H2654H776H1166 5Your children will commit themselves to you, O Jerusalem, just as a young man commits himself to his bride. Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.H970H1166H1330H1121H1166H2860H4885H3618H430H7797 6O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord.H6485H8104H2346H3389H8548H2814H3117H3915H2142H3068H1824 7Give the Lord no rest until he completes his work, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.H5414H1824H3559H7760H3389H8416H776 8The Lord has sworn to Jerusalem by his own strength. “I will never again hand you over to your enemies. Never again will foreign warriors come and take away your grain and new wine.H3068H7650H3225H2220H5797H518H5414H1715H3978H341H1121H5236H8354H8492H3021 9You raised the grain, and you will eat it, praising the Lord. Within the courtyards of the Temple, you yourselves will drink the wine you have pressed.”H622H398H1984H3068H6908H8354H2691H6944 10Go out through the gates! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see.H5674H5674H8179H6437H1870H5971H5549H5549H4546H5619H68H7311H5251H5971 11The Lord has sent this message to every land. “Tell the people of Israel, ‘Look, your Savior is coming. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.’”H3068H8085H7097H776H559H1323H6726H3468H935H7939H6468H6440 12They will be called “The Holy People” and “The People Redeemed by the Lord.” And Jerusalem will be known as “The Desirable Place” and “The City No Longer Forsaken.”H7121H6944H5971H1350H3068H7121H1875H5892H5800

63Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with his clothing stained red? Who is this in royal robes, marching in his great strength? “It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation! It is I, the Lord, who has the power to save!”H935H123H2556H899H1224H1921H3830H6808H7230H3581H1696H6666H7227H3467 2Why are your clothes so red, as if you have been treading out grapes?H122H3830H899H1869H1660 3“I have been treading the winepress alone; no one was there to help me. In my anger I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In my fury I have trampled my foes. Their blood has stained my clothes.H1869H6333H5971H376H1869H639H7429H2534H5332H5137H899H1351H4403 4For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors.H3117H5359H3820H8141H1350H935 5I was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So I myself stepped in to save them with my strong arm, and my wrath sustained me.H5027H5826H8074H5564H2220H3467H2534H5564 6I crushed the nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground, spilling their blood upon the earth.”H947H5971H639H7937H2534H3381H5332H776 7I will tell of the Lord’s unfailing love. I will praise the Lord for all he has done. I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel, which he has granted according to his mercy and love.H2142H2617H3068H8416H3068H3068H1580H7227H2898H1004H3478H1580H7356H7230H2617 8He said, “They are my very own people. Surely they will not betray me again.” And he became their Savior.H559H5971H1121H8266H3467 9In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.H6869H6862H4397H6440H3467H160H2551H1350H5190H5375H3117H5769 10But they rebelled against him and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he became their enemy and fought against them.H4784H6087H6944H7307H2015H341H3898 11Then they remembered those days of old when Moses led his people out of Egypt. They cried out, “Where is the one who brought Israel through the sea, with Moses as their shepherd? Where is the one who sent his Holy Spirit to be among his people?H2142H3117H5769H4872H5971H5927H3220H7462H6629H7760H6944H7307H7130 12Where is the one whose power was displayed when Moses lifted up his hand—the one who divided the sea before them, making himself famous forever?H3212H3225H4872H8597H2220H1234H4325H6440H6213H5769H8034 13Where is the one who led them through the bottom of the sea? They were like fine stallions racing through the desert, never stumbling.H3212H8415H5483H4057H3782 14As with cattle going down into a peaceful valley, the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. You led your people, Lord, and gained a magnificent reputation.”H929H3381H1237H7307H3068H5117H5090H5971H6213H8597H8034 15Lord, look down from heaven; look from your holy, glorious home, and see us. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now?H5027H8064H7200H2073H6944H8597H7068H1369H1995H4578H7356H662 16Surely you are still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us, Lord, you would still be our Father. You are our Redeemer from ages past.H3588H1H85H3808H3045H3478H5234H3068H1H1350H8034H5769 17Lord, why have you allowed us to turn from your path? Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you? Return and help us, for we are your servants, the tribes that are your special possession.H3068H8582H1870H7188H3820H3374H7725H5650H7626H5159 18How briefly your holy people possessed your holy place, and now our enemies have destroyed it.H5971H6944H3423H4705H6862H947H4720 19Sometimes it seems as though we never belonged to you, as though we had never been known as your people.H5769H4910H7121H8034

64Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence!H3863H7167H8064H3381H2022H2151H6440 2As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame!H2003H784H6919H784H4325H1158H8034H3045H6862H1471H7264H6440 3When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked!H6213H3372H6960H3381H2022H2151H6440 4For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!H5769H8085H238H5869H7200H430H2108H6213H2442 5You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved?H6293H7797H6213H6664H2142H1870H7107H2398H5769H3467 6We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.H2931H6666H5708H899H5034H1101H5929H5771H7307H5375 7Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins.H7121H8034H5782H2388H5641H6440H4127H3027H5771 8And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.H3068H1H2563H3335H4639H3027 9Don’t be so angry with us, Lord. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.H7107H3966H3068H2142H5771H5703H5027H5971 10Your holy cities are destroyed. Zion is a wilderness; yes, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin.H6944H5892H4057H6726H4057H3389H8077 11The holy and beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed.H6944H8597H1004H1H1984H8316H784H4261H2723 12After all this, Lord, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us?H662H3068H2814H6031H3966

120[A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.] I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer.H7892H4609H6869H7121H3068H6030 2Rescue me, O Lord, from liars and from all deceitful people.H5337H5315H3068H8267H8193H7423H3956 3O deceptive tongue, what will God do to you? How will he increase your punishment?H5414H3254H7423H3956 4You will be pierced with sharp arrows and burned with glowing coals.H8150H2671H1368H1513H7574 5How I suffer in far-off Meshech. It pains me to live in distant Kedar.H190H1481H4902H7931H168H6938 6I am tired of living among people who hate peace.H5315H7227H7931H8130H7965 7I search for peace; but when I speak of peace, they want war!H7965H1696H4421