Isaiah 61

• 1. The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, because the LORD has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.
• 2. He 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.
• 3. To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory.
• 4. They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities long ago destroyed. They will revive them, though they have been empty for many generations.
• 5. Foreigners will be your servants. They will feed your flocks and plow your fields and tend your vineyards.
• 6. You will be called priests of the LORD, ministers of our God. You will be fed with the treasures of the nations and will boast in their riches.
• 7. Instead of shame and dishonor, you will inherit a double portion of prosperity and everlasting joy.
• 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.
• 9. Their descendants will be known and honored among the nations. Everyone will realize that they are a people the LORD has blessed."
• 10. I 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.
• 11. The 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, filled with young plants springing up everywhere.

Isaiah 62

• 1. Because I love Zion, 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.
• 2. The nations will see your righteousness. Kings will be blinded by your glory. And the LORD will give you a new name.
• 3. The LORD will hold you in his hands for all to see--a splendid crown in the hands of God.
• 4. Never again will you be called the Godforsaken 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 own.
• 5. Your children will care for you with joy, O Jerusalem, just as a young man cares for his bride. Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.
• 6. O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray to the LORD day and night for the fulfillment of his promises. Take no rest, all you who pray.
• 7. Give the LORD no rest until he makes Jerusalem the object of praise throughout the earth.
• 8. The 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 wine.
• 9. You raised it, and you will keep it, praising the LORD. Within the courtyards of the Temple, you yourselves will drink the wine that you have pressed."
• 10. Go out! 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.
• 11. The 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.'"
• 12. They 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.

Isaiah 63

• 1. Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with his clothing stained red? Who is this in royal robes, marching in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, the LORD, announcing your salvation! It is I, the LORD, who is mighty to save!"
• 2. Why are your clothes so red, as if you have been treading out grapes?
• 3. "I have trodden 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. It is their blood that has stained my clothes.
• 4. For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors.
• 5. I looked, but no one came to help my people. I was amazed and appalled at what I saw. So I executed vengeance alone; unaided, I passed down judgment.
• 6. I crushed the nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground."
• 7. I 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.
• 8. He said, "They are my very own people. Surely they will not be false again." And he became their Savior.
• 9. In 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.
• 10. But they rebelled against him and grieved his Holy Spirit. That is why he became their enemy and fought against them.
• 11. Then 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?
• 12. Where is the one whose power divided the sea before them, when Moses lifted up his hand, establishing his reputation forever?
• 13. Where is the one who led them through the bottom of the sea? They were like fine stallions racing through the desert, never stumbling.
• 14. As 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."
• 15. LORD, look down from heaven and see us from your holy, glorious home. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now?
• 16. Surely 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.
• 17. LORD, 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 and your special possession.
• 18. How briefly your holy people possessed the holy place, and now our enemies have destroyed it.
• 19. LORD, why do you treat us as though we never belonged to you? Why do you act as though we had never been known as your people?

New Living Translation: 257 of 324 days.