Is not this the holy day for which I have given orders: to let loose those who have wrongly been made prisoners, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the crushed go free, and every yoke be broken?

Is it not to give your bread to those in need, and to let the poor who have no resting-place come into your house? to put a robe on the unclothed one when you see him, and not to keep your eyes shut for fear of seeing his flesh?

And your sons will be building again the old waste places: you will make strong the bases of old generations: and you will be named, He who puts up the broken walls, and, He who makes ready the ways for use.

There is nobody {who pleads with} justice, and there is nobody who judges with honesty. They rely on nothing and speak vanity. They conceive trouble and beget iniquity;

they hatch viper eggs, and they weave a spider web. One who eats their eggs dies, and that which is pressed is hatched [as] a serpent.

They do not know [the] way of peace, and there is no justice in their firm paths. They have made their paths crooked for themselves; everyone {who walks} in it knows no peace.

We go on our way, like blind men feeling for the wall, even like those who have no eyes: we are running against things in daylight as if it was evening; our place is in the dark like dead men.

and truth is missing, and he who turns aside from evil [is] plundered. And Yahweh saw, and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice

And he saw that there was no man, and he was appalled that there was no one who intercedes, so his arm came to assist him, and his righteousness {was what} sustained him.

According to deeds, so he will repay; wrath to his enemies, requital to those who are his {enemies}. He will repay requital to the coastlands.

"And a redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn away from transgression," {declares} Yahweh.

“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit who is on you, and My words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouth of your children, or from the mouth of your children’s children, from now on and forever,” says the Lord.

“A multitude of camels [from the eastern trading tribes] will cover you [Jerusalem],
The young camels of Midian and Ephah;
All those from Sheba [who once came to trade] will come
Bringing gold and frankincense
And proclaiming the praises of the Lord.

Who [are] these? They fly like cloud, and like doves to their coops.

Yes, the islands will wait for Me
with the ships of Tarshish in the lead,
to bring your children from far away,
their silver and gold with them,
for the honor of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
who has glorified you.

And the children of those who oppressed you shall come to you bending low, and all those who treated you disrespectfully shall bow down at the soles of your feet. And they shall call you the city of Yahweh, Zion [of] the holy one of Israel.

And you will take the milk of the nations, flowing from the breast of kings; and you will see that I, the Lord, am your saviour, and he who takes up your cause, the Strong One of Jacob.

All of your people will be godly; they will possess the land permanently. I will plant them like a shoot; they will be the product of my labor, through whom I reveal my splendor.

[The] Spirit of the Lord Yahweh [is] upon me, because Yahweh has anointed me, he has sent me to bring good news [to the] oppressed, to bind up {the brokenhearted}, to {proclaim} release to [the] captives and liberation to those who are bound,

To give knowledge that the year of the Lord's good pleasure has come, and the day of punishment from our God; to give comfort to all who are sad;

to provide for those who mourn in Zion;
to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
festive oil instead of mourning,
and splendid clothes instead of despair.
And they will be called righteous trees,
planted by the Lord
to glorify Him.

And men from strange countries will be your herdsmen, and those who are not Israelites will be your ploughmen and vine-keepers.

And their descendants will be known among the nations, and their offspring in the midst of the peoples. All those who see them shall recognize them, that they [are] descendants [whom] Yahweh has blessed.

You will not now be named, She who is given up; and your land will no longer be named, The waste land: but you will have the name, My pleasure is in her, and your land will be named, Married: for the Lord has pleasure in you, and your land will be married.

I have appointed watchmen upon your walls, Jerusalem; all day and all night they shall never be silent. You who profess Yahweh have no rest.

But those who gather it shall eat it, and they shall praise Yahweh, and those who gather it shall drink it in {my holy courts}.

The Lord has sent out word to the end of the earth, Say to the daughter of Zion, See, your saviour comes; those whom he has made free are with him, and those to whom he has given salvation go before him.

Who [is] this, coming from Edom, from Bozrah [in] bright red garments? [Who is] this honored in his garment, lying down in his great strength? "[It is] I, speaking in justice, {mighty} to save!"

Why [are] your garments red, and your garments like he who treads in [the] winepress?

And I looked, but there was no helper, and I was appalled, but there was no one who sustains, so my arm came to assist me, and my wrath {was what} sustained me.

For he said, Truly they are my people, children who will not be false: so he was their saviour out of all their trouble.

It was no sent one or angel, but he himself who was their saviour: in his love and in his pity he took up their cause, and he took them in his arms, caring for them all through the years.

But they {were the ones who} rebelled, and they grieved {his Holy Spirit}, so he {became an enemy to them}; he himself fought against them.

Then his people remembered the days of old, [of] Moses. Where [is] the one who led up them from [the] sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where [is] the one who puts {his Holy Spirit} inside him,

{who made} his magnificent arm move {at} the right hand of Moses, {who divided} [the] waters {before them}, to make an everlasting name for himself,

{who led} them through the depths? They did not stumble like horse in the desert;

We have become like those over whom thou never barest rule, those not called by thy name.

As when fire ignites dry wood, or fire makes water boil, let your adversaries know who you are, and may the nations shake at your presence!

And since ancient [times] they have not heard, have not listened, no eye has seen a God except you; he {acts} for the one who waits for him.

You meet with the one who rejoices, one who does righteousness. In your ways they remember you. Look! You were angry and we sinned against them [in] ancient [times] and we were saved.

For 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.

And there is no one who calls on your name, who pulls himself up to keep hold of you, for you have hidden your face from us, and melted us into the hand of our iniquity.

"I let myself be sought by [those who] did not ask; I let myself be found by [those who] did not seek me. I said, 'Here I am; here I am!' to a nation [that] did not call on my name;

I spread out my hands all day to a stubborn people, those who walk after their thoughts [in] the way [that is] not good,

the people {who provoke} me to anger continually to my face, slaughtering for sacrifices in the garden, and making smoke offerings on bricks,

{who sit} in graves and spend the night in {secret places}, {who eat} the flesh of swine with a fragment of impurity [in] their vessels,

{who say}, "{Keep to yourself}! You must not come near me, for I am [too] holy for you!" These [are] a smoke in my {nostrils}, a fire burning all day.

your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith Jehovah, who have burned incense upon the mountains, and outraged me upon the hills; and I will measure their former work into their bosom.

And I will take a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah one who will have my mountains for a heritage: and the people I have taken to be mine will have it for themselves, and my servants will have their resting-place there.

And Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting place for herds for my people who have sought me.

But you {who forsake} Yahweh, forgetting {my holy mountain}, who set a table for Fortune, and who {pour out} a jug of mixed wine for Destiny,

“And you will leave your name behind to My chosen ones [who will use it] as a curse,
And the Lord God will put you to death,
But He will call His servants by another name [a much greater name, just as the name Israel was greater than the name Jacob].

Whoever blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of trustworthiness, and the one who swears an oath in the land shall swear by the God of trustworthiness, because the former troubles are forgotten, and they are hidden from my eyes.

There will no longer be a nursing infant {who lives only a few} days, or an old man who does not fill his days, for the boy will die {a hundred years old}, and the one who {fails to reach} {a hundred years} will be {considered} accursed.

Their work will not be for nothing, and they will not give birth to children for destruction; for they are a seed to whom the Lord has given his blessing, and their offspring will be with them.

Even all these things hath my hand made, and all these things have been, saith Jehovah. But to this man will I look: to the afflicted and contrite in spirit, and who trembleth at my word.

The one who slaughters bull strikes a man; the one who slaughters lamb for sacrifice breaks the neck [of] a dog. The one who offers an offering, [the] blood of swine; the one who offers frankincense blesses an idol. Indeed, they themselves have chosen their ways, and their soul delights in their abhorrence.

Hear the word of Yahweh, you who are frightened at his word: Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for my name's sake have said, "Let Yahweh be honored so that we may see your joy!" But they themselves shall be ashamed.

A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of LORD who renders recompense to his enemies.

Who has heard [anything] like this? Who has seen [anything] like these [things]? Can a land be born in one day? Or can a nation be born in a moment? [Yet] when she was in labor, Zion indeed gave birth [to] her children.

Shall I myself I break open and not {deliver}?" says Yahweh, "or I who {delivers} lock up [the womb]?" says your God.

"Rejoice with Jerusalem and shout in exultation with her, all those who love her! Rejoice with her [in] joy, all those who mourn over her,

As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

Those who sanctify themselves and those who cleanse themselves {to go into} the gardens after [the] one in the middle, eating the flesh of swine and detestable things and rodents together shall come to an end!" {declares} Yahweh.

And I will set a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw [the] bow; Tubal and Javan, the faraway coastlands that have not heard [of] my fame, and have not seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations,

"And they shall go out and look at the corpses of the people {who have rebelled} against me, for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."

The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, among the priests who [were] in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin,

[to] whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, the king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

And Jehovah saith unto me, 'Do not say, I am a youth, for to all to whom I send thee thou goest, and all that I command thee thou speakest.

Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, for I will be with you to protect you," says the Lord.

Then the Lord said to me, “Disaster will be poured out from the north on all who live in the land.

And I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

Today, I am the One who has made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the population.

Israel [was] holy to Yahweh, the first fruit of his produce. All [those who] ate it were held guilty; disaster came to them," {declares} Yahweh.'"

And they did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh, the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt, the one who led us in the desert, in a land of desert plains and gorges, in a land of dryness and deep darkness, in a land {that no one passes through}, and no human lives there?'

The priests did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh?' and those who handle the law did not know me, and the shepherds have {rebelled against me}, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they went after [things which] do not profit.

Has a nation changed their gods who are yet no gods? But My people have changed their Glory for that which does not profit.

Has not this come on you because you have given up the Lord your God, who was your guide by the way?

Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment. Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you. Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful it was for you to reject me, the Lord your God, to show no respect for me," says the Lord God who rules over all.

A wild ass accustomed to [the] desert, in the desire of her soul. She gasps [for] wind [in] her rutting time. Who can quell her [lust]? All [those who] seek her will not grow weary, in her month they will find her.

[Those who] say to the tree, 'You [are] my father,' and to the stone, 'You gave birth [to] me.' For they have turned [their] {backs} to me, and not [their] faces. But in the time of their trouble they say, 'Arise and save us.'

Yea, in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor, whom thou didst not encounter breaking in, but it is found upon all these.

Also from there you will come out with your hands on your head, for Yahweh has rejected {those in whom you trust}, and you will not prosper through them.

“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see;
Where have you not been violated?
You sat by the road waiting [eagerly] for them [those man-made gods]
Like an Arab [tribesman who waits to attack] in the desert,
And you have desecrated the land
With your [vile] prostitution and your wickedness (disobedience to God).

Come back, O children who are turned away, says the Lord; for I am a husband to you, and I will take you, one from a town and two from a family, and will make you come to Zion;

and I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband," says the Lord.

Come back, you children who have been turned away, and I will take away your desire for wandering. See, we have come to you, for you are the Lord our God.

We know our noisy worship of false gods on the hills and mountains did not help us. We know that the Lord our God is the only one who can deliver Israel.

Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath goes forth like the fire and burns, and there is no [one who] extinguishes [it], because of the evil of your deeds."

A lion has gone up from his secret place in the woods, and one who makes waste the nations is on his way; he has gone out from his place, to make your land unpeopled, so that your towns will be made waste, with no man living in them.

In response to all this I said, "Ah, Lord God, you have surely allowed the people of Judah and Jerusalem to be deceived by those who say, 'You will be safe!' But in fact a sword is already at our throats."

Warn the nations: Look!
Proclaim to Jerusalem:
Those who besiege are coming
from a distant land;
they raise their voices
against the cities of Judah.

They have her surrounded
like those who guard a field,
because she has rebelled against Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

My soul, my soul! I writhe in anguish and pain! Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is pounding and throbbing within me;
I cannot be silent,
For you have heard, O my soul,
The sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.

The Lord answered, "This will happen because my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are like children who have no sense. They have no understanding. They are skilled at doing evil. They do not know how to do good."

From the sound of a horseman and {an archer} every town flees, they enter in the thickets and among the rocks they climb. Every town [is] forsaken, and there is no person [who] lives in them.

For I heard a voice like an ill woman, anxiety like [a woman who] bears her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion. She is gasping for breath, she is spreading out her hands: "Woe is me, for I am becoming tired before killers."

"Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem, and look please, and take note, and search at its public squares, if you can find a person [who] does justice, [who] seeks honesty, so that I may forgive it.

I thought, "Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. They do not know what their God requires of them.