Advent - Week 3 - Love - Revelation 21:22-22:5 and Luke 1:39-56

REVELATION 21:22–22:5

22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day - and there will be no night there. 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

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LUKE 1:39–56

39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."

46 And Mary said,
     "My soul magnifies the Lord,
47       and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48  for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
          Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49  for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
          and holy is his name.
50  His mercy is for those who fear him
          from generation to generation.
51  He has shown strength with his arm;
          he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52  He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
          and lifted up the lowly;
53  he has filled the hungry with good things,
          and sent the rich away empty.
54  He has helped his servant Israel,
          in remembrance of his mercy,
55  according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
          to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
56 And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

Psalm 123 and Revelation 19:5-10

PSALM 123

¹   To you I lift up my eyes, 
          O you who are enthroned in the heavens! 
²   As the eyes of servants 
          look to the hand of their master, 
     as the eyes of a maid 
          to the hand of her mistress, 
     so our eyes look to the LORD our God, 
          until he has mercy upon us.

³   Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, 
          for we have had more than enough of contempt. 
⁴   Our soul has had more than its fill 
          of the scorn of those who are at ease, 

          of the contempt of the proud.

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REVELATION 19:5-10

⁵And from the throne came a voice saying, 
     "Praise our God, 
          all you his servants, 
     and all who fear him, 
          small and great." 
⁶Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying out, 
     "Hallelujah! 
     For the Lord our God 
          the Almighty reigns. 
⁷   Let us rejoice and exult 
          and give him the glory, 
     for the marriage of the Lamb has come, 
          and his bride has made herself ready; 
⁸   to her it has been granted to be clothed 
          with fine linen, bright and pure" — 
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

 

⁹And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are true words of God." ¹⁰Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

Revelation 21:22-22:5

[21:22]I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. [23]And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. [24]The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. [25]Its gates will never be shut by day -- and there will be no night there. [26]People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. [27]But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

[22:1]Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb [2]through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. [3]Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; [4]they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. [5]And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Revelation 21:1-6

[1]Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2]And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3]And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

     "See, the home of God is among mortals.  
     He will dwell with them;  
     they will be his peoples,  
     and God himself will be with them;  
[4]   he will wipe every tear from their eyes.  
     Death will be no more;  
     mourning and crying and pain will be no more,  
     for the first things have passed away."

[5]And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."
[6]Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

[52:13]  See, my servant shall prosper;  
          he shall be exalted and lifted up,  
          and shall be very high.  
[14]  Just as there were many who were astonished at him  
          -- so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,  
          and his form beyond that of mortals --  
[15]  so he shall startle many nations;  
          kings shall shut their mouths because of him;  
     for that which had not been told them they shall see,  
          and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

[53:1]  Who has believed what we have heard?  
          And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?  
[2]   For he grew up before him like a young plant,  
          and like a root out of dry ground;  
     he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,  
          nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.  
[3]   He was despised and rejected by others;  
          a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;  
     and as one from whom others hide their faces  
          he was despised, and we held him of no account.

[4]   Surely he has borne our infirmities  
          and carried our diseases;  
     yet we accounted him stricken,  
          struck down by God, and afflicted.  
[5]   But he was wounded for our transgressions,  
          crushed for our iniquities;  
     upon him was the punishment that made us whole,  
          and by his bruises we are healed.  
[6]   All we like sheep have gone astray;  
          we have all turned to our own way,  
     and the LORD has laid on him  
          the iniquity of us all.

[7]   He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,  
          yet he did not open his mouth;  
     like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,  
          and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,  
          so he did not open his mouth.  
[8]   By a perversion of justice he was taken away.  
          Who could have imagined his future?  
     For he was cut off from the land of the living,  
          stricken for the transgression of my people.  
[9]   They made his grave with the wicked  
          and his tomb with the rich,  
     although he had done no violence,  
          and there was no deceit in his mouth.

[10]  Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain.  
     When you make his life an offering for sin,  
          he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;  
     through him the will of the LORD shall prosper.  
[11]       Out of his anguish he shall see light;  
     he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.  
          The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,  
          and he shall bear their iniquities.  
[12]  Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,  
          and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;  
     because he poured out himself to death,  
          and was numbered with the transgressors;  
     yet he bore the sin of many,  
          and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 52:7-12

[7]    How beautiful upon the mountains  

          are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,  

     who brings good news,  

          who announces salvation,  

          who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."  

[8]   Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices,  

          together they sing for joy;  

     for in plain sight they see  

          the return of the LORD to Zion.  

[9]   Break forth together into singing,  

          you ruins of Jerusalem;  

     for the LORD has comforted his people,  

          he has redeemed Jerusalem.  

[10]  The LORD has bared his holy arm  

          before the eyes of all the nations;  

     and all the ends of the earth shall see  

          the salvation of our God.

[11]  Depart, depart, go out from there!  

          Touch no unclean thing;  

     go out from the midst of it, purify yourselves,  

          you who carry the vessels of the LORD.  

[12]  For you shall not go out in haste,  

          and you shall not go in flight;  

     for the LORD will go before you,  

          and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

Isaiah 51:1-8

[1]   Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness,   
         you that seek the LORD.   
    Look to the rock from which you were hewn,   
         and to the quarry from which you were dug.   
[2]   Look to Abraham your father   
         and to Sarah who bore you;   
    for he was but one when I called him,   
         but I blessed him and made him many.   
[3]   For the LORD will comfort Zion;   
         he will comfort all her waste places,   
    and will make her wilderness like Eden,   
         her desert like the garden of the LORD;   
    joy and gladness will be found in her,   
         thanksgiving and the voice of song.

[4]   Listen to me, my people,   
         and give heed to me, my nation;   
    for a teaching will go out from me,   
         and my justice for a light to the peoples.   
[5]   I will bring near my deliverance swiftly,   
         my salvation has gone out   
         and my arms will rule the peoples;   
    the coastlands wait for me,   
         and for my arm they hope.   
[6]   Lift up your eyes to the heavens,   
         and look at the earth beneath;   
    for the heavens will vanish like smoke,   
         the earth will wear out like a garment,   
         and those who live on it will die like gnats;   
    but my salvation will be forever,   
         and my deliverance will never be ended.

[7]   Listen to me, you who know righteousness,   
         you people who have my teaching in your hearts;   
    do not fear the reproach of others,   
         and do not be dismayed when they revile you.   
[8]   For the moth will eat them up like a garment,   
         and the worm will eat them like wool;   
    but my deliverance will be forever,   
         and my salvation to all generations.

Isaiah 49:13-23

[13]  Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
          break forth, O mountains, into singing!
     For the LORD has comforted his people,
          and will have compassion on his suffering ones.

[14]  But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me,
          my Lord has forgotten me."
[15]  Can a woman forget her nursing child,
          or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
     Even these may forget,
          yet I will not forget you.
[16]  See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
          your walls are continually before me.
[17]  Your builders outdo your destroyers,
          and those who laid you waste go away from you.
[18]  Lift up your eyes all around and see;
          they all gather, they come to you.
     As I live, says the LORD,
          you shall put all of them on like an ornament,
          and like a bride you shall bind them on.

[19]  Surely your waste and your desolate places
          and your devastated land --
     surely now you will be too crowded for your inhabitants,
          and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
[20]  The children born in the time of your bereavement
          will yet say in your hearing:
     "The place is too crowded for me;
          make room for me to settle."
[21]  Then you will say in your heart,
          "Who has borne me these?
     I was bereaved and barren,
          exiled and put away --
          so who has reared these?
     I was left all alone --
          where then have these come from?"

[22]  Thus says the Lord GOD:
     I will soon lift up my hand to the nations,
          and raise my signal to the peoples;
     and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,
          and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
[23]  Kings shall be your foster fathers,
          and their queens your nursing mothers.
     With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
          and lick the dust of your feet.
     Then you will know that I am the LORD;
          those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.

Isaiah 45:5-17

[5]   I am the LORD, and there is no other;  
          besides me there is no god.  
          I arm you, though you do not know me,  
[6]   so that they may know, from the rising of the sun  
          and from the west, that there is no one besides me;  
          I am the LORD, and there is no other.  
[7]   I form light and create darkness,  
          I make weal and create woe;  
          I the LORD do all these things.

[8]   Shower, O heavens, from above,  
          and let the skies rain down righteousness;  
     let the earth open, that salvation may spring up,  
          and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also;  
          I the LORD have created it.

[9]   Woe to you who strive with your Maker,  
          earthen vessels with the potter!  
     Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, "What are you making"?  
          or "Your work has no handles"?  
[10]  Woe to anyone who says to a father, "What are you begetting?"  
          or to a woman, "With what are you in labor?"  
[11]  Thus says the LORD,  
          the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:  
     Will you question me about my children,  
          or command me concerning the work of my hands?  
[12]  I made the earth,  
          and created humankind upon it;  
     it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,  
          and I commanded all their host.  
[13]  I have aroused Cyrus in righteousness,  
          and I will make all his paths straight;  
     he shall build my city  
          and set my exiles free,  
     not for price or reward,  
          says the LORD of hosts.  
[14]  Thus says the LORD:  
     The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia,  
          and the Sabeans, tall of stature,  
     shall come over to you and be yours,  
          they shall follow you;  
          they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.  
     They will make supplication to you, saying,  
          "God is with you alone, and there is no other;  
          there is no god besides him."  
[15]  Truly, you are a God who hides himself,  
          O God of Israel, the Savior.  
[16]  All of them are put to shame and confounded,  
          the makers of idols go in confusion together.  
[17]  But Israel is saved by the LORD  
          with everlasting salvation;  
     you shall not be put to shame or confounded  
          to all eternity.

Isaiah 44:6-8; 21-23

[6]   Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,   
         and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:   
    I am the first and I am the last;   
         besides me there is no god.   
[7]   Who is like me? Let them proclaim it,   
         let them declare and set it forth before me.   
    Who has announced from of old the things to come?   
         Let them tell us what is yet to be.   
[8]   Do not fear, or be afraid;   
         have I not told you from of old and declared it?   
         You are my witnesses!   
    Is there any god besides me?   
         There is no other rock; I know not one.

[21]  Remember these things, O Jacob,   
         and Israel, for you are my servant;   
    I formed you, you are my servant;   
         O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.   
[22]  I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud,   
         and your sins like mist;   
    return to me, for I have redeemed you.

[23]  Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it;   
         shout, O depths of the earth;   
    break forth into singing, O mountains,   
         O forest, and every tree in it!   
    For the LORD has redeemed Jacob,   
         and will be glorified in Israel.

 

Isaiah 42:1-17

[1]   Here is my servant, whom I uphold,   
         my chosen, in whom my soul delights;   
    I have put my spirit upon him;   
         he will bring forth justice to the nations.   
[2]   He will not cry or lift up his voice,   
         or make it heard in the street;   
[3]   a bruised reed he will not break,   
         and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;   
         he will faithfully bring forth justice.   
[4]   He will not grow faint or be crushed   
         until he has established justice in the earth;   
         and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

[5]   Thus says God, the LORD,   
         who created the heavens and stretched them out,   
         who spread out the earth and what comes from it,   
    who gives breath to the people upon it   
         and spirit to those who walk in it:   
[6]   I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,   
         I have taken you by the hand and kept you;   
    I have given you as a covenant to the people,   
         a light to the nations,   
[7]        to open the eyes that are blind,   
    to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,   
         from the prison those who sit in darkness.   
[8]   I am the LORD, that is my name;   
         my glory I give to no other,   
         nor my praise to idols.   
[9]   See, the former things have come to pass,   
         and new things I now declare;   
    before they spring forth,   
         I tell you of them.

[10]  Sing to the LORD a new song,   
         his praise from the end of the earth!   
    Let the sea roar and all that fills it,   
         the coastlands and their inhabitants.   
[11]  Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,   
         the villages that Kedar inhabits;   
    let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy,   
         let them shout from the tops of the mountains.   
[12]  Let them give glory to the LORD,   
         and declare his praise in the coastlands.   
[13]  The LORD goes forth like a soldier,   
         like a warrior he stirs up his fury;   
    he cries out, he shouts aloud,   
         he shows himself mighty against his foes.

[14]  For a long time I have held my peace,   
         I have kept still and restrained myself;   
    now I will cry out like a woman in labor,   
         I will gasp and pant.   
[15]  I will lay waste mountains and hills,   
         and dry up all their herbage;   
    I will turn the rivers into islands,   
         and dry up the pools.   
[16]  I will lead the blind   
         by a road they do not know,   
    by paths they have not known   
         I will guide them.   
    I will turn the darkness before them into light,   
         the rough places into level ground.   
    These are the things I will do,   
         and I will not forsake them.   
[17]  They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame --   
         those who trust in carved images,   
    who say to cast images,   
         "You are our gods."

 

Isaiah 62:6-7, 10-12

[6]   Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,   
         I have posted sentinels;   
    all day and all night   
         they shall never be silent.   
    You who remind the LORD,   
         take no rest,   
[7]   and give him no rest   
         until he establishes Jerusalem   
         and makes it renowned throughout the earth.

[10]  Go through, go through the gates,   
         prepare the way for the people;   
    build up, build up the highway,   
         clear it of stones,   
         lift up an ensign over the peoples.   
[11]  The LORD has proclaimed   
         to the end of the earth:   
    Say to daughter Zion,   
         "See, your salvation comes;   
    his reward is with him,   
         and his recompense before him."   
[12]  They shall be called, "The Holy People,   
         The Redeemed of the LORD";   
    and you shall be called, "Sought Out,   
         A City Not Forsaken."

Isaiah 12:1-6

[1]   You will say in that day:   
    I will give thanks to you, O LORD,   
         for though you were angry with me,   
    your anger turned away,   
         and you comforted me.

[2]   Surely God is my salvation;   
         I will trust, and will not be afraid,   
    for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might;   
         he has become my salvation.

[3]With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. [4]And you will
say in that   
day:   
    Give thanks to the LORD,   
         call on his name;   
    make known his deeds among the nations;   
         proclaim that his name is exalted.

[5]   Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;   
         let this be known in all the earth.   
[6]   Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,   
         for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Revelation 21:1-6

[1]Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the
first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2]And I saw the holy
city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. [3]And I heard a loud voice from the throne
saying,   
    "See, the home of God is among mortals.   
    He will dwell with them;   
    they will be his peoples,   
    and God himself will be with them;   
[4]   he will wipe every tear from their eyes.   
    Death will be no more;   
    mourning and crying and pain will be no more,   
    for the first things have passed away." 

[5]And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things
new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."
[6]Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the
spring of the water of life.

Isaiah 11:1-9

[1]A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,  

     and a branch shall grow out of his roots.  

[2]The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him,  

     the spirit of wisdom and understanding,  

     the spirit of counsel and might,  

     the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.  

[3]His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,  

     or decide by what his ears hear;  

[4]but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,  

     and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;  

he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,  

     and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.  

[5]Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,  

     and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

[6]The wolf shall live with the lamb,  

     the leopard shall lie down with the kid,  

the calf and the lion and the fatling together,  

     and a little child shall lead them.  

[7]The cow and the bear shall graze,  

     their young shall lie down together;  

     and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  

[8]The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,  

     and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den.  

[9]They will not hurt or destroy  

     on all my holy mountain;  

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD  

     as the waters cover the sea.

 

Isaiah 2:1-4

[1]The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

[2]     In days to come  

          the mountain of the LORD's house  

     shall be established as the highest of the mountains,  

          and shall be raised above the hills;  

     all the nations shall stream to it.  

[3]          Many peoples shall come and say,  

     "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,  

          to the house of the God of Jacob;  

     that he may teach us his ways  

          and that we may walk in his paths."  

     For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,  

          and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.  

[4]     He shall judge between the nations,  

          and shall arbitrate for many peoples;  

     they shall beat their swords into plowshares,  

          and their spears into pruning hooks;  

     nation shall not lift up sword against nation,  

          neither shall they learn war any more.

 

Isaiah 25:6-9

[6]On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. [7]And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. [8]Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

Revelation 7:9-17

[9]After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. [10]They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" [11]And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, [12]singing, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."

[13]Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?" [14]I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows." Then he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. [15]For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. [16]They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; [17]for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

 

Isaiah 49:1-7

[1]Listen to me, O coastlands,
pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The LORD called me before I was born,
while I was in my mother's womb he named me.
[2]He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me away.
[3]And he said to me, "You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
[4]But I said, "I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the LORD,
and my reward with my God."

[5]And now the LORD says,
who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the sight of the LORD,
and my God has become my strength
[6]he says,
"It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

[7]Thus says the LORD,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
"Kings shall see and stand up,
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

Isaiah 54:1-13

[1]Sing, O barren one who did not bear;  

     burst into song and shout,  

     you who have not been in labor!  

For the children of the desolate woman will be more  

     than the children of her that is married, says the LORD.  

[2]Enlarge the site of your tent,  

     and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;  

do not hold back; lengthen your cords  

     and strengthen your stakes.  

[3]For you will spread out to the right and to the left,  

     and your descendants will possess the nations  

     and will settle the desolate towns.

[4]Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;  

     do not be discouraged, for you will not suffer disgrace;  

for you will forget the shame of your youth,  

     and the disgrace of your widowhood you will remember no more.  

[5]For your Maker is your husband,  

     the LORD of hosts is his name;  

the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,  

     the God of the whole earth he is called.  

[6]For the LORD has called you  

     like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,  

like the wife of a man's youth when she is cast off,  

     says your God.  

[7]For a brief moment I abandoned you,  

     but with great compassion I will gather you.  

[8]In overflowing wrath for a moment  

     I hid my face from you,  

but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,  

     says the LORD, your Redeemer.

[9]This is like the days of Noah to me:  

     Just as I swore that the waters of Noah  

     would never again go over the earth,  

so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you  

     and will not rebuke you.  

[10]For the mountains may depart  

     and the hills be removed,  

but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,  

     and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,  

     says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

[11]O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,  

     I am about to set your stones in antimony,  

     and lay your foundations with sapphires.  

[12]I will make your pinnacles of rubies,  

     your gates of jewels,  

     and all your wall of precious stones.  

[13]All your children shall be taught by the LORD,  

     and great shall be the prosperity of your children.