Study Desk

The voices of your watchmen—they lift up their voices,shouting for joy together;for every eye will seewhen the Lord returns to Zion.

Be joyful, rejoice together,you ruins of Jerusalem!For the Lord has comforted his people;he has redeemed Jerusalem.

For you will not leave in a hurry,and you will not have to take flight;because the Lord is going before you,and the God of Israel is your rear guard.

so he will sprinkle many nations.Kings will shut their mouths because of him,for they will see what had not been told them,and they will understand what they had not heard.

But he was pierced because of our rebellion,crushed because of our iniquities;punishment for our peace was on him,and we are healed by his wounds.

He was taken away because of oppression and judgment;and who considered his fate?For he was cut off from the land of the living;he was struck because of my people’s rebellion.

Therefore I will give him the many as a portion,and he will receive the mighty as spoil,because he willingly submitted to death,and was counted among the rebels;yet he bore the sin of manyand interceded for the rebels.

For you will spread out to the right and to the left,and your descendants will dispossess nationsand inhabit the desolate cities.

“Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame;don’t be humiliated, for you will not be disgraced.For you will forget the shame of your youth,and you will no longer rememberthe disgrace of your widowhood.

For the Lord has called you,like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit,a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,”says your God.

“I deserted you for a brief moment,but I will take you back with abundant compassion.

In a surge of angerI hid my face from you for a moment,but I will have compassion on youwith everlasting love,”says the Lord your Redeemer.

“For this is like the days of Noah to me:when I swore that the water of Noahwould never flood the earth again,so I have sworn that I will not be angry with youor rebuke you.

Look, I have created the craftsmanwho blows on the charcoal fireand produces a weapon suitable for its task;and I have created the destroyer to cause havoc.

Since I have made him a witness to the peoples,a leader and commander for the peoples,

Let the wicked one abandon his wayand the sinful one his thoughts;let him return to the Lord,so he may have compassion on him,and to our God, for he will freely forgive.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,and your ways are not my ways.”

“For as heaven is higher than earth,so my ways are higher than your ways,and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For just as rain and snow fall from heavenand do not return therewithout saturating the earthand making it germinate and sprout,and providing seed to sowand food to eat,

Instead of the thornbush, a cypress will come up,and instead of the brier, a myrtle will come up;this will stand as a monument for the Lord,an everlasting sign that will not be destroyed.