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Zion's future glory
60 Stand up! Shine brightly!
Now your light has come![a]
The Lord's glory has risen to shine on you.
2 Look! Darkness covers all the earth and its people.
But the Lord shines his light on you,
so that his glory appears over you.
3 People of other nations will come to your light.
Kings will come to see the light of a new day that shines on you.
4 Look all round you!
All your people are coming together to return to you.
Your sons are coming from far away,
and they carry your daughters in their arms.
5 As you see this, your eyes will shine with joy.
Your hearts will beat fast,
and you will be proud to see them.
Traders will bring valuable things to you
from lands across the seas.
The riches of other nations will come to you.
6 Traders will bring things on their camels
so that your roads are full.
Young camels will come from Midian
and from Ephah.
People will come from Sheba.
They will bring gold and incense.
They will sing aloud to praise the Lord.
7 All the sheep and goats in Kedar will come to you.
They will give you sheep from Nebaioth,
and I will accept them as sacrifices on my altar.
I will make my temple great and beautiful.
8 See those ships that sail along like clouds!
They come like doves that are flying to their homes.
9 People from lands across the seas are coming to find me.
Their big ships are leading them.
They are bringing your children from far away,
as well as silver and gold.
They come to give honour to the name of the Lord your God.
He is Israel's Holy God.
They come here because he has shown that you are great.
10 Foreign people will build your walls again.
Their kings will be your servants.
I punished you when I was angry with you.
But now I will show my grace
and I will be kind to you.
11 The gates of your city will always be open.
People will never close them,
during the day or during the night.
Then other nations will bring their riches to you,
and their kings will lead them.
12 Any nation or kingdom that refuses to serve you
will come to an end.
Enemies will completely destroy those nations.
13 The beautiful things of Lebanon will come to you.
They will bring you its pine trees,
its fir trees and its cypress trees.
The wood will make my temple beautiful.
I will cause my home on earth to be great!
14 The descendants of your cruel enemies will come to you.
They will bend down low in front of you.
Everybody who insulted you before
will now give you honour.
They will call you, ‘The City of the Lord,
Zion that is home for Israel's Holy God.’
15 At one time, people kept away from you,
and they hated you.
Nobody travelled through you.
But now I will make you a great city,
so that people will be proud of you for ever.
Your people and their descendants will be very happy.
16 Other nations and their kings
will give you everything that you need.
They will be like mothers
who feed their babies with their milk.
Then you will know that I, the Lord,
have made you safe.
You will know that I am your Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 I will bring you gold instead of bronze.
I will bring you silver instead of iron.
I will give you bronze to use, instead of wood.
I will give you iron instead of stones.
I will cause peace to be your city's leader.
Righteousness will rule over you.
18 You will not hear the noise of violence in your land any more.
Inside its borders,
nobody will fight wars or destroy things.
You will call your city's walls ‘Salvation’,
and you will call your city's gates ‘Praise’.
19 You will no longer need the sun
to give you light in the day again.
You will not need the moon to shine at night.
Instead, the Lord will be the light
that shines on you for ever.
Yes, your God will be the light
that brings you honour.
20 Your sun will never go down again
and your moon will never disappear.
That is because the Lord will be the light
that shines on you for ever.
Then your sad days will come to an end.
21 All your people will be righteous.
The land will belong to them for ever.
I myself will plant them in the ground
like a young plant.
As they grow, they will show how great I am.
22 The least important person among you
will become a great family.
The smallest person will become a large nation.
I am the Lord.
When the right time comes,
I will cause it to happen quickly!
Good news of salvation
61 The Spirit of the Almighty Lord is on me,
because he has chosen me to serve him.[b]
He has sent me to tell good news to poor people.
He has sent me to comfort people who are very upset.
He has sent me to tell prisoners that they are now free.
They can go out of their prisons!
2 He has sent me to say,
‘This is the year when the Lord will be kind to his people.’
It is the time when our God will punish our enemies.
He has sent me to comfort people who are weeping
because they are sad.
3 In that way, the people in Zion who are sad
will become strong again.
They will not put ashes on their heads any more.[c]
Instead, they will wear beautiful hats.
Instead of weeping,
they will have olive oil to show their joy.
They will not feel upset,
but they will sing happy songs to praise God.
People will call them ‘Strong trees that show God's righteousness’.
They will be like trees that the Lord himself has planted
to show how great he is.
4 God's people will build again their towns
that became heaps of stones a long time ago.
Once again, they will live in the cities
that have been empty for so long.
5 The Lord says to his people,
‘Foreign people will take care of your sheep for you.
They will work on your farms,
and they will take care of your vines.[d]
6 People will call you
“The Lord's priests who are servants of our God”.
You will enjoy valuable things from other nations.
You will boast about all the riches
that you receive from them.
7 You will not be ashamed any more.
Instead, you will receive twice as much blessing.
People will not say that you are useless.
Instead, you will live happily on your own land.
Yes, my people will have twice the crops from their land,
And so they will always be very happy.
8 I, the Lord, love justice.
I hate it when people rob others,
or they do other wrong things.
Because I am faithful,
I will give help to my people.
I will make a covenant with them
that will continue for ever.
9 Their descendants will be famous
among the other nations.
Everyone who sees them will know
that the Lord has blessed them.’
10 I am very happy,
because of what the Lord, my God, has done.[e]
I have so much joy!
He has given salvation to me,
like clothes that I can wear all the time.
I have his righteousness as my coat!
He makes me handsome,
like a bridegroom who wears a priest's hat.
He makes me beautiful,
like a bride who wears her jewels.
11 The Almighty Lord will cause his righteousness
to grow everywhere.
It will grow like crops in the fields,
and like plants that grow in a garden.
Then his people will praise him,
and all the nations will see it!
Salvation will come to Zion
62 Because I love Zion,
I will not be quiet.
I cannot stay quiet,
because Jerusalem is in trouble.
I will continue to speak until she is safe again.
I want her righteousness to shine
like the sun at dawn.
I want her salvation to be a bright light in the dark.
2 Jerusalem, the nations will see your righteousness.
All their kings will see how great you are.
People will call you by a new name,
which the Lord himself will give to you.
3 The Lord your God will hold you in his hand,
and you will bring him honour.
You will be like his beautiful crown!
4 They will no longer call you by the name ‘Alone’.
They will not call your land ‘Empty place’.
Instead, they will call you ‘The one that makes God happy’.
The name of your land will be ‘Married’.
Yes, the Lord will be very happy with you.
Your land will be his bride.
5 As a young man marries a pure young woman,
so your sons will marry you, Jerusalem.[f]
Your God will be very happy that you belong to him,
as a bridegroom is happy with his new wife.
27 The most important thing is that you continue to live in a good way. Live in the way that the good news about Christ teaches. I want to know that you agree together about the good news. And that you work together to show others that the good news is true. Whether I come to visit you or not, I want to know that you all help one another like that. 28 I want to know that you are not afraid of the people who speak against you. If you are brave, that will be a sign from God. It will show your enemies that they will lose and you will win. God will punish them, but he will save you. 29 God is helping you to serve Christ well. That means that you believe in Christ. But it also means that you receive trouble and pain on his behalf. Both of those are gifts from God. 30 You are receiving the same kinds of trouble that I myself receive. You saw that when I was with you. Now you hear that it is still happening to me.
Be more like Christ
2 You belong to Christ, and he makes you brave. His love makes you strong. You are able to help one another because his Spirit is in you. You can be kind to each other, and you can forgive each other. 2 Because of that, this is how you can make me completely happy: In your mind, think about things in the same way as one another. Love one another completely. In your spirit, agree with one another. And work together for the same purpose. 3 In the way that you live, do not just try to help yourself. Do not be proud. Instead, respect other people. Think about other people as more important than yourself. 4 Do not think only about the things that you want to do for yourself. Each of you should think also about how you can help other people.
5 You should think about things in the same way that Christ Jesus thought:
6 Christ had the same nature as God.
He was completely equal with God.
But he did not try to keep hold of that.
7 Instead, he chose to leave heaven.
He took for himself the nature of a slave.
He became like a human.
8 And when he lived as a man,
he made himself even less important.
He obeyed God completely, so that he died.
He even died on a cross![a]
9 Because of that, God then raised Jesus Christ to the most important place.
God gave him the name that is greater than every other name.
10 As a result, when people hear Jesus' name, they must worship him.
Everyone will have to go down on their knees in front of him.
That includes everything that is in heaven,
everything on the earth and everything under the earth.
11 Everyone will have to agree that Jesus Christ is Lord.
When they say that aloud, they will show that God the Father is very great.[b]
Christians must be like lights in the world
12 So, my friends, you must continue to obey God.[c] When I was with you, you always obeyed. Now that I am not with you, that is even more important. God has saved you. You must always live in a way which shows that is true. Respect God and obey him. Remember that he is great and powerful. 13 It is God himself who is working in you. Now you want to obey him, and he makes you strong to do that. When you obey him, that makes him very happy.
14 Whatever you are doing, do not complain. And do not argue. 15 Then you will not be guilty of anything that is wrong. You will be clean inside yourselves. You will be living in a completely good way, as God's children should. In this world, you are living among bad people who have turned away from what is good. But you must bring light into this dark place, like stars that shine in the night. 16 Tell people the true message that can give them life with God. Then I will know that my work among you had good results. Because of that, I will be very happy on the day when Christ returns.
17 You believe in Christ, and you are his servants. That is like you are offering yourselves as a sacrifice to God. Perhaps I will soon have to die. Then my blood would be like drink that I am pouring on your sacrifice, to please God. So, if I have to die now, I will be happy. And we should all be happy together. 18 Yes, it is right that you should be happy, and I will also be happy with you.
This psalm is for Solomon.
A prayer for the king[a]
72 God, please help the king
to judge people in a right way.
Help the king's son to be honest and fair,
as you are.[b]
2 Then he will rule your people in a good way,
so that even poor people receive justice.
3 The mountains and the hills will bring peace,
so that the people can live honest lives.
4 Please help the king to judge poor people fairly.
May he save the children of weak people,
and destroy those cruel people who hurt them.
5 May people always respect your authority, God,
through all time,
as long as the sun and the moon remain in the sky.[c]
6 May the king be a blessing to his people,
like rain that falls on grass that lies in the fields.
May he be like rain
that brings water to the soil.
7 While he rules as king,
those people who serve God will do well.
There will be peace in all the land,
for as long as the moon remains in the sky.
8 May the king rule everywhere,
from sea to sea,
and from the Euphrates river to the ends of the earth.[d]
9 Then people who live in the desert
will bend down to respect him.
His enemies will fall down
with their faces in the dust.
10 Kings from Spain and from other far places
will pay taxes to him.
Kings from Sheba and from Seba
will bring gifts to him.
11 All kings will bend down in front of him.
People from all nations will serve him.
12 He will rescue the poor person
who calls out to him for help.
He will save weak people
who have nobody to help them.
13 He will be kind to people who are poor and weak.
He will save them from death.
14 He will rescue them from cruel people who hurt them.
Their lives are important to him.
15 Long live the king!
May people come from Sheba to give gold to him.
May people always pray for him.
May people praise him all the time.
16 May there always be plenty of grain
that grows in the land.
May the crops grow well
on the tops of the mountains.
May the fruit trees give a lot of fruit,
as they do in Lebanon.
May all the crops grow well,
like grass that grows in a field.
17 May the king be famous for ever!
May people remember him
for as long as the sun continues to shine.
May people from all nations use his name
when they bless one another.
May they all say that God has blessed the king!
18 Praise the Lord, Israel's God,
as he deserves.
Only he does such wonderful things.
19 Praise his great name for ever!
May his glory fill the whole earth!
Amen! May that all happen!
20 This is the end of the prayers of Jesse's son, David.[e]
11 25. You should rescue people who are in danger of death. 12 You may say, ‘We did not know what was happening.’ But God knows your thoughts. He carefully watches your life and he knows what you are doing. He will pay back to you whatever you deserve.
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