Isaiah 62

‘Jerusalem, because I love you,

I will not keep quiet.

I will keep on talking to you

until you are what I want you to be,

and until I have saved you.

It will be like a bright light to you,

like a burning torch that gives light.

₂The nations and their kings will see

that you are like I want you to be,

and you will be a strong city.

They will give you a new name.

The Lord has chosen that name for you.

₃The Lord will hold you

like a beautiful crown,

like the turban of a king.

₄People have given you

and your land a name before.

They said you were:

“The city where people no longer live”,

and they said you were:

“The land that was destroyed.”

They will now no longer name you like that.

They will now say you are:

“The city that the Lord loves”

and they will name your land:

“The land that belongs to the Lord.”

That is because the Lord loves you,

and your land belongs to Him.

₅Your people will say

that you belong to them

like a young man who marries a girl.

Like a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,

that is how your God will rejoice over you.

₆Jerusalem, I have put guards on your walls

and they must never keep quiet,

they must pray continually,

all through the day

and all through the night.

You who say that the Lord is your God,

you must not keep quiet.

₇You must keep on asking the Lord

to build Jerusalem, until He

has made it strong and has made it a city

that all people will praise.

₈The Lord has put up his right hand

and has promised that He will

never again give Jerusalem's wheat to its enemies.

The enemies will never eat it again.

People from other lands

will never again drink your wine,

because the people of Jerusalem

have worked hard to make that wine.

₉The people who harvest the wheat

will eat the bread and they will praise the Lord.

The people who pick the grapes

and make wine will drink it

at the holy temple of the Lord.’

₁₀You must come, come through the gates.

You must make a road for the Israelites.

You must build the road

and throw the stones off the road.

You must put up a flag

so that all the nations can see it.

₁₁The Lord is talking

to all the people on earth.

He says that you must tell Zion:

‘Look, your Saviour is coming.

He brings his people with Him.

They are the people who belong to Him.’

₁₂The name of this nation will be:

‘Holy People.’ The Lord has saved

these people and made them free,

and the name of Jerusalem will be:

‘City that the people love.’

It will be a city where people want to live.