Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good, p. 88-89

David Rosenberg, A Poet’s Bible, p. 275
Edward Schillebeeckx, God Among Us, p. 3-7

1-2       Zechariah 3:1-5, 9:12
1           Job 19:21; Isaiah 66:13; Luke 2:25
2           Psalm 69:26-27; Isaiah 61:7; Jeremiah 16:8; Revelation 18:6
3-5       Luke 3:4-6
3           Isaiah 43:19; Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; John 1:23
4           Psalm 143:10; Isaiah 2:2
5           Isaiah 55:12
6-8       Matthew 6:28-30; James 1:10-11; 1 Peter 1:24-25
6-7       Psalm 90:5-7
7-8      John 6:63; Matthew 5:18
9-10     Isaiah 35:4
9           Isaiah 2:2; Isaiah 52:7; Ezekiel 6:1-4
10         Isaiah 35:4, 61:2, 62:11; Revelation 22:12
11          Ezekiel 34:15; Mark 13:17; John 10:11

1-5     Donald Senior and Carroll Stuhlmueller, “Israel’s Election and World Salvation,” Biblical Foundations for Mission, p. 101

1-2     Wendell Berry, “Andy Catlett’s Dream,” A Timbered Choir, p. 109

1-2     George Herbert, “Man’s Medley,” The Selected Poetry of George Herbert, p. 187

2        Ernst Käsemann, Commentary on Romans, p. 43 f.

3-5    Thomas R. Haney, “The Challenge,” Today’s Spirituality, p. 176

3-5    Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion, p. 37

3      Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good, p. 89

4-5     Martin Luther King, Jr., Lend Me Your Ears, p. 499

6-8     Walter Brueggemann, “The Prophetic Word of God and History,” Interpretation (July 1994), p. 239-251

6-8     J. Barrie Shepherd, “Lawn Care,” The Moveable Feast, p. 64

6-8     François Villon, “Ballade in Old French,” New and Collected Poems, p. 175

6-8     Richard Wilbur, “Mayflies,” The New Yorker (June 14, 1999), p. 55

6-7     Vincent Tripi, paperweight for nothing, p. 57

11       Francis Patrick Sullivan, “Off the Tracks,” A Time To Sow, p. 42

1 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.

3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand for ever.
9 Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him; behold,
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd,
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.

12-23     Jeremiah 51:15-19
13-14      Psalm 94:10
13            Romans 11:34; 1 Corinthians 2:16
18-19      Acts 17:29

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,
or as his counselor has instructed him?
14 Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,
and who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the isles like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18 To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
19 The idol! a workman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold,
and casts for it silver chains.
20 He who is impoverished chooses for an offering
wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an image that will not move.

Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation and Obedience, p. 215-217

26-28   Psalm 147:4-5
27          Isaiah 29:15

22-26    H. E. Fosdick, The Meaning of Prayer, p. 116 f.
26          Ancient Near East, Vol 1, p. 247
28-31    Walter Brueggemann, “Prophetic Energizing,” The Prophetic Imagination, p. 78 f.

28-31    Terry Talbot, “We Will Rise,” No Longer Strangers

29-31    Imaging the Word, Vol. 3, p. 132
31          Flora Slosson Wuellner, Prayer and Our Bodies, p. 77 f.

21 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
23 who brings princes to nought,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25 To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power
not one is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hid from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary,
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.

8     2 Chronicles 20:7; James 2:23

1-4        Isabel Wood Rogers, “The Freedom of a Sovereign God,” Sing a New Song, p. 54-60
8-16      Isabel Wood Rogers, “I Will Be With You,” Sing a New Song, p. 80-85
21-29    Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good, p. 91-93

1 Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.

2 Who stirred up one from the east
whom victory meets at every step?
He gives up nations before him,
so that he tramples kings under foot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
like driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them and passes on safely,
by paths his feet have not trod.
4 Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, the LORD, the first,
and with the last; I am He.
5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid,
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
6 Every one helps his neighbor,
and says to his brother, “Take courage!”
7 The craftsman encourages the goldsmith,
and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
and they fasten it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
8 But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners, saying to you,
“You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 fear not, for I am with you,
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

11 Behold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12 You shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13 For I, the LORD your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you,
“Fear not, I will help you.”
14 Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I will help you, says the LORD;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I will make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
16 You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you shall rejoice in the LORD;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

17 When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the LORD will answer them,
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19 I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together;
20 that men may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.

21 Set forth your case, says the LORD;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them, and tell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.
23 Tell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
do good, or do harm,
that we may be dismayed and terrified.
24 Behold, you are nothing,
and your work is nought;
an abomination is he who chooses you.

25 I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
from the rising of the sun, and he shall call on my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
26 Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
and beforetime, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
27 I first have declared it to Zion,
and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good tidings.
28 But when I look there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
29 Behold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their molten images are empty wind.

1-4          Malachi 2:6; Matthew 12:18-21
1              Matthew 3:17, 17:5; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22, 9:35
2              Matthew 6:5
5              Acts 17:24-25
6              Isaiah 49:6; Luke 2:32; Acts 13:47, 26:23
7              Psalm 68:6; Isaiah 6:9-10
11            Psalm 120:5
16            Psalm 139:11-12
18-20    Isaiah 6:9-13, 43:8

1-9          Isabel Wood Rogers, “Behold My Servant,” Sing a New Song, p. 61-66
1-4          Walter Brueggemann, Gathering the Church in the Spirit, p. 10-12
1-4          Christina Rossetti, “A Bruised Reed Shall He Not Break,” Goblin Market and Other Poems, p. 40

1-4          Ivan Steiger, Ivan Steiger Sees the Bible, p. 132
3             Roberta Bondi, “Crucifixion,” Weavings (September/October 1994), p. 27
3             Desmond Tutu, “Address to Deacons,” Hope and Suffering, p. 69-74
1-4          Flora Slosson Wuellner, Prayer and Our Bodies, p. 106 f.
9             R. E. Clements, “The Unity of the Book of Isaiah,” Interpretation (April 1982), p. 124 f.

14           Bridget Meehan, Exploring the Feminine Face of God, p. 3
18-20     R. E. Clements, “The Unity of the Book of Isaiah,” Interpretation (April 1982), p. 125

1 Behold 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 fail or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.

5 Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread forth 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 graven images.
9 Behold, 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 cities lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy,
let them shout from the top 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 mighty man,
like a man of war 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 travail,
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 And I will lead the blind
in a way that they know not,
in paths that 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,
who trust in graven images,
who say to molten images,
“You are our gods.”

18 Hear, you deaf;
and look, you blind, that you may see!
19 Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,
or blind as the servant of the LORD?
20 He sees many things, but does not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.

21 The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
22 But this is a people robbed and plundered,
they are all of them trapped in holes
and hidden in prisons;
they have become a prey with none to rescue,
a spoil with none to say, “Restore!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this,
will attend and listen for the time to come?
24 Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler,
and Israel to the robbers?
Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
25 So he poured upon him the heat of his anger
and the might of battle;
it set him on fire round about, but he did not understand;
it burned him, but he did not take it to heart.

2             Exodus 3:2-3; Daniel 3:27
5-7         Acts 2:39
7             Romans 8:30; Ephesians 3:15
8             Isaiah 6:9-10,  42:20
19-21     Psalm 107:33-38
25           Ezekiel 36:22-27

1-7          Isabel Wood Rogers, “I Will Be With You,” Sing a New Song, p. 80-85
1              Dan Damon, “I Have Called You by Your Name,” The Sound of Welcome, p. 4

8             R. E. Clements, “The Unity of the Book of Isaiah,” Interpretation (April 1982), p. 125

14-21     Isabel Wood Rogers, “The Surprising God,” “A Song of Freedom,” Sing a New Song, p. 43-53
18-19     Imaging the Word, Vol. 3, p. 140
22-24    Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, p. 73 f.

22           H. E. Fosdick, The Meaning of Prayer, p. 76

1 But now thus says the LORD,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
4 Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.
5 Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
6 I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
7 every one who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”

8 Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears!
9 Let all the nations gather together,
and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them can declare this,
and show us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,
and let them hear and say, It is true.
10 “You are my witnesses,” says the LORD,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am He.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
11 I, I am the LORD,
and besides me there is no savior.
12 I declared and saved and proclaimed,
when there was no strange god among you;
and you are my witnesses,” says the LORD.
13 “I am God, and also henceforth I am He;
there is none who can deliver from my hand;
I work and who can hinder it?”

14 Thus says the LORD,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon
and break down all the bars,
and the shouting of the Chaldeans will be turned to lamentations.
15 I am the LORD, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King.”
16 Thus says the LORD,
who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,
17 who brings forth chariot and horse,
army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
18 “Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
20 The wild beasts will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
21 the people whom I formed for myself
that they might declare my praise.

22 “Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;
but you have been weary of me, O Israel!
23 You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,
or honored me with your sacrifices.
I have not burdened you with offerings,
or wearied you with frankincense.
24 You have not bought me sweet cane with money,
or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.
But you have burdened me with your sins,
you have wearied me with your iniquities.

25 “I, I am He
who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
26 Put me in remembrance, let us argue together;
set forth your case, that you may be proved right.
27 Your first father sinned,
and your mediators transgressed against me.
28 Therefore I profaned the princes of the sanctuary,
I delivered Jacob to utter destruction
and Israel to reviling.

3             Joel 2:28-29
5             Jeremiah 31:34
6             Isaiah 48:12; Revelation 1:17, 2:8, 22:13
8             Matthew 7:24-27
18            Isaiah 6:9-10
22-23     Ezekiel 36:22-27
25           1 Corinthians 1:20
28           2 Chronicles 36:23; Ezra 1:2

6-20       Isabel Wood Rogers, “No Other God,” Sing a New Song, p. 31-36
14            Phillips Brooks, “The Planter and the Rain,” The Light of the World, p. 270-286
24-28     Isabel Wood Rogers, “The Freedom of a Sovereign God,” Sing a New Song, p. 54-60

1 “But now hear, O Jacob my servant,
Israel whom I have chosen!
2 Thus says the LORD who made you,
who formed you from the womb and will help you:
Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit upon your descendants,
and my blessing on your offspring.
4 They shall spring up like grass amid waters,
like willows by flowing streams.
5 This one will say, ‘I am the LORD’s,’
another will call himself by the name of Jacob,
and another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’
and surname himself by the name of Israel.”

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 him proclaim it,
let him 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 Fear not, nor be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
And you are my witnesses!
Is there a God besides me?
There is no Rock; I know not any.”

9 All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.  10 Who fashions a god or casts an image, that is profitable for nothing?  11 Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are but men; let them all assemble, let them stand forth, they shall be terrified, they shall be put to shame together.

12 The ironsmith fashions it and works it over the coals; he shapes it with hammers, and forges it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry and his strength fails, he drinks no water and is faint.  13 The carpenter stretches a line, he marks it out with a pencil; he fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.  14 He cuts down cedars; or he chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.  15 Then it becomes fuel for a man; he takes a part of it and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread; also he makes a god and worships it, he makes it a graven image and falls down before it.  16 Half of it he burns in the fire; over the half he eats flesh, he roasts meat and is satisfied; also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!”  17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol; and falls down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for thou art my god!”

18 They know not, nor do they discern; for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their minds, so that they cannot understand.  19 No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire, I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted flesh and have eaten; and shall I make the residue of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20 He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

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.

24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer,
who formed you from the womb:
“I am the LORD, who made all things,
who stretched out the heavens alone,
who spread out the earth—Who was with me?—
25 who frustrates the omens of liars,
and makes fools of diviners;
who turns wise men back,
and makes their knowledge foolish;
26 who confirms the word of his servant,
and performs the counsel of his messengers;
who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’
and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,
and I will raise up their ruins’;
27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,
I will dry up your rivers’;
28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,
and he shall fulfil all my purpose’;
saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’
and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”

8        Isaiah 55:10-11
9        Isaiah 29:16; Romans 9:20
14      Isaiah 18:7
23      Isaiah 55:10; Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10-11

1-13        Isabel Wood Rogers, “The Freedom of a Sovereign God,” Sing a New Song, p. 54-60
7              Stephen Mitchell, “Introduction,” The Book of Job, p. xxiv

8              Carla De Sola, The Spirit Moves, p. 40
14            R. E. Clements, “The Unity of the Book of Isaiah,” Interpretation (April 1982), p. 121

15             John Burns, Newsletter Newsletter (December, 1997), p. 5

15             Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, p. 7

15             Denise Levertov, Selected Poems, Evening Train

18-23       Isabel Wood Rogers, “To the End of the Earth,” Sing a New Song, p. 67-72
18-22       Walter Brueggemann, “Cosmic Hurt/Personal Possibility,” Interpretation and Obedience, p. 313-321

20-24       Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good, p. 93-95

1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and ungird the loins of kings,
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed:
2 “I will go before you
and level the mountains,
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut asunder the bars of iron,
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the LORD,
the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name,
I surname you, though you do not know me.
5 I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I gird you, though you do not know me,
6 that men may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none 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 am the LORD, who do all these things.

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

9 “Woe to him who strives with his Maker,
an earthen vessel with the potter!
Does the clay say to him who fashions it, ‘What are you making’?
or ‘Your work has no handles’?
10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
or to a woman, ‘With what are you in travail?’”
11 Thus says the LORD,
the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:
“Will you question me about my children,
or command me concerning the work of my hands?
12 I made the earth,
and created man upon it;
it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
and I commanded all their host.
13 I have aroused him in righteousness,
and I will make straight all his ways;
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, men 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 only, and there is no other,
no god besides him.’”
15 Truly, thou art a God who hidest thyself,
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.

18 For thus says the LORD,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it a chaos,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the LORD, and there is no other.
19 I did not speak in secret,
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
‘Seek me in chaos.’
I the LORD speak the truth,
I declare what is right.

20 “Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together,
you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge
who carry about their wooden idols,
and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.
21 Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the LORD?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none besides me.

22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn,
from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear.’

24 “Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed,
all who were incensed against him.
25 In the LORD all the offspring of Israel
shall triumph and glory.”

Isabel Wood Rogers, “No Other God,” Sing a New Song, p. 31-36

1-4     Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, p. 73 f.

1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops,
their idols are on beasts and cattle;
these things you carry are loaded
as burdens on weary beasts.
2 They stoop, they bow down together,
they cannot save the burden,
but themselves go into captivity.

3 “Hearken to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from your birth,
carried from the womb;
4 even to your old age I am He,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.

5 “To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
and compare me, that we may be alike?
6 Those who lavish gold from the purse,
and weigh out silver in the scales,
hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
then they fall down and worship!
7 They lift it upon their shoulders, they carry it,
they set it in its place, and it stands there;
it cannot move from its place.
If one cries to it, it does not answer
or save him from his trouble.

8 “Remember this and consider,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
9 remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
11 calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.

12 “Hearken to me, you stubborn of heart,
you who are far from deliverance:
13 I bring near my deliverance, it is not far off,
and my salvation will not tarry;
I will put salvation in Zion,
for Israel my glory.”

Isabel Wood Rogers, “God’s Steady Will,” Sing a New Song, p. 37-42

1-15    Isaiah 13:1—14:3; Jeremiah 50:1—51:64
8-9     Revelation 18:7-8

1 Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon;
sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you shall no more be called
tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and grind meal,
put off your veil,
strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
pass through the rivers.
3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
and your shame shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
and I will spare no man.
4 Our Redeemer—the LORD of hosts is his name—
is the Holy One of Israel.

5 Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
the mistress of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my people,
I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand,
you showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke
exceedingly heavy.
7 You said, “I shall be mistress for ever,”
so that you did not lay these things to heart
or remember their end.

8 Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,
who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
“I am, and there is no one besides me;
I shall not sit as a widow
or know the loss of children”:
9 These two things shall come to you
in a moment, in one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
shall come upon you in full measure,
in spite of your many sorceries
and the great power of your enchantments.

10 You felt secure in your wickedness,
you said, “No one sees me”;
your wisdom and your knowledge
led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
11 But evil shall come upon you,
for which you cannot atone;
disaster shall fall upon you,
which you will not be able to expiate;
and ruin shall come on you suddenly,
of which you know nothing.

12 Stand fast in your enchantments
and your many sorceries,
with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed,
perhaps you may inspire terror.
13 You are wearied with your many counsels;
let them stand forth and save you,
those who divide the heavens,
who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons predict what shall befall you.

14 Behold, they are like stubble,
the fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
no fire to sit before!
15 Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
who have trafficked with you from your youth;
they wander about each in his own direction;
there is no one to save you.

1-2    Matthew 5:33-37
12      Isaiah 44:6; Revelation 1:17, 22:13
18      Isaiah 11:9; Amos 5:24
19      Genesis 15:5-6
20      Revelation 18:4
22      Isaiah 57:21

1-11       Isabel Wood Rogers, “The Surprising God,” Sing a New Song, p. 43-47
3            R. E. Clements, “The Unity of the Book of Isaiah,” Interpretation (April 1982), p. 124 f.

1 Hear this, O house of Jacob,
who are called by the name of Israel,
and who came forth from the loins of Judah;
who swear by the name of the LORD,
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
2 For they call themselves after the holy city,
and stay themselves on the God of Israel;
the LORD of hosts is his name.

3 “The former things I declared of old,
they went forth from my mouth and I made them known;
then suddenly I did them and they came to pass.
4 Because I know that you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead brass,
5 I declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, ‘My idol did them,
my graven image and my molten image commanded them.’

6 “You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forth I make you hear new things,
hidden things which you have not known.
7 They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 You have never heard, you have never known,
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,
and that from birth you were called a rebel.

9 “For my name’s sake I defer my anger,
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.

12 “Hearken to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am He, I am the first,
and I am the last.
13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I call to them,
they stand forth together.

14 “Assemble, all of you, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
The LORD loves him;
he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken and called him,
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 Draw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now the Lord GOD has sent me and his Spirit.

17 Thus says the LORD,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18 O that you had hearkened to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19 your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.”

20 Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chaldea,
declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it forth to the end of the earth;
say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 They thirsted not when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow for them from the rock;
he cleft the rock and the water gushed out.

22 “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

1              Jeremiah 1:5; Galatians 1:15
2              Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 1:16
3-7          Isaiah 60:1-3
3              Mark 1:11
6              Isaiah 42:6; Luke 2:32; Acts 1:6-8; 13:47, 26:23
8              2 Corinthians 6:2
10            Revelation 7:16-17
18            Isaiah 60:4
23            Isaiah 60:14-16
24-25     Mark 3:27

1-7          William Stafford, “Assurance,” The Way It Is, p. 153

1-6          Isabel Wood Rogers, “To the End of the Earth,” Sing a New Song, p. 67-72
4             My translation

14-18     Kathryn L. Roberts, “Between Text and Sermon,” Interpretation (January 2003), p. 58-60
14-16     Walter J. Burghardt, “The Other, the Others, and You,” Best Sermons I, p. 192-195

15           Bridget Meehan, Exploring the Feminine Face of God, p. 15

1 Listen to me, O coastlands,
and hearken, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
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 right is with the LORD,
and my recompense with my God.”

5 And now the LORD says,
who formed me from 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 eyes 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 preserved 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 servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

8 Thus says the LORD:
“In a time of favor I have answered you,
in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I have kept you and given you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
to apportion the desolate heritages;
9 saying to the prisoners, ‘Come forth,’
to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’
They shall feed along the ways,
on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
10 they shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall smite them,
for he who has pity on them will lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.
11 And I will make all my mountains a way,
and my highways shall be raised up.
12 Lo, these shall come from afar,
and lo, these from the north and from the west,
and these from the land of Syene.”

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 afflicted.

14 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her sucking child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your builders outstrip your destroyers,
and those who laid you waste go forth from you.
18 Lift up your eyes round about and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
As I live, says the LORD,
you shall put them all on as an ornament,
you shall bind them on as a bride does.

19 “Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
surely now you will be too narrow 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 ears:
‘The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.’
21 Then you will say in your heart:
‘Who has borne me these?
I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
whence then have these come?’”

22 Thus says the Lord GOD:
“Behold, I will 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.”

24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?
25 Surely, thus says the LORD:
“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
that I am the LORD your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

2         John 1:11
6         Matthew 5:39, 26:67; Mark 14:65
8-9     Romans 8:33-34; Hebrews 1:11; 1 Peter 3:13

4-9     Isabel Wood Rogers, “Exalted Through Suffering,” Sing a New Song, p. 73-79
4-9     Imaging the Word, Vol. 1, p. 26-29
6-7     John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, p. 382 386

1 Thus says the LORD:
“Where is your mother’s bill of divorce,
with which I put her away?
Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was put away.
2 Why, when I came, was there no man?
When I called, was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a desert;
their fish stink for lack of water,
and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness,
and make sackcloth their covering.”

4 The Lord GOD has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain
with a word him that is weary.
Morning by morning he wakens,
he wakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I turned not backward.
6 I gave my back to the smiters,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I hid not my face
from shame and spitting.

7 For the Lord GOD helps me;
therefore I have not been confounded;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
8 he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
9 Behold, the Lord GOD helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.

10 Who among you fears the LORD
and obeys the voice of his servant,
who walks in darkness and has no light,
yet trusts in the name of the LORD
and relies upon his God?
11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who set brands alight!
Walk by the light of your fire,
and by the brands which you have kindled!
This shall you have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.

6            Hebrews 1:11
11           Isaiah 35:10
14-15     Mark 6:30-52
17           Psalm 75:8; Revelation 14:10, 16:19

17-23     Isabel Wood Rogers, “God’s Steady Will,” Sing a New Song, p. 37-42
17-18     Ancient Near East, Vol. 1, p. 119

1 “Hearken to me, you who pursue deliverance,
you who seek the LORD;
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were digged.
2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for when he was but one I called him,
and 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 ear to me, my nation;
for a law will go forth from me,
and my justice for a light to the peoples.
5 My deliverance draws near speedily,
my salvation has gone forth,
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 they who dwell in it will die like gnats;
but my salvation will be for ever,
and my deliverance will never be ended.

7 “Hearken to me, you who know righteousness,
the people in whose heart is my law;
fear not the reproach of men,
and be not dismayed at their revilings.
8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool;
but my deliverance will be for ever,
and my salvation to all generations.”

9 Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the LORD;
awake, as in days of old,
the generations of long ago.
Was it not thou that didst cut Rahab in pieces,
that didst pierce the dragon?
10 Was it not thou that didst dry up the sea,
the waters of the great deep;
that didst make the depths of the sea a way
for the redeemed to pass over?
11 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return,
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12 “I, I am he that comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,
of the son of man who is made like grass,
13 and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth,
and fear continually all the day
because of the fury of the oppressor,
when he sets himself to destroy?
And where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
he shall not die and go down to the Pit,
neither shall his bread fail.
15 For I am the LORD your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the LORD of hosts is his name.
16 And I have put my words in your mouth,
and hid you in the shadow of my hand,
stretching out the heavens
and laying the foundations of the earth,
and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

17 Rouse yourself, rouse yourself,
stand up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk at the hand of the LORD
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
the bowl of staggering.
18 There is none to guide her
among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
among all the sons she has brought up.
19 These two things have befallen you—
who will condole with you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
who will comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted,
they lie at the head of every street
like an antelope in a net;
they are full of the wrath of the LORD,
the rebuke of your God.

21 Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
who are drunk, but not with wine:
22 Thus says your Lord, the LORD,
your God who pleads the cause of his people:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath
you shall drink no more;
23 and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
who have said to you,
‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
and you have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to pass over.”

1       Isaiah 35:8; Revelation 21:2, 21:27
3       Isaiah 55:1
5       Romans 2:24
7       Leviticus 25:10; Isaiah 40:9; 61:1 Nahum 1:15; Zechariah 9:9; Romans 10:15; Ephesians 6:15
10     Luke 2:30-31, 3:6
11      2 Corinthians 6:17
12     Mark 13:14-18
15     Psalm 119:46; Isaiah 6:9-10; Romans 15:21

3            Raymond Brown, “1 Peter 1:18, (Symbolism in 1 Peter),” Churches the Apostles Left Behind, p. 77-78
7-12      Isabel Wood Rogers, “A Song of Freedom,” Sing a New Song, p. 48-53
7            Theodor H. Gaster, The Dead Sea Scriptures, p. 435 f.
13-15    Sheila Cassidy, Sharing the Darkness, p. 171-174
13-15    David Rosenberg, A Poet’s Bible, p. 279
13-14    Walter Brueggemann, Gathering the Church in the Spirit, p. 12 f.

1 Awake, awake,
put on your strength, O Zion;
put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city;
for there shall no more come into you
the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 Shake yourself from the dust, arise,
O captive Jerusalem;
loose the bonds from your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion.

3 For thus says the LORD: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.  4 For thus says the Lord GOD: My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.  5 Now therefore what have I here, says the LORD, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail, says the LORD, and continually all the day my name is despised.  6 Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I.”

7 How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace,
who brings good tidings of good,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
8 Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice,
together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see
the return of the LORD to Zion.
9 Break forth together into singing,
you waste places 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 thence,
touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of her, purify yourselves,
you who bear 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.

13 Behold, my servant shall prosper,
he shall be exalted and lifted up,
and shall be very high.
14 As many were astonished at him—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the sons of men—
15 so shall he startle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which has not been told them they shall see,
and that which they have not heard they shall understand.

Sheila Cassidy, Sharing the Darkness, p. 171-174
Leonard Cohen, “Jesus was a sailor,” Suzanne Takes You Down

John Donne, “Divine Poems (7),” CWS, p. 8o

Leslie Fiedler, Fiedler on the Roof, p. 162 f.

Donald Juel, Messianic Exegesis, p. 119-133
Isabel Wood Rogers, “Exalted Through Suffering,” Sing a New Song, p. 73-79
David Rosenberg, A Poet’s Bible, p. 279

12       John 12:38; Romans 10:16
3         Matthew 5:4
4         Matthew 8:17
5         Romans 4:25; 1 Peter 2:24
6         1 Peter 2:25
7-8     John 16:10; Acts 8:32-33
7         Revelation 5:6
9         1 Peter 2:22
12       Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37; John 17:9; Romans 4:25

1-2    Walter Brueggemann, Gathering the Church in the Spirit, p. 12 f.
3-4    Stephen Mitchell, The Gospel According to Jesus, p. 28

3        Richard Foster, “Chapter 4: The Prayer of Tears,” Prayer, p. 37-46
3        Jaroslav Pelikan, The Illustrated Jesus through the Centuries, p. 230
5        John Ashbery, “Attabled with the Spinning Years,” The New Yorker (August 11 & 18, 2008), p. 40

5        Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures, p. 33

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 comeliness that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation,
who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief;
when he makes himself an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand;
11 he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one,
my servant, make many to be accounted righteous;
and he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out his soul to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

1            Galatians 4:27
9           Genesis 9:8-17
11-12    Revelation 21:18-21
13          John 6:45

11-17     R. E. Clements, “The Unity of the Book of Isaiah,” Interpretation (April 1982), p. 128 f.

11-12     Geza Vermes, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, p. 469

1 “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
break forth into singing and cry aloud,
you who have not been in travail!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than the children of her that is married, says the LORD.
2 Enlarge the place of your tent,
and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
hold not back, lengthen your cords
and strengthen your stakes.
3 For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,
and your descendants will possess the nations
and will people the desolate cities.

4 “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;
be not confounded, for you will not be put to shame;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
5 For your Maker is your husband,
the LORD of hosts is his name;
and 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 a wife of youth when she is cast off,
says your God.
7 For a brief moment I forsook 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 “For this is like the days of Noah to me:
as I swore that the waters of Noah
should no more 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,
behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
and lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of agate,
your gates of carbuncles,
and all your wall of precious stones.
13 All your sons shall be taught by the LORD,
and great shall be the prosperity of your sons.
14 In righteousness you shall be established;
you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 If any one stirs up strife,
it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
shall fall because of you.
16 Behold, I have created the smith
who blows the fire of coals,
and produces a weapon for its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
17 no weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper,
and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD
and their vindication from me, says the LORD.”

Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation and Obedience, p. 219-222
Isabel Wood Rogers, “The Great Salvation,” Sing a New Song, p. 86-92

1             Proverbs 9:5; Song of Songs 5:1; Isaiah 52:3; Revelation 21:6, 22:17
2             Psalm 90:14
3             2 Samuel 23:5;  Isaiah 61:8; Acts 13:34
8-9         Mark 13:32;  Acts 1:6-8
10-11      Deuteronomy 32:2; Psalm 72:6; Isaiah 45:8; Hosea 6:3; Matthew 7:24-27; Mark 4:1-20
10           Isaiah 45:23; 2 Corinthians 9:10
12           Isaiah 40:5;  Romans 8:19-21

1-7        Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good, p. 19-21

1-3        Walter Brueggemann, Finally Comes the Poet, p. 122-124
1-2        Wendell Berry, “1991 – II,” A Timbered Choir, p. 127

2           Frank Bidart, quoted by Christian Wiman in He Held Radical Light, p. 35

2           Hafiz, The Gift, p. 71

2           Lance Hosey, The Shape of Green, p. 1633

2           C. Christopher Smith and John Pattison, Slow Church, p. 159

6-11      H. E. Fosdick, The Meaning of Prayer, p. 136 f.
6-11      Donald Senior and Carroll Stuhlmueller, Biblical Foundations for Mission, p. 37-38
6-11      Edward Siefert, “God Is Not Nice,” in Gift, Mystery, Calling, p. 52

7-8        Iris Murdock, quoted by Alan Jones in Soul Making, p. 143

8-9        Madeleine L’Engle, The Irrational Season, p. 30 f.
8-9        Ivan Steiger, Ivan Steiger Sees the Bible, p. 138
8-9        Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Hymn of the Universe, p. 68 f.

10-11     William C. Martin, The Art of Pastoring, p. 73

1 “Ho, every one who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in fatness.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
5 Behold, you shall call nations that you know not,
and nations that knew you not shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.

6 “Seek the LORD while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and return not thither but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

12 “For you shall go out in joy,
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial,
for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off.”

1-2     Isaiah 1:21-26
3-5     Deuteronomy 23:1
7         Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46
10       Song of Songs 5:7
12       James 4:13-14

1-8       Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 388-401
1-2       Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good, p. 106-107
2-7       Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation and Obedience, p. 153 f.
3-8       Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good, p. 107-109

4-6       Walter Brueggemann, Finally Comes the Poet, p. 94-95
9-12     Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 186-202

1 Thus says the LORD:
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed.

2 Blessed is the man who does this,
and the son of man who holds it fast,
who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say,
“The LORD will surely separate me from his people”;
and let not the eunuch say,
“Behold, I am a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the LORD:
“To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
5 I will give in my house and within my walls
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
which shall not be cut off.

6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD,
and to be his servants,
every one who keeps the sabbath, and does not profane it,
and holds fast my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.
8 Thus says the Lord GOD,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel,
I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered.”

9 All you beasts of the field,
come to devour—all you beasts in the forest.
10 His watchmen are blind,
they are all without knowledge;
they are all dumb dogs,
they cannot bark;
dreaming, lying down,
loving to slumber.
11 The dogs have a mighty appetite;
they never have enough.
The shepherds also have no understanding;
they have all turned to their own way,
each to his own gain, one and all.
12 “Come,” they say, “let us get wine,
let us fill ourselves with strong drink;
and tomorrow will be like this day,
great beyond measure.”

15     Psalm 34:18, 138:6; Isaiah 6:1, 66:2; Matthew 5:3; Luke 1:48
19     Ephesians 2:17
21     Isaiah 48:22

1-13       Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 186-202
14-20    Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 77-78
15           David H. C. Read, “Where God is to be Found,” I Am Persuaded, p. 28-36

1 The righteous man perishes,
and no one lays it to heart;
devout men are taken away,
while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from calamity,
2 he enters into peace;
they rest in their beds
who walk in their uprightness.
3 But you, draw near hither,
sons of the sorceress,
offspring of the adulterer and the harlot.
4 Of whom are you making sport?
Against whom do you open your mouth wide
and put out your tongue?
Are you not children of transgression,
the offspring of deceit,
5 you who burn with lust among the oaks,
under every green tree;
who slay your children in the valleys,
under the clefts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion;
they, they, are your lot;
to them you have poured out a drink offering,
you have brought a cereal offering.
Shall I be appeased for these things?
7 Upon a high and lofty mountain
you have set your bed,
and thither you went up to offer sacrifice.
8 Behind the door and the doorpost
you have set up your symbol;
for, deserting me, you have uncovered your bed,
you have gone up to it,
you have made it wide;
and you have made a bargain for yourself with them,
you have loved their bed, you have looked on nakedness.
9 You journeyed to Molech with oil
and multiplied your perfumes;
you sent your envoys far off,
and sent down even to Sheol.
10 You were wearied with the length of your way,
but you did not say, “It is hopeless”;
you found new life for your strength,
and so you were not faint.

11 Whom did you dread and fear,
so that you lied,
and did not remember me,
did not give me a thought?
Have I not held my peace, even for a long time,
and so you do not fear me?
12 I will tell of your righteousness and your doings,
but they will not help you.
13 When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!
The wind will carry them off,
a breath will take them away.
But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land,
and shall inherit my holy mountain.

14 And it shall be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”
15 For thus says the high and lofty One
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
16 For I will not contend for ever,
nor will I always be angry;
for from me proceeds the spirit,
and I have made the breath of life.
17 Because of the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry,
I smote him, I hid my face and was angry;
but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.
18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will lead him and requite him with comfort,
creating for his mourners the fruit of the lips.
19 Peace, peace, to the far and to the near, says the LORD;
and I will heal him.
20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea;
for it cannot rest,
and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
21 There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.”

Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good, p. 109-112

Gary Gunderson, Deeply Woven Roots, p. 74

Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 100-112
David Rosenberg, A Poet’s Bible, p. 290
John Michael Talbot, “Isaiah 58,” No Longer Strangers

1-14     Isaiah 1:12-17
6-7      Jeremiah 22:15-16;  1 John 4:20
7          Matthew 25:34
8          Matthew 5:16
10        Matthew 5:14-16
11        Jeremiah 31:12
12        Isaiah 64:4

2          John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, p. 382
5-7      John Dominic Crossan, The Greatest Prayer, p. 19
7-10    Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., “Not Hide Yourself from Your Own Flesh,” Lovely in Eyes Not His, p. 86-91
7-10    Oscar Romero, The Violence of Love, p. 40
7          Dan Damon, “Garden of Life,” Faith Will Sing, p. # 8

1 “Cry aloud, spare not,
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily,
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw near to God.
3 ‘Why have we fasted, and thou seest it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and thou takest no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a rush,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the LORD?

6 “Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call,
and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry,
and he will say, Here I am.

“If you take away from the midst of you the yoke,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
11 And the LORD will guide you continually,
and satisfy your desire with good things,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters fail not.
12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.

13 “If you turn back your foot from the sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
14 then you shall take delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 113-133

7-8     Romans 3:15-17
16       Isaiah 63:5
17       Ephesians 6:14 & 17; 1 Thessalonians 5:8
20      Romans 11:26

1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hid his face from you
so that he does not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 No one enters suit justly,
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs,
they weave the spider’s web;
he who eats their eggs dies,
and from one which is crushed a viper is hatched.
6 Their webs will not serve as clothing;
men will not cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,
desolation and destruction are in their highways.
8 The way of peace they know not,
and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked,
no one who goes in them knows peace.

9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not overtake us;
we look for light, and behold, darkness,
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind,
we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
11 We all growl like bears,
we moan and moan like doves;
we look for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
13 transgressing, and denying the LORD,
and turning away from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
14 Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands afar off;
for truth has fallen in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
15 Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

The LORD saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intervene;
then his own arm brought him victory,
and his righteousness upheld him.
17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation upon his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in fury as a mantle.
18 According to their deeds, so will he repay,
wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;
to the coastlands he will render requital.
19 So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west,
and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come like a rushing stream,
which the wind of the LORD drives.

20 “And he will come to Zion as Redeemer,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the LORD.

21 “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD: my spirit which is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your children, or out of the mouth of your children’s children, says the LORD, from this time forth and for evermore.”

Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 46-76

1-3          Isaiah 49:3-7; Matthew 5:14-16
1              John 1:9; Ephesians 5:14
3             Isaiah 42:6, 49:6; Matthew 2:12; Acts 9:15
4             Isaiah 49:18
5             Psalm 34:5
6             Matthew 2:11
9-14       Psalm 72:9-11
11            Revelation 21:25-26
14-16     Isaiah 49:23
14           Revelation 3:9
16           Isaiah 66:11
19           Revelation 21:23, 22:5
21           Isaiah 5:1-3, 61:3

1-7     Imaging the Word, Vol. 3, p. 113
1         Meister Eckhart, “German Sermons,” Preacher and Teacher, p. 271-274
16       Ancient Near East, Vol. 1, p. 105

1 Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the LORD will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.
3 And nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 Lift up your eyes round about, and see;
they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far,
and your daughters shall be carried in the arms.
5 Then you shall see and be radiant,
your heart shall thrill and rejoice;
because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6 A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD.
7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you,
the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,
and I will glorify my glorious house.

8 Who are these that fly like a cloud,
and like doves to their windows?
9 For the coastlands shall wait for me,
the ships of Tarshish first,
to bring your sons from far,
their silver and gold with them,
for the name of the LORD your God,
and for the Holy One of Israel,
because he has glorified you.
10 Foreigners shall build up your walls,
and their kings shall minister to you;
for in my wrath I smote you,
but in my favor I have had mercy on you.
11 Your gates shall be open continually;
day and night they shall not be shut;
that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations,
with their kings led in procession.
12 For the nation and kingdom
that will not serve you shall perish;
those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
the cypress, the plane, and the pine,
to beautify the place of my sanctuary;
and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
14 The sons of those who oppressed you
shall come bending low to you;
and all who despised you
shall bow down at your feet;
they shall call you the City of the LORD,
the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
with no one passing through,
I will make you majestic for ever,
a joy from age to age.
16 You shall suck the milk of nations,
you shall suck the breast of kings;
and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
and instead of iron I will bring silver;
instead of wood, bronze,
instead of stones, iron.
I will make your overseers peace
and your taskmasters righteousness.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
devastation or destruction within your borders;
you shall call your walls Salvation,
and your gates Praise.

19 The sun shall be no more
your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
give light to you by night;
but the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
20 Your sun shall no more go down,
nor your moon withdraw itself;
for the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your days of mourning shall be ended.
21 Your people shall all be righteous;
they shall possess the land for ever,
the shoot of my planting, the work of my hands,
that I might be glorified.
22 The least one shall become a clan,
and the smallest one a mighty nation;
I am the LORD;
in its time I will hasten it.

Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 46-76

1-4     2 Samuel 23:2-4
1-2     Psalm 146:7-9; Luke 4:18-19
1         Leviticus 25:10; Psalms 34:2, 68:6, 102:20; Isaiah 11:2, 42:7, 52:1; Zechariah 2:9-11; Matthew 5:1-12, 11:5; Luke 7:22
2        Isaiah 35:4, 40:1, 63:4;  Matthew 5:4
3        Isaiah 59:17; 60:21
4        Isaiah 58:12
7        Isaiah 40:2
8        2 Samuel 23:5
10      Luke 1:46-48; Revelation 21:2

1-7    Walter Brueggemann, Gathering the Church in the Spirit, p. 19-23

1-3    Percy C. Ainsworth, “Sin and Sorrow” (Sermon), Weavings (November/December 1997), p. 17-22
1-3    Theodor H. Gaster, The Dead Sea Scriptures, p. 433 ff.
1-3    Isabel Wood Rogers, “Behold My Servant,” Sing a New Song, p. 61-66
1-2    Walter Brueggemann, Finally Comes the Poet, p. 104-105
1-2    Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good, p. 112-114

1-2    Ivan Steiger, Ivan Steiger Sees the Bible, p. 139
3       John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, p. 331 p. 139

3      Barbara Szerlip, “The Garment of Sadness,” Pushcart Prize II, p. 400

4      W. B. Yeats, “Lapis Lazuli,” Selected Poems and Plays, p. 160

10    Dante, “Canto 25,” Paradiso, p. 173

11     Imaging the Word, Vol. 3, p. 88

1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good tidings to the afflicted;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.

5 Aliens shall stand and feed your flocks,
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6 but you shall be called the priests of the LORD,
men shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their riches you shall glory.
7 Instead of your shame you shall have a double portion,
instead of dishonor you shall rejoice in your lot;
therefore in your land you shall possess a double portion;
yours shall be everlasting joy.

8 For I the LORD love justice,
I hate robbery and wrong;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations,
and their offspring in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
my soul shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to spring forth before all the nations.

Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 46-76

1-2    Matthew 5:14-16
2        Isaiah 52:15, 60:3
5        Zephaniah 3:17
6-7    Mark 13:33-37
7        Matthew 6:9
8-9    Matthew 6:11
11       Isaiah 40:10; Revelation 22:12

6-12     R. E. Clements, “The Unity of the Book of Isaiah,” Interpretation (April 1982), p. 128 f.

1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
until her vindication goes forth as brightness,
and her salvation as a burning torch.
2 The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
and you shall be called by a new name
which the mouth of the LORD will give.
3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My delight is in her,
and your land Married;
for the LORD delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a virgin,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
6 Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have set watchmen;
all the day and all the night
they shall never be silent.
You who put the LORD in remembrance,
take no rest,
7 and give him no rest
until he establishes Jerusalem
and makes it a praise in the earth.
8 The LORD has sworn by his right hand
and by his mighty arm:
“I will not again give your grain
to be food for your enemies,
and foreigners shall not drink your wine
for which you have labored;
9 but those who garner it shall eat it
and praise the LORD,
and those who gather it shall drink it
in the courts of my sanctuary.”

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 Behold, the LORD has proclaimed
to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
“Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.”
12 And they shall be called The holy people,
The redeemed of the LORD;
and you shall be called Sought out,
a city not forsaken.

3       Revelation 14:20, 19:13-15
5       Isaiah 59:16
7       Hebrews 4:16
9       Deuteronomy 4:37
10     Ephesians 4:30
12     Exodus 14:21

1-6         Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 203-208
7-19       Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 79-99
15-19     Hans Walter Wolff, Old Testament and Christian Preaching, p. 65-72

1 Who is this that comes from Edom,
in crimsoned garments from Bozrah,
he that is glorious in his apparel,
marching in the greatness of his strength?

“It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save.”

2 Why is thy apparel red,
and thy garments like his that treads in the wine press?

3 “I have trodden the wine press alone,
and from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
and trampled them in my wrath;
their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments,
and I have stained all my raiment.
4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
and my year of redemption has come.
5 I looked, but there was no one to help;
I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;
so my own arm brought me victory,
and my wrath upheld me.
6 I trod down the peoples in my anger,
I made them drunk in my wrath,
and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

7 I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD,
the praises of the LORD,
according to all that the LORD has granted us,
and the great goodness to the house of Israel
which he has granted them according to his mercy,
according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
8 For he said, Surely they are my people,
sons who will not deal falsely;
and he became their Savior.
9 In all their affliction he was afflicted,
and the angel of his presence saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

10 But they rebelled
and grieved his holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
and himself fought against them.
11 Then he remembered the days of old,
of Moses his servant.
Where is he who brought up out of the sea
the shepherds of his flock?
Where is he who put in the midst of them
his holy Spirit,
12 who caused his glorious arm
to go at the right hand of Moses,
who divided the waters before them
to make for himself an everlasting name,
13 who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
they did not stumble.
14 Like cattle that go down into the valley,
the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest.
So thou didst lead thy people,
to make for thyself a glorious name.

15 Look down from heaven and see,
from thy holy and glorious habitation.
Where are thy zeal and thy might?
The yearning of thy heart and thy compassion
are withheld from me.
16 For thou art our Father,
though Abraham does not know us
and Israel does not acknowledge us;
thou, O LORD, art our Father,
our Redeemer from of old is thy name.
17 O LORD, why dost thou make us err from thy ways
and harden our heart, so that we fear thee not?
Return for the sake of thy servants,
the tribes of thy heritage.
18 Thy holy people possessed thy sanctuary a little while;
our adversaries have trodden it down.
19 We have become like those over whom thou hast never ruled,
like those who are not called by thy name.

Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 79-99

1-2     Psalm 144:5
4        Isaiah 25:9; 1 Corinthians 2:9

1-7     Frederick Buechner, “The Hungering Dark,” The Hungering Dark, p. 113-125
1-3     Hans Walter Wolff, Old Testament and Christian Preaching, p. 65-72
1         Michel Boutier, Prayers for My Village, p. 35

1         Campbell McGrath, “Wheatfield Under Clouded Sky,” Puschcart Prize XVII, p. 177 f.

4         Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace, p. 21 f.

7         H. E. Fosdick, The Meaning of Prayer, p. 76

1 O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at thy presence—
2 as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make thy name known to thy adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at thy presence!
3 When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for,
thou camest down, the mountains quaked at thy presence.
4 From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides thee,
who works for those who wait for him.
5 Thou meetest him that joyfully works righteousness,
those that remember thee in thy ways.
Behold, thou wast angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one that calls upon thy name,
that bestirs himself to take hold of thee;
for thou hast hid thy face from us,
and hast delivered us into the hand of our iniquities.
8 Yet, O LORD, thou art our Father;
we are the clay, and thou art our potter;
we are all the work of thy hand.
9 Be not exceedingly angry, O LORD,
and remember not iniquity for ever.
Behold, consider, we are all thy people.
10 Thy holy cities have become a wilderness,
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and beautiful house,
where our fathers praised thee,
has been burned by fire,
and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
12 Wilt thou restrain thyself at these things, O LORD?
Wilt thou keep silent, and afflict us sorely?

Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 134-160

1             Matthew 7:7; Romans 10:20
2             Romans 10:21
8             Matthew 13:24-30
10           Joshua 7:24-26
13-14     Luke 6:20-26
15           Revelation 3:12
17           Isaiah 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1
19           Revelation 21:4
24          Psalm 139:4
25          Isaiah 2:1-4, 11:6-9

1     Annie Dillard, For the Time Being, p. 53

1     Denise Levertov, “Mass of the Moon Eclipse,” The Great Unknowing, p. 44 f.

1     Barbara J. Wheeler, “To Give You a Future With Hope: Themes for a Protestant Piety” (tape), Earl Lectures

17-25     Walter Brueggemann, Journey to the Common Good, p. 115

1 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;
I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here am I, here am I,”
to a nation that did not call on my name.
2 I spread out my hands all the day
to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
following their own devices;
3 a people who provoke me
to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens
and burning incense upon bricks;
4 who sit in tombs,
and spend the night in secret places;
who eat swine’s flesh,
and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
5 who say, “Keep to yourself,
do not come near me, for I am set apart from you.”
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that burns all the day.
6 Behold, it is written before me:
“I will not keep silent, but I will repay,
yea, I will repay into their bosom
7 their iniquities and their fathers’ iniquities together,
says the LORD;
because they burned incense upon the mountains
and reviled me upon the hills,
I will measure into their bosom
payment for their former doings.”
8 Thus says the LORD:
“As the wine is found in the cluster,
and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,
for there is a blessing in it,’
so I will do for my servants’ sake,
and not destroy them all.
9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and from Judah inheritors of my mountains;
my chosen shall inherit it,
and my servants shall dwell there.
10 Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
for my people who have sought me.
11 But you who forsake the LORD,
who forget my holy mountain,
who set a table for Fortune
and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny;
12 I will destine you to the sword,
and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter;
because, when I called, you did not answer,
when I spoke, you did not listen,
but you did what was evil in my eyes,
and chose what I did not delight in.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
“Behold, my servants shall eat,
but you shall be hungry;
behold, my servants shall drink,
but you shall be thirsty;
behold, my servants shall rejoice,
but you shall be put to shame;
14 behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
but you shall cry out for pain of heart,
and shall wail for anguish of spirit.
15 You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse,
and the Lord GOD will slay you;
but his servants he will call by a different name.
16 So that he who blesses himself in the land
shall bless himself by the God of truth,
and he who takes an oath in the land
shall swear by the God of truth;
because the former troubles are forgotten
and are hid from my eyes.

17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice for ever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing,
and her people a joy.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the child shall die a hundred years old,
and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD,
and their children with them.
24 Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,
says the LORD.”

1-2     Acts 7:49-50
1         Matthew 5:34-35, 23:22
2         Isaiah 57:15; Matthew 5:3
5         Matthew 7:21-23
7         Revelation 12:5
11       Isaiah 60:16
12      Revelation 22:1
13      Isaiah 40:1
18      Acts 2:8-11
20      Romans 15:16
22      Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1
23      Philippians 2:10
24      Mark 9:48

1-16        Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 161-185
1-2          David Rosenberg, A Poet’s Bible, p. 299
10-14     Imaging the Word, Vol. 1, p. 230-233
11-12      Bridget Meehan, Exploring the Feminine Face of God, p. 13
11            Ancient Near East, Vol. 1, p. 105
14           Francis Patrick Sullivan, “Biodegradable Bombardier,” A Time To Sow, p. 146
17-24     Paul D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, p. 388-401

1 Thus says the LORD:
“Heaven is my throne
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house which you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
2 All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things are mine,
says the LORD.
But this is the man to whom I will look,
he that is humble and contrite in spirit,
and trembles at my word.

3 “He who slaughters an ox is like him who kills a man;
he who sacrifices a lamb, like him who breaks a dog’s neck;
he who presents a cereal offering, like him who offers swine’s blood;
he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like him who blesses an idol.
These have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their abominations;
4 I also will choose affliction for them,
and bring their fears upon them;
because, when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke they did not listen;
but they did what was evil in my eyes,
and chose that in which I did not delight.”

5 Hear the word of the LORD,
you who tremble at his word:
“Your brethren who hate you
and cast you out for my name’s sake
have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified,
that we may see your joy’;
but it is they who shall be put to shame.

6 “Hark, an uproar from the city!
A voice from the temple!
The voice of the LORD,
rendering recompense to his enemies!

7 “Before she was in labor
she gave birth;
before her pain came upon her
she was delivered of a son.
8 Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment?
For as soon as Zion was in labor
she brought forth her sons.
9 Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth?
says the LORD;
shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?
says your God.

10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy,
all you who mourn over her;
11 that you may suck and be satisfied
with her consoling breasts;
that you may drink deeply with delight
from the abundance of her glory.”

12 For thus says the LORD:
“Behold, I will extend prosperity to her like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream;
and you shall suck, you shall be carried upon her hip,
and dandled upon her knees.
13 As one whom his mother comforts,
so I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

14 You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
your bones shall flourish like the grass;
and it shall be known that the hand of the LORD is with his servants,
and his indignation is against his enemies.
15 “For behold, the LORD will come in fire,
and his chariots like the stormwind,
to render his anger in fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire will the LORD execute judgment,
and by his sword, upon all flesh;
and those slain by the LORD shall be many.

17 “Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, says the LORD.

18 “For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, 19 and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 And they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their cereal offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.  21 And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.

22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth
which I will make
shall remain before me, says the LORD;
so shall your descendants and your name remain.
23 From new moon to new moon,
and from sabbath to sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
says the LORD.

24 “And they shall go forth and look on the dead bodies of the men that have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”