This is the domain of Yahweh’s servants,
their faithfulness from me (Yahweh’s declaration).

Hey, anyone who’s thirsty,
all come for water.
Whoever has no silver,
come, buy and eat.
Come, buy without silver,
wine and milk without cost.
Why weigh out silver for what isn’t bread,
and your labour for what isn’t filling?
Listen hard to me and eat what’s good;
you can delight your appetite with rich food.
Bend your ear, come to me;
listen, so you may come to life.
I will solemnize for you a permanent pact,
the trustworthy commitments to David.
Here, I made him a witness for peoples,
a leader and commander for peoples.

Here, you’ll call a nation that you don’t acknowledge,
and a nation that doesn’t acknowledge you will run to you,
For the sake of Yahweh your God, and for Yisra’el’s sacred one,
because he’s glorifying you.

Enquire of Yahweh
while he is letting himself be found,
call him while he’s near.
The faithless person must abandon his way,
the person who brings trouble [must abandon] his intentions.
He must turn back to Yahweh so he may have compassion on him,
to our God because he does much pardoning.

Because my intentions are not your intentions,
your ways are not my ways (Yahweh’s declaration).

Because the heavens are higher than the earth;
so are my ways higher than your ways,
my intentions than your intentions.

Because as the rain or snow
falls from the heavens,
And doesn’t go back there
but rather soaks the earth,
And makes it bear and produce,
and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
So will my word be
that goes out from my mouth.
It will not come back to me empty,
but rather do that which I wanted,
achieve that for which I sent it.

Because you’ll go out with joy,
and be brought in with well-being.
The mountains and the hills
will break out before you in resounding.
All the trees in the open country
will clap the palms of their hands.
Instead of the thorn a juniper will come up,
instead of the briar a myrtle will come up.
It will be a memorial for Yahweh,
a permanent sign that will not be cut down.

Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Take from us,
O God, all pride and vanity,
all boasting and self-assertion,
and give us the true courage that shows itself in gentleness,
the true wisdom that shows itself in simplicity,
and the true power that shows itself in modesty.

Charles Kingsley

But with permanent commitment
I’m having compassion for you (your restorer, Yahweh, has said),
because this is Noah’s water to me.
In that I swore that Noah’s water
would not pass over the earth again,
So I’m swearing
not to be angry with you or to reprimand you.
Because mountains may move away, hills slip,
but my commitment will not move away from you.
My pact of well-being will not slip,
the one who has compassion for you, Yahweh, has said.

Humble, tossing, not comforted –
here I am, resting your stones in antimony.
I’ll found you with sapphires,
make chalcedony your pinnacles,
Your gateways into sparkling stones,
your entire border into delightful stones.
All your children will be Yahweh’s disciples;
great will be your children’s well-being.
In faithfulness you’ll establish yourself;
you can be far from oppression,
Because you will not be afraid,
and from shattering, because it will not come near you.
There, someone need be in dread
of nothing from me.
Who quarrels with you? –
he’ll fall to you.
There, I’m the one who created the smith
who blows into the fire of coals,
And who brings out a tool for his work,
and I’m the one who created the destroyer to ravage.
Any tool formed against you will not succeed;
you will show to be in the wrong every tongue
that arises with you for a judgement.

This is the domain of Yahweh’s servants,
their faithfulness from me (Yahweh’s declaration).

Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

O thou, who art the light of the minds that know thee,
the life of the souls that love thee,
and the strength of the wills that serve thee;
help us so to know thee that we may truly love thee;
so to love thee that we may fully serve thee,
whom to serve is perfect freedom.
Amen

Resound, infertile one, you who haven’t given birth;
break out into sound and bellow, you who haven’t laboured.
Because the children of the desolate are many,
more than the married woman’s children (Yahweh has said).
Enlarge your tent space;
people must stretch your dwelling curtains, don’t hold back.
Lengthen your ropes, strengthen your pegs,
because you’ll spread out right and left.
Your offspring will dispossess the nations,
they’ll inhabit the desolate towns.

Don’t be afraid, because you will not be shamed;
don’t be disgraced, because you will not be confounded.
Because you will put out of mind the shame of your youth,
you will no more be mindful of the reviling of your widowhoo d.
Because your maker will be the one who marries you;
Yahweh of Armies is his name.
Yisra’el’s sacred one is your restorer;
he calls himself ‘God of all the earth’.
Because it’s as a wife abandoned
and distressed in spirit that Yahweh is calling you,
The wife of his youth when she’s been spurned,
your God has said.
For a short moment I abandoned you,
but with great compassion I’ll gather you.
In a burst of anger
I hid my face from you for a moment,
But with permanent commitment
I’m having compassion for you (your restorer, Yahweh, has said),

Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Lord God,
your feed us with the living bread from heaven.
You renew our faith
increase our hope
and strengthen our love.
Teach us to hunger for Christ
who is the true and living bread
and live by every word that comes from your mouth,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

While Yahweh desired the crushing of the one he weakened,
if with his whole person he lays down a reparation offering,
He’ll see offspring, he’ll prolong his life,
and Yahweh’s desire will succeed in his hand.
Out of his personal trouble, when he sees he will be sated;
by his acknowledgement my servant will show many
that he is indeed in the right, when he bears their wayward acts.
Therefore I’ll give him a share with the many;
he’ll share out the numerous as spoil,
In return for the fact that he exposed his person to death,
when he let himself be numbered with the rebels,
When he was the one who carried the wrongdoing of many people,
and was appealing for the rebels.

Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Yet it was our weaknesses that he carried,
our great suffering that he bore.
But we ourselves had counted him touched,
struck down, by God, and afflicted.
But he was the one who was wounded through our rebellions,
crushed through our wayward acts.
Chastisement to bring us well-being was on him,
and by means of his being hurt there was healing for us.
All of us like sheep had wandered,
each had turned his face to his own way. Yahweh
– he let fall on him the waywardness of all of us.

He was put down, but he was one who let himself be afflicted,
and he wouldn’t open his mouth.
Like a sheep that’s led to slaughter
or like a ewe that’s silent before its shearers,
he wouldn’t open his mouth.
By the restraint of authority he was taken;
who would complain at his generation?
Because he was cut off from the land of the living;
because of my people’s rebellion the touch came to him.
He was given his tomb with the faithless,
his burial mound with the rich person,
Because he’d done no violence,
and no deceit with his mouth.

Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Wake up, wake up,
put on your vigour, Tsiyyon!
Put on your majestic clothes,
Yerushalaim, sacred town!
Because the foreskinned or taboo person
will never again come into you.
Shake yourself from the earth,
get up, sit down, Yerushalaim!
They are loosening the bonds from on your neck,
captive Miss Tsiyyon.

Because Yahweh has said this:
For nothing you were sold,
without silver you will be restored.
Because the Lord Yahweh has said this:
My people went down to Misrayim
at the beginning to reside there.
But Ashshur oppressed them to no purpose,
so now what was there for me here (Yahweh’s declaration)?
Because my people was taken to no end,
while its rulers boast (Yahweh’s declaration).
And constantly, all day,
my name stands reviled.
Therefore my people will acknowledge my name,
therefore on that day [it will acknowledge]
that I’m the one who speaks – here I am.

How lovely on the mountains are the feet of one who brings news,
one who lets people hear ‘All is well’,
One who brings good news,
lets people hear of deliverance,
who says to Tsiyyon, ‘Your God has begun to reign.’
A voice! – lookouts are lifting voice,
together they resound.
Because with both eyes
they see Yahweh going back to Tsiyyon.
Break out, resound together,
wastes of Yerushalaim.
Because Yahweh is comforting his people;
he’s restoring Yerushalaim.
Yahweh is baring his sacred arm before the nations’ eyes.
All the ends of the earth
will see our God’s deliverance.

Depart, depart, get out from there,
don’t touch what is taboo.
Get out from within it, purify yourselves,
you who carry Yahweh’s things.
Because you won’t get out in haste,
you won’t go in flight.
Because Yahweh is going before you,
and Yisra’el’s God is bringing up your rear.

Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

Wake yourself up, wake yourself up,
get up, Yerushalaim,
You who drank from Yahweh’s hand
his fury cup.
The chalice, the shaking cup,
you drank, you drained.

There was no one guiding her,
of all the children to whom she gave birth.
There was no one taking her by the hand,
of all the children she brought up.

There were two things befalling you
(who was to mourn for you?),
Destruction and breaking, famine and sword
(who was I to comfort you?).

Your children were overcome,
they lay down at the entrance to all the streets
like a snared oryx,
The people full of Yahweh’s fury,
of your God’s reprimand.

Therefore please listen to this,
humble one, drunk but not with wine.
Your Lord Yahweh has said this,
your God who argues for his people:
‘There, I’m taking from your hand
the shaking cup,
My chalice, the fury cup,
which you will never drink again.
I’ll put it into the hand of your tormentors,
the people who said to your neck,
“Bow down so we may pass over.”
And you made your back like the earth,
like the street for them to pass over.’

Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Wake up, wake up, put on vigour,
Yahweh’s arm.
Wake up as in days of old,
generations long ago.
You’re the one who split Rahab,
pierced the dragon, aren’t you?
You’re the one who dried up the sea,
the water of the great deep,
Who made the depths of the sea
a way for the restored people to pass, aren’t you?
The people redeemed by Yahweh will go back,
they will come to Tsiyyon with resounding.
With eternal rejoicing on their head,
as joy and rejoicing overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing flee.

I, I am the one who’s comforting you all
– who are you (Zion) to be afraid
Of a mortal who dies,
of a human being who is treated like grass?
You’ve put Yahweh your maker out of mind,
the one who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth.
You’re fearful constantly, all day,
of the fury of the oppressor,
as he is preparing to devastate.
But where is the fury of the oppressor? –

the one stooping is hastening to be released.
He won’t die in the pit,
he won’t lack his bread.
I am Yahweh your God,
one who stills the sea when its waves roar –
Yahweh of Armies is his name.

I’ve put my words in your mouth,
and covered you with the shade of my hand,
In planting the heavens and founding the earth,
in saying to Tsiyyon ‘You’re my people.’

Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

Listen to me, you who pursue faithfulness,
who seek help from Yahweh.
Look to the crag from which you were hewn,
to the cavity, the hole, from which you were dug.
Look to Abraham your ancestor,
and Sarah who was labouring with you.
Because he was one when I called him,
so I might bless him and make him many.
Because Yahweh is comforting Tsiyyon,
he’s comforting all its wastes.
He’s making its wilderness like Eden,
its steppe like Yahweh’s garden.
Gladness and rejoicing will be found there,
thanksgiving and the sound of music.

Heed me, my people;
give ear to me, my nation.
Because instruction goes out from me,
my exercise of authority for the light of peoples.
In a flash my faithfulness is near,
my deliverance is going out,
my arm will exercise authority for peoples.
Foreign shores will hope in me,
they will wait for my arm.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
look to the earth below.
Because the heavens are shredding like smoke,
the earth will wear out like clothing,
its inhabitants will die in like manner.
But my deliverance will be permanent,
my faithfulness will not shatter.

Listen to me, you who acknowledge my faithfulness,
a people with my instruction in its mind.
Don’t be afraid of human reviling,
don’t shatter at their taunting.
Because moth will consume them like clothing,
grub will consume them like wool.
But my faithfulness will be permanent,
my deliverance to all generations.

Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm