For though your people, Israel, are as numerous as ¹  the sand on the seashore, only a remnant will come back. ²  Destruction has been decreed; ³  just punishment ⁴  is about to engulf you. ⁵ 

I solemnly make this oath ¹  – what I say is true and reliable: ²  ‘Surely every knee will bow to me, every tongue will solemnly affirm; ³ 

This is what the Lord says, “Promote ¹  justice! Do what is right! For I am ready to deliver you; I am ready to vindicate you openly. ² 

For this reason deliverance ¹  is far from us ²  and salvation does not reach us. We wait for light, ³  but see only darkness; ⁴  we wait for ⁵  a bright light, ⁶  but live ⁷  in deep darkness. ⁸ 

He wears his desire for justice ¹  like body armor, ²  and his desire to deliver is like a helmet on his head. ³  He puts on the garments of vengeance ⁴  and wears zeal like a robe.

For just as the ground produces its crops and a garden yields its produce, so the sovereign Lord will cause deliverance ¹  to grow, and give his people reason to praise him in the sight of all the nations. ² 

“For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem ¹  I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines brightly ²  and her deliverance burns like a torch.”

They seek me day after day; they want to know my requirements, ¹  like a nation that does what is right and does not reject the law of their God. They ask me for just decrees; they want to be near God.

Instead of bronze, I will bring you gold, instead of iron, I will bring you silver, instead of wood, I will bring you ¹  bronze, instead of stones, I will bring you ²  iron. I will make prosperity ³  your overseer, and vindication your sovereign ruler. ⁴ 

I ¹  will greatly rejoice ²  in the Lord; I will be overjoyed because of my God. ³  For he clothes me in garments of deliverance; he puts on me a robe symbolizing vindication. ⁴  I look like a bridegroom when he wears a turban as a priest would; I look like a bride when she puts on her jewelry. ⁵