A New 2024 Dynamic Equivalent of Isaiah of Jerusalem
Chapter 1
This is the vision that Isaiah (Yahweh is salvation), son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah (my strength is Yahweh), Jotham (Yahweh is perfect), Ahaz (he has held), and Hezekiah (Yahweh strengthens), kings of Judah:
"Listen, heavens! Pay attention, earth! The LORD has spoken: 'I raised children and lifted them up, but they have rebelled against me.'
Even an ox knows its owner, and a donkey recognizes its master's care, but Israel doesn't know me, my people don't understand.
Oh, what a sinful nation they are—loaded with a burden of guilt, offspring of evildoers, destructive children! They have abandoned the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, and turned their backs on him.
Why do you keep on being beaten? Why do you continue rebelling? Your head is injured, your heart is sick.
From head to toe, there's no soundness—only wounds, bruises, and fresh blows. They haven't been dressed or bandaged nor soothed with ointment.
Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your land in your presence; it's a wasteland, as overthrown by strangers.
The Daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
If the LORD of Hosts hadn't left us some survivors, we would have been like Sodom, completely like Gomorrah.
Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, people of Gomorrah!
'What are your many sacrifices to me?' says the LORD. 'I am full of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats.
When you come to appear before me, who has asked this from you—this trampling of my courts?
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. I cannot bear your worthless assemblies: new Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations.
I hate Your New Moon feasts and appointed festivals with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!
Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
'Come now, let us settle the matter,' says the LORD. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;
but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.' For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her—but now murderers!
Your silver has become dross; your wine of choice is diluted with water.
Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them.
Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: 'Ah, I will vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies.
I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities.
I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterward, you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.'
Zion will be redeemed with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness.
But rebels and sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the LORD will perish.
You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be disgraced because of the gardens that you have chosen.
You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water.
The mighty will be tinder, their work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire."
Chapter 2
This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
In the future, the mountain where the LORD's house stands will be the highest of all, towering above all the hills. People from all over the world will stream there,
saying, "Come, let's go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways so we can walk in his paths." For the LORD's teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations and settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD!
But you have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and embrace pagan customs.
Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots.
Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.
So people will be brought low, everyone humbled—do not forgive them.
Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from the fear of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty!
The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled, and human pride brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted, and they will be humbled,
for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan,
for all the towering mountains and all the high hills,
for every lofty tower and every fortified wall,
for every trading ship and every stately vessel.
The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,
and the idols will totally disappear.
People will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from the terror of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth.
In that day people will throw away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold, which they made to worship.
They will flee to caverns in the rocks and to the overhanging crags from the dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth.
Stop trusting in mere humans who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?
Chapter 3
Look! The Sovereign LORD of Hosts is about to take away from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: all supplies of food and all supplies of water,
the hero and warrior, the judge and prophet, the fortune-teller and elder,
the captain of fifty and man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman, and clever enchanter.
I will make mere youths their officials; children will rule over them.
People will oppress each other—man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored.
A man will seize his brother in his father’s house and say, “You have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!”
But he will cry out in that day, “I have no remedy. I have no food or clothing in my house; do not make me the leader of the people.”
Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling; their words and deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.
The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.
Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.
Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them! They will be paid back for what their hands have done.
Youths oppress my people; women rule over them. My people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path.
The LORD takes his place in court; he rises to judge the people.
The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: “You have ruined the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses.
What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
The LORD says, “The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, strutting along with swaying hips, with ornaments jingling on their ankles.
Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the LORD will make their scalps bald.”
In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces,
the earrings, bracelets and veils,
the headdresses and ankle chains and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms,
the signet rings and nose rings,
the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses
and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls.
Instead of fragrance, there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-dressed hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding.
Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle.
The gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.
Chapter 4
In that day, seven women will take hold of one man and say, "We will eat our own food and wear our own clothes; just let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!"
In that day, the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.
Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem.
The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.
Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory will be a canopy.
It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.
Chapter 5
I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. He looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?
Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.
I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”
The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land.
The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing: “Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants.
A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine; a homer of seed will yield only an ephah of grain.”
Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine.
They have harps and lyres at their banquets, pipes and timbrels and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD, no respect for the work of his hands.
Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; those of high rank will die of hunger and the common people will be parched with thirst.
Therefore Death expands its jaws, opening wide its mouth; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers.
So people will be brought low and everyone humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts.
Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture; lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich.
Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes,
to those who say, “Let God hurry; let him hasten his work so we may see it. The plan of the Holy One of Israel—let it approach, let it come so we may know it.”
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks,
who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.
Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore the LORD’s anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains quake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!
Not one of them grows tired or stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps; not a belt is loosened at the waist, not a sandal strap is broken.
Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses’ hooves seem like flint, their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
Their roar is like that of the lion, they roar like young lions; they growl as they seize their prey and carry it off with no one to rescue.
30 On that day they will roar over it like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks at the land, there is darkness and distress; even the light is darkened by its clouds.
Chapter 6
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings, they covered their faces; with two, they covered their feet; and with two, they were flying.
And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
The doorposts and thresholds shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
He said, “Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
Then I said, “For how long, Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged,
until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.
And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
Chapter 7
During the reign of Ahaz (he has held), son of Jotham (Yahweh is perfect), son of Uzziah (Yahweh is my strength), king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram, and Pekah (he opended), son of Remaliah (exalted by Yahweh), king of Israel, marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.
Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim.” So the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the wind shakes the trees of the forest.
Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub (A Remnant Shall Return), to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.
Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.
Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying,
“Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”
Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “‘It will not take place, it will not happen,
for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.
The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’”
Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz,
“Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”
But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.”
Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?
Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.
He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right,
for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.
The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”
In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria.
They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at all the water holes.
In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and private parts, and to cut off your beard also.
In that day, a man will keep alive a young cow and two goats.
And because of the abundance of the milk they give, there will be curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey.
In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be only briers and thorns.
Hunters will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns.
As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you will not go there for fear of the briers and thorns; they will become places where cattle are turned loose and where sheep run.
Chapter 8
The LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. (Seize the spoils quickly)’”
So I called in Uriah (Yahweh is my light) the priest and Zechariah (Yahweh has remembered) son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me.
Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.
For before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
The LORD spoke to me again:
“Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty and great waters of the River—the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks
and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel!”
Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.
This is what the LORD says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:
“Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.
The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread.
He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.
Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured.”
Bind up this testimony of warning and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.
I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my trust in him.
Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.
When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?
Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.
Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.
Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan.
Chapter 9
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.
For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.
Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
The Lord has sent a word against Jacob; it will fall on Israel.
All the people will know it—Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—who say with pride and arrogance of heart,
“The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”
But the LORD has strengthened Rezin’s foes against them and has spurred their enemies on.
Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west have devoured Israel with open mouth. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
But the people have not returned to him who struck them, nor have they sought the LORD Almighty.
So the LORD will cut off from Israel both head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day;
the elders and dignitaries are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail.
Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray.
Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men, nor will he pity the fatherless and widows, for everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks folly. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
Surely wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns, it sets the forest thickets ablaze, so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.
By the wrath of the LORD Almighty, the land will be scorched, and the people will be fuel for the fire; no one will spare another.
On the right, they will devour, but still be hungry; on the left, they will eat, but not be satisfied. Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring:
Manasseh will devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they will turn against Judah. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
Chapter 10
Woe to those who decree decrees of evil, and writers who have written harm,
to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may plunder the orphans!
And what will you do on the day of punishment, and in the storm which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth,
in order not to bow under the prisoners, and they will fall under the slain? For all this his anger has not turned back, and still his hand is stretched out.
Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, and a staff is in their hand: my wrath!
Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him to take spoil and to seize plunder, and to make it a trampling place like the clay of the streets.
But he does not think so, and his heart does not plan so. For it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off not a few nations.
For he says, "Are not my commanders altogether kings?
Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, and their graven images were more than Jerusalem and Samaria,
shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?"
And this shall happen: when the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, "I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty eyes.
For he says, 'By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding. And I have removed the boundaries of peoples, and I have plundered their treasures; like a bull I have brought down the inhabitants.
And my hand has found, as a nest, the wealth of the peoples. And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I have gathered all the earth. And there was no fluttering wing or open mouth or chirping.'"
Will the ax boast against the one who chops with it? Will the saw magnify itself against the one who wields it? As if a rod could wield those who lift it up! As if a staff could lift up what is not wood!
Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, will send leanness among his stout warriors. And under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire.
And the light of Israel will become like a fire, and his Holy One like a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.
And he will destroy the glory of his forest and orchard, soul and body. And it will be like the wasting away of one who is sick.
And the rest of the trees of his forest will be a small number, and a child will write them down.
And this shall happen on that day: the remnant of Israel and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped will no longer lean on the one who struck them, but they will lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
A remnant will return— the remnant of Jacob—to the mighty God.
For though your people Israel is like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of it will return. Destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
For the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, is about to make a complete destruction and a determined end in the midst of all the earth.
Therefore thus says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts: "My people who live in Zion, you must not be afraid of Assyria. It beats you with the rod, and it lifts up its staff against you in the way of Egypt.
For yet a very little while and the wrath will be finished, and my anger will be directed to their destruction.
And Yahweh of hosts will stir up against him a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it up in the way of Egypt.
And this shall happen on that day: his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and a yoke will be destroyed because of fatness.
He has come to Aiath; he has passed through Migron; at Michmash he deposited his baggage.
They crossed over the pass; Geba is a place of overnight lodging for us;
Chapter 11
And a shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
And the Spirit of Yahweh shall rest on him—a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh.
And his breath [is] in the fear of Yahweh. And he shall judge not by his eyesight, and he shall rebuke not by what he hears with his ears.
But he shall judge [the] poor with righteousness, and he shall decide for [the] needy of [the] earth with rectitude. And he shall strike [the] earth with the rod of his mouth, and he shall kill [the] wicked with the breath of his lips.
And righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
And a wolf shall stay with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie down with a kid, and a calf and a lion and a fatling together, and a small boy shall lead them.
And a cow and a bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together. And a lion shall eat straw like the cattle.
And an infant shall play over a serpent’s hole, and a toddler shall put his hand on an adder’s den.
They will not injure and they will not destroy on all of my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
And this shall happen on that day: The nations shall inquire of the root of Jesse, which shall stand as a signal to the peoples, and his resting place shall be glorious.
And this shall happen on that day: The Lord will again extend his hand a second time to acquire the remnant of his people who will remain from Assyria and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea,
and he will raise a signal for the nations, and he will gather the scattered ones of Israel, and he will collect the scattered ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
And the jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who are hostile to Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not be hostile to Ephraim.
But they shall swoop down on the slope of [the] Philistines to the west; together they shall plunder [the people of] the east. Edom and Moab [shall be] under their hand, and the sons of Ammon [shall be] their subjects.
And Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and he will wave his hand over the River with his scorching wind; and he will strike it into seven streams, and he will make [people] cross over in sandals.
And there shall be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of his people that remains, as there was for Israel when it came up from the land of Egypt.
Chapter 12
And you will say on that day, "I thank you, Yahweh, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned back and you comforted me.
Look! God [is] my salvation; I will trust, and I will not be afraid, for my strength and might [is] Yah, Yahweh; and he has become salvation for me."
And you will draw water with joy from the springs of salvation.
And you will say on that day, "Give thanks to Yahweh; call on his name. Make his deeds known among the peoples; bring to remembrance that his name [is] exalted.
Sing praises [to] Yahweh, for he has done a glorious thing; this [is] known in all the earth.
Shout and sing for joy, inhabitant of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel [is] great in your midst."
Chapter 13
The oracle of Babylon that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
On a bare hill raise a signal, cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles.
I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, I have also summoned my mighty warriors, my proudly exulting ones, to execute my anger.
A sound, a tumult on the mountains, like that of many people! A sound of the uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering! Yahweh of hosts [is] mustering an army for battle.
They are coming from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, Yahweh and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy all the earth.
Wail, for the day of Yahweh [is] near; it will come like destruction from Shaddai.
Therefore all hands will grow slack, and every human heart will melt,
and they will be dismayed. Pangs and labor pains will seize [them]; they will tremble like a woman giving birth. They will stare at one another, their faces [flushed] like flames.
Look! The day of Yahweh [is] coming, cruel and wrath and anger, to make the earth a desolation, and he will destroy its sinners from it.
For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.
And I will punish [the] world for [its] evil and [the] wicked for their iniquity. I will put an end to the pride of [the] arrogant and the haughtiness of tyrants I will lay low.
I will make humanity more rare than gold and humankind more than [the] gold of Ophir.
Therefore I will make [the] heavens tremble, and the earth will quake from its place at the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, in the day of his burning anger.
And this shall happen: like a hunted gazelle or like sheep without [anyone] to gather [them], they will each turn to his own people, and they will each flee to his own land.
Everyone who is found will be pierced through, and everyone who is caught will fall by the sword.
And their children will be dashed into pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be raped.
Look! I [am] stirring [up] the Medes against them, who do not value silver and do not delight in gold.
And [their] bows will shatter young men. And they will not take pity [on the] fruit of the womb; their eyes will not look with compassion [on] children.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
It will not be inhabited forever, and it will not be dwelt in {forever}; and no Arab will pitch [his] tent there, and shepherds will not allow [their flocks] to lie down there.
But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures, and daughters of ostriches will dwell there, and goats will dance there.
And hyenas will answer in its palaces, and jackals in the pleasure palaces; and its time [is] coming soon, and its days will not be prolonged.
Chapter 14
For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and he will again choose Israel and set them in their land, and the {foreigner} will join them, and they will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.
And [the] peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the land of Yahweh as male and female slaves. And they will be captors of their captors, and they will rule over their oppressors.
And this shall happen: on the day Yahweh gives you rest from your pain and from your turmoil and from the hard labor which you had to perform,
you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and you will say: "How the oppressor has ceased! The {insolence} has ceased!
Yahweh has broken [the] staff of [the] wicked, [the] scepter of rulers,
that struck [the] peoples in wrath [with] unceasing blows, that ruled [the] nations in anger [with] unrestrained persecution.
The whole earth rests [and] is quiet; they break forth [into] singing.
Even [the] cypresses rejoice over you, [the] cedars of Lebanon, [saying], 'Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.'
Sheol beneath is getting excited over you, to meet you when you come. It is stirring up [the] dead for you, all of [the] leaders of [the] earth. It is raising all of [the] kings of [the] nations from their thrones.
All of them will respond and say to you, 'You too have become weak like us! You have become the same as us!'
Your pride has been brought down [to] Sheol, [along with] the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.
How you have fallen from heaven, [O] morning star, son of the dawn! You are cut down to the ground, conqueror of nations!
And you yourself said in your heart, 'I will ascend [to] heaven; I will raise up my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on [the] mountain of assembly on the summit of Zaphon;
I will ascend to [the] high places of [the] clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.'
But you are brought down to Sheol, to [the] depths of [the] pit.
Those who see you will stare at you, they will look closely at you: '[Is] this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,
who made [the] world like a desert and destroyed its cities, [who] would not let his prisoners go home?'
All [the] kings of [the] nations, all of them, lie in glory, each one in his house.
But you are thrown from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with [the] slain, those pierced by [the] sword, those who go down to [the] stones of [the] pit, like a corpse trampled underfoot.
You will not be united with them in burial, for you have destroyed your land, you have killed your people. The offspring of evildoers will not be mentioned forever!
Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter because of the iniquity of their ancestors. [They] must not rise and take possession of [the] earth and fill [the] face of [the] world [with] cities."
"And I will rise up against them," {declares} Yahweh of hosts, "and I will cut off {name and remnant} from Babylon, and offspring and posterity," {declares} Yahweh.
"And I will make her a possession of [the] porcupine and pools of water, and I will sweep her away with [the] broom of destruction," {declares} Yahweh of hosts.
Yahweh of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, just as I have intended, so it shall be. And just as I have planned, so it shall stand:
to break Assyria in my land, and I will trample him on my mountains. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden from his shoulders.
This [is] the plan that is planned concerning all of [the] earth; and this [is] the hand that is stretched out over all of [the] nations.
For Yahweh
of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate [it]? And his hand [is] stretched out, and who can turn it back?"
In the year that King Ahaz died, this oracle came:
"You must not rejoice, all of you Philistines, that the rod [that] struck you is broken, for from the root of [the] snake a viper will come out, and its fruit [will be] a flying serpent.
And the firstborn of [the] poor will graze, and [the] needy will lie down in safety; but I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant it will kill.
Wail, O gate! Cry, O city! Melt [away], O Philistia, all of you! For smoke [is] coming from [the] north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.
What will one answer [the] messengers of [the] nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and the needy of his people will take refuge in it."
Chapter 15
The oracle of Moab: Because Ar of Moab is devastated in a night, it is destroyed; because Kir of Moab is devastated in a night, it is destroyed.
They go up [to] the temple and Dibon, [to] the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; every head [is] bald, every beard [is] shaven.
In its streets they put on sackcloth; on its roofs and in its public squares everyone wails, going down [in] weeping.
And Heshbon and Elealeh cry out, their voice is heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the armed ones of Moab cry out; his soul quivers for him.
My heart cries out for Moab; its fugitives [flee] up to Zoar, to Eglath-Shelishiyah. For [at] the ascent of Luhith it goes up it with weeping; for [on] the road of Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction.
The waters of Nimrim are desolations; for the grass has dried up, the vegetation has perished, there is no greenness.
Therefore the wealth they have gained and what they have stored up, they carry over the river of the poplars.
For a cry has encircled the territory of Moab, her wailing [is] as far as Eglaim, and her wailing [is] as far as Beer Elim.
For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; but I will bring added [woes] upon Dimon, a lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.posterity," {declares} Yahweh.
"And I will make her a possession of [the] porcupine and pools of water, and I will sweep her away with [the] broom of destruction," {declares} Yahweh of hosts.
Yahweh of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, just as I have intended, so it shall be. And just as I have planned, so it shall stand:
to break Assyria in my land, and I will trample him on my mountains. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden from his shoulders.
This [is] the plan that is planned concerning all of [the] earth; and this [is] the hand that is stretched out over all of [the] nations.
For Yahweh
of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate [it]? And his hand [is] stretched out, and who can turn it back?"
In the year that King Ahaz died, this oracle came:
"You must not rejoice, all of you Philistines, that the rod [that] struck you is broken, for from the root of [the] snake a viper will come out, and its fruit [will be] a flying serpent.
And the firstborn of [the] poor will graze, and [the] needy will lie down in safety; but I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant it will kill.
Wail, O gate! Cry, O city! Melt [away], O Philistia, all of you! For smoke [is] coming from [the] north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.
What will one answer [the] messengers of [the] nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and the needy of his people will take refuge in it."
Chapter 16
Send a ram [to] the ruler of the land, from Sela [in the] wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
And this shall happen: like a wandering bird, an abandoned nest, so [shall] the daughters of Moab be at the fords of Arnon.
"Bring counsel, make a decision; make your shade like the night in the midst of noonday. Hide [the] outcasts; you must not betray [the] fugitive.
Let my outcasts [dwell] among you; Moab, be a hiding place for them from [the] presence of [the] destroyer." When the oppressor is no more, destruction has stopped, [the] one who tramples has ceased from the land,
then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and one will sit on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and zealous for righteousness.
We have heard [of] the pride of Moab — [he is] very proud — of his arrogance, pride, and insolence; his boasting [is] not true.
Therefore Moab wails; all of it wails for Moab, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you moan, surely devastated.
For Heshbon withers the fields of Sibmah; the lords of [the] nations have broken down her vine branches, which reached to Jazer, [which] wandered [into] the desert; her new shoots stretched out, they crossed over [the] sea.
Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer [for] the vine of Sibmah. I drench you [with] my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for a jubilant shout has fallen over your summer fruit and harvest.
And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field, and in the vineyards no one exults, no one shouts for joy; the treader treads out no wine in the presses; I have put an end to the jubilant shout.
Therefore my {inner parts} moan like a lyre for Moab, and my innermost being for Kir-heres.
And this shall happen: when Moab appears, when it is weary upon the high place and it comes to its sanctuary to pray, it will not prevail.
This [is] the word that Yahweh spoke to Moab {in the past}.
And now Yahweh speaks, saying, "In three years, like [the] years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be disgraced, with all [of] his great multitude, and [the] remnant [will be] a few, small, not strong."
Chapter 17
The oracle of Damascus: "Look! Damascus [will] cease being a city and will become a heap of ruins.
The cities of Aroer [will be] abandoned; they will be for flocks, and they will lie down and {no one will frighten} [them].
And [the] fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and [the] kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the children of Israel," {declares} Yahweh of hosts.
"And this shall happen on that day: [The] glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will become lean.
And it shall be as [when] a reaper gathers standing grain and he reaps grain with his arm, and it shall be like [one who] gathers ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.
And gleanings will be left over in it, as [when] an olive tree is beaten—two [or] three ripe olives on the top of a branch, four [or] five on its fruitful branches," {declares} Yahweh, the God of Israel.
On that day, mankind will look to its maker, and its eyes will look to the holy one of Israel;
And it will not look to the altars, the work of its hands, and it will not see what its fingers made and the poles of Asherah worship and the incense altars.
On that day, its fortified cities will be like the {abandonment} of the wooded place and the summit, which they deserted because of the children of Israel; and there will be desolation.
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and you have not remembered the rock of your refuge; therefore you plant plants of pleasantness, and you plant vine of a foreigner.
On your planting day, you make [them] grow, and in the morning of your sowing, you bring [them] into blossom, a heap of harvest on a day of sickness and incurable pain.
Ah! The roar of many peoples; they roar like the roaring of seas! And the roar of nations; they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
The nations roar like the roar of many waters, but he will rebuke them and they will flee far away. And they will be chased like chaff of [the] mountains before [the] wind and like tumbleweed before [the] storm.
At [the] time of evening, and look, terror! Before morning, he is no more. This [is] the fate of those who plunder us and the lot of those who plunder us."
Chapter 18
Ah! The land of the whirring of wings, which [is] beyond the rivers of Cush,
which sends messengers by the sea and in vessels of papyrus on [the] surface of [the] waters! Go, swift messengers, to a tall and smooth-skinned nation, to a people feared {from its beginning onward}, a nation mighty and trampling, whose land [the] rivers divide.
All [you] inhabitants of [the] world and dwellers of [the] earth, when a signal is raised on [the] mountains, you must look, and when a trumpet is blown, you must listen!
For Yahweh said this to me: "I will be quiet, and I will look from my dwelling place like clear heat because of light, like a cloud of dew in [the] heat of harvest."
For before [the] harvest, {when the blossom is complete} and a blossom becomes ripening fruit, and one cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and one removes, tears away the tendrils.
They shall all be left for birds of prey of [the] mountains and for the animals of the earth. And the birds of prey will pass the summer on it, and all the animals of the earth will winter on it.
At that time, a gift will be brought to Yahweh of hosts [from] a tall and smooth-skinned people and from a people feared {from its beginning onward}, a nation mighty and trampling, whose land [the] rivers divide, to the place of the name of Yahweh of hosts, the mountain of Zion.
Chapter 19
An oracle of Egypt: Look! Yahweh is riding on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. And the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of Egypt melts in his inner parts.
And I will stir up {Egyptians} against {Egyptians}, and each one will fight against his brother and each one against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
And the spirit of Egypt will be disturbed in his midst, and I will confound his plans, and they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, and the ghosts and the spiritists.
And I will give over Egypt into the hand of a hard master, and a powerful king will rule over them," {declares} the Lord Yahweh of hosts.
And the waters will be dried up from the sea, and the river will be parched and dry.
And the rivers will become foul, and the branches of the Nile of Egypt will dwindle and dry up; reed and rush will wither.
Bare places by the Nile will be dried up, by the edge of the Nile and all the sown land of the Nile; it will be driven away, and it will not exist.
And the fishers will mourn, and all of those who cast fishhooks in the Nile will lament, and those who spread out fishing nets on the surface of the water will languish.
And those who do work with combed flax will be ashamed, and those who weave white linen.
And her weavers will be crushed; all the hired workers will be grieved of heart.
Surely the princes of Zoan are foolish; the wise of the counselors of Pharaoh give senseless counsel. How do you say to Pharaoh, "I myself am a son of sages, a descendant of ancient kings"?
Where are your sages then? Now, let them tell you, and let them know what Yahweh of hosts has planned against Egypt.
The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly, the princes of Memphis are deceived; the chiefs of her tribes have led Egypt astray.
Yahweh has poured into her midst a spirit of confusion, and they have made Egypt stagger in all of her work, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
And {there will be} nothing for Egypt to do, head or tail, palm branch or reed.
On that day, Egypt will be like women, and will tremble and be in fear before the waving hand of Yahweh of hosts that he is waving against it.
And the land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt, everyone to whom one mentions it will be in fear before the plan of Yahweh of hosts that he is planning against him.
On that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear an oath to Yahweh of hosts; one will be called "City of the Sun."
On that day, there will be an altar for Yahweh in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a stone pillar for Yahweh at her border.
And it will be a sign and a witness to Yahweh of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry out to Yahweh because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them.
And Yahweh will make himself known to Egypt, and Egypt will know Yahweh on that day, and they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to Yahweh, and they will fulfill [them].
And Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking and healing; then they will return to Yahweh, and he will respond to their pleas, and he will heal them.
On that day, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and Egypt will worship together with Assyria.
On that day, Israel will be [the] third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
whom Yahweh of hosts blessed, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance."
Chapter 20
In the year that the commander-in-chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it—
at that time, Yahweh had spoken by the hand of Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, "Go and loosen the sackcloth from your loins, and take off your sandals from your feet," and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot.
Then Yahweh said, "Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,
so shall the king of Assyria lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks, the shame of Egypt.
And they shall be dismayed, and they shall be ashamed because of Cush, their hope, and because of Egypt, their pride.
And the inhabitant of this coastland will say this on that day: 'Look! This is our hope to whom we fled for help, to be delivered from the king of Assyria, and how shall we escape?'"
Chapter 21
The oracle of the wilderness of the sea: As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.
A hard vision is told to me; the betrayer betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! All the sighing she has caused I bring to an end.
Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
My heart staggers; horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.
They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes; oil the shield!
For thus the Lord said to me: “Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees.
When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently.”
Then he who saw cried out: “Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights.
And behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!” And he answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.”
O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you.
The oracle concerning Dumah. One is calling to me from Seir, “Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?”
The watchman says: “Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again.”
The oracle concerning Arabia. In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.
To the thirsty bring water; meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema.
For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle.
For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.
And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”
Chapter 22
The oracle concerning the Valley of Vision. What do you mean that you have gone up, all of you, to the housetops,
you who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle.
All your leaders have fled together; without the bow they were captured. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away.
Therefore I said: “Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the Valley of Vision, a battering down of walls and a crying to the mountains.
And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
He has taken away the covering of Judah. In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest,
and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool,
and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.
You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
In that day the Lord GOD of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth;
and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: “Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts.
Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him:
What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock?
Behold, the LORD will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you
and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house.
I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station.
In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house.
And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.
In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken.”
Chapter 23
The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor! From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them.
Be still, O inhabitants of the coast; the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
And on many waters the grain of the Nile, the harvest of the River, was her revenue; and she was the market of nations.
Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying: "I have neither labored nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women."
When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
Is this your exultant city whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her to settle far away?
Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?
The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint anymore.
He has stretched out his hand over the sea; he has shaken the kingdoms; the LORD has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its strongholds.
And he said: "You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon; arise, cross over to Cyprus; even there you will have no rest."
Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not; Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare; they made her a ruin.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste.
In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
"Take a harp, go about the city, O forgotten prostitute! Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that you may be remembered."
At the end of seventy years, the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.
Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the LORD.
Chapter 24
Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants.
And it will be the same for the people as for the priest; the same for the slave as for his master; the same for the maid as for her mistress; the same for the buyer as for the seller; the same for the lender as for the borrower; the same for the creditor as for the debtor.
The earth will be completely laid waste and completely plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word.
The earth mourns and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth languish.
The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant.
Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.
The new wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh.
The gaiety of tambourines ceases, the noise of revelers stops, the gaiety of the harp ceases.
They do not drink wine with song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
The city of chaos is broken down; every house is shut up so that none may enter.
There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine; all joy turns to gloom. The gaiety of the earth is banished.
Desolation is left in the city and the gate is battered to ruins.
For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.
They raise their voices, they shout for joy; they cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the LORD.
Therefore glorify the LORD in the east, the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the coastlands of the sea.
From the ends of the earth we hear songs, "Glory to the Righteous One," but I say, "Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me! The treacherous deal treacherously, and the treacherous deal very treacherously."
Terror and pit and snare confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.
Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; for the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.
The earth is broken asunder, the earth is split through, the earth is shaken violently.
The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and it totters like a shack, for its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall, never to rise again.
So it will happen in that day, that the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth.
They will be gathered together like prisoners in the dungeon, and will be confined in prison; and after many days they will be punished.
Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and His glory will be before His elders.
Chapter 25
O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
For You have made a city into a heap, A fortified city into a ruin; A palace of strangers is a city no more, It will never be rebuilt.
Therefore a strong people will glorify You; Cities of ruthless nations will revere You.
For You have been a defense for the helpless, A defense for the needy in his distress, A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; For the breath of the ruthless Is like a rain storm against a wall.
Like heat in drought, You subdue the uproar of aliens; Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.
The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, And refined, aged wine.
And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.
He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.
And it will be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, And Moab will be trodden down in his place As straw is trodden down in the water of a manure pile.
And he will spread out his hands in the middle of it As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim, But the Lord will lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.
The unassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down, Lay low and cast to the ground, even to the dust.
Chapter 26
In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; He sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.
Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.
For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust.
The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy."
The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous.
In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.
My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the LORD.
O LORD, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
O LORD, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works.
O LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to remembrance.
They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them.
But you have increased the nation, O LORD, you have increased the nation; you are glorified; you have enlarged all the borders of the land.
O LORD, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them.
Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O LORD;
we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by.
For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain."
Chapter 27
In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
In that day, "A pleasant vineyard, sing of it!
I, the LORD, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day;
I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would march against them, I would burn them up together.
Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me."
In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.
Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain?
Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them; he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind.
Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing.
For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; there the calf grazes, there it lies down and strips its branches.
When its boughs are dry, they are broken; women come and make a fire of them. For this is a people without understanding; therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them; he who formed them will show them no favor.
In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the LORD will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel.
And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Chapter 28
Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!
Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong; like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters, he casts down to the earth with his hand.
The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot;
and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer: when someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it is in his hand.
In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed by wine, they stagger with strong drink, they reel in vision, they stumble in giving judgment.
For all tables are full of filthy vomit, with no space left.
“To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast?
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”
For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to this people,
to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear.
And the word of the Lord will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem!
Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;
therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it.
As often as it passes through it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.
For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.
For the Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim; as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused; to do his deed—strange is his deed! and to work his work—alien is his work!
Now therefore do not scoff, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.
Give ear, and hear my voice; pay attention, and hear my speech.
Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground?
When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border?
For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him.
Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.
Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it.
This also comes from the Lord of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.
Chapter 29
Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round.
Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel.
And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you.
And you shall be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech shall be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly,
you will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.
Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink!
For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).
And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”
And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.
The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.
Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale.
For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction.”
Chapter 30
“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;
who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
For though his officials are at Zoan and his envoys reach Hanes,
everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace.”
An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the flying fiery serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them.
Egypt's help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her “Rahab who sits still.”
And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.
For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord;
who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions,
leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them,
therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
and its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling,
and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you.
And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.
And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”
And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures,
and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.
And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, burning with his anger, and in
thick rising smoke; his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
his breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to put in the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.
You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in fierce anger, and in the flame of a devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones.
The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, when he strikes with his rod.
And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them.
For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
Chapter 31
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!
And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the help of those who work iniquity.
Now the Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.
For thus the Lord said to me, “As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him he is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the Lord of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.
Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it.”
Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel.
For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.
“And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to forced labor.
His rock shall pass away in terror, and his officers desert the standard in panic,” declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
Chapter 32
- Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice.
- Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
- Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
- The heart of the hasty will understand and know, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
- The fool will no more be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
- For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the Lord, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
- As for the scoundrel—his devices are evil; he plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right.
- But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.
- Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
- In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come.
- Tremble, you women who are at ease; shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist.
- Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
- for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city.
- For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;
- until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
- Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
- And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
- My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
- And it will hail when the forest falls down, and the city will be utterly laid low.
- Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.
Chapter 33
- Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.
- O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.
- At the tumultuous noise peoples flee; when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
- and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
- The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
- and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.
- Behold, their heroes cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
- The highways lie waste; the traveler ceases. Covenants are broken; cities are despised; there is no regard for man.
- The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is confounded and withers away; Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
- "Now I will arise," says the Lord, "now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.
- You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you.
- And the peoples will be as if burned to lime, like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire."
- Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
- The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: "Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?"
- He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
- he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
- Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.
- Your heart will muse on the terror: "Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers?"
- You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
- Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken.
- But there the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass.
- For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us.
- Your cords hang loose; they cannot hold the mast firm in its place or keep the sail spread out. Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided; even the lame will take the prey.
- And no inhabitant will say, "I am sick"; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
Chapter 34
- Draw near, O nations, to hear, and give attention, O peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it; the world, and all that comes from it.
- For the Lord is enraged against all the nations, and furious against all their host; he has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter.
- Their slain shall be cast out, and the stench of their corpses shall rise; the mountains shall flow with their blood.
- All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.
- For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
- The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood; it is gorged with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
- Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls. Their land shall drink its fill of blood, and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
- For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
- And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch.
- Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.
- But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.
- Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom, and all its princes shall be nothing.
- Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.
- And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird settles and finds for herself a resting place.
- There the owl nests and lays and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow; indeed, there the hawks are gathered, each one with her mate.
- Seek and read from the book of the Lord: Not one of these shall be missing; none shall be without her mate. For the mouth of the Lord has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them.
- He has cast the lot for them; his hand has portioned it out to them with the line; they shall possess it forever; from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
Chapter 35
- The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
- It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.
- Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
- Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you."
- Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
- Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
- The burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
- And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
- No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.
- And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Chapter 36
- In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
- And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field.
- And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
- And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this confidence of yours?
- Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me?
- Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
- But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?
- Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.
- How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
- Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”
- Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
- But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
- Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
- Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you.
- Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”’
- Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the waters of his own cistern,
- until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.’
- Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
- Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
- Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?”
- But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.”
- Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
Chapter 37
- When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
- And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.
- They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.
- It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.”
- When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
- Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me.
- Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”
- The Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had left Lachish.
- Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
- “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
- Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered?
- Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
- Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”
- Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.
- And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
- “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
- Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
- Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,
- and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.
- So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”
- Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
- this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: ‘She despises you, she scorns you—the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you—the daughter of Jerusalem.
- Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel!
- By your servants you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon, to cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses; to come to its remotest height, its most fruitful forest.
- I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.’
- Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins,
- while their inhabitants
, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops, blighted before it is grown. 28. I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me. 29. Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.’ 30. And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31. The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 33. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege mound against it. 34. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 35. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.” 36. And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Chapter 38
- In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.”
- Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord
- and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
- Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah:
- “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.
- I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.
- This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised:
- Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.
- A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
- I said, In the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.
- I said, I shall not see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living; I shall look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
- My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night you bring me to an end;
- I calmed myself until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to an end.
- Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!
- What shall I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. I walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
- O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh restore me to health and make me live!
- Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
- For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness.
- The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.
- The Lord will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our life, at the house of the Lord.
- Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.”
- Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”
Chapter 39
- At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.
- And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
- Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.”
- He said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”
- Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts:
- Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord.
- And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
- Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and truth in my days.”
Chapter 40
- “Comfort; comfort my people,” says your God.
- “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her, that her compulsory labor is completed, that her sin is paid for, that she has received from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins.”
- A voice is calling in the wilderness, “Clear the way of Yahweh! Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God!
- Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
- And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”
- A voice is saying, “Call!” And he said, “What shall I call?” “All flesh is grass, and all its loyalty is like the flowers of the field.
- Grass withers; the flower withers when the breath of Yahweh blows on it. Surely the people are grass.
- Grass withers; the flower withers, but the word of our God shall stand forever.”
- Go up on a high mountain, messenger Zion! Lift up your voice with strength, messenger Jerusalem! Lift it up; you should not fear! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
- Look! The Lord Yahweh comes with strength, and his arm rules for him. Look! His reward is with him; his recompense is before him.
- He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arm, and he will carry them in his bosom; he will lead those who nurse.
- Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, comprehended the dust of the earth in a third of a measure, and weighed out the mountains with a balance, and the hills with scales?
- Who has measured the Spirit of Yahweh or informed him as his counselor?
- With whom has he consulted, that he enlightened him and taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge, and made the way of understanding known to him?
- Look! The nations are like a drop from a bucket, and they are counted like dust of the scales! Look! He takes up the islands like fine dust.
- And Lebanon is not enough to light a fire, and its animals not enough for a burnt offering.
- All the nations are like nothing before him; they are counted by him as nothing and emptiness.
- And to whom can you liken God? And what likeness can you compare with him?
- A craftsman pours out the idol, a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and a silversmith casts silver chains for it.
- He who is too impoverished for a gift chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks a skillful artisan for himself to set up an idol that will not be knocked over.
- Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
- He is the one who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; he stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
- He is the one who brings princes to nothing; he makes the rulers of the earth like nothing.
- Scarcely are they planted; scarcely are they sown; scarcely has their shoot taken root in the earth when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them like stubble.
- “And to whom can you liken me, and to whom am I equal?” says the Holy One.
- Lift your eyes up on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number; he calls all of them by name. Because of the greatness of his strength and because he is strong in power, no one is missing.
- Why do you say, Jacob, and you speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and my judgment is passed over by my God”?
- Have you not known? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth! He is not faint, and he does not grow weary! His understanding is unsearchable.
- He gives power to the weary, and he increases power for those who have no might.
- Even young people will be faint and grow weary, and the young will stumble, exhausted.
- But those who wait for Yahweh shall renew their strength. They shall go up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they
Chapter 41
- "Be quiet before me, coastlands, and let people renew [their] strength. Let them approach; then let them speak. Let us draw near together for judgment.
- Who has stirred up [one] from [the] east? He calls justice to his feet. He gives nations before him, and he subdues kings. He makes [them] like dust [with] his sword, like scattered stubble [with] his bow.
- He pursues them and passes on safely, [by a] path he has not come with his feet.
- Who has performed and done [this], calling the generations from [the] beginning? I, Yahweh, am [the] first, and with [the] last ones I [am] he."
- [The] coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble. They have drawn near and have come.
- Each one helps his neighbor; he says to his brother, "Take courage!"
- And [the] artisan encourages [the] goldsmith, [and] the one who smooths with [the] hammer [encourages][the one who] strikes [the] anvil, saying of the soldering, "It [is] good!" And they strengthen it with nails [so that] it cannot be knocked over.
- "But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you, the offspring of Abraham my {friend},
- you whom I grasped from [the] ends of the earth and called from its remotest parts and told, 'You [are] my servant; I have chosen you and I have not rejected you.'
- You must not fear, for I [am] with you; you must not be afraid, for I [am] your God. I will strengthen you, indeed I will help you, indeed I will uphold you with the right hand of my salvation.
- Look! All those who are angry with you shall be ashamed and humiliated; your opponents shall be like nothing and shall become lost.
- You shall seek them, but you shall not find them; your opponents shall be like nothing, and the men of your war like nothing.
- For I, Yahweh your God, [am] grasping your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'You must not fear; I myself, I will help you.'
- You must not fear, O worm of Jacob; people of Israel, I myself, I will help you," {declares} Yahweh, "and your redeemer [is] the holy one of Israel.
- Look! I will make you into a new sharp threshing sledge, {having} sharp edges. You shall thresh [the] mountains and crush [them], and you shall make [the] hills like chaff.
- You shall winnow them and [the] wind shall carry them, and [the] tempest shall scatter them. And you yourself shall rejoice in Yahweh; you shall boast in the holy one of Israel.
- [The] poor and [the] needy [are] seeking water and [there is] none; their tongue is dried up with thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
- I will open rivers on [the] barren heights and fountains in the midst of [the] valleys. I will make [the] wilderness like a pool of water and [the] land of dryness like springs of water.
- I will put [the] cedar in the wilderness, [the] acacia and [the] myrtle and [the] olive tree; I will set [the] juniper in the desert, [the] elm and [the] box tree together,
- so that [they] may see and know, and may consider and understand together that the hand of Yahweh has done this, and [the] holy one of Israel has created it."
- "Submit your legal case," says Yahweh. "Bring your evidence," says the king of Jacob.
- Let them bring [them], and let them tell us what will happen. Tell us {former things}, what they [are], so that {we may consider} them and know their outcome. Or declare to us {future things},
- tell [us] {things to come} {in the future}, so that we may know that you [are] gods. Indeed, [do] good or evil, so that we may be afraid and see together.
- Look! You [are] {nothing}, and your work [is] {nothing}. He who chooses you [is] an abomination.
- "I stirred up
[one] from [the] north, and he has come from [the] rising of the sun. He shall call on my name, and he shall come [on] officials as [if] {treading} mortar, and as [the] {potter} treads clay. 26. Who declared [it] from [the] beginning, so that we might know, and {beforehand}, so that we might say, '[He is] right!' Indeed, [there] was no one who declared [it]; Indeed, [there] was no one who proclaimed [it]. Indeed, there was no one who heard your words. 27. [The] first [one] {for Zion}--look, here they are! And to Jerusalem I give one who brings good news. 28. And I look, but there is no man, and I look among these [people], but there is no counselor, that I might ask them and they might answer a word. 29. Look! All of them [are] deception; their works [are] nothing; their images [are] wind and emptiness."
Chapter 42
- "Look! My servant; I hold him, my chosen one [in whom] my soul delights. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the nations.
- He will not cry out and lift up and make his voice heard in the street.
- A crushed reed he will not break, and a dim wick he will not quench. He will bring justice in accordance with truth.
- He will not grow faint, and he will not be broken until he has established justice in the earth. And [the] coastlands wait for his teaching."
- Thus says the God, Yahweh, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk in it.
- "I [am] Yahweh; I have called you in righteousness, and I have grasped your hand and watched over you; and I have given you as a covenant of [the] people, as a light of [the] nations,
- to open [the] blind eyes, to bring [the] prisoner out from the dungeon, those who sit in darkness from [the] house of imprisonment.
- I [am] Yahweh; that [is] my name, and I do not give my glory to another, nor my praise to the idols.
- Look! The former things have come, and I declare new things. Before they sprout I announce [them] to you."
- Sing a new song to Yahweh; praise him from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea and that which fills it, [the] coastlands and their inhabitants.
- 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 loudly from [the] top of [the] mountains.
- Let them give glory to Yahweh, and declare his praise in the coastlands.
- Yahweh goes forth like a mighty warrior; he stirs up zeal like a man of war. He raises the war cry, indeed he raises the battle shout; against his enemies he shows himself mighty.
- "I have been silent for a long time; I have kept silent; I have restrained myself like one who gives birth; I will moan, pant, and gasp together.
- I will cause mountains and hills to dry up, and I will cause all their herbage to wither; and I will make rivers like islands, and I will cause pools to dry up.
- And I will lead [the] blind by a road they do not know; I will cause them to tread on paths they have not known. I will turn darkness before them to light and rough places into level ground. These [are] the things I will do, and I will not forsake them."
- They shall be turned back; they shall be utterly ashamed, those who trust in an image, who say to a cast image, "You [are] our gods."
- Deaf ones, listen! And blind ones, look to see!
- Who [is] blind but my servant or deaf like my messenger [whom] I sent? Who [is] blind like the one who is repaid or blind like the servant of Yahweh?
- You see many [things], but you do not observe. [His] ears are open, but he does not hear.
- Yahweh was pleased for the sake of his righteousness; he made [the] law great and glorious.
- But this [is] a people plundered and looted; all of them [are] trapped in holes, and they are kept hidden in prisons. They have become plunder, and there is no [one who] rescues; spoil, and there is no [one who] says, "Restore!"
- Who among you will heed this, will listen attentively and listen for {the time to come}?
- Who gave Jacob to a plunderer and Israel to those who plunder? [Was it] not Yahweh, against whom we have sinned? And they were not willing to walk in his ways, and they would not listen to his law.
- So he poured [the] wrath of his anger on him and the strength of battle. And it set him afire all around, but he did not understand; and it burned against him, but he did not take [it] to heart."
Chapter 43
"Now this is what the LORD says: He who created you, Jacob, and He who formed you, Israel, do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in My eyes, and honored, and I love you, I will give men in return for you, and peoples in exchange for your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth.
Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed and made."
Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, and the deaf, even though they have ears.
All the nations are gathered together, and the peoples are assembled. Who among them can declare this, and proclaim to us former things? Let them bring their witnesses to justify them, and let them hear and say, "It is true."
"You are My witnesses," declares the LORD, "and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me.
I, even I, am the LORD, and there is no savior besides Me.
I declared and saved and proclaimed, and there was no strange god among you; so you are My witnesses," declares the LORD, "and I am God.
Even from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act, and who can reverse it?"
This is what the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: "For your sake I will send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.
I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King."
Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters,
who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior—they lie down together, they will not rise again; they are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick:
"Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
The beast of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen.
This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise.
Yet you have not called upon Me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of Me, O Israel.
You have not brought Me the sheep for your burnt offerings, nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not caused you to serve with grain offerings, nor wearied you with incense.
You have not bought Me sweet cane with money, nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices; but you have burdened Me with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities.
I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
Put Me in remembrance; let us plead together; recount your case, that you may be justified.
Your first father sinned, and your mediators have transgressed against Me.
Therefore, I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; I will give Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches."
Chapter 44
- "And now hear, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen.
- Thus says Yahweh, who made you, and who formed you from the womb and will help you: you must not fear, my servant Jacob, and Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
- For I will pour out water on a thirsty [land] and streams on dry ground. I will pour my spirit out on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring.
- And they will sprout {among} [the] grass like willows by a watercourse of water.
- This [one] will say, 'I belong to Yahweh'; another will call [himself] by the name of Jacob; and another will write [on] his hand, 'Yahweh's,' and take the name of Israel."
- Thus says Yahweh, the king of Israel, and its redeemer, Yahweh of hosts: "I [am the] first, and I [am the] last, and there is no god besides me.
- And who [is] like me? Let him proclaim [it]! And let him declare it and set it in order for me since I established [an] eternal people and things that are to come, and let them tell them [the things] that are coming.
- You must not tremble, and you must not be paralyzed with fear. Have I not made you hear from of old and declared [it]? And you [are] my witnesses! Is there a god besides me? And there is no rock! I know none!"
- All those who form an idol [are] nothing, and their delightful things do not profit. And their witnesses do not see or know, so they will be ashamed.
- Who would form a god and cast an image of which he cannot profit?
- Look! All his companions shall be ashamed, and the artisans are human! Let all of them assemble; let them stand up. They shall tremble; they shall be ashamed together.
- [The] {ironsmith} {works} in the coals with [the] tool and forms it with hammers. And he makes it with his strong arm; indeed, he becomes hungry, and {he lacks} strength; he does not drink water, and he is faint.
- [The] {woodworker} stretches out a line; he makes an outline [of] it with [a] marker. He makes it with [a] carving tool, and he makes it with [a] compass, and he makes it like [the] figure of a man, like [the] beauty of a human, to dwell [in] a temple.
- Cutting down cedars for himself, he chose [a] holm tree and an oak, and he lets it grow strong for him among [the] trees of [the] forest. He planted a cedar, and the rain makes [it] grow.
- And it {becomes fuel for a person}. And he took [some] of it and warmed himself; also, he kindled [a fire] and baked bread. Also, he made a god and worshiped [it]; he made an image and bowed down to it!
- Half of it he burns in [the] fire; half of it he eats meat [with]. He roasts a roast and is satisfied. Also, he warms himself and says, "Aha! I am warm! I see [the] fire!"
- And he makes a god and bows down to his idol; he prays to him and says, "Deliver me, for you [are] my god!"
- They do not know, and they do not understand, for their eyes [are] besmeared so that they cannot see, their hearts so that they have no insight.
- And {no one takes it to heart}, and [there is] no knowledge and no understanding to say, "I burned half of it in [the] fire and also I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat, and I ate. And I make [the] rest of it into an abomination! I bow down to a block of wood!"
- [He] feeds [on] ashes; a {deceived} heart led him astray. And he cannot save himself, and he does not say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"
- "Remember these things, Jacob, and Israel, for you [are] my servant; I formed you; you [are] my servant; Israel, you will not be forgotten by me!
- I have wiped your transgressions out like a cloud and your sins like mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you!"
- Shout for joy, heavens, for Yahweh has done [it]! Shout, depths of [the] earth! Break forth, mountains, [with] rejoicing, forest and every tree in it, for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob, and he will show his glory in Israel!
- Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, and he who formed you in [the] womb: "I [am] Yahweh, who made everything, who stretched out [the] heavens alone, who spread out [the] earth—who [was] with me?—
- who frustrates [the] signs of oracle priests and makes a fool of diviners, who drives [the] wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,
- who keeps the word of his servant and carries out the plan of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, 'It shall be inhabited,' and of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be rebuilt, and I will restore her ruins';
- who says to [the] deep, 'Dry up! And I will cause your rivers to dry up';
- who says of Cyrus, 'My shepherd,' and he will carry out all my wishes; and saying of Jerusalem, 'It shall be rebuilt,' and [the] temple, 'It shall be founded.'"
Chapter 45
- God says to his chosen one, Cyrus: “I’ve empowered you to conquer nations, to open the way before you, and to break down the gates of cities.
- I will go ahead of you, smoothing out the path, breaking down bronze gates, and cutting through iron bars.
- I will give you hidden treasures and riches stored in secret places, so you will know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by name.
- For the sake of my servant Jacob, Israel my chosen, I have called you by name and given you a title of honor, though you do not know me.
- I am the Lord; there is no other. Apart from me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you do not acknowledge me,
- So that from the rising of the sun to its setting, people may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord; there is no other.
- I create the light and make the darkness. I bring peace and create calamity. I, the Lord, do all these things.
- Let the heavens rain down righteousness; let the earth open wide so salvation and righteousness can sprout and grow; I, the Lord, created it.
- Woe to those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be!’
- How absurd it is for a child to question the parent who gave them life, or for a woman to question the process of childbirth!
- This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel, who shaped you: Will you question me about my children, or instruct me about the work of my hands?
- I made the earth and created humans to inhabit it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I commanded their starry hosts.
- I have raised up Cyrus to fulfill my righteous purpose, and I will guide all his ways. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, without any payment or reward, says the Lord of hosts.”
- This is what the Lord says: “Egypt’s wealth, Ethiopia’s treasures, and the tall Sabeans will come over to you and be yours. They will follow you, bound in chains; they will bow down to you and plead with you, saying, ‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other; there is no other god.’”
- Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
- All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced; they will go off into disgrace together.
- But Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; you will never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting.
- For this is what the Lord says—He who created the heavens, He is God; He who fashioned and made the earth, He founded it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited—He says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.
- I have not spoken in secret, in some dark land. I did not say to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.
- Gather together and come; assemble, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save.
- Declare what is to be, present it—let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me.
- Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
- By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.
- They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone are deliverance and strength.’” All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame.
- But all the descendants of Israel will find deliverance in the Lord and will make their boast in him.
Chapter 46
- "Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols are heavy burdens, too hard for weary animals.
- They stoop and bow together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity.
- Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all who are left from the nation of Israel. I've been carrying you since your birth.
- Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am the one who will sustain you. I made you, and I will carry and save you.
- Can you compare me to anyone? Is there any equal to me?
- People pour out their gold and weigh silver on the scales. They hire a craftsman to make a god, then bow down and worship it.
- They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands, unable to move. When they cry out to it, it cannot answer; it cannot save them from their troubles.
- Remember this and stand firm. Recall it to mind, you transgressors.
- Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
- I declare the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
- From the east, I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, I will bring about; what I have planned, I will do.
- Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are now far from my righteousness.
- I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel."
Chapter 47
- "Come down, Babylon, sit in the dust. Virgin daughter of Babylon, there's no throne for you. You won't be called tender and delicate anymore.
- Take the millstones, grind flour. Remove your veil, lift your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the rivers.
- Your nakedness will be exposed, your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one."
- Our Redeemer—the LORD Almighty is his name— is the Holy One of Israel.
- "Sit in silence, go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans; you will no longer be called queen of kingdoms.
- I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged, you laid a very heavy yoke.
- You said, 'I am forever—the eternal queen!' But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.
- Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.'
- Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.
- You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me.'
- Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.
- Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.
- All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.
- Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. These are not coals for warmth; this is not a fire to sit by.
- That is all they are to you—these you have dealt with and labored with since childhood. All of them go on in their error; there is not one that can save you."
Chapter 48
- Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel—but not in truth or righteousness.
- You who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and lean on the God of Israel—LORD Almighty is His name.
- I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them, and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
- For I knew how stubborn you were; your neck muscles were iron, your forehead was bronze.
- Therefore, I told you these things long ago; before they happened, I announced them to you so you could not say, 'My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.'
- You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? From now on, I will tell you new things, hidden things unknown to you.
- They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot say, 'Yes, I knew of them.'
- You have neither heard nor understood; from of old, your ear has not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth.
- For my own name's sake, I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise, I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely.
- See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
- For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.
- Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first and I am the last.
- My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.
- Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The LORD's chosen ally will carry out his purpose against Babylon; his arm will be against the Babylonians.
- I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I will bring him, and he will succeed in his mission.
- Come near me and listen to this: From the first announcement, I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there. And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me, endowed with his Spirit.
- This is what the LORD says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.
- If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
- Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me."
- Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob."
- They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out.
- "There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."
Chapter 49
- Listen to me, distant nations and peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from my mother's body He mentioned my name.
- He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand He hid me. He made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in His quiver.
- He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, through whom I will display my splendor."
- But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and futility; yet surely my cause is with the LORD, and my reward with my God."
- And now, says the LORD who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him and gather Israel to Himself—for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God is my strength—
- He says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth."
- This is what the LORD, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, says to the one despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: "Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."
- This is what the LORD says: "In the time of favor, I will answer you, and in the day of salvation, I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
- to say to the captives, 'Come out,' and to those in darkness, 'Be free!' They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.
- They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.
- I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up.
- See, they will come from afar—some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan."
- Sing for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
- But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me."
- "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
- See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.
- Your children hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.
- Lift up your eyes and look around; all your children gather and come to you. As surely as I live," declares the LORD, "you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride.
- "Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your inhabitants, and those who devoured you will be far away.
- The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing, ‘This place is too small for us; give us more space to live in.’
- Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who bore me these? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up? I was left all alone, but these—where have they come from?’”
- This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I will beckon to the nations, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their hips.
- Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed."
- Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives be rescued from the fierce?
- But this is what the LORD says: "Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.
- I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."
Chapter 50
- This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother's divorce certificate with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? You were sold because of your sins; because of your transgressions, your mother was sent away.
- Why was there no one when I came? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My arm too short to redeem? Do I lack the strength to rescue? Look, with a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, turn rivers into a desert; their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
- I clothe the heavens with darkness and make sackcloth their covering.”
- The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
- The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not turned back.
- I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.
- Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.
- He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me!
- It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me. Who will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.
- Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
- But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment."
Chapter 51
- Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
- Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him, he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.
- Indeed, 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 sound of singing.
- Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.
- My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm.
- Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.
- Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts: Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults.
- For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.
- Awake, awake, arm of the LORD, clothe yourself with strength! Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through?
- Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?
- Those the LORD has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
- “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass,
- That you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?
- The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.
- For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD Almighty is His name.
- I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand— I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
- Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes people stagger.
- Among all the children she bore there was none to guide her; among all the children she reared there was none to take her by the hand.
- These double calamities have come upon you— who can comfort you?— ruin and destruction, famine and sword— who can console you?
- Your children have fainted; they lie at every street corner, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the LORD, with the rebuke of your God.
- Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine.
- This is what your Sovereign LORD says, your God, who defends His people: “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again.
- I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on.”
Chapter 52
- Wake up, wake up, Zion! Put on your strength and your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! No longer will the uncircumcised and unclean enter you.
- Shake off the dust and arise; sit on your throne, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, captive Daughter Zion.
- For this is what the LORD says: "You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed."
- For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "At first my people went down to Egypt to live; later, Assyria oppressed them without cause.
- Now what do I have here," declares the LORD. "For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock," says the LORD. "And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed.
- Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I."
- How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"
- Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes.
- Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
- The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.
- Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of the LORD's house.
- But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
- See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
- Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness—
- so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.
Chapter 53
- Who has believed our message? To whom has the LORD's power been revealed?
- He grew up before Him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.
- He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.
- Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted.
- But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.
- We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
- He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.
- By oppression and judgment He was taken away. Yet who of His generation protested? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was punished.
- He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.
- Yet it was the LORD's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the LORD makes His life an offering for sin, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
- After He has suffered, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities.
- Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Chapter 54
- Sing, barren woman, who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD.
- “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
- For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.
- Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
- For your Maker is your husband—the LORD Almighty is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.
- The LORD will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—a wife who married young, only to be rejected,” says your God.
- “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
- In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.
- “To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.
- Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
- “O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires.
- I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
- All your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their peace.
- In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you.
- If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you.
- “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;
- no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.
Chapter 55
- "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
- Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.
- Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
- See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples.
- Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor."
- Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
- Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
- "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
- "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
- As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
- so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
- You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
- Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever."
Chapter 56
- "This is what the LORD says: 'Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
- Blessed is the one who does this—the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps their hands from doing any evil.'
- Let no foreigner who is bound to the LORD say, 'The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.' And let not any eunuch complain, 'I am only a dry tree.'
- For this is what the LORD says: 'To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant—
- to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.
- And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—
- these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.'
- The Sovereign LORD declares—he who gathers the exiles of Israel: 'I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.'
- All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest.
- All the watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep.
- They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain.
- 'Come,' each one cries, 'let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.'"
Chapter 57
- The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, with no one understanding that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.
- Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
- But you—come here, you children of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!
- Whom are you mocking? Against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue? Are you not a brood of rebels, the offspring of liars?
- You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree; you sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags.
- The idols among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion; indeed, they are your lot. Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings and offered grain offerings. In view of all this, should I relent?
- You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill; there you went up to offer your sacrifices.
- Behind your doors and your doorposts, you have put your pagan symbols. Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed, you climbed into it and opened it wide; you made a pact with those whose beds you love, and you looked with lust on their naked bodies.
- You went to Molek with olive oil and increased your perfumes. You sent your ambassadors far away; you descended to the very realm of the dead!
- You wearied yourself by such going about, but you would not say, ‘It is hopeless.’ You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint.
- Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have not been true to me, and have neither remembered me nor taken this to heart? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?
- I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you.
- When you cry out for help, let your collection of idols save you! The wind will carry them all off, a mere breath will take them away. But whoever takes refuge in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain."
- And it will be said: "Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people."
- For this is what the high and exalted One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
- I will not accuse them forever, nor will I always be angry, for then they would faint away because of me—the very people I have created.
- I was enraged by their sinful greed; I punished them, and hid my face in anger, yet they kept on in their willful ways.
- I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners,
- creating praise on their lips. Peace, peace, to those far and near," says the LORD. "And I will heal them."
- But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud.
- "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."
Chapter 58
- Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
- Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
- 'Why have we fasted,' say they, 'and you see not? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge?' Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labors.
- Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: you shall not fast as you do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
- Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?
- Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
- Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh?
- Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily: and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
- Then shall you call, and the Lord shall answer; you shall cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
- And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in obscurity, and your darkness be as the noonday:
- And the Lord shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
- And they that shall be of you shall build the old waste places: you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
- If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words:
- Then shall you delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
Chapter 59
- Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
- But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, so that He will not hear.
- For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness.
- None calls for justice, nor any pleads for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
- They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eats of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
- Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
- Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
- The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goes therein shall not know peace.
- Therefore is judgment far from us, neither does justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
- We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
- We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
- For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
- In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
- And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
- Yea, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment.
- And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him.
- For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head; and He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
- According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompense.
- So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
- And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, says the LORD.
- As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says the LORD; My Spirit that is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed's seed, says the LORD, from henceforth and forever.
Chapter 60
- Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
- For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you.
- Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
- Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
- Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
- 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 bring good news, the praises of the LORD.
- 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 beautify My beautiful house.
- Who are these that fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows?
- For the coastlands shall hope for Me, the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your children from afar, 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.
- Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in My wrath I struck you, but in My favor I have had mercy on you.
- Your gates shall be open continually; day and night they shall not be shut, that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession.
- For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
- 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.
- The sons of those who afflicted 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.
- Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age.
- You shall suck the milk of nations; you shall nurse at the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
- Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness.
- 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.
- The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
- 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.
- Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I might be glorified.
- 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.
Chapter 61
- The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; 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;
- To proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
- To grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment 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.
- 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.
- Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
- But you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast.
- Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; everlasting joy shall be theirs.
- 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.
- Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed.
- 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 like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
- For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.
Chapter 62
- For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.
- The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.
- You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
- No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah (My Delight is in Her), and your land Beulah (Married); for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married.
- As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
- I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest,
- and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.
- The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: 'Never again will I give your grain as food for your enemies, and never again will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled;
- but those who harvest it will eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather the grapes will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.'
- Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations.
- The LORD has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: 'Say to Daughter Zion, 'See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.''
- They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted.
Chapter 63
- Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? 'It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.'
- Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress?
- 'I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing.
- For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come.
- I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm achieved salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me.
- I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.'
- I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us—yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses.
- He said, 'Surely they are my people, children who will be true to me'; and so he became their Savior.
- In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
- Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.
- Then his people recalled the days of old, the days of Moses and his people—where is he who brought them through the sea, with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who set his Holy Spirit among them,
- who sent his glorious arm of power to be at Moses’ right hand, who divided the waters before them, to gain for himself everlasting renown,
- who led them through the depths? Like a horse in open country, they did not stumble;
- like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the LORD. This is how you guided your people to make for yourself a glorious name.
- Look down from heaven and see from your lofty throne, holy and glorious. Where are your zeal and your might? Your tenderness and compassion are withheld from us.
- But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.
- Why, LORD, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance.
- For a little while your people possessed your holy place, but now our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary.
- We are yours from of old; but you have not ruled over them, they have not been called by your name. Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!
Chapter 64
- Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!
- For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
- Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
- You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved?
- All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind, our sins sweep us away.
- No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins.
- Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
- Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people.
- Your sacred cities have become a wasteland; Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.
- Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins.
- After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?
Chapter 65
- I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.'
- All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations—
- a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick;
- who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;
- who say, 'Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you!' Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.
- 'See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps—
- both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,' says the LORD. 'Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.'
- This is what the LORD says: 'As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, “Don’t destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,” so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all.
- I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live.
- Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.
- 'But as for you who forsake the LORD and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
- I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will fall in the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.'
- Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: 'My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.
- My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit.
- You will leave your name for my chosen ones to use in their curses; the Sovereign LORD will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name.
- Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the one true God; whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the one true God. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.
- 'See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
- But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.
- I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
- 'Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
- They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
- No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.
- They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.
- Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
- The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,' says the LORD.
Chapter 66
- This is what the LORD says: 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?
- Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?' declares the LORD. 'These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.
- But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a person, and whoever offers a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig’s blood, and whoever burns memorial incense is like one who worships an idol. They have chosen their own ways, and their souls delight in their abominations;
- so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring on them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened. They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.'
- Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: 'Your own people who hate you, and exclude you because of my name, have said, "Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy!" Yet they will be put to shame.
- Hear that uproar from the city, hear that noise from the temple! It is the sound of the LORD repaying his enemies all they deserve.
- 'Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son.
- Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.
- Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?' says the LORD. 'Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?' says your God.
- 'Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her.
- For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance.'
- For this is what the LORD says: 'I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.
- As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.'
- When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass; the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes.
- See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
- For with fire and with his sword the LORD will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the LORD.
- 'Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs, rats, and other unclean things—they will meet their end together,' declares the LORD.
- 'And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory.
- 'I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations.
- And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,' says the LORD. 'They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the LORD in ceremonially clean vessels.
- And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,' says the LORD.
- 'As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,' declares the LORD, 'so will your name and descendants endure.
- From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,' says the LORD.
- 'And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that
eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.'