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1 Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future He will bring honor to the Way of the Sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations.

2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of darkness, a light has dawned.

3 You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. [The people] have rejoiced before You as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.

4 For You have shattered their burdensome yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as [You did] on the day of Midian.

5 For the trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire.

6 For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

7 The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

8 The Lord sent a message against Jacob; it came against Israel.

9 All the people- Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria-will know it. They will say with pride and arrogance:

10 "The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with cut stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars."

11 The Lord has raised up Rezin's adversaries against him and stirred up his enemies.

12 Aram from the east and Philistia from the west have consumed Israel with open mouths. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike].

13 The people did not turn to Him who struck them; they did not seek the Lord of Hosts.

14 So the Lord cut off Israel's head and tail, palm branch and reed in a single day.

15 The head is the elder, the honored one; the tail is the prophet, the lying teacher.

16 The leaders of the people mislead [them], and those they mislead are swallowed up.

17 Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over Israel's young men and has no compassion on its fatherless and widows, for everyone is a godless evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike].

18 For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets so that they go up in a column of smoke.

19 The land is scorched by the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, and the people are like fuel for the fire. No one has compassion on his brother.

20 They carve [meat] on the right, but they are [still] hungry; they have eaten on the left, but they are [still] not satisfied. Each one eats the flesh of his own arm.

21 Manasseh is with Ephraim, and Ephraim with Manasseh; together, both are against Judah. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike].

1 Woe to those enacting crooked statutes and writing oppressive laws

2 to keep the poor from getting a fair trial and to deprive the afflicted among my people of justice, so that widows can be their spoil and they can plunder the fatherless.

3 What will you do on the day of punishment when devastation comes from far away? Who will you run to for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

4 [There will be nothing to do] except crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike].

5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger- the staff in their hands is My wrath.

6 I will send him against a godless nation; I will command him [to go] against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils, to plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

7 But this is not what he intends; this is not what he plans. It is his intent to destroy and to cut off many nations.

8 For he says: Aren't all my commanders kings?

9 Isn't Calno like Carchemish? Isn't Hamath like Arpad? Isn't Samaria like Damascus?

10 As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms, whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

11 and as I did to Samaria and its idols will I not also do to Jerusalem and its idols?

12 But when the Lord finishes all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, [He will say,] "I will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes."

13 For he said: I have done [this] by my own strength and wisdom, for I am clever. I abolished the borders of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants.

14 My hand has reached out, as if into a nest, to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered the whole earth. No wing fluttered; no beak opened or chirped.

15 Does an ax exalt itself above the one who chops with it? Does a saw magnify itself above the one who saws with it? As if a staff could wave those who lift it! As if a rod could lift what isn't wood!

16 Therefore the Lord God of Hosts will inflict an emaciating disease on the well-fed of Assyria, and He will kindle a burning fire under its glory.

17 Israel's Light will become a fire, and its Holy One, a flame. In one day it will burn up Assyria's thorns and thistles.

18 He will completely destroy the glory of its forests and orchards as a sickness consumes a person.

19 The remaining trees of its forest will be so few in number that a child could count them.

20 On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will faithfully depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

21 The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God.

22 Israel, even if your people were as numerous as the sand of the sea, [only] a remnant of them will return. Destruction has been decreed; justice overflows.

23 For throughout the land the Lord God of Hosts is carrying out a destruction that was decreed.

24 Therefore, the Lord God of Hosts says this: "My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though he strikes you with a rod and raises his staff over you as the Egyptians did.

25 In just a little while My wrath will be spent and My anger will turn to their destruction."

26 And the Lord of Hosts will brandish a whip against him as [He did when He] struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; and He will raise His staff over the sea as [He did] in Egypt.

27 On that day his burden will fall from your shoulders, and his yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because of [his] fatness.

28 Assyria has come to Aiath and has gone through Migron, storing his equipment at Michmash.

29 They crossed over at the ford, saying, "We will spend the night at Geba." The people of Ramah are trembling; those at Gibeah of Saul have fled.

30 Cry aloud, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! Anathoth is miserable.

31 Madmenah has fled. The inhabitants of Gebim have sought refuge.

32 Today he will stand at Nob, shaking his fist at the mountain of Daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33 Look, the Lord God of Hosts will chop off the branches with terrifying power, and the tall [trees] will be cut down, the high [trees] felled.

34 He is clearing the thickets of the forest with an ax, and Lebanon with its majesty will fall.

1 Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him- a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes, He will not execute justice by what He hears with His ears,

4 but He will judge the poor righteously and execute justice for the oppressed of the land. He will strike the land with discipline from His mouth, and He will kill the wicked with a command from His lips.

5 Righteousness and faithfulness will be a belt around His waist.

6 The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together, and a child will lead them.

7 The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like an ox.

8 An infant will play beside the cobra's pit, and a toddler will put his hand into a snake's den.

9 No one will harm or destroy on My entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is filled with water.

10 On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His resting place will be glorious.

11 On that day the Lord will [extend] His hand a second time to recover-from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coasts and islands of the west-the remnant of His people who survive.

12 He will lift up a banner for the nations and gather the dispersed of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

13 Ephraim's envy will cease; Judah's harassment will end. Ephraim will no longer be envious of Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim.

14 But they will swoop down on the Philistine flank to the west. Together they will plunder the people of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be their subjects.

15 The Lord will divide the Gulf of Suez. He will wave His hand over the Euphrates with His mighty wind and will split it into seven streams, letting people walk through on foot.

16 There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who will survive from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

1 On that day you will say: "I will praise You, Lord, although You were angry with me. Your anger has turned away, and You have had compassion on me.

2 Indeed, God is my salvation. I will trust [Him] and not be afraid. Because Yah, the Lord, is my strength and my song, He has become my salvation."

3 You will joyfully draw water from the springs of salvation,

4 and on that day you will say: "Give thanks to the Lord; proclaim His name! Celebrate His deeds among the peoples. Declare that His name is exalted.

5 Sing to the Lord, for He has done glorious things. Let this be known throughout the earth.

6 Cry out and sing, citizen of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel is among you in [His] greatness."

1 An oracle against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

2 Lift up a banner on a barren mountain. Call out to them. Wave your hand, and they will go through the gates of the nobles.

3 I have commanded My chosen ones; I have also called My warriors, who exult in My triumph, to execute My wrath.

4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains, like that of a mighty people! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations being gathered together! The Lord of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.

5 They are coming from a far land, from the distant horizon- the Lord and the weapons of His wrath- to destroy the whole country.

6 Wail! For the day of the Lord is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty.

7 Therefore everyone's hands will become weak, and every man's heart will melt.

8 They will be horrified; pain and agony will seize [them]; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look at each other, their faces flushed with fear.

9 Look, the day of the Lord is coming- cruel, with rage and burning anger- to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners on it.

10 Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shine.

11 I will bring disaster on the world, and their [own] iniquity, on the wicked. I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant and humiliate the insolence of tyrants.

12 I will make man scarcer than gold, and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir.

13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will shake from its foundations at the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, on the day of His burning anger.

14 Like wandering gazelles and like sheep without a shepherd, each one will turn to his own people, each one will flee to his own land.

15 Whoever is found will be stabbed, and whoever is caught will die by the sword.

16 Their children will be smashed [to death] before their eyes; their houses will be looted, and their wives raped.

17 Look! I am stirring up the Medes against them, who cannot be bought off with silver and who have no desire for gold.

18 [Their] bows will cut young men to pieces. They will have no compassion on little ones; they will not look with pity on children.

19 And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.

20 It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; a nomad will not pitch his tent there, and shepherds will not let [their flocks] rest there.

21 But wild animals will lie down there, and owls will fill the houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.

22 Hyenas will howl in the fortresses, and jackals, in the luxurious palaces. Babylon's time is almost up; her days are almost over.

1 For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again. He will settle them on their own land. The foreigner will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.

2 The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord's land. They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.

3 When the Lord gives you rest from your pain, torment, and the hard labor you were forced to do,

4 you will sing this song [of contempt] about the king of Babylon and say: How the oppressor has quieted down, and how the raging has become quiet!

5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers.

6 It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows. It subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.

7 All the earth is calm and at rest; people shout with a ringing cry.

8 Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon rejoice over you: "Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter has come against us."

9 Sheol below is eager to greet your coming. He stirs up the spirits of the departed for you- all the rulers of the earth. He makes all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones.

10 They all respond to you, saying: "You too have become as weak as we are; you have become like us!

11 Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol, [along with] the music of your harps. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you."

12 Shining morning star, how you have fallen from the heavens! You destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground.

13 You said to yourself: "I will ascend to the heavens; I will set up my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the [gods'] assembly, in the remotest parts of the North.

14 I will ascend above the highest clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."

15 But you will be brought down to Sheol into the deepest regions of the Pit.

16 Those who see you will stare at you; they will look closely at you: "Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble, who shook the kingdoms,

17 who turned the world into a wilderness, who trampled its cities and would not release the prisoners to return home?"

18 All the kings of the nations lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.

19 But you are thrown out without a grave, like a worthless branch, covered by those slain with the sword and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.

20 You will not join them in burial, because you destroyed your land and slaughtered your own people. The offspring of evildoers will never be remembered.

21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons, because of the iniquity of their fathers. They never rise up to possess a land or fill the surface of the earth with cities.

22 "I will rise up against them"-the declaration of the Lord of Hosts-"and I will cut off from Babylon her reputation, remnant, offspring, and posterity"-the Lord's declaration.

23 "I will make her a swampland and a region for wild animals, and I will sweep her away with a broom of destruction." [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

24 The Lord of Hosts has sworn: As I have planned, so it will be; as I have purposed it, so it will happen.

25 I will break Assyria in My land; I will tread him down on My mountain. Then his yoke will be taken from them, and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.

26 This is the plan prepared for the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out against all the nations.

27 The Lord of Hosts Himself has planned it; therefore, who can stand in its way? It is His hand that is outstretched, so who can turn it back?

28 In the year that King Ahaz died, this oracle came:

29 Don't rejoice, all of you [in] Philistia, because the rod of the one who struck you is broken. For a viper will come out of the root of a snake, and from its egg comes a flying serpent.

30 Then the firstborn of the poor will be well fed, and the impoverished will lie down in safety, but I will kill your root with hunger, and your remnant will be slain.

31 Wail, you gates! Cry out, city! Tremble with fear, all Philistia! For a cloud of dust is coming from the north, and there is no one missing from [the invader's] ranks.

32 What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation? The Lord has founded Zion, and His afflicted people find refuge in her.

1 An oracle against Moab: Ar in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night. Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night.

2 Dibon went up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails on Nebo and at Medeba. Every head is shaved; every beard is cut off.

3 In its streets they wear sackcloth; on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails, falling down and weeping.

4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz. Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out, and they tremble.

5 My heart cries out over Moab, whose fugitives [flee] as far as Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah; they go up the slope of Luhith weeping; they raise a cry of destruction on the road to Horonaim.

6 The waters of Nimrim are desolate; the grass is withered, the foliage is gone, and the vegetation has vanished.

7 So they carry their wealth and belongings over the Wadi of the Willows.

8 For their cry echoes throughout the territory of Moab. Their wailing reaches Eglaim; their wailing reaches Beer-elim.

9 The waters of Dibon are full of blood, but I will bring on Dibon even more [than this]- a lion for those who escape from Moab, and for the survivors in the land.

1 Send lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the desert to the mountain of Daughter Zion.

2 Like a bird fleeing, forced from the nest, the daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.

3 Give us counsel and make a decision. [Shelter us] at noonday with shade that is as dark as night. Hide the refugee; do not betray the one who flees.

4 Let my refugees stay with you; be a refuge for Moab from the aggressor. When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ended, and marauders have vanished from the land.

5 Then in the tent of David a throne will be established by faithful love. A judge who seeks what is right and is quick to execute justice will sit on the throne forever.

6 We have heard of Moab's pride- how very proud he is- his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance, and his empty boasting.

7 Therefore let Moab wail; let every one of them wail for Moab. Mourn, you who are completely devastated, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.

8 For Heshbon's terraced vineyards and the grapevines of Sibmah have withered. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choice vines that reached as far as Jazer and spread to the desert. Their shoots spread out and reached the Dead Sea.

9 So I join with Jazer to weep for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer [fruit] and your harvest.

10 Joy and rejoicing have been removed from the orchard; no one is singing or shouting for joy in the vineyards. No one tramples grapes in the winepresses. I have put an end to the shouting.

11 Therefore I moan like [the sound of] a lyre for Moab, [as does] my innermost being for Kir-heres.

12 When Moab appears on the high place, when he tires himself out and comes to his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.

13 This is the message that the Lord previously announced about Moab.

14 And now the Lord says, "In three years, as a hired worker counts years, Moab's splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak."

1 An oracle against Damascus: Look, Damascus is no longer a city. It has become a ruined heap.

2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be [places] for flocks. They will lie down without fear.

3 The fortress disappears from Ephraim, and a kingdom from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites. [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

4 On that day the splendor of Jacob will fade, and his healthy body will become emaciated.

5 It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain- his arm harvesting the heads of grain- and as if one had gleaned heads of grain in the valley of Rephaim.

6 Only gleanings will be left in Israel, as if an olive tree had been beaten- two or three berries at the very top of the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches. [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the declaration of the Lord, the God of Israel.

7 On that day people will look to their Maker and will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

8 They will not look to the altars they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and incense altars they made with their fingers.

9 On that day their strong cities will be like the abandoned woods and mountaintops that were abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation.

10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and you have failed to remember the rock of your strength; therefore you will plant beautiful plants and set out cuttings from exotic vines.

11 On the day that you plant, you will help them to grow, and in the morning you will help your seed to sprout, [but] the harvest will vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain.

12 Ah! The roar of many peoples- they roar like the roaring of the seas. The raging of the nations- they rage like the raging of mighty waters.

13 The nations rage like the raging of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills and like dead thistles before a gale.

14 In the evening-sudden terror! Before morning-it is gone! This is the fate of those who plunder us and the lot of those who ravage us.

1 Ah! The land of buzzing insect wings beyond the rivers of Cush

2 sends envoys by sea, in reed vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared near and far, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers.

3 All you inhabitants of the world and you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet sounds, listen!

4 For, the Lord said to me: I will quietly look out from My place, like shimmering heat in sunshine, like a rain cloud in harvest heat.

5 For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over and the blossom becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife, and tear away and remove the branches.

6 They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills and for the wild animals of the land. The birds will spend the summer on them, and all the animals, the winter on them.

7 At that time a gift will be brought to the Lord of Hosts from a people tall and smooth-skinned, a people feared near and far, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers-to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of Hosts.

1 An oracle against Egypt: Look, the Lord rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. Egypt's idols will tremble before Him, and Egypt's heart will melt within it.

2 I will provoke Egypt against Egypt; each will fight against his brother and each against his friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

3 Egypt's spirit will be disturbed within it, and I will frustrate its plans. Then they will seek idols, ghosts, spirits of the dead, and spiritists.

4 I will deliver Egypt into the hands of harsh masters, and a strong king will rule it. [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts.

5 The waters of the sea will dry up, and the river will be parched and dry.

6 The channels will stink; they will dwindle, and Egypt's canals will be parched. Reed and rush will die.

7 The reeds by the Nile, by the mouth of the river, and all the cultivated areas of the Nile will wither, blow away, and vanish.

8 Then the fishermen will mourn. All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament, and those who spread nets on the water will shrivel up.

9 Those who work with flax will be dismayed; the combers and weavers will turn pale.

10 [Egypt's] weavers will be dejected; all her wage earners will be demoralized.

11 The princes of Zoan are complete fools; Pharaoh's wisest advisers give stupid advice! How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am one of the wise, a student of eastern kings."

12 Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you and reveal what the Lord of Hosts has planned against Egypt.

13 The princes of Zoan have been fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived. Her tribal chieftains have led Egypt astray.

14 The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of confusion. [The leaders] have made Egypt stagger in all she does, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.

15 No head or tail, palm or reed, will be able to do anything for Egypt.

16 On that day Egypt will be like women. She will tremble with fear because of the threatening hand of the Lord of Hosts when He raises it against her.

17 The land of Judah will terrify Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble because of what the Lord of Hosts has planned against it.

18 On that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear loyalty to the Lord of Hosts. One of the cities will be called the City of the Sun.

19 On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the center of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the Lord near her border.

20 It will be a sign and witness to the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and leader, and he will rescue them.

21 The Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and Egypt will know the Lord on that day. They will offer sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them.

22 The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing. Then they will return to the Lord and He will hear their prayers and heal them.

23 On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. Assyria will go to Egypt, Egypt to Assyria, and Egypt will worship with Assyria.

24 On that day Israel will form a triple [alliance] with Egypt and Assyria-a blessing within the land.

25 The Lord of Hosts will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance."

1 In the year that the commander-in-chief, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it-

2 during that time the Lord had spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, "Go, take off your sackcloth and remove the sandals from your feet," and he did so, going naked and barefoot-

3 the Lord said, "As My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,

4 so the king of Assyria will lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks, to Egypt's shame.

5 Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.

6 And the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day: Look, this is what has happened to those we relied on and fled to for help to rescue [us] from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape?"

1 An oracle against the desert by the sea: Like storms that pass over the Negev, it comes from the desert, from the land of terror.

2 A troubling vision is declared to me: "The treacherous one acts treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes! I will put an end to all her groaning."

3 Therefore I am filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor. I am too perplexed to hear, too dismayed to see.

4 My heart staggers; horror terrifies me. He has turned my last glimmer of hope into sheer terror.

5 Prepare a table, and spread out a carpet! Eat and drink! Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!

6 For the Lord has said to me, "Go, post a lookout; let him report what he sees.

7 When he sees riders- pairs of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels- pay close attention."

8 Then the lookout reported, "Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day, and I stay at my post all night.

9 Look, riders come- horsemen in pairs." And he answered, saying, "Babylon has fallen, has fallen. All the idols of her gods have been shattered on the ground."

10 My downtrodden and threshed people, I have declared to you what I have heard from the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel.

11 An oracle against Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, "Watchman, what is [left] of the night? Watchman, what is [left] of the night?"

12 The watchman said, "Morning has come, and also night. If you want to ask, ask! Come back again."

13 An oracle against Arabia: You will camp for the night in the scrublands of the desert, you caravans of Dedanites.

14 Bring water for the thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema meet the refugees with food.

15 For they have fled from swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, from the stress of battle.

16 For the Lord said this to me: "Within one year, as a hired worker counts years, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.

17 The remaining Kedarite archers will be few in number." For the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.

1 An oracle against the Valley of Vision: What's the matter with you? Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?

2 The noisy city, the jubilant town, is filled with revelry. Your dead did not die by the sword; they were not killed in battle.

3 All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together; they had fled far away.

4 Therefore I said, "Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly! Do not try to comfort me about the destruction of my dear people."

5 For the Lord God of Hosts had a day of tumult, trampling, and bewilderment in the Valley of Vision- people shouting and crying to the mountains;

6 Elam took up a quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

7 Your best valleys were full of chariots, and horsemen were positioned at the gates.

8 He removed the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.

9 You saw that there were many breaches in [the walls of] the city of David. You collected water from the lower pool.

10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall.

11 You made a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider the One who created it long ago.

12 On that day the Lord God of Hosts called for weeping, for wailing, for shaven heads, and for the wearing of sackcloth.

13 But look: joy and gladness, butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat, and drinking of wine- "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"

14 The Lord of Hosts has revealed [this] in my hearing: "This sin of yours will never be wiped out." The Lord God of Hosts has spoken.

15 The Lord God of Hosts said: "Go to Shebna, that steward who is in charge of the palace, [and say to him:]

16 What are you doing here? Who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here, carving your tomb on the height and cutting a crypt for yourself out of rock?

17 Look, young man! The Lord is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you,

18 wind you up into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be-a disgrace to the house of your lord.

19 I will remove you from your office; you will be ousted from your position.

20 "On that day I will call for my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

21 I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority into his hand, and he will be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah.

22 I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.

23 I will drive him, like a peg, into a firm place. He will be a throne of honor for his father's house.

24 They will hang on him the whole burden of his father's house: the descendants and the offshoots-all the small vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.

25 On that day"-the declaration of the Lord of Hosts-"the peg that was driven into a firm place will give way, be cut off, and fall, and the load on it will be destroyed." Indeed, the Lord has spoken.

1 An oracle against Tyre: Wail, ships of Tarshish, for your haven has been destroyed. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.

2 Mourn, inhabitants of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon; your agents have crossed the sea

3 on many waters. Tyre's revenue was the grain from Shihor- the harvest of the Nile. She was the merchant among the nations.

4 Be ashamed Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: "I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men [or] brought up young women."

5 When the news reaches Egypt, they will be in anguish over the news about Tyre.

6 Cross over to Tarshish; wail, inhabitants of the coastland!

7 Is this your jubilant [city], whose origin was in ancient times, whose feet have taken her to settle far away?

8 Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are the honored ones of the earth?

9 The Lord of Hosts planned it, to desecrate all [its] glorious beauty, to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth.

10 Overflow your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer anything to restrain [you].

11 He stretched out His hand over the sea; He made kingdoms tremble. The Lord has commanded that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed.

12 He said, "You will not rejoice any more, ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus- even there you will have no rest!"

13 Look at the land of Chaldeans- a people who no longer exist. Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They made it a ruin.

14 Wail, ships of Tarshish, because your fortress is destroyed!

15 On that day Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years-the life span of one king. At the end of 70 years, what the song [says] about the prostitute will happen to Tyre:

16 Pick up [your] harp, stroll through the city, prostitute forgotten [by men]. Play skillfully, sing many a song, and you will be thought of again.

17 And at the end of the 70 years, the Lord will restore Tyre and she will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.

18 But her profits and wages will be dedicated to the Lord. They will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live in the Lord's presence, to provide them with ample food and sacred clothing.

1 Look, the Lord is stripping the earth bare and making it desolate. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:

2 people and priest alike, servant and master, female servant and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.

3 The earth will be stripped completely bare and will be totally plundered, for the Lord has spoken this message.

4 The earth mourns and withers; the world wastes away and withers; the exalted people of the earth waste away.

5 The earth is polluted by its inhabitants, for they have transgressed teachings, overstepped decrees, and broken the everlasting covenant.

6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants have become guilty; the earth's inhabitants have been burned, and only a few survive.

7 The new wine mourns; the vine withers. All the carousers now groan.

8 The joyful tambourines have ceased. The noise of the jubilant has stopped. The joyful lyre has ceased.

9 They no longer sing and drink wine; beer is bitter to those who drink it.

10 The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.

11 In the streets they cry for wine. All joy grows dark; earth's rejoicing goes into exile.

12 Only desolation remains in the city; its gate has collapsed in ruins.

13 For this is how it will be on earth among the nations: like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

14 They raise their voices, they sing out; they proclaim in the west the majesty of the Lord.

15 Therefore in the east honor the Lord! In the islands of the west [honor] the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs: The Splendor of the Righteous One. But I said, "I waste away! I waste away! Woe is me." The treacherous act treacherously; the treacherous deal very treacherously.

17 Terror, pit, and snare [await] you who dwell on the earth.

18 Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit, and whoever escapes from the pit will be caught in a snare. For the windows are opened from above, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

19 The earth is completely devastated; the earth is split open; the earth is violently shaken.

20 The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a hut. Earth's rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again.

21 On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven above and kings of the earth below.

22 They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon; after many days they will be punished.

23 The moon will be put to shame and the sun disgraced, because the Lord of Hosts will reign as king on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and He will [display His] glory in the presence of His elders.

1 Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You. I will praise Your name, for You have accomplished wonders, plans [formed] long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

2 For You have turned the city into a pile of rubble, a fortified city, into a ruin; the fortress of barbarians is no longer a city; it will never be rebuilt.

3 Therefore, a strong people will honor You. A city of violent people will fear You.

4 For You have been a stronghold for the poor, a stronghold for the humble person in his distress, a refuge from the rain, a shade from the heat. When the breath of the violent is like rain [against] a wall,

5 like heat in a dry land, You subdue the uproar of barbarians. As the shade of a cloud [cools] the heat of the day, [so] He stills the song of the violent.

6 The Lord of Hosts will prepare a feast for all the peoples on this mountain- a feast of aged wine, choice meat, finely aged wine.

7 On this mountain [He] will destroy the [burial] shroud, the shroud over all the peoples, the sheet covering all the nations;

8 He will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove His people's disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken.

9 On that day it will be said, "Look, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."

10 For the Lord's power will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trampled in a dung pile.

11 He will spread out his arms in the middle of it, as a swimmer spreads out [his arms] to swim. His pride will be brought low, along with the trickery of his hands.

12 The high-walled fortress will be brought down, thrown to the ground, to the dust.

1 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city. Salvation is established as walls and ramparts.

2 Open the gates so a righteous nation can come in- one that remains faithful.

3 You will keep in perfect peace the mind [that is] dependent [on You], for it is trusting in You.

4 Trust in the Lord forever, because in Yah, the Lord, is an everlasting rock!

5 For He has humbled those who live in lofty places- an inaccessible city. He brings it down; He brings it down to the ground; He throws it to the dust.

6 Feet trample it, the feet of the humble, the steps of the poor.

7 The path of the righteous is level; You clear a straight path for the righteous.

8 Yes, Lord, we wait for You in the path of Your judgments. Our desire is for Your name and renown.

9 I long for You in the night; yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks You, for when Your judgments are [in] the land, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

10 [But if] the wicked is shown favor, he does not learn righteousness. In a righteous land he acts unjustly and does not see the majesty of the Lord.

11 Lord, Your hand is lifted up [to take action], but they do not see it. They will see [Your] zeal for [Your] people, and they will be put to shame. The fire for Your adversaries will consume them!

12 Lord, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our work for us.

13 Lord, our God, other lords than You have ruled over us, but we remember Your name alone.

14 The dead do not live; departed spirits do not rise up. Indeed, You have visited and destroyed them; You have wiped out all memory of them.

15 You have added to the nation, Lord. You have added to the nation; You are honored. You have expanded all the borders of the land.

16 Lord, they went to You in their distress; they poured out whispered [prayers because] Your discipline [fell] on them.

17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pains, so we were before You, Lord.

18 We became pregnant, we writhed in pain; we gave birth to wind. We have won no victories on earth, and the earth's inhabitants have not fallen.

19 Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring forth the departed spirits.

20 Go, my people, enter your rooms and close your doors behind you. Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed.

21 For look, the Lord is coming from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal the blood shed on it and will no longer conceal her slain.

1 On that day the Lord with His harsh, great, and strong sword, will bring judgment on Leviathan, the fleeing serpent-Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the monster that is in the sea.

2 On that day sing about a desirable vineyard:

3 I, the Lord, watch over it; I water it regularly. I guard it night and day so that no one disturbs it.

4 I am not angry, but if it produces thorns and briers for Me, I will fight against it, trample it, and burn it to the ground.

5 Or let it take hold of My strength; let it make peace with Me- make peace with Me.

6 In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bloom and fill the whole world with fruit.

7 Did the Lord strike Israel as He struck the one who struck Israel? Was he killed like those killed by Him?

8 You disputed with her by banishing and driving her away. He removed [her] with His severe storm on the day of the east wind.

9 Therefore Jacob's iniquity will be purged in this way, and the result of the removal of his sin will be this: when he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.

10 For the fortified city will be deserted, pastures abandoned and forsaken like a wilderness. Calves will graze there, and there they will spread out and strip its branches.

11 When its branches dry out, they will be broken off. Women will come and make fires with them, for they are not a people with understanding. Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them, and their Creator will not be gracious to them.

12 On that day the Lord will thresh grain from the Euphrates River as far as the Wadi of Egypt, and you Israelites will be gathered one by one.

13 On that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those lost in the land of Assyria will come, as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt; and they will worship the Lord at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.

1 Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim's drunkards, and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley. [Woe] to those overcome with wine.

2 Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty one- like a devastating hail storm, like a storm with strong flooding waters. He will bring it across the land with [His] hand.

3 The majestic crown of Ephraim's drunkards will be trampled underfoot.

4 The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest. Whoever sees it will swallow it while it is still in his hand.

5 On that day the Lord of Hosts will become a crown of beauty and a diadem of splendor to the remnant of His people,

6 a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

7 These also stagger because of wine and stumble under the influence of beer: priest and prophet stagger because of beer, they are confused by wine. They stumble because of beer, they are muddled in [their] visions, they stumble in [their] judgments.

8 Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit; there is no place without a stench.

9 Who is he trying to teach? Who is he trying to instruct? Infants [just] weaned from milk? Babies removed from the breast?

10 For [he says]: "Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there."

11 So He will speak to this people with stammering speech and in a foreign language.

12 He had said to them: "This is the place of rest, let the weary rest; this is the place of repose." But they would not listen.

13 Then the word of the Lord came to them: "Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there," so they go stumbling backwards, to be broken, trapped, and captured.

14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you mockers who rule this people in Jerusalem.

15 For you said, "We have cut a deal with Death, and we have made an agreement with Sheol; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, it will not touch us, because we have made falsehood our refuge and have hidden behind treachery."

16 Therefore the Lord God said: "Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable.

17 And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason's level." Hail will sweep away the false refuge, and water will flood your hiding place.

18 Your deal with Death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not last. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled.

19 Every time it passes through, it will carry you away; it will pass through every morning- every day and every night. Only terror will cause you to understand the message.

20 Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on, and its cover too small to wrap up in.

21 For the Lord will rise up as [He did] at Mount Perazim. He will rise in wrath, as at the valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His disturbing task.

22 So now, do not mock, or your shackles will become stronger. Indeed, I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts a decree of destruction for the whole land.

23 Listen and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say.

24 Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed? Does he [continuously] break up and cultivate the soil?

25 When he has leveled its surface, does he not then scatter cumin and sow black cumin? He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots, with spelt as their border.

26 His God teaches him order; He instructs him.

27 Certainly black cumin is not threshed with a threshing board, and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin. But black cumin is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

28 Bread grain is crushed, but is not threshed endlessly. Though the wheel of [the farmer's] cart rumbles, his horses do not crush it.

29 This also comes from the Lord of Hosts. He gives wonderful advice; He gives great wisdom.

1 Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David camped! Continue year after year; let the festivals recur.

2 I will oppress Ariel, and there will be mourning and crying, and she will be to Me like an Ariel.

3 I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with earth ramps, and I will set up my siege towers against you.

4 You will be brought down; you will speak from the ground, and your words will come from low in the dust. Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper from the dust.

5 The multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless, like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,

6 you will be visited by the Lord of Hosts with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise, storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire.

7 The multitude of all the nations going out to battle against Ariel- all the attackers, the siege-works against her, and those who oppress her- will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.

8 It will be like a hungry one who dreams he is eating, then wakes and is still hungry; and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking, then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water. So will be the multitude of all the nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.

9 Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with beer.

10 For the Lord has poured out on you an overwhelming urge to sleep; He has shut your eyes-the prophets, and covered your heads-the seers.

11 For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it, he will say, "I can't read it, because it is sealed."

12 And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, "I can't read."

13 The Lord said: Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip-service- yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship [consists of] man-made rules learned [by rote]-

14 therefore I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will vanish, and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden.

15 Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the Lord. [They do] their works in darkness, and say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"

16 You have turned things around, as if the potter were the same as the clay. How can what is made say about its maker, "He didn't make me"? How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, "He doesn't understand [what he's doing]"?

17 Isn't [it true that] in just a little while Lebanon will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest?

18 On that day the deaf will hear the words of a document, and out of a deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

19 The humble will have joy after joy in the Lord, and the poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20 For the ruthless one will vanish, the scorner will disappear, and all those who lie in wait with evil intent will be killed-

21 those who, with [their] speech, accuse a person of wrongdoing, who set a trap at the gate for the mediator, and without cause deprive the righteous of justice.

22 Therefore, the Lord who redeemed Abraham says this about the house of Jacob: Jacob will no longer be ashamed and his face will no longer be pale.

23 For when he sees his children, the work of My hands within his [nation], they will honor My name, they will honor the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel.

24 Those who are confused will gain understanding and those who grumble will accept instruction.

1 Woe to the rebellious children! [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration. They carry out a plan, but not Mine, They make an alliance, but against My will, piling sin on top of sin.

2 They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh's protection and take refuge in Egypt's shadow.

3 But Pharaoh's protection will become your shame, and refuge in Egypt's shadow your disgrace.

4 For though his princes are at Zoan and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,

5 everyone will be ashamed because of a people who can't help. They are of no benefit, they are no help; they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.

6 An oracle about the animals of the Negev: Through a land of trouble and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who will not help them.

7 Egypt's help is completely worthless; therefore, I call her: Rahab Who Just Sits.

8 Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the future, forever and ever.

9 They are a rebellious people, deceptive children, children who do not obey the Lord's instruction.

10 They say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy the truth to us. Tell us flattering things. Prophesy illusions.

11 Get out of the way! Leave the pathway. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel."

12 Therefore the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message and have trusted in oppression and deceit, and have depended on them,

13 this iniquity of yours will be like a spreading breach, a bulge in a high wall whose collapse will come very suddenly.

14 Its collapse will be like the shattering of a potter's jar, crushed to pieces, so that not even a fragment of pottery will be found among its shattered remains- no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth or scoop water from a cistern."

15 For the Lord God , the Holy One of Israel, has said: "You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing."

16 You say, "No! We will escape on horses"- therefore you will escape!- and, "We will ride on fast horses"- but those who pursue you will be faster.

17 One thousand [will flee] at the threat of one, at the threat of five you will flee, until you alone remain like a [solitary] pole on a mountaintop or a banner on a hill.

18 Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. Happy are all who wait patiently for Him.

19 For you people will live on Zion in Jerusalem and will never cry again. He will show favor to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears, He will answer you.

20 The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression, but your Teacher will not hide Himself any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher,

21 and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: "This is the way. Walk in it."

22 Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.

23 Then He will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.

24 The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel and fork.

25 Streams and watercourses will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall.

26 The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter-like the light of seven days-on the day that the Lord bandages His people's injuries and heals the wounds He inflicted.

27 Look, Yahweh comes from far away, His anger burning and heavy with smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire.

28 His breath is like an overflowing torrent that rises to the neck. [He comes] to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples to lead [them] astray.

29 Your singing will be like that on the night of a holy festival, And [your] heart will rejoice like one who walks [to the music] of a flute, going up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.

30 And the Lord will make the splendor of His voice heard and reveal His arm striking in angry wrath and a flame of consuming fire, in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.

31 Assyria will be shattered by the voice of the Lord. He will strike with a rod.

32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord brings down on him will be [to the sound] of tambourines and lyres; He will fight against him with brandished weapons.

33 Indeed! Topheth has been ready for the king for a long time now. His funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, kindles it.

1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and who depend on horses! They trust in the number of chariots and in the great strength of charioteers. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel and they do not seek the Lord's help.

2 But He also is wise and brings disaster. He does not go back on what He says; He will rise up against the house of wicked men and against the allies of evildoers.

3 Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the Lord raises His hand [to strike], the helper will stumble and the helped will fall; both will perish together.

4 For this is what the Lord said to me: As a lion or young lion growls over its prey when a band of shepherds is called out against it, and is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their noise, so the Lord of Hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.

5 Like hovering birds, so the Lord of Hosts will protect Jerusalem- by protecting [it], He will rescue [it], by sparing [it], He will deliver [it].

6 Return to the One the Israelites have greatly rebelled against.

7 For on that day, each one will reject the silver and gold idols that your own hands have sinfully made.

8 Then Assyria will fall, but not by human sword; a sword will devour him, but not one made by man. He will flee from the sword, his young men will be put to forced labor.

9 His rock will pass away because of fear, and his officers will be afraid because of the signal flag. [This is] the Lord's declaration-whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

1 Indeed, a king will reign righteously, and rulers will rule justly.

2 Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the rain, like streams of water in a dry land and the shade of a massive rock in an arid land.

3 Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen.

4 The reckless mind will gain knowledge, and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently.

5 A fool will no longer be called a noble, nor a scoundrel said to be important.

6 For a fool speaks foolishness and his mind plots iniquity. He lives in a godless way and speaks falsely about the Lord. He leaves the hungry empty and deprives the thirsty of drink.

7 The scoundrel's weapons are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the needy with lies, and by charging the poor during a judgment.

8 But a noble person plans noble things; he stands up for noble causes.

9 Stand up, you complacent women; listen to me. Pay attention to what I say, you overconfident daughters.

10 In a little more than a year you overconfident ones will shudder, for the vintage will fail and the harvest will not come.

11 Shudder, you complacent ones; tremble, you overconfident ones! Strip yourselves bare and put [sackcloth] about your waists.

12 Beat your breasts [in mourning] for the delightful fields and the fruitful vines,

13 for the ground of my people growing thorns and briers, indeed, for every joyous house in the joyful city.

14 For the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become barren places forever, the joy of wild donkeys, and a pasture for flocks,

15 until the Spirit from heaven is poured out on us. Then the desert will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest.

16 Then justice will inhabit the wilderness, and righteousness will dwell in the orchard.

17 The result of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever.

18 Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place, and in safe and restful dwellings.

19 But hail will level the forest, and the city will sink into the depths.

20 Happy are you who sow seed beside abundant waters, who let ox and donkey range freely.

1 Woe, you destroyer never destroyed, you traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, they will betray you.

2 Lord, be gracious to us! We wait for You. Be our strength every morning, and our salvation in time of trouble.

3 The peoples flee at the thunderous noise; the nations scatter when You rise in Your majesty.

4 Your spoil will be gathered as locusts are gathered; people will swarm over it like an infestation of locusts.

5 The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

6 There will be times of security for you- a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.

7 Listen! Their warriors cry loudly in the streets; the messengers of peace weep bitterly.

8 The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. An agreement has been broken, cities despised, and human life disregarded.

9 The land mourns and withers; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off [their] leaves.

10 "Now I will rise up," says the Lord. "Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted.

11 You will conceive chaff; you will give birth to stubble. Your breath is fire that will consume you.

12 The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and burned in a fire.

13 You who are far off, hear what I have done; you who are near, know My strength."

14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling seizes the ungodly: "Who among us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with ever-burning flames?"

15 The one who lives righteously and speaks rightly, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears from listening to murderous plots and shuts his eyes to avoid endorsing evil-

16 he will dwell on the heights; his refuge will be the rocky fortresses, his food provided, his water assured.

17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty; you will see a vast land.

18 Your mind will meditate on the [past] terror: "Where is the accountant? Where is the tribute collector? Where is the one who spied out our defenses?"

19 You will no longer see the barbarians, a people whose speech is difficult to comprehend- who stammer in a language that is not understood.

20 Look at Zion, the city of our festival times. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up nor will any of its cords be loosened.

21 For there the majestic One, the Lord, will be for us, a place of rivers and broad streams, where ships that are rowed will not go, and majestic vessels will not pass.

22 For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King. He will save us.

23 Your ropes are slack; they cannot hold the base of the mast or spread out the flag. Then abundant spoil will be divided, the lame will plunder it,

24 and none there will say, "I am sick." The people who dwell there will be forgiven [their] iniquity.

1 You nations, come here and listen; you peoples, pay attention! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it, the world and all that comes from it.

2 The Lord is angry with all the nations- furious with all their armies. He will set them apart for destruction, giving them over to slaughter.

3 Their slain will be thrown out, and the stench of their corpses will rise; the mountains flow with their blood.

4 All the heavenly bodies will dissolve. The skies will roll up like a scroll, and their stars will all wither as leaves wither on the vine, and foliage on the fig tree.

5 When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens it will then come down on Edom and on the people I have set apart for destruction.

6 The Lord's sword is covered with blood. It drips 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.

7 The wild oxen will be struck down with them, and young bulls with the mighty bulls. Their land will be soaked with blood, and their soil will be saturated with fat.

8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a time of paying back [Edom] for its hostility against Zion.

9 [Edom's] streams will be turned into pitch, her soil into sulfur; her land will become burning pitch.

10 It will never go out-day or night. Its smoke will go up forever. It will be desolate, from generation to generation; no one will pass through it forever and ever.

11 The desert owl and the hedgehog will possess it, and the great owl and the raven will dwell there. [The Lord] will stretch out a measuring line and a plumb line over her for [her] destruction and chaos.

12 No nobles will be left to proclaim a king, and all her princes will come to nothing.

13 Her palaces will be overgrown with thorns; her fortified cities, with thistles and briers. She will become a dwelling for jackals, an abode for ostriches.

14 The wild beasts will meet hyenas, and one wild goat will call to another. Indeed, the screech owl will stay there and will find a resting place for herself.

15 The sand partridge will make her nest there; she will lay and hatch her eggs and will gather [her brood] under her shadow. Indeed, the birds of prey will gather there, each with its mate.

16 Search and read the scroll of the Lord: Not one of them will be missing, none will be lacking its mate, because He has ordered it by my mouth, and He will gather them by His Spirit.

17 He has ordained a lot for them; His hand allotted their portion with a measuring line. They will possess it forever; they will dwell in it from generation to generation.

1 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.

2 It will blossom abundantly and will also rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.

3 Strengthen the weak hands, steady the shaking knees!

4 Say to the faint-hearted: "Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming. God's retribution is coming; He will save you."

5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for water will gush in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

7 the parched ground will become a pool of water, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the haunt of jackals, in their lairs, there will be grass, reeds, and papyrus.

8 A road will be there and a way; it will be called the Holy Way. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks the path. Even the fool will not go astray.

9 There will be no lion there, and no vicious beast will go up on it; they will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk [on it],

10 and the ransomed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake [them], and sorrow and sighing will flee.

1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria advanced against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

2 Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, along with a massive army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. The Assyrian stood near the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the Fuller's Field.

3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the record keeper, came out to him.

4 The Rabshakeh said to them, "Tell Hezekiah: The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: 'What are you basing your confidence on?

5 I say that your plans and military preparedness are mere words. Now who are you trusting in that you have rebelled against me?

6 Look, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which will enter and pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.

7 Suppose you say to me: We trust in the Lord our God. Isn't He the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: You are to worship at this altar?

8 Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I'll give you 2,000 horses if you can put riders on them!

9 How then can you repel [the attack of even] the weakest of my master's officers, and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

10 Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord's [approval]? The Lord said to me, 'Attack this land and destroy it.' "

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand [it]; don't speak to us in Hebrew within earshot of the people who are on the wall."

12 But the Rabshakeh replied, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men who sit on the wall, [who are destined] with you to eat their excrement and drink their urine?"

13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

14 The king says: "Don't let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you.

15 Don't let Hezekiah persuade you to trust the Lord, saying, 'The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' "

16 Don't listen to Hezekiah. For the king of Assyria says: "Make peace with me and surrender to me; then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern

17 until I come and take you away to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

18 [Beware] that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, 'The Lord will deliver us.' Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

20 Who of all the gods of these lands [ever] delivered his land from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem?"

21 But they were silent and did not answer him at all, for the king's command was, "Don't answer him."

22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the record keeper, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they reported to him the words of the Rabshakeh.

1 When King Hezekiah heard [their report], he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the house of the Lord.

2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and the older priests, wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

3 They said to him, "Hezekiah says: 'Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, [as] when children come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke [him for] the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.' "

5 When King Hezekiah's servants came to Isaiah,

6 Isaiah said to them, "Say this to your master, 'The Lord says: Don't be afraid because of the words you have heard, which the king of Assyria's attendants have blasphemed Me with.

7 Look! I am putting a spirit in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.' "

8 When the Rabshakeh heard that the king had left Lachish, he returned and discovered that the king of Assyria was fighting against Libnah.

9 The king had heard this about Tirhakah, king of Cush: "He has set out to fight against you." So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

10 "Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: 'Don't let your God, whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem won't be handed over to the king of Assyria.

11 Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries; they destroyed them completely. Will you be rescued?

12 Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors destroyed rescue them-Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar?

13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?'"

14 Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers, read it, then went up to the Lord's house and spread it out before the Lord.

15 Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:

16 "Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are God-You alone-of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

17 Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see; hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.

18 Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands

19 and have thrown their gods into the fire; for they were not gods but made by human hands-wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.

20 Now, Lord our God, save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord-You alone."

21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent [a message] to Hezekiah: "The Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Because you prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,

22 this is the word the Lord has spoken against him: The young woman, Daughter Zion, despises you and scorns you: Daughter Jerusalem shakes [her] head behind your back.

23 Who is it you have mocked and blasphemed? Who have you raised [your] voice against and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!

24 You have mocked the Lord through your servants. You have said: With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, its choice cypress trees. I came to its remotest heights, its densest forest.

25 I dug [wells] and drank water. I dried up all the streams of Egypt with the soles of my feet.

26 Have you not heard? I designed it long ago; I planned it in days gone by. I have now brought it to pass, and you have crushed fortified cities into piles of rubble.

27 Their inhabitants have become powerless, dismayed, and ashamed. They are plants of the field, tender grass, grass on the rooftops, blasted by the east wind.

28 But I know your sitting down, your going out and your coming in, and your raging against Me.

29 Because your raging against Me and your arrogance has reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will make you go back the way you came.

30 " 'This will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

32 For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.'

33 " 'Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or build up an assault ramp against it.

34 He will go back on the road that he came and he will not enter this city. [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration.

35 I will defend this city and rescue it, because of Me and because of My servant David.' "

36 Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the [next] morning-there were all the dead bodies!

37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned [home] and lived in Nineveh.

38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. Then his son Esar-haddon became king in his place.

1 In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, "This is what the Lord says: 'Put your affairs in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.' "

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord.

3 He said, "Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and wholeheartedly, and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah:

5 "Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add 15 years to your life.

6 And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city.

7 This is the sign to you from the Lord that the Lord will do what He has promised:

8 I am going to make the sun's shadow that goes down on Ahaz's stairway return by 10 steps." So the sun's shadow went back the 10 steps it had descended.

9 A poem by Hezekiah king of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:

10 I said: In the prime of my life I must go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the rest of my years.

11 I said: I will never see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living; I will not look on humanity any longer with the inhabitants of what is passing away.

12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom. You make an end of me from day until night.

13 I thought until the morning: He will break all my bones like a lion; You make an end of me day and night.

14 I chirp like a swallow [or] a crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed; support me.

15 What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it. I walk along slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul,

16 Lord, because of these [promises] people live, and in all of them is the life of my spirit as well; You have restored me to health and let me live.

17 Indeed, it was for [my own] welfare that I had such great bitterness; but Your love [has delivered] me from the Pit of destruction, for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back.

18 For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

19 The living, only the living can thank You, as I do today; a father will make Your faithfulness known to children.

20 The Lord will save me; we will play stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the house of the Lord.

21 Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a lump of figs and apply it to his infected skin, so that he may recover."

22 And Hezekiah had asked, "What is the sign that I will go up to the Lord's temple?"

1 At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.

2 Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them his treasure house-the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil-and all his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did these men say? The men who came to you-where were they from?" Hezekiah replied, "They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon."

4 And he asked, "What have they seen in your palace?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen everything in my palace. There isn't anything in my storehouses that I didn't show them."

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord of Hosts:

6 'The time will certainly come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,' says the Lord.

7 'Some of your descendants who come from you will be taken away, and they will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good." For he thought: There will be peace and security during my lifetime.

1 "Comfort, comfort My people," says your God.

2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of servitude is over, her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

3 A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

4 Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rough places a plain.

5 And the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity will see [it] together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

6 A voice was saying, "Cry out!" Another said, "What should I cry out?" "All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of the Lord blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever."

9 Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, herald of good news, raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"

10 See, the Lord God comes with strength, and His power establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His gifts accompany Him.

11 He protects His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries [them] in the fold of His [garment]. He gently leads those that are nursing.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or marked off the heavens with the span [of his hand]? Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in scales?

13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or who gave Him His counsel?

14 Who did He consult with? Who gave Him understanding and taught Him the paths of justice? Who taught Him knowledge and showed Him the way of understanding?

15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

16 Lebanon is not enough for fuel, or its animals enough for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are considered by Him as nothingness and emptiness.

18 Who will you compare God with? What likeness will you compare Him to?

19 To an idol?-[something that] a smelter casts, and a metalworker plates with gold and makes silver welds [for it]?

20 To one who shapes a pedestal, choosing wood that does not rot? He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not fall over.

21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth?

22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23 He reduces princes to nothing and makes the judges of the earth to be irrational.

24 They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground when He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.

25 "Who will you compare Me to, or who is My equal?" asks the Holy One.

26 Look up and see: who created these? He brings out the starry host by number; He calls all of them by name. Because of His great power and strength, not one of them is missing.

27 Jacob, why do you say, and Israel, why do you assert: "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my claim is ignored by my God"?

28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding.

29 He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless.

30 Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall,

31 but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.

1 "Be silent before Me, islands! And let peoples renew their strength. Let them approach, then let them testify; let us come together for the trial.

2 Who has stirred him up from the east? He calls righteousness to his feet. The Lord hands nations over to him, and he subdues kings. He makes [them] like dust [with] his sword, like wind-driven stubble [with] his bow.

3 He pursues them, going on safely, hardly touching the path with his feet.

4 Who has performed and done [this], calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last-I am He."

5 The islands see and are afraid, the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and arrive.

6 Each one helps the other, and says to another, "Take courage!"

7 The craftsman encourages the metalworker; the one who flattens with the hammer [supports] the one who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good." He fastens it with nails so that it will not fall over.

8 But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham, My friend-

9 I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you: You are My servant; I have chosen you and not rejected you.

10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.

11 Be sure that all who are enraged against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will become as nothing and will perish.

12 You will look for those who contend with you, but you will not find them. Those who war against you will become absolutely nothing.

13 For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand and say to you: Do not fear, I will help you.

14 Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel: I will help you- the Lord's declaration. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

15 See, I will make you into a sharp threshing board, new, with many teeth. You will thresh mountains and pulverize [them], and make hills like chaff.

16 You will winnow them and a wind will carry them away, and a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the Lord; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

17 The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the Lord, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, do not forsake them.

18 I will open rivers on the barren heights, and springs in the middle of the plains. I will turn the desert into a pool of water and dry land into springs of water.

19 I will plant cedars in the desert, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees. I will put cypress trees in the desert, elms and box trees together,

20 so that all may see and know, consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.

21 "Submit your case," says the Lord. "Present your arguments," says Jacob's King.

22 "Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell us the past events, so that we may reflect on it and know the outcome. Or tell us the future.

23 Tell us the coming events, then we will know that you are gods. Indeed, do [something] good or bad, then we will be in awe and perceive.

24 Look, you are nothing and your work is worthless. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

25 "I have raised up one from the north, and he has come, one from the east who invokes My name. He will march over rulers as if they were mud, like a potter who treads the clay.

26 Who told about this from the beginning, so that we might know, and from times past, so that we might say: He is right? No one announced it, no one told it, no one heard your words.

27 I was the first to say to Zion: Look! Here they are! and I gave a herald of good news to Jerusalem.

28 When I look, there is no one; there is no counselor among them; when I ask them, they have nothing to say.

29 Look, all of them are a delusion; their works are nonexistent; their images are wind and emptiness.

1 "This is My Servant; I strengthen Him, [this is] My Chosen One; I delight in Him. I have put My Spirit on Him; He will bring justice to the nations.

2 He will not cry out or shout or make His voice heard in the streets.

3 He will not break a bruised reed, and He will not put out a smoldering wick; He will faithfully bring justice.

4 He will not grow weak or be discouraged until He has established justice on earth. The islands will wait for His instruction."

5 This is what God the Lord says- 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 life to those who walk on it-

6 "I, the Lord, have called you for a righteous [purpose], and I will hold you by your hand. I will keep you, and I make you a covenant for the people [and] a light to the nations,

7 in order to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, [and] those sitting in darkness from the prison house.

8 I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, or My praise to idols.

9 The past events have indeed happened. Now I declare new events; I announce them to you before they occur."

10 Sing a new song to the Lord; [sing] His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea with all that fills it, you islands with your inhabitants.

11 Let the desert and its cities shout, the settlements where Kedar dwells [cry aloud]. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy; let them cry out from the mountaintops.

12 Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare His praise in the islands.

13 The Lord advances like a warrior; He stirs up His zeal like a soldier. He shouts, He roars aloud, He prevails over His enemies.

14 "I have kept silent from ages past; I have been quiet and restrained Myself. [But now,] I will groan like a woman in labor, gasping breathlessly.

15 I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn rivers into islands, and dry up marshes.

16 I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on paths they have not known. I will turn darkness to light in front of them, and rough places into level ground. This is what I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.

17 They will be turned back [and] utterly ashamed- those who trust in idols and say to metal-plated images: You are our gods!

18 "Listen, you deaf! Look, you blind, so that you may see.

19 Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like My messenger I am sending? Who is blind like [My] dedicated one, or blind like the servant of the Lord?

20 Though seeing many things, you do not obey. Though [his] ears are open, he does not listen."

21 The Lord was pleased, because of His righteousness, to magnify [His] instruction and make it glorious.

22 But this is a people plundered and looted, all of them trapped in holes or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder, with no one to rescue them, and loot, with no one saying "Give [it] back!"

23 Who among you will pay attention to this? Let him listen and obey in the future.

24 Who gave Jacob to the robber, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord? Have we not sinned against Him? They were not willing to walk in His ways, and they would not listen to His instruction.

25 So He poured out on Jacob His furious anger and the power of war. It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know [it]; it burned him, but he paid no attention.

1 Now this is what the Lord says- the One who created you, Jacob, and the One who formed you, Israel- "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.

2 I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and [when you pass] through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you.

3 For I the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior, give Egypt as a ransom for you, Cush and Seba in your place.

4 Because you are precious in My sight and honored, and I love you, I will give human beings in your place, and peoples in place of your life.

5 Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west.

6 I will say to the north: Give [them] up! and to the south: Do not hold [them] back! Bring My sons from far away, and My daughters from the ends of the earth-

7 everyone called by My name and created for My glory. I have formed him; indeed, I have made him."

8 Bring out a people who are blind, yet have eyes, and are deaf, yet have ears.

9 All the nations are gathered together, and the peoples are assembled. Who among them can declare this, and tell us the former things? Let them present their witnesses to vindicate [themselves], so that people may hear and say, "It is true."

10 "You are My witnesses"- the Lord's declaration- "and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. No god was formed before Me, and there will be none after Me.

11 I, I am the Lord, and there is no other Savior but Me.

12 I alone declared, saved, and proclaimed- and not some foreign god among you. So you are My witnesses"- the Lord's declaration- "and I am God.

13 Also, from today on I am He [alone], and no one can take [anything] from My hand. I act, and who can reverse it?"

14 This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: Because of you, I will send to Babylon and bring all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans in the ships in which they rejoice.

15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.

16 This is what the Lord says- who makes a way in the sea, and a path through surging waters,

17 who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty one together (they lie down, they do not rise again; they are extinguished, quenched like a wick)-

18 "Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old.

19 Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

20 The animals of the field will honor Me, jackals and ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.

21 The people I formed for Myself will declare My praise.

22 "But Jacob, you have not called on Me, because, Israel, you have become weary of Me.

23 You have not brought Me your sheep for burnt offerings or honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings or wearied you with incense.

24 You have not bought Me aromatic cane with silver, or satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened Me with your sins; you have wearied Me with your iniquities.

25 "It is I who sweep away your transgressions for My own sake and remember your sins no more.

26 Take Me to court; let us argue our case together. State your [case], so that you may be vindicated.

27 Your first father sinned, and your mediators have rebelled against Me.

28 So I defiled the officers of the sanctuary, and gave Jacob over to total destruction and Israel to abuse.

1 "And now listen, Jacob My servant, Israel whom I have chosen.

2 This is the word of the Lord your Maker who shaped you from birth; He will help you: Do not fear; Jacob is My servant; I have chosen Jeshurun.

3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants and My blessing on your offspring.

4 They will sprout among the grass like poplars by the streambeds.

5 This one will say: I am the Lord's; another will call [himself] by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand: The Lord's, and name [himself] by the name of Israel."

6 This is what the Lord, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, says: I am the first and I am the last. There is no God but Me.

7 Who, like Me, can announce [the future]? Let him say so and make a case before Me, since I have established an ancient people. Let these gods declare the coming things, and what will take place.

8 Do not be startled or afraid. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no [other] Rock; I do not know any.

9 All who make idols are nothing, and what they treasure does not profit. Their witnesses do not see or know [anything], so they will be put to shame.

10 Who makes a god or casts a metal image for no profit?

11 Look, all its worshipers will be put to shame, and the craftsmen are humans. They all will assemble and stand; they all will be startled and put to shame.

12 The ironworker labors over the coals, shapes the idol with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. Also he grows hungry and his strength fails; he doesn't drink water and is faint.

13 The woodworker stretches out a measuring line, he outlines it with a stylus; he shapes it with chisels and outlines it with a compass. He makes it according to a human likeness, like a beautiful person, to dwell in a temple.

14 He cuts down cedars for his use, or he takes a cypress or an oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.

15 It serves as fuel for man. He takes some of it and warms himself; also he kindles a fire and bakes bread; he even makes it into a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and bows down to it.

16 He burns half of it in a fire, and he roasts meat on that half. He eats the roast and is satisfied. He warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm, I see the blaze."

17 He makes a god or his idol with the rest of it. He bows down to it and worships; He prays to it, "Save me, for you are my god."

18 Such people do not comprehend and cannot understand, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see, and their minds so they cannot understand.

19 No one reflects, no one has the perception or insight to say, "I burned half of it in the fire, I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted meat and ate. I will make something detestable with the rest of it, and I will bow down to a block of wood."

20 He feeds on ashes. [His] deceived mind has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself, or say, "Isn't there a lie in my right hand?"

21 Remember these things, Jacob, and Israel, for you are My servant; I formed you, you are My servant; Israel, you will never be forgotten by Me.

22 I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

23 Rejoice, heavens, for the Lord has acted; shout, depths of the earth. Break out into singing, mountains, forest, and every tree in it. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and glorifies Himself through Israel.

24 This is what the Lord, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb, says: I am the Lord, who made everything; who stretched out the heavens by Myself; who alone spread out the earth;

25 who destroys the omens of the false prophets and makes fools of diviners; who confounds the wise and makes their knowledge foolishness;

26 who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers; who says to Jerusalem: She will be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah: They will be rebuilt, and I will restore her ruins;

27 who says to the depths of the sea: Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers;

28 who says to Cyrus: My shepherd, he will fulfill all My pleasure and say to Jerusalem: She will be rebuilt, and of the temple: Its foundation will be laid.

1 The Lord says this to Cyrus, His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to unloose the loins of kings, to open the doors before him and the gates will not be shut:

2 "I will go before you and level the uneven places; I will shatter the bronze doors and cut the iron bars in two.

3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches from secret places, so that you may know that I, the Lord, the God of Israel call you by your name.

4 I call you by your name, because of Jacob My servant and Israel My chosen one. I give a name to you, though you do not know Me.

5 I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God but Me. I will strengthen you, though you do not know Me,

6 so that all may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is no one but Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other.

7 I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.

8 "Heavens, sprinkle from above, and let the skies shower righteousness. Let the earth open up that salvation sprout and righteousness spring up with it. I, the Lord, have created it.

9 "Woe to the one who argues with his Maker- one clay pot among many. Does clay say to the one forming it: What are you making? Or does your work [say]: He has no hands?

10 How absurd is the one who says to [his] father: What are you fathering? or to [his] mother: What are you giving birth to?"

11 This is what the Lord, the Holy One of Israel and its Maker, says: "Ask Me what is to happen to My sons, and instruct Me about the work of My hands.

12 I made the earth, and created man on it. It was My hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.

13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and will level all roads for him. He will rebuild My city, and set My exiles free, not for a price or a bribe," says the Lord of Hosts.

14 This is what the Lord says: The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will follow you, they will come over in chains; and bow down to you. They will confess to you: God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.

15 Yes, You are a God who hides Himself, God of Israel, Savior.

16 All of them are put to shame, even humiliated; the makers of idols go in humiliation together.

17 Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; you will not be put to shame or humiliated for all eternity.

18 For this is what the Lord says- God is the Creator of the heavens. He formed the earth and made it; He established it; He did not create it to be empty, [but] formed it to be inhabited- "I am the Lord, and there is no other.

19 I have not spoken in secret, somewhere in a land of darkness. I did not say to the descendants of Jacob: Seek Me in a wasteland. I, the Lord, speak truthfully; I say what is right.

20 "Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives of the nations. Those who carry their wooden idols, and pray to a god who cannot save, have no knowledge.

21 Speak up and present [your case]- yes, let them take counsel together. Who predicted this long ago? Who announced it from ancient times? Was it not I, the Lord? There is no other God but Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is no one except Me.

22 Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other.

23 By Myself I have sworn; Truth has gone from My mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow to Me, every tongue will swear allegiance.

24 It will be said to Me: Only in the Lord is righteousness and strength." All who are incensed against Him will come to Him and be put to shame.

25 All the descendants of Israel will be justified and find glory through the Lord.

1 Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols are consigned to beasts and cattle. The [images] you carry are loaded, as a burden for the weary [animal].

2 The gods cower; they crouch together; they are not able to rescue the burden, but they themselves go into captivity.

3 "Listen to Me, house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.

4 I will be the same until [your] old age, and I will bear [you] up when you turn gray. I have made [you], and I will carry [you]; I will bear and save [you].

5 "Who will you compare Me or make Me equal to? Who will you measure Me with, so that we should be like each other?

6 Those who pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales- they hire a goldsmith and he makes it into a god. Then they kneel and bow down to it.

7 They lift it to their shoulder and bear it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands; it does not budge from its place. They cry out to it but it doesn't answer; it saves no one from his trouble.

8 "Remember this and be brave; take it to heart, you transgressors!

9 Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; [I am]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. God, and no one is like Me.

10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: My plan will take place, and I will do all My will.

11 I call a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far country. Yes, I have spoken; so I will also bring it about. I have planned it; I will also do it.

12 Listen to me, you hardhearted, far removed from justice:

13 I am bringing My justice near; it is not far away, and My salvation will not delay. I will put salvation in Zion, My splendor in Israel.

1 "Go down and sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter Chaldea! For you will no longer be called pampered and spoiled.

2 Take millstones and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off [your] skirt, bare your thigh, wade through the streams.

3 Your nakedness will be uncovered, and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.

4 The Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer; the Lord of Hosts is His name.

5 "Daughter Chaldea, sit in silence and go into darkness. For you will no longer be called mistress of kingdoms.

6 I was angry with My people; I profaned My possession, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly.

7 You said: I will be the mistress forever. You did not take these things to heart or think about their outcome.

8 "So now hear this, lover of luxury, who sits securely, who says to herself: I, and no one else, will never be a widow or know the loss of children.

9 These two things will happen to you suddenly, in one day: loss of children and widowhood. They will happen to you in their entirety, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.

10 You were secure in your wickedness; you said: No one sees me. Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray. You said to yourself: I, and no one else.

11 But disaster will happen to you; you will not know how to avert it. And it will fall on you, but you will be unable to ward it off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.

12 So take your stand with your spells and your many sorceries, which you have wearied yourself with from your youth. Perhaps you will be able to succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror!

13 You are worn out with your many consultations. So let them stand and save you- the astrologers, who observe the stars, who predict monthly what will happen to you.

14 Look, they are like stubble; fire burns them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. This is not a coal for warming themselves, or a fire to sit beside!

15 This is what they are to you- those who have wearied you and have traded with you from your youth- each wanders on his own way; no one can save you.

1 "Listen to this, house of Jacob- those who are called by the name Israel and have descended from Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and declare the God of Israel, [but] not in truth or righteousness.

2 For they are named after the Holy City, and lean on the God of Israel; His name is Yahweh of Hosts.

3 I declared the past events long ago; they came out of My mouth; I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they occurred.

4 Because I know that you are stubborn, and your neck is iron and your forehead bronze,

5 therefore I declared to you long ago; I announced it to you before it occurred, so you could not claim: My idol caused them; my carved image and cast idol control them.

6 You have heard it. Observe it all. Will you not acknowledge it? From now on I will announce new things to you, hidden things that you have not known.

7 They have been created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today, so you could not claim, "I already knew them!"

8 You have never heard; you have never known; For a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew that you were very treacherous, and were known as a rebel from birth.

9 I will delay My anger for the honor of My name, and I will restrain Myself for your benefit and [for] My praise, so that you will not be destroyed.

10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

11 I will act for My own sake, indeed, My own, for how can I be defiled? I will not give My glory to another.

12 "Listen to Me, Jacob, and Israel, the one called by Me: I am He; I am the first, I am also the last.

13 My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summoned them, they stood up together.

14 All of you, assemble and listen! Who among the idols has declared these things? The Lord loves him; he will accomplish His will against Babylon, and His arm [will be against] the Chaldeans.

15 I-I have spoken; yes, I have called him; I have brought him, and he will succeed in his mission.

16 Approach Me and listen to this. From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time anything existed, I was there." And now the Lord God has sent me and His Spirit.

17 This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for [your] benefit, who leads you in the way you should go.

18 If only you had paid attention to My commands. Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

19 Your descendants would have been as [countless] as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains; their name would not be cut off or eliminated from My presence.

20 Leave Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with a shout of joy, proclaim this, let it go out to the end of the earth; announce, "The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob!"

21 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.

22 "There is no peace," says the Lord, "for the wicked."

1 Coastlands, listen to me; distant peoples, pay attention. The Lord called me before I was born. He named me while I was in my mother's womb.

2 He made my words like a sharp sword; He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me like a sharpened arrow; He hid me in His quiver.

3 He said to me, "You are My servant, Israel; I will be glorified in him."

4 But I myself said: I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and futility; yet my vindication is with the Lord, and my reward is with my God.

5 And now, says the Lord, who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him so that Israel might be gathered to Him; for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God is my strength-

6 He says, "It is not enough for you to be My servant raising up the tribes of Jacob and restoring the protected ones of Israel. I will also make you a light for the nations, to be My salvation to the ends of the earth."

7 This is what the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One says to one who is despised, to one abhorred by people, to a servant of rulers: "Kings will see and stand up, and princes will bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel-and He has chosen you."

8 This is what the Lord says: I will answer you in a time of favor, and I will help you in the day of salvation. I will keep you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to make them possess the desolate inheritances,

9 saying to the prisoners: Come out, and to those who are in darkness: Show yourselves. They will feed along the pathways, and their pastures will be on all the barren heights.

10 They will not hunger or thirst, the scorching heat or sun will not strike them; for their compassionate One will guide them, and lead them to springs of water.

11 I will make all My mountains into a road, and My highways will be raised up.

12 See, these will come from far away, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Sinim.

13 Shout for joy, you heavens! Earth, rejoice! Mountains break into joyful shouts! For the Lord has comforted His people, and will have compassion on His afflicted ones.

14 Zion says, "The Lord has abandoned me; The Lord has forgotten me!"

15 "Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you.

16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.

17 Your builders hurry; those who destroy and devastate you will leave you.

18 Look up, and look around. They all gather together; they come to you. As I live"- the Lord's declaration- "you will wear all your children as jewelry, and put them on as a bride does.

19 For your waste and desolate places and your land marked by ruins- will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

20 The children that you have been deprived of will yet say in your hearing: This place is too small for me; make room for me so that I may settle.

21 Then you will say within yourself: Who fathered these for me? I was deprived of my children and barren, exiled and wandering- but who brought them up? See, I was left by myself- but these, where did they come from?"

22 This is what the Lord God says: Look, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and raise My banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.

23 Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground, and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who put their hope in Me will not be put to shame.

24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of the righteous be delivered?

25 For this is what the Lord says: "Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken, and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered; I will contend with the one who contends with you, and I will save your children.

26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they will be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. Then all flesh will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."

1 This is what the Lord says: Where is your mother's divorce certificate that I used to send her away? Or who were My creditors that I sold you to? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away because of your transgressions.

2 Why was no one there when I came? Why was there no one to answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem? Or do I have no power to deliver? Look, I dry up the sea by My rebuke; I turn the rivers into a wilderness; their fish rot because of lack of water and die of thirst.

3 I dress the heavens in black and make sackcloth their clothing.

4 The Lord God has given Me the tongue of those who are instructed to know how to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens [Me] each morning; He awakens My ear to listen like those being instructed.

5 The Lord God has opened My ear, and I was not rebellious; I did not turn back.

6 I gave My back to those who beat Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spitting.

7 The Lord God will help Me; therefore I have not been humiliated; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

8 The One who justifies Me is near; who will contend with Me? Let us confront each other. Who has a case against Me? Let him come near Me!

9 In truth, the Lord God will help Me; who is he who will condemn Me? Indeed, all of them will wear out like a garment; a moth will devour them.

10 Who among you fears the Lord, listening to the voice of His servant? Who [among you] walks in darkness, and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord; let him lean on his God.

11 Look, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with firebrands; walk in the light of your fire and in the firebrands you have lit! This is what you'll get from My hand: you will lie down in a place of torment.

1 Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were dug.

2 Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain. When I called him, he was only one; I blessed him and made him many.

3 For the Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.

4 Pay attention to Me, My people, and listen to Me, My nation; for instruction will come from Me, and My justice for a light to the nations. I will bring it about quickly.

5 My righteousness is near, My salvation appears, and My arms will bring justice to the nations. The coastlands will put their hope in Me, and they will look to My strength.

6 Look up to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will die in like manner. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never be shattered.

7 Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My instruction: do not fear disgrace by men, and do not be shattered by their taunts.

8 For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, and My salvation for all generations.

9 Wake up, wake up! Put on the strength of the Lord's power. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of long ago. Wasn't it You who hacked Rahab to pieces, who pierced the sea monster?

10 Wasn't it You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the sea-bed into a road for the redeemed to pass over?

11 And the ransomed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake [them], and sorrow and sighing will flee.

12 I-I am the One who comforts you. Who are you that you should fear man who dies, or a son of man who is given up like grass?

13 But you have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You are in constant dread all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, who has set himself to destroy. But where is the fury of the oppressor?

14 The prisoner is soon to be set free; he will not die [and go] to the Pit, and his food will not be lacking.

15 For I am the Lord your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar- His name is Yahweh of Hosts.

16 I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you in the shadow of My hand, in order to plant the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, "You are My people."

17 Wake yourself, wake yourself up! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk the cup of His fury from the hand of the Lord; you who have drunk the goblet to the dregs- the cup that [causes people] to stagger.

18 There is no one to guide her among all the children she has raised; there is no one to take hold of her hand among all the offspring she has brought up.

19 These two things have happened to you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? How can I comfort you?

20 Your children have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net. They are full of the Lord's fury, the rebuke of your God.

21 So listen to this, afflicted and drunken one-but not with wine.

22 This is what your Lord says- Yahweh, even your God, who defends His people- "Look, I have removed the cup of staggering from your hand; that goblet, the cup of My fury. You will never drink it again.

23 I will put it into the hands of your tormenters, who said to you: Lie down, so we can walk over you. You made your back like the ground, and like a street for those who walk on it.

1 "Wake up, wake up; put on your strength, Zion! Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the Holy City! For the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer enter you.

2 Stand up, shake the dust off yourself! Take your seat, Jerusalem. Remove the bonds from your neck, captive Daughter Zion."

3 For this is what the Lord says: "You were sold for nothing, and you will be redeemed without silver."

4 For this is what the Lord God says: "At first My people went down to Egypt to live there, then Assyria oppressed them without cause.

5 So now what have I here"- the Lord's declaration- "that My people are taken away for nothing? Its rulers wail"- the Lord's declaration- "and My name is continually blasphemed all day long.

6 Therefore My people will know My name; therefore [they will know] on that day that I am He who says: Here I am."

7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

8 The voices of your watchmen- they lift up their voices, shouting for joy together; for every eye will see when the Lord returns to Zion.

9 Be joyful, rejoice together, you ruins of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem.

10 The Lord has displayed His holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

11 Leave, leave, go out from there! Do not touch anything unclean; go out from her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord.

12 For you will not leave in a hurry, and you will not have to take flight; because the Lord is going before you, and the God of Israel is your rear guard.

13 See, My servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.

14 Just as many were appalled at You- His appearance was so disfigured that He did not look like a man, and His form did not resemble a human being-

15 so He will sprinklemany nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him, For they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.

1 Who has believed what we have heard? And who has the arm of the Lord been revealed to?

2 He grew up before Him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or splendor that we should look at Him, no appearance that we should desire Him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like one people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn't value Him.

4 Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

5 But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.

6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, He did not open His mouth.

8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment; and who considered His fate? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was struck because of My people's rebellion.

9 They made His grave with the wicked, and with a rich man at His death, although He had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully.

10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush Him, and He made Him sick. When You make Him a restitution offering, He will see [His] seed, He will prolong His days, and the will of the Lord will succeed by His hand.

11 He will see [it] out of His anguish, and He will be satisfied with His knowledge. My righteous servant will justify many, and He will carry their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give Him the many as a portion, and He will receive the mighty as spoil, because He submitted Himself to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet He bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.

1 "Rejoice, barren one, who did not give birth; burst into song and shout, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the forsaken one will be more than the children of the married woman," says the Lord.

2 "Enlarge the site of your tent, and let your tent curtains be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your ropes, and drive your pegs deep.

3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will dispossess nations and inhabit the desolate cities.

4 "Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; don't be humiliated, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth, and you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood.

5 For your husband is your Maker- His name is Yahweh of Hosts- and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.

6 For the Lord has called you, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, a wife of one's youth when she is rejected," says your God.

7 "I deserted you for a brief moment, but I will take you back with great compassion.

8 In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but I will have compassion on you with everlasting love," says the Lord your Redeemer.

9 "For this is like the days of Noah to Me: when I swore that the waters of Noah would never flood the earth again, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.

10 Though the mountains move and the hills shake, My love will not be removed from you and My covenant of peace will not be shaken," says your compassionate Lord.

11 "Poor [Jerusalem], storm-tossed, and not comforted, I will set your stones in black mortar, and lay your foundations in sapphires.

12 I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling stones, and all your walls of precious stones.

13 Then all your children will be taught by the Lord, their prosperity will be great,

14 and you will be established on [a foundation of] righteousness. You will be far from oppression, you will certainly not be afraid; you will be far from terror, it will certainly not come near you.

15 If anyone attacks you, it is not from Me; whoever attacks you will fall before you.

16 Look, I have created the craftsman who blows on the charcoal fire and produces a weapon suitable for its task; and I have created the destroyer to work havoc.

17 No weapon formed against you will succeed, and you will refute any accusation raised against you in court. This is the heritage of the Lord's servants, and their righteousness is from Me." [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration.

1 "Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!

2 Why do you spend money on what is not food, and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.

3 Pay attention and come to Me; listen, so that you will live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the promises assured to David.

4 Since I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples,

5 so you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel, has glorified you."

6 Seek the Lord while He may be found; call to Him while He is near.

7 Let the wicked one abandon his way, and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive.

8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways." [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration.

9 "For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

10 For just as rain and snow fall from heaven, and do not return there without saturating the earth, and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,

11 so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and will prosper in what I send it [to do]."

12 You will indeed go out with joy and be peacefully guided; the mountains and the hills will break into singing before you, and all the trees of the field will clap [their] hands.

13 Instead of the thornbush, a cypress will come up, and instead of the brier, a myrtle will come up; it will make a name for the Lord as an everlasting sign that will not be destroyed.

1 This is what the Lord says: Preserve justice and do what is right, for My salvation is coming soon, and My righteousness will be revealed.

2 Happy is the man who does this, anyone who maintains this, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

3 No foreigner who has converted to the Lord should say, "The Lord will exclude me from His people"; and the eunuch should not say, "Look, I am a dried-up tree."

4 For the Lord says this: "For the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold firmly to My covenant,

5 I will give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give each [of them] an everlasting name that will never be cut off.

6 And the foreigners who convert to the Lord, minister to Him, love the Lord's name, and are His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold firmly to My covenant-

7 I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."

8 [This is] the declaration of the Lord God , who gathers the dispersed of Israel: "I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered."

9 All you animals of the field and forest, come and eat!

10 Israel's watchmen are blind, all of them, they know nothing; all of them are mute dogs, they cannot bark; they dream, lie down, and love to sleep.

11 These dogs have fierce appetites; they never have enough. And they are shepherds who have no discernment; all of them turn to their own way, every last one for his own gain.

12 "Come, let me get [some] wine, let's guzzle [some] beer; and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!"

1 The righteous one perishes, and no one takes it to heart; faithful men are swept away, with no one realizing that the righteous one is swept away from the presence of evil.

2 He will enter into peace- they will rest on their beds- everyone who lives uprightly.

3 But come here, you sons of a sorceress, offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute!

4 Who is it you are mocking? Who is it you are opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue at? Isn't it you, you rebellious children, you race of liars,

5 who burn with lust among the oaks, under every flourishing tree, who slaughter children in the wadis below the clefts of the rocks?

6 Your portion is among the smooth [stones] of the wadi; indeed, they are your lot. You have even poured out a drink offering to them; you have offered a grain offering; should I be satisfied with these?

7 You have placed your bed on a high and lofty mountain; you also went up there to offer sacrifice.

8 You have set up your memorial behind the door and doorpost. For away from Me, you stripped, went up, and made your bed wide, and you have made a bargain for yourself with them. You have loved their bed; you have gazed on their genitals.

9 You went to the king with oil and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far away and sent [them] down even to Sheol.

10 You became weary on your many journeys, [but] you did not say, "I give up!" You found a renewal of your strength; therefore you did not grow weak.

11 Who was it you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and didn't remember Me or take it to heart? Have I not kept silent for such a long time and you do not fear Me?

12 I will expose your righteousness, and your works-they will not profit you.

13 When you cry out, let your collection [of idols] deliver you! The wind will carry all of them off, a breath will take them away. But whoever takes refuge in Me will inherit the land and possess My holy mountain.

14 He said, "Build it up, build it up, prepare the way, remove [every] obstacle from My people's way."

15 For the High and Exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy says this: "I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the oppressed.

16 For I will not accuse [you] forever, and I will not always be angry; for then the spirit would grow weak before Me, even the breath [of man], which I have made.

17 Because of his sinful greed I was angry, so I struck him; I was angry and hid; but he went on turning back to the desires of his heart.

18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and comfort him and his mourners,

19 creating words of praise." The Lord says, "Peace, peace to the one who is far or near, and I will heal him.

20 But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its waters churn up mire and muck.

21 There is no peace for the wicked," says my God.

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