1
The avision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem bin the days of cUzziah, dJotham, eAhaz, and fHezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 gHear, O heavens, and give ear, O hearth;
for the Lord has spoken:
“Children1 ihave I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox jknows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib,
but Israel does jnot know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
koffspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have ldespised mthe Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly nestranged.
5 Why will you still be ostruck down?
Why will you pcontinue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
6 qFrom the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are rnot pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.
7 sYour country lies desolate;
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
foreigners devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
8 And tthe daughter of Zion is left
like a ubooth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
9 vIf the Lord of hosts
had not left us wa few survivors,
we should have been like xSodom,
and become like xGomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
Give ear to the teaching2 of our God,
you people of zGomorrah!
11 a“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12 “When you come to bappear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
cNew moon and Sabbath and the dcalling of convocations—
I cannot endure einiquity and fsolemn assembly.
14 Your cnew moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you gspread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
heven though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
iyour hands are full of blood.
16 jWash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
kcease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
lseek justice,
correct oppression;
mbring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
18 “Come now, nlet us reason3 together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as owhite as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19 pIf you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
qfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
21 How the faithful city
sshe who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
but now murderers.
22 tYour silver has become dross,
your best wine mixed with water.
23 Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
Everyone uloves a bribe
and runs after gifts.
vThey do not bring justice to the fatherless,
and the widow’s cause does not come to them.
24 Therefore the wLord declares,
the Lord of hosts,
the xMighty One of Israel:
“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies
yand avenge myself on my foes.
25 zI will turn my hand against you
and will smelt away your adross as with lye
and remove all your alloy.
26 And I will restore your judges bas at the first,
and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward cyou shall be called the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.”
27 dZion shall be redeemed by justice,
and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
28 eBut rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
29 fFor they5 shall be ashamed of gthe oaks
that you desired;
and you shall blush for hthe gardens
that you have chosen.
30 For you shall be ilike an oak
whose leaf withers,
and like a garden without water.
31 And the strong shall become jtinder,
and his work a spark,
and both of them shall burn together,
with knone to quench them.
2
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 lIt shall come to pass in the latter days
that mthe mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and nall the nations shall flow to it,
3 and omany peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For pout of Zion shall go forth the law,1
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
qand they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
rnation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in sthe light of the Lord.
6 For you have rejected your people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are full of things tfrom the east
and uof fortune-tellers vlike the Philistines,
and they wstrike hands with the children of foreigners.
7 Their land is xfilled with silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is yfilled with horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is zfilled with idols;
they bow down to athe work of their hands,
to what their own fingers have made.
9 So man bis humbled,
and each one bis brought low—
do not forgive them!
10 cEnter into the rock
and hide in the dust
dfrom before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty.
11 eThe haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
12 fFor the Lord of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
13 against all the gcedars of Lebanon,
lofty and lifted up;
and against all the hoaks of Bashan;
14 against all ithe lofty mountains,
and against all the uplifted hills;
15 against every high tower,
and against every fortified wall;
16 against all jthe ships of Tarshish,
and against all the beautiful craft.
17 kAnd the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,
and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
18 lAnd the idols shall utterly pass away.
19 mAnd people shall enter the caves of the rocks
and the holes of the ground,2
from before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty,
nwhen he rises to terrify the earth.
20 In that day omankind will cast away
their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
which they made for themselves to worship,
to the moles and to the pbats,
21 mto enter the caverns of the rocks
and the clefts of the cliffs,
from before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty,
nwhen he rises to terrify the earth.
22 qStop regarding man
rin whose nostrils is breath,
for of what account is he?
3
For behold, the sLord God of hosts
is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah
support and supply,1
all tsupport of bread,
and all support of water;
2 uthe mighty man and the soldier,
the judge and the prophet,
the diviner and the elder,
3 the captain of fifty
and the man of rank,
the counselor and the skillful magician
and the expert in charms.
4 vAnd I will make boys their princes,
and infants2 shall rule over them.
5 wAnd the people will oppress one another,
every one his fellow
and every one his neighbor;
the youth will be insolent to the elder,
and the despised to the honorable.
6 For xa man will take hold of his brother
in the house of his father, saying:
“You have a cloak;
you shall be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
shall be under your rule”;
7 in that day he will speak out, saying:
in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
you shall not make me
leader of the people.”
8 For Jerusalem has stumbled,
and Judah has fallen,
because their zspeech and their deeds are against the Lord,
adefying his glorious presence.4
9 For the look on their faces bears witness against them;
they proclaim their sin blike Sodom;
they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
cFor they have brought evil on themselves.
10 dTell the righteous that it shall be well with them,
efor they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
11 fWoe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.
12 My people—ginfants are their oppressors,
and women rule over them.
O my people, hyour guides mislead you
and they have swallowed up5 the course of your paths.
13 The Lord ihas taken his place to contend;
he stands to judge peoples.
14 The Lord will enter into judgment
with the jelders and princes of his people:
“It is you who khave devoured6 the vineyard,
lthe spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15 What do you mean by mcrushing my people,
by grinding the face of the poor?”
declares the Lord God of hosts.
16 The Lord said:
nBecause othe daughters of Zion are haughty
and walk with outstretched necks,
glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
ptinkling with their feet,
17 therefore the Lord qwill strike with a scab
the heads of othe daughters of Zion,
and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.
18 In that day the Lord will take away rthe finery of the anklets, the sheadbands, and the tcrescents; 19 the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; 20 the uheaddresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; 21 the signet rings and vnose rings; 22 the wfestal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; 23 the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.
24 Instead of xperfume there will be rottenness;
and instead of a ybelt, a rope;
and instead of zwell-set hair, abaldness;
and instead of a rich robe, a bskirt of sackcloth;
and cbranding instead of beauty.
25 Your men shall fall by the sword
and your mighty men in battle.
26 And dher gates shall lament and mourn;
empty, she shall esit on the ground.
4
fAnd seven women gshall take hold of fone man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; htake away our reproach.”
2 In that day ithe branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and jthe fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 kAnd he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called lholy, everyone who has mbeen recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4 when nthe Lord shall have washed away the filth of othe daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by pa spirit of burning.1 5 Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies qa cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be ra canopy. 6 sThere will be a tbooth for shade by day from the heat, and ufor a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
5
Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had va vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with wchoice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and xhe looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 yWhat more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
xWhen I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove zits hedge,
and it shall be devoured;1
aI will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and bbriers and thorns shall grow up;
cI will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 dFor the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;2
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!3
8 Woe to those who ejoin house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
f“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10 gFor ten acres4 of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a hhomer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”5
11 Woe to those who irise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
as wine inflames them!
12 jThey have lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
kbut they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see the work of his hands.
13 Therefore my people go into exile
their mhonored men go hungry,7
and their multitude is parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has nenlarged its appetite
and opened oits mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem8 and her multitude will go down,
her revelers and he who pexults in her.
15 qMan is humbled, and each one is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty9 are brought low.
16 rBut the Lord of hosts is exalted10 in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
17 Then shall the lambs graze sas in their pasture,
and tnomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with ucords of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
19 who say: v“Let him be quick,
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and let it come, that we may know it!”
20 Woe to wthose who call evil good
and good evil,
xwho put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are ywise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are zheroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23 who aacquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!
24 Therefore, bas the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so ctheir root will be das rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have erejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
and have fdespised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore gthe anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
and hthe mountains quaked;
and their corpses were ias refuse
in the midst of the streets.
jFor all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
26 He will kraise a signal for nations far away,
and lwhistle for them mfrom the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
27 nNone is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistband is loose,
not a sandal strap broken;
28 otheir arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels plike the whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and qseize their prey;
they carry it off, and none can rescue.
30 They will growl over it on that day,
like the growling of the sea.
And if one looks to the land,
behold, rdarkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.
6
In the year that sKing Uzziah died I tsaw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train1 of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had usix wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
u“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
vthe whole earth is full of his glory!”2
4 And wthe foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and xthe house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! yFor I am lost; zfor I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the aKing, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he btouched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for cus?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
d“‘Keep on hearing,3 but do not understand;
keep on seeing,4 but do not perceive.’
10 eMake the heart of this people fdull,5
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
glest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, h“How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until icities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is a desolate waste,
12 and the Lord removes people far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 jAnd though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned6 again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump kremains
when it is felled.”
7
In the days of mAhaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, nRezin the king of Syria and nPekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was told, o“Syria is in league with1 pEphraim,” the heart of Ahaz2 and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and qShear-jashub3 your son, at the end of rthe conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 4 And say to him, s‘Be careful, tbe quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two usmoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and vthe son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and vthe son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it4 for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7 thus says the Lord God:
w“‘It shall not stand,
and it shall not come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is xDamascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
And within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.
9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is ythe son of Remaliah.
zIf you5 are not firm in faith,
you will not be firm at all.’”
10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask aa sign of the Lord your6 God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he7 said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you bweary my God also? 14 Therefore the cLord himself will give you a sign. dBehold, the evirgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name fImmanuel.8 15 He shall eat gcurds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 hFor before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be ideserted. 17 jThe Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that kEphraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”
18 In that day the Lord will lwhistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and min the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.9
20 In that day nthe Lord will oshave with a razor that is phired beyond qthe River10—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.
21 rIn that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat scurds and honey.
23 In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels11 of silver, will become tbriers and thorns. 24 uWith bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. 25 vAnd as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear tof briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.
8
Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet wand write on it in common characters,1 ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’2 2 And xI will get reliable witnesses, yUriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”
3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, z“Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 afor before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the awealth of bDamascus and the spoil of bSamaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of cShiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over dRezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them ethe waters of fthe River,3 mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it gwill rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, hreaching even to the neck, and its ioutspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, jO Immanuel.”
9 Be broken,4 you peoples, and kbe shattered;5
give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
strap on your armor and be shattered.
10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
speak a word, lbut it will not stand,
11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and nwarned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call oconspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and pdo not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, qhim you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a rsanctuary and sa stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many tshall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
16 Bind up uthe testimony; vseal the teaching7 among my disciples. 17 I will wwait for the Lord, who is xhiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 yBehold, I and zthe children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the amediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of bthe dead on behalf of the living? 20 cTo the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no ddawn. 21 They will pass through the land,8 greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against9 their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 eAnd they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into fthick darkness.
9
1 But there will be no ggloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he hbrought into contempt the land of iZebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he jhas made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.2
2 3 iThe people kwho walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of ldeep darkness,
on them has light shone.
3 mYou have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with njoy at the harvest,
as they oare glad pwhen they divide the spoil.
4 qFor the yoke of his burden,
rand the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as son the day of Midian.
5 tFor every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 uFor to us a child is born,
to us va son is given;
wand the government shall be xupon4 his shoulder,
and his name shall be called5
Wonderful yCounselor, zMighty God,
aEverlasting bFather, Prince of cPeace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
dthere will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
ewith justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
fThe zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
8 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
and it will fall on Israel;
9 and all the people will know,
gEphraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:
10 “The bricks have fallen,
but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will put cedars in their place.”
11 But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,
and stirs up his enemies.
12 hThe Syrians on the east and ithe Philistines on the west
devour Israel with open mouth.
jFor all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
13 The people kdid not turn to him who struck them,
nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.
14 So the Lord cut off from Israel lhead and tail,
palm branch and reed in one day—
15 mthe elder and honored man is the head,
and nthe prophet who teaches lies is the tail;
16 for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,
and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
17 Therefore the Lord does not orejoice over their young men,
and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone is pgodless and an evildoer,
and every mouth speaks qfolly.6
jFor all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
18 For wickedness burns like ra fire;
it consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the forest,
and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
the land is scorched,
and sthe people are like fuel for the fire;
tno one spares another.
20 uThey slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,
and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;
veach devours the flesh of his own arm,
21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;
together they are wagainst Judah.
xFor all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
11
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of lJesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And mthe Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
nHe shall not judge by owhat his eyes see,
or decide disputes by owhat his ears hear,
4 but pwith righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall qstrike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and rwith the breath of his lips she shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and tfaithfulness the belt of his loins.
6 uThe wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 uThey shall not hurt or destroy
in all vmy holy mountain;
wfor the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day xthe root of yJesse, who shall stand as za signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
11 aIn that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, bfrom Assyria, bfrom Egypt, from cPathros, from dCush,1 from eElam, from fShinar, from gHamath, and from hthe coastlands of the sea.
12 He will raise za signal for the nations
and will assemble ithe banished of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
13 jThe jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14 kBut they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
and together they shall plunder lthe people of the east.
They shall put out their hand magainst nEdom and oMoab,
and pthe Ammonites shall obey them.
15 And the Lord will utterly destroy2
qthe tongue of the Sea of Egypt,
and will wave his hand over rthe River3
with his scorching breath,4
and strike it into seven channels,
and he will lead people across in sandals.
16 And there will be sa highway from Assyria
for the remnant that remains of his people,
tas there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.
12
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
vyour anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.
2 “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for wthe Lord God2 is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
3 xWith joy you3 will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 yAnd you will say in that day:
z“Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name,
amake known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim bthat his name is exalted.
5 c“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known4 in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great din your5 midst is ethe Holy One of Israel.”
13
The oracle concerning fBabylon which gIsaiah the son of Amoz saw.
2 On a bare hill hraise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for ithem to enter
the gates of the nobles.
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
my proudly exulting ones.1
4 The sound jof a tumult is on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
kThe Lord of hosts is mustering
a host for battle.
5 lThey come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole land.2
6 mWail, for nthe day of the Lord is near;
as destruction from the Almighty3 it will come!
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart owill melt.
8 They will be dismayed:
ppangs and agony will seize them;
qthey will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.
9 Behold, nthe day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
and rto destroy its sinners from it.
10 sFor the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
tthe sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.
11 I will punish uthe world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will vput an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
wand lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make xpeople more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the ygold of Ophir.
13 Therefore zI will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
14 And like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with none to gather them,
aeach will turn to his own people,
and each will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 bTheir infants will be dashed in pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, cI am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.
18 dTheir bows will slaughter4 the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
19 And Babylon, ethe glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be flike Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.
20 gIt will never be inhabited
or lived in for all generations;
no hArab will pitch his tent there;
no ishepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
21 But jwild animals will lie down there,
and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
and there wild goats will dance.
22 Hyenas6 will cry in its towers,
and ljackals in mthe pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.
14
nFor the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and owill set them in their own land, and psojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 And qthe peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord’s land ras male and female slaves.1 sThey will take captive those who were their captors, tand rule over those who oppressed them.
3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, 4 you will take up this utaunt against the king of Babylon:
“How the oppressor has ceased,
5 The Lord has broken the wstaff of the wicked,
the wscepter of rulers,
6 xthat struck the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
ythey break forth into singing.
8 zaThe cypresses rejoice at you,
bthe cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
no woodcutter comes up against us.’
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
10 cAll of them will answer
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!’
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers.
12 “How dyou are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, eson of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart,
f‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
gI will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;3
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 hBut you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
‘Is this ithe man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
17 who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
jwho did not let his prisoners go home?’
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;4
19 but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like a loathed branch,
kclothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the pit,
like a dead body trampled underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.
“May lthe offspring of evildoers
nevermore be named!
21 Prepare slaughter for his sons
mbecause of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the face of the world with cities.”
22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and nremnant, odescendants and posterity,” declares the Lord. 23 “And I will make it a possession of the phedgehog,5 and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.
24 The Lord of hosts has sworn:
q“As I have planned,
so shall it be,
and as I have purposed,
so shall it stand,
25 that rI will break the Assyrian in my land,
and on my mountains trample him underfoot;
and shis yoke shall depart from them,
and shis burden from their shoulder.”
26 This is the purpose that is purposed
concerning the whole earth,
and this is tthe hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.
27 uFor the Lord of hosts has purposed,
and who will annul it?
tHis hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?
28 In the year that vKing Ahaz died came this woracle:
29 Rejoice not, xO Philistia, all of you,
that ythe rod that struck you is broken,
for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a zflying fiery serpent.
30 And the firstborn of athe poor will graze,
and athe needy lie down in safety;
but I will kill your root with famine,
and your remnant it will slay.
31 bWail, O cgate; cry out, O city;
melt in fear, xO Philistia, all of you!
dFor smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in his ranks.
32 What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
e“The Lord has founded Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”
15
Because gAr of Moab is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone;
because hKir of Moab is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone.
2 He has gone up to the temple,1 and to iDibon,
to the high places2 to weep;
Moab kwails.
On every head is lbaldness;
every beard is shorn;
3 in the streets they wear sackcloth;
on the housetops and in the squares
everyone wails and melts in tears.
4 mHeshbon and mElealeh cry out;
their voice is heard as far as nJahaz;
therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
his soul trembles.
5 My heart cries out for Moab;
her fugitives flee to Zoar,
to nEglath-shelishiyah.
For at the oascent of Luhith
they go up weeping;
on the road to oHoronaim
they raise a cry of destruction;
6 the waters of pNimrim
are a desolation;
the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,
the greenery is no more.
7 qTherefore the abundance they have gained
and what they have laid up
they carry away
over the Brook of the Willows.
8 For a cry has gone
around the land of Moab;
her wailing reaches to Eglaim;
her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
9 For the waters of rDibon3 are full of blood;
for I will bring upon Dibon even more,
sa lion for those of Moab who escape,
for the remnant of the land.
16
tSend the lamb to the ruler of the land,
from uSela, by way of the desert,
to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2 Like fleeing birds,
like a scattered nest,
so are the daughters of Moab
at vthe fords of the Arnon.
3 “Give counsel;
grant justice;
wmake your shade like night
at the height of noon;
shelter the outcasts;
do not reveal the fugitive;
4 let xthe outcasts of Moab
sojourn among you;
be a shelter to them1
from the destroyer.
When the oppressor is no more,
and destruction has ceased,
and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,
5 ythen a throne will be established in steadfast love,
and on it will sit in faithfulness
in the tent of David
one who judges and seeks justice
and is swift to do righteousness.”
6 zWe have heard of the pride of Moab—
how proud he is!—
aof his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
in his idle boasting he is not right.
7 Therefore let Moab wail for Moab,
blet everyone wail.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
for the craisin cakes of dKir-hareseth.
8 For the fields of Heshbon languish,
and ethe vine of Sibmah;
the lords of the nations
have struck down its branches,
which reached to Jazer
and strayed to the desert;
its shoots spread abroad
and passed over the sea.
9 Therefore fI weep with ethe weeping of Jazer
for the vine of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
O Heshbon and Elealeh;
for over gyour summer fruit and your harvest
the shout has ceased.
10 hAnd joy and gladness are taken away from ithe fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no jsongs are sung,
no cheers are raised;
no ktreader treads out wine lin the presses;
I have put an end to the shouting.
11 Therefore mmy inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab,
and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.
12 And when Moab presents himself, when nhe wearies himself on othe high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.
13 This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab pin the past. 14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “In three years, qlike the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be rvery few and feeble.”
17
An soracle concerning tDamascus.
Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of uAroer are deserted;
they will be for flocks,
which will lie down, and vnone will make them afraid.
3 The fortress will disappear from wEphraim,
and the kingdom from wDamascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
like xthe glory of the children of Israel,
declares the Lord of hosts.
4 And in that day xthe glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and ythe fat of his flesh will grow lean.
5 And it shall be zas when the reaper gathers standing grain
and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
in athe Valley of Rephaim.
6 bGleanings will be left in it,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
on the branches of a fruit tree,
declares the Lord God of Israel.
7 cIn that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. 8 dHe will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the eAsherim or the altars of incense.
9 fIn that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
10 For gyou have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not remembered the hRock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
11 though you make them grow1 on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away2
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12 Ah, ithe thunder of many peoples;
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations;
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
13 jThe nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
kbut he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased llike chaff on the mountains before the wind
and mwhirling dust before the storm.
14 nAt evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.
18
Ah, land of owhirring wings
that is beyond the rivers of pCush,1
2 which qsends ambassadors by the sea,
in vessels of papyrus on the waters!
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation rtall and smooth,
to a people feared near and far,
a nation smighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide.
3 All you inhabitants of the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
when ta signal is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet is blown, hear!
4 For thus the Lord said to me:
“I will quietly look ufrom my dwelling
like clear heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 vFor before the harvest, when the blossom is over,
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks,
and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.
6 vThey shall all of them be left
to the birds of prey of the mountains
and to the beasts of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer on them,
and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.
7 wAt that time tribute will be brought to the Lord of hosts
from a people xtall and smooth,
from a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide,
19
Behold, the Lord cis riding on a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt;
and dthe idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the heart of the Egyptians will emelt within them.
2 And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
fand they will fight, each against another
and each against his neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
3 and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
and I will confound1 their gcounsel;
and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,
and hthe mediums and the necromancers;
4 and I will give over the Egyptians
into the hand of ia hard master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
declares the Lord God of hosts.
5 And the waters of the sea will be dried up,
and the river will be dry and parched,
6 and its canals will become foul,
and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up,
reeds and rushes will rot away.
7 There will be bare places by the Nile,
on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,
will be driven away, and will be no more.
8 The jfishermen will mourn and lament,
all who cast a hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
who spread nets on the water.
9 The workers in kcombed flax will be in despair,
and the weavers of white cotton.
10 Those who are the lpillars of the land will be crushed,
and all who mwork for pay will be grieved.
11 The princes of nZoan are utterly foolish;
the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your owise men?
Let them tell you
that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13 The princes of nZoan have become fools,
and the princes of pMemphis are deluded;
those who are the qcornerstones of her tribes
have made Egypt stagger.
14 The Lord has mingled within her ra spirit of confusion,
and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,
sas a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15 And there will be nothing for Egypt
that thead or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
16 In that day the Egyptians will be ulike women, and vtremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. 17 And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.
18 wIn that day there will be xfive cities in the land of Egypt that yspeak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.2
19 In that day there will be an zaltar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a apillar to the Lord at its border. 20 aIt will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, bhe will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. 21 cAnd the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day dand worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. 22 eAnd the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.
23 fIn that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, gand the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, ha blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt imy people, and Assyria jthe work of my hands, and kIsrael my inheritance.”
20
In the year that lthe commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to mAshdod and fought against it and captured it— 2 at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking nnaked and barefoot.
3 Then the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years oas a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,1 4 so shall the pking of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. 5 qThen they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. 6 And the inhabitants of rthis coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and sto whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”
21
The toracle concerning the wilderness of uthe sea.
vAs whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
it comes from the wilderness,
from a terrible land.
2 A stern vision is told to me;
wthe traitor betrays,
and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O xElam;
lay siege, O yMedia;
all the zsighing she has caused
I bring to an end.
3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
apangs have seized me,
like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
4 My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
bthe twilight I longed for
has been turned for me into trembling.
5 cThey prepare the table,
they spread the rugs,1
they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
doil the shield!
6 For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
let him announce what he sees.
7 When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
very diligently.”
8 Then he who saw cried out:2
e“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
whole nights.
9 And behold, here come riders,
horsemen in pairs!”
fAnd he answered,
g“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
hand all the carved images of her gods
he has shattered to the ground.”
10 O imy threshed and winnowed one,
what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.
11 The joracle concerning kDumah.
One is calling to me from lSeir,
“Watchman, what time of the night?
Watchman, what time of the night?”
12 The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also mthe night.
If you will inquire, ninquire;
come back again.”
13 The ooracle concerning pArabia.
In the thickets in pArabia you will lodge,
14 To the thirsty bring water;
meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of rTema.
15 For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the press of battle.
16 For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, saccording to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of tKedar will come to an end. 17 And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of tKedar will be few, ufor the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”
22
The voracle concerning wthe valley of vision.
What do you mean that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,
2 you who are full of shoutings,
tumultuous city, xexultant town?
Your slain are ynot slain with the sword
or dead in battle.
3 zAll your leaders have fled together;
without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away.
4 Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
alet me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5 bFor the Lord God of hosts has ca day
of tumult and dtrampling and econfusion
in wthe valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a shouting to the mountains.
6 And fElam bore the quiver
with chariots and horsemen,
and gKir uncovered the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
8 He has taken away hthe covering of Judah.
In that day you looked to ithe weapons of the House of the Forest, 9 and you saw that jthe breaches of the city of David were many. kYou collected the waters of the lower pool, 10 and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 kYou made a reservoir between lthe two walls for the water of mthe old pool. But nyou did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
12 In that day othe Lord God of hosts
called for weeping and mourning,
for pbaldness and qwearing sackcloth;
13 and behold, joy and gladness,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating flesh and drinking wine.
r“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
14 The Lord of hosts shas revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely tthis iniquity will not be atoned for you uuntil you die,”
says the Lord God of hosts.
15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to vShebna, who is over the household, and say to him: 16 What have you to do here, and whom have you here, wthat you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you xwho cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? 17 Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. yHe will seize firm hold on you 18 and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be zyour glorious chariots, you shame of your master’s house. 19 aI will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. 20 In that day I will call my servant bEliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21 and bI will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be ca father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 And I will place don his shoulder ethe key of the house of David. fHe shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23 And I will fasten him glike a peg in a secure place, and he will become ha throne of honor to his father’s house. 24 And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, gthe peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”
23
Wail, O kships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste, lwithout house or harbor!
it is revealed to them.
2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;
the merchants of nSidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
3 And on many waters
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
you were othe merchant of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O nSidon, for the sea has spoken,
the stronghold of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men
nor brought up young women.”
5 When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish2 over the report about Tyre.
6 pCross over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7 Is this your exultant city
qwhose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
to settle far away?
8 Who has purposed this
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9 The Lord of hosts has purposed it,
rto defile the pompous pride of all glory,3
to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
10 Cross over your land like the Nile,
O daughter of Tarshish;
there is no restraint anymore.
11 sHe has stretched out his hand over the sea;
he has shaken the kingdoms;
the Lord has given command concerning Canaan
to destroy its strongholds.
12 And he said:
“You will no more exult,
O oppressed virgin daughter of tSidon;
arise, ucross over to vCyprus,
even there you will have no rest.”
13 Behold the land of wthe Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;4 Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected xtheir siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.
14 yWail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is laid waste.
15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for zseventy years, like the days5 of one king. At the end of zseventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16 “Take a harp;
go about the city,
O forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody;
sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.”
17 At the end of aseventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and bwill prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the Lord. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord.
24
Behold, cthe Lord will empty the earth1 and make it desolate,
and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
2 dAnd it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;
as with the slave, so with his master;
as with the maid, so with her mistress;
eas with the buyer, so with the seller;
as with the lender, so with the borrower;
fas with the creditor, so with the debtor.
3 gThe earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;
hfor the Lord has spoken this word.
4 iThe earth mourns and withers;
the world languishes and withers;
the highest people of the earth languish.
5 The earth lies jdefiled
under its inhabitants;
for kthey have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore la curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants msuffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.
7 nThe wine mourns,
the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.
8 oThe mirth of the tambourines is stilled,
the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
9 No more do they drink wine pwith singing;
strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 qThe wasted city is broken down;
revery house is shut up so that none can enter.
11 sThere is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;
tall joy has grown dark;
the gladness of the earth is banished.
12 Desolation is left in the city;
the gates are battered into ruins.
13 For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth
among the nations,
uas when an olive tree is beaten,
as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.
14 They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;
over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.2
15 vTherefore in the east3 give glory to the Lord;
in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
16 wFrom the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,
of glory to xthe Righteous One.
But I say, “I waste away,
I waste away. Woe is me!
For ythe traitors have betrayed,
with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”
17 zTerror and the pit and the snare4
are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
18 zHe who flees at the sound of the terror
shall fall into the pit,
and he who climbs out of the pit
shall be caught in the snare.
For athe windows of heaven are opened,
and bthe foundations of the earth tremble.
19 The earth is utterly broken,
the earth is split apart,
the earth is violently shaken.
20 The earth cstaggers like a drunken man;
it sways like a hut;
dits transgression lies heavy upon it,
and it falls, and will not rise again.
21 On that day the Lord will punish
the host of heaven, in heaven,
and ethe kings of the earth, on the earth.
22 fThey will be gathered together
as prisoners in a pit;
they will be shut up in a prison,
and after many days gthey will be punished.
23 hThen the moon will be confounded
and the sun ashamed,
for ithe Lord of hosts reigns
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and his glory will be before his elders.
25
O Lord, jyou are my God;
kI will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
lplans formed of old, faithful and sure.
2 For you have made the city ma heap,
the fortified city a ruin;
the foreigners’ palace is a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
3 nTherefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
4 oFor you have been a stronghold to the poor,
a stronghold to the needy in his distress,
pa shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;
qfor the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,
5 rlike heat in a dry place.
You subdue the noise of the foreigners;
as heat by the shade of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is put down.
6 sOn this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
tof rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
7 And he will swallow up son this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
uthe veil that is spread over all nations.
8 vHe will swallow up death forever;
and wthe Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and xthe reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
yfor the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; zwe have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
alet us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
10 For the hand of the Lord will rest son this mountain,
and bMoab shall be trampled down in his place,
as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.1
11 cAnd he will spread out his hands in the midst of it
as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,
but the Lord dwill lay low his pompous pride together with the skill2 of his hands.
12 And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,
lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.
26
In that day ethis song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city;
he sets up fsalvation
as walls and bulwarks.
2 gOpen the gates,
that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
3 hYou keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
5 iFor he has humbled
the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city.
He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,
casts it to the dust.
6 The foot tramples it,
the feet of jthe poor,
the steps of jthe needy.”
7 The path of the righteous is level;
kyou make level the way of the righteous.
8 In the path of your judgments,
O Lord, we wait for you;
are the desire of our soul.
9 My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
mFor when your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10 nIf favor is shown to the wicked,
he does not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly
and does not see the majesty of the Lord.
11 O Lord, oyour hand is lifted up,
but pthey do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
Let qthe fire for your adversaries consume them.
12 O Lord, you will ordain rpeace for us,
for you have indeed done for us all our works.
13 O Lord our God,
sother lords besides you have ruled over us,
tbut your name alone we bring to remembrance.
14 They are dead, they will not live;
they are shades, they will not arise;
to that end you have visited them with destruction
and wiped out all remembrance of them.
15 uBut you have increased the nation, O Lord,
you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
vyou have enlarged all the borders of the land.
16 O Lord, win distress they sought you;
they poured out a whispered prayer
when your discipline was upon them.
17 xLike a pregnant woman
who writhes and cries out in her pangs
when she is near to giving birth,
so were we because of you, O Lord;
18 xwe were pregnant, we writhed,
but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,
and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
19 yYour dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For zyour dew is a dew of light,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter your chambers,
and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves afor a little while
until the fury has passed by.
21 bFor behold, the Lord is coming out from his place
to punish the inhabitants of cthe earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,
and will no more cover its slain.
27
In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong dsword will punish eLeviathan the fleeing serpent, eLeviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay fthe dragon that is in the sea.
2 In that day,
g“A pleasant vineyard,1 hsing of it!
3 I, the Lord, am its keeper;
every moment I water it.
Lest anyone punish it,
I keep it night and day;
4 I have no wrath.
iWould that I had thorns and briers to battle!
I would march against them,
I would burn them up together.
5 Or let them lay hold of my protection,
let them make peace with me,
let them make peace with me.”
6 jIn days to come2 Jacob shall take root,
Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots
and fill the whole world with fruit.
7 kHas he struck them las he struck those who struck them?
Or have they been slain mas their slayers were slain?
8 nMeasure by measure,3 by exile you contended with them;
ohe removed them with his fierce breath4 in the day of the east wind.
9 Therefore by this pthe guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,
and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:5
qwhen he makes all the stones of the altars
like chalkstones crushed to pieces,
no rAsherim or incense altars will remain standing.
10 sFor the fortified city is solitary,
a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;
there the calf grazes;
there it lies down and strips its branches.
11 When its boughs are dry, they are broken;
women come and make a fire of them.
tFor this is a people without discernment;
therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;
he who formed them will show them no favor.
12 In that day ufrom the river Euphrates6 to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. 13 And in that day va great trumpet will be blown, wand those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt xwill come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
28
Ah, the proud crown of ythe drunkards of Ephraim,
and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the Lord has zone who is mighty and strong;
like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,
like aa storm of mighty, overflowing waters,
he casts down to the earth with his hand.
3 bThe proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim
will be trodden underfoot;
4 cand the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley,
will be like da first-ripe fig1 before the summer:
when someone sees it, he swallows it
as soon as it is in his hand.
5 eIn that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory,2
and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
6 and fa spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
and gstrength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7 hThese also reel with wine
and istagger with strong drink;
the priest and jthe prophet reel with strong drink,
they are swallowed by3 wine,
they stagger with strong drink,
they reel in vision,
they stumble in giving judgment.
8 For all tables are full of filthy vomit,
with no space left.
9 k“To whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from the milk,
those taken from the breast?
10 For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.”
11 lFor by people of strange lips
and with a foreign tongue
the Lord will speak to this people,
12 to whom he has said,
m“This is rest;
give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
yet they would not hear.
13 And the word of the Lord will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little,
nthat they may go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you oscoffers,
who rule this people in Jerusalem!
15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
and with Sheol we have an agreement,
when the poverwhelming whip passes through
it will not come to us,
for we have made qlies our refuge,
and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;
16 therefore thus says the Lord God,
r“Behold, I am the one who has laid4 as a foundation sin Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
17 And I will make justice tthe line,
and righteousness tthe plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
18 Then uyour covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,
you will be beaten down by it.
19 As often as it passes through it will take you;
vfor morning by morning it will pass through,
by day and by night;
and it will be wsheer terror to understand the message.
20 For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,
and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.
21 For the Lord will rise up xas on Mount Perazim;
yas in the Valley of zGibeon he will be roused;
to do his deed—strange is his deed!
and to work his work—alien is his work!
22 Now therefore do not ascoff,
lest your bonds be made strong;
for I have heard ba decree of destruction
from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.
23 Give ear, and hear my voice;
give attention, and hear my speech.
24 Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?
Does he continually open and harrow his ground?
25 cWhen he has leveled its surface,
does he not scatter dill, sow cumin,
and put in wheat in rows
and barley in its proper place,
and emmer5 as the border?
26 dFor he is rightly instructed;
his God teaches him.
27 Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,
but dill is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
28 Does one crush grain for bread?
No, he does not thresh it forever;6
when he drives his cart wheel over it
with his horses, he does not crush it.
29 This also comes from the Lord of hosts;
he is ewonderful in counsel
and excellent in wisdom.
29
Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
the city fwhere David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the feasts run their round.
2 Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
and she shall be to me like an Ariel.1
3 gAnd I will encamp against you all around,
and will besiege you hwith towers
and I will raise siegeworks against you.
4 iAnd you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,
and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;
your voice shall come from the ground like jthe voice of a ghost,
and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
5 But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like ksmall dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
lAnd in an instant, suddenly,
6 myou will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 And nthe multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
shall be olike a dream, a vision of the night.
8 pAs when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,
and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,
and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Astonish yourselves2 and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk,3 but not with wine;
rstagger,4 but not with strong drink!
10 sFor the Lord has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is tsealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
13 And the Lord said:
“Because uthis people vdraw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14 therefore, behold, wI will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and xthe wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
15 Ah, yyou who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are zin the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 aYou turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
17 Is it not yet a very little while
buntil Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18 In that day cthe deaf shall hear
dthe words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
ethe eyes of the blind shall see.
19 fThe meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless shall come to nothing
and gthe scoffer cease,
and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21 who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
and hlay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea iturn aside him who is in the right.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, jwho redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
kthe work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
lthey will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those mwho go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction.”
30
“Ah, nstubborn children,” declares the Lord,
o“who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make pan alliance,1 but not of my Spirit,
that they may add sin to sin;
2 qwho set out to go down to Egypt,
without asking for my direction,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 rTherefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
4 For though his officials are at sZoan
5 everyone comes to shame
through va people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
but shame and disgrace.”
6 An woracle on xthe beasts of ythe Negeb.
Through a land of trouble and anguish,
from where come the lioness and the lion,
the adder and the zflying fiery serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
7 Egypt’s ahelp is worthless and empty;
therefore I have called her
b“Rahab who sits still.”
8 And now, go, cwrite it before them on a tablet
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever.2
9 dFor they are a rebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the Lord;
10 ewho say to fthe seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us gsmooth things,
prophesy illusions,
11 leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Because you despise this word
and trust in hoppression and perverseness
and rely on them,
13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you
ilike a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14 and its breaking is jlike that of a potter’s vessel
that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a shard is found
with which to take fire from the hearth,
or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In kreturning3 and lrest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling, 16 and you said,
“No! We will flee upon mhorses”;
therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17 nA thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.
18 Therefore the Lord owaits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he pexalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
qblessed are all those who wait for him.
19 For a people shall dwell rin Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the sbread of adversity and the swater of affliction, tyet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 uAnd your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is vthe way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. wYou will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”
23 xAnd he will give yrain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. zIn that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and athe oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And bon every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, cwhen the towers fall. 26 dMoreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when ethe Lord binds up fthe brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;4
his lips are full of fury,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 ghis breath is hlike an overflowing stream
that reaches up to the neck;
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
and to place on the jaws of the peoples ia bridle that leads astray.
29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, jas when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to kthe mountain of the Lord, to lthe Rock of Israel. 30 And the Lord mwill cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger nand a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst oand storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, pwhen he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them qwill be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. rBattling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For sa burning place5 has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, tits pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; uthe breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
31
Woe1 to vthose who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who wtrust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but xdo not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the Lord!
2 And yyet he is wise and brings disaster;
zhe does not call back his words,
but awill arise against the house of the evildoers
and against the helpers of bthose who work iniquity.
3 The Egyptians are man, and not God,
and their horses care flesh, and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.
4 For thus the Lord said to me,
d“As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,
and when a band of shepherds is called out against him
he is not terrified by their shouting
or daunted at their noise,
eso the Lord of hosts will come down
to fight2 on Mount Zion and on its hill.
5 fLike birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts
will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
he will spare and rescue it.”
6 gTurn to him from whom people3 have hdeeply revolted, O children of Israel. 7 For in that day ieveryone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.
8 j“And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man;
and a sword, not of man, shall devour him;
and he shall flee from the sword,
and his young men shall be kput to forced labor.
9 lHis rock shall pass away in terror,
and his officers desert the standard in panic,”
declares the Lord, whose mfire is in Zion,
and whose nfurnace is in Jerusalem.
32
Behold, oa king will reign in righteousness,
and princes will rule in justice.
2 pEach will be like a hiding place from the wind,
a shelter from the storm,
qlike streams of water in a dry place,
like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
3 rThen the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
4 The heart of the hasty will understand and know,
sand the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
5 tThe fool will no more be called noble,
nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
6 For uthe fool speaks folly,
and his heart is busy with iniquity,
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the Lord,
vto leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
7 As for the scoundrel—whis devices are evil;
he plans wicked schemes
to ruin the poor with lying words,
even when the plea of the needy is right.
8 But he who is noble plans noble things,
and on noble things he stands.
9 xRise up, you women ywho are at ease, hear my voice;
you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
10 In little more than a year
you will shudder, you complacent women;
for the grape harvest fails,
the fruit harvest will not come.
11 Tremble, you women ywho are at ease,
shudder, you complacent ones;
zstrip, and make yourselves bare,
aand tie sackcloth around your waist.
12 bBeat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine,
13 cfor the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers,
dyes, for all the joyous houses
in the exultant city.
14 For the palace is forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens forever,
ea joy of wild donkeys,
a pasture of flocks;
15 until fthe Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and gthe wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
17 hAnd the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust1 forever.
18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
19 iAnd it will hail when the forest falls down,
jand the city will be utterly laid low.
20 kHappy are you who sow beside all waters,
who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.
33
lAh, you destroyer,
who yourself have not been destroyed,
you traitor,
whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.
2 O Lord, be gracious to us; mwe wait for you.
Be our arm every morning,
our salvation in the time of trouble.
3 nAt the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
4 and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
oas locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
5 pThe Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
6 qand he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is Zion’s1 treasure.
7 Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
rthe envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 sThe highways lie waste;
the traveler ceases.
tCovenants are broken;
cities2 are despised;
there is no regard for man.
9 uThe land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
10 v“Now I will arise,” says the Lord,
“now I will lift myself up;
now I will be exalted.
11 wYou conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
your breath is xa fire that will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
xlike thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”
13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
y“Who among us can dwell zwith the consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
15 aHe who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
band shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
16 he will dwell on the heights;
his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
chis bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
17 dYour eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
ethey will see a land that stretches afar.
18 fYour heart will muse on the terror:
“Where is he who counted, where is ghe who weighed the tribute?
Where is hhe who counted the towers?”
19 iYou will see no more the insolent people,
the people jof an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
20 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
kYour eyes will see Jerusalem,
an untroubled habitation, an limmovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
a place of mbroad rivers and streams,
nwhere no galley with oars can go,
nor majestic ship can pass.
22 For the Lord is our ojudge; the Lord is our plawgiver;
the Lord is our qking; he will save us.
23 Your cords hang loose;
they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
or keep the sail spread out.
rThen prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
even sthe lame will take the prey.
24 And no inhabitant will say, t“I am sick”;
uthe people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
35
tThe wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
uthe desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
2 it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and singing.
vThe glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of wCarmel and xSharon.
yThey shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.
3 zStrengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,
“Be strong; fear not!
aBehold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
5 bThen the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 bthen shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
cFor waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 dthe burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of ejackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 fAnd a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
gthe unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.1
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 hAnd the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
ieverlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
36
jIn the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, kSennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 lAnd the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh1 from mLachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood nby the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 3 And there came out to him oEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and oShebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the pgreat king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 qBehold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he rwhose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse sa single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when tyou trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? uThe Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants vin Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: w‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me2 and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17 until xI come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 yWhere are the gods of zHamath and zArpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? aHave they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 bWho among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 cThen Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
38
qIn those days Hezekiah became rsick and was at the point of death. And sIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.”1 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how tI have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, 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 say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add ufifteen years to your life.2 6 vI will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.
7 “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised: 8 wBehold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.3
9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
10 I said, xIn the middle4 of my days
I must depart;
I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
for the rest of my years.
11 I said, I shall not see the Lord,
the Lord yin the land of the living;
I shall look on man no more
among the inhabitants of the world.
12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
zlike a shepherd’s tent;
alike a weaver bI have rolled up my life;
che cuts me off from the loom;
dfrom day to night you bring me to an end;
13 eI calmed myself5 until morning;
like a lion fhe breaks all my bones;
from day to night you bring me to an end.
14 Like ga swallow or a crane I chirp;
hI moan like a dove.
iMy eyes are weary with looking upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed; jbe my pledge of safety!
15 What shall I say? For he has spoken to me,
and he himself has done it.
kI walk slowly all my years
because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 lO Lord, by these things men live,
and in all these is the life of my spirit.
Oh restore me to health and make me live!
17 mBehold, it was for my welfare
that I had great bitterness;
nbut in love you have delivered my life
from the pit of destruction,
nfor you have cast all my sins
behind your back.
18 oFor Sheol does not thank you;
death does not praise you;
those who go down to the pit do not hope
for your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living, he thanks you,
as I do this day;
pthe father makes known to the children
your faithfulness.
20 The Lord will save me,
and we will play my music on stringed instruments
all the days of our lives,
qat the house of the Lord.
21 rNow Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” 22 Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”
39
sAt that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, tsent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, uthe silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. vThere was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6 wBehold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. 7 xAnd some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, y“There will be peace and security in my days.”
40
zComfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 aSpeak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
d“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
emake straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 fEvery valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 gAnd the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
hfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said,3 “What shall I cry?”
iAll flesh is grass,
and all its beauty4 is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 jThe grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, kherald of good news;5
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;6
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10 lBehold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
mbehold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 nHe will tend his flock like a shepherd;
ohe will gather the lambs in his arms;
phe will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
12 qWho has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 rWho has measured7 the Spirit of the Lord,
or what man shows him his counsel?
14 Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
sWho taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted tas the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up uthe coastlands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are vits beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17 wAll the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18 xTo whom then will you liken God,
yor what likeness compare with him?
19 yAn idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20 zHe who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood8 that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.
21 aDo you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are blike grasshoppers;
cwho stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
23 dwho brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
eand the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25 fTo whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
gHe who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
and because he is strong in power,
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
h“My way is hidden from the Lord,
iand my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is jthe everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
khis understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but lthey who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings mlike eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
41
nListen to me in silence, oO coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.
2 pWho stirred up one from the east
whom victory meets at every qstep?1
rHe gives up nations before him,
so that he tramples kings underfoot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
slike driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them and passes on safely,
by paths his feet have not trod.
4 tWho has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
uI, the Lord, the first,
and with the last; I am he.
5 vThe coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
6 Everyone helps his neighbor
and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 wThe craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
and they strengthen it with nails xso that it cannot be moved.
8 But you, Israel, ymy servant,
Jacob, zwhom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, amy friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called bfrom its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are ymy servant,
zI have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with cmy righteous right hand.
11 dBehold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12 eYou shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
fthose who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13 For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”
14 Fear not, you gworm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
your hRedeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 iBehold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh jthe mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
16 kyou shall winnow them, and lthe wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
mAnd you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
17 nWhen the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 oI will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
pI will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19 qI will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert rthe cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20 that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that sthe hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 Set forth your case, says the Lord;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them, and ttell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.
23 tTell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
udo good, or do harm,
that we may be dismayed and terrified.2
24 Behold, vyou are nothing,
and your work is less than nothing;
an abomination is he who chooses you.
25 wI stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
xfrom the rising of the sun, yand he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
26 zWho declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
27 aI was the first to say3 to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
and bI give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
28 cBut when I look, there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
29 dBehold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their metal images are empty wind.
42
eBehold fmy servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, gin whom my soul delights;
hI have put my Spirit upon him;
ihe will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3 ja bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
khe will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged1
till he has established justice in the earth;
and lthe coastlands wait for his law.
5 Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens mand stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
nwho gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 “I am the Lord; oI have called you2 in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you pas a covenant for the people,
qa light for the nations,
7 rto open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
sfrom the prison those who sit in darkness.
8 I am the Lord; that is my name;
tmy glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
9 Behold, the former things have come to pass,
uand new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.”
10 vSing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth,
wyou who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
lthe coastlands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
the villages that xKedar inhabits;
let the habitants of ySela sing for joy,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord,
and declare his praise in lthe coastlands.
13 zThe Lord goes out like a mighty man,
like a man of war ahe stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, bhe shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.
14 For a long time I have held my peace;
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out clike a woman in labor;
I will gasp and pant.
15 dI will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into islands,3
and dry up the pools.
16 eAnd I will lead the blind
in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
fthe rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.
17 gThey are turned back and utterly put to shame,
who trust in carved idols,
who say to metal images,
“You are our gods.”
18 Hear, you deaf,
and look, you blind, that you may see!
19 Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,4
or blind as the servant of the Lord?
20 hHe sees many things, but does not observe them;
ihis ears are open, but he does not hear.
21 The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
22 But this is a people plundered and looted;
they are all of them trapped in holes
jand hidden in prisons;
they have become plunder with none to rescue,
spoil with none to say, “Restore!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this,
will attend and listen for the time to come?
24 Who gave up Jacob to the looter,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
25 So he poured on him the heat of his anger
and the might of battle;
it set him on fire all around, kbut he did not understand;
it burned him up, lbut he did not take it to heart.
44
“But now hear, bO Jacob my servant,
Israel whom I have chosen!
2 Thus says the Lord who made you,
cwho formed you from the womb and will help you:
dFear not, O Jacob my servant,
eJeshurun whom I have chosen.
3 fFor I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
4 They shall spring up among the grass
glike willows by flowing streams.
5 hThis one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’
another will call on the name of Jacob,
and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
and name himself by the name of Israel.”
6 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel
and ihis Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
j“I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
7 kWho is like me? Let him proclaim it.1
Let him declare and set it before me,
since I appointed an ancient people.
Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.
8 Fear not, nor be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
lAnd you are my witnesses!
mIs there a God besides me?
There is no nRock; I know not any.”
9 oAll who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. 10 pWho fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? 11 qBehold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.
12 pThe ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil.2 He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. rHe shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. 14 sHe cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. tHe prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”
18 They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 19 No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an uabomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20 vHe feeds on washes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not xa lie in my right hand?”
21 Remember these things, O Jacob,
and Israel, for you are ymy servant;
I formed you; you are my servant;
zO Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
22 aI have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud
and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.
23 bSing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;
shout, O cdepths of the earth;
break forth into singing, O mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
dand will be glorified3 in Israel.
24 Thus says the Lord, eyour Redeemer,
fwho formed you from the womb:
g“I am the Lord, who made all things,
hwho alone stretched out the heavens,
who spread out the earth by myself,
25 who frustrates the signs of liars
and makes fools of diviners,
iwho turns wise men back
and makes their knowledge foolish,
26 jwho confirms the word of his servant
and fulfills the counsel of his messengers,
who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’
kand of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,
and I will raise up their ruins’;
27 lwho says to the deep, ‘Be dry;
I will dry up your rivers’;
28 who says of mCyrus, ‘He is nmy shepherd,
and he shall fulfill all my purpose’;
saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’
oand of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”
45
Thus says the Lord to phis anointed, to Cyrus,
qwhose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and rto loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed:
2 “I will go before you
and slevel the exalted places,1
tI will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron,
3 uI will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the Lord,
the God of Israel, vwho call you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
vI call you by your name,
wI name you, though you do not know me.
5 xI am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
yI equip you, though you do not know me,
6 zthat people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7 I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and acreate calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
8 b“Shower, O heavens, from above,
and clet the clouds rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;
let the earth cause them both to sprout;
I the Lord have created it.
9 d“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
a pot among earthen pots!
eDoes the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
or ‘Your work has no handles’?
10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”
11 Thus says fthe Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
g“Ask me of things to come;
will you command me hconcerning my children and ithe work of my hands?2
12 jI made the earth
and created man on it;
it was my hands kthat stretched out the heavens,
and lI commanded all their host.
13 mI have stirred him up in righteousness,
nand I will make all his ways level;
ohe shall build my city
pand set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,”
says the Lord of hosts.
14 Thus says the Lord:
q“The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,
and the Sabeans, men of stature,
shall come over to you rand be yours;
they shall follow you;
they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.
They will plead with you, saying:
‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other,
no god besides him.’”
15 sTruly, you are a God who hides himself,
O God of Israel, the Savior.
16 tAll of them are put to shame and confounded;
the makers of idols go in confusion together.
17 But Israel is saved by the Lord
with everlasting salvation;
uyou shall not be put to shame or confounded
to all eternity.
18 vFor thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he wdid not create it empty,
xhe formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 yI did not speak in secret,
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
I the Lord speak athe truth;
I declare what is right.
20 b“Assemble yourselves and come;
draw near together,
you survivors of the nations!
cThey have no knowledge
who dcarry about their wooden idols,
eand keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.
21 fDeclare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God gand a Savior;
there is none besides me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
hall the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 iBy myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in jrighteousness
a word that shall not return:
k‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’4
24 l“Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and mstrength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
nall who were incensed against him.
25 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
shall be justified and shall glory.”
46
oBel bows down; Nebo stoops;
their idols are on beasts and livestock;
these things you carry are borne
as burdens on weary beasts.
2 They stoop; they bow down together;
they cannot save the burden,
but pthemselves go into captivity.
3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
qwho have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
4 reven to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.
5 s“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
and compare me, that we may be alike?
6 tThose who lavish gold from the purse,
and weigh out silver in the scales,
hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
uthen they fall down and worship!
7 vThey lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,
they set it in its place, and it stands there;
wit cannot move from its place.
If one cries to it, it does not answer
or save him from his trouble.
8 “Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, xyou transgressors,
9 remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 ydeclaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, z‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
11 acalling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
bI have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.
12 “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
you who are far from righteousness:
13 cI bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
and my salvation will not delay;
dI will put salvation in Zion,
for Israel my glory.”
47
eCome down and sit in the dust,
O virgin fdaughter of Babylon;
gsit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of hthe Chaldeans!
iFor you shall no more be called
tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and jgrind flour,
kput off your veil,
strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
pass through the rivers.
3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
and your disgrace shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
and I will spare no one.
4 lOur Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—
is the Holy One of Israel.
5 mSit in silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of hthe Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
nthe mistress of kingdoms.
6 oI was angry with my people;
I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
pyou showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
7 You said, “I shall be qmistress forever,”
so that you did not lay these things to heart
or remember their end.
8 Now therefore hear this, qyou lover of pleasures,
rwho sit securely,
who say in your heart,
s“I am, and there is no one besides me;
tI shall not sit as a widow
or know the loss of children”:
9 uThese two things shall come to you
in a moment, vin one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
shall come upon you in full measure,
win spite of your many sorceries
and the great power of your enchantments.
10 You felt secure in your wickedness;
you said, “No one sees me”;
your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
x“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
11 But evil shall come upon you,
which you will not know how to charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
for which you will not be able to atone;
yand ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
of which you know nothing.
12 zStand fast in your enchantments
and your many sorceries,
with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed;
perhaps you may inspire terror.
13 You are wearied with your many counsels;
let them stand forth and save you,
athose who divide the heavens,
who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons make known
what shall come upon you.
14 Behold, bthey are like stubble;
cthe fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
no fire to sit before!
15 Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
who have done business with you from your youth;
they wander about, each in his own direction;
there is no one to save you.
48
Hear this, O house of Jacob,
dwho are called by the name of Israel,
and ewho came from the waters of Judah,
fwho swear by the name of the Lord
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
2 For they call themselves after the holy city,
gand stay themselves on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
3 “The former things hI declared of old;
they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4 Because I know that iyou are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead brass,
5 hI declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, j‘My idol did them,
my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’
6 “You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forth kI announce to you new things,
hidden things that you have not known.
7 They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 You have never heard, you have never known,
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,
and that lfrom before birth you were called a rebel.
9 m“For my name’s sake I defer my anger;
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, nbut not as silver;
oI have tried1 you in the furnace of affliction.
11 pFor my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name2 be profaned?
qMy glory I will not give to another.
12 “Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; rI am the first,
and I am the last.
13 My hand slaid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand sspread out the heavens;
twhen I call to them,
they stand forth together.
14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
uWho among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
vhe shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against wthe Chaldeans.
15 xI, even I, have spoken and called him;
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 yDraw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now zthe Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.
17 Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18 aOh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
bThen your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19 cyour offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.”
20 dGo out from Babylon, flee from eChaldea,
declare this fwith a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it out to the end of the earth;
say, g“The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 hThey did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
ihe made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock and the water gushed out.
22 j“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”
49
Listen to me, kO coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples lfrom afar.
mThe Lord called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
2 nHe made my mouth like a sharp sword;
oin the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, pin whom I will be glorified.”1
4 qBut I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
and my recompense with my God.”
5 rAnd now the Lord says,
he mwho formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for sI am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
tI will make you uas a light for the nations,
that vmy salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says the Lord,
wthe Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
xto one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
y“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
8 Thus says the Lord:
z“In a atime of favor I have answered you;
in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I will keep you band give you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
cto apportion the desolate heritages,
9 dsaying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’
eThey shall feed along the ways;
on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
10 fthey shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,
for he who has pity on them gwill lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.
11 hAnd I will make all my mountains a road,
and my highways shall be raised up.
12 iBehold, these shall come from afar,
and behold, jthese from the north and from the west,2
and these from the land of Syene.”3
13 kSing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord lhas comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, m“The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 n“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, oI have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your builders make haste;4
pyour destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
18 qLift up your eyes around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
rAs I live, declares the Lord,
syou shall put them all on as an ornament;
you shall bind them on as a bride does.
19 “Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
tsurely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 uThe children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears:
t‘The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.’
21 Then you will say in your heart:
‘Who has borne me these?
uI was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
from where have these come?’”
22 Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
vand raise my signal to the peoples;
wand they shall bring your sons in their arms,5
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23 xKings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
yWith their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and zlick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
athose who wait for me bshall not be put to shame.”
24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant6 be rescued?
25 For thus says the Lord:
c“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children.
26 dI will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk ewith their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
that fI am the Lord your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
50
Thus says the Lord:
“Where is gyour mother’s certificate of divorce,
with which hI sent her away?
Or iwhich of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
jBehold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 kWhy, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
lIs my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
mBehold, by my rebuke nI dry up the sea,
oI make the rivers a desert;
ptheir fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 qI clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering.”
4 The Lord God has given rme
the tongue of those who are taught,
that sI may know how to sustain with a word
thim who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5 uThe Lord God has opened my ear,
vand I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
6 wI gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.
7 But the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
xtherefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
8 yHe who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
9 zBehold, the Lord God helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys athe voice of his servant?
bLet him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who equip yourselves with burning torches!
Walk by the light of your fire,
and by the torches that you have kindled!
cThis you have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.
51
d“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for ehe was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
3 For the Lord fcomforts Zion;
he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like gEden,
her desert like hthe garden of the Lord;
ijoy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4 j“Give attention to me, my people,
and give ear to me, my nation;
kfor a law1 will go out from me,
and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
5 lMy righteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
mthe coastlands hope for me,
and for my arm they wait.
6 nLift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
ofor the heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;2
pbut my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
7 q“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
the people rin whose heart is my law;
sfear not the reproach of man,
nor be dismayed at their revilings.
8 tFor the moth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool,
pbut my righteousness will be forever,
and my salvation to all generations.”
9 uAwake, awake, vput on strength,
O warm of the Lord;
awake, xas in days of old,
the generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut yRahab in pieces,
who pierced zthe dragon?
10 aWas it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made the depths of the sea a way
for the redeemed to pass over?
11 bAnd the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 “I, I am he cwho comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of dman who dies,
of the son of man who is made elike grass,
13 and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
fwho stretched out the heavens
and glaid the foundations of the earth,
and you fear continually all the day
because of the wrath of hthe oppressor,
when he sets himself to destroy?
And where is the wrath of hthe oppressor?
14 iHe who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
he shall not die and go down jto the pit,
neither shall his bread be lacking.
15 I am the Lord your God,
kwho stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the Lord of hosts is his name.
16 lAnd I have put my words in your mouth
mand covered you in the shadow of my hand,
and olaying the foundations of the earth,
and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
17 pWake yourself, wake yourself,
stand up, O Jerusalem,
qyou who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
the bowl, rthe cup of staggering.
18 sThere is none to guide her
among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
among all the sons she has brought up.
19 tThese two things have happened to you—
who will console you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
who will comfort you?4
20 uYour sons have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street
they are full of the wrath of the Lord,
the rebuke of your God.
21 xTherefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
who are drunk, but not with wine:
22 Thus says your Lord, the Lord,
your God ywho pleads the cause of his people:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand rthe cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
23 zand I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
awho have said to you,
‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
and byou have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to pass over.”
52
cAwake, awake,
put on your strength, O Zion;
dput on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, ethe holy city;
ffor there shall no more come into you
the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 gShake yourself from the dust and arise;
be seated, O Jerusalem;
hloose the bonds from your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus says the Lord: i“You were sold for nothing, and jyou shall be redeemed without money.” 4 For thus says the Lord God: k“My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.1 5 Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and lcontinually all the day my name is despised. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name. mTherefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”
7 nHow beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, owho brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
8 The voice of pyour watchmen—they lift up their voice;
together they sing for joy;
qfor eye to eye they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
9 rBreak forth together into singing,
syou waste places of Jerusalem,
for tthe Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 uThe Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
vand all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.
11 wDepart, depart, go out from there;
touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,
xyou who bear the vessels of the Lord.
12 For you shall not ygo out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight,
zfor the Lord will go before you,
aand the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
13 Behold, bmy servant shall act wisely;2
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
14 As many were astonished at you—
chis appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15 so dshall he sprinkle3 many nations.
eKings shall shut their mouths because of him,
ffor that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
53
gWho has believed what he has heard from us?1
And to whom has hthe arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
iand like a root out of dry ground;
jhe had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 kHe was despised and rejected2 by men,
a man of sorrows3 and acquainted with4 grief;5
and as one from whom men hide their faces6
he was despised, and lwe esteemed him not.
4 mSurely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
nsmitten by God, and afflicted.
5 oBut he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
pand with his wounds we are healed.
6 qAll we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
rand the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
syet he opened not his mouth;
tlike a ulamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, vwho considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
wand with a rich man in his death,
although7 xhe had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet yit was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;8
zwhen his soul makes9 an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
athe will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see10 and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall bthe righteous one, my servant,
cmake many to be accounted righteous,
dand he shall bear their iniquities.
12 eTherefore I will divide him a portion with the many,11
fand he shall divide the spoil with the strong,12
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
gyet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
54
h“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
break forth into singing and cry aloud,
you who have not been in labor!
For the children of ithe desolate one jwill be more
than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord.
2 k“Enlarge the place of your tent,
and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords
and strengthen your stakes.
3 lFor you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,
and your offspring will possess the nations
and will people the desolate cities.
4 “Fear not, mfor you will not be ashamed;
be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
5 nFor your Maker is your husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name;
oand the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
pthe God of the whole earth he is called.
6 qFor the Lord has called you
like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
says your God.
7 rFor a brief moment I deserted you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
8 rIn overflowing anger for a moment
I hid my face from you,
sbut with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
says the Lord, your Redeemer.
9 “This is like tthe days of Noah1 to me:
as I swore that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,
and will not rebuke you.
10 For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and umy covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
11 v“O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,
behold, wI will set your stones in antimony,
xand lay your foundations with sapphires.2
12 I will make your pinnacles of agate,3
your gates of carbuncles,4
and all your wall of precious stones.
13 yAll your children zshall be taught by the Lord,
aand great shall be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness you shall be established;
you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 bIf anyone stirs up strife,
it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
shall fall because of you.
16 Behold, I have created the smith
who blows the fire of coals
and produces a weapon for its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
17 no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
cand their vindication5 from me, declares the Lord.”
55
d“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
ecome, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 fWhy do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
ghear, that your soul may live;
hand I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
imy steadfast, sure love for jDavid.
4 kBehold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
la leader and commander for the peoples.
5 kBehold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and ma nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
nfor he has glorified you.
6 o“Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 pFor as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 q“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
rgiving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but sit shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12 t“For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
uthe mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 vInstead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
56
Thus says the Lord:
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
wfor soon my salvation will come,
and my righteousness be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man who does this,
and the son of man who holds it fast,
xwho keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
3 Let not ythe foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;
and let not the eunuch say,
“Behold, I am za dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs xwho keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
5 aI will give in my house and within my walls
a bmonument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
cI will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
6 “And ythe foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
everyone xwho keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
and holds fast my covenant—
7 dthese I will bring to emy holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
ftheir burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for gmy house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
8 The Lord God,
hwho gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
i“I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered.”
9 jAll you beasts of the field, come to devour—
all you beasts in the forest.
10 kHis watchmen are blind;
they are all without knowledge;
they are all silent ldogs;
they cannot bark,
dreaming, lying down,
loving to slumber.
11 mThe dogs have a mighty appetite;
they never have enough.
But nthey are shepherds who have no understanding;
they have all turned to their own way,
oeach to his own gain, one and all.
12 p“Come,” they say, “let me get wine;
let us fill ourselves with strong drink;
qand tomorrow will be like this day,
great beyond measure.”
57
The righteous man perishes,
and no one lays it to heart;
rdevout men are taken away,
while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;
2 she enters into peace;
they rest tin their beds
who walk in their uprightness.
3 But you, draw near,
sons of the sorceress,
uoffspring of the adulterer and the loose woman.
4 Whom are you mocking?
Against whom vdo you open your mouth wide
and stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of wtransgression,
xthe offspring of deceit,
5 you who burn with lust among ythe oaks,1
under every green tree,
zwho slaughter your children in the valleys,
under the clefts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth stones of athe valley is your portion;
they, they, are your lot;
to them you have poured out a drink offering,
you have brought a grain offering.
Shall I relent for these things?
7 bOn a high and lofty mountain
you have set your bed,
and there you went up to offer sacrifice.
8 Behind the door and the doorpost
you have set up your memorial;
for, deserting me, cyou have uncovered your bed,
you have gone up to it,
dyou have made it wide;
and you have made a covenant for yourself with them,
you have loved their bed,
you have looked on nakedness.2
9 You journeyed to the king with oil
and multiplied your perfumes;
eyou sent your envoys far off,
and sent down even to Sheol.
10 You were wearied with the length of your way,
fbut you did not say, “It is hopeless”;
you found new life for your strength,
and so you were not faint.3
11 gWhom did you dread and fear,
hso that you lied,
and did not remember me,
did not lay it to heart?
iHave I not held my peace, even for a long time,
and you do not fear me?
12 I will declare your righteousness and your deeds,
but they will not profit you.
13 jWhen you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!
The wind will carry them all off,
a breath will take them away.
kBut he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land
and shall inherit lmy holy mountain.
14 And it shall be said,
m“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”
15 For thus says nthe One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is oHoly:
p“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also qwith him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
rto revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
16 sFor I will not contend forever,
nor will I always be angry;
for the spirit would grow faint before me,
and the breath of life that I made.
17 Because of the iniquity of his tunjust gain I was angry,
I struck him; I hid my face and was angry,
but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.
18 I have seen his ways, ubut I will heal him;
I will lead him vand restore comfort to him and his mourners,
19 wcreating xthe fruit of the lips.
yPeace, peace, zto the far and to the near,” says the Lord,
u“and I will heal him.
20 aBut the wicked are like the tossing sea;
for it cannot be quiet,
and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
21 bThere is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
58
“Cry aloud; do not hold back;
clift up your voice like a trumpet;
ddeclare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 eYet they seek me daily
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
3 f‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,1
gand oppress all your workers.
4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
5 hIs such the fast that I choose,
ia day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose:
jto loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps kof the yoke,
to let the oppressed2 go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not lto share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
mand not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 nThen shall your light break forth like the dawn,
oand your healing shall spring up speedily;
pyour righteousness shall go before you;
qthe glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away rthe yoke from your midst,
sthe pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 tif you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
nthen shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
11 And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be ulike a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
12 vAnd your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
13 w“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure3 on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
or seeking xyour own pleasure,4 or talking idly;5
14 then you shall take delight in the Lord,
yand I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;6
zI will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
afor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
59
Behold, bthe Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 cbut your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
3 dFor your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 eNo one enters suit justly;
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
fthey conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs;
they weave the spider’s web;
he who eats their eggs dies,
and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.
6 gTheir webs will not serve as clothing;
men will not cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.
7 hTheir feet run to evil,
and they are swift to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
desolation and destruction are in their highways.
8 The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked;
ino one who treads on them knows peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not overtake us;
jwe hope for light, and behold, darkness,
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 kWe grope for the wall like the blind;
we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
lamong those in full vigor we are like dead men.
11 We all growl like bears;
mwe moan and moan like doves;
nwe hope for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
13 transgressing, and denying the Lord,
and turning back from following our God,
ospeaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
14 pJustice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
15 Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him1
that there was no justice.
16 qHe saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
and his righteousness upheld him.
17 rHe put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in szeal as a cloak.
18 tAccording to their deeds, so will he repay,
wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
uto the coastlands he will render repayment.
19 vSo they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,
and his glory from the rising of the sun;
wfor he will come like a rushing stream,2
which the wind of the Lord drives.
20 x“And ya Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.
21 “And as for me, zthis is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, aand my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”
60
bArise, shine, for your light has come,
and cthe glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.
3 dAnd nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 eLift up your eyes all around, and see;
they all gather together, they come to you;
fyour sons shall come from afar,
and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
5 Then you shall see and gbe radiant;
your heart shall thrill and exult,1
because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
hthe wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6 A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of iMidian and jEphah;
all those from kSheba shall come.
lThey shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.
7 All the flocks of mKedar shall be gathered to you;
the rams of nNebaioth shall minister to you;
othey shall come up with acceptance on my altar,
pand I will beautify my beautiful house.
8 Who are these that fly like a cloud,
and qlike doves to their windows?
9 For rthe coastlands shall hope for me,
sthe ships of Tarshish first,
tto bring your children from afar,
their silver and gold with them,
for the name of the Lord your God,
and for the Holy One of Israel,
because uhe has made you beautiful.
10 vForeigners shall build up your walls,
and vtheir kings shall minister to you;
for in my wrath I struck you,
but in my favor I have had mercy on you.
11 wYour gates shall be open continually;
day and night they shall not be shut,
wthat people may bring to you the wealth of the nations,
with their kings led in procession.
12 xFor the nation and kingdom
that will not serve you shall perish;
those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
13 yThe glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
the cypress, the plane, and zthe pine,
to beautify the place of my sanctuary,
and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
14 aThe sons of those who afflicted you
shall come bending low to you,
band all who despised you
shall bow down at your feet;
cthey shall call you the City of the Lord,
the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 dWhereas you have been forsaken and hated,
with no one passing through,
eI will make you majestic forever,
a joy from age to age.
16 fYou shall suck the milk of nations;
you shall nurse at the breast of kings;
and you shall know that gI, the Lord, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, hthe Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
and instead of iron I will bring silver;
instead of wood, bronze,
instead of stones, iron.
I will make your overseers peace
iand your taskmasters righteousness.
18 jViolence shall no more be heard in your land,
devastation or destruction within your borders;
kyou shall call your walls Salvation,
and your gates Praise.
19 lThe sun shall be no more
your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
give you light;2
but the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.3
20 Your sun shall no more go down,
nor your moon withdraw itself;
for the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and myour days of mourning shall be ended.
21 nYour people shall all be righteous;
othey shall possess the land forever,
pthe branch of my planting, the work of my hands,
that I might be glorified.4
22 qThe least one shall become a clan,
and the smallest one a mighty nation;
rI am the Lord;
in its time I will hasten it.
61
sThe Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has tanointed me
to bring good news to the poor;1
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and uthe opening of the prison to those who are bound;2
2 vto proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
wand the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
xto give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
ythe oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
zthat they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, athat he may be glorified.3
4 bThey shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
5 cStrangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6 dbut you shall be called the priests of the Lord;
they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
eyou shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
7 fInstead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
they shall have everlasting joy.
8 gFor I the Lord love justice;
I hate robbery and wrong;4
hI will faithfully give them their recompense,
iand I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.
10 jI will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
kfor he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself llike a priest with a beautiful headdress,
mand as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause nrighteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.
62
oFor Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,
puntil her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
and her salvation as a burning torch.
2 qThe nations shall see your righteousness,
and all the kings your glory,
rand you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.
3 You shall be sa crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 tYou shall no more be termed uForsaken,1
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,2
rbut you shall be called vMy Delight Is in Her,3
and your land Married;4
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a young woman,
so wshall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so xshall your God rejoice over you.
6 On your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have set ywatchmen;
all the day and all the night
they shall never be silent.
You who put the Lord in remembrance,
take no rest,
7 and give him no rest
until he establishes Jerusalem
and makes it za praise in the earth.
8 The Lord has sworn aby his right hand
and by his mighty arm:
“I will not again give byour grain
to be food for your enemies,
cand foreigners shall not drink your wine
for which you have labored;
9 but dthose who garner it shall eat it
and praise the Lord,
and dthose who gather it shall drink it
in the courts of my sanctuary.”5
10 Go through, go through the gates;
eprepare the way for the people;
fbuild up, build up the highway;
clear it of stones;
glift up a signal over the peoples.
11 Behold, the Lord has proclaimed
to the end of the earth:
hSay to the daughter of Zion,
i“Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.”
12 jAnd they shall be called The Holy People,
The Redeemed of the Lord;
kand you shall be called Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken.
63
Who is this who comes from lEdom,
in crimsoned garments from lBozrah,
he who is splendid in his apparel,
mmarching in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, speaking in righteousness,
mighty to save.”
2 Why is your napparel red,
and your garments like his owho treads in the winepress?
3 p“I have trodden the winepress alone,
qand from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
and trampled them in my wrath;
their lifeblood1 spattered on my garments,
and stained all my apparel.
4 rFor the day of vengeance was in my heart,
and my year of redemption2 had come.
5 I looked, but sthere was no one to help;
I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;
so my own arm brought me salvation,
and my wrath upheld me.
6 I trampled down the peoples in my anger;
tI made them drunk in my wrath,
and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
7 I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord,
the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord has granted us,
uand the great goodness to the house of Israel
that he has granted them according to his compassion,
according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
8 For he said, “Surely they are my people,
children who will not deal falsely.”
And he became their Savior.
9 vIn all their affliction he was afflicted,3
and the angel of his presence saved them;
win his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
xhe lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
10 yBut they rebelled
zand grieved his Holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
and himself fought against them.
11 Then he remembered athe days of old,
of Moses and his people.4
bWhere is he who brought them up out of the sea
with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is he who put in the midst of them
his Holy Spirit,
12 who caused his glorious arm
to go at the right hand of Moses,
cwho divided the waters before them
dto make for himself an everlasting name,
13 who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
they did not stumble.
14 Like livestock that go down into the valley,
ethe Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.
So you led your people,
dto make for yourself a glorious name.
15 fLook down from heaven and see,
gfrom your holy and beautiful5 habitation.
Where are hyour zeal and your might?
The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion
are held back from me.
16 For iyou are our Father,
though Abraham does not know us,
and Israel does not acknowledge us;
you, O Lord, are our Father,
jour Redeemer from of old is your name.
17 O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways
and kharden our heart, so that we fear you not?
lReturn for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your heritage.
18 mYour holy people held possession for a little while;6
nour adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.
19 oWe have become like those over whom you have never ruled,
like those who are not called by your name.
64
pOh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
qthat the mountains might quake at your presence—
2 1 as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
rto make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 sWhen you did awesome things that we did not look for,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 tFrom of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
uno eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.
5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?2
6 vWe have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
wWe all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 xThere is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in3 the hand of our iniquities.
8 yBut now, O Lord, you are our Father;
zwe are the clay, and you are our potter;
awe are all the work of your hand.
9 bBe not so terribly angry, O Lord,
cand remember not iniquity forever.
Behold, please look, we are all your people.
10 dYour holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 eOur holy and beautiful4 house,
where our fathers praised you,
has been burned by fire,
and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
12 fWill you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?
Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?
65
gI was ready to be sought by hthose who did not ask for me;
I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
to a nation that was not called by1 my name.
2 iI spread out my hands all the day
to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
following their own devices;
3 a people who provoke me
to my face continually,
jsacrificing in gardens
and making offerings on bricks;
4 who sit in tombs,
and spend the night in secret places;
kwho eat pig’s flesh,
and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;
5 who say, “Keep to yourself,
do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
lThese are a smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that burns all the day.
6 Behold, mit is written before me:
n“I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
oI will indeed repay into their lap
7 both your iniquities pand your fathers’ iniquities together,
says the Lord;
qbecause they made offerings on the mountains
qand insulted me on the hills,
I will measure into their lap
payment for their former deeds.”2
8 Thus says the Lord:
r“As the new wine is found in the cluster,
and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,
for there is a blessing in it,’
so I will do for my servants’ sake,
sand not destroy them all.
9 tI will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
and from Judah possessors of my mountains;
my chosen shall possess it,
and my servants shall dwell there.
10 uSharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
and vthe Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
for my people wwho have sought me.
11 But xyou who forsake the Lord,
who forget ymy holy mountain,
who zset a table for Fortune
and zfill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,
12 I will destine you to the sword,
and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
abecause, when I called, you did not answer;
when I spoke, you did not listen,
bbut you did what was evil in my eyes
and chose what I did not delight in.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, cmy servants shall eat,
but you shall be hungry;
behold, my servants shall drink,
but you shall be thirsty;
behold, my servants shall rejoice,
but you shall be put to shame;
14 behold, dmy servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
but you shall cry out for pain of heart
and shall wail for breaking of spirit.
15 You shall leave your name to emy chosen ffor a curse,
and the Lord God will put you to death,
but his servants ghe will call by another name,
16 so that he who hblesses himself in the land
shall bless himself by hthe God of truth,
and he who takes an oath in the land
shall swear by ithe God of truth;
jbecause the former troubles are forgotten
and are hidden from my eyes.
17 “For behold, kI create new heavens
and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for behold, lI create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
19 mI will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
nno more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for othe young man shall die a hundred years old,
and pthe sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 qThey shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 qThey shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
rfor like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy3 the work of their hands.
23 sThey shall not labor in vain
tor bear children for calamity,4
for uthey shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
and their descendants with them.
24 vBefore they call I will answer;
wwhile they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 xThe wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and ydust shall be the serpent’s food.
zThey shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
66
aThus says the Lord:
b“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
2 cAll these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the Lord.
dBut this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.
3 e“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;
he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck;
he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers fpig’s blood;
he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.
gThese have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their abominations;
4 hI also will choose harsh treatment for them
and bring itheir fears upon them,
jbecause when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke, they did not listen;
kbut they did what was evil in my eyes
and chose that in which I did not delight.”
5 Hear the word of the Lord,
you who tremble at his word:
“Your brothers who hate you
and cast you out for my name’s sake
have said, l‘Let the Lord be glorified,
that we may see your joy’;
but it is they who shall be put to shame.
6 “The sound of an uproar from the city!
A sound from the temple!
The sound of the Lord,
mrendering recompense to his enemies!
7 n“Before she was in labor
she gave birth;
before her pain came upon her
she delivered a son.
8 Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment?
For nas soon as Zion was in labor
she brought forth her children.
9 Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?”
says the Lord;
“shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?”
says your God.
10 o“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy,
all you who mourn over her;
11 that you may nurse and be satisfied
from her consoling breast;
that you may drink deeply with delight
from her glorious abundance.”1
12 For thus says the Lord:
p“Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;
and qyou shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip,
and bounced upon her knees.
13 As one whom his mother comforts,
so rI will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
14 You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
syour bones shall flourish like the grass;
and tthe hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants,
and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.
15 “For behold, uthe Lord will come in fire,
and vhis chariots like the whirlwind,
to render his anger in fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For wby fire xwill the Lord enter into judgment,
and by his sword, with all flesh;
and those slain by the Lord shall be many.
17 y“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, zeating pig’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the Lord.
18 “For I know2 their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming3 ato gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19 and I will set a sign among them. And from them bI will send survivors to the nations, to cTarshish, dPul, and dLud, who draw the bow, to eTubal and eJavan, fto the coastlands far away, gthat have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 hAnd they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations ias an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21 jAnd some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.
22 “For as kthe new heavens and the new earth
that I make
shall remain before me, says the Lord,
so lshall your offspring and your name remain.
23 mFrom new moon to new moon,
and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
declares the Lord.
24 “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For ntheir worm shall not die, otheir fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”