Day 52 of 90

¹Now it happened in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them.

²The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a large army. He stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool in the fuller's field highway.

³Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder came out to him.

⁴Rabshakeh said to them, "Now tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, "What confidence is this in which you trust?

⁵I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?

⁶Behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

⁷But if you tell me, 'We trust in the Lord our God,' isn't that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar?'"

⁸Now therefore, please make a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

⁹How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

¹⁰Have I come up now without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, "Go up against this land, and destroy it."'"

¹¹Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in the Jews' language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

¹²But Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me only to your master and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?"

¹³Then Rabshakeh stood, and called out with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

¹⁴Thus says the king, 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you.

¹⁵Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, "The Lord will surely deliver us. This city won't be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."'

¹⁶Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and each of you eat from his vine, and each one from his fig tree, and each one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;

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

¹⁸Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, "The Lord will deliver us." Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria?

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

²⁰Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"

²¹But they remained silent, and said nothing in reply, for the king's commandment was, "Do not answer him."

²²Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

¹It happened, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the Lord's house.

²He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

³They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth.

⁴It may be the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.'"

⁵So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

⁶Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, 'Thus says the Lord, "Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

⁷Behold, I will put a spirit in him and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."'"

⁸So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

⁹He heard news concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "He has come out to fight against you." When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

¹⁰"Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem won't be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."

¹¹Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered?

¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?

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

¹⁴Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord's house, and spread it before the Lord.

¹⁵Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying,

¹⁶"Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

¹⁷Turn your ear, Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, Lord, and behold. Hear all of the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God.

¹⁸Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land,

¹⁹and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.

²⁰Now therefore, Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord, even you only."

²¹Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,

²²this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

²³Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

²⁴By your servants, have you defied the Lord, and have said, "With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice fir trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field.

²⁵I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt."

²⁶Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps.

²⁷Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown.

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

²⁹Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.

³⁰This shall be the sign to you. You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from the same; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

³¹The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

³²For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go forth, and survivors will escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.'

³³Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, 'He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.

³⁴By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city,' says the Lord.

³⁵'For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.'"

³⁶The angel of the Lord went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

³⁷So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there.

³⁸It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

¹In those days was Hezekiah sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live.'"

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

³and said, "Remember now, the Lord, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight." Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,

⁵"Go, and tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father, "I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.

⁶I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.

⁷This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has spoken.

⁸Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down."'"

⁹The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness.

¹⁰I said, "In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years."

¹¹I said, "I won't see Yah, Yah in the land of the living. I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

¹²My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me like a shepherd's tent. I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life. He will cut me off from the loom. From day even to night you will make an end of me.

¹³I waited patiently until morning. He breaks all my bones like a lion. From day even to night you will make an end of me.

¹⁴I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security."

¹⁵What will I say? He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it. I will walk carefully all my years because of the anguish of my soul.

¹⁶Lord, men live by these things; and my spirit finds life in all of them: you restore me, and cause me to live.

¹⁷Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

¹⁸For Sheol can't praise you. Death can't celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can't hope for your truth.

¹⁹The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do this day. The father shall make known your truth to the children.

²⁰The Lord will save me. Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

²¹Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover."

²²Hezekiah also had said, "What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the Lord?"

¹At that time, Merodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick, and had recovered.

²Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them.

³Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and asked him, "What did these men say? Where did they come from to you?" Hezekiah said, "They have come from a country far from me, even from Babylon."

⁴Then he asked, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them."

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

⁶'Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left,' says the Lord.

⁷'They will take away your sons who will issue from you, whom you shall father, and they will be eunuchs in the king of Babylon's palace.'"

⁸Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The Lord's word which you have spoken is good." He said moreover, "For there will be peace and truth in my days."

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

²"Speak tenderly to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins."

³The voice of one who calls out, "Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

⁴Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.

⁵The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it."

⁶The voice of one saying, "Cry!" One said, "What shall I cry?" "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.

⁷The grass withers, the flower fades, because the Lord's breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.

⁸The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever."

⁹You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Do not be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold, your God!"

¹⁰Behold, the Lord God will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

¹²Who has measured the waters of the sea in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

¹³Who has known the mind of the Lord, or has taught him as his counselor?

¹⁴Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

¹⁵Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

¹⁶Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.

¹⁷All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

¹⁸To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?

¹⁹A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.

²⁰He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved.

²¹Haven't you known? Haven't you heard, yet? Haven't you been told from the beginning? Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth?

²²It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;

²³who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless.

²⁴They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

²⁵"To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

²⁶Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking.

²⁷Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?"

²⁸Haven't you known? Haven't you heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't faint. He isn't weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.

³⁰Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;

³¹But those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.

¹"Keep silent before me, islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let's meet together for judgment.

²Who has raised up one from the east? Whom he called to his foot in righteousness? He hands over nations to him, and makes him rule over kings. He gives them like the dust to his sword, like the driven stubble to his bow.

³He pursues them, and passes by safely, Even by a way that he had not gone with his feet.

⁴Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last, I am he."

⁵The islands have seen, and fear. The ends of the earth tremble. They approach, and come.

⁶Everyone helps his neighbor. They say to their brothers, "Be strong!"

⁷So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smoothes with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good;" and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.

⁸"But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend,

⁹You whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from its corners, and said to you, 'You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you away;'

¹⁰Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

¹¹Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish.

¹²You will seek them, and won't find them, even those who contend with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as a non-existent thing.

¹³For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, 'Do not be afraid. I will help you.'

¹⁴Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help you," says the Lord, "and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make the hills like chaff.

¹⁶You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them. You will rejoice in the Lord. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷The poor and needy seek water, and there is none. Their tongue fails for thirst. I, the Lord, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

¹⁸I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

¹⁹I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil trees in the wilderness. I will set fir trees, pine, and box trees together in the desert;

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

²¹Produce your cause," says the Lord. "Bring forth your strong reasons," says the King of Jacob.

²²"Let them announce, and declare to us what shall happen. Declare the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come.

²³Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and see it together.

²⁴Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.

²⁵"I have raised up one from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun, one who calls on my name; and he shall come on rulers as on mortar, and as the potter treads clay.

²⁶Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know? And before, that we may say, 'He is right?' Surely, there is no one who declares. Surely, there is no one who shows. Surely, there is no one who hears your words.

²⁷I am the first to say to Zion, 'Behold, look at them;' and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem.

²⁸When I look, there is no man; even among them there is no counselor who, when I ask of them, can answer a word.

²⁹Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion.

¹"Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights- I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.

²He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street.

³He won't break a bruised reed. He won't quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice.

⁴He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice in the earth, and for his law the coastlands will hope."

⁵Thus says God the Lord, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it.

⁶"I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations;

⁷to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.

⁸"I am the Lord. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images.

⁹Behold, the former things have happened, and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up."

¹⁰Sing to the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the islands and their inhabitants.

¹¹Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices, with the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains!

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

¹³The Lord will go out like a mighty man. He will stir up zeal like a man of war. He will raise a war cry. Yes, he will shout aloud. He will triumph over his enemies.

¹⁴"I have been silent a long time. I have been quiet and restrained myself. Now I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will both gasp and pant.

¹⁵I will destroy mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.

¹⁶I will bring the blind by a way that they do not know. I will lead them in paths that they do not know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them.

¹⁷"Those who trust in engraved images, who tell molten images, 'You are our gods' will be turned back. They will be utterly disappointed.

¹⁸"Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see.

¹⁹Who is blind, but my servant? Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is as blind as he who is at peace, and as blind as the Lord's servant?

²⁰You see many things, but do not observe. His ears are open, but he doesn't listen.

²¹It pleased the Lord, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify the law, and make it honorable.

²²But this is a robbed and plundered people. All of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prisons. They have become a prey, and no one delivers; and a spoil, and no one says, 'Restore them!'

²³Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come?

²⁴Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they disobeyed his law.

²⁵Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire all around, but he did not know; and it burned him, but he did not take it to heart."

¹But now thus says the Lord who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel: "Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.

²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.

³For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

⁴Since you have been precious and honored in my sight, and I have loved you; therefore I will give people in your place, and nations instead of your life.

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

⁶I will tell the north, 'Give them up!' and tell the south, 'Do not hold them back! Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth-

⁷everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.'"

⁸Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.

⁹Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled. Who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, "That is true."

¹⁰"You are my witnesses," says the Lord, "With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me.

¹¹I myself am the Lord; and besides me there is no savior.

¹²I have declared, I have saved, and I have shown; and there was no strange god among you. Therefore you are my witnesses," says the Lord, "and I am God.

¹³Yes, since the day was I am he; and there is no one who can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?"

¹⁴Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake, I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.

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

¹⁶Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;

¹⁷who brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick):

¹⁸"Do not remember the former things, and do not consider the things of old.

¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs forth now. Do you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

²⁰The animals of the field shall honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen,

²¹the people which I formed for myself, that they might set forth my praise.

²²Yet you have not called on me, Jacob; but you have been weary of me, Israel.

²³You have not brought me of your sheep for burnt offerings; neither have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense.

²⁴You have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices; but you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities.

²⁵I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

²⁶Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Set forth your case, that you may be justified.

²⁷Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me.

²⁸Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel a reviling."

¹Yet listen now, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen.

²This is what the Lord who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: "Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

³For I will pour water upon the thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your seed, and my blessing on your offspring:

⁴and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.

⁵One will say, 'I am the Lord's;' and another will be called by the name of Jacob; and another will write with his hand 'to the Lord,' and honor the name of Israel."

⁶This is what the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, says: "I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.

⁷Who is like me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare the things that are coming, and that will happen.

⁸Do not fear, neither be afraid. Haven't I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I do not know any other Rock."

⁹Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses do not see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.

¹⁰Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?

¹¹Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together.

¹²The blacksmith takes an axe, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint.

¹³The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house.

¹⁴He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree, and the rain nourishes it.

¹⁵Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it, and warms himself. Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it an engraved image, and falls down to it.

¹⁶He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself, and says, "Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire."

¹⁷The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image. He bows down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, "Deliver me; for you are my god!"

¹⁸They do not know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can't see; and their hearts, that they can't understand.

¹⁹No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, "I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?"

²⁰He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can't deliver his soul, nor say, "Isn't there a lie in my right hand?"

²¹Remember these things, Jacob and Israel; for you are my servant. I have formed you. You are my servant. Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.

²²I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.

²³Sing, you heavens, for the Lord has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth! Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel.

²⁴Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb: "I am the Lord, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;

²⁵who foils the omens of the empty talkers, and makes fools of diviners; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;

²⁶who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; who says of Jerusalem, 'She will be inhabited;' and of the cities of Judah, 'They will be built,' and 'I will raise up its waste places;'

²⁷who says to the deep, 'Be dry,' and 'I will dry up your rivers;'

²⁸Who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,' even saying of Jerusalem, 'She will be built;' and of the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid.'"

¹Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:

²"I will go before you, and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of brass in pieces, and cut apart the bars of iron.

³I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel.

⁴For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have surnamed you, though you have not known me.

⁵I am the Lord, and there is none else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me;

⁶that they 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 one else.

⁷I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create calamity. I am the Lord, who does all these things.

⁸Distil, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, that it may bring forth salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it. I, the Lord, have created it.

⁹Woe to him who strives with his Maker- a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, 'What are you making?' or your work, 'He has no hands?'

¹⁰Woe to him who says to a father, 'What have you become the father of?' or to a mother, 'To what have you given birth?'"

¹¹Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands!

¹²I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens; and I have commanded all their army.

¹³I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways. He shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward," says the Lord of hosts.

¹⁴Thus says the Lord: "The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains; and they will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: 'Surely God is in you; and there is none else. There is no other god.

¹⁵Most certainly you are a God who hid yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.'"

¹⁶They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.

¹⁷Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.

¹⁸For thus says the Lord who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and did not create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the Lord; and there is no other.

¹⁹I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, 'Seek me in vain.' I, the Lord, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.

²⁰Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can't save.

²¹Declare and bring it forth. Yes, let them take counsel together: who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven't I, the Lord? and there is no God else besides me, a just God and a Savior; there is no one besides me.

²²Look to me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.

²³By myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

²⁴Only in the Lord, it is said of me, is righteousness and strength; even to him shall men come; and all those who were incensed against him shall be disappointed.

²⁵In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

¹Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols are on the animals, and on the livestock: the things that you carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary.

²They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but they have gone into captivity.

³"Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne from their birth, that have been carried from the womb;

⁴and even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver.

⁵"To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?

⁶Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down-yes, they worship.

⁷They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands, from its place it shall not move: yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.

⁸"Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, you transgressors.

⁹Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me;

¹⁰declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure;

¹¹calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country; yes, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it.

¹²Listen to me, you stout-hearted, who are far from righteousness:

¹³I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not wait; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

¹"Come down, and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called tender and delicate.

²Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers.

³Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man."

⁴Our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

⁵"Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.

⁶I was angry with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; on the aged you have very heavily laid your yoke.

⁷You said, 'I shall be a mistress forever;' so that you did not lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the latter end of it.

⁸"Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, 'I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:'

⁹but these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come on you, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments.

¹⁰For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, No one sees me; your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you, and you have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is none else besides me.'

¹¹Therefore disaster will come on you; you won't know when it dawns: and calamity will fall on you; you will not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come on you suddenly and unexpectedly.

¹²"Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail.

¹³You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels: let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from the things that shall come on you.

¹⁴Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before.

¹⁵Thus shall the things be to you in which you have labored: those who have trafficked with you from your youth shall wander everyone to his quarter; there shall be none to save you.

¹"Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness

²(for they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the Lord of hosts is his name):

³I have declared the former things from of old; yes, they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them: suddenly I did them, and they happened.

⁴Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass;

⁵therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, 'My idol has done them, and my engraved image, and my molten image, has commanded them.'

⁶You have heard it; see all this; and you, will you not declare it? "I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known.

⁷They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day you did not hear them; lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.'

⁸Yes, you did not hear; yes, you did not know; yes, from of old your ear was not opened: for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and was called a transgressor from the womb.

⁹For my name's sake will I defer my anger, and for my praise will I refrain for you, that I not cut you off.

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

¹¹For my own sake, for my own sake, will I do it; for how should my name be profaned? I will not give my glory to another.

¹²"Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

¹³Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together.

¹⁴"Assemble yourselves, all you, and hear; who among them has declared these things? He whom the Lord loves shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

¹⁵I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

¹⁶"Come near to me and hear this: "From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I." Now the Lord God has sent me, with his Spirit.

¹⁷Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go.

¹⁸Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea:

¹⁹your seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.

²⁰Go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth: say, the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.

²¹They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he split the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

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

¹Listen, islands, to me; and listen, you peoples, from far: the Lord has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name:

²and he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand, he has hidden me: and he has made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he kept me close:

³and he said to me, "You are my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified."

⁴But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely the justice due to me is with the Lord, and my reward with my God."

⁵Now says the Lord who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered to him (for I am honorable in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength);

⁶yes, he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth."

⁷Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of the Lord who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

⁸Thus says the Lord, "In an acceptable time have I answered you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage:

⁹saying to those who are bound, 'Come out!'; to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves!' "They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture.

¹⁰They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for he who has mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water he will guide them.

¹¹I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.

¹²Behold, these shall come from far; and behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim."

¹³Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth; and break forth into singing, mountains: for the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.

¹⁴But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me."

¹⁵"Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!

¹⁶Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.

¹⁷Your children make haste; your destroyers and those who made you waste shall go forth from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live," says the Lord, "you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride.

¹⁹"For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now you shall be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.

²⁰The children of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, The place is too small for me; give place to me that I may dwell.

²¹Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?'"

²²Thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my banner to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

²³Kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the Lord; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed."

²⁴Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered?

²⁵But thus says the Lord, "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.

²⁶I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."