Isaiah

Isaiah 1

¹The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

A Rebellious Nation

²Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!

For the LORD has spoken:

“I reared children and brought them up,

but they have rebelled against me.

³The ox knows its master,

the donkey its owner’s manger,

but Israel does not know,

my people do not understand.”

⁴Woe to the sinful nation,

a people whose guilt is great,

a brood of evildoers,

children given to corruption!

They have forsaken the LORD;

they have spurned the Holy One of Israel

and turned their backs on him.

⁵Why should you be beaten anymore?

Why do you persist in rebellion?

Your whole head is injured,

your whole heart afflicted.

⁶From the sole of your foot to the top of your head

there is no soundness—

only wounds and welts

and open sores,

not cleansed or bandaged

or soothed with olive oil.

⁷Your country is desolate,

your cities burned with fire;

your fields are being stripped by foreigners

right before you,

laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.

⁸Daughter Zion is left

like a shelter in a vineyard,

like a hut in a cucumber field,

like a city under siege.

⁹Unless the LORD Almighty

had left us some survivors,

we would have become like Sodom,

we would have been like Gomorrah.

¹⁰Hear the word of the LORD,

you rulers of Sodom;

listen to the instruction of our God,

you people of Gomorrah!

¹¹“The multitude of your sacrifices—

what are they to me?” says the LORD.

“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,

of rams and the fat of fattened animals;

I have no pleasure

in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

¹²When you come to appear before me,

who has asked this of you,

this trampling of my courts?

¹³Stop bringing meaningless offerings!

Your incense is detestable to me.

New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—

I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.

¹⁴Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals

I hate with all my being.

They have become a burden to me;

I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I hide my eyes from you;

even when you offer many prayers,

I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!

¹⁶Wash and make yourselves clean.

Take your evil deeds out of my sight;

stop doing wrong.

¹⁷Learn to do right; seek justice.

Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless;

plead the case of the widow.

¹⁸“Come now, let us settle the matter,”

says the LORD.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,

they shall be like wool.

¹⁹If you are willing and obedient,

you will eat the good things of the land;

²⁰but if you resist and rebel,

you will be devoured by the sword.”

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

²¹See how the faithful city

has become a prostitute!

She once was full of justice;

righteousness used to dwell in her—

but now murderers!

²²Your silver has become dross,

your choice wine is diluted with water.

²³Your rulers are rebels,

partners with thieves;

they all love bribes

and chase after gifts.

They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;

the widow’s case does not come before them.

²⁴Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty,

the Mighty One of Israel, declares:

“Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes

and avenge myself on my enemies.

²⁵I will turn my hand against you;

I will thoroughly purge away your dross

and remove all your impurities.

²⁶I will restore your leaders as in days of old,

your rulers as at the beginning.

Afterward you will be called

the City of Righteousness,

the Faithful City.”

²⁷Zion will be delivered with justice,

her penitent ones with righteousness.

²⁸But rebels and sinners will both be broken,

and those who forsake the LORD will perish.

²⁹“You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks

in which you have delighted;

you will be disgraced because of the gardens

that you have chosen.

³⁰You will be like an oak with fading leaves,

like a garden without water.

³¹The mighty man will become tinder

and his work a spark;

both will burn together,

with no one to quench the fire.”

Isaiah 2

The Mountain of the LORD

¹This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

²In the last days

the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established

as the highest of the mountains;

it will be exalted above the hills,

and all nations will stream to it.

³Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

to the temple of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways,

so that we may walk in his paths.”

The law will go out from Zion,

the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

⁴He will judge between the nations

and will settle disputes for many peoples.

They will beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore.

⁵Come, descendants of Jacob,

let us walk in the light of the LORD.

The Day of the LORD

⁶You, LORD, have abandoned your people,

the descendants of Jacob.

They are full of superstitions from the East;

they practice divination like the Philistines

and embrace pagan customs.

⁷Their land is full of silver and gold;

there is no end to their treasures.

Their land is full of horses;

there is no end to their chariots.

⁸Their land is full of idols;

they bow down to the work of their hands,

to what their fingers have made.

⁹So people will be brought low

and everyone humbled—

do not forgive them.

¹⁰Go into the rocks, hide in the ground

from the fearful presence of the LORD

and the splendor of his majesty!

¹¹The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled

and human pride brought low;

the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

¹²The LORD Almighty has a day in store

for all the proud and lofty,

for all that is exalted

(and they will be humbled),

¹³for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,

and all the oaks of Bashan,

¹⁴for all the towering mountains

and all the high hills,

¹⁵for every lofty tower

and every fortified wall,

¹⁶for every trading ship

and every stately vessel.

¹⁷The arrogance of man will be brought low

and human pride humbled;

the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,

¹⁸and the idols will totally disappear.

¹⁹People will flee to caves in the rocks

and to holes in the ground

from the fearful presence of the LORD

and the splendor of his majesty,

when he rises to shake the earth.

²⁰In that day people will throw away

to the moles and bats

their idols of silver and idols of gold,

which they made to worship.

²¹They will flee to caverns in the rocks

and to the overhanging crags

from the fearful presence of the LORD

and the splendor of his majesty,

when he rises to shake the earth.

²²Stop trusting in mere humans,

who have but a breath in their nostrils.

Why hold them in esteem?

Isaiah 3

Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah

¹See now, the Lord,

the LORD Almighty,

is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah

both supply and support:

all supplies of food and all supplies of water,

²the hero and the warrior,

the judge and the prophet,

the diviner and the elder,

³the captain of fifty and the man of rank,

the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter.

⁴“I will make mere youths their officials;

children will rule over them.”

⁵People will oppress each other—

man against man, neighbor against neighbor.

The young will rise up against the old,

the nobody against the honored.

⁶A man will seize one of his brothers

in his father’s house, and say,

“You have a cloak, you be our leader;

take charge of this heap of ruins!”

⁷But in that day he will cry out,

“I have no remedy.

I have no food or clothing in my house;

do not make me the leader of the people.”

⁸Jerusalem staggers,

Judah is falling;

their words and deeds are against the LORD,

defying his glorious presence.

⁹The look on their faces testifies against them;

they parade their sin like Sodom;

they do not hide it.

Woe to them!

They have brought disaster upon themselves.

¹⁰Tell the righteous it will be well with them,

for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.

¹¹Woe to the wicked!

Disaster is upon them!

They will be paid back

for what their hands have done.

¹²Youths oppress my people,

women rule over them.

My people, your guides lead you astray;

they turn you from the path.

¹³The LORD takes his place in court;

he rises to judge the people.

¹⁴The LORD enters into judgment

against the elders and leaders of his people:

“It is you who have ruined my vineyard;

the plunder from the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵What do you mean by crushing my people

and grinding the faces of the poor?”

declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

¹⁶The LORD says,

“The women of Zion are haughty,

walking along with outstretched necks,

flirting with their eyes,

strutting along with swaying hips,

with ornaments jingling on their ankles.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion;

the LORD will make their scalps bald.”

¹⁸In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, ¹⁹the earrings and bracelets and veils, ²⁰the headdresses and anklets and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, ²¹the signet rings and nose rings, ²²the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses ²³and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls.

²⁴Instead of fragrance there will be a stench;

instead of a sash, a rope;

instead of well-dressed hair, baldness;

instead of fine clothing, sackcloth;

instead of beauty, branding.

²⁵Your men will fall by the sword,

your warriors in battle.

²⁶The gates of Zion will lament and mourn;

destitute, she will sit on the ground.

Isaiah 4

¹In that day seven women

will take hold of one man

and say, “We will eat our own food

and provide our own clothes;

only let us be called by your name.

Take away our disgrace!”

The Branch of the LORD

²In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. ³Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. ⁴The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire. ⁵Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory will be a canopy. ⁶It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.

Isaiah 5

The Song of the Vineyard

¹I will sing for the one I love

a song about his vineyard:

My loved one had a vineyard

on a fertile hillside.

²He dug it up and cleared it of stones

and planted it with the choicest vines.

He built a watchtower in it

and cut out a winepress as well.

Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,

but it yielded only bad fruit.

³“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴What more could have been done for my vineyard

than I have done for it?

When I looked for good grapes,

why did it yield only bad?

⁵Now I will tell you

what I am going to do to my vineyard:

I will take away its hedge,

and it will be destroyed;

I will break down its wall,

and it will be trampled.

⁶I will make it a wasteland,

neither pruned nor cultivated,

and briers and thorns will grow there.

I will command the clouds

not to rain on it.”

⁷The vineyard of the LORD Almighty

is the nation of Israel,

and the people of Judah

are the vines he delighted in.

And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;

for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Woes and Judgments

⁸Woe to you who add house to house

and join field to field

till no space is left

and you live alone in the land.

⁹The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing:

“Surely the great houses will become desolate,

the fine mansions left without occupants.

¹⁰A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine;

a homer of seed will yield only an ephah of grain.”

¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning

to run after their drinks,

who stay up late at night

till they are inflamed with wine.

¹²They have harps and lyres at their banquets,

pipes and timbrels and wine,

but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD,

no respect for the work of his hands.

¹³Therefore my people will go into exile

for lack of understanding;

those of high rank will die of hunger

and the common people will be parched with thirst.

¹⁴Therefore Death expands its jaws,

opening wide its mouth;

into it will descend their nobles and masses

with all their brawlers and revelers.

¹⁵So people will be brought low

and everyone humbled,

the eyes of the arrogant humbled.

¹⁶But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice,

and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts.

¹⁷Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture;

lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit,

and wickedness as with cart ropes,

¹⁹to those who say, “Let God hurry;

let him hasten his work

so we may see it.

The plan of the Holy One of Israel—

let it approach, let it come into view,

so we may know it.”

²⁰Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,

who put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter.

²¹Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

and clever in their own sight.

²²Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine

and champions at mixing drinks,

²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

but deny justice to the innocent.

²⁴Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw

and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,

so their roots will decay

and their flowers blow away like dust;

for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty

and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵Therefore the LORD’s anger burns against his people;

his hand is raised and he strikes them down.

The mountains shake,

and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

²⁶He lifts up a banner for the distant nations,

he whistles for those at the ends of the earth.

Here they come,

swiftly and speedily!

²⁷Not one of them grows tired or stumbles,

not one slumbers or sleeps;

not a belt is loosened at the waist,

not a sandal strap is broken.

²⁸Their arrows are sharp,

all their bows are strung;

their horses’ hooves seem like flint,

their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

²⁹Their roar is like that of the lion,

they roar like young lions;

they growl as they seize their prey

and carry it off with no one to rescue.

³⁰In that day they will roar over it

like the roaring of the sea.

And if one looks at the land,

there is only darkness and distress;

even the sun will be darkened by clouds.

Isaiah 6

Isaiah’s Commission

¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

⁹He said, “Go and tell this people:

“ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;

be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’

¹⁰Make the heart of this people calloused;

make their ears dull

and close their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.”

¹¹Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”

And he answered:

“Until the cities lie ruined

and without inhabitant,

until the houses are left deserted

and the fields ruined and ravaged,

¹²until the LORD has sent everyone far away

and the land is utterly forsaken.

¹³And though a tenth remains in the land,

it will again be laid waste.

But as the terebinth and oak

leave stumps when they are cut down,

so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

Isaiah 7

The Sign of Immanuel

¹When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.

²Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.

³Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. ⁴Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. ⁵Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, ⁶“Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.” ⁷Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

“ ‘It will not take place,

it will not happen,

⁸for the head of Aram is Damascus,

and the head of Damascus is only Rezin.

Within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.

⁹The head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.

If you do not stand firm in your faith,

you will not stand at all.’ ”

¹⁰Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, ¹¹“Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

¹²But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.”

¹³Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. ¹⁵He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, ¹⁶for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. ¹⁷The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”

Assyria, the LORD’s Instrument

¹⁸In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. ¹⁹They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at all the water holes. ²⁰In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and private parts, and to cut off your beard also. ²¹In that day, a person will keep alive a young cow and two goats. ²²And because of the abundance of the milk they give, there will be curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey. ²³In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be only briers and thorns. ²⁴Hunters will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns. ²⁵As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of the briers and thorns; they will become places where cattle are turned loose and where sheep run.

Isaiah 8

Isaiah and His Children as Signs

¹The LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.” ²So I called in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me. ³Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. ⁴For before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

⁵The LORD spoke to me again:

⁶“Because this people has rejected

the gently flowing waters of Shiloah

and rejoices over Rezin

and the son of Remaliah,

⁷therefore the Lord is about to bring against them

the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—

the king of Assyria with all his pomp.

It will overflow all its channels,

run over all its banks

⁸and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,

passing through it and reaching up to the neck.

Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,

Immanuel!”

⁹Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered!

Listen, all you distant lands.

Prepare for battle, and be shattered!

Prepare for battle, and be shattered!

¹⁰Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;

propose your plan, but it will not stand,

for God is with us.

¹¹This is what the LORD says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

¹²“Do not call conspiracy

everything this people calls a conspiracy;

do not fear what they fear,

and do not dread it.

¹³The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,

he is the one you are to fear,

he is the one you are to dread.

¹⁴He will be a holy place;

for both Israel and Judah he will be

a stone that causes people to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall.

And for the people of Jerusalem he will be

a trap and a snare.

¹⁵Many of them will stumble;

they will fall and be broken,

they will be snared and captured.”

¹⁶Bind up this testimony of warning

and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.

¹⁷I will wait for the LORD,

who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob.

I will put my trust in him.

¹⁸Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

The Darkness Turns to Light

¹⁹When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. ²¹Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. ²²Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

Isaiah 9

¹Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

²The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

a light has dawned.

³You have enlarged the nation

and increased their joy;

they rejoice before you

as people rejoice at the harvest,

as warriors rejoice

when dividing the plunder.

⁴For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,

you have shattered

the yoke that burdens them,

the bar across their shoulders,

the rod of their oppressor.

⁵Every warrior’s boot used in battle

and every garment rolled in blood

will be destined for burning,

will be fuel for the fire.

⁶For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the LORD Almighty

will accomplish this.

The LORD’s Anger Against Israel

⁸The Lord has sent a message against Jacob;

it will fall on Israel.

⁹All the people will know it—

Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—

who say with pride

and arrogance of heart,

¹⁰“The bricks have fallen down,

but we will rebuild with dressed stone;

the fig trees have been felled,

but we will replace them with cedars.”

¹¹But the LORD has strengthened Rezin’s foes against them

and has spurred their enemies on.

¹²Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west

have devoured Israel with open mouth.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

¹³But the people have not returned to him who struck them,

nor have they sought the LORD Almighty.

¹⁴So the LORD will cut off from Israel both head and tail,

both palm branch and reed in a single day;

¹⁵the elders and dignitaries are the head,

the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

¹⁶Those who guide this people mislead them,

and those who are guided are led astray.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,

nor will he pity the fatherless and widows,

for everyone is ungodly and wicked,

every mouth speaks folly.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

¹⁸Surely wickedness burns like a fire;

it consumes briers and thorns,

it sets the forest thickets ablaze,

so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.

¹⁹By the wrath of the LORD Almighty

the land will be scorched

and the people will be fuel for the fire;

they will not spare one another.

²⁰On the right they will devour,

but still be hungry;

on the left they will eat,

but not be satisfied.

Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring:

²¹Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh;

together they will turn against Judah.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

Isaiah 10

¹Woe to those who make unjust laws,

to those who issue oppressive decrees,

²to deprive the poor of their rights

and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,

making widows their prey

and robbing the fatherless.

³What will you do on the day of reckoning,

when disaster comes from afar?

To whom will you run for help?

Where will you leave your riches?

⁴Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives

or fall among the slain.

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,

his hand is still upraised.

God’s Judgment on Assyria

⁵“Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger,

in whose hand is the club of my wrath!

⁶I send him against a godless nation,

I dispatch him against a people who anger me,

to seize loot and snatch plunder,

and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

⁷But this is not what he intends,

this is not what he has in mind;

his purpose is to destroy,

to put an end to many nations.

⁸‘Are not my commanders all kings?’ he says.

⁹‘Has not Kalno fared like Carchemish?

Is not Hamath like Arpad,

and Samaria like Damascus?

¹⁰As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols,

kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—

¹¹shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images

as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?’ ”

¹²When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. ¹³For he says:

“ ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this,

and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.

I removed the boundaries of nations,

I plundered their treasures;

like a mighty one I subdued their kings.

¹⁴As one reaches into a nest,

so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations;

as people gather abandoned eggs,

so I gathered all the countries;

not one flapped a wing,

or opened its mouth to chirp.’ ”

¹⁵Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it,

or the saw boast against the one who uses it?

As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up,

or a club brandish the one who is not wood!

¹⁶Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty,

will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors;

under his pomp a fire will be kindled

like a blazing flame.

¹⁷The Light of Israel will become a fire,

their Holy One a flame;

in a single day it will burn and consume

his thorns and his briers.

¹⁸The splendor of his forests and fertile fields

it will completely destroy,

as when a sick person wastes away.

¹⁹And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few

that a child could write them down.

The Remnant of Israel

²⁰In that day the remnant of Israel,

the survivors of Jacob,

will no longer rely on him

who struck them down

but will truly rely on the LORD,

the Holy One of Israel.

²¹A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob

will return to the Mighty God.

²²Though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel,

only a remnant will return.

Destruction has been decreed,

overwhelming and righteous.

²³The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will carry out

the destruction decreed upon the whole land.

²⁴Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says:

“My people who live in Zion,

do not be afraid of the Assyrians,

who beat you with a rod

and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.

²⁵Very soon my anger against you will end

and my wrath will be directed to their destruction.”

²⁶The LORD Almighty will lash them with a whip,

as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb;

and he will raise his staff over the waters,

as he did in Egypt.

²⁷In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders,

their yoke from your neck;

the yoke will be broken

because you have grown so fat.

²⁸They enter Aiath;

they pass through Migron;

they store supplies at Mikmash.

²⁹They go over the pass, and say,

“We will camp overnight at Geba.”

Ramah trembles;

Gibeah of Saul flees.

³⁰Cry out, Daughter Gallim!

Listen, Laishah!

Poor Anathoth!

³¹Madmenah is in flight;

the people of Gebim take cover.

³²This day they will halt at Nob;

they will shake their fist

at the mount of Daughter Zion,

at the hill of Jerusalem.

³³See, the Lord, the LORD Almighty,

will lop off the boughs with great power.

The lofty trees will be felled,

the tall ones will be brought low.

³⁴He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax;

Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.

Isaiah 11

The Branch From Jesse

¹A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

²The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of might,

the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD—

³and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,

or decide by what he hears with his ears;

⁴but with righteousness he will judge the needy,

with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;

with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

⁵Righteousness will be his belt

and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

⁶The wolf will live with the lamb,

the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together;

and a little child will lead them.

⁷The cow will feed with the bear,

their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

⁸The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

⁹They will neither harm nor destroy

on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD

as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. ¹¹In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.

¹²He will raise a banner for the nations

and gather the exiles of Israel;

he will assemble the scattered people of Judah

from the four quarters of the earth.

¹³Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,

and Judah’s enemies will be destroyed;

Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,

nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.

¹⁴They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;

together they will plunder the people to the east.

They will subdue Edom and Moab,

and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

¹⁵The LORD will dry up

the gulf of the Egyptian sea;

with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand

over the Euphrates River.

He will break it up into seven streams

so that anyone can cross over in sandals.

¹⁶There will be a highway for the remnant of his people

that is left from Assyria,

as there was for Israel

when they came up from Egypt.

Isaiah 12

Songs of Praise

¹In that day you will say:

“I will praise you, LORD.

Although you were angry with me,

your anger has turned away

and you have comforted me.

²Surely God is my salvation;

I will trust and not be afraid.

The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense;

he has become my salvation.”

³With joy you will draw water

from the wells of salvation.

⁴In that day you will say:

“Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;

make known among the nations what he has done,

and proclaim that his name is exalted.

⁵Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things;

let this be known to all the world.

⁶Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,

for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

Isaiah 13

A Prophecy Against Babylon

¹A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

²Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,

shout to them;

beckon to them

to enter the gates of the nobles.

³I have commanded those I prepared for battle;

I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath—

those who rejoice in my triumph.

⁴Listen, a noise on the mountains,

like that of a great multitude!

Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,

like nations massing together!

The LORD Almighty is mustering

an army for war.

⁵They come from faraway lands,

from the ends of the heavens—

the LORD and the weapons of his wrath—

to destroy the whole country.

⁶Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;

it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

⁷Because of this, all hands will go limp,

every heart will melt with fear.

⁸Terror will seize them,

pain and anguish will grip them;

they will writhe like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at each other,

their faces aflame.

⁹See, the day of the LORD is coming

—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—

to make the land desolate

and destroy the sinners within it.

¹⁰The stars of heaven and their constellations

will not show their light.

The rising sun will be darkened

and the moon will not give its light.

¹¹I will punish the world for its evil,

the wicked for their sins.

I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty

and will humble the pride of the ruthless.

¹²I will make people scarcer than pure gold,

more rare than the gold of Ophir.

¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;

and the earth will shake from its place

at the wrath of the LORD Almighty,

in the day of his burning anger.

¹⁴Like a hunted gazelle,

like sheep without a shepherd,

they will all return to their own people,

they will flee to their native land.

¹⁵Whoever is captured will be thrust through;

all who are caught will fall by the sword.

¹⁶Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;

their houses will be looted and their wives violated.

¹⁷See, I will stir up against them the Medes,

who do not care for silver

and have no delight in gold.

¹⁸Their bows will strike down the young men;

they will have no mercy on infants,

nor will they look with compassion on children.

¹⁹Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,

the pride and glory of the Babylonians,

will be overthrown by God

like Sodom and Gomorrah.

²⁰She will never be inhabited

or lived in through all generations;

there no nomads will pitch their tents,

there no shepherds will rest their flocks.

²¹But desert creatures will lie there,

jackals will fill her houses;

there the owls will dwell,

and there the wild goats will leap about.

²²Hyenas will inhabit her strongholds,

jackals her luxurious palaces.

Her time is at hand,

and her days will not be prolonged.

Isaiah 14

¹The LORD will have compassion on Jacob;

once again he will choose Israel

and will settle them in their own land.

Foreigners will join them

and unite with the descendants of Jacob.

²Nations will take them

and bring them to their own place.

And Israel will take possession of the nations

and make them male and female servants in the LORD’s land.

They will make captives of their captors

and rule over their oppressors.

³On the day the LORD gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, ⁴you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:

How the oppressor has come to an end!

How his fury has ended!

⁵The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked,

the scepter of the rulers,

⁶which in anger struck down peoples

with unceasing blows,

and in fury subdued nations

with relentless aggression.

⁷All the lands are at rest and at peace;

they break into singing.

⁸Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon

gloat over you and say,

“Now that you have been laid low,

no one comes to cut us down.”

⁹The realm of the dead below is all astir

to meet you at your coming;

it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—

all those who were leaders in the world;

it makes them rise from their thrones—

all those who were kings over the nations.

¹⁰They will all respond,

they will say to you,

“You also have become weak, as we are;

you have become like us.”

¹¹All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,

along with the noise of your harps;

maggots are spread out beneath you

and worms cover you.

¹²How you have fallen from heaven,

morning star, son of the dawn!

You have been cast down to the earth,

you who once laid low the nations!

¹³You said in your heart,

“I will ascend to the heavens;

I will raise my throne

above the stars of God;

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,

on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.

¹⁴I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”

¹⁵But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,

to the depths of the pit.

¹⁶Those who see you stare at you,

they ponder your fate:

“Is this the man who shook the earth

and made kingdoms tremble,

¹⁷the man who made the world a wilderness,

who overthrew its cities

and would not let his captives go home?”

¹⁸All the kings of the nations lie in state,

each in his own tomb.

¹⁹But you are cast out of your tomb

like a rejected branch;

you are covered with the slain,

with those pierced by the sword,

those who descend to the stones of the pit.

Like a corpse trampled underfoot,

²⁰you will not join them in burial,

for you have destroyed your land

and killed your people.

Let the offspring of the wicked

never be mentioned again.

²¹Prepare a place to slaughter his children

for the sins of their ancestors;

they are not to rise to inherit the land

and cover the earth with their cities.

²²“I will rise up against them,”

declares the LORD Almighty.

“I will wipe out Babylon’s name and survivors,

her offspring and descendants,”

declares the LORD.

²³“I will turn her into a place for owls

and into swampland;

I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,”

declares the LORD Almighty.

²⁴The LORD Almighty has sworn,

“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,

and as I have purposed, so it will happen.

²⁵I will crush the Assyrian in my land;

on my mountains I will trample him down.

His yoke will be taken from my people,

and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

²⁶This is the plan determined for the whole world;

this is the hand stretched out over all nations.

²⁷For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?

His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

A Prophecy Against the Philistines

²⁸This prophecy came in the year King Ahaz died:

²⁹Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,

that the rod that struck you is broken;

from the root of that snake will spring up a viper,

its fruit will be a darting, venomous serpent.

³⁰The poorest of the poor will find pasture,

and the needy will lie down in safety.

But your root I will destroy by famine;

it will slay your survivors.

³¹Wail, you gate! Howl, you city!

Melt away, all you Philistines!

A cloud of smoke comes from the north,

and there is not a straggler in its ranks.

³²What answer shall be given

to the envoys of that nation?

“The LORD has established Zion,

and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.”

Isaiah 15

A Prophecy Against Moab

¹A prophecy against Moab:

Ar in Moab is ruined,

destroyed in a night!

Kir in Moab is ruined,

destroyed in a night!

²Dibon goes up to its temple,

to its high places to weep;

Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba.

Every head is shaved

and every beard cut off.

³In the streets they wear sackcloth;

on the roofs and in the public squares

they all wail,

prostrate with weeping.

⁴Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,

their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.

Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,

and their hearts are faint.

⁵My heart cries out over Moab;

her fugitives flee as far as Zoar,

as far as Eglath Shelishiyah.

They go up the hill to Luhith,

weeping as they go;

on the road to Horonaim

they lament their destruction.

⁶The waters of Nimrim are dried up

and the grass is withered;

the vegetation is gone

and nothing green is left.

⁷So the wealth they have acquired and stored up

they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.

⁸Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab;

their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim,

their lamentation as far as Beer Elim.

⁹The waters of Dimon are full of blood,

but I will bring still more upon Dimon—

a lion upon the fugitives of Moab

and upon those who remain in the land.

Isaiah 16

¹Send lambs as tribute

to the ruler of the land,

from Sela, across the desert,

to the mount of Daughter Zion.

²Like fluttering birds

pushed from the nest,

so are the women of Moab

at the fords of the Arnon.

³“Make up your mind,” Moab says.

“Render a decision.

Make your shadow like night—

at high noon.

Hide the fugitives,

do not betray the refugees.

⁴Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you;

be their shelter from the destroyer.”

The oppressor will come to an end,

and destruction will cease;

the aggressor will vanish from the land.

⁵In love a throne will be established;

in faithfulness a man will sit on it—

one from the house of David—

one who in judging seeks justice

and speeds the cause of righteousness.

⁶We have heard of Moab’s pride—

how great is her arrogance!—

of her conceit, her pride and her insolence;

but her boasts are empty.

⁷Therefore the Moabites wail,

they wail together for Moab.

Lament and grieve

for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.

⁸The fields of Heshbon wither,

the vines of Sibmah also.

The rulers of the nations

have trampled down the choicest vines,

which once reached Jazer

and spread toward the desert.

Their shoots spread out

and went as far as the sea.

⁹So I weep, as Jazer weeps,

for the vines of Sibmah.

Heshbon and Elealeh,

I drench you with tears!

The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit

and over your harvests have been stilled.

¹⁰Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards;

no one sings or shouts in the vineyards;

no one treads out wine at the presses,

for I have put an end to the shouting.

¹¹My heart laments for Moab like a harp,

my inmost being for Kir Hareseth.

¹²When Moab appears at her high place,

she only wears herself out;

when she goes to her shrine to pray,

it is to no avail.

¹³This is the word the LORD has already spoken concerning Moab. ¹⁴But now the LORD says: “Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble.”

Isaiah 17

A Prophecy Against Damascus

¹A prophecy against Damascus:

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city

but will become a heap of ruins.

²The cities of Aroer will be deserted

and left to flocks, which will lie down,

with no one to make them afraid.

³The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,

and royal power from Damascus;

the remnant of Aram will be

like the glory of the Israelites,”

declares the LORD Almighty.

⁴“In that day the glory of Jacob will fade;

the fat of his body will waste away.

⁵It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,

gathering the grain in their arms—

as when someone gleans heads of grain

in the Valley of Rephaim.

⁶Yet some gleanings will remain,

as when an olive tree is beaten,

leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,

four or five on the fruitful boughs,”

declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁷In that day people will look to their Maker

and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

⁸They will not look to the altars,

the work of their hands,

and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles

and the incense altars their fingers have made.

⁹In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.

¹⁰You have forgotten God your Savior;

you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.

Therefore, though you set out the finest plants

and plant imported vines,

¹¹though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,

and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,

yet the harvest will be as nothing

in the day of disease and incurable pain.

¹²Woe to the many nations that rage—

they rage like the raging sea!

Woe to the peoples who roar—

they roar like the roaring of great waters!

¹³Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,

when he rebukes them they flee far away,

driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,

like tumbleweed before a gale.

¹⁴In the evening, sudden terror!

Before the morning, they are gone!

This is the portion of those who loot us,

the lot of those who plunder us.

Isaiah 18

A Prophecy Against Cush

¹Woe to the land of whirring wings

along the rivers of Cush,

²which sends envoys by sea

in papyrus boats over the water.

Go, swift messengers,

to a people tall and smooth-skinned,

to a people feared far and wide,

an aggressive nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers.

³All you people of the world,

you who live on the earth,

when a banner is raised on the mountains,

you will see it,

and when a trumpet sounds,

you will hear it.

⁴This is what the LORD says to me:

“I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place,

like shimmering heat in the sunshine,

like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

⁵For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone

and the flower becomes a ripening grape,

he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,

and cut down and take away the spreading branches.

⁶They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey

and to the wild animals;

the birds will feed on them all summer,

the wild animals all winter.

⁷At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD Almighty

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,

from a people feared far and wide,

an aggressive nation of strange speech,

whose land is divided by rivers—

the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD Almighty.

Isaiah 19

A Prophecy Against Egypt

¹A prophecy against Egypt:

See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud

and is coming to Egypt.

The idols of Egypt tremble before him,

and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.

²“I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—

brother will fight against brother,

neighbor against neighbor,

city against city,

kingdom against kingdom.

³The Egyptians will lose heart,

and I will bring their plans to nothing;

they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,

the mediums and the spiritists.

⁴I will hand the Egyptians over

to the power of a cruel master,

and a fierce king will rule over them,”

declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

⁵The waters of the river will dry up,

and the riverbed will be parched and dry.

⁶The canals will stink;

the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.

The reeds and rushes will wither,

⁷also the plants along the Nile,

at the mouth of the river.

Every sown field along the Nile

will become parched, will blow away and be no more.

⁸The fishermen will groan and lament,

all who cast hooks into the Nile;

those who throw nets on the water

will pine away.

⁹Those who work with combed flax will despair,

the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.

¹⁰The workers in cloth will be dejected,

and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

¹¹The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools;

the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice.

How can you say to Pharaoh,

“I am one of the wise men,

a disciple of the ancient kings”?

¹²Where are your wise men now?

Let them show you and make known

what the LORD Almighty

has planned against Egypt.

¹³The officials of Zoan have become fools,

the leaders of Memphis are deceived;

the cornerstones of her peoples

have led Egypt astray.

¹⁴The LORD has poured into them

a spirit of dizziness;

they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,

as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.

¹⁵There is nothing Egypt can do—

head or tail, palm branch or reed.

¹⁶In that day the Egyptians will become weaklings. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the LORD Almighty raises against them. ¹⁷And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the LORD Almighty is planning against them.

¹⁸In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.

¹⁹In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. ²⁰It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. ²¹So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them. ²²The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

²³In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. ²⁴In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. ²⁵The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

Isaiah 20

A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush

¹In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it— ²at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.

³Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, ⁴so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame. ⁵Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be dismayed and put to shame. ⁶In that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’ ”

Isaiah 21

A Prophecy Against Babylon

¹A prophecy against the Desert by the Sea:

Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland,

an invader comes from the desert,

from a land of terror.

²A dire vision has been shown to me:

The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot.

Elam, attack! Media, lay siege!

I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.

³At this my body is racked with pain,

pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor;

I am staggered by what I hear,

I am bewildered by what I see.

⁴My heart falters,

fear makes me tremble;

the twilight I longed for

has become a horror to me.

⁵They set the tables,

they spread the rugs,

they eat, they drink!

Get up, you officers,

oil the shields!

⁶This is what the Lord says to me:

“Go, post a lookout

and have him report what he sees.

⁷When he sees chariots

with teams of horses,

riders on donkeys

or riders on camels,

let him be alert,

fully alert.”

⁸And the lookout shouted,

“Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower;

every night I stay at my post.

⁹Look, here comes a man in a chariot

with a team of horses.

And he gives back the answer:

‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen!

All the images of its gods

lie shattered on the ground!’ ”

¹⁰My people who are crushed on the threshing floor,

I tell you what I have heard

from the LORD Almighty,

from the God of Israel.

A Prophecy Against Edom

¹¹A prophecy against Dumah:

Someone calls to me from Seir,

“Watchman, what is left of the night?

Watchman, what is left of the night?”

¹²The watchman replies,

“Morning is coming, but also the night.

If you would ask, then ask;

and come back yet again.”

A Prophecy Against Arabia

¹³A prophecy against Arabia:

You caravans of Dedanites,

who camp in the thickets of Arabia,

¹⁴bring water for the thirsty;

you who live in Tema,

bring food for the fugitives.

¹⁵They flee from the sword,

from the drawn sword,

from the bent bow

and from the heat of battle.

¹⁶This is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end. ¹⁷The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.

Isaiah 22

A Prophecy About Jerusalem

¹A prophecy against the Valley of Vision:

What troubles you now,

that you have all gone up on the roofs,

²you town so full of commotion,

you city of tumult and revelry?

Your slain were not killed by the sword,

nor did they die in battle.

³All your leaders have fled together;

they have been captured without using the bow.

All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,

having fled while the enemy was still far away.

⁴Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;

let me weep bitterly.

Do not try to console me

over the destruction of my people.”

⁵The Lord, the LORD Almighty, has a day

of tumult and trampling and terror

in the Valley of Vision,

a day of battering down walls

and of crying out to the mountains.

⁶Elam takes up the quiver,

with her charioteers and horses;

Kir uncovers the shield.

⁷Your choicest valleys are full of chariots,

and horsemen are posted at the city gates.

⁸The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,

and you looked in that day

to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.

⁹You saw that the walls of the City of David

were broken through in many places;

you stored up water

in the Lower Pool.

¹⁰You counted the buildings in Jerusalem

and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.

¹¹You built a reservoir between the two walls

for the water of the Old Pool,

but you did not look to the One who made it,

or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.

¹²The Lord, the LORD Almighty,

called you on that day

to weep and to wail,

to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.

¹³But see, there is joy and revelry,

slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,

eating of meat and drinking of wine!

“Let us eat and drink,” you say,

“for tomorrow we die!”

¹⁴The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

¹⁵This is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says:

“Go, say to this steward,

to Shebna the palace administrator:

¹⁶What are you doing here and who gave you permission

to cut out a grave for yourself here,

hewing your grave on the height

and chiseling your resting place in the rock?

¹⁷“Beware, the LORD is about to take firm hold of you

and hurl you away, you mighty man.

¹⁸He will roll you up tightly like a ball

and throw you into a large country.

There you will die

and there the chariots you were so proud of

will become a disgrace to your master’s house.

¹⁹I will depose you from your office,

and you will be ousted from your position.

²⁰“In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. ²¹I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. ²²I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. ²³I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father. ²⁴All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.

²⁵“In that day,” declares the LORD Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 23

A Prophecy Against Tyre

¹A prophecy against Tyre:

Wail, you ships of Tarshish!

For Tyre is destroyed

and left without house or harbor.

From the land of Cyprus

word has come to them.

²Be silent, you people of the island

and you merchants of Sidon,

whom the seafarers have enriched.

³On the great waters

came the grain of the Shihor;

the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre,

and she became the marketplace of the nations.

⁴Be ashamed, Sidon, and you fortress of the sea,

for the sea has spoken:

“I have neither been in labor nor given birth;

I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.”

⁵When word comes to Egypt,

they will be in anguish at the report from Tyre.

⁶Cross over to Tarshish;

wail, you people of the island.

⁷Is this your city of revelry,

the old, old city,

whose feet have taken her

to settle in far-off lands?

⁸Who planned this against Tyre,

the bestower of crowns,

whose merchants are princes,

whose traders are renowned in the earth?

⁹The LORD Almighty planned it,

to bring down her pride in all her splendor

and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.

¹⁰Till your land as they do along the Nile,

Daughter Tarshish,

for you no longer have a harbor.

¹¹The LORD has stretched out his hand over the sea

and made its kingdoms tremble.

He has given an order concerning Phoenicia

that her fortresses be destroyed.

¹²He said, “No more of your reveling,

Virgin Daughter Sidon, now crushed!

“Up, cross over to Cyprus;

even there you will find no rest.”

¹³Look at the land of the Babylonians,

this people that is now of no account!

The Assyrians have made it

a place for desert creatures;

they raised up their siege towers,

they stripped its fortresses bare

and turned it into a ruin.

¹⁴Wail, you ships of Tarshish;

your fortress is destroyed!

¹⁵At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

¹⁶“Take up a harp, walk through the city,

you forgotten prostitute;

play the harp well, sing many a song,

so that you will be remembered.”

¹⁷At the end of seventy years, the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. ¹⁸Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the LORD; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothes.

Isaiah 24

The LORD’s Devastation of the Earth

¹See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth

and devastate it;

he will ruin its face

and scatter its inhabitants—

²it will be the same

for priest as for people,

for the master as for his servant,

for the mistress as for her servant,

for seller as for buyer,

for borrower as for lender,

for debtor as for creditor.

³The earth will be completely laid waste

and totally plundered.

The LORD has spoken this word.

⁴The earth dries up and withers,

the world languishes and withers,

the heavens languish with the earth.

⁵The earth is defiled by its people;

they have disobeyed the laws,

violated the statutes

and broken the everlasting covenant.

⁶Therefore a curse consumes the earth;

its people must bear their guilt.

Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,

and very few are left.

⁷The new wine dries up and the vine withers;

all the merrymakers groan.

⁸The joyful timbrels are stilled,

the noise of the revelers has stopped,

the joyful harp is silent.

⁹No longer do they drink wine with a song;

the beer is bitter to its drinkers.

¹⁰The ruined city lies desolate;

the entrance to every house is barred.

¹¹In the streets they cry out for wine;

all joy turns to gloom,

all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.

¹²The city is left in ruins,

its gate is battered to pieces.

¹³So will it be on the earth

and among the nations,

as when an olive tree is beaten,

or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.

¹⁴They raise their voices, they shout for joy;

from the west they acclaim the LORD’s majesty.

¹⁵Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD;

exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel,

in the islands of the sea.

¹⁶From the ends of the earth we hear singing:

“Glory to the Righteous One.”

But I said, “I waste away, I waste away!

Woe to me!

The treacherous betray!

With treachery the treacherous betray!”

¹⁷Terror and pit and snare await you,

people of the earth.

¹⁸Whoever flees at the sound of terror

will fall into a pit;

whoever climbs out of the pit

will be caught in a snare.

The floodgates of the heavens are opened,

the foundations of the earth shake.

¹⁹The earth is broken up,

the earth is split asunder,

the earth is violently shaken.

²⁰The earth reels like a drunkard,

it sways like a hut in the wind;

so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion

that it falls—never to rise again.

²¹In that day the LORD will punish

the powers in the heavens above

and the kings on the earth below.

²²They will be herded together

like prisoners bound in a dungeon;

they will be shut up in prison

and be punished after many days.

²³The moon will be dismayed,

the sun ashamed;

for the LORD Almighty will reign

on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and before its elders—with great glory.

Isaiah 25

Praise to the LORD

¹LORD, you are my God;

I will exalt you and praise your name,

for in perfect faithfulness

you have done wonderful things,

things planned long ago.

²You have made the city a heap of rubble,

the fortified town a ruin,

the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more;

it will never be rebuilt.

³Therefore strong peoples will honor you;

cities of ruthless nations will revere you.

⁴You have been a refuge for the poor,

a refuge for the needy in their distress,

a shelter from the storm

and a shade from the heat.

For the breath of the ruthless

is like a storm driving against a wall

⁵and like the heat of the desert.

You silence the uproar of foreigners;

as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,

so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

⁶On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare

a feast of rich food for all peoples,

a banquet of aged wine—

the best of meats and the finest of wines.

⁷On this mountain he will destroy

the shroud that enfolds all peoples,

the sheet that covers all nations;

⁸he will swallow up death forever.

The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears

from all faces;

he will remove his people’s disgrace

from all the earth.

The LORD has spoken.

⁹In that day they will say,

“Surely this is our God;

we trusted in him, and he saved us.

This is the LORD, we trusted in him;

let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

¹⁰The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain;

but Moab will be trampled in their land

as straw is trampled down in the manure.

¹¹They will stretch out their hands in it,

as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim.

God will bring down their pride

despite the cleverness of their hands.

¹²He will bring down your high fortified walls

and lay them low;

he will bring them down to the ground,

to the very dust.

Isaiah 26

A Song of Praise

¹In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

We have a strong city;

God makes salvation

its walls and ramparts.

²Open the gates

that the righteous nation may enter,

the nation that keeps faith.

³You will keep in perfect peace

those whose minds are steadfast,

because they trust in you.

⁴Trust in the LORD forever,

for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.

⁵He humbles those who dwell on high,

he lays the lofty city low;

he levels it to the ground

and casts it down to the dust.

⁶Feet trample it down—

the feet of the oppressed,

the footsteps of the poor.

⁷The path of the righteous is level;

you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.

⁸Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws,

we wait for you;

your name and renown

are the desire of our hearts.

⁹My soul yearns for you in the night;

in the morning my spirit longs for you.

When your judgments come upon the earth,

the people of the world learn righteousness.

¹⁰But when grace is shown to the wicked,

they do not learn righteousness;

even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil

and do not regard the majesty of the LORD.

¹¹LORD, your hand is lifted high,

but they do not see it.

Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame;

let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.

¹²LORD, you establish peace for us;

all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

¹³LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us,

but your name alone do we honor.

¹⁴They are now dead, they live no more;

their spirits do not rise.

You punished them and brought them to ruin;

you wiped out all memory of them.

¹⁵You have enlarged the nation, LORD;

you have enlarged the nation.

You have gained glory for yourself;

you have extended all the borders of the land.

¹⁶LORD, they came to you in their distress;

when you disciplined them,

they could barely whisper a prayer.

¹⁷As a pregnant woman about to give birth

writhes and cries out in her pain,

so were we in your presence, LORD.

¹⁸We were with child, we writhed in labor,

but we gave birth to wind.

We have not brought salvation to the earth,

and the people of the world have not come to life.

¹⁹But your dead will live, LORD;

their bodies will rise—

let those who dwell in the dust

wake up and shout for joy—

your dew is like the dew of the morning;

the earth will give birth to her dead.

²⁰Go, my people, enter your rooms

and shut the doors behind you;

hide yourselves for a little while

until his wrath has passed by.

²¹See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling

to punish the people of the earth for their sins.

The earth will disclose the blood shed on it;

the earth will conceal its slain no longer.

Isaiah 27

Deliverance of Israel

¹In that day,

the LORD will punish with his sword—

his fierce, great and powerful sword—

Leviathan the gliding serpent,

Leviathan the coiling serpent;

he will slay the monster of the sea.

²In that day—

“Sing about a fruitful vineyard:

³I, the LORD, watch over it;

I water it continually.

I guard it day and night

so that no one may harm it.

⁴I am not angry.

If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!

I would march against them in battle;

I would set them all on fire.

⁵Or else let them come to me for refuge;

let them make peace with me,

yes, let them make peace with me.”

⁶In days to come Jacob will take root,

Israel will bud and blossom

and fill all the world with fruit.

⁷Has the LORD struck her

as he struck down those who struck her?

Has she been killed

as those were killed who killed her?

⁸By warfare and exile you contend with her—

with his fierce blast he drives her out,

as on a day the east wind blows.

⁹By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for,

and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:

When he makes all the altar stones

to be like limestone crushed to pieces,

no Asherah poles or incense altars

will be left standing.

¹⁰The fortified city stands desolate,

an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness;

there the calves graze,

there they lie down;

they strip its branches bare.

¹¹When its twigs are dry, they are broken off

and women come and make fires with them.

For this is a people without understanding;

so their Maker has no compassion on them,

and their Creator shows them no favor.

¹²In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, Israel, will be gathered up one by one. ¹³And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 28

Woe to the Leaders of Ephraim and Judah

¹Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards,

to the fading flower, his glorious beauty,

set on the head of a fertile valley—

to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!

²See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong.

Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind,

like a driving rain and a flooding downpour,

he will throw it forcefully to the ground.

³That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards,

will be trampled underfoot.

⁴That fading flower, his glorious beauty,

set on the head of a fertile valley,

will be like figs ripe before harvest—

as soon as people see them and take them in hand,

they swallow them.

⁵In that day the LORD Almighty

will be a glorious crown,

a beautiful wreath

for the remnant of his people.

⁶He will be a spirit of justice

to the one who sits in judgment,

a source of strength

to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

⁷And these also stagger from wine

and reel from beer:

Priests and prophets stagger from beer

and are befuddled with wine;

they reel from beer,

they stagger when seeing visions,

they stumble when rendering decisions.

⁸All the tables are covered with vomit

and there is not a spot without filth.

⁹“Who is it he is trying to teach?

To whom is he explaining his message?

To children weaned from their milk,

to those just taken from the breast?

¹⁰For it is:

Do this, do that,

a rule for this, a rule for that;

a little here, a little there.”

¹¹Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues

God will speak to this people,

¹²to whom he said,

“This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;

and, “This is the place of repose”—

but they would not listen.

¹³So then, the word of the LORD to them will become:

Do this, do that,

a rule for this, a rule for that;

a little here, a little there—

so that as they go they will fall backward;

they will be injured and snared and captured.

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers

who rule this people in Jerusalem.

¹⁵You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,

with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.

When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,

it cannot touch us,

for we have made a lie our refuge

and falsehood our hiding place.”

¹⁶So this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;

the one who relies on it

will never be stricken with panic.

¹⁷I will make justice the measuring line

and righteousness the plumb line;

hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,

and water will overflow your hiding place.

¹⁸Your covenant with death will be annulled;

your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.

When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,

you will be beaten down by it.

¹⁹As often as it comes it will carry you away;

morning after morning, by day and by night,

it will sweep through.”

The understanding of this message

will bring sheer terror.

²⁰The bed is too short to stretch out on,

the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.

²¹The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim,

he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon—

to do his work, his strange work,

and perform his task, his alien task.

²²Now stop your mocking,

or your chains will become heavier;

the Lord, the LORD Almighty, has told me

of the destruction decreed against the whole land.

²³Listen and hear my voice;

pay attention and hear what I say.

²⁴When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?

Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?

²⁵When he has leveled the surface,

does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?

Does he not plant wheat in its place,

barley in its plot,

and spelt in its field?

²⁶His God instructs him

and teaches him the right way.

²⁷Caraway is not threshed with a sledge,

nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin;

caraway is beaten out with a rod,

and cumin with a stick.

²⁸Grain must be ground to make bread;

so one does not go on threshing it forever.

The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it,

but one does not use horses to grind grain.

²⁹All this also comes from the LORD Almighty,

whose plan is wonderful,

whose wisdom is magnificent.

Isaiah 29

Woe to David’s City

¹Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel,

the city where David settled!

Add year to year

and let your cycle of festivals go on.

²Yet I will besiege Ariel;

she will mourn and lament,

she will be to me like an altar hearth.

³I will encamp against you on all sides;

I will encircle you with towers

and set up my siege works against you.

⁴Brought low, you will speak from the ground;

your speech will mumble out of the dust.

Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth;

out of the dust your speech will whisper.

⁵But your many enemies will become like fine dust,

the ruthless hordes like blown chaff.

Suddenly, in an instant,

⁶the LORD Almighty will come

with thunder and earthquake and great noise,

with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.

⁷Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel,

that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,

will be as it is with a dream,

with a vision in the night—

⁸as when a hungry person dreams of eating,

but awakens hungry still;

as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking,

but awakens faint and thirsty still.

So will it be with the hordes of all the nations

that fight against Mount Zion.

⁹Be stunned and amazed,

blind yourselves and be sightless;

be drunk, but not from wine,

stagger, but not from beer.

¹⁰The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep:

He has sealed your eyes (the prophets);

he has covered your heads (the seers).

¹¹For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” ¹²Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”

¹³The Lord says:

“These people come near to me with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship of me

is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

¹⁴Therefore once more I will astound these people

with wonder upon wonder;

the wisdom of the wise will perish,

the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”

¹⁵Woe to those who go to great depths

to hide their plans from the LORD,

who do their work in darkness and think,

“Who sees us? Who will know?”

¹⁶You turn things upside down,

as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!

Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,

“You did not make me”?

Can the pot say to the potter,

“You know nothing”?

¹⁷In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field

and the fertile field seem like a forest?

¹⁸In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,

and out of gloom and darkness

the eyes of the blind will see.

¹⁹Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD;

the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰The ruthless will vanish,

the mockers will disappear,

and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—

²¹those who with a word make someone out to be guilty,

who ensnare the defender in court

and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.

²²Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob:

“No longer will Jacob be ashamed;

no longer will their faces grow pale.

²³When they see among them their children,

the work of my hands,

they will keep my name holy;

they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob,

and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

²⁴Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding;

those who complain will accept instruction.”

Isaiah 30

Woe to the Obstinate Nation

¹“Woe to the obstinate children,”

declares the LORD,

“to those who carry out plans that are not mine,

forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,

heaping sin upon sin;

²who go down to Egypt

without consulting me;

who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection,

to Egypt’s shade for refuge.

³But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame,

Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.

⁴Though they have officials in Zoan

and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,

⁵everyone will be put to shame

because of a people useless to them,

who bring neither help nor advantage,

but only shame and disgrace.”

⁶A prophecy concerning the animals of the Negev:

Through a land of hardship and distress,

of lions and lionesses,

of adders and darting snakes,

the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs,

their treasures on the humps of camels,

to that unprofitable nation,

⁷to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless.

Therefore I call her

Rahab the Do-Nothing.

⁸Go now, write it on a tablet for them,

inscribe it on a scroll,

that for the days to come

it may be an everlasting witness.

⁹For these are rebellious people, deceitful children,

children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction.

¹⁰They say to the seers,

“See no more visions!”

and to the prophets,

“Give us no more visions of what is right!

Tell us pleasant things,

prophesy illusions.

¹¹Leave this way,

get off this path,

and stop confronting us

with the Holy One of Israel!”

¹²Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“Because you have rejected this message,

relied on oppression

and depended on deceit,

¹³this sin will become for you

like a high wall, cracked and bulging,

that collapses suddenly, in an instant.

¹⁴It will break in pieces like pottery,

shattered so mercilessly

that among its pieces not a fragment will be found

for taking coals from a hearth

or scooping water out of a cistern.”

¹⁵This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:

“In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it.

¹⁶You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’

Therefore you will flee!

You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’

Therefore your pursuers will be swift!

¹⁷A thousand will flee

at the threat of one;

at the threat of five

you will all flee away,

till you are left

like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,

like a banner on a hill.”

¹⁸Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;

therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.

For the LORD is a God of justice.

Blessed are all who wait for him!

¹⁹People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. ²⁰Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. ²¹Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” ²²Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”

²³He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. ²⁴The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. ²⁵In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. ²⁶The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.

²⁷See, the Name of the LORD comes from afar,

with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;

his lips are full of wrath,

and his tongue is a consuming fire.

²⁸His breath is like a rushing torrent,

rising up to the neck.

He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction;

he places in the jaws of the peoples

a bit that leads them astray.

²⁹And you will sing

as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;

your hearts will rejoice

as when people playing pipes go up

to the mountain of the LORD,

to the Rock of Israel.

³⁰The LORD will cause people to hear his majestic voice

and will make them see his arm coming down

with raging anger and consuming fire,

with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.

³¹The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria;

with his rod he will strike them down.

³²Every stroke the LORD lays on them

with his punishing club

will be to the music of timbrels and harps,

as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.

³³Topheth has long been prepared;

it has been made ready for the king.

Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,

with an abundance of fire and wood;

the breath of the LORD,

like a stream of burning sulfur,

sets it ablaze.

Isaiah 31

Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt

¹Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,

who rely on horses,

who trust in the multitude of their chariots

and in the great strength of their horsemen,

but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,

or seek help from the LORD.

²Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster;

he does not take back his words.

He will rise up against that wicked nation,

against those who help evildoers.

³But the Egyptians are mere mortals and not God;

their horses are flesh and not spirit.

When the LORD stretches out his hand,

those who help will stumble,

those who are helped will fall;

all will perish together.

⁴This is what the LORD says to me:

“As a lion growls,

a great lion over its prey—

and though a whole band of shepherds

is called together against it,

it is not frightened by their shouts

or disturbed by their clamor—

so the LORD Almighty will come down

to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.

⁵Like birds hovering overhead,

the LORD Almighty will shield Jerusalem;

he will shield it and deliver it,

he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.”

⁶Return, you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted against. ⁷For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.

⁸“Assyria will fall by no human sword;

a sword, not of mortals, will devour them.

They will flee before the sword

and their young men will be put to forced labor.

⁹Their stronghold will fall because of terror;

at the sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic,”

declares the LORD,

whose fire is in Zion,

whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 32

The Kingdom of Righteousness

¹See, a king will reign in righteousness

and rulers will rule with justice.

²Each one will be like a shelter from the wind

and a refuge from the storm,

like streams of water in the desert

and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

³Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed,

and the ears of those who hear will listen.

⁴The fearful heart will know and understand,

and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.

⁵No longer will the fool be called noble

nor the scoundrel be highly respected.

⁶For fools speak folly,

their hearts are bent on evil:

They practice ungodliness

and spread error concerning the LORD;

the hungry they leave empty

and from the thirsty they withhold water.

⁷Scoundrels use wicked methods,

they make up evil schemes

to destroy the poor with lies,

even when the plea of the needy is just.

⁸But the noble make noble plans,

and by noble deeds they stand.

The Women of Jerusalem

⁹You women who are so complacent,

rise up and listen to me;

you daughters who feel secure,

hear what I have to say!

¹⁰In little more than a year

you who feel secure will tremble;

the grape harvest will fail,

and the harvest of fruit will not come.

¹¹Tremble, you complacent women;

shudder, you daughters who feel secure!

Strip off your fine clothes

and wrap yourselves in rags.

¹²Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,

for the fruitful vines

¹³and for the land of my people,

a land overgrown with thorns and briers—

yes, mourn for all houses of merriment

and for this city of revelry.

¹⁴The fortress will be abandoned,

the noisy city deserted;

citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever,

the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,

¹⁵till the Spirit is poured on us from on high,

and the desert becomes a fertile field,

and the fertile field seems like a forest.

¹⁶The LORD’s justice will dwell in the desert,

his righteousness live in the fertile field.

¹⁷The fruit of that righteousness will be peace;

its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.

¹⁸My people will live in peaceful dwelling places,

in secure homes,

in undisturbed places of rest.

¹⁹Though hail flattens the forest

and the city is leveled completely,

²⁰how blessed you will be,

sowing your seed by every stream,

and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.

Isaiah 33

Distress and Help

¹Woe to you, destroyer,

you who have not been destroyed!

Woe to you, betrayer,

you who have not been betrayed!

When you stop destroying,

you will be destroyed;

when you stop betraying,

you will be betrayed.

²LORD, be gracious to us;

we long for you.

Be our strength every morning,

our salvation in time of distress.

³At the uproar of your army, the peoples flee;

when you rise up, the nations scatter.

⁴Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts;

like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.

⁵The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;

he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness.

⁶He will be the sure foundation for your times,

a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;

the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.

⁷Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets;

the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

⁸The highways are deserted,

no travelers are on the roads.

The treaty is broken,

its witnesses are despised,

no one is respected.

⁹The land dries up and wastes away,

Lebanon is ashamed and withers;

Sharon is like the Arabah,

and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.

¹⁰“Now will I arise,” says the LORD.

“Now will I be exalted;

now will I be lifted up.

¹¹You conceive chaff,

you give birth to straw;

your breath is a fire that consumes you.

¹²The peoples will be burned to ashes;

like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.”

¹³You who are far away, hear what I have done;

you who are near, acknowledge my power!

¹⁴The sinners in Zion are terrified;

trembling grips the godless:

“Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?

Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?”

¹⁵Those who walk righteously

and speak what is right,

who reject gain from extortion

and keep their hands from accepting bribes,

who stop their ears against plots of murder

and shut their eyes against contemplating evil—

¹⁶they are the ones who will dwell on the heights,

whose refuge will be the mountain fortress.

Their bread will be supplied,

and water will not fail them.

¹⁷Your eyes will see the king in his beauty

and view a land that stretches afar.

¹⁸In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror:

“Where is that chief officer?

Where is the one who took the revenue?

Where is the officer in charge of the towers?”

¹⁹You will see those arrogant people no more,

people whose speech is obscure,

whose language is strange and incomprehensible.

²⁰Look on Zion, the city of our festivals;

your eyes will see Jerusalem,

a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved;

its stakes will never be pulled up,

nor any of its ropes broken.

²¹There the LORD will be our Mighty One.

It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.

No galley with oars will ride them,

no mighty ship will sail them.

²²For the LORD is our judge,

the LORD is our lawgiver,

the LORD is our king;

it is he who will save us.

²³Your rigging hangs loose:

The mast is not held secure,

the sail is not spread.

Then an abundance of spoils will be divided

and even the lame will carry off plunder.

²⁴No one living in Zion will say, “I am ill”;

and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.

Isaiah 34

Judgment Against the Nations

¹Come near, you nations, and listen;

pay attention, you peoples!

Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,

the world, and all that comes out of it!

²The LORD is angry with all nations;

his wrath is on all their armies.

He will totally destroy them,

he will give them over to slaughter.

³Their slain will be thrown out,

their dead bodies will stink;

the mountains will be soaked with their blood.

⁴All the stars in the sky will be dissolved

and the heavens rolled up like a scroll;

all the starry host will fall

like withered leaves from the vine,

like shriveled figs from the fig tree.

⁵My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;

see, it descends in judgment on Edom,

the people I have totally destroyed.

⁶The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood,

it is covered with fat—

the blood of lambs and goats,

fat from the kidneys of rams.

For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah

and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

⁷And the wild oxen will fall with them,

the bull calves and the great bulls.

Their land will be drenched with blood,

and the dust will be soaked with fat.

⁸For the LORD has a day of vengeance,

a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause.

⁹Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,

her dust into burning sulfur;

her land will become blazing pitch!

¹⁰It will not be quenched night or day;

its smoke will rise forever.

From generation to generation it will lie desolate;

no one will ever pass through it again.

¹¹The desert owl and screech owl will possess it;

the great owl and the raven will nest there.

God will stretch out over Edom

the measuring line of chaos

and the plumb line of desolation.

¹²Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,

all her princes will vanish away.

¹³Thorns will overrun her citadels,

nettles and brambles her strongholds.

She will become a haunt for jackals,

a home for owls.

¹⁴Desert creatures will meet with hyenas,

and wild goats will bleat to each other;

there the night creatures will also lie down

and find for themselves places of rest.

¹⁵The owl will nest there and lay eggs,

she will hatch them, and care for her young

under the shadow of her wings;

there also the falcons will gather,

each with its mate.

¹⁶Look in the scroll of the LORD and read:

None of these will be missing,

not one will lack her mate.

For it is his mouth that has given the order,

and his Spirit will gather them together.

¹⁷He allots their portions;

his hand distributes them by measure.

They will possess it forever

and dwell there from generation to generation.

Isaiah 35

Joy of the Redeemed

¹The desert and the parched land will be glad;

the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.

Like the crocus, ²it will burst into bloom;

it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;

they will see the glory of the LORD,

the splendor of our God.

³Strengthen the feeble hands,

steady the knees that give way;

⁴say to those with fearful hearts,

“Be strong, do not fear;

your God will come,

he will come with vengeance;

with divine retribution

he will come to save you.”

⁵Then will the eyes of the blind be opened

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

⁶Then will the lame leap like a deer,

and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness

and streams in the desert.

⁷The burning sand will become a pool,

the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

In the haunts where jackals once lay,

grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

⁸And a highway will be there;

it will be called the Way of Holiness;

it will be for those who walk on that Way.

The unclean will not journey on it;

wicked fools will not go about on it.

⁹No lion will be there,

nor any ravenous beast;

they will not be found there.

But only the redeemed will walk there,

¹⁰and those the LORD has rescued will return.

They will enter Zion with singing;

everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Isaiah 36

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

¹In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ²Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field, ³Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him.

⁴The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

“ ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? ⁵You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? ⁶Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. ⁷But if you say to me, “We are depending on the LORD our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?

⁸“ ‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! ⁹How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? ¹⁰Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the LORD? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’ ”

¹¹Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

¹²But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

¹³Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you! ¹⁵Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘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. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, ¹⁷until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

¹⁸“Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever 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 rescued Samaria from my hand? ²⁰Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

²¹But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

²²Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.

Isaiah 37

Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold

¹When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. ²He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. ⁴It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.”

⁵When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, ⁶Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’ ”

⁸When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

⁹Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: ¹⁰“Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ ¹¹Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? ¹²Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: ¹⁶“LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷Give ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

¹⁸“It is true, LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. ¹⁹They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. ²⁰Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are the only God.”

Sennacherib’s Fall

²¹Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²²this is the word the LORD has spoken against him:

“Virgin Daughter Zion

despises and mocks you.

Daughter Jerusalem

tosses her head as you flee.

²³Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes in pride?

Against the Holy One of Israel!

²⁴By your messengers

you have ridiculed the Lord.

And you have said,

‘With my many chariots

I have ascended the heights of the mountains,

the utmost heights of Lebanon.

I have cut down its tallest cedars,

the choicest of its junipers.

I have reached its remotest heights,

the finest of its forests.

²⁵I have dug wells in foreign lands

and drunk the water there.

With the soles of my feet

I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’

²⁶“Have you not heard?

Long ago I ordained it.

In days of old I planned it;

now I have brought it to pass,

that you have turned fortified cities

into piles of stone.

²⁷Their people, drained of power,

are dismayed and put to shame.

They are like plants in the field,

like tender green shoots,

like grass sprouting on the roof,

scorched before it grows up.

²⁸“But I know where you are

and when you come and go

and how you rage against me.

²⁹Because you rage against me

and because your insolence has reached my ears,

I will put my hook in your nose

and my bit in your mouth,

and I will make you return

by the way you came.

³⁰“This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah:

“This year you will eat what grows by itself,

and the second year what springs from that.

But in the third year sow and reap,

plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

³¹Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah

will take root below and bear fruit above.

³²For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,

and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.

The zeal of the LORD Almighty

will accomplish this.

³³“Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria:

“He will not enter this city

or shoot an arrow here.

He will not come before it with shield

or build a siege ramp against it.

³⁴By the way that he came he will return;

he will not enter this city,”

declares the LORD.

³⁵“I will defend this city and save it,

for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”

³⁶Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! ³⁷So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

³⁸One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

Isaiah 38

Hezekiah’s Illness

¹In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

²Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, ³“Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: ⁵“Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.

⁷“ ‘This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: ⁸I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.’ ” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.

⁹A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

¹⁰I said, “In the prime of my life

must I go through the gates of death

and be robbed of the rest of my years?”

¹¹I said, “I will not again see the LORD himself

in the land of the living;

no longer will I look on my fellow man,

or be with those who now dwell in this world.

¹²Like a shepherd’s tent my house

has been pulled down and taken from me.

Like a weaver I have rolled up my life,

and he has cut me off from the loom;

day and night you made an end of me.

¹³I waited patiently till dawn,

but like a lion he broke all my bones;

day and night you made an end of me.

¹⁴I cried like a swift or thrush,

I moaned like a mourning dove.

My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens.

I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!”

¹⁵But what can I say?

He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this.

I will walk humbly all my years

because of this anguish of my soul.

¹⁶Lord, by such things people live;

and my spirit finds life in them too.

You restored me to health

and let me live.

¹⁷Surely it was for my benefit

that I suffered such anguish.

In your love you kept me

from the pit of destruction;

you have put all my sins

behind your back.

¹⁸For the grave cannot praise you,

death cannot sing your praise;

those who go down to the pit

cannot hope for your faithfulness.

¹⁹The living, the living—they praise you,

as I am doing today;

parents tell their children

about your faithfulness.

²⁰The LORD will save me,

and we will sing with stringed instruments

all the days of our lives

in the temple of the LORD.

²¹Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”

²²Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the temple of the LORD?”

Isaiah 39

Envoys From Babylon

¹At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery. ²Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil—his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

³Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”

“From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came to me from Babylon.”

⁴The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD Almighty: ⁶The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. ⁷And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

⁸“The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

Isaiah 40

Comfort for God’s People

¹Comfort, comfort my people,

says your God.

²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and proclaim to her

that her hard service has been completed,

that her sin has been paid for,

that she has received from the LORD’s hand

double for all her sins.

³A voice of one calling:

“In the wilderness prepare

the way for the LORD;

make straight in the desert

a highway for our God.

⁴Every valley shall be raised up,

every mountain and hill made low;

the rough ground shall become level,

the rugged places a plain.

⁵And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,

and all people will see it together.

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

⁶A voice says, “Cry out.”

And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All people are like grass,

and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.

⁷The grass withers and the flowers fall,

because the breath of the LORD blows on them.

Surely the people are grass.

⁸The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God endures forever.”

⁹You who bring good news to Zion,

go up on a high mountain.

You who bring good news to Jerusalem,

lift up your voice with a shout,

lift it up, do not be afraid;

say to the towns of Judah,

“Here is your God!”

¹⁰See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power,

and he rules with a mighty arm.

See, his reward is with him,

and his recompense accompanies him.

¹¹He tends his flock like a shepherd:

He gathers the lambs in his arms

and carries them close to his heart;

he gently leads those that have young.

¹²Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,

or weighed the mountains on the scales

and the hills in a balance?

¹³Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD,

or instruct the LORD as his counselor?

¹⁴Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,

and who taught him the right way?

Who was it that taught him knowledge,

or showed him the path of understanding?

¹⁵Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are regarded as dust on the scales;

he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

¹⁶Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,

nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.

¹⁷Before him all the nations are as nothing;

they are regarded by him as worthless

and less than nothing.

¹⁸With whom, then, will you compare God?

To what image will you liken him?

¹⁹As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and fashions silver chains for it.

²⁰A person too poor to present such an offering

selects wood that will not rot;

they look for a skilled worker

to set up an idol that will not topple.

²¹Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

²²He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,

and its people are like grasshoppers.

He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,

and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

²³He brings princes to naught

and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

²⁴No sooner are they planted,

no sooner are they sown,

no sooner do they take root in the ground,

than he blows on them and they wither,

and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

²⁵“To whom will you compare me?

Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

²⁶Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one

and calls forth each of them by name.

Because of his great power and mighty strength,

not one of them is missing.

²⁷Why do you complain, Jacob?

Why do you say, Israel,

“My way is hidden from the LORD;

my cause is disregarded by my God”?

²⁸Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

²⁹He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

³⁰Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

³¹but those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 41

The Helper of Israel

¹“Be silent before me, you islands!

Let the nations renew their strength!

Let them come forward and speak;

let us meet together at the place of judgment.

²“Who has stirred up one from the east,

calling him in righteousness to his service?

He hands nations over to him

and subdues kings before him.

He turns them to dust with his sword,

to windblown chaff with his bow.

³He pursues them and moves on unscathed,

by a path his feet have not traveled before.

⁴Who has done this and carried it through,

calling forth the generations from the beginning?

I, the LORD—with the first of them

and with the last—I am he.”

⁵The islands have seen it and fear;

the ends of the earth tremble.

They approach and come forward;

⁶they help each other

and say to their companions, “Be strong!”

⁷The metalworker encourages the goldsmith,

and the one who smooths with the hammer

spurs on the one who strikes the anvil.

One says of the welding, “It is good.”

The other nails down the idol so it will not topple.

⁸“But you, Israel, my servant,

Jacob, whom I have chosen,

you descendants of Abraham my friend,

⁹I took you from the ends of the earth,

from its farthest corners I called you.

I said, ‘You are my servant’;

I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

¹⁰So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

¹¹“All who rage against you

will surely be ashamed and disgraced;

those who oppose you

will be as nothing and perish.

¹²Though you search for your enemies,

you will not find them.

Those who wage war against you

will be as nothing at all.

¹³For I am the LORD your God

who takes hold of your right hand

and says to you, Do not fear;

I will help you.

¹⁴Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob,

little Israel, do not fear,

for I myself will help you,” declares the LORD,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵“See, I will make you into a threshing sledge,

new and sharp, with many teeth.

You will thresh the mountains and crush them,

and reduce the hills to chaff.

¹⁶You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up,

and a gale will blow them away.

But you will rejoice in the LORD

and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷“The poor and needy search for water,

but there is none;

their tongues are parched with thirst.

But I the LORD will answer them;

I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

¹⁸I will make rivers flow on barren heights,

and springs within the valleys.

I will turn the desert into pools of water,

and the parched ground into springs.

¹⁹I will put in the desert

the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.

I will set junipers in the wasteland,

the fir and the cypress together,

²⁰so that people may see and know,

may consider and understand,

that the hand of the LORD has done this,

that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

²¹“Present your case,” says the LORD.

“Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.

²²“Tell us, you idols,

what is going to happen.

Tell us what the former things were,

so that we may consider them

and know their final outcome.

Or declare to us the things to come,

²³tell us what the future holds,

so we may know that you are gods.

Do something, whether good or bad,

so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.

²⁴But you are less than nothing

and your works are utterly worthless;

whoever chooses you is detestable.

²⁵“I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes—

one from the rising sun who calls on my name.

He treads on rulers as if they were mortar,

as if he were a potter treading the clay.

²⁶Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know,

or beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right’?

No one told of this,

no one foretold it,

no one heard any words from you.

²⁷I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’

I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news.

²⁸I look but there is no one—

no one among the gods to give counsel,

no one to give answer when I ask them.

²⁹See, they are all false!

Their deeds amount to nothing;

their images are but wind and confusion.

Isaiah 42

The Servant of the LORD

¹“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen one in whom I delight;

I will put my Spirit on him,

and he will bring justice to the nations.

²He will not shout or cry out,

or raise his voice in the streets.

³A bruised reed he will not break,

and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

⁴he will not falter or be discouraged

till he establishes justice on earth.

In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

⁵This is what God the LORD says—

the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out,

who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it,

who gives breath to its people,

and life to those who walk on it:

⁶“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;

I will take hold of your hand.

I will keep you and will make you

to be a covenant for the people

and a light for the Gentiles,

⁷to open eyes that are blind,

to free captives from prison

and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

⁸“I am the LORD; that is my name!

I will not yield my glory to another

or my praise to idols.

⁹See, the former things have taken place,

and new things I declare;

before they spring into being

I announce them to you.”

Song of Praise to the LORD

¹⁰Sing to the LORD a new song,

his praise from the ends of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,

you islands, and all who live in them.

¹¹Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices;

let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.

Let the people of Sela sing for joy;

let them shout from the mountaintops.

¹²Let them give glory to the LORD

and proclaim his praise in the islands.

¹³The LORD will march out like a champion,

like a warrior he will stir up his zeal;

with a shout he will raise the battle cry

and will triumph over his enemies.

¹⁴“For a long time I have kept silent,

I have been quiet and held myself back.

But now, like a woman in childbirth,

I cry out, I gasp and pant.

¹⁵I will lay waste the mountains and hills

and dry up all their vegetation;

I will turn rivers into islands

and dry up the pools.

¹⁶I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,

along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;

I will turn the darkness into light before them

and make the rough places smooth.

These are the things I will do;

I will not forsake them.

¹⁷But those who trust in idols,

who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’

will be turned back in utter shame.

Israel Blind and Deaf

¹⁸“Hear, you deaf;

look, you blind, and see!

¹⁹Who is blind but my servant,

and deaf like the messenger I send?

Who is blind like the one in covenant with me,

blind like the servant of the LORD?

²⁰You have seen many things, but you pay no attention;

your ears are open, but you do not listen.”

²¹It pleased the LORD

for the sake of his righteousness

to make his law great and glorious.

²²But this is a people plundered and looted,

all of them trapped in pits

or hidden away in prisons.

They have become plunder,

with no one to rescue them;

they have been made loot,

with no one to say, “Send them back.”

²³Which of you will listen to this

or pay close attention in time to come?

²⁴Who handed Jacob over to become loot,

and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the LORD,

against whom we have sinned?

For they would not follow his ways;

they did not obey his law.

²⁵So he poured out on them his burning anger,

the violence of war.

It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand;

it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

Isaiah 43

Israel’s Only Savior

¹But now, this is what the LORD says—

he who created you, Jacob,

he who formed you, Israel:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

²When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze.

³For I am the LORD your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

I give Egypt for your ransom,

Cush and Seba in your stead.

⁴Since you are precious and honored in my sight,

and because I love you,

I will give people in exchange for you,

nations in exchange for your life.

⁵Do not be afraid, for I am with you;

I will bring your children from the east

and gather you from the west.

⁶I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’

and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’

Bring my sons from afar

and my daughters from the ends of the earth—

⁷everyone who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.”

⁸Lead out those who have eyes but are blind,

who have ears but are deaf.

⁹All the nations gather together

and the peoples assemble.

Which of their gods foretold this

and proclaimed to us the former things?

Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right,

so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”

¹⁰“You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD,

“and my servant whom I have chosen,

so that you may know and believe me

and understand that I am he.

Before me no god was formed,

nor will there be one after me.

¹¹I, even I, am the LORD,

and apart from me there is no savior.

¹²I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—

I, and not some foreign god among you.

You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.

¹³Yes, and from ancient days I am he.

No one can deliver out of my hand.

When I act, who can reverse it?”

God’s Mercy and Israel’s Unfaithfulness

¹⁴This is what the LORD says—

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“For your sake I will send to Babylon

and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians,

in the ships in which they took pride.

¹⁵I am the LORD, your Holy One,

Israel’s Creator, your King.”

¹⁶This is what the LORD says—

he who made a way through the sea,

a path through the mighty waters,

¹⁷who drew out the chariots and horses,

the army and reinforcements together,

and they lay there, never to rise again,

extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

¹⁸“Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

¹⁹See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

and streams in the wasteland.

²⁰The wild animals honor me,

the jackals and the owls,

because I provide water in the wilderness

and streams in the wasteland,

to give drink to my people, my chosen,

²¹the people I formed for myself

that they may proclaim my praise.

²²“Yet you have not called on me, Jacob,

you have not wearied yourselves for me, Israel.

²³You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings,

nor honored me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with grain offerings

nor wearied you with demands for incense.

²⁴You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me,

or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened me with your sins

and wearied me with your offenses.

²⁵“I, even I, am he who blots out

your transgressions, for my own sake,

and remembers your sins no more.

²⁶Review the past for me,

let us argue the matter together;

state the case for your innocence.

²⁷Your first father sinned;

those I sent to teach you rebelled against me.

²⁸So I disgraced the dignitaries of your temple;

I consigned Jacob to destruction

and Israel to scorn.

Isaiah 44

Israel the Chosen

¹“But now listen, Jacob, my servant,

Israel, whom I have chosen.

²This is what the LORD says—

he who made you, who formed you in the womb,

and who will help you:

Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,

Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

³For I will pour water on the thirsty land,

and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,

and my blessing on your descendants.

⁴They will spring up like grass in a meadow,

like poplar trees by flowing streams.

⁵Some will say, ‘I belong to the LORD’;

others will call themselves by the name of Jacob;

still others will write on their hand, ‘The LORD’s,’

and will take the name Israel.

The LORD, Not Idols

⁶“This is what the LORD says—

Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty:

I am the first and I am the last;

apart from me there is no God.

⁷Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it.

Let him declare and lay out before me

what has happened since I established my ancient people,

and what is yet to come—

yes, let them foretell what will come.

⁸Do not tremble, do not be afraid.

Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?

You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?

No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”

⁹All who make idols are nothing,

and the things they treasure are worthless.

Those who would speak up for them are blind;

they are ignorant, to their own shame.

¹⁰Who shapes a god and casts an idol,

which can profit nothing?

¹¹People who do that will be put to shame;

such craftsmen are only human beings.

Let them all come together and take their stand;

they will be brought down to terror and shame.

¹²The blacksmith takes a tool

and works with it in the coals;

he shapes an idol with hammers,

he forges it with the might of his arm.

He gets hungry and loses his strength;

he drinks no water and grows faint.

¹³The carpenter measures with a line

and makes an outline with a marker;

he roughs it out with chisels

and marks it with compasses.

He shapes it in human form,

human form in all its glory,

that it may dwell in a shrine.

¹⁴He cut down cedars,

or perhaps took a cypress or oak.

He let it grow among the trees of the forest,

or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.

¹⁵It is used as fuel for burning;

some of it he takes and warms himself,

he kindles a fire and bakes bread.

But he also fashions a god and worships it;

he makes an idol and bows down to it.

¹⁶Half of the wood he burns in the fire;

over it he prepares his meal,

he roasts his meat and eats his fill.

He also warms himself and says,

“Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”

¹⁷From the rest he makes a god, his idol;

he bows down to it and worships.

He prays to it and says,

“Save me! You are my god!”

¹⁸They know nothing, they understand nothing;

their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see,

and their minds closed so they cannot understand.

¹⁹No one stops to think,

no one has the knowledge or understanding to say,

“Half of it I used for fuel;

I even baked bread over its coals,

I roasted meat and I ate.

Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?

Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

²⁰Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him;

he cannot save himself, or say,

“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

²¹“Remember these things, Jacob,

for you, Israel, are my servant.

I have made you, you are my servant;

Israel, I will not forget you.

²²I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,

your sins like the morning mist.

Return to me,

for I have redeemed you.”

²³Sing for joy, you heavens, for the LORD has done this;

shout aloud, you earth beneath.

Burst into song, you mountains,

you forests and all your trees,

for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,

he displays his glory in Israel.

Jerusalem to Be Inhabited

²⁴“This is what the LORD says—

your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:

I am the LORD,

the Maker of all things,

who stretches out the heavens,

who spreads out the earth by myself,

²⁵who foils the signs of false prophets

and makes fools of diviners,

who overthrows the learning of the wise

and turns it into nonsense,

²⁶who carries out the words of his servants

and fulfills the predictions of his messengers,

who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’

of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuilt,’

and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them,’

²⁷who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry,

and I will dry up your streams,’

²⁸who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd

and will accomplish all that I please;

he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,”

and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.” ’

Isaiah 45

¹“This is what the LORD says to his anointed,

to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of

to subdue nations before him

and to strip kings of their armor,

to open doors before him

so that gates will not be shut:

²I will go before you

and will level the mountains;

I will break down gates of bronze

and cut through bars of iron.

³I will give you hidden treasures,

riches stored in secret places,

so that you may know that I am the LORD,

the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

⁴For the sake of Jacob my servant,

of Israel my chosen,

I summon you by name

and bestow on you a title of honor,

though you do not acknowledge me.

⁵I am the LORD, and there is no other;

apart from me there is no God.

I will strengthen you,

though you have not acknowledged me,

⁶so that from the rising of the sun

to the place of its setting

people may know there is none besides me.

I am the LORD, and there is no other.

⁷I form the light and create darkness,

I bring prosperity and create disaster;

I, the LORD, do all these things.

⁸“You heavens above, rain down my righteousness;

let the clouds shower it down.

Let the earth open wide,

let salvation spring up,

let righteousness flourish with it;

I, the LORD, have created it.

⁹“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,

those who are nothing but potsherds

among the potsherds on the ground.

Does the clay say to the potter,

‘What are you making?’

Does your work say,

‘The potter has no hands’?

¹⁰Woe to the one who says to a father,

‘What have you begotten?’

or to a mother,

‘What have you brought to birth?’

¹¹“This is what the LORD says—

the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:

Concerning things to come,

do you question me about my children,

or give me orders about the work of my hands?

¹²It is I who made the earth

and created mankind on it.

My own hands stretched out the heavens;

I marshaled their starry hosts.

¹³I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness:

I will make all his ways straight.

He will rebuild my city

and set my exiles free,

but not for a price or reward,

says the LORD Almighty.”

¹⁴This is what the LORD says:

“The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,

and those tall Sabeans—

they will come over to you

and will be yours;

they will trudge behind you,

coming over to you in chains.

They will bow down before you

and plead with you, saying,

‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other;

there is no other god.’ ”

¹⁵Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself,

the God and Savior of Israel.

¹⁶All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced;

they will go off into disgrace together.

¹⁷But Israel will be saved by the LORD

with an everlasting salvation;

you will never be put to shame or disgraced,

to ages everlasting.

¹⁸For this is what the LORD says—

he who created the heavens,

he is God;

he who fashioned and made the earth,

he founded it;

he did not create it to be empty,

but formed it to be inhabited—

he says:

“I am the LORD,

and there is no other.

¹⁹I have not spoken in secret,

from somewhere in a land of darkness;

I have not said to Jacob’s descendants,

‘Seek me in vain.’

I, the LORD, speak the truth;

I declare what is right.

²⁰“Gather together and come;

assemble, you fugitives from the nations.

Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood,

who pray to gods that cannot save.

²¹Declare what is to be, present it—

let them take counsel together.

Who foretold this long ago,

who declared it from the distant past?

Was it not I, the LORD?

And there is no God apart from me,

a righteous God and a Savior;

there is none but me.

²²“Turn to me and be saved,

all you ends of the earth;

for I am God, and there is no other.

²³By myself I have sworn,

my mouth has uttered in all integrity

a word that will not be revoked:

Before me every knee will bow;

by me every tongue will swear.

²⁴They will say of me, ‘In the LORD alone

are deliverance and strength.’ ”

All who have raged against him

will come to him and be put to shame.

²⁵But all the descendants of Israel

will find deliverance in the LORD

and will make their boast in him.

Isaiah 46

Gods of Babylon

¹Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low;

their idols are borne by beasts of burden.

The images that are carried about are burdensome,

a burden for the weary.

²They stoop and bow down together;

unable to rescue the burden,

they themselves go off into captivity.

³“Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob,

all the remnant of the people of Israel,

you whom I have upheld since your birth,

and have carried since you were born.

⁴Even to your old age and gray hairs

I am he, I am he who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

⁵“With whom will you compare me or count me equal?

To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?

⁶Some pour out gold from their bags

and weigh out silver on the scales;

they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god,

and they bow down and worship it.

⁷They lift it to their shoulders and carry it;

they set it up in its place, and there it stands.

From that spot it cannot move.

Even though someone cries out to it, it cannot answer;

it cannot save them from their troubles.

⁸“Remember this, keep it in mind,

take it to heart, you rebels.

⁹Remember the former things, those of long ago;

I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me.

¹⁰I make known the end from the beginning,

from ancient times, what is still to come.

I say, ‘My purpose will stand,

and I will do all that I please.’

¹¹From the east I summon a bird of prey;

from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.

What I have said, that I will bring about;

what I have planned, that I will do.

¹²Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted,

you who are now far from my righteousness.

¹³I am bringing my righteousness near,

it is not far away;

and my salvation will not be delayed.

I will grant salvation to Zion,

my splendor to Israel.

Isaiah 47

The Fall of Babylon

¹“Go down, sit in the dust,

Virgin Daughter Babylon;

sit on the ground without a throne,

queen city of the Babylonians.

No more will you be called

tender or delicate.

²Take millstones and grind flour;

take off your veil.

Lift up your skirts, bare your legs,

and wade through the streams.

³Your nakedness will be exposed

and your shame uncovered.

I will take vengeance;

I will spare no one.”

⁴Our Redeemer—the LORD Almighty is his name—

is the Holy One of Israel.

⁵“Sit in silence, go into darkness,

queen city of the Babylonians;

no more will you be called

queen of kingdoms.

⁶I was angry with my people

and desecrated my inheritance;

I gave them into your hand,

and you showed them no mercy.

Even on the aged

you laid a very heavy yoke.

⁷You said, ‘I am forever—

the eternal queen!’

But you did not consider these things

or reflect on what might happen.

⁸“Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure,

lounging in your security

and saying to yourself,

‘I am, and there is none besides me.

I will never be a widow

or suffer the loss of children.’

⁹Both of these will overtake you

in a moment, on a single day:

loss of children and widowhood.

They will come upon you in full measure,

in spite of your many sorceries

and all your potent spells.

¹⁰You have trusted in your wickedness

and have said, ‘No one sees me.’

Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you

when you say to yourself,

‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

¹¹Disaster will come upon you,

and you will not know how to conjure it away.

A calamity will fall upon you

that you cannot ward off with a ransom;

a catastrophe you cannot foresee

will suddenly come upon you.

¹²“Keep on, then, with your magic spells

and with your many sorceries,

which you have labored at since childhood.

Perhaps you will succeed,

perhaps you will cause terror.

¹³All the counsel you have received has only worn you out!

Let your astrologers come forward,

those stargazers who make predictions month by month,

let them save you from what is coming upon you.

¹⁴Surely they are like stubble;

the fire will burn them up.

They cannot even save themselves

from the power of the flame.

These are not coals for warmth;

this is not a fire to sit by.

¹⁵That is all they are to you—

these you have dealt with

and labored with since childhood.

All of them go on in their error;

there is not one that can save you.

Isaiah 48

Stubborn Israel

¹“Listen to this, you descendants of Jacob,

you who are called by the name of Israel

and come from the line of Judah,

you who take oaths in the name of the LORD

and invoke the God of Israel—

but not in truth or righteousness—

²you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city

and claim to rely on the God of Israel—

the LORD Almighty is his name:

³I foretold the former things long ago,

my mouth announced them and I made them known;

then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.

⁴For I knew how stubborn you were;

your neck muscles were iron,

your forehead was bronze.

⁵Therefore I told you these things long ago;

before they happened I announced them to you

so that you could not say,

‘My images brought them about;

my wooden image and metal god ordained them.’

⁶You have heard these things; look at them all.

Will you not admit them?

“From now on I will tell you of new things,

of hidden things unknown to you.

⁷They are created now, and not long ago;

you have not heard of them before today.

So you cannot say,

‘Yes, I knew of them.’

⁸You have neither heard nor understood;

from of old your ears have not been open.

Well do I know how treacherous you are;

you were called a rebel from birth.

⁹For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath;

for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you,

so as not to destroy you completely.

¹⁰See, I have refined you, though not as silver;

I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

¹¹For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.

How can I let myself be defamed?

I will not yield my glory to another.

Israel Freed

¹²“Listen to me, Jacob,

Israel, whom I have called:

I am he;

I am the first and I am the last.

¹³My own hand laid the foundations of the earth,

and my right hand spread out the heavens;

when I summon them,

they all stand up together.

¹⁴“Come together, all of you, and listen:

Which of the idols has foretold these things?

The LORD’s chosen ally

will carry out his purpose against Babylon;

his arm will be against the Babylonians.

¹⁵I, even I, have spoken;

yes, I have called him.

I will bring him,

and he will succeed in his mission.

¹⁶“Come near me and listen to this:

“From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret;

at the time it happens, I am there.”

And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me,

endowed with his Spirit.

¹⁷This is what the LORD says—

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the LORD your God,

who teaches you what is best for you,

who directs you in the way you should go.

¹⁸If only you had paid attention to my commands,

your peace would have been like a river,

your well-being like the waves of the sea.

¹⁹Your descendants would have been like the sand,

your children like its numberless grains;

their name would never be blotted out

nor destroyed from before me.”

²⁰Leave Babylon,

flee from the Babylonians!

Announce this with shouts of joy

and proclaim it.

Send it out to the ends of the earth;

say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.”

²¹They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;

he made water flow for them from the rock;

he split the rock

and water gushed out.

²²“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

Isaiah 49

The Servant of the LORD

¹Listen to me, you islands;

hear this, you distant nations:

Before I was born the LORD called me;

from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.

²He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,

in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me into a polished arrow

and concealed me in his quiver.

³He said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”

⁴But I said, “I have labored in vain;

I have spent my strength for nothing at all.

Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand,

and my reward is with my God.”

⁵And now the LORD says—

he who formed me in the womb to be his servant

to bring Jacob back to him

and gather Israel to himself,

for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD

and my God has been my strength—

⁶he says:

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant

to restore the tribes of Jacob

and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,

that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

⁷This is what the LORD says—

the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—

to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,

to the servant of rulers:

“Kings will see you and stand up,

princes will see and bow down,

because of the LORD, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

Restoration of Israel

⁸This is what the LORD says:

“In the time of my favor I will answer you,

and in the day of salvation I will help you;

I will keep you and will make you

to be a covenant for the people,

to restore the land

and to reassign its desolate inheritances,

⁹to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’

and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’

“They will feed beside the roads

and find pasture on every barren hill.

¹⁰They will neither hunger nor thirst,

nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.

He who has compassion on them will guide them

and lead them beside springs of water.

¹¹I will turn all my mountains into roads,

and my highways will be raised up.

¹²See, they will come from afar—

some from the north, some from the west,

some from the region of Aswan.”

¹³Shout for joy, you heavens;

rejoice, you earth;

burst into song, you mountains!

For the LORD comforts his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

¹⁴But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,

the Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

Though she may forget,

I will not forget you!

¹⁶See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are ever before me.

¹⁷Your children hasten back,

and those who laid you waste depart from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes and look around;

all your children gather and come to you.

As surely as I live,” declares the LORD,

“you will wear them all as ornaments;

you will put them on, like a bride.

¹⁹“Though you were ruined and made desolate

and your land laid waste,

now you will be too small for your people,

and those who devoured you will be far away.

²⁰The children born during your bereavement

will yet say in your hearing,

‘This place is too small for us;

give us more space to live in.’

²¹Then you will say in your heart,

‘Who bore me these?

I was bereaved and barren;

I was exiled and rejected.

Who brought these up?

I was left all alone,

but these—where have they come from?’ ”

²²This is what the Sovereign LORD says:

“See, I will beckon to the nations,

I will lift up my banner to the peoples;

they will bring your sons in their arms

and carry your daughters on their hips.

²³Kings will be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers.

They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground;

they will lick the dust at your feet.

Then you will know that I am the LORD;

those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

²⁴Can plunder be taken from warriors,

or captives be rescued from the fierce?

²⁵But this is what the LORD says:

“Yes, captives will be taken from warriors,

and plunder retrieved from the fierce;

I will contend with those who contend with you,

and your children I will save.

²⁶I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine.

Then all mankind will know

that I, the LORD, am your Savior,

your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Isaiah 50

Israel’s Sin and the Servant’s Obedience

¹This is what the LORD says:

“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce

with which I sent her away?

Or to which of my creditors

did I sell you?

Because of your sins you were sold;

because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.

²When I came, why was there no one?

When I called, why was there no one to answer?

Was my arm too short to deliver you?

Do I lack the strength to rescue you?

By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea,

I turn rivers into a desert;

their fish rot for lack of water

and die of thirst.

³I clothe the heavens with darkness

and make sackcloth its covering.”

⁴The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue,

to know the word that sustains the weary.

He wakens me morning by morning,

wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.

⁵The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears;

I have not been rebellious,

I have not turned away.

⁶I offered my back to those who beat me,

my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;

I did not hide my face

from mocking and spitting.

⁷Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,

I will not be disgraced.

Therefore have I set my face like flint,

and I know I will not be put to shame.

⁸He who vindicates me is near.

Who then will bring charges against me?

Let us face each other!

Who is my accuser?

Let him confront me!

⁹It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me.

Who will condemn me?

They will all wear out like a garment;

the moths will eat them up.

¹⁰Who among you fears the LORD

and obeys the word of his servant?

Let the one who walks in the dark,

who has no light,

trust in the name of the LORD

and rely on their God.

¹¹But now, all you who light fires

and provide yourselves with flaming torches,

go, walk in the light of your fires

and of the torches you have set ablaze.

This is what you shall receive from my hand:

You will lie down in torment.

Isaiah 51

Everlasting Salvation for Zion

¹“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness

and who seek the LORD:

Look to the rock from which you were cut

and to the quarry from which you were hewn;

²look to Abraham, your father,

and to Sarah, who gave you birth.

When I called him he was only one man,

and I blessed him and made him many.

³The LORD will surely comfort Zion

and will look with compassion on all her ruins;

he will make her deserts like Eden,

her wastelands like the garden of the LORD.

Joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

⁴“Listen to me, my people;

hear me, my nation:

Instruction will go out from me;

my justice will become a light to the nations.

⁵My righteousness draws near speedily,

my salvation is on the way,

and my arm will bring justice to the nations.

The islands will look to me

and wait in hope for my arm.

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens,

look at the earth beneath;

the heavens will vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment

and its inhabitants die like flies.

But my salvation will last forever,

my righteousness will never fail.

⁷“Hear me, you who know what is right,

you people who have taken my instruction to heart:

Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals

or be terrified by their insults.

⁸For the moth will eat them up like a garment;

the worm will devour them like wool.

But my righteousness will last forever,

my salvation through all generations.”

⁹Awake, awake, arm of the LORD,

clothe yourself with strength!

Awake, as in days gone by,

as in generations of old.

Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces,

who pierced that monster through?

¹⁰Was it not you who dried up the sea,

the waters of the great deep,

who made a road in the depths of the sea

so that the redeemed might cross over?

¹¹Those the LORD has rescued will return.

They will enter Zion with singing;

everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

¹²“I, even I, am he who comforts you.

Who are you that you fear mere mortals,

human beings who are but grass,

¹³that you forget the LORD your Maker,

who stretches out the heavens

and who lays the foundations of the earth,

that you live in constant terror every day

because of the wrath of the oppressor,

who is bent on destruction?

For where is the wrath of the oppressor?

¹⁴The cowering prisoners will soon be set free;

they will not die in their dungeon,

nor will they lack bread.

¹⁵For I am the LORD your God,

who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

the LORD Almighty is his name.

¹⁶I have put my words in your mouth

and covered you with the shadow of my hand—

I who set the heavens in place,

who laid the foundations of the earth,

and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”

The Cup of the LORD’s Wrath

¹⁷Awake, awake!

Rise up, Jerusalem,

you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD

the cup of his wrath,

you who have drained to its dregs

the goblet that makes people stagger.

¹⁸Among all the children she bore

there was none to guide her;

among all the children she reared

there was none to take her by the hand.

¹⁹These double calamities have come upon you—

who can comfort you?—

ruin and destruction, famine and sword—

who can console you?

²⁰Your children have fainted;

they lie at every street corner,

like antelope caught in a net.

They are filled with the wrath of the LORD,

with the rebuke of your God.

²¹Therefore hear this, you afflicted one,

made drunk, but not with wine.

²²This is what your Sovereign LORD says,

your God, who defends his people:

“See, I have taken out of your hand

the cup that made you stagger;

from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,

you will never drink again.

²³I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,

who said to you,

‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’

And you made your back like the ground,

like a street to be walked on.”