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,[56]

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.[57]

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.

26:3–4

Beloved,

In the midst of your crazy-busy schedule, in the middle of all your responsibilities and activities, you can find my peace. Trust in me forever. I’ll keep you in my perfect peace.

—The Rock Eternal

How is it possible to have peace, even during busy or difficult times?

Back to the Love Notes Index

 

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[58] 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[59] 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[60];

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[61] 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,[62]

barley in its plot,[63]

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.[64]

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.[65]

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.[66]

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[67] 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[68] 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[69] and screech owl[70] will possess it;

the great owl[71] 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.

35:8–10

Beloved,

I have a path for your life. It’s a path of everlasting joy, an eternity without pain, worry or death. Follow my path, and I will never leave your side.

—Your heavenly Father

Describe the “Way of Holiness.” Are you walking on it?

Back to the Love Notes Index

 

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[72]? 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,[73] 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.[74]”

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[75]

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[76] 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[77];

make straight in the desert

a highway for our God.[78]

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,[79]

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[80] 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.

40:29–31

My daughter,

Need an energy boost? When you’re feeling worn out and beaten down, come to me. I will refresh you so that you can walk, run, even soar with renewed strength!

—Your Hope and Strength

What do these verses say you have to do in order to get renewed strength? What does that mean?

Back to the Love Notes Index

 

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[81]?

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[82] 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,[83]

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[84] 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[85]

and Israel to scorn.

43:1–2

Precious one,

No matter what difficulties you’re facing, we will walk through them together. No matter how intense the situation, you won’t be forever destroyed. Because you are special to me, I will always watch over you.

—Your Protector

Have you ever walked through the waters or fire with God? Describe that experience.

Back to the Love Notes Index

 

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,[86] 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[87];

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[88] 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,[89]

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.[90]

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.