Home -> Major Sections of the Bible -> Isaiah 40:1 - Isaiah 56:8
God's Promise Of Salvation and the Future Glory of Israel
Isaiah 40:1 - Isaiah 56:8
Comfort, comfort my people
1
"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God.
2
"Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of The LORD's hand double for all her sins."
3
The voice of one who calls out,"Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness!Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
4
Every valley shall be exalted,and every mountain and hill shall be made low.The uneven shall be made level,and the rough places a plain.
5
The LORD's glory shall be revealed,and all flesh shall see it together;for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it."
6
The voice of one saying, "Cry!"One said, "What shall I cry?""All flesh is like grass,and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
7
The grass withers,the flower fades,because The LORD's breath blows on it.Surely the people are like grass.
8
The grass withers,the flower fades;but the word of our God stands forever."
9
You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain.You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength.Lift it up. Don't be afraid.Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold, your God!"
10
Behold, the Lord the LORD will come as a mighty one,and his arm will rule for him.Behold, his reward is with him,and his recompense before him.
11
He will feed his flock like a shepherd.He will gather the lambs in his arm,and carry them in his bosom.He will gently lead those who have their young.
12
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,and marked off the sky with his span,and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket,and weighed the mountains in scales,and the hills in a balance?
13
Who has directed The LORD's Spirit,or has taught him as his counselor?
14
Who did he take counsel with,and who instructed him,and taught him in the path of justice,and taught him knowledge,and showed him the way of understanding?
15
Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket,and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance.Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.
16
Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
17
All the nations are like nothing before him.They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
18
To whom then will you liken God?Or what likeness will you compare to him?
19
A workman has cast an image,and the goldsmith overlays it with gold,and casts silver chains for it.
20
He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot.He seeks a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved.
21
Haven't you known?Haven't you heard?Haven't you been told from the beginning?Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth?
22
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;
23
who brings princes to nothing;who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless.
24
They are planted scarcely.They are sown scarcely.Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground.He merely blows on them, and they wither,and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.
25
"To whom then will you liken me?Who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
26
Lift up your eyes on high,and see who has created these,who brings out their army by number.He calls them all by name.by the greatness of his might,and because he is strong in power,Not one is lacking.
27
Why do you say, Jacob,and speak, Israel,"My way is hidden from The LORD,and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?"
28
Haven't you known?Haven't you heard?The everlasting God, The LORD,The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't faint.He isn't weary.His understanding is unsearchable.
29
He gives power to the weak.He increases the strength of him who has no might.
30
Even the youths faint and get weary,and the young men utterly fall;
31
But those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength.They will mount up with wings like eagles.They will run, and not be weary.They will walk, and not faint.
God's Promises to Israel
1
"Keep silent before me, islands,and let the peoples renew their strength.Let them come near,then let them speak.Let's meet together for judgment.
2
Who has raised up one from the east?Who called him to his foot in righteousness?He hands over nations to him,and makes him rule over kings.He gives them like the dust to his sword,like the driven stubble to his bow.
3
He pursues them,and passes by safely,Even by a way that he had not gone with his feet.
4
Who has worked and done it,calling the generations from the beginning?I, The LORD, the first, and with the last, I am he."
5
The islands have seen, and fear.The ends of the earth tremble.They approach, and come.
6
Everyone helps his neighbor.They say to their brothers, "Be strong!"
7
So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith.He who smoothes with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil,saying of the soldering, "It is good";and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.
8
"But you, Israel, my servant,Jacob whom I have chosen,the offspring of Abraham my friend,
9
You whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth,and called from its corners,and said to you, 'You are my servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away.'
10
Don't you be afraid, for I am with you.Don't be dismayed, for I am your God.I will strengthen you.Yes, I will help you.Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
11
Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded.Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish.
12
You will seek them, and won't find them,even those who contend with you.Those who war against you will be as nothing,as a non-existent thing.
13
For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand,saying to you, 'Don't be afraid.I will help you.'
14
Don't be afraid, you worm Jacob,and you men of Israel.I will help you," says The LORD,"and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15
Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth.You will thresh the mountains,and beat them small,and will make the hills like chaff.
16
You will winnow them,and the wind will carry them away,and the whirlwind will scatter them.You will rejoice in The LORD.You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17
The poor and needy seek water, and there is none.Their tongue fails for thirst.I, The LORD, will answer them.I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18
I will open rivers on the bare heights,and springs in the middle of the valleys.I will make the wilderness a pool of water,and the dry land springs of water.
19
I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil trees in the wilderness.I will set cypress trees, pine, and box trees together in the desert;
20
that they may see, know, consider, and understand together,that The LORD's hand has done this,and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21
Produce your cause," says The LORD."Bring out your strong reasons," says the King of Jacob.
22
"Let them announce, and declare to us what shall happen.Declare the former things, what they are,that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them;or show us things to come.
23
Declare the things that are to come hereafter,that we may know that you are gods.Yes, do good, or do evil,that we may be dismayed,and see it together.
24
Behold, you are of nothing,and your work is of nothing.He who chooses you is an abomination.
25
"I have raised up one from the north, and he has come;from the rising of the sun, one who calls on my name;and he shall come on rulers as on mortar,and as the potter treads clay.
26
Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know?And before, that we may say, 'He is right?'Surely, there is no one who declares.Surely, there is no one who shows.Surely, there is no one who hears your words.
27
I am the first to say to Zion, 'Behold, look at them;'and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem.
28
When I look, there is no man;even among them there is no counselor who, when I ask of them, can answer a word.
29
Behold, all of them, their deeds are vanity and nothing.Their molten images are wind and confusion.
Behold, my servant, whom I have chosen; A Song of Praise; Israel's Blindness
1
"Behold, my servant, whom I uphold;my chosen, in whom my soul delights-I have put my Spirit on him.He will bring justice to the nations.
2
He will not shout,nor raise his voice,nor cause it to be heard in the street.
3
He won't break a bruised reed.He won't quench a dimly burning wick.He will faithfully bring justice.
4
He will not fail nor be discouraged,until he has set justice in the earth,and the islands will wait for his law."
5
Thus says God The LORD,he who created the heavens and stretched them out,he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it,he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it.
6
"I, The LORD, have called you in righteousness,and will hold your hand,and will keep you,and make you a covenant for the people,as a light for the nations;
7
to open the blind eyes,to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon,and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.
8
"I am The LORD.That is my name.I will not give my glory to another,nor my praise to engraved images.
9
Behold, the former things have happened,and I declare new things.I tell you about them before they come up."
10
Sing to the LORD a new song,and his praise from the end of the earth,you who go down to the sea,and all that is therein,the islands and their inhabitants.
11
Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices,with the villages that Kedar inhabits.Let the inhabitants of Sela sing.Let them shout from the top of the mountains!
12
Let them give glory to The LORD,and declare his praise in the islands.
13
The LORD will go out like a mighty man.He will stir up zeal like a man of war.He will raise a war cry.Yes, he will shout aloud.He will triumph over his enemies.
14
"I have been silent a long time.I have been quiet and restrained myself.Now I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will both gasp and pant.
15
I will destroy mountains and hills,and dry up all their herbs.I will make the rivers islands,and will dry up the pools.
16
I will bring the blind by a way that they don't know.I will lead them in paths that they don't know.I will make darkness light before them,and crooked places straight.I will do these things,and I will not forsake them.
17
"Those who trust in engraved images,who tell molten images,'You are our gods'will be turned back.They will be utterly disappointed.
18
"Hear, you deaf,and look, you blind,that you may see.
19
Who is blind, but my servant?Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send?Who is as blind as he who is at peace,and as blind as The LORD's servant?
20
You see many things, but don't observe.His ears are open, but he doesn't listen.
21
It pleased The LORD, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify the law,and make it honorable.
22
But this is a robbed and plundered people.All of them are snared in holes,and they are hidden in prisons.They have become captives, and no one delivers;and a plunder, and no one says, 'Restore them!'
23
Who is there among you who will give ear to this?Who will listen and hear for the time to come?
24
Who gave Jacob as plunder,and Israel to the robbers?Didn't The LORD, he against whom we have sinned?For they would not walk in his ways,and they disobeyed his law.
25
Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him,and the strength of battle;and it set him on fire all around, but he didn't know;and it burned him, but he didn't take it to heart."
Israel Redeemed; God's Mercy; Israel's Unfaithfulness
1
But now the LORD who created you, Jacob,and he who formed you, Israel says:"Don't be afraid, for I have redeemed you.I have called you by your name.You are mine.
2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;and through the rivers, they will not overflow you.When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned,and flame will not scorch you.
3
For I am the LORD your God,the Holy One of Israel,your Savior.I have given Egypt as your ransom,Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
4
Since you have been precious and honored in my sight,and I have loved you;therefore I will give people in your place,and nations instead of your life.
5
Don't be afraid; for I am with you.I will bring your offspring from the east,and gather you from the west.
6
I will tell the north, 'Give them up!'and tell the south, 'Don't hold them back!Bring my sons from far,and my daughters from the ends of the earth-
7
everyone who is called by my name,and whom I have created for my glory,whom I have formed,yes, whom I have made.'"
8
Bring out the blind people who have eyes,and the deaf who have ears.
9
Let all the nations be gathered together,and let the peoples be assembled.Who among them can declare this,and show us former things?Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified;or let them hear, and say, "That is true."
10
"You are my witnesses," says The LORD,"With my servant whom I have chosen;that you may know and believe me,and understand that I am he.Before me there was no God formed,neither will there be after me.
11
I myself am The LORD;and besides me there is no savior.
12
I have declared, I have saved, and I have shown;and there was no strange god among you.Therefore you are my witnesses",says The LORD, "and I am God.
13
Yes, since the day was I am he;and there is no one who can deliver out of my hand.I will work, and who can hinder it?"
14
The LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: "For your sake, I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.
15
I am The LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King."
16
The LORD, who makes a way in the sea,and a path in the mighty waters says:
17
who brings out the chariot and horse,the army and the mighty man(they lie down together, they shall not rise;they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick):
18
"Don't remember the former things,and don't consider the things of old.
19
Behold, I will do a new thing.It springs out now.Don't you know it?I will even make a way in the wilderness,and rivers in the desert.
20
The animals of the field shall honor me,the jackals and the ostriches;because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21
the people which I formed for myself,that they might declare my praise.
22
Yet you have not called on me, Jacob;but you have been weary of me, Israel.
23
You have not brought me of your sheep for burnt offerings;neither have you honored me with your sacrifices.I have not burdened you with offerings,nor wearied you with frankincense.
24
You have bought me no sweet cane with money,nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices;but you have burdened me with your sins.You have wearied me with your iniquities.
25
I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake;and I will not remember your sins.
26
Put me in remembrance.Let us plead together.Declare your case,that you may be justified.
27
Your first father sinned,and your teachers have transgressed against me.
28
Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;and I will make Jacob a curse,and Israel an insult."
God's Blessings upon Israel; The Foolishness of Idolatry; God's Will for Jerusalem's Inhabitation
1
Yet listen now, Jacob my servant,and Israel, whom I have chosen.
2
This is what the LORD who made you,and formed you from the womb,who will help you says:"Don't be afraid, Jacob my servant;and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
3
For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,and streams on the dry ground.I will pour my Spirit on your descendants,and my blessing on your offspring:
4
and they will spring up among the grass,as willows by the watercourses.
5
One will say, 'I am The LORD's;'and another will be called by the name of Jacob;and another will write with his hand 'to The LORD,'and honor the name of Israel."
6
This is what The LORD, the King of Israel,and his Redeemer, the LORD of Hosts, says:"I am the first, and I am the last;and besides me there is no God.
7
Who is like me?Who will call,and will declare it,and set it in order for me,since I established the ancient people?Let them declare the things that are coming,and that will happen.
8
Don't fear,neither be afraid.Haven't I declared it to you long ago,and shown it?You are my witnesses.Is there a God besides me?Indeed, there is not.I don't know any other Rock."
9
Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain.The things that they delight in will not profit.Their own witnesses don't see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.
10
Who has fashioned a god,or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?
11
Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed;and the workmen are mere men.Let them all be gathered together.Let them stand up.They will fear.They will be put to shame together.
12
The blacksmith takes an ax,works in the coals,fashions it with hammers,and works it with his strong arm.He is hungry,and his strength fails;he drinks no water,and is faint.
13
The carpenter stretches out a line.He marks it out with a pencil.He shapes it with planes.He marks it out with compasses,and shapes it like the figure of a man,with the beauty of a man,to reside in a house.
14
He cuts down cedars for himself,and takes the cypress and the oak,and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest.He plants a cypress tree,and the rain nourishes it.
15
Then it will be for a man to burn;and he takes some of it, and warms himself.Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread.Yes, he makes a god, and worships it;he makes it an engraved image, and falls down to it.
16
He burns part of it in the fire.With part of it, he eats meat.He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.Yes, he warms himself,and says, "Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire."
17
The rest of it he makes into a god,even his engraved image.He bows down to it and worships,and prays to it, and says, "Deliver me; for you are my god!"
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They don't know, neither do they consider:for he has shut their eyes, that they can't see;and their hearts, that they can't understand.
19
No one thinks,neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say,"I have burned part of it in the fire.Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals.I have roasted meat and eaten it.Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination?Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?"
20
He feeds on ashes.A deceived heart has turned him aside;and he can't deliver his soul,nor say, "Isn't there a lie in my right hand?"
21
Remember these things, Jacob and Israel;for you are my servant.I have formed you.You are my servant.Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
22
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions,and, as a cloud, your sins.Return to me, for I have redeemed you.
23
Sing, you heavens, for the LORD has done it!Shout, you lower parts of the earth!Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees,for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,and will glorify himself in Israel.
24
The LORD, your Redeemer,and he who formed you from the womb says:"I am The LORD, who makes all things;who alone stretches out the heavens;who spreads out the earth by myself;
25
who frustrates the signs of the liars,and makes diviners mad;who turns wise men backward,and makes their knowledge foolish;
26
who confirms the word of his servant,and performs the counsel of his messengers;who says of Jerusalem, 'She will be inhabited;'and of the cities of Judah, 'They will be built,'and 'I will raise up its waste places;'
27
who says to the deep, 'Be dry,'and 'I will dry up your rivers;'
28
Who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,'even saying of Jerusalem, 'She will be built;'and of the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid.'"
God Calls Cyrus
1
The LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
2
"I will go before you,and make the rough places smooth.I will break the doors of brass in pieces,and cut apart the bars of iron.
3
I will give you the treasures of darkness,and hidden riches of secret places,that you may know that it is I, The LORD, who call you by your name,even the God of Israel.
4
For Jacob my servant's sake,and Israel my chosen,I have called you by your name.I have given you a title,though you have not known me.
5
I am The LORD, and there is no one else.Besides me, there is no God.I will strengthen you,though you have not known me;
6
that they may know from the rising of the sun,and from the west,that there is no one besides me.I am The LORD, and there is no one else.
7
I form the light,and create darkness.I make peace,and create calamity.I am The LORD,who does all these things.
8
Rain, you heavens, from above,and let the skies pour down righteousness.Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation,and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it.I, The LORD, have created it.
9
Woe to him who strives with his Maker-a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth!Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, 'What are you making?'or your work, 'He has no hands?'
10
Woe to him who says to a father, 'What have you become the father of?'or to a mother, 'To what have you given birth?'"
11
The LORD, the Holy One of Israel,and his Maker says:"You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons,and you command me concerning the work of my hands!
12
I have made the earth, and created man on it.I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens;and I have commanded all their army.
13
I have raised him up in righteousness,and I will make straight all his ways.He shall build my city,and he shall let my exiles go free,not for price nor reward," says the LORD of Hosts.
14
The LORD says: "The labor of Egypt,and the merchandise of Ethiopia,and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you,and they shall be yours.They will go after you.They shall come over in chains;and they will bow down to you.They will make supplication to you:'Surely God is in you; and there is no one else.There is no other god.
15
Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself,God of Israel, the Savior.'"
16
They will be disappointed,yes, confounded, all of them.Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.
17
Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation.You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.
18
For the LORD who created the heavens,the God who formed the earth and made it,who established it and didn't create it a waste,who formed it to be inhabited says:"I am The LORD;and there is no other.
19
I have not spoken in secret,in a place of the land of darkness.I didn't say to the offspring of Jacob, 'Seek me in vain.'I, The LORD, speak righteousness.I declare things that are right.
20
"Assemble yourselves and come.Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations.Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image,and pray to a god that can't save.
21
Declare and present it.Yes, let them take counsel together.Who has shown this from ancient time?Who has declared it of old?Haven't I, The LORD?There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior;There is no one besides me.
22
"Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth;for I am God, and there is no other.
23
I have sworn by myself.The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked,that to me every knee shall bow,every tongue shall take an oath.
24
They will say of me,'There is righteousness and strength only in The LORD.'"Even to him shall men come;and all those who raged against him shall be disappointed.
25
All the offspring of Israel will be justified in The LORD,and will rejoice!
The Idols of Babylon
1
Bel bows down.Nebo stoops.Their idols are carried by animals,and on the livestock.The things that you carried around are heavy loads,a burden for the weary.
2
They stoop and they bow down together.They could not deliver the burden,but they have gone into captivity.
3
"Listen to me, house of Jacob,and all the remnant of the house of Israel,that have been carried from their birth,that have been carried from the womb.
4
Even to old age I am he,and even to gray hairs I will carry you.I have made, and I will bear.Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.
5
"To whom will you compare me, and consider my equal,and compare me, as if we were the same?
6
Some pour out gold from the bag,and weigh silver in the balance.They hire a goldsmith,and he makes it a god.They fall down-yes, they worship.
7
They bear it on their shoulder.They carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands there.It cannot move from its place.Yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer.It cannot save him out of his trouble.
8
"Remember this, and show yourselves men.Bring it to mind again, you transgressors.
9
Remember the former things of old:for I am God, and there is no other.I am God, and there is none like me.
10
I declare the end from the beginning,and from ancient times things that are not yet done.I say: My counsel will stand,and I will do all that I please.
11
I call a ravenous bird from the east,the man of my counsel from a far country.Yes, I have spoken.I will also bring it to pass.I have planned.I will also do it.
12
Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted,who are far from righteousness!
13
I bring my righteousness near.It is not far off,and my salvation will not wait.I will grant salvation to Zion,my glory to Israel.
God's Judgment upon Babylon and Chaldea
1
"Come down, and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon.Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans.For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
2
Take the millstones, and grind flour.Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs,and wade through the rivers.
3
Your nakedness will be uncovered.Yes, your shame will be seen.I will take vengeance,and will spare no one."
4
Our Redeemer, the LORD of Hosts is his name,is the Holy One of Israel.
5
"Sit in silence, and go into darkness,daughter of the Chaldeans.For you shall no longer be calledthe mistress of kingdoms.
6
I was angry with my people.I profaned my inheritance,and gave them into your hand.You showed them no mercy.You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged.
7
You said, 'I will be a princess forever;'so that you did not lay these things to your heart,nor did you remember the results.
8
"Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures,who sit securely,who say in your heart,'I am, and there is no one else besides me.I shall not sit as a widow,neither shall I know the loss of children.'
9
But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day,the loss of children and widowhood.They will come on you in their full measure,in the multitude of your sorceries,and the great abundance of your enchantments.
10
For you have trusted in your wickedness.You have said, 'No one sees me.'Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you.You have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one else besides me.'
11
Therefore disaster will come on you.You won't know when it dawns.Mischief will fall on you.You won't be able to put it away.Desolation will come on you suddenly,which you don't understand.
12
"Stand now with your enchantments,and with the multitude of your sorceries,in which you have labored from your youth;as if you might profit;as if you might prevail.
13
You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels.Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save you from the things that will come on you.
14
Behold, they are like stubble.The fire will burn them.They won't deliver themselves from the power of the flame.It won't be a coal to warm ator a fire to sit by.
15
The things that you labored in will be like this:those who have trafficked with you from your youth will each wander in his own way.There will be no one to save you.
Israel's Obstinacy and Deliverance
1
"Hear this, house of Jacob,you who are called by the name of Israel,and have come out of the waters of Judah.You swear by The LORD's name,and make mention of the God of Israel,but not in truth, nor in righteousness
2
(for they call themselves citizens of the holy city,and rely on the God of Israel;The LORD of Armies is his name):
3
I have declared the former things from of old;yes, they went out of my mouth, and I revealed them.I did them suddenly, and they happened.
4
Because I knew that you are obstinate,and your neck is an iron sinew,and your brow brass;
5
therefore I have declared it to you from of old;before it came to pass I showed it to you;lest you should say, 'My idol has done them, and my engraved image, and my molten image, has commanded them.'
6
You have heard it;see all this.And you, won't you declare it?"I have shown you new things from this time,even hidden things, which you have not known.
7
They are created now, and not from of old;and before today you didn't hear them;lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.'
8
Yes, you didn't hear;yes, you didn't know;yes, from of old your ear was not opened:for I knew that you dealt very treacherously,and were called a transgressor from the womb.
9
For my name's sake, I will defer my anger,and for my praise I hold it back for you,so that I don't cut you off.
10
Behold, I have refined you,but not as silver.I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
11
For my own sake,for my own sake, I will do it;for how would my name be profaned?I will not give my glory to another.
12
"Listen to me, O Jacob,and Israel my called:I am he;I am the first,I am also the last.
13
Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth,and my right hand has spread out the heavens.when I call to them, they stand up together.
14
"Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear;who among them has declared these things?He whom the LORD loves will do what he likes to Babylon,and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15
I, even I, have spoken;yes, I have called him.I have brought him,and he shall make his way prosperous.
16
"Come near to me and hear this:"From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;from the time that it happened, I was there."Now the Lord the LORD has sent me,with his Spirit.
17
The LORD,your Redeemer,the Holy One of Israel says:"I am the LORD your God,who teaches you to profit,who leads you by the way that you should go.
18
Oh that you had listened to my commandments!Then your peace would have been like a river,and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19
Your offspring also would have been as the sand,and the descendants of your body like its grains.His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me."
20
Leave Babylon!Flee from the Chaldeans!With a voice of singing announce this,tell it even to the end of the earth:say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!"
21
They didn't thirst when he led them through the deserts.He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them.He split the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
22
"There is no peace", says The LORD, "for the wicked."
The Servant of the Lord; Restoration to Zion
1
Listen, islands, to me.Listen, you peoples, from afar:The LORD has called me from the womb;from the inside of my mother he has mentioned my name.
2
He has made my mouth like a sharp sword.He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.He has made me a polished shaft.He has kept me close in his quiver.
3
He said to me, "You are my servant;Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
4
But I said, "I have labored in vain.I have spent my strength in vain for nothing;yet surely the justice due to me is with The LORD,and my reward with my God."
5
Now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,to bring Jacob again to him,and to gather Israel to him,for I am honorable in The LORD's eyes,and my God has become my strength.
6
Indeed, he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob,and to restore the preserved of Israel?I will also give you as a light to the nations,that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth."
7
The LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One,says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers:"Kings shall see and rise up;princes, and they shall worship;because of the LORD who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."
8
The LORD says, "In an acceptable time I have answered you,and in a day of salvation I have helped you.I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people,to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage,
9
saying to those who are bound, 'Come out!';to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves!'"They shall feed along the paths,and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights.
10
They shall not hunger nor thirst;neither shall the heat nor sun strike them:for he who has mercy on them will lead them.He will guide them by springs of water.
11
I will make all my mountains a road,and my highways shall be exalted.
12
Behold, these shall come from afar;and behold, these from the north and from the west;and these from the land of Sinim."
13
Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth;and break out into singing, mountains:for the LORD has comforted his people,and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14
But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me,and the Lord has forgotten me."
15
"Can a woman forget her nursing child,that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?Yes, these may forget,yet I will not forget you!
16
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.your walls are continually before me.
17
Your children hurry.Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you.
18
Lift up your eyes all around, and see:all these gather themselves together, and come to you.As I live," says The LORD, "you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament,and dress yourself with them, like a bride.
19
"For, as for your waste and your desolate places,and your land that has been destroyed,surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants,and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20
The children of your bereavement will say in your ears,'This place is too small for me.Give me a place to live in.'
21
Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children,and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth?Who has brought these up?Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?'"
22
Thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,and lift up my banner to the peoples;and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23
Kings shall be your foster fathers,and their queens your nursing mothers.They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth,and lick the dust of your feet;Then you will know that I am The LORD;and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed."
24
Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty,or the lawful captives be delivered?
25
But the LORD says, "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,and the plunder retrieved from the fierce;for I will contend with him who contends with you,and I will save your children.
26
I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh;and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine.Then all flesh shall know that I, The LORD, am your Savior,and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."
Israel's Sin and God's Help for His Servant
1
The LORD says, "Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, with which I have put her away?or to which of my creditors have I sold you?Behold, you were sold for your iniquities,and your mother was put away for your transgressions.
2
Why, when I came, was there no one?when I called, why was there no one to answer?Is my hand shortened at all, that it can't redeem?or have I no power to deliver?Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea.I make the rivers a wilderness:their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.
3
I clothe the heavens with blackness,and I make sackcloth their covering."
4
The Lord the LORD has given me the tongue of those who are taught,that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary.He wakens morning by morning,he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
5
The Lord the LORD has opened my ear,and I was not rebellious.I have not turned back.
6
I gave my back to those who beat me,and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair.I didn't hide my face from shame and spitting.
7
For the Lord the LORD will help me.Therefore I have not been confounded.Therefore I have set my face like a flint,and I know that I shall not be disappointed.
8
He who justifies me is near.Who will bring charges against me?Let us stand up together.Who is my adversary?Let him come near to me.
9
Behold, the Lord the LORD will help me!Who is he who will condemn me?Behold, they will all grow old like a garment.The moths will eat them up.
10
Who among you fears The LORD,and obeys the voice of his servant?He who walks in darkness,and has no light,let him trust in The LORD's name,and rely on his God.
11
Behold, all you who kindle a fire,who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves;walk in the flame of your fire,and among the torches that you have kindled.You will have this from my hand:You will lie down in sorrow.
Exhortation to Zion; Affliction and deliverance of Jerusalem foretold
1
"Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness,you who seek The LORD:look to the rock you were cut from,and to the quarry you were dug from.
2
Look to Abraham your father,and to Sarah who bore you;for when he was but one I called him,and I blessed him,and made him many.
3
For the LORD has comforted Zion.He has comforted all her waste places,and has made her wilderness like Eden,and her desert like the garden of The LORD.Joy and gladness will be found therein,thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
4
"Listen to me, my people;and hear me, my nation:for a law will go out from me,and I will establish my justice for a light to the peoples.
5
My righteousness is near.My salvation has gone out,and my arms will judge the peoples.The islands will wait for me,and they will trust my arm.
6
Lift up your eyes to the heavens,and look on the earth beneath;for the heavens will vanish away like smoke,and the earth will wear out like a garment;and its inhabitants will die in the same way:but my salvation will be forever,and my righteousness will not be abolished.
7
"Listen to me, you who know righteousness,the people in whose heart is my law:Don't fear the reproach of men,and don't be dismayed at their insults.
8
For the moth will eat them up like a garment,and the worm will eat them like wool;but my righteousness will be forever,and my salvation to all generations."
9
Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of The LORD!Awake, as in the days of old,the generations of ancient times.Isn't it you who cut Rahab in pieces,who pierced the monster?
10
Isn't it you who dried up the sea,the waters of the great deep;who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?
11
Those ransomed by the LORD will return,and come with singing to Zion;and everlasting joy shall be on their heads.They will obtain gladness and joy.Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12
"I, even I, am he who comforts you.Who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die,and of the son of man who will be made as grass?
13
Have you forgotten the LORD your Maker,who stretched out the heavens,and laid the foundations of the earth?Do you live in fear continually all day because of the fury of the oppressor,when he prepares to destroy?Where is the fury of the oppressor?
14
The captive exile will speedily be freed;and he will not die and go down into the pit,and his bread will not fail.
15
For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea,so that its waves roar:The LORD of Armies is his name.
16
I have put my words in your mouth,and have covered you in the shadow of my hand,that I may plant the heavens,and lay the foundations of the earth,and tell Zion, 'You are my people.'"
17
Awake, awake!Stand up, Jerusalem,you who have drunk from The LORD's hand the cup of his wrath.You have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering,and drained it.
18
There is no one to guide her among all the sons to whom she has given birth;and there is no one who takes her by the hand among all the sons who she has brought up.
19
These two things have happened to you-who will grieve with you?-desolation and destruction,and famine and the sword.How can I comfort you?
20
Your sons have fainted.They lie at the head of all the streets,like an antelope in a net.They are full of the The LORD's wrath,the rebuke of your God.
21
Therefore now hear this, you afflicted,and drunken, but not with wine:
22
Thus says your Lord God,your God who pleads the cause of his people,"Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering,even the bowl of the cup of my wrath.You will not drink it any more:
23
and I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,who have said to your soul, 'Bow down, that we may walk over you;'and you have laid your back as the ground,like a street to those who walk over."
Put on Your Strength, Zion; My Servant Shall Deal Wisely
1
Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion.Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city:for from now on the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you.
2
Shake yourself from the dust!Arise, sit up, Jerusalem!Release yourself from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion!
3
For the LORD says, "You were sold for nothing;and you will be redeemed without money."
4
For thus says the Lord God:"My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there:and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.
5
"Now therefore, what do I do here," says The LORD,"seeing that my people are taken away for nothing?Those who rule over them mock," says The LORD,"and my name is blasphemed continually all day long.
6
Therefore my people shall know my name.Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks.Behold, it is I."
7
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,who publishes peace,who brings good news,who proclaims salvation,who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"
8
Your watchmen lift up their voice,together they sing;for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD returns to Zion.
9
Break out into joy,sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem;for the LORD has comforted his people.He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10
The LORD has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations;and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
11
Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing!Go out from among her!Cleanse yourselves, you who carry The LORD's vessels.
12
For you shall not go out in haste,neither shall you go by flight:for the LORD will go before you;and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
13
Behold, my servant will deal wisely.He will be exalted and lifted up,and will be very high.
14
Just as many were astonished at you(his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men),
15
so he will cleanse many nations.Kings will shut their mouths at him:for they will see that which had not been told them;and they will understand that which they had not heard.
The Suffering Servant: by his stripes we are healed
1
Who has believed our message?To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2
For he grew up before him as a tender plant,and as a root out of dry ground.He has no good looks or majesty.When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3
He was despised,and rejected by men;a man of suffering,and acquainted with disease.He was despised as one from whom men hide their face;and we didn't respect him.
4
Surely he has borne our sickness,and carried our suffering;yet we considered him plagued,struck by God, and afflicted.
5
But he was pierced for our transgressions.He was crushed for our iniquities.The punishment that brought our peace was on him;and by his wounds we are healed.
6
All we like sheep have gone astray.Everyone has turned to his own way;and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7
He was oppressed,yet when he was afflicted he didn't open his mouth.As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent,so he didn't open his mouth.
8
He was taken away by oppression and judgment;and as for his generation,who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the livingand stricken for the disobedience of my people?
9
They made his grave with the wicked,and with a rich man in his death;although he had done no violence,nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him.He has caused him to suffer.When you make his soul an offering for sin,he will see his offspring.He will prolong his days,and The LORD's pleasure will prosper in his hand.
11
After the suffering of his soul,he will see the light and be satisfied.My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself;and he will bear their iniquities.
12
Therefore will I give him a portion with the great,and he will divide the plunder with the strong;because he poured out his soul to death,and was counted with the transgressors;yet he bore the sin of many,and made intercession for the transgressors.
Future Glory of Zion
1
"Sing, barren, you who didn't give birth;break out into singing, and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child:for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife," says The LORD.
2
"Enlarge the place of your tent,and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations;don't spare: lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.
3
For you will spread out on the right hand and on the left;and your offspring will possess the nations,and settle in desolate cities.
4
"Don't be afraid; for you will not be ashamed.Don't be confounded; for you will not be disappointed.For you will forget the shame of your youth;and the reproach of your widowhood you shall remember no more.
5
For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of Hosts is his name.The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer.He will be called the God of the whole earth.
6
For the LORD has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,even a wife of youth, when she is cast off," says your God.
7
"For a small moment I have forsaken you;but with great mercies will I gather you.
8
In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment;but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you," says the LORD your Redeemer.
9
"For this is like the waters of Noah to me;for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah will no more go over the earth,so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
10
For the mountains may depart,and the hills be removed;but my loving kindness will not depart from you,and my covenant of peace will not be removed,"says the LORD who has mercy on you.
11
"You afflicted, tossed with storms, and not comforted,behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colors,and lay your foundations with sapphires.
12
I will make your pinnacles of rubies,your gates of sparkling jewels,and all your walls of precious stones.
13
All your children will be taught by The LORD;and your children's peace will be great.
14
In righteousness you will be established.You will be far from oppression,for you will not be afraid;and far from terror,for it shall not come near you.
15
Behold, they may gather together, but not by me.Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you.
16
"Behold, I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame,and forges a weapon for his work;and I have created the destroyer to destroy.
17
No weapon that is formed against you will prevail;and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment.This is the heritage of The LORD's servants,and their righteousness is of me," says The LORD.
Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters!
1
"Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters!Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat!Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2
Why do you spend money for that which is not bread,and your labor for that which doesn't satisfy?Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good,and let your soul delight itself in richness.
3
Turn your ear, and come to me.Hear, and your soul will live:and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
4
Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples,a leader and commander to the peoples.
5
Behold, you shall call a nation that you don't know;and a nation that didn't know you shall run to you,because of the LORD your God,and for the Holy One of Israel;for he has glorified you."
6
Seek the LORD while he may be found.Call on him while he is near.
7
Let the wicked forsake his way,and the unrighteous man his thoughts.Let him return to The LORD, and he will have mercy on him;and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,and your ways are not my ways," says The LORD.
9
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your ways,and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10
For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky,and doesn't return there, but waters the earth,and makes it grow and bud,and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11
so is my word that goes out of my mouth:it will not return to me void,but it will accomplish that which I please,and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
12
For you shall go out with joy,and be led out with peace.The mountains and the hills will break out before you into singing;and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands.
13
Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up;and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up:and it will make a name for The LORD,for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off."
Keep justice, and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come
1
The LORD says,"Maintain justice,and do what is right;for my salvation is near,and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
2
Blessed is the man who does this,and the son of man who holds it fast;who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it,and keeps his hand from doing any evil."
3
Let no foreigner, who has joined himself to The LORD, speak, saying,"The LORD will surely separate me from his people."Do not let the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree."
4
For the LORD says, "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,and choose the things that please me,and hold fast to my covenant:
5
I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters.I will give them an everlasting name, that will not be cut off.
6
Also the foreigners who join themselves to The LORD,to serve him,and to love The LORD's name,to be his servants,everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it,and holds fast my covenant;
7
I will bring these to my holy mountain,and make them joyful in my house of prayer.Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
8
The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says,"I will yet gather others to him,besides his own who are gathered."
