1 The vision concerning
2 Hear, O heavens!
Listen, O earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
"I reared children and brought them
up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows his master,
the donkey his owner's manger,
but
my people do not understand. "
4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people loaded with guilt,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the LORD;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.
5 Why should you be beaten anymore?
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
6 From the sole of your foot to the top
of your head
there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with oil.
7 Your country is desolate,
your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by
foreigners
right before you,
laid waste as when overthrown by
strangers.
8 The Daughter of
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a field of melons,
like a city under siege.
9 Unless the LORD Almighty
had left us some survivors,
we would have become like
we would have been like
10 Hear the word of the LORD,
you rulers of
listen to the law of our God,
you people of
11 "The multitude of your
sacrifices—
what are they to me?" says the LORD.
"I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
14 Your New Moon festivals and your
appointed feasts
my soul hates.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands in
prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;
16 wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed. [ a]
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.
18 "Come now, let us reason
together,"
says the LORD.
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the best from the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword."
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
21 See how the faithful city
has become a harlot!
She once was full of justice;
righteousness used to dwell in her—
but now murderers!
22 Your silver has become dross,
your choice wine is diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are rebels,
companions of thieves;
they all love bribes
and chase after gifts.
They do not defend the cause of the
fatherless;
the widow's case does not come before
them.
24 Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty,
the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
"Ah, I will get relief from my foes
and avenge myself on my enemies.
25 I will turn my hand against you;
I will thoroughly purge away your dross
and remove all your impurities.
26 I will restore your judges as in days
of old,
your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you will be called
the City of
the
27
her penitent ones with righteousness.
28 But rebels and sinners will both be
broken,
and those who forsake the LORD will
perish.
29 "You will be
ashamed because of the sacred oaks
in which you have delighted;
you will be disgraced because of the
gardens
that you have chosen.
30 You will be like an oak with fading
leaves,
like a garden without water.
31 The mighty man will become tinder
and his work a spark;
both will burn together,
with no one to quench the fire. "
1 This is what Isaiah
son of Amoz saw concerning
2 In the last days
the mountain of the LORD's
temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
3 Many peoples will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain
of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths. "
The law will go out from
the word of the LORD from
4 He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into
plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against
nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
5 Come, O house of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the LORD.
6 You have abandoned
your people,
the house of Jacob.
They are full of superstitions from the
East;
they practice divination like the
Philistines
and clasp hands with pagans.
7 Their land is full of silver and gold;
there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is full of horses;
there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is full of idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their fingers have made.
9 So man will be brought low
and mankind humbled—
do not forgive them. [ a]
10 Go into the rocks,
hide in the ground
from dread of the LORD
and the splendor of his majesty!
11 The eyes of the arrogant man will be
humbled
and the pride of men brought low;
the LORD alone will be exalted in that
day.
12 The LORD Almighty has a day in store
for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
(and they will be humbled),
13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall
and lofty,
and all the oaks of
14 for all the towering mountains
and all the high hills,
15 for every lofty tower
and every fortified wall,
16 for every trading ship [b]
and every stately vessel.
17 The arrogance of man will be brought
low
and the pride of men humbled;
the LORD alone will be exalted in that
day,
18 and the idols will totally disappear.
19 Men will flee to caves in the rocks
and to holes in the ground
from dread of the LORD
and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
20 In that day men will throw away
to the rodents and bats
their idols of silver and idols of gold,
which they made to worship.
21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks
and to the overhanging crags
from dread of the LORD
and the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
22 Stop trusting in man,
who has but a breath in his nostrils.
Of what account is he?
1 See now, the Lord,
the LORD Almighty,
is about to take from
both supply and support:
all supplies of food and all supplies of
water,
2 the hero and warrior,
the judge and prophet,
the soothsayer and elder,
3 the captain of fifty
and man of rank,
the counselor, skilled craftsman and
clever enchanter.
4 I will make boys their officials;
mere children will govern them.
5 People will oppress each other—
man against man, neighbor against
neighbor.
The young will rise up against the old,
the base against the honorable.
6 A man will seize one of his brothers
at his father's home, and say,
"You have a cloak, you be our leader;
take charge of this heap of ruins! "
7 But in that day he will cry out,
"I have no remedy.
I have no food or clothing in my house;
do not make me the leader of the people.
"
8
their words and deeds are against the
LORD,
defying his glorious presence.
9 The look on their faces testifies
against them;
they parade their sin like
they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
They have brought disaster upon themselves.
10 Tell the righteous it will be well
with them,
for they will enjoy the fruit of their
deeds.
11 Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon
them!
They will be paid back for what their
hands have done.
12 Youths oppress my people,
women rule over them.
O my people, your guides lead you astray;
they turn you from the path.
13 The LORD takes his place in court;
he rises to judge the people.
14 The LORD enters into judgment
against the elders and leaders of his
people:
"It is you who have ruined my
vineyard;
the plunder from the poor is in your
houses.
15 What do you mean by crushing my people
and grinding the faces of the poor?"
declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
16 The LORD says,
"The women of
walking along with outstretched necks,
flirting with their eyes,
tripping along with mincing steps,
with ornaments jingling on their ankles.
17 Therefore the Lord will bring sores on
the heads of the women of
the LORD will make their scalps
bald."
18 In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, 19 the earrings and bracelets and veils, 20 the headdresses and ankle chains and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, 21 the signet rings and nose rings, 22 the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses 23 and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls.
24 Instead of fragrance there will be a
stench;
instead of a sash, a rope;
instead of well-dressed hair, baldness;
instead of fine clothing, sackcloth;
instead of beauty, branding.
25 Your men will fall by the sword,
your warriors in battle.
26 The gates of
destitute, she will sit on the ground.
1 In that day seven women
will take hold of one man
and say, "We will eat our own food
and provide our own clothes;
only let us be called by your name.
Take away our disgrace! "
2 In that day the Branch of the LORD will be
beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory
of the survivors in
1 I will sing for the
one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.
3 "Now you dwellers in
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my
vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?
5 Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6 I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it. "
7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty
is the house of
and the men of
are the garden of his delight.
And he looked for justice, but saw
bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of
distress.
8 Woe to you who add
house to house
and join field to field
till no space is left
and you live alone in the land.
9 The LORD Almighty has declared in my
hearing:
"Surely the great houses will become
desolate,
the fine mansions left without occupants.
10 A ten-acre [a] vineyard will produce only a bath [b] of wine,
a homer [c] of seed only an ephah [d] of grain."
11 Woe to those who rise early in the
morning
to run after their drinks,
who stay up late
at night
till they are inflamed with wine.
12 They have harps and lyres at their
banquets,
tambourines and flutes and wine,
but they have no regard for the deeds of
the LORD,
no respect for the work of his hands.
13 Therefore my people will go into exile
for lack of understanding;
their men of rank will die of hunger
and their masses will be parched with
thirst.
14 Therefore the grave [e] enlarges its appetite
and opens its mouth without limit;
into it will descend their nobles and
masses
with all their brawlers and revelers.
15 So man will be brought low
and mankind humbled,
the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
16 But the LORD Almighty will be exalted
by his justice,
and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.
17 Then sheep will graze as in their own
pasture;
lambs will feed [f] among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who draw sin along with
cords of deceit,
and wickedness as with cart ropes,
19 to those who say, "Let God hurry,
let him hasten his work
so we may see it.
Let it approach,
let the plan of the Holy One of Israel
come,
so we may know it. "
20 Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
21 Woe to those who are
wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight.
22 Woe to those who are heroes at
drinking wine
and champions at mixing drinks,
23 who acquit
the guilty for a bribe,
but deny justice to the innocent.
24 Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up
straw
and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay
and their flowers blow away like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the LORD
Almighty
and spurned the word of the Holy One of
Israel.
25 Therefore the LORD's
anger burns against his people;
his hand is raised and he strikes them
down.
The mountains shake,
and the dead bodies are like refuse in the
streets.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned
away,
his hand is still upraised.
26 He lifts up a banner for the distant
nations,
he whistles for those at the ends of the
earth.
Here they come,
swiftly and speedily!
27 Not one of them grows tired or
stumbles,
not one slumbers or sleeps;
not a belt is loosened at the waist,
not a sandal thong is broken.
28 Their arrows are sharp,
all their bows are strung;
their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
29 Their roar is like that of the lion,
they roar like young lions;
they growl as they seize their prey
and carry it off with no one to rescue.
30 In that day they will roar over it
like the roaring of the sea.
And if one looks at the land,
he will see darkness and distress;
even the light will be darkened by the
clouds.
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and
exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2
Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their
faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD
Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his
glory."
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord
saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send
me!"
9 He said, "Go and tell this people:
" 'Be ever hearing, but never
understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
10 Make the heart of this people
calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes. [ a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed. "
11 Then I said, "For how long, O
Lord?"
And he answered:
"Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the LORD has
sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the
land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth
and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the
land. "
1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.
2 Now the house of David was told, "
3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go
out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, [b] to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the
road to the Washerman's Field. 4
Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart
because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger
of Rezin and
" 'It will not take place,
it will not happen,
8 for the head of
and the head of
Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a
people.
9 The head of Ephraim is
and the head of
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
you will not stand at all.' "
10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 11 "Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights."
12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test."
13 Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you [c] a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and [d] will call him Immanuel. [e] 15 He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. 16 But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. 17 The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria."
18 In that day the LORD will whistle for
flies from the distant streams of
1 The LORD said to me, "Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. [a] 2 And I will call in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me."
3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she
conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, "Name him
Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 4
Before the boy knows how to say 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of
5 The LORD spoke to me again:
6 "Because this
people has rejected
the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoices over Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,
7 therefore the Lord is about to bring
against them
the mighty floodwaters of the River [b]—
the king of
It will overflow all its channels,
run over all its banks
8 and sweep on into
passing through it and reaching up to the
neck.
Its outspread wings will cover the breadth
of your land,
O Immanuel [ c] !"
9 Raise the war cry, [d] you nations, and be
shattered!
Listen, all you distant
lands.
Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
10 Devise your strategy, but it will be
thwarted;
propose your plan, but it will not stand,
for God is with us. [ e]
11 The LORD spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said:
12 "Do not call conspiracy
everything that these people call
conspiracy [f] ;
do not fear what they fear,
and do not dread it.
13 The LORD Almighty is the one you are
to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread,
14 and he will be a sanctuary;
but for both houses of
a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of
a trap and a snare.
15 Many of them will stumble;
they will fall and be broken,
they will be snared and captured. "
16 Bind up the
testimony
and seal up the law among my disciples.
17 I will wait for the LORD,
who is hiding his face from the house of
Jacob.
I will put my trust in him.
18 Here am I,
and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in
19 When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. 21 Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.
1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan-
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow
of death [ a]
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as men rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian's defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their
oppressor.
5 Every warrior's boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his
shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, [ b] Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and
peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.
8 The Lord has sent a
message against Jacob;
it will fall on
9 All the people will know it—
Ephraim and the inhabitants of
who say with pride
and arrogance of heart,
10 "The bricks have fallen down,
but we will rebuild with dressed stone;
the fig trees have been felled,
but we will replace them with cedars. "
11 But the LORD has strengthened Rezin's foes against them
and has spurred their enemies on.
12 Arameans
from the east and Philistines from the west
have devoured
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned
away,
his hand is still upraised.
13 But the people have not returned to
him who struck them,
nor have they sought the LORD Almighty.
14 So the LORD will cut off from
both palm branch and reed in a single day;
15 the elders and prominent men are the
head,
the prophets who teach lies are the tail.
16 Those who guide this people mislead
them,
and those who are guided are led astray.
17 Therefore the Lord will take no
pleasure in the young men,
nor will he pity the fatherless and
widows,
for everyone is ungodly and wicked,
every mouth speaks vileness.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned
away,
his hand is still upraised.
18 Surely wickedness burns like a fire;
it consumes briers and thorns,
it sets the forest thickets ablaze,
so that it rolls upward in a column of
smoke.
19 By the wrath of the LORD Almighty
the land will be scorched
and the people will be fuel for the fire;
no one will spare his brother.
20 On the right they will devour,
but still be hungry;
on the left they will eat,
but not be satisfied.
Each will feed on the flesh of his own
offspring [ c] :
21 Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and
Ephraim on Manasseh;
together they will turn against
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned
away,
his hand is still upraised.
1 Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
2 to deprive the poor
of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of
my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.
3 What will you do on the day of
reckoning,
when disaster comes from afar?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your riches?
4 Nothing will remain but to cringe among
the captives
or fall among the slain.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned
away,
his hand is still upraised.
5 "Woe to the
Assyrian, the rod of my anger,
in whose hand is the club of my wrath!
6 I send him against a godless nation,
I dispatch him against a people who anger
me,
to seize loot and snatch plunder,
and to trample them down like mud in the
streets.
7 But this is not what he intends,
this is not what he has in mind;
his purpose is to destroy,
to put an end to many nations.
8 'Are not my commanders all kings?' he says.
9 'Has not Calno
fared like
Is not Hamath like Arpad,
and
10 As my hand seized the kingdoms of the
idols,
kingdoms whose images excelled those of
11 shall I not deal with
as I dealt with
12 When the Lord has finished all his
work against
" 'By the
strength of my hand I have done this,
and by my wisdom, because I have
understanding.
I removed the boundaries of nations,
I plundered their treasures;
like a mighty one I subdued [a] their kings.
14 As one reaches into a nest,
so my hand reached for the wealth of the
nations;
as men gather abandoned eggs,
so I gathered all the countries;
not one flapped a wing,
or opened its mouth to chirp.' "
15 Does the ax raise itself above him who
swings it,
or the saw boast against him who uses it?
As if a rod were to wield him who lifts it
up,
or a club brandish him who is not wood!
16 Therefore, the Lord, the LORD
Almighty,
will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy
warriors;
under his pomp a fire will be kindled
like a blazing flame.
17 The Light of
their Holy One a flame;
in a single day it will burn and consume
his thorns and his briers.
18 The splendor of his forests and
fertile fields
it will completely destroy,
as when a sick man wastes away.
19 And the remaining trees of his forests
will be so few
that a child could write them down.
20 In that day the
remnant of
the survivors of the house of Jacob,
will no longer rely on him
who struck them down
but will truly rely on the LORD,
the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will return, [b] a remnant of Jacob
will return to the Mighty God.
22 Though your people, O Israel, be like
the sand by the sea,
only a remnant will return.
Destruction has been decreed,
overwhelming and righteous.
23 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will
carry out
the destruction decreed upon the whole
land.
24 Therefore, this is what the Lord, the
LORD Almighty, says:
"O my people who live in Zion,
do not be afraid of the Assyrians,
who beat you with a rod
and lift up a club against you, as Egypt
did.
25 Very soon my anger against you will
end
and my wrath will be directed to their
destruction."
26 The LORD Almighty will lash them with
a whip,
as when he struck down Midian
at the rock of Oreb;
and he will raise his staff over the
waters,
as he did in
27 In that day their burden will be
lifted from your shoulders,
their yoke from your neck;
the yoke will be broken
because you have grown so fat. [ c]
28 They enter Aiath;
they pass through Migron;
they store supplies at Micmash.
29 They go over the pass, and say,
"We will camp overnight at Geba."
Ramah trembles;
Gibeah of Saul
flees.
30 Cry out, O Daughter of Gallim!
Listen, O Laishah!
Poor Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is
in flight;
the people of Gebim
take cover.
32 This day they will halt at Nob;
they will shake their fist
at the mount of the Daughter of Zion,
at the hill of Jerusalem.
33 See, the Lord, the LORD Almighty,
will lop off the boughs with great power.
The lofty trees will be felled,
the tall ones will be brought low.
34 He will cut down the forest thickets
with an ax;
1 A shoot will come up
from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on
him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of
the LORD -
3 and he will delight in the fear of the
LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his
eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge
the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for
the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of
his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay
the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his
waist.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling [ a]
together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the hole of
the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the
viper's nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy
mountain,
for the earth will be full of the
knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, [b] from Cush, [c] from Elam, from Babylonia, [d] from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.
12 He will raise a banner for the nations
and gather the exiles of
he will assemble the scattered people of
from the four quarters of the earth.
13 Ephraim's jealousy will vanish,
and
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.
14 They will swoop down on the slopes of
together they will plunder the people to
the east.
They will lay hands on
and the Ammonites will be subject to them.
15 The LORD will dry up
the gulf of the Egyptian sea;
with a scorching wind he will sweep his
hand
over the
He will break it up into seven streams
so that men can cross over in sandals.
16 There will be a highway for the
remnant of his people
that is left from Assyria,
as there was for
when they came up from
1 In that day you will
say:
"I will praise you, O LORD.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.
2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my
song;
he has become my salvation. "
3 With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
4 In that day you will say:
"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his
name;
make known among the nations what he has
done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done
glorious things;
let this be known to all
the world.
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of
for great is the Holy One of Israel
among you."
1 An oracle concerning
2 Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,
shout to them;
beckon to them
to enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded my holy ones;
I have summoned my warriors to carry out
my wrath—
those who rejoice in my triumph.
4 Listen, a noise on the mountains,
like that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar
among the kingdoms,
like nations massing together!
The LORD Almighty is mustering
an army for war.
5 They come from faraway lands,
from the ends of the heavens—
the LORD and the weapons of his wrath—
to destroy the whole country.
6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
it will come like destruction from the
Almighty. [a]
7 Because of this, all hands will go limp,
every man's heart will melt.
8 Terror will seize them,
pain and anguish will grip them;
they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
their faces aflame.
9 See, the day of the LORD is coming
—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
and destroy the sinners within it.
10 The stars of heaven and their
constellations
will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
11 I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the
haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make man scarcer than pure
gold,
more rare than
the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens
tremble;
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the LORD Almighty,
in the day of his burning anger.
14 Like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep without a shepherd,
each will return to his own people,
each will flee to his native land.
15 Whoever is captured will be thrust
through;
all who are caught will fall by the sword.
16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be looted and their
wives ravished.
17 See, I will
stir up against them the Medes,
who do not care for silver
and have no delight in gold.
18 Their bows will strike down the young
men;
they will have no mercy on infants
nor will they look with compassion on
children.
19
the glory of the Babylonians' [b] pride,
will be overthrown by God
like
20 She will never be inhabited
or lived in through all generations;
no Arab will pitch his tent there,
no shepherd will rest his flocks there.
21 But desert creatures will lie there,
jackals will fill her houses;
there the owls will dwell,
and there the wild goats will leap about.
22 Hyenas will howl in her strongholds,
jackals in her luxurious palaces.
Her time is at hand,
and her days will not be prolonged.
1 The LORD will have compassion on Jacob;
once again he will choose
and will settle them in their own land.
Aliens will join them
and unite with the house of Jacob.
2 Nations will take them
and bring them to their own place.
And the house of
as menservants and maidservants in the LORD's land.
They will make captives of their captors
and rule over their oppressors.
3 On the day the LORD gives you relief
from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, 4
you will take up this taunt against the king of
How the oppressor has come to an end!
How his fury [ a] has ended!
5 The LORD has broken the rod of the
wicked,
the scepter of the rulers,
6 which in anger struck down peoples
with unceasing blows,
and in fury subdued nations
with relentless aggression.
7 All the lands are at rest and at peace;
they break into singing.
8 Even the pine trees and the cedars of
Lebanon
exult over you and say,
"Now that you have been laid low,
no woodsman comes to cut us down. "
9 The grave [b] below is all astir
to meet you at your coming;
it rouses the spirits of the departed to
greet you—
all those who were leaders in the world;
it makes them rise from their thrones—
all those who were kings over the nations.
10 They will all respond,
they will say to you,
"You also have become weak, as we
are;
you have become like us.
"
11 All your pomp has been brought down to
the grave,
along with the noise of your harps;
maggots are spread out beneath you
and worms cover you.
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
O morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
"I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of
assembly,
on the utmost heights of the sacred
mountain. [ c]
14 I will ascend above the tops of the
clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High."
15 But you are brought down to the grave,
to the depths of the pit.
16 Those who see you stare at you,
they ponder your fate:
"Is this the man who shook the earth
and made kingdoms tremble,
17 the man who made the world a desert,
who overthrew its cities
and would not let his captives go home?
"
18 All the kings of the nations lie in
state,
each in his own
tomb.
19 But you are cast out of your tomb
like a rejected branch;
you are covered with the slain,
with those pierced by the sword,
those who descend to the stones of the
pit.
Like a corpse trampled underfoot,
20 you will not join them in burial,
for you have destroyed your land
and killed your people.
The offspring of the wicked
will never be mentioned again.
21 Prepare a place to slaughter his sons
for the sins of their forefathers;
they are not to rise to inherit the land
and cover the earth with their cities.
22 "I will rise up against
them,"
declares the LORD Almighty.
"I will cut off from
her offspring and descendants, "
declares the LORD.
23 "I will turn her into a place for
owls
and into swampland;
I will sweep her with the broom of
destruction, "
declares the LORD Almighty.
24 The LORD Almighty has
sworn,
"Surely, as I have planned, so it
will be,
and as I have purposed, so it will stand.
25 I will crush the Assyrian in my land;
on my mountains I will trample him down.
His yoke will be taken from my people,
and his burden removed from their
shoulders. "
26 This is the plan determined for the
whole world;
this is the hand stretched out over all
nations.
27 For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out, and who can
turn it back?
28 This oracle came in the year King Ahaz died:
29 Do not rejoice,
all you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken;
from the root of that snake will spring up
a viper,
its fruit will be a darting, venomous
serpent.
30 The poorest of the poor will find
pasture,
and the needy will lie down in safety.
But your root I will destroy by famine;
it will slay your survivors.
31 Wail, O gate! Howl, O city!
Melt away, all you Philistines!
A cloud of smoke comes from the north,
and there is not a straggler in its ranks.
32 What answer shall be given
to the envoys of that nation?
"The LORD has established
and in her his afflicted people will find
refuge. "
1 An oracle concerning
Ar in
destroyed in a night!
Kir in
destroyed in a night!
2 Dibon goes up
to its temple,
to its high places to weep;
Every head is shaved
and every beard cut off.
3 In the streets they wear sackcloth;
on the roofs and in the public squares
they all wail,
prostrate with weeping.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.
Therefore the armed men of
and their hearts are faint.
5 My heart cries out over
her fugitives flee as far as Zoar,
as far as Eglath
Shelishiyah.
They go up the way to Luhith,
weeping as they go;
on the road to Horonaim
they lament their destruction.
6 The waters of Nimrim
are dried up
and the grass is withered;
the vegetation is gone
and nothing green is left.
7 So the wealth they have acquired and
stored up
they carry away over the Ravine of the
Poplars.
8 Their outcry echoes along the border of
their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim,
their lamentation as far as Beer Elim.
9 Dimon's [a] waters are full of blood,
but I will bring still more upon Dimon [b]—
a lion upon the fugitives of
and upon those who remain in the land.
1 Send lambs as tribute
to the ruler of the land,
from Sela,
across the desert,
to the mount of the Daughter of Zion.
2 Like fluttering birds
pushed from the nest,
so are the women of
at the fords of the Arnon.
3 "Give us counsel,
render a decision.
Make your shadow like night—
at high noon.
Hide the fugitives,
do not betray the refugees.
4 Let the Moabite fugitives stay with
you;
be their shelter from the destroyer."
The oppressor will come to an end,
and destruction will cease;
the aggressor will vanish from the land.
5 In love a throne will be established;
in faithfulness a man will sit on it—
one from the house [ a] of David—
one who in judging seeks justice
and speeds the cause of righteousness.
6 We have heard of
her overweening pride and conceit,
her pride and her insolence—
but her boasts are empty.
7 Therefore the Moabites wail,
they wail together for
Lament and grieve
for the men [ b] of Kir
Hareseth.
8 The fields of Heshbon wither,
the vines of Sibmah
also.
The rulers of the nations
have trampled down the choicest vines,
which once reached Jazer
and spread toward the desert.
Their shoots spread out
and went as far as the sea.
9 So I weep, as Jazer
weeps,
for the vines of Sibmah.
O Heshbon, O Elealeh,
I drench you with tears!
The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit
and over your harvests have been stilled.
10 Joy and gladness are taken away from
the orchards;
no one sings or shouts in the vineyards;
no one treads out wine at the presses,
for I have put an end to the shouting.
11 My heart laments for
my inmost being for Kir
Hareseth.
12 When
she only wears herself out;
when she goes to her shrine to pray,
it is to no avail.
13 This is the word the LORD has already
spoken concerning
1 An oracle concerning
"See,
but will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer
will be deserted
and left to flocks, which will lie down,
with no one to make them afraid.
3 The fortified city will disappear from
Ephraim,
and royal power from
the remnant of
like the glory of the Israelites, "
declares the LORD Almighty.
4 "In that day the glory of Jacob
will fade;
the fat of his body will waste away.
5 It will be as when a reaper gathers the
standing grain
and harvests the grain with his arm—
as when a man gleans heads of grain
in the
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
leaving two or three olives on the topmost
branches,
four or five on the fruitful boughs,
"
declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
7 In that day men will look to their
Maker
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of
Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars,
the work of their hands,
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles [ a]
and the incense altars their fingers have
made.
9 In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.
10 You have forgotten God your Savior;
you have not remembered the Rock, your
fortress.
Therefore, though you set out the finest
plants
and plant imported vines,
11 though on the day you set them out, you
make them grow,
and on the morning when you plant them,
you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest will be as nothing
in the day of disease and incurable pain.
12 Oh, the raging of many nations—
they rage like the raging sea!
Oh, the uproar of the peoples—
they roar like the roaring of great
waters!
13 Although the peoples roar like the
roar of surging waters,
when he rebukes them they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the
hills,
like tumbleweed before a gale.
14 In the evening, sudden terror!
Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us.
1 Woe to the land of
whirring wings [a]
along the rivers of
2 which sends envoys by
sea
in papyrus boats over the water.
Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,
to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers.
3 All you people of the world,
you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains,
you will see it,
and when a trumpet sounds,
you will hear it.
4 This is what the LORD says to me:
"I will remain quiet and will look on
from my dwelling place,
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. "
5 For, before the harvest, when the
blossom is gone
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning
knives,
and cut down and take away the spreading
branches.
6 They will all be left to the mountain
birds of prey
and to the wild animals;
the birds will feed on them all summer,
the wild animals all winter.
7 At that time gifts will be brought to
the LORD Almighty
from a people tall and smooth-skinned,
from a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers—
the gifts will be brought to
1 An oracle concerning
See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud
and is coming to
The idols of
and the hearts of the Egyptians melt
within them.
2 "I will stir up Egyptian against
Egyptian—
brother will fight against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
city against city,
kingdom against kingdom.
3 The Egyptians will lose heart,
and I will bring their plans to nothing;
they will consult the idols and the
spirits of the dead,
the mediums and the spiritists.
4 I will hand the Egyptians over
to the power of a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
"
declares the
Lord, the LORD Almighty.
5 The waters of the river will dry up,
and the riverbed will be parched and dry.
6 The canals will stink;
the streams of
The reeds and rushes will wither,
7 also the plants along
the
at the mouth of the river.
Every sown field along the
will become parched, will blow away and be
no more.
8 The fishermen will groan and lament,
all who cast hooks into the
those who throw nets on the water
will pine away.
9 Those who work with combed flax will
despair,
the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.
10 The workers in cloth will be dejected,
and all the wage earners will be sick at
heart.
11 The officials of Zoan
are nothing but fools;
the wise counselors of Pharaoh give
senseless advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
"I am one of the wise men,
a disciple of the ancient kings "?
12 Where are your wise men now?
Let them show you and make known
what the LORD Almighty
has planned against
13 The officials of Zoan
have become fools,
the leaders of
the cornerstones of her peoples
have led
14 The LORD has poured into them
a spirit of dizziness;
they make
as a drunkard staggers around in his
vomit.
15 There is nothing
head or tail, palm branch or reed.
16 In that day the Egyptians will be like
women. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the LORD Almighty
raises against them. 17 And the
18 In that day five cities in
19 In that day there will be an altar to
the LORD in the heart of
23 In that day there will be a highway
from
1 In the year that the
supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to
3 Then the LORD said, "Just as my
servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and
portent against
1 An oracle concerning
the Desert by the Sea:
Like whirlwinds sweeping through the
southland,
an invader comes from the desert,
from a land of terror.
2 A dire vision has been shown to me:
The traitor betrays, the
looter takes loot.
I will bring to an end all the groaning
she caused.
3 At this my body is racked with pain,
pangs seize me, like those of a woman in
labor;
I am staggered by what I hear,
I am bewildered by what I see.
4 My heart falters,
fear makes me tremble;
the twilight I longed for
has become a horror to me.
5 They set the tables,
they spread the rugs,
they eat, they
drink!
Get up, you officers,
oil the shields!
6 This is what the Lord says to me:
"Go, post a lookout
and have him report what he sees.
7 When he sees chariots
with teams of horses,
riders on donkeys
or riders on camels,
let him be alert,
fully alert. "
8 And the lookout [a] shouted,
"Day after day, my lord, I stand on
the watchtower;
every night I stay at my post.
9 Look, here comes a man in a chariot
with a team of horses.
And he gives back the answer:
'
All the images of its gods
lie shattered on the ground!' "
10 O my people, crushed on the threshing
floor,
I tell you what I have heard
from the LORD Almighty,
from the God of Israel.
11 An oracle concerning Dumah [b] :
Someone calls to me from Seir,
"Watchman, what is left of the night?
Watchman, what is left of the night?"
12 The watchman replies,
"Morning is coming, but also the
night.
If you would ask, then ask;
and come back yet again. "
13 An oracle concerning
Arabia:
You caravans of Dedanites,
who camp in the thickets of
14 bring water for the thirsty;
you who live in Tema,
bring food for the fugitives.
15 They flee from the sword,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow
and from the heat of battle.
16 This is what the Lord says to me: "Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the pomp of Kedar will come to an end. 17 The survivors of the bowmen, the warriors of Kedar, will be few." The LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
1 An oracle concerning
the
What troubles you now,
that you have all gone up on the roofs,
2 O town full of
commotion,
O city of tumult and revelry?
Your slain were not killed by the sword,
nor did they die in battle.
3 All your leaders have fled together;
they have been captured without using the
bow.
All you who were caught were taken
prisoner together,
having fled while the enemy was still far
away.
4 Therefore I said, "Turn away from
me;
let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to console me
over the destruction of my people. "
5 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, has a day
of tumult and trampling and terror
in the
a day of battering down walls
and of crying out to the mountains.
6
with her charioteers and horses;
Kir uncovers the
shield.
7 Your choicest valleys are full of
chariots,
and horsemen are posted at the city gates;
8 the defenses of
And you looked in that day
to the weapons in the Palace of the
9 you saw that the City of
had many breaches in its defenses;
you stored up water
in the Lower Pool.
10 You counted the buildings in
and tore down houses to strengthen the
wall.
11 You built a reservoir between the two
walls
for the water of the Old Pool,
but you did not look to the One who made
it,
or have regard for the One who planned it
long ago.
12 The Lord, the LORD Almighty,
called you on that day
to weep and to wail,
to tear out your hair and put on
sackcloth.
13 But see, there is joy and revelry,
slaughtering of cattle and killing of
sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine!
"Let us eat and drink," you say,
"for tomorrow we die!"
14 The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: "Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for," says the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
15 This is what the Lord, the LORD
Almighty, says:
"Go, say to this steward,
to Shebna, who
is in charge of the palace:
16 What are you doing here and who gave
you permission
to cut out a grave for yourself here,
hewing your grave on the height
and chiseling your resting place in the
rock?
17 "Beware, the LORD is about to
take firm hold of you
and hurl you away, O you mighty man.
18 He will roll you up tightly like a
ball
and throw you into a large country.
There you will die
and there your splendid chariots will
remain—
you disgrace to your master's house!
19 I will depose you from your office,
and you will be ousted from your position.
20 "In that day I will summon my
servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten
your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father
to those who live in
25 "In that day," declares the LORD Almighty, "the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down." The LORD has spoken.
1 An oracle concerning
Wail, O ships of Tarshish!
For
and left without house or harbor.
From the
word has come to them.
2 Be silent, you people of the island
and you merchants of
whom the seafarers have enriched.
3 On the great waters
came the grain of the Shihor;
the harvest of the Nile [
b] was the revenue
of
and she became the marketplace of the
nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, and you, O
fortress of the sea,
for the sea has spoken:
"I have neither been in labor nor
given birth;
I have neither reared sons nor brought up
daughters. "
5 When word comes to
they will be in anguish at the report from
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, you people of the island.
7 Is this your city of revelry,
the old, old city,
whose feet have taken her
to settle in far-off lands?
8 Who planned this against
the bestower of
crowns,
whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are renowned in the earth?
9 The LORD Almighty planned it,
to bring low the pride of all glory
and to humble all who are renowned on the
earth.
10 Till [c] your land as along the
O Daughter of Tarshish,
for you no longer have a harbor.
11 The LORD has stretched out his hand
over the sea
and made its kingdoms tremble.
He has given an order concerning
that her fortresses be destroyed.
12 He said, "No more of your
reveling,
O Virgin Daughter of Sidon, now crushed!
"Up, cross over to
even there you will find no rest. "
13 Look at the land of the Babylonians, [f]
this people that is now of no account!
The Assyrians have made it
a place for desert creatures;
they raised up their siege towers,
they stripped its fortresses bare
and turned it into a ruin.
14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish;
your fortress is destroyed!
15 At that time
16 "Take up a harp, walk through the
city,
O prostitute forgotten;
play the harp well, sing many a song,
so that you will be remembered. "
17 At the end of seventy years, the LORD
will deal with
1 See, the LORD is going
to lay waste the earth
and devastate it;
he will ruin its face
and scatter its inhabitants-
2 it will be the same
for priest as for people,
for master as for servant,
for mistress as for maid,
for seller as for buyer,
for borrower as for lender,
for debtor as for creditor.
3 The earth will be completely laid waste
and totally plundered.
The LORD has spoken this word.
4 The earth dries up and withers,
the world languishes and withers,
the exalted of the earth languish.
5 The earth is defiled by its people;
they have disobeyed the laws,
violated the statutes
and broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse consumes the earth;
its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned
up,
and very few are left.
7 The new wine dries up and the vine
withers;
all the merrymakers groan.
8 The gaiety of the tambourines is
stilled,
the noise of the revelers has stopped,
the joyful harp
is silent.
9 No longer do they drink wine with a
song;
the beer is bitter to its drinkers.
10 The ruined city lies desolate;
the entrance to every house is barred.
11 In the streets they cry out for wine;
all joy turns to gloom,
all gaiety is banished from the earth.
12 The city is left in ruins,
its gate is battered to pieces.
13 So will it be on the earth
and among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
or as when gleanings are left after the
grape harvest.
14 They raise their voices, they shout
for joy;
from the west they acclaim the LORD's majesty.
15 Therefore in the east give glory to
the LORD;
exalt the name of the LORD, the God of
Israel,
in the islands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear
singing:
"Glory to the Righteous One."
But I said, "I waste away, I waste
away!
Woe to me!
The treacherous betray!
With treachery the treacherous betray!
"
17 Terror and pit and snare await you,
O people of the earth.
18 Whoever flees at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit;
whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare.
The floodgates of the heavens are opened,
the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth is broken up,
the earth is split asunder,
the earth is
thoroughly shaken.
20 The earth reels like a drunkard,
it sways like a hut in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its
rebellion
that it falls—never to rise again.
21 In that day the LORD will punish
the powers in the heavens above
and the kings on the earth below.
22 They will be herded together
like prisoners bound in a dungeon;
they will be shut up in prison
and be punished [ a] after many days.
23 The moon will be abashed,
the sun ashamed;
for the LORD Almighty will reign
on
and before its elders, gloriously.
1 O LORD, you are my
God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.
2 You have made the city a heap of
rubble,
the fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners' stronghold a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore strong peoples will honor
you;
cities of ruthless nations will revere
you.
4 You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is like a storm driving against a wall
5 and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
as heat is reduced by the shadow of a
cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is stilled.
6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will
prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the
tears
from all faces;
he will remove the disgrace of his people
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.
9 In that day they will say,
"Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD,
we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his
salvation. "
10 The hand of the LORD will rest on this
mountain;
but
as straw is trampled down in the manure.
11 They will spread out their hands in
it,
as a swimmer spreads out his hands to
swim.
God will bring down their pride
despite the cleverness [
a] of their hands.
12 He will bring down your high fortified
walls
and lay them low;
he will bring them down to the ground,
to the very dust.
1 In that day this song
will be sung in the
We have a strong city;
God makes salvation
its walls and ramparts.
2 Open the gates
that the righteous nation may enter,
the nation that keeps faith.
3 You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock
eternal.
5 He 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.
6 Feet trample it down—
the feet of the oppressed,
the footsteps of the poor.
7 The path of the righteous is level;
O upright One, you make the way of the
righteous smooth.
8 Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your
laws, [a]
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.
9 My 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.
10 Though grace is shown to the wicked,
they do not learn righteousness;
even in a land of uprightness they go on
doing evil
and regard not the majesty of the LORD.
11 O LORD, 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.
12 LORD, you establish peace for us;
all that we have accomplished you have
done for us.
13 O LORD, our God, other lords besides
you have ruled over us,
but your name alone do we honor.
14 They are now dead, they live no more;
those departed spirits do not rise.
You punished them and brought them to
ruin;
you wiped out all memory of them.
15 You have enlarged the nation, O LORD;
you have enlarged the nation.
You have gained glory for yourself;
you have extended all the borders of the
land.
16 LORD, they came to you in their
distress;
when you disciplined them,
they could barely whisper a prayer. [ b]
17 As a woman with child and about to
give birth
writhes and cries out in her pain,
so were we in your presence, O LORD.
18 We were with child, we writhed in
pain,
but we gave birth to wind.
We have not brought salvation to the
earth;
we have not given birth to people of the world.
19 But your dead will live;
their bodies will rise.
You 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.
20 Go, my people, enter your rooms
and shut the doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until his wrath has passed by.
21 See, 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
upon her;
she will conceal her slain no longer.
1 In 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.
2 In that day—
"Sing about a fruitful vineyard:
3 I, the LORD, watch over it;
I water it continually.
I guard it day and night
so that no one may harm it.
4 I 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.
5 Or else let them come to me for refuge;
let them make peace with me,
yes, let them make peace with me. "
6 In days to come Jacob will take root,
and fill all the
world with fruit.
7 Has the LORD struck her
as he struck down those who struck her?
Has she been killed
as those were killed who killed her?
8 By warfare [a] and exile you contend with her—
with his fierce blast he drives her out,
as on a day the east wind blows.
9 By this, then, will Jacob's guilt be
atoned for,
and this will be the full fruitage of the
removal of his sin:
When he makes all the altar stones
to be like chalk stones crushed to pieces,
no Asherah poles
[ b]
or incense altars
will be left standing.
10 The fortified city stands desolate,
an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the
desert;
there the calves graze,
there they lie down;
they strip its branches bare.
11 When 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.
12 In that day the LORD will thresh from
the flowing
1 Woe 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!
2 See, 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.
3 That wreath, the pride of Ephraim's
drunkards,
will be trampled underfoot.
4 That fading flower, his glorious
beauty,
set on the head of a fertile valley,
will be like a fig ripe before harvest—
as soon as someone sees it and takes it in
his hand,
he swallows it.
5 In that day the LORD Almighty
will be a glorious crown,
a beautiful wreath
for the remnant of his people.
6 He will be a spirit of justice
to him who sits in judgment,
a source of strength
to those who turn back the battle at the
gate.
7 And 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.
8 All 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?
10 For it is:
Do and do, do and do,
rule on rule, rule on rule [ a] ;
a little here, a little there. "
11 Very well then, with foreign lips and
strange tongues
God will speak to this people,
12 to whom he said,
"This is the resting place, let the
weary rest";
and, "This is the place of
repose"—
but they would not listen.
13 So then, the word of the LORD to them
will become:
Do and do, do and do,
rule on rule, rule on rule;
a little here, a little there—
so that they will go and fall backward,
be injured and snared and captured.
14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD,
you scoffers
who rule this people in
15 You boast, "We have entered into
a covenant with death,
with the grave [b] 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 [ c] our hiding place."
16 So 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 trusts will never be dismayed.
17 I 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.
18 Your covenant with death will be
annulled;
your agreement with the grave will not
stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
you will be beaten down by it.
19 As 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.
20 The bed is too short to stretch out
on,
the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.
21 The LORD will rise up as he did at
he will rouse himself as in the
to do his work, his strange work,
and perform his task, his alien task.
22 Now 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.
23 Listen and hear my voice;
pay attention and hear what I say.
24 When a farmer plows for planting, does
he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing
the soil?
25 When he has leveled the surface,
does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place, [ d]
barley in its plot, [ e]
and spelt in its field?
26 His God instructs him
and teaches him the right way.
27 Caraway is not threshed with a sledge,
nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin;
caraway is beaten out with a rod,
and cummin with
a stick.
28 Grain must be ground to make bread;
so one does not go on threshing it
forever.
Though he drives the wheels of his
threshing cart over it,
his horses do not grind it.
29 All this also comes from the LORD
Almighty,
wonderful in counsel and magnificent in
wisdom.
1 Woe to you, Ariel,
Ariel,
the city where David settled!
Add year to year
and let your cycle of festivals go on.
2 Yet I will besiege Ariel;
she will mourn and lament,
she will be to me like an altar hearth. [ a]
3 I will encamp against you all around;
I will encircle you with towers
and set up my siege works against you.
4 Brought 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.
5 But your many enemies will become like
fine dust,
the ruthless hordes like blown chaff.
Suddenly, in an instant,
6 the LORD Almighty will come
with thunder and earthquake and great
noise,
with windstorm and tempest and flames of a
devouring fire.
7 Then 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-
8 as when a hungry man dreams that he is
eating,
but he awakens, and his hunger remains;
as when a thirsty man dreams that he is
drinking,
but he awakens faint, with his thirst unquenched.
So will it be with the hordes of all the
nations
that fight against
9 Be stunned and amazed,
blind yourselves and be sightless;
be drunk, but not from wine,
stagger, but not from beer.
10 The LORD has brought over you a deep
sleep:
He has sealed your eyes (the prophets);
he has covered your heads (the seers).
11 For 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 to him, "Read this, please," he will answer, "I can't; it is sealed." 12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, "Read this, please," he will answer, "I don't know how to read."
13 The 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 made up only of rules taught by men. [ b]
14 Therefore 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. "
15 Woe 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?"
16 You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like
the clay!
Shall what is formed say to him who formed
it,
"He did not make me"?
Can the pot say of the potter,
"He knows nothing"?
17 In a very short time, will not
and the fertile field
seem like a forest?
18 In that day the deaf will hear the
words of the scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind will see.
19 Once more the humble will rejoice in
the LORD;
the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of
Israel.
20 The ruthless will vanish,
the mockers will disappear,
and all who have an eye for evil will be
cut down-
21 those who with a word make a man out
to be guilty,
who ensnare the defender in court
and with false testimony deprive the
innocent of justice.
22 Therefore this is what the LORD, who
redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob:
"No longer will Jacob be ashamed;
no longer will their faces grow pale.
23 When 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.
24 Those who are wayward in spirit will
gain understanding;
those who complain will accept instruction."
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;
2 who go down to
without consulting me;
who look for help to Pharaoh's protection,
to
3 But Pharaoh's protection will be to
your shame,
4 Though they have officials in Zoan
and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
5 everyone will
be put to shame
because of a people useless to them,
who bring neither help nor advantage,
but only shame and disgrace. "
6 An oracle 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,
7 to
Therefore I call her
Rahab the
Do-Nothing.
8 Go 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.
9 These are rebellious people, deceitful
children,
children
unwilling to listen to the LORD's instruction.
10 They 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.
11 Leave this way,
get off this path,
and stop confronting us
with the Holy One of Israel! "
12 Therefore, this is what the Holy One
of Israel says:
"Because you have rejected this
message,
relied on oppression
and depended on deceit,
13 this sin will become for you
like a high wall, cracked and bulging,
that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
14 It 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. "
15 This 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.
16 You 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!
17 A 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. "
18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to
you;
he rises to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
19 O people of
23 He 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. 24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. 25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. 26 The 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.
27 See, 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.
28 His 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.
29 And you will sing
as on the night you celebrate a holy
festival;
your hearts will rejoice
as when people go up with flutes
to the mountain of the LORD,
to the Rock of Israel.
30 The LORD will cause men 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.
31 The voice of the LORD will shatter
with his scepter he will strike them down.
32 Every stroke the LORD lays on them
with his punishing rod
will be to the music of tambourines and
harps,
as he fights them in battle with the blows
of his arm.
33 Topheth 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.
1 Woe 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.
2 Yet he too is wise and can bring
disaster;
he does not take back his words.
He will rise up against the house of the
wicked,
against those who help evildoers.
3 But the Egyptians are men and not God;
their horses are flesh and not spirit.
When the LORD stretches out his hand,
he who helps will stumble,
he who is helped will fall;
both will perish together.
4 This is what the LORD says to me:
"As a lion growls,
a great lion over his prey—
and though a whole band of shepherds
is called together against him,
he 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.
5 Like birds hovering overhead,
the LORD Almighty will shield
he will shield it and deliver it,
he will 'pass over' it and will rescue it.
"
6 Return to him you have so greatly revolted against, O Israelites. 7 For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.
8 "
a sword, not of mortals, will devour them.
They will flee before the sword
and their young men will be put to forced
labor.
9 Their stronghold will fall because of
terror;
at sight of the battle standard their commanders
will panic,"
declares the LORD,
whose fire is in
whose furnace is in
1 See, a king will reign
in righteousness
and rulers will rule with justice.
2 Each man 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.
3 Then the eyes of those who see will no
longer be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will
listen.
4 The mind of the rash will know and
understand,
and the stammering tongue will be fluent
and clear.
5 No longer will the fool be called noble
nor the scoundrel be
highly respected.
6 For the fool speaks folly,
his mind is busy with evil:
He practices ungodliness
and spreads error concerning the LORD;
the hungry he leaves empty
and from the thirsty he withholds water.
7 The scoundrel's methods are wicked,
he makes up evil schemes
to destroy the poor with lies,
even when the plea of the needy is just.
8 But the noble man makes noble plans,
and by noble deeds he stands.
9 You women
who are so complacent,
rise up and listen to me;
you daughters who feel secure,
hear what I have to say!
10 In little more than a year
you who feel secure will tremble;
the grape harvest will fail,
and the harvest of fruit will not come.
11 Tremble, you complacent women;
shudder, you daughters who feel secure!
Strip off your clothes,
put sackcloth around your waists.
12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant
fields,
for the fruitful vines
13 and 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.
14 The fortress will be abandoned,
the noisy city deserted;
citadel and watchtower will become a
wasteland forever,
the delight of donkeys, a pasture for
flocks,
15 till the Spirit is
poured upon us from on high,
and the desert becomes a fertile field,
and the fertile field seems like a forest.
16 Justice will dwell in the desert
and righteousness live in the fertile
field.
17 The fruit of righteousness will be
peace;
the effect of righteousness will be
quietness and confidence forever.
18 My people will live in peaceful
dwelling places,
in secure homes,
in undisturbed places of rest.
19 Though hail flattens the forest
and the city is leveled completely,
20 how blessed you will be,
sowing your seed by every stream,
and letting your cattle and donkeys range
free.
1 Woe to you, O
destroyer,
you who have not been destroyed!
Woe to you, O traitor,
you who have not been betrayed!
When you stop destroying,
you will be destroyed;
when you stop betraying,
you will be betrayed.
2 O LORD, be gracious to us;
we long for you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation in time of distress.
3 At the thunder of your voice, the peoples
flee;
when you rise up, the nations scatter.
4 Your plunder, O nations, is harvested
as by young locusts;
like a swarm of locusts men pounce on it.
5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on
high;
he will fill
6 He 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. [ a]
7 Look, their brave men cry aloud in the
streets;
the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways are deserted,
no travelers are on the roads.
The treaty is broken,
its witnesses [ b] are despised,
no one is respected.
9 The land mourns [c] and wastes away,
and Bashan and
10 "Now will I arise," says the
LORD.
"Now will I be exalted;
now will I be lifted up.
11 You conceive chaff,
you give birth to straw;
your breath is a fire that consumes you.
12 The peoples will be burned as if to
lime;
like cut thornbushes
they will be set ablaze."
13 You who are far away,
hear what I have done;
you who are near, acknowledge my power!
14 The sinners in
trembling grips the godless:
"Who of us can dwell with the
consuming fire?
Who of us can dwell with everlasting
burning? "
15 He who walks righteously
and speaks what is right,
who rejects gain from extortion
and keeps his hand from accepting bribes,
who stops his
ears against plots of murder
and shuts his eyes against contemplating
evil-
16 this is the man who will dwell on the
heights,
whose refuge will be the mountain
fortress.
His bread will be supplied,
and water will not fail him.
17 Your eyes will see the king in his
beauty
and view a land that stretches afar.
18 In 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? "
19 You will see those arrogant people no
more,
those people of an obscure speech,
with their strange, incomprehensible
tongue.
20 Look upon
your eyes will see
a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be
moved;
its stakes will never be pulled up,
nor any of its ropes broken.
21 There 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.
22 For the LORD is our judge,
the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king;
it is he who will save us.
23 Your 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.
24 No one living in
and the sins of those who dwell there will
be forgiven.
1 Come 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!
2 The LORD is angry with all nations;
his wrath is upon all their armies.
He will totally destroy [
a] them,
he will give them over to slaughter.
3 Their slain will be thrown out,
their dead bodies will send up a stench;
the mountains will be soaked with their
blood.
4 All the stars of the heavens will be
dissolved
and the sky rolled up like a scroll;
all the starry
host will fall
like withered leaves from the vine,
like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
5 My sword has drunk its fill in the
heavens;
see, it descends
in judgment on
the people I have totally destroyed.
6 The 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
7 And 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.
8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
a year of retribution, to uphold
9
her dust into burning sulfur;
her land will become blazing pitch!
10 It will not be quenched night and day;
its smoke will rise forever.
From generation to generation it will lie desolate;
no one will ever pass through it again.
11 The desert owl [b] and screech owl [c] will possess it;
the great owl [d] and the raven will nest there.
God will stretch out over
the measuring line of chaos
and the plumb line of desolation.
12 Her nobles will have nothing there to
be called a kingdom,
all her princes will vanish away.
13 Thorns will overrun her citadels,
nettles and brambles her strongholds.
She will become a haunt for jackals,
a home for owls.
14 Desert creatures will meet with hyenas,
and wild goats will bleat to each other;
there the night creatures will also repose
and find for themselves places of rest.
15 The 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.
16 Look 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.
17 He allots their portions;
his hand distributes them by measure.
They will possess it forever
and dwell there from generation to
generation.
1 The desert and the
parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, 2
it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of
the splendor of
they will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.
3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
4 say 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.
"
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be
opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then 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.
7 The 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.
8 And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not journey on it;
it will be for those who walk in that Way;
wicked fools will not go about on it. [ a]
9 No lion will be there,
nor will any ferocious beast get up on it;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10 and the ransomed of the LORD will
return.
They will enter
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
1 In the fourteenth year
of King Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the
fortified cities of
4 The field commander said to them,
"Tell Hezekiah,
" 'This is
what the great king, the king of
8 " 'Come now, make a bargain with
my master, the king of
11 Then 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."
12 But the commander replied, "Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the men sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own filth and drink their own urine?"
13 Then the commander stood and called
out in Hebrew, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of
16 "Do not listen to Hezekiah. This
is what the king of
18 "Do not let Hezekiah mislead you
when he says, 'The LORD will deliver us.' Has the god of any nation ever
delivered his land from the hand of the king of
21 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, "Do not answer him."
22 Then 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.
1 When King Hezekiah
heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple
of the LORD. 2 He sent Eliakim
the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and
the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They told him,
"This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and
disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength
to deliver them. 4 It may be that the LORD your
God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of
5 When King Hezekiah's officials came to
Isaiah, 6 Isaiah 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
8 When the field commander heard that the
king of Assyria had left
9 Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite [a] king of
14 Hezekiah 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. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD : 16 "O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
18 "It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 20 Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God. [b] "
21 Then 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, 22 this is the word
the LORD has spoken against him:
"The Virgin Daughter of Zion
despises and mocks you.
The Daughter of Jerusalem
tosses her head as you flee.
23 Who is it you have insulted and
blasphemed?
Against whom have
you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of
24 By your messengers
you have heaped insults on the Lord.
And you have said,
'With my many chariots
I have ascended the heights of the
mountains,
the utmost heights of
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the choicest of its pines.
I have reached its remotest heights,
the finest of its forests.
25 I have dug wells in foreign lands [c]
and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
I have dried up all the streams of
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.
27 Their 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 [ d] before it grows up.
28 "But I know where you stay
and when you come and go
and how you rage against me.
29 Because 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, O
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.
31 Once more a remnant of the house of
will take root below and bear fruit above.
32 For out of
and out of Mount
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.
33 "Therefore this is what the LORD
says concerning the king of
"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.
34 By 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!"
36 Then the angel of the LORD went out
and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp.
When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 37 So Sennacherib king of
38 One day, while he was worshiping in
the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him
down with the sword, and they escaped to the
1 In 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."
2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3 "Remember, O 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.
4 Then 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. 6 And I will deliver you and this city from
the hand of the king of
7 " 'This is the LORD's sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: 8 I 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.
9 A writing of Hezekiah king of
10 I said, "In the prime of my life
must I go through the gates of death [a]
and be robbed of the rest of my years? "
11 I said, "I will not again see the
LORD,
the LORD, in the land of the living;
no longer will I look on mankind,
or be with those who now dwell in this
world. [ b]
12 Like 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.
13 I waited patiently till dawn,
but like a lion he broke all my bones;
day and night you made an end of me.
14 I cried like a swift or thrush,
I moaned like a mourning dove.
My eyes grew weak as I looked to the
heavens.
I am troubled; O Lord, come to my aid!
"
15 But 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.
16 Lord, by such things men live;
and my spirit finds life in them too.
You restored me to health
and let me live.
17 Surely 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.
18 For the grave [c] cannot praise you,
death cannot sing your praise;
those who go down to the pit
cannot hope for your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living—they praise
you,
as I am doing today;
fathers tell their children
about your faithfulness.
20 The LORD will save me,
and we will sing with stringed instruments
all the days of our lives
in the temple of the LORD.
21 Isaiah had said, "Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover."
22 Hezekiah had asked, "What will be the sign that I will go up to the temple of the LORD ?"
1 At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan
king of
3 Then 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
4 The 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."
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah,
"Hear the word of the LORD Almighty: 6 The
time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers
have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be
left, says the LORD. 7 And 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
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."
1 Comfort, comfort my
people,
says your God.
2 Speak 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.
3 A voice of one calling:
"In the desert prepare
the way for the LORD [ a] ;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God. [
b]
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD will be
revealed,
and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
"
6 A voice says, "Cry out."
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of
the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD blows on
them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God stands
forever."
9 You who bring good
tidings to
go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good tidings to
lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns of
"Here is your God!"
10 See, the
Sovereign LORD comes with power,
and his arm rules for him.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.
11 He 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.
12 Who 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?
13 Who has understood the mind [d] of the LORD,
or instructed him as his counselor?
14 Whom 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?
15 Surely 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.
16
nor its animals
enough for burnt offerings.
17 Before him all the nations are as
nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.
18 To whom, then, will you compare God?
What image will you compare him to?
19 As for an idol, a craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
20 A man too poor to present such an
offering
selects wood that will not rot.
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not topple.
21 Do 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?
22 He 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.
23 He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to
nothing.
24 No 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.
26 Lift your eyes and look to the
heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the
starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty
strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God "?
28 Do 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.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but 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.
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 [a] ?
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.
3 He pursues them and moves on unscathed,
by a path his feet have not traveled before.
4 Who 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. "
5 The islands have seen it and fear;
the ends of the earth tremble.
They approach and come forward;
6 each helps the other
and says to his brother, "Be
strong!"
7 The craftsman encourages the goldsmith,
and he who smooths
with the hammer
spurs on him who strikes the anvil.
He says of the welding, "It is
good."
He nails down the idol so it will not
topple.
8 "But you, O Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
you descendants of Abraham my friend,
9 I 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.
10 So 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.
12 Though you search for your enemies,
you will not find them.
Those who wage war against you
will be as nothing at all.
13 For I am the LORD, your God,
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do
not fear;
I will help you.
14 Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob,
O little
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.
16 You 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.
18 I 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.
19 I will put in the desert
the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and
the olive.
I will set pines in the wasteland,
the fir and the cypress together,
20 so 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 "Bring in your idols to tell us
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,
23 tell 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.
24 But you are less than nothing
and your works are utterly worthless;
he who 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.
26 Who 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.
27 I was the first to tell
I gave to
28 I look but there is no one—
no one among them to give counsel,
no one to give answer when I ask them.
29 See, they are all
false!
Their deeds amount to nothing;
their images are but wind and confusion.
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.
2 He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
3 A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff
out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth
justice;
4 he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his law the islands will put their
hope. "
5 This is what God the LORD says—
he who created the heavens and stretched
them out,
who spread out the earth and all that
comes out of 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,
7 to 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 give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.
9 See, the former things have taken
place,
and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
I announce them to you. "
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.
11 Let the desert 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.
12 Let them give glory to the LORD
and proclaim his praise in the islands.
13 The LORD will march out like a mighty
man,
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.
15 I will lay waste the mountains and
hills
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up the pools.
16 I 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.
17 But those who trust in idols,
who say to images, 'You are our gods,'
will be turned back in utter shame.
18
"Hear, you deaf;
look, you blind, and see!
19 Who is blind but my servant,
and deaf like the messenger I send?
Who is blind like the one committed to me,
blind like the servant of the LORD ?
20 You have seen many things, but have
paid no attention;
your ears are open, but you hear
nothing."
21 It pleased the LORD
for the sake of his righteousness
to make his law great and glorious.
22 But 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."
23 Which of you will listen to this
or pay close attention in time to come?
24 Who handed Jacob over to become loot,
and
Was it not the LORD,
against whom we have sinned?
For they would not follow his ways;
they did not obey his law.
25 So 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.
1 But now, this is what
the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When 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.
3 For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give
4 Since you are precious and honored in
my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
6 I 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-
7 everyone who is
called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made. "
8 Lead out those who have eyes but are
blind,
who have ears but are deaf.
9 All the nations gather together
and the peoples assemble.
Which of them 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.
11 I, even I, am the LORD,
and apart from me there is no savior.
12 I 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.
13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
When I act, who can reverse it? "
14 This is what the LORD
says—
your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
"For your sake I will send to
and bring down as fugitives all the
Babylonians, [b]
in the ships in which they took pride.
15 I am the LORD, your Holy
16 This is what the LORD says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who 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.
19 See, I am
doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
22 "Yet you have not called upon me,
O Jacob,
you have not wearied yourselves for me, O
Israel.
23 You 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.
24 You 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.
26 Review the past for me,
let us argue the matter together;
state the case for your innocence.
27 Your first father sinned;
your spokesmen rebelled against me.
28 So I will disgrace the dignitaries of
your temple,
and I will consign Jacob to destruction [c]
and
1 "But now listen, O
Jacob, my servant,
2 This is what the LORD says—
he who made you, who formed you in the
womb,
and who will help you:
Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant,
Jeshurun, whom I
have chosen.
3 For 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.
4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow,
like poplar trees by flowing streams.
5 One will say, 'I belong to the LORD ';
another will call himself by the name of
Jacob;
still another will write on his hand, 'The
LORD's,'
and will take the name
6 "This is what the LORD
says—
I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.
7 Who 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 him foretell what will come.
8 Do 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."
9 All 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.
10 Who shapes a god and casts an idol,
which can profit him nothing?
11 He and his kind will be put to shame;
craftsmen are nothing but men.
Let them all come together and take their
stand;
they will be brought down to terror and
infamy.
12 The 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.
13 The 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 the form of man,
of man in all his glory,
that it may dwell in a shrine.
14 He 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.
15 It is man's 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.
16 Half 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."
17 From 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."
18 They know nothing, they understand nothing;
their eyes are plastered over so they
cannot see,
and their minds closed so they cannot
understand.
19 No 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?"
20 He 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, O Jacob,
for you are my servant, O Israel.
I have made you, you are my servant;
O Israel, I will not forget you.
22 I have swept away your offenses like a
cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed you."
23 Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has
done this;
shout aloud, O earth beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,
you forests and all your trees,
for the LORD has
redeemed Jacob,
he displays his glory in
24 "This is what the LORD
says—
your Redeemer,
who formed you in the womb:
I am the LORD,
who has made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who spread out the earth by myself,
25 who foils the signs of false prophets
and makes fools of diviners,
who overthrows the learning of the wise
and turns it into nonsense,
26 who 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
built,'
and of their ruins, 'I will restore them,'
27 who says to the watery deep, 'Be dry,
and I will dry up your streams,'
28 who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd
and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of
and of the temple, "Let its
foundations be laid." '
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:
2 I will go before
you
and will level the mountains [a] ;
I will break down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.
3 I will give you
the treasures of darkness,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD,
the God of Israel, who summons you by
name.
4 For the sake of
Jacob my servant,
of
I summon you by name
and bestow on you a title of honor,
though you do not acknowledge me.
5 I 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,
6 so that from the
rising of the sun
to the place of its setting
men may know there is none besides me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
7 I 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 righteousness;
let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
let salvation spring up,
let righteousness grow with it;
I, the LORD, have created it.
9
"Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker,
to him who is but a potsherd among the
potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
'What are you making?'
Does your work say,
'He has no hands'?
10 Woe to him who
says to his father,
'What have you begotten?'
or to his 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?
12 It is I who
made the earth
and created mankind upon it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
I marshaled their starry hosts.
13 I will raise up Cyrus [b] 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."
14 This is what
the LORD says:
"The products of
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.' "
15 Truly you are a
God who hides himself,
O God and Savior of Israel.
16 All the makers
of idols will be put to shame and disgraced;
they will go off into disgrace together.
17 But
with an everlasting salvation;
you will never be put to shame or
disgraced,
to ages everlasting.
18 For 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.
19 I 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.
21 Declare 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.
23 By 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.
24 They will say
of me, 'In the LORD alone
are righteousness
and strength.' "
All who have raged against him
will come to him and be put to shame.
25 But in the LORD
all the descendants of
will be found righteous and will exult.
1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low;
their idols are borne by beasts of burden.
[a]
The images that are carried about are
burdensome,
a burden for the weary.
2 They stoop and
bow down together;
unable to rescue the burden,
they themselves go off into captivity.
3 "Listen to
me, O house of Jacob,
all you who remain of the house of
you whom I have upheld since you were conceived,
and have carried since your birth.
4 Even 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 "To whom
will you compare me or count me equal?
To whom will you liken me that we may be
compared?
6 Some 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.
7 They 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.
Though one cries out to it, it does not
answer;
it cannot save him from his troubles.
8 "Remember
this, fix it in mind,
take it to heart, you rebels.
9 Remember the
former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I 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.
11 From the east I
summon a bird of prey;
from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my
purpose.
What I have said, that will I bring about;
what I have planned, that will I do.
12 Listen to me,
you stubborn-hearted,
you who are far from righteousness.
13 I am bringing
my righteousness near,
it is not far away;
and my salvation will not be delayed.
I will grant salvation to
my splendor to
1 "Go down, sit in the dust,
Virgin Daughter of Babylon;
sit on the ground without a throne,
Daughter of the Babylonians. [a]
No more will you be called
tender or delicate.
2 Take millstones
and grind flour;
take off your veil.
Lift up your skirts, bare your legs,
and wade through the streams.
3 Your nakedness
will be exposed
and your shame uncovered.
I will take vengeance;
I will spare no one."
4 Our Redeemer—the
LORD Almighty is his name—
is the Holy One of Israel.
5 "Sit in
silence, go into darkness,
Daughter of the Babylonians;
no more will you be called
queen of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with
my people
and desecrated my inheritance;
I gave them into your hand,
and you showed them no mercy.
Even on the aged
you laid a very heavy yoke.
7 You said, 'I
will continue forever—
the eternal queen!'
But you did not consider these things
or reflect on what might happen.
8 "Now then,
listen, you wanton creature,
lounging in your security
and saying to yourself,
'I am, and there is none besides me.
I will never be a widow
or suffer the loss of children.'
9 Both of these
will overtake you
in a moment, on a single day:
loss of children and widowhood.
They will come upon you in full measure,
in spite of your many
sorceries
and all your potent spells.
10 You have
trusted in your wickedness
and have said, 'No one sees me.'
Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you
when you say to yourself,
'I am, and there is none besides me.'
11 Disaster will
come upon you,
and you will not know how to conjure it
away.
A calamity will fall upon you
that you cannot ward off with a ransom;
a catastrophe you cannot foresee
will suddenly come upon you.
12 "Keep on,
then, with your magic spells
and with your many
sorceries,
which you have labored at since childhood.
Perhaps you will succeed,
perhaps you will cause terror.
13 All the counsel
you have received has only worn you out!
Let your astrologers come forward,
those stargazers who make predictions
month by month,
let them save you from what is coming upon
you.
14 Surely they are
like stubble;
the fire will burn them up.
They cannot even save themselves
from the power of the flame.
Here are no coals to warm anyone;
here is no fire to sit by.
15 That is all
they can do for you—
these you have labored with
and trafficked with since childhood.
Each of them goes on in his error;
there is not one that can save you.
1
"Listen to this, O house of Jacob,
you who are called by the name of
and come from the line of
you who take oaths in the name of the LORD
and invoke the God of Israel—
but not in truth or righteousness-
2 you who call
yourselves citizens of the holy city
and rely on the God of Israel—
the LORD Almighty is his name:
3 I foretold the
former things long ago,
my mouth announced them and I made them
known;
then suddenly I acted, and they came to
pass.
4 For I knew how
stubborn you were;
the sinews of your neck were iron,
your forehead was bronze.
5 Therefore I told
you these things long ago;
before they happened I announced them to
you
so that you could not say,
'My idols did them;
my wooden image and metal god ordained
them.'
6 You have heard
these things; look at them all.
Will you not admit them?
"From now on I will tell you of new
things,
of hidden things unknown to you.
7 They are created
now, and not long ago;
you have not heard of them before today.
So you cannot say,
'Yes, I knew of them.'
8 You have neither
heard nor understood;
from of old your ear has not been open.
Well do I know how treacherous you are;
you were called a rebel from birth.
9 For my own
name's sake I delay my wrath;
for the sake of my praise I hold it back
from you,
so as not to cut you off.
10 See, I have
refined you, though not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of
affliction.
11 For my own
sake, for my own sake, I do this.
How can I let myself be defamed?
I will not yield my glory to another.
12
"Listen to me, O
I am he;
I am the first and I am the last.
13 My own hand
laid the foundations of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summon them,
they all stand up together.
14 "Come
together, all of you, and listen:
Which of the idols has foretold these
things?
The LORD's
chosen ally
will carry out his purpose against
his arm will be against the Babylonians. [a]
15 I, even I, have
spoken;
yes, I have called him.
I will bring him,
and he will succeed in his mission.
16 "Come near
me and listen to this:
"From the first announcement I have
not spoken in secret;
at the time it happens, I am there."
And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me,
with his Spirit.
17 This is what
the LORD says—
your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
"I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you what is best for you,
who directs you in the way you should go.
18 If only you had
paid attention to my commands,
your peace would have been like a river,
your righteousness like the waves of the
sea.
19 Your descendants would have been like the sand,
your children like its numberless grains;
their name would never be cut off
nor destroyed from before me."
20 Leave
flee from the Babylonians!
Announce this with shouts of joy
and proclaim it.
Send it out to the ends of the earth;
say, "The LORD has redeemed his
servant Jacob."
21 They did not
thirst when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock
and water gushed out.
22 "There is
no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."
1
Listen to me, you islands;
hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the LORD called me;
from my birth he has made mention of my
name.
2 He made my mouth
like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me,
"You are my servant,
4 But I said,
"I have labored to no purpose;
I have spent my strength in vain and for
nothing.
Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand,
and my reward is with my God."
5 And now the LORD
says—
he who formed me in the womb to be his
servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD
and my God has been my strength-
6 he says:
"It is too small a thing for you to
be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of
I will also make you a light for the
Gentiles,
that you may bring my salvation to the
ends of the earth."
7 This is what the
LORD says—
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by
the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
"Kings will see you and rise up,
princes will see and bow down,
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."
8
This is what the LORD says:
"In the time of my favor I will
answer you,
and in the day of salvation I will help
you;
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
9 to say to the
captives, 'Come out,'
and to those in darkness, 'Be free!'
"They will feed beside the roads
and find pasture on every barren hill.
10 They will
neither hunger nor thirst,
nor will the desert heat or the sun beat
upon them.
He who has compassion on them will guide
them
and lead them beside springs of water.
11 I will turn all
my mountains into roads,
and my highways will be raised up.
12 See, they will
come from afar—
some from the north, some from the west,
some from the
region of
13 Shout for joy,
O heavens;
rejoice, O earth;
burst into song, O mountains!
For the LORD comforts his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted
ones.
14 But
the Lord has forgotten me."
15 "Can a
mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she
has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
16 See, I have
engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.
17 Your sons
hasten back,
and those who laid you waste depart from
you.
18 Lift up your
eyes and look around;
all your sons gather and come to you.
As surely as I live," declares the
LORD,
"you will wear them all as ornaments;
you will put them on, like a bride.
19 "Though
you were ruined and made desolate
and your land laid waste,
now you will be too small for your people,
and those who devoured you will be far
away.
20 The children
born during your bereavement
will yet say in your hearing,
'This place is too small for us;
give us more space to live in.'
21 Then you will
say in your heart,
'Who bore me these?
I was bereaved and barren;
I was exiled and rejected.
Who brought these up?
I was left all alone,
but these—where have they come from?'
"
22 This is what
the Sovereign LORD says:
"See, I will beckon to the Gentiles,
I will lift up my banner to the peoples;
they will bring your sons in their arms
and carry your daughters on their
shoulders.
23 Kings will be
your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
They will bow down before you with their
faces to the ground;
they will lick the dust at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the LORD;
those who hope in me will not be
disappointed."
24 Can plunder be
taken from warriors,
or captives rescued from the fierce [b] ?
25 But this is
what the LORD says:
"Yes, captives will be taken from
warriors,
and plunder retrieved from the fierce;
I will contend with those who contend with
you,
and your children I will save.
26 I will make
your oppressors eat their own flesh;
they will be drunk on their own blood, as
with wine.
Then all mankind will know
that I, the LORD, am your Savior,
your Redeemer, the
Mighty One of Jacob."
1
This is what the LORD says:
"Where is your mother's certificate
of divorce
with which I sent her away?
Or to which of my creditors
did I sell you?
Because of your sins you were sold;
because of your transgressions your mother
was sent away.
2 When I came, why
was there no one?
When I called, why was there no one to
answer?
Was my arm too short to ransom you?
Do I lack the strength to rescue you?
By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea,
I turn rivers into a desert;
their fish rot for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the sky
with darkness
and make sackcloth its covering."
4 The Sovereign
LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being
taught.
5 The Sovereign
LORD has opened my ears,
and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back.
6 I offered my
back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my
beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
7 Because the
Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
8 He who
vindicates me is near.
Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser?
Let him confront me!
9 It is the
Sovereign LORD who helps me.
Who is he that will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment;
the moths will eat them up.
10 Who among you
fears the LORD
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let him who walks in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the LORD
and rely on his God.
11 But now, all
you who light fires
and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires
and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my
hand:
You will lie down in torment.
1
"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness
and who seek the LORD :
Look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry from which you were
hewn;
2 look to Abraham,
your father,
and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was but one,
and I blessed him and made him
many.
3 The LORD will
surely comfort
and will look with compassion on all her
ruins;
he will make her deserts like
her wastelands like the garden of the
LORD.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
4 "Listen to
me, my people;
hear me, my nation:
The law will go out from me;
my justice will become a light to the
nations.
5 My righteousness
draws near speedily,
my salvation is on the way,
and my arm will bring justice to the
nations.
The islands will look to me
and wait in hope for my arm.
6 Lift up your
eyes to the heavens,
look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
my righteousness will never fail.
7 "Hear me,
you who know what is right,
you people who have my law in your hearts:
Do not fear the reproach of men
or be terrified by their insults.
8 For the moth
will eat them up like a garment;
the worm will devour them like wool.
But my righteousness will last forever,
my salvation through all
generations."
9 Awake, awake!
Clothe yourself with strength,
O arm of the LORD;
awake, as in days gone by,
as in generations of old.
Was it not you who cut Rahab
to pieces,
who pierced that monster through?
10 Was it not you
who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made a road in the depths of the sea
so that the redeemed might cross over?
11 The ransomed of
the LORD will return.
They will enter
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
12
"I, even I, am he who comforts you.
Who are you that you fear mortal men,
the sons of men, who are but grass,
13 that you forget
the LORD your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth,
that you live in constant terror every day
because of the wrath of the oppressor,
who is bent on destruction?
For where is the wrath of the oppressor?
14 The cowering
prisoners will soon be set free;
they will not die in their dungeon,
nor will they lack bread.
15 For I am the
LORD your God,
who churns up the sea so that its waves
roar—
the LORD Almighty is his name.
16 I have put my
words in your mouth
and covered you with the shadow of my
hand—
I who set the heavens in place,
who laid the foundations of the earth,
and who say to
17
Awake, awake!
Rise up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the
LORD
the cup of his wrath,
you who have drained to its dregs
the goblet that makes men stagger.
18 Of all the sons
she bore
there was none to guide her;
of all the sons she reared
there was none to take her by the hand.
19 These double
calamities have come upon you—
who can comfort you?—
ruin and destruction, famine and sword—
who can [a] console you?
20 Your sons have
fainted;
they lie at the head of every street,
like antelope caught in a net.
They are filled with the wrath of the LORD
and the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore hear
this, you afflicted one,
made drunk, but not with wine.
22 This is what
your Sovereign LORD says,
your God, who
defends his people:
"See, I have taken out of your hand
the cup that made you stagger;
from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,
you will never drink again.
23 I will put it
into the hands of your tormentors,
who said to you,
'Fall prostrate that we may walk over
you.'
And you made your back like the ground,
like a street to be walked over."
1 Awake, awake, O
Zion,
clothe yourself
with strength.
Put on your garments of splendor,
O Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
will not enter you again.
2 Shake off your
dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, O
Free yourself from the chains on your
neck,
O captive Daughter of Zion.
3 For this is what
the LORD says:
"You were sold for nothing,
and without money you will be
redeemed."
4 For this is what
the Sovereign LORD says:
"At first my people went down to
lately,
5 "And now
what do I have here?" declares the LORD.
"For my people have been taken away
for nothing,
and those who rule them mock, [a] "
declares the LORD.
"And all day long
my name is constantly blasphemed.
6 Therefore my
people will know my name;
therefore in that day they will know
that it is I who foretold it.
Yes, it is I."
7 How beautiful on
the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to
"Your God reigns!"
8 Listen! Your
watchmen lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy.
When the LORD returns to
they will see it with their own eyes.
9 Burst into songs
of joy together,
you ruins of
for the LORD has
comforted his people,
he has redeemed
10 The LORD will
lay bare his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
11 Depart, depart,
go out from there!
Touch no unclean thing!
Come out from it and be pure,
you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
12 But you will
not leave in haste
or go in flight;
for the LORD will go before you,
the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
13
See, my servant will act wisely [b] ;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly
exalted.
14 Just as there
were many who were appalled at him [c]—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond
that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15
so will he sprinkle many nations, [d]
and kings will shut their mouths because
of him.
For what they were not told, they will
see,
and what they have not heard, they will
understand.
1 Who has believed
our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been
revealed?
2 He grew up
before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us
to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should
desire him.
3 He was despised
and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took
up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was
pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was
upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like
sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed
and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is
silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression [a] and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the
living;
for the transgression of my people he was
stricken. [b]
9 He was assigned
a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes [c] his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his
days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in
his hand.
11 After the
suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life [d] and be satisfied [e] ;
by his knowledge [f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I
will give him a portion among the great, [g]
and he will divide the spoils with the
strong, [h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of
many,
and made intercession for the
transgressors.
1
"Sing, O barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the
desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,"
says the LORD.
2 "Enlarge
the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
3 For you will
spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.
4 "Do not be
afraid; you will not suffer shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be
humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your
widowhood.
5 For your Maker
is your husband—
the LORD Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.
6 The LORD will
call you back
as if you were a wife deserted and
distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
only to be rejected," says your God.
7 "For a
brief moment I abandoned you,
but with deep compassion I will bring you
back.
8 In a surge of
anger
I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,"
says the LORD your Redeemer.
9 "To me this
is like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah would
never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with
you,
never to rebuke you again.
10 Though the
mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be
shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,"
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
11 "O
afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
I will build you with stones of turquoise,
[a]
your foundations with sapphires. [b]
12 I will make
your battlements of rubies,
your gates of sparkling jewels,
and all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your sons will
be taught by the LORD,
and great will be your children's peace.
14 In
righteousness you will be established:
Tyranny will be far from you;
you will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed;
it will not come near you.
15 If anyone does
attack you, it will not be my doing;
whoever attacks you will surrender to you.
16 "See, it is I who created the blacksmith
who fans the coals into flame
and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have
created the destroyer to work havoc;
17 no weapon
forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that
accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of
the LORD,
and this is their vindication from
me,"
declares the LORD.
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine
and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money
on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the
richest of fare.
3 Give ear and
come to me;
hear me, that
your soul may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with
you,
my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will
summon nations you know not,
and nations that do not know you will
hasten to you,
because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with
splendor."
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 evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn 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,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
9
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and
the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word
that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent
it.
12 You will go out
in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
and instead of briers the myrtle will
grow.
This will be for the LORD's
renown,
for an everlasting sign,
which will not be destroyed."
1
This is what the LORD says:
"Maintain justice
and do what is right,
for my salvation is close at hand
and my righteousness will soon be
revealed.
2 Blessed is the man who does this,
the man who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating
it,
and keeps his hand from doing any
evil."
3 Let no foreigner
who has bound himself to the LORD say,
"The LORD will surely exclude me from
his people."
And let not any eunuch complain,
"I am only a dry tree."
4 For this is what
the LORD says:
"To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant-
5 to them I will
give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that will not be cut off.
6 And foreigners
who bind themselves to the LORD
to serve him,
to love the name of the LORD,
and to worship him,
all who keep the Sabbath without
desecrating it
and who hold fast to my covenant-
7 these I will
bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations."
8 The Sovereign
LORD declares—
he who gathers the exiles of
"I will gather still others to them
besides those already gathered."
9
Come, all you beasts of the field,
come and devour, all you beasts of the
forest!
10
they all lack knowledge;
they are all mute dogs,
they cannot bark;
they lie around and dream,
they love to sleep.
11 They are dogs
with mighty appetites;
they never have enough.
They are shepherds who lack understanding;
they all turn to their own way,
each seeks his own gain.
12
"Come," each one cries, "let me get wine!
Let us drink our fill of beer!
And tomorrow will be like today,
or even far better."
1 The righteous
perish,
and no one ponders it in his heart;
devout men are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.
2 Those who walk uprightly
enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.
3 "But
you—come here, you sons of a sorceress,
you offspring of adulterers and
prostitutes!
4 Whom are you
mocking?
At whom do you sneer
and stick out your tongue?
Are you not a brood of rebels,
the offspring of liars?
5 You burn with
lust among the oaks
and under every spreading tree;
you sacrifice your children in the ravines
and under the overhanging crags.
6 The idols among
the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion;
they, they are your lot.
Yes, to them you have poured out drink
offerings
and offered grain offerings.
In the light of these things, should I
relent?
7 You have made your
bed on a high and lofty hill;
there you went up to offer your
sacrifices.
8 Behind your
doors and your doorposts
you have put your pagan symbols.
Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed,
you climbed into it and opened it wide;
you made a pact with those whose beds you
love,
and you looked on their nakedness.
9 You went to Molech [a] with olive oil
and increased your perfumes.
You sent your ambassadors [b] far away;
you descended to the grave [c] itself!
10 You were
wearied by all your ways,
but you would not say, 'It is hopeless.'
You found renewal of your strength,
and so you did not faint.
11 "Whom have you so dreaded and feared
that you have been false to me,
and have neither remembered me
nor pondered this in your hearts?
Is it not because I have long been silent
that you do not fear me?
12 I will expose
your righteousness and your works,
and they will not benefit you.
13 When you cry
out for help,
let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
a mere breath will blow them away.
But the man who makes me his refuge
will inherit the land
and possess my holy mountain."
14
And it will be said:
"Build up, build up, prepare the road!
Remove the obstacles out of the way of my
people."
15 For this is
what the high and lofty One says—
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
"I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and
lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
16 I will not
accuse forever,
nor will I always be angry,
for then the spirit of man would grow
faint before me—
the breath of man that I have created.
17 I was enraged
by his sinful greed;
I punished him, and hid my face in anger,
yet he kept on in his willful ways.
18 I have seen his
ways, but I will heal him;
I will guide him and restore comfort to
him,
19 creating praise
on the lips of the mourners in
Peace, peace, to those far and near,"
says the LORD. "And I will heal
them."
20 But the wicked
are like the tossing sea,
which cannot rest,
whose waves cast up mire and mud.
21 "There is
no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."
1
"Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after
day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is
right
and has not forsaken the commands of its
God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 'Why have we
fasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you
do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting
ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked
fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind
of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a
reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD
?
6 "Is not
this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to
share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with
shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh
and blood?
8 Then your light
will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly
appear;
then your righteousness [a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your
rear guard.
9 Then you will
call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say:
Here am
"If you do away with the yoke of
oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious
talk,
10
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the
noonday.
11 The LORD will
guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a
sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people
will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up
the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken
Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13 "If you
keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy
day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's
holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own
way
and not doing as you please or speaking
idle words,
14 then you will
find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the
heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your
father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
1
Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
2 But your
iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
3 For your hands
are stained with blood,
your fingers with guilt.
Your lips have spoken lies,
and your tongue mutters wicked things.
4 No one calls for
justice;
no one pleads his case with integrity.
They rely on empty arguments and speak
lies;
they conceive trouble and give birth to
evil.
5 They hatch the
eggs of vipers
and spin a spider's web.
Whoever eats their eggs will die,
and when one is broken, an adder is
hatched.
6 Their cobwebs
are useless for clothing;
they cannot cover themselves with what
they make.
Their deeds are evil deeds,
and acts of violence are in their hands.
7 Their feet rush
into sin;
they are swift to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are evil thoughts;
ruin and destruction mark their ways.
8 The way of peace
they do not know;
there is no justice in their paths.
They have turned them into crooked roads;
no one who walks in them will know peace.
9 So justice is
far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but all is darkness;
for brightness, but we walk in deep
shadows.
10 Like the blind
we grope along the wall,
feeling our way like men without eyes.
At midday we stumble as if it were
twilight;
among the strong, we are like the dead.
11 We all growl
like bears;
we moan mournfully like doves.
We look for justice, but find none;
for deliverance, but it is far away.
12 For our
offenses are many in your sight,
and our sins testify against us.
Our offenses are ever with us,
and we acknowledge our iniquities:
13 rebellion and
treachery against the LORD,
turning our backs on our God,
fomenting oppression and revolt,
uttering lies our hearts have conceived.
14 So justice is
driven back,
and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets,
honesty cannot enter.
15 Truth is
nowhere to be found,
and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
The LORD looked and was displeased
that there was no justice.
16 He saw that
there was no one,
he was appalled that there was no one to
intervene;
so his own arm worked salvation for him,
and his own righteousness sustained him.
17 He put on
righteousness as his breastplate,
and the helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on the garments of vengeance
and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
18 According to
what they have done,
so will he repay
wrath to his enemies
and retribution to his foes;
he will repay the islands their due.
19 From the west,
men will fear the name of the LORD,
and from the rising of the sun, they will
revere his glory.
For he will come like a
pent-up flood
that the breath of the LORD drives along.
[a]
20 "The
Redeemer will come to
to those in Jacob who repent of their
sins,"
declares the LORD.
21 "As for
me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is
on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the
mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever," says the LORD.
1
"Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
2 See, darkness
covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
3 Nations will
come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
4 "Lift up
your eyes and look about you:
All assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters are carried on the arm.
5 Then you will
look and be radiant,
your heart will throb and swell with joy;
the wealth on the seas will be brought to
you,
to you the riches of the nations will
come.
6 Herds of camels
will cover your land,
young camels of Midian
and Ephah.
And all from
bearing gold and incense
and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.
7 All Kedar's flocks will be gathered to you,
the rams of Nebaioth
will serve you;
they will be accepted as offerings on my
altar,
and I will adorn my glorious temple.
8
"Who are these that fly along like clouds,
like doves to their nests?
9 Surely the
islands look to me;
in the lead are the ships of Tarshish, [a]
bringing your sons from afar,
with their silver and gold,
to the honor of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.
10
"Foreigners will rebuild your walls,
and their kings will serve you.
Though in anger I struck you,
in favor I will show you compassion.
11 Your gates will
always stand open,
they will never be shut, day or night,
so that men may bring you the wealth of
the nations—
their kings led in triumphal procession.
12 For the nation
or kingdom that will not serve you will perish;
it will be utterly ruined.
13 "The glory
of Lebanon will come to you,
the pine, the fir and the cypress
together,
to adorn the place of my sanctuary;
and I will glorify the place of my feet.
14 The sons of
your oppressors will come bowing before you;
all who despise you will bow down at your
feet
and will call you the City of the LORD,
15 "Although
you have been forsaken and hated,
with no one traveling through,
I will make you the everlasting pride
and the joy of all generations.
16 You will drink
the milk of nations
and be nursed at royal breasts.
Then you will know that I, the LORD, am
your Savior,
your Redeemer, the
Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of
bronze I will bring you gold,
and silver in place of iron.
Instead of wood I will bring you bronze,
and iron in place of stones.
I will make peace your governor
and righteousness your ruler.
18 No longer will
violence be heard in your land,
nor ruin or destruction within your
borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
19 The sun will no
more be your light by day,
nor will the brightness of the moon shine
on you,
for the LORD will be your everlasting
light,
and your God will be your glory.
20 Your sun will
never set again,
and your moon will wane no more;
the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your days of sorrow will end.
21 Then will all
your people be righteous
and they will possess the land forever.
They are the shoot I have planted,
the work of my hands,
for the display of my splendor.
22 The least of
you will become a thousand,
the smallest a mighty nation.
I am the LORD;
in its time I will do this swiftly."
1
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the
prisoners, [a]
2 to proclaim the
year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for
those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
4 They will
rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
5 Aliens will
shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and
vineyards.
6 And you will be
called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.
7 Instead of their
shame
my people will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
they will rejoice in their inheritance;
and so they will inherit a double portion
in their land,
and everlasting joy will be theirs.
8 "For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and iniquity.
In my faithfulness I will reward them
and make an everlasting covenant with
them.
9 Their
descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed."
10 I delight
greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of
salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a
priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her
jewels.
11 For as the soil
makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make
righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations.
1 For
for
till her righteousness shines out like the
dawn,
her salvation like a blazing torch.
2 The nations will
see your righteousness,
and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.
3 You will be a
crown of splendor in the LORD's hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 No longer will
they call you Deserted,
or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah, [a]
and your land Beulah [b] ;
for the LORD will take delight in you,
and your land will be married.
5 As a young man
marries a maiden,
so will your sons [c] marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you.
6 I have posted
watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on
the LORD,
give yourselves no rest,
7 and give him no
rest till he establishes
and makes her the praise of the earth.
8 The LORD has
sworn by his right hand
and by his mighty arm:
"Never again will I give your grain
as food for your enemies,
and never again will foreigners drink the
new wine
for which you have toiled;
9 but those who
harvest it will eat it
and praise the LORD,
and those who gather the grapes will drink
it
in the courts of my sanctuary."
10 Pass through,
pass through the gates!
Prepare the way for the people.
Build up, build up the highway!
Remove the stones.
Raise a banner for the nations.
11 The LORD has
made proclamation
to the ends of the earth:
"Say to the Daughter of Zion,
'See, your Savior comes!
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.'
"
12 They will be
called the Holy People,
the Redeemed of the LORD;
and you will be called Sought After,
the City No Longer Deserted.
1
Who is this coming from
from Bozrah,
with his garments stained crimson?
Who is this, robed in splendor,
striding forward in the greatness of his
strength?
"It is I, speaking in righteousness,
mighty to save."
2 Why are your garments red,
like those of one treading the winepress?
3 "I have
trodden the winepress alone;
from the nations no one was with me.
I trampled them in my anger
and trod them down in my wrath;
their blood spattered my garments,
and I stained all my clothing.
4 For the day of
vengeance was in my heart,
and the year of my redemption has come.
5 I looked, but
there was no one to help,
I was appalled that no one gave support;
so my own arm worked salvation for me,
and my own wrath sustained me.
6 I trampled the
nations in my anger;
in my wrath I made them drunk
and poured their blood on the ground."
7
I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD,
the deeds for which he is to be praised,
according to all the LORD has done for us—
yes, the many good things he has done
for the house of
according to his compassion and many
kindnesses.
8 He said,
"Surely they are my people,
sons who will not be false to me";
and so he became their Savior.
9 In all their
distress he too was distressed,
and the angel of his presence saved them.
In his love and mercy he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them
all the days of old.
10 Yet they
rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit.
So he turned and became their enemy
and he himself fought against them.
11 Then his people
recalled [a] the days of old,
the days of Moses and his people—
where is he who brought them through the
sea,
with the shepherd of his flock?
Where is he who set
his Holy Spirit among them,
12 who sent his
glorious arm of power
to be at Moses' right hand,
who divided the waters before them,
to gain for himself
everlasting renown,
13 who led them
through the depths?
Like a horse in open country,
they did not stumble;
14 like cattle
that go down to the plain,
they were given rest by the Spirit of the
LORD.
This is how you guided your people
to make for yourself a glorious name.
15 Look down from
heaven and see
from your lofty throne, holy and glorious.
Where are your zeal and your might?
Your tenderness and compassion are
withheld from us.
16 But you are our
Father,
though Abraham does not know us
or
you, O LORD, are our Father,
our Redeemer from of old is your name.
17 Why, O LORD, do
you make us wander from your ways
and harden our hearts so we do not revere
you?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes that are your inheritance.
18 For a little
while your people possessed your holy place,
but now our enemies have trampled down
your sanctuary.
19 We are yours
from of old;
but you have not ruled over them,
they have not been called by your name. [b]
1 Oh, that you
would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before
you!
2 As when fire
sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your
enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!
3 For when you did
awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled
before you.
4 Since ancient
times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for
him.
5 You come to the
help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have
become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy
rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on
your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and made us waste away because of our
sins.
8 Yet, O LORD, you
are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be angry
beyond measure, O LORD;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look upon us, we pray,
for we are all your people.
10 Your sacred
cities have become a desert;
even
11 Our holy and glorious
temple, where our fathers praised you,
has been burned with fire,
and all that we treasured lies in ruins.
12 After all this,
O LORD, will you hold yourself back?
Will you keep silent and punish us beyond
measure?
1
"I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
I said, 'Here am I, here am I.'
2 All day long I
have held out my hands
to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations-
3 a people who
continually provoke me
to my very face,
offering sacrifices in gardens
and burning incense on altars of brick;
4 who sit among
the graves
and spend their nights keeping secret
vigil;
who eat the flesh of pigs,
and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat;
5
who say, 'Keep away; don't come near me,
for I am too sacred for you!'
Such people are smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that keeps burning all day.
6 "See, it
stands written before me:
I will not keep silent but will pay back
in full;
I will pay it back into their laps-
7 both your sins and the sins of your fathers,"
says the LORD.
"Because they burned sacrifices on
the mountains
and defied me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
the full payment for their former
deeds."
8 This is what the
LORD says:
"As when juice is still found in a
cluster of grapes
and men say, 'Don't destroy it,
there is yet some good in it,'
so will I do in behalf of my servants;
I will not destroy them all.
9 I will bring
forth descendants from Jacob,
and from
my chosen people will inherit them,
and there will my servants live.
10
and the
for my people who seek me.
11 "But as
for you who forsake the LORD
and forget my holy mountain,
who spread a table for Fortune
and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
12 I will destine
you for the sword,
and you will all bend down for the
slaughter;
for I called but you did not answer,
I spoke but you did not listen.
You did evil in my sight
and chose what displeases me."
13 Therefore this
is what the Sovereign LORD says:
"My servants will eat,
but you will go hungry;
my servants will drink,
but you will go thirsty;
my servants will rejoice,
but you will be put to shame.
14 My servants
will sing
out of the joy of their hearts,
but you will cry out
from anguish of heart
and wail in brokenness of spirit.
15 You will leave
your name
to my chosen ones as a curse;
the Sovereign LORD will put you to death,
but to his servants he will give another
name.
16 Whoever invokes
a blessing in the land
will do so by the God of truth;
he who takes an oath in the land
will swear by the God of truth.
For the past troubles will be forgotten
and hidden from my eyes.
17
"Behold, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and
rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create
and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice
over
and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.
20 "Never
again will there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his
years;
he who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere youth;
he who fails to reach [a] a hundred
will be considered accursed.
21 They will build
houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their
fruit.
22 No longer will
they build houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
the works of their hands.
23 They will not
toil in vain
or bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the
LORD,
they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they
call I will answer;
while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and
the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
but dust will be the serpent's food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy
mountain,"
says the LORD.
1
This is what the LORD says:
"Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be?
2 Has not my hand
made all these things,
and so they came into being?"
declares the LORD.
"This is the one I esteem:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit,
and trembles at my word.
3 But whoever
sacrifices a bull
is like one who kills a man,
and whoever offers a lamb,
like one who breaks a dog's neck;
whoever makes a grain offering
is like one who presents pig's blood,
and whoever burns memorial incense,
like one who worships an idol.
They have chosen their own ways,
and their souls delight in their
abominations;
4
so I also will choose harsh treatment for them
and will bring upon them what they dread.
For when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke, no one listened.
They did evil in my sight
and chose what displeases me."
5 Hear the word of
the LORD,
you who tremble at his word:
"Your brothers who hate you,
and exclude you because of my name, have
said,
'Let the LORD be glorified,
that we may see your joy!'
Yet they will be put to shame.
6 Hear that uproar
from the city,
hear that noise from the temple!
It is the sound of the LORD
repaying his enemies all they deserve.
7 "Before she
goes into labor,
she gives birth;
before the pains come upon her,
she delivers a son.
8 Who has ever
heard of such a thing?
Who has ever seen such things?
Can a country be born in a day
or a nation be
brought forth in a moment?
Yet no sooner is
than she gives birth to her children.
9 Do I bring to
the moment of birth
and not give delivery?" says the
LORD.
"Do I close up the womb
when I bring to delivery?" says your
God.
10 "Rejoice
with
all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with her,
all you who mourn over her.
11 For you will
nurse and be satisfied
at her comforting breasts;
you will drink deeply
and delight in her overflowing
abundance."
12 For this is
what the LORD says:
"I will extend peace to her like a
river,
and the wealth of nations like a flooding
stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm
and dandled on her knees.
13 As a mother
comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over
14 When you see
this, your heart will rejoice
and you will flourish like grass;
the hand of the LORD will be made known to
his servants,
but his fury will be shown to his foes.
15 See, the LORD
is coming with fire,
and his chariots are like a whirlwind;
he will bring down his anger with fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For with fire
and with his sword
the LORD will execute judgment upon all
men,
and many will be those slain by the LORD.
17 "Those who
consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following the one in
the midst of [a] those who eat the flesh of pigs and rats
and other abominable things—they will meet their end together," declares
the LORD.
18 "And I,
because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come [b] and gather all nations and tongues, and
they will come and see my glory.
19 "I will
set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the
nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans [c] and Lydians
(famous as archers), to Tubal and
22 "As the
new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares
the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure. 23 From one New Moon to another
and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before
me," says the LORD. 24
"And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled
against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they
will be loathsome to all mankind."