1

1 This is the vision seen by Isaiah the son of Amoz. It is about Judah and Jerusalem at the time of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

2 Listen, heaven, and pay attention, earth! Jehovah has spoken: »I raised my children and helped them grow, but they have rebelled against me.

3 »The bull knows its owner, and donkey knows where its master feeds it. But Israel does not know. My people do not understand!«

4 Woe to the sinful nation, people heavy with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, sons who are corrupt! They have forsaken Jehovah! They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away from him.

5 Why do you still want to be beaten? Why do you continue to rebel? Your whole head is infected. Your whole heart is sick.

6 From the bottom of your feet to the top of your head there is no healthy spot left on your body. You have only bruises, sores, and fresh wounds. They have not been cleansed, bandaged, or soothed with oil.

7 Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners destroy your fields in your presence. Your fields are devastated and taken over by strangers.

8 My people, the daughter of Zion is left like an empty hut in a vineyard. It is like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city under attack.

9 If Jehovah of Hosts had not left us a few survivors, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.

10 Listen to the word of Jehovah, you rulers of Sodom! Pay attention to the Law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

11 Jehovah says: »What do your many animal sacrifices mean to me? I have had enough of your burnt offerings of rams and enough fat from your fattened calves. I am not pleased with the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats.

12 »Who requires you to trample on my courtyards when you appear in my presence?

13 »Do not bring any more worthless grain offerings. Your incense is disgusting to me! So are your New Moon Festivals, your days of worship, and the assemblies you call. I cannot endure your evil assemblies!

14 »I hate your New Moon Festivals and your appointed festivals. They are a burden to me. I am tired of putting up with them.

15 »When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you offer many prayers, I will not listen because your hands are full of blood.

16 »Wash yourselves! Become clean! Get your evil deeds out of my sight. Stop doing evil.

17 »Learn to do good well right . Seek justice. Correct oppressors. Defend orphans. Plead the case of widows.«

18 »Come now, let us reason together make things right correct matters between us!« Says Jehovah. »Though your sins are like scarlet, they will become as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will become as white as wool.

19 »If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land.

20 »Refuse and rebel and swords will devour you. Jehovah has spoken.«

21 How the faithful town has become a prostitute! She was full of justice, and righteousness lived in her. But now murderers live there!

22 Your silver is not pure. Your beer is watered down.

23 Your rulers are rebels, friends with thieves. They all love bribes and run after gifts. They never defend orphans. They do not listen to the widows' pleas.

24 That is why Jehovah, Jehovah of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, says: »How horrible it will be when I take revenge on my opponents! I will avenge myself against my enemies.

25 »I will turn my power against you turn the back of my hand upon you . I will remove your impurities with bleach. I will get rid of all your worthless qualities.

26 »I will give you judges like you had long ago, advisers like you had in the beginning. After that you will be called the Righteous City, the Faithful City.«

27 Jehovah’s justice will pardon Zion. Those who return will be pardoned by Jehovah’s righteousness.

28 Rebels and sinners will be crushed at the same time. Those who abandon Jehovah will come to an end.

29 You will be ashamed of the oaks that you wanted to worship. You will be embarrassed by the garden that you have chosen for your gods.

30 You will be like an oak whose leaves wither and like a garden without water.

31 Strong people will become tinder for a fire. Their work will be the spark. Both of them will burn together. There will be no one to put out the fire.

2

1 The vision and prophetic message Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw about Judah and Jerusalem.

2 In the last days the mountain of the house of Jehovah will be established as the highest of the mountains and exalted above the hills. All the nations will stream to it.

3 Then many people will come and say: »Let us go to the mountain of Jehovah, to the House of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways so that we may live by them.« The law will go out from Zion. The word of Jehovah will go out from Jerusalem.

4 Then he will judge disputes between nations and settle matters between many people. They will beat hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not fight against each other, and they will not learn war anymore.

5 Come, descendants of Jacob, let us live in the light of Jehovah.

6 Jehovah, you have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob, because they are filled with Eastern influences. They practice witchcraft like the Philistines, and they make deals with foreigners.

7 Their land is full of silver and gold. There is no limit to their treasures. Their land is also full of horses. There is no limit to their chariots.

8 Their land is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

9 Man has been humbled. Everyman has been humiliated. Do not forgive them.

10 Go in among the rocks and hide underground because of Jehovah’s terrifying presence and the magnificence of his majesty.

11 The arrogant people will be humbled. High and mighty people will be brought down. On that day Jehovah alone will be exalted.

12 All who are proud will be humbled. Jehovah of Hosts will have his day against all who are arrogant and conceited.

13 It will also be against all the towering and mighty cedars of Lebanon and all the oaks of Bashan,

14 against all the high mountains and all the lofty hills,

15 against every high tower and every fortified wall,

16 and also against all the large ships of Tarshish and all the beautiful boats.

17 Then arrogant people will be brought down. High and mighty people will be humiliated. On that day Jehovah alone will be honored.

18 Then idols false gods will disappear completely.

19 People will go into caves in the rocks and into holes in the ground because of Jehovah’s terrifying presence and the honor of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth.

20 That day people will throw their silver and gold idols, that they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and the bats.

21 They will go into caves in the rocks and into cracks in the cliffs because of Jehovah’s terrifying presence and the honor of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth.

22 Stop trusting people, whose breath life is in their nostrils. How can they be worth anything?

3

1 Jehovah of Hosts, the Almighty Ruler Sovereign is going to take all support and supply of food and water from Jerusalem and Judah.

2 He will take their heroes and soldiers, judges and prophets, fortunetellers and statesmen,

3 military leaders and civilian leaders, counselors, skilled workers, and experts in magic.

4 I will make boys their leaders. Childish tyrants will govern them.

5 People will oppress each other. Everyone will harass his neighbor. The young will tyrannize the old. The common people will taunt their superiors.

6 A person will grab one of his relatives from his father's family and say: »You have a coat. You will be our leader. This pile of ruins will be under your control.«

7 Then the relative will cry out: »I am not a healer! I do not have any food or a coat in my home. Do not make me a leader of the people.«

8 Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because what they say and what they do is against Jehovah! They are defiant in his honored presence.

9 The expression on their faces will be held against them. They boast about their sins! They are like those of the people of Sodom. They do not even bother to hide them. How horrible it will be for these people. They have brought disaster on themselves.

10 Tell the righteous that blessings will come to them. They will taste the fruit of their labor.

11 How horrible it will be for the wicked! Disaster will strike them. What they have done to others will be done to them.

12 Children oppress my people! Women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray. They confuse the direction of your paths.

13 Jehovah stands erect to assert his power. He stands to judge the people.

14 Jehovah enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: »It is you who have devoured the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses.

15 »What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the face of the poor?« Declares Jehovah of Hosts.

16 Jehovah also said: »Because the daughters of Zion are proud and walk with heads held high and seductive eyes, and go along with mincing steps and tinkle the bangles on their feet,

17 »Jehovah will cause sores to appear on the heads of the women of Zion. Jehovah will make their foreheads bare.«

18 On that day Jehovah will take away their fine things: jingling anklets, headbands, crescent-shaped necklaces,

19 pendants, bracelets, scarves,

20 hats, ankle bracelets, blouses, perfume boxes, charms,

21 signet rings, nose rings,

22 fine robes, coats, shawls, purses,

23 mirrors, underwear, headdresses, and veils.

24 Instead of the smell of perfume, there will be the smell of decay. They will wear ropes instead of belts. They will have baldheads instead of beautiful hair. They will wear sackcloth instead of expensive clothes. Their beauty will be scarred with brand marks.

25 Your men will be killed by the sword, in war.

26 Her Zion’s gates will lament and mourn and she will sit on the ground deserted.

4

1 Seven women will grab one man and say: »We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes. Just let us marry you and be called by your name. Take away our disgrace.«

2 In that day the Branch of Jehovah will be beautiful and glorious. And the fruit of the earth will be the delight pride joy and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.

3 It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy along with everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.

4 Jehovah will wash away the filth of the daughters women of Zion and purge the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.

5 Then Jehovah will create over the entire area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night. A canopy shelter will be over all as the glory honor .

6 There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.

5

1 Let me sing to my loved one a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hill.

2 He dug the soil all around and removed its stones. He planted it with the choicest vine. And he built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it. Then he expected it to produce good grapes, but it only produced worthless ones.

3 »Now then, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah, judge between my vineyard and me!

4 »What more could have been done for my vineyard than what I have already done for it? When I waited for it to produce good grapes, why did it produce only sour, wild grapes?

5 »Here is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge and break down the wall that protects it. I will let wild animals eat it and trample it down.

6 »It will turn into a desert, neither pruned nor cultivated. It will be covered with thorns and briars. I will command the clouds not to send rain.«

7 I am Jehovah of Hosts All Powerful ! Israel is the vineyard, and Judah is the garden I tended with care. I had hoped for honesty and for justice, but dishonesty and cries for mercy were all I found.

8 Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land!

9 With my own ears I heard Jehovah of Hosts say: »Many houses will become empty. Large, beautiful houses will be without people to live in them.

10 »A ten-acre vineyard will produce only six gallons of wine, and two quarts of seed will produce only four quarts of grain.«

11 How horrible it will be for those who get up early in the morning to look for a drink and who sit up late at night until they are drunk from wine.

12 At their feasts there are lyres and harps, tambourines and flutes, and wine. Yet, they do not pay attention to what Jehovah is doing or respect what his hands have done.

13 My people will go into exile because they do not understand what I am doing. Honored men will starve, and common people will be parched with thirst.

14 That is why the grave's appetite increases. It opens its mouth very wide so that honored people and common people will go down into it. Those who are noisy and joyous will go down into it.

15 People will be brought down. Everyone will be humiliated and the eyes of arrogant people will be abased humbled .

16 Jehovah of Hosts shows his greatness by doing what is right. He reveals his holiness by judging his people.

17 In the ruins of the cities lambs will eat grass and young goats will find pasture.

18 Woe to those who scatter sin with cords of falsehood and iniquity with a cart rope!

19 You say: »Let Jehovah hurry up and do what he says he will, so that we can see it. Let Israel's holy God carry out his plans. Let us see what he has in mind.«

20 You are doomed! You call evil good and you call good evil. You turn darkness into light and light into darkness. You make what is bitter, sweet, and what is sweet you make bitter.

21 You are doomed! You think you are wise. You think you are so very clever.

22 You are doomed! Heroes of the wine bottle! Brave and fearless when it comes to mixing drinks!

23 You let the guilty go free for a bribe and you keep the innocent from getting justice.

24 You will go up in flames like straw and hay! You have rejected the law of the holy God Jehovah the All-Powerful Holy One of Israel. Now your roots will rot, and your blossoms will turn to dust.

25 You are Jehovah’s people, but you made him terribly angry, and he struck you with his mighty arm. Mountains shook, and dead bodies covered the streets like garbage. Jehovah is still angry. He is ready to strike you again.

26 Jehovah raises up a flag for the nations far away. With a whistle he signals those at the ends of the earth. Look, they are coming very quickly!

27 None of them grow tired or stumble. None of them slumber or sleep. The belts on their waists are not loose or their sandal straps broken.

28 Their arrows are sharpened. All their bows are strung and ready to shoot. Their horses' hoofs are as hard as flint. Their chariot wheels are as quick as the wind.

29 They roar like a lioness. They growl like a young lion. They growl as they snatch their prey and carry it off to where no one can rescue it.

30 In that day they will roar over their prey as the sea roars. If they look at the land, they will see only darkness and distress. Thick clouds will darken even the light.

6

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw discerned Jehovah seated on a throne, high and exalted. 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 They called to one another: »Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of Hosts. All the earth is full of his glory.«

4 At the sound of their voices the foundations and thresholds trembled and the Temple was filled with smoke.

5 »Woe to me!« I cried. »I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips a sinner and I live among a people of unclean filthy lips speech language . My eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of Hosts.«

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand. With tongs he seized it from the altar.

7 He touched my mouth with it and said: »See! This has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away and your sin forgiven pardoned atoned for

8 I heard the voice of Jehovah. He said: »Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?« And I said: »Here I am. Send me!«

9 He said: »Go and tell this people: ‘Hear constantly but do not understand. See constantly but do not perceive.’

10 »This people’s heart has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.« Septuagint

11 Then I said: »How long, O Jehovah? And He answered: »Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, until the houses are deserted and the land is utterly desolate.

12 »Until Jehovah has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

13 »Even if one out of ten people are left it will be destroyed burned again. When a strong tree or an oak is cut down, a stump is left. The holy seed is the stump.«

7

1 In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it.

2 A report was made to the house of David saying: Aram has allied itself with Ephraim.« The heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook their courage failed as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

3 Jehovah said to Isaiah: »You and your son Shear-ja’shub should go out to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the laundryman’s field Fuller’s Field.

4 »Say to him: ‘Be careful, keep calm and do not be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood and because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.

5 »‘Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin. They say:

6 »‘»Let us invade Judah. Let us tear it apart and divide it among us. Let us make the son of Tabeel king over Judah.«

7 »‘This is what the Lord Jehovah says: »It will not take place! It will not happen!

8 »‘»Because the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.

9 »‘»The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.« ’«

10 Again Jehovah spoke to Ahaz:

11 »Ask Jehovah your God for a sign. Ask it in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.«

12 But Ahaz said: »I will not ask. I will not put Jehovah to the test.«

13 Isaiah said: »Hear this 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 Jehovah will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel God with us .

15 He will eat butter 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 Jehovah 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 upon you.

18 »In that day Jehovah will whistle for the flies that are at the distant branches of the Nile River in Egypt and for the bees that are in Assyria.

19 »All of them will come and settle in the deep valleys, in the cracks in the cliffs, on all the thorn bushes, and at all the water holes.

20 »In that day Jehovah will hire the king of Assyria from beyond the Euphrates River to be a razor to shave the hair on your head, the hair on your legs, and even your beard.

21 »On that day a person will keep alive a young cow and two sheep.

22 »They will give so much milk that he will have all he needs. Yes, the few survivors left in the land will have milk and honey to eat.

23 »When that time comes, the fine vineyards, each with a thousand vines and each worth a thousand pieces of silver, will be overgrown with thorn bushes and briers.

24 »People will go hunting there with bows and arrows. Yes, the whole country will be full of briers and thorn bushes.

25 »All the hills where crops were once planted will be so overgrown with thorns that no one will go there. It will be a place where cattle and sheep graze.«

8

1 Jehovah said to me: »Take a large writing tablet, and write on it with a pen: Maher Shalal Hash Baz The Looting Will Come Quickly; the Prey Will Be Easy .

2 »I will have these dependable witnesses testify: the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.«

3 I slept with the prophetess. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Jehovah told me: »Name him Maher Shalal Hash Baz.

4 »Before the boy knows how to say »Father« or »Mother« the wealth of Damascus and the loot from Samaria will be carried away to the king of Assyria.«

5 Jehovah spoke to me again, He said:

6 »These people have rejected the gently flowing water of Shiloah and find joy in Rezin and Remaliah's son.

7 »That is why Jehovah is going to bring against them the raging and powerful floodwaters of the Euphrates River, that is, the king of Assyria with all his power. It will overflow all its channels and go over all its banks.

8 »It will sweep through Judah. It will overflow and pass through. It will be neck-high. Its outspread wings will extend over your entire country, O Immanuel.«

9 Be broken, you people. Be terrified. Listen all you distant parts of the earth. Prepare for battle and be terrified. Prepare for battle and be terrified!

10 Make plans for battle, but they will never succeed. Give orders, but they will not be carried out, because God is with us!

11 This is what Jehovah said with his powerful hand on me. He warned me not to follow the ways of these people:

12 »Do not say that everything these people call a conspiracy is a conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear. Do not let it terrify you!

13 »Remember that Jehovah of Hosts is holy. He is the one you should respect. He is the one you should reverence venerate exalt

14 He will be a place of safety for you. But he will be a rock that makes people trip and a stumbling block for both kingdoms of Israel. He will be a trap and a snare for those who live in Jerusalem.

15 Many will stumble over them. They will fall and be broken. They will be trapped and caught.

16 Tie up the written instructions. Seal the precepts law among my disciples.

17 I will wait for Jehovah, who hides his face from the descendants of Jacob. I will hope in him.

18 I am here with the children Jehovah has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from Jehovah of Hosts, who lives on Mount Zion.

19 People will say to you: »Ask for help from the mediums and the fortunetellers, who whisper and mutter.« Should people ask their God for help instead? Why should they ask the dead to help the living?

20 They should go to the teachings and to the written instructions. If people do not speak these words, it is because there is no light truth in them.

21 They will pass through the land when they are hard-pressed destressed and hungry. When they are hungry, they will be furious. Then they will look up and curse their king and God.

22 They will look toward the nations of the earth and see only distress and gloom. They will go in anguish and be banished into darkness.

9

1 There will be no more gloom for those who were suffering. In the past he humiliated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future he will honor Galilee of the Nations, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan.

2 The people who walk in darkness ignorance lies have seen a great light truth . A light has dawned on those who live in the land of the shadow of death the grave calamity .

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 As in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke of his burdens: 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 unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and 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. He will establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will accomplish this.

8 Jehovah has sent a message against to Jacob and it will fall on Israel.

9 All the people will know it. Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria who say with pride and arrogance of heart:

10 »The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with cut stones. The fig trees have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.«

11 But Jehovah has strengthened Rezin’s foes against them and has spurred their enemies on.

12 The Arameans from the east and the Philistines from the west have devoured Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger has not turned away. His hand power is still stretched out extended .

13 The people did not turn back to him who struck them, or seek Jehovah of Hosts.

14 So Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed rush in one day.

15 Elders and dignitaries are the head, and prophets who teach lies are the tail.

16 Those who led this people led them astray. And those who were led by them were left in confusion.

17 That is why Jehovah did not rejoice in their young people, nor show compassion to their orphans and widows. Everyone was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth spoke wickedness foolishness vileness . In all this his anger has not turned away. His hand is stretched out still ready to apply his power .

18 This wickedness is like a brushfire. It burns not only briers and thorns but the forests, too. It sends up vast clouds of smoke.

19 The land is blackened by the fury of Jehovah of Hosts. The people are fuel for the fire, and no one spares anyone else.

20 They slice off what is on the right hand, but they will still be hungry. In the end they will even eat the flesh of their own arms offspring turn upon themselves .

21 Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, Ephraim will feed on Manasseh, and both will devour Judah. But even then Jehovah’s anger will not be satisfied. His hand is still poised to unleash his power.

10

1 How horrible it will be for those who enact unjust laws and who decree oppressive regulations.

2 They deprive the poor of justice. They take away the rights of the needy among my people. They prey on widows and rob orphans.

3 What will you do on the day you are called to account for these things, when destruction comes from far away? Where will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

4 There is nothing left but to crouch among prisoners and to fall with those who are killed. Even after all this, his anger will not disappear. His hand is stretched out he is still ready to use his power .

5 »How horrible it will be for Assyria! It is the rod of my anger. My fury is in the staff of the Assyrians' hands.

6 »I send him against a godless nation. I commission him against the people of my fury to capture booty and to seize plunder, and to trample them down like mud clay in the streets.

7 »But the Assyrian emperor has his own violent plans in mind. He is determined to destroy many nations.

8 »He boasts: ‘Every one of my commanders is a king!

9 »‘Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?

10 »‘As my hand took hold of the kingdoms of the idols, kingdoms whose carved images were greater then those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

11 »‘As I have done to Samaria and her idols, Shall I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols?’

12 »It will happen when Jehovah has performed all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. He will say: I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty appearance.

13 »‘The king of Assyria says: By the strength of my hand I have done it. By my wisdom and understanding I have done it! I am prudent! Also I have removed the boundaries of the nations. I have robbed their treasuries. I have brought down people like a mighty man!

14 »‘I found the riches of nations as one finds a nest. I gathered the whole world as one gathers abandoned eggs. Not one of them flapped a wing, opened its mouth, or peeped.’«

15 Can an ax attack the person who cuts with it? Can a saw make itself greater than the person who saws with it? A rod cannot move the person who lifts it. A wooden stick cannot pick up a person.

16 That is why the Almighty Jehovah of Hosts will send a degenerative disease against brave men. A flame will be turned into a raging fire under his power.

17 The Light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame. It will burn and consume his thorns and his briers in a single day!

18 It will completely destroy the splendor of his forests and fertile fields, 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 Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer rely on the one who defeated them. They will truly rely on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel.

21 A remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty Powerful God. Yes, a remnant will return!

22 Your people, O Israel, are like the sand of the sea. Yet only a remnant within them will return. Overwhelming and righteous destruction has been decreed.

23 The Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Hosts, will carry out the complete destruction decreed upon the whole land.

24 Therefore, this is what the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, declares: »O my people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians. They 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 »Jehovah of Hosts will stir up enemies against you as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. His wrath will come by way of the sea, as he did in Egypt.

27 »In that day your burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat.«

28 They enter Aiath and they pass through Migron. They store supplies at Micmash.

29 They go over the pass and make Geba their camping place for the night. Ramah trembles and Gibeah of Saul flees.

30 Cry out, O Daughter of Gallim! Listen and pay attention, O Laishah! Poor afflicted Anathoth!

31 Madmenah has fled; 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 Behold, the Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Hosts will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be cut down! The tall ones will be brought low.

34 He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax. Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.

11

1 There must go forth a twig out of the stump of Jesse. A branch sprout shoot descendant from his roots will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of Jehovah will rest on him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and respect for Jehovah will be his.

3 He will delight in the reverence of Jehovah. He will not judge by what his eyes see, nor make a decision by what his ears hear.

4 But with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth power of his words , and with the spirit breath of his lips he will destroy the wicked.

5 Righteousness will be the belt around his loins. Faithfulness will be the belt around His waist.

6 The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the well-fed animal together. A little boy will lead them.

7 Also the cow and the bear will graze. Their young will lie down together. And the lion will eat straw like the ox.

8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra. The weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den.

9 They will not hurt or destroy in my entire holy mountain. This is because the earth will be full of the knowledge of Jehovah just as the waters cover the sea.

10 Then in that day the nations will search for and turn to the root of Jesse. He will stand as a signal for the peoples. His resting place will be glorious.

11 Then it will happen in that day that Jehovah will again recover the second time with his hand the remnant of his people. They will remain, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

12 He will lift up a standard for the nations and assemble the outcast ones of Israel. He will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

13 Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart. Those who harass Judah will be destroyed. Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim.

14 They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the sons of the east. They will possess Edom and Moab, and the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.

15 Jehovah will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt. He will wave his hand, his mighty Spirit, over the Euphrates River. He will strike it into seven streams and make men walk over on dry land.

16 There will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of his people who will be left. This will be as it was for Israel when they came up out of the land of Egypt.

12

1 In that day you will say: »I will praise you, O Jehovah. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me.

2 »Truly God is my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid. Jehovah… Jehovah is my strength and my song! He has become my salvation.«

3 With joy gladness you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

4 In that day you will say: »Give thanks to Jehovah, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.

5 »Sing to Jehovah, for he has done glorious things. Let this be known to the entire world.

6 »Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.«

13

1 The pronouncement Isaiah the son of Amoz saw in vision.

2 »Lift up a standard high on the mountain. Raise your voice to them. Shake the hand so they may enter the doors of the nobles.

3 »I have commanded my consecrated ones. I have called my mighty warriors. My proud ones are to express my anger, those who rejoice in my majesty excellency .

4 »Listen! A sound of tumult on the mountains is like that of many people! A sound of the uproar of kingdoms and nations gathered together! Jehovah of Hosts assembles inspects the army for battle.

5 »They come from a far country, from the extremities of the heavens horizons . Jehovah and his instruments of indignation come to destroy the whole land.

6 »Shout wail howl for the Day of Jehovah is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.

7 »All hands will fall impaired weakened . Every man's heart will melt courage will fail .

8 »They will be terrified! Pains and anguish will possess them. They will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another in amazement with their faces reddened with excitement aflame .

9 »Behold! The Day of Jehovah is coming! It will be cruel, with fury and burning anger. It will make the land desolation and exterminate the sinners from it.

10 »The stars of heaven and their constellations will not shine forth their light. The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shine its light.

11 »I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will also end the arrogance of the proud. I will demean disgrace the arrogance of tyranny.

12 »I will make mortal man harder to find than pure gold and mankind than the gold of Ophir.

13 »Therefore I will make the heavens tremble. The earth will shake from its place at the fury of Jehovah of Hosts in the day of his burning anger.

14 »They will each turn to his own people, and each one escape to his own land just like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep without a shepherd.

15 »All who are found will be pierced through. All who are captured will fall by the sword.

16 »Their infant children will be dashed to pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be plundered and their wives raped.

17 »I will stir up the Medes against them. They will not value silver or take pleasure in gold.

18 »And their bows will mow down the young men. They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb. Nor will they have compassion on children.

19 Babylon, the beauty honor glory of kingdoms, the majesty of Chaldean pride, will be overthrew by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.

20 »It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation! Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there. Nor will shepherds take their flocks there.

21 »But desert animals will lie down there. Their houses will be full of owls! Shaggy goats demons will play there and ostriches will dance there.

22 »Wild beasts will howl in her fortified towers and jackals in her luxurious temples. Her time also will soon come and her days will not be prolonged.«

14

1 Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel. He will resettle them in their own country. Foreigners will join them and unite with the descendants of Jacob.

2 People will take them and bring them to their own place. The nation of Israel will possess nations as male and female slaves in Jehovah’s land. They will take their captors captive and rule their oppressors.

3 When that day comes, Jehovah will give you relief from your pain and suffering, from the hard slavery you were forced to do.

4 You will mock the king of Babylon with this saying: »How the tyrant has come to an end! How his attacks have come to an end!

5 »Jehovah has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers.

6 »They struck the people with fury, with blows that did not stop. They ruled nations in anger, persecuting them without restraint.

7 »The whole earth rests and is quiet. It breaks out into shouts of joy.

8 »‘Even the cypress trees rejoice over you. The cedars of Lebanon say: ‘Since you have fallen, no lumberjack has come to attack us.’

9 »The grave below wakes up to meet you when you come. It wakes up those who are dead, all who were leaders on earth. It raises all who were kings of the nations from their thrones.

10 »‘All of them will greet you: ‘You also have become weak like us! You have become like one of us!

11 »‘Your pride has been brought down to the grave along with the music of your harps. Maggots are spread out like a bed under you, and worms cover you.’

12 »O how you have fallen from heaven, you morning star shining one , and son of the dawn! How you have been cut down to the ground, you who conquered nations!

13 »‘You thought: ‘I will go up to heaven Mount Zion and set up my throne above God's stars messengers . I will sit on the mountain of meeting far away in the north where the gods assemble.

14 »‘I will go above the top of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.’

15 »But you have been brought down to the grave, to the deepest part of the pit.

16 »‘Those who see you stare at you. They look at you closely and say: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook the kingdoms,

17 who made the world like a desert and tore down its cities and did not let his prisoners go home?’

18 All the kings of the nations, all of them, have been buried with honor, each in his own tomb.

19 However you are thrown out of your tomb like a rejected branch. You are covered with those who were killed in battle. You go down to the stones bottom of the pit like a trampled corpse.

20 You ruined your country and killed your own people. For that reason, you will not be buried like other kings. None of your evil family will survive.

21 »Prepare a slaughtering place! The sons of this king will die because of their ancestors' sins. None of them will ever rule the earth or cover it with cities.«

22 Jehovah of Hosts declares: »I will attack Babylon and bring it to ruin. I will leave nothing! There will be no children, no survivors at all. I, Jehovah, have spoken.

23 »I will turn Babylon into a marsh. Porcupines will live there. I will sweep Babylon with a broom that will sweep everything away.« I, the Sovereign Lord Jehovah have spoken.

24 Jehovah of Hosts has sworn an oath: »What I have intended devised will happen. What I have determined to do will be done.

25 »In my land of Israel I will trample them on my mountains. I will free my people from the Assyrian yoke and from the burdens they have had to bear.«

26 This is my purpose plan advise for the world, and my arm extended power is stretched out to punish the nations.

27 Jehovah of Hosts is determined to do this. He has stretched out his arm to punish, and no one can stop him.

28 This message was proclaimed in the year that King Ahaz died:

29 »The rod that beat you is broken, but you have no reason to be glad. When one snake dies, a worse one comes in its place. A snake's egg hatches a flying dragon.

30 »Jehovah will be a shepherd to the poor of his people and will let them live in safety. But he will send a terrible famine on you Philistines. It will not leave any of you alive.

31 »Howl and cry for help, all you Philistine cities! Be terrified, all of you! A cloud of dust is coming from the north. It is an army with no cowards in its ranks.«

32 What then will one answer the messengers that come to us from Philistia? We will tell them that Jehovah has established Zion and in her the poor and afflicted of his people find refuge.

15

1 Surely in a night Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined. Certainly in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.

2 They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Everyone's head is bald and every beard is cut off.

3 They have dress themselves with sackcloth in their streets. On their housetops and in their squares everyone is wailing, taken down with tears.

4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out. Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud and tremble with fear.

5 My heart cries out for Moab! The people have fled to the town of Zoar, and to Eglath Shelishiyah. Some climb the road to Luhith. They weep as they go. Some escape to Horonaim, grieving loudly.

6 The Brook of Nimrim is dry, the grass beside it has withered, and nothing green is left.

7 The people go across the Valley of Willows, trying to escape with all their material possessions.

8 Everywhere at Moab's borders the sound of crying is heard. It is heard at the towns of Eglaim and Beerelim.

9 Dimon’s waters are full of blood. I will bring still more upon Dimon, a lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon those who remain in the land.

16

1 Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mountain of the Daughter of Zion.

2 Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon River.

3 »Give us counsel and 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. Destruction will cease! For the aggressor will vanish from the land.

5 »In love a throne will be established and in faithfulness a man will sit on it. One shall sit upon it in truth and faithfulness. He will be from the tent of David. He will judge and seek justice and speed the cause of righteousness.«

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab and of his arrogance. We know of his pride, conceit and empty boasting.

7 The Moabites cry, they cry out together for Moab. Lament and grieve for the men and the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.

8 The fields of Heshbon and the vines of Sibmah wither. 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 That is why my heart mourns for Moab like a harp. I mourn for Kir Hareseth.

12 When the people of Moab appear at the worship site, they will only wear themselves out. They will come into the holy place to pray, but they will not be able to.

13 This is the message Jehovah spoke about Moab in the past.

14 Now Jehovah says: »Moab's honor will be despised within three years. I will count them like workers count the years left of their contracts. In spite of their great number, the survivors will be very few and powerless.«

17

1 »Damascus will cease to be a city, and will become a heap of ruins.

2 »The cities of Aroer three places near Palestine will be deserted forever. They will be places for flocks to lie down, and no one will make them afraid.

3 »The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom sovereignty from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the children of Israel, proclaims Jehovah of Hosts.

4 »Then the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will grow lean riches, strength and glory will diminish .

5 It will be like reapers gathering the standing grain. Their arms harvest the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

6 Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten: two or three berries in the top of the highest bough, four or five on the branches of a fruit tree, declares Jehovah the God of Israel.

7 On that day people will regard their Maker. Their eyes will look offer respect to the Holy One of Israel.

8 They will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the sacred poles Asherim or the altars of incense.

9 In that day their strong cities of Syria and Israel will be like a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch that they left because of the children of Israel. There will be desolation in the land.

10 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation. You have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold. Therefore you will plant pleasant plants and set out foreign imported unusual seedlings.

11 In that day you will make your plant grow. In the morning you will make your seed flourish; but the harvest will be a heap of ruins in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.

12 There will be trouble for the multitude of people, because they will roar like the roar of the seas. Woe to the rushing of nations that makes a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

13 The nations will rush like the raging of many waters. But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away. They will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, like a rolling dust before the whirlwind.

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 rob us.

18

1 Woe to the land of whirring wings which lies beyond the rivers of Ethiopia Cush .

2 It sends messengers by sea in boats made of reeds that skim over the surface of the water. »Go, swift messengers, to a tall and smooth-skinned people, a people who are feared far and near, a strong and aggressive nation, whose land is divided by rivers.«

3 Look when someone raises a flag on the mountains. Listen when someone blows a ram's horn, all you inhabitants of the world, you who live on the earth.

4 Jehovah says this to me: »I will be still and watch from my dwelling place. My presence will be like scorching heat in the sunshine, like heavy dew in the heat of the harvest.

5 »Before the harvest, when blossoms are gone and grapes are ripening from blossoms, he will cut off the shoots with pruning shears and chop off and take away the spreading branches.

6 They will all be left for the birds of prey on the mountains and the wild animals. The birds of prey will feed on them in the summer. All the wild animals on earth will feed on them in the winter.

7 »At that time gifts will be brought to Jehovah of Hosts from a tall and smooth-skinned people, a people who are feared far and near. It will be a strong and aggressive nation, whose land is divided by rivers. They will be brought to Mount Zion, the place where the name of Jehovah of Hosts is.«

19

1 Jehovah rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him. The hearts of the Egyptians melt their courage fails 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 become discouraged. 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.« This is the declaration of Jehovah of Hosts, the Almighty.

5 The waters of the Nile River will dry up. The riverbed will be parched and dry.

6 The canals will stink. The streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither.

7 The plants rushes along the Nile, at the mouth of the river will wither. Every sown field along the Nile will become parched and blow away to be no more.

8 The fishermen will groan and lament. All who cast hooks into the Nile and throw nets on the water will be weak and sick.

9 Those who work with combed flax will despair. The weavers of fine linen and cotton 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 Jehovah of Hosts has purposed planned resolved against Egypt.

13 The officials of Zoan have become fools. The leaders of Memphis Noph are deceived. The cornerstones of her peoples have led Egypt astray.

14 Jehovah has poured into them a spirit of dizziness. They make Egypt stagger in all that she does, as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.

15 There is nothing Egypt can do head or tail, palm branch or reed.

16 A time is coming when the people of Egypt will be as timid as women. They will tremble in terror when they see that Jehovah of Hosts has stretched out his hand extended His power to punish them.

17 The people of Egypt will be terrified of Judah every time they are reminded of the fate that Jehovah of Hosts has prepared for them.

18 When that time comes, the Hebrew language will be spoken in five Egyptian cities. The people there will take their oaths in the name of Jehovah of Hosts. One of the cities will be called: »City of Destruction.«

19 When that time comes, there will be an altar to Jehovah in the middle of the land of Egypt and a stone pillar dedicated to him at the Egyptian border.

20 They will be a sign of the presence of Jehovah of Hosts in Egypt. When the people there are oppressed and call out to Jehovah for help, he will send someone to rescue them.

21 Jehovah will make himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Jehovah in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to Jehovah and perform it.

22 Jehovah will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will turn to Jehovah, and he will respond to them and will heal them.

23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

24 In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth.

25 Jehovah of Hosts has blessed, saying: Blessed is Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.

20

1 The supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, fought against Ashdod and captured it.

2 At that time Jehovah spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him: »Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.« He did this and went around stripped and barefoot.

3 Jehovah said: »Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush,

4 so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared to Egypt’s shame.

5 »Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be afraid and put to shame.

6 »That day the people who live on this coast will say: ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?« ’

21

1 Like a whirlwind sweeping across the desert, disaster will come from a terrifying land.

2 I have seen a vision of cruel events, a vision of betrayal and destruction. Army of Elam, attack! Army of Media, lay siege to the cities! God will put an end to the suffering that Babylon has caused.

3 What I saw and heard in the vision has filled me with terror and pain. My hips are full of pain and convulsions like that of a woman in labor.

4 My innermost being reels, horror overwhelms me. The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

5 They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; Rise up, captains, oil the shields,

6 For this is what Jehovah says to me: »Go, station the lookout, and let him report what he sees.

7 »When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, a train of donkeys, a train of camels, Let him pay close attention, very close attention.«

8 The watchman called out from the tower: »Sir, I stand on the watchtower every day. Every night, I stand guard at my post.

9 »Look! Here come chariots and horsemen in pairs. Then he said: ‘Babylon has fallen! She has fallen! All the idols they worship lie shattered on the ground.’«

10 You, my people, have been threshed and winnowed. I make known to you what I heard from Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel.

11 This is the divine REVELATION ABOUT EDOM. He calls to me from Seir: »Watchman, what of the night? How much of the night is left? Watchman, what 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 You caravans of Dedanites, who camp in the thickets of Arabia,

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 Jehovah 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.« Jehovah, the God of Israel, has spoken!

22

1 What troubles you now that you have all gone up on the roof?

2 You are a town full of commotion, a city of tumult and revelry. The sword did not kill your slain, 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. You fled while the enemy was still far away.

4 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 Jehovah of Hosts has a day of tumult, trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision. It is a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains.

6 Elam takes up the quiver, 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 Judah are stripped away. And you looked in that day to the weapons in the house of the forest.

9 You saw that the City of David had many breaches in its defenses. You stored up water in the lower pool.

10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem. Then you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.

11 You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or have regard for him who planned it long ago.

12 In that day Jehovah God of Hosts called to weeping and mourning, to baldness and putting on sackcloth.

13 Instead there was joy and festivity, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating meat and drinking wine. »Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.«

14 Jehovah of Hosts has disclosed himself in my ears: »Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,« says Jehovah of Hosts.

15 Jehovah of Hosts says: »Go to this steward, to Shebna, who is master of the household, and say to him:

16 »‘What right do you have here? Who are your relatives here that you have cut out a tomb here for yourself, cutting a tomb on the height, and carving a habitation for yourself in the rock?

17 »‘Jehovah will violently throw you away, O mighty man. He will surely seize you.

18 »‘He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball into a large country! There you shall die, and there your glorious chariots will be the shame of your master’s house.’

19 »‘I will drive you out of your office. He will pull you down from your position.

20 »‘Then in that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah.

21 »‘I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

22 »‘I will lay the key of the house of David on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut and he will shut, and no one will open.

23 »‘I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place. He will become a glorious throne to his father’s house.

24 »‘They will hang all the glory of his father’s house on him, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers.

25 »‘Jehovah of Hosts says: ‘In that day the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall. The load that was on it will be destroyed.’« Jehovah has spoken.

23

1 Wail, O ships of Tarshish! For Tyre is destroyed and left without house or harbor. From the land of Cyprus Kittim word has come to them.

2 Be silent, you people of the island and you merchants of Sidon, whom the seafarers have enriched.

3 On the great waters came the grain of the Shihor. The harvest of the Nile River was the revenue of Tyre, 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 arrives at Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report from Tyre.

6 Crossover to Tarshish and cry you people of the island.

7 Is this your exultant city founded in antiquity? Is this the city that sent its people to settle in distant lands?

8 Who planned such a thing against Tyre, the city that produced kings? Its merchants are princes. Its traders are among the honored people of the world.

9 Jehovah of Hosts planned this in order to dishonor all arrogant people and to humiliate all the honored people of the world.

10 Travel through your country like the Nile, people of Tarshish. You no longer have a harbor.

11 Jehovah has stretched his hand over the sea to shake kingdoms. He has commanded that Canaan's fortifications be destroyed.

12 He said: »You will exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.«

13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans. This is the people that were not. Assyria appointed it for desert creatures. They erected their siege towers and they stripped its palaces. They made it a ruin!

14 Cry out O ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is destroyed.

15 Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the lifespan of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

16 »Take harp and walk about the city, O forgotten prostitute. Pluck the strings skillfully; sing many songs, that you may be remembered.«

17 It will come about at the end of seventy years that Jehovah will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her prostitute’s wages and will play the wanton woman with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.

18 The money she earns by commerce will be dedicated to Jehovah. She will not store it away, but those who worship Jehovah will use her money to buy the food and the clothing they need.

24

1 Jehovah lays the earth waste, annihilates it, disfigures its surface and scatters its inhabitants.

2 The people will be like the one officiating, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor.

3 The earth will be completely uninhabitable and totally plundered. Jehovah has spoken this word.

4 The earth mourns and fades away, the world fades and withers, the exalted people of the earth mourn.

5 The inhabitants of the earth pollute the earth. They transgress laws and violate statutes. They break the everlasting covenant.

6 A curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are found guilty. Therefore, those living on the earth are burned, and few men are left.

7 The new wine mourns, the vine decays and the merry-hearted sigh.

8 The joyful sound of tambourines ceases. The noise of revelers and the delight of the harp cease.

9 They no longer drink wine with a song. The beverage is bitter to its drinkers.

10 The ruined city lies desolate. The entrance to every house is barred and none may enter.

11 In the streets they cry out for wine. Joy turns to gloom and rejoicing 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 and shout for joy. From the west they acclaim Jehovah’s majesty.

15 Therefore in the east give glory to Jehovah. Exalt the name of Jehovah the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea.

16 Listen to them as they sing to Jehovah from the ends of the earth: »Glory and praise to the righteous one!« But I say: »My heart is heavy with grief. I am discouraged, for evil still prevails, and treachery is everywhere.«

17 Terror and traps and snares will be your lot, you people of the earth.

18 Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap, and those who escape the trap will step into a snare. Destruction falls on you from the heavens. The world is shaken beneath you.

19 The earth is broken and destroyed and it is split into pieces. The earth is shaken violently.

20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and it quakes like a shack in the wind. Its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall, never to rise again.

21 That day Jehovah will punish the host of heaven on high and the kings of the earth below.

22 They will be gathered like prisoners in the dungeon tower. They will be confined in prison and after many days they will be punished.

23 Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For Jehovah of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And his glory will be before his elders.

25

1 O Jehovah, you are my God. I will exalt you and I will praise your name! You have done wonderful things with plans formed of old. You are faithful and true.

2 You have made the city a heap, the mighty city a ruin. The palace of aliens is a city no more. It will never be rebuilt.

3 Therefore strong peoples will glorify you. Cities of ruthless nations will fear you.

4 You have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,

5 the noise of strangers like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.

6 On this mountain Jehovah of Hosts will make a feast of rich food for all peoples, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear of dregs.

7 On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations.

8 He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord Jehovah will wipe away the tears from all faces. He will take away the disgrace of His people from the earth. Jehovah has spoken!

9 On that day his people will say: »This is our God! We have waited for Him and now He will save us. This is Jehovah. We have waited for Him. Let us rejoice and be glad because He will save us.«

10 Jehovah’s power will be on this mountain. Moab will be trampled beneath him like straw that is trampled in a pile of manure.

11 The Moabites will stretch out their hands in the manure like swimmers who stretch out their hands to swim. Jehovah will humble those arrogant people despite the movements of their hands.

12 He will bring down Moab's high-fortified walls, level them, and throw them into the dust on the ground.

26

1 »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 preserves truth.

3 You will keep the steadfast mind in perfect peace, because he trusts hopes in you.

4 »Trust in Jehovah forever, for Jah, Jehovah, is the Rock eternal.

5 »He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty inaccessible city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.

6 »Feet trample it down, the feet of the depressed, the footsteps of the poor needy

7 The path of the righteous is level. O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth.

8 Yes, Jehovah, walking in the way of your Laws, we wait for you. Your name and your fame are the desire of our hearts.

9 I yearn for you in the night. In the morning I long for you with all my being. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

10 Grace favor is shown to the wicked, but they do not learn righteousness. In a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of Jehovah.

11 O Jehovah, 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 Jehovah, you establish peace for us. All that we have accomplished you have done for us.

13 O Jehovah, our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor.

14 They are now dead and they live no more. The deceased do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin. You wiped out all memory memorial commemoration of them.

15 You have enlarged the nation, O Jehovah; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself. You have extended all the borders of the land.

16 Jehovah, they came to you in their distress. When you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.

17 Like a woman with child and about to give birth struggles and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, O Jehovah.

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 rage has passed by.

21 Behold! Jehovah is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose reveal the bloodshed upon her. She will conceal her slain no longer.

27

1 In that day Jehovah will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword. He will slay Leviathan the fleeing, coiling serpent, the monster of the sea.

2 In that day sing about a fruitful vineyard:

3 »I, Jehovah, 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 »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, Israel will bud and blossom and fill the entire world with fruit.

7 Has Jehovah struck her as he struck down those who struck her? Has she been killed as those were killed who killed her?

8 By warfare 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 Jacob’s guilt will 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 or incense altars will be left standing.

10 The fortified city stands desolate, abandoned settlements, forsaken like the desert. There the calves will 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 they have no understanding discernment . Their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.

12 In that day Jehovah will thresh from the flowing Euphrates River to the Wadi streambed of Egypt. You, O Israelites, will be gathered up one by one.

13 A great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship Jehovah on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

28

1 Woe to the proud drunks who wear the crown of Ephraim for it is doomed! Its glory is fading like the crowns of flowers on their heads. They are at the entrance of a fertile valley. They are drunk from wine.

2 Behold, Jehovah has a strong and mighty one Assyria . He will cast down to the earth with military power. It will be like a destructive thunderstorm with hail and a mighty flood of water.

3 The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot.

4 The fading flower of his glorious beauty is found at the head of the fertile valley. He looks at the first-ripe fig before the summer. He picks it with his hand and eats it.

5 Jehovah of armies will then become a crown of glory and beauty to 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 repel the attack at the gate.

7 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 The tables are covered with vomit and there is no spot without filth.

9 »Who is 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 precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.«

11 With stammering lips and another tongue he will speak to this people.

12 He said: »This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest, and, this is the refreshing.« Yet they would not listen.

13 But the word of Jehovah to them was: »Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little,« that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.

14 Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

15 Because you have said: »We have made a covenant with death, and with the grave we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge. We have hidden under falsehood!«

16 Therefore this is what The Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: »Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation. It is a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.

17 »I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.

18 »Your covenant with death will be annulled. Your agreement with the grave will not stand when the overflowing scourge passes through. Then you will be trampled down by it.

19 »As often as it passes through it will take you. Morning by morning it will pass over, and by day and by night. It will be a terror just to understand the report.«

20 The bed is too short on which to stretch out, and the cover so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.

21 Jehovah will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon. That he may do his work, his awesome work, and bring to pass his act, his unusual act.

22 Do not be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong. For I have heard from the Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Hosts that destruction is determined decreed upon the whole earth.

23 Give ear and hear my voice. Listen and hear my speech.

24 Does the plowman keep plowing all day in order to sow seed? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?

25 When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow the black cummin and scatter the cummin, plant the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?

26 He instructs him in right judgment and his God teaches him.

27 The black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin. But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, and the cummin with a rod.

28 Bread flour must be ground. Therefore he does not thresh it forever, break it with his cartwheel, or crush it with his horsemen.

29 This also comes from Jehovah of Hosts. He is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.

29

1 »You will have trouble Ariel. The years go by, year after year in Ariel the city where David camped! Jerusalem You celebrate your festivals on schedule.

2 »I will still make you suffer Ariel. Your people will cry and mourn when I make you like the lion of God, Jerusalem. Ariel is symbolic name for Jerusalem.

3 »I will surround you with a military blockade and attack you from all sides.

4 »From deep in the earth, you will call out for help. Your voice will sound like a mumble indistinct voice from out of the dust. It will be faint like a whisper.

5 »Your cruel enemies will be swept away like dust in a windstorm. It will be sudden and unexpected like chaff in the wind.

6 »Jehovah of Hosts will visit you with a thundering earthquake. A huge whirlwind will bring loud noise and a devouring fire.«

7 The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel Jerusalem will be like a bad dream, a vision in the night. Many will fight against her and bring distress to her.

8 It will be like a hungry man who dreams that he eats. But when he awakes he is empty and still hungry! It will also be like a thirsty man who dreams that he drinks. When he awakes he is thirsty and weak and hungry. The multitude of nations that fight against Mount Zion will be like this.

9 Stand still and wonder. Refuse to see and be blind. Get drunk and stagger, but not from wine.

10 Jehovah has made you drowsy. He shut your eyes in a deep sleep you prophets and visionaries. He overwhelmed your leaders.

11 His message is like a sealed book to you. You say to someone read this out loud. And they respond, »We cannot read it, because it is sealed.«

12 The illiterate say: »We cannot read it because we do not know how to read.«

13 »These people praise me with their words,« said Jehovah, »but they never draw near to me in their hearts deepest thoughts . Their reverence for me comes from the repetitious tradition of men.

14 »I will do things that shock and amaze them. I will destroy the wisdom of those who claim to know and understand discern

15 You are in for trouble, if you try to hide your plans from Jehovah! You think what you do in the dark cannot be seen. So you ask: »Who sees us, who knows us?«

16 You have it all backwards. A clay dish does not say to the potter, »You did not make me.« And should the one made say to the maker, »You do not understand?«

17 Soon the forest of Lebanon will become a fertile field thick with trees.

18 The deaf will be able to hear the words of the book read to them. The blind will be freed from gloom and darkness.

19 The meek, the poor, and the needy will celebrate and shout because of Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel.

20 All who are cruel and arrogant will be extinguished. Those who live by crime will be removed.

21 God will destroy those who slander others. He will destroy those who prevent the punishment of criminals and those who tell lies to keep honest people from getting justice.

22 Jehovah said to the house of Jacob: »I am the God of Israel, who rescued Abraham from trouble. My people will not be disgraced any longer. You will no longer be filled with shame.

23 »When you see the children that I will give you, then you will acknowledge and sanctify my name. I am the Holy God of Israel! You will honor me and stand in awe of me.

24 »People who stray will learn to understand. Those who always grumble will be glad to be taught.«

30

1 »Suffer you unwilling children,« says Jehovah. »You pursue a purpose that is not mine. You make a covenant sacrifice without my Spirit. You add sin to sin.

2 »You go to Egypt for help without asking for my advice. You want Egypt to protect you. You put your trust in Egypt's military might.

3 »The safety of Pharaoh will be your shame and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.

4 »Their princes are at Zoan and their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.

5 »Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who cannot help them. They cannot help. They can only offer shame and reproach.«

6 THE PROPHESY ABOUT THE BEASTS OF THE NEGEV southern land : The Negev is a land of distress and anguish. Lions and lionesses live there. Vipers and poisonous snakes live there. They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels to a nation that cannot help them.

7 Egypt's help is completely useless. That is why I call her: »Rahab, who sits still.« defamatory word for Egypt negative connotation

8 Write this on a tablet for them, and inscribe it in a book so that it will be there in the future as a permanent witness.

9 These people are rebellious and deceitful children. They refuse to listen to Jehovah’s Law.

10 They say to the seers: »Do not see the future.« They say to those who have visions: ‘Do not have visions that tell us what is right. Tell us what we want to hear. Prophesy illusions.

11 »‘Get out of our way! Stop blocking our path! Get the Holy One of Israel out of our sight.’«

12 This is what the Holy One of Israel says: »You have rejected this warning, trusted oppression and deceit, and you leaned upon them for support.

13 »For that reason your sin will be like a high wall with a bulging crack, ready to fall. All of a sudden it will fall.

14 »It will break like pottery. It will be smashed. Nothing will be left of it. No piece will be big enough to carry live coals from a fireplace or to dip water from a reservoir.«

15 The Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, says: »Return to me and be saved. You can have rest. You can be strong by being quiet and by trusting me.« But you do not want that!

16 You have said: »No, we will flee on horses.« So you flee. You added: »We will ride on fast horses.« So those who chase you will also be fast.

17 One thousand people will flee when one person threatens them. You will flee when five threaten you. Then you will be left alone like a flagpole on top of a mountain, like a signpost on a hill.

18 Jehovah is waiting to be kind to you. He rises to have compassion on you. Jehovah is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him.

19 You will live in Zion, in Jerusalem. You will not cry anymore. Jehovah will certainly have pity on you when you cry for help. As soon as he hears you, he will answer you.

20 Jehovah may give you troubles and hardships. But your Teacher Grand Instructor will no longer be hidden from you. You will see your Teacher with your own eyes.

21 You will hear a voice behind you say: »This is the way. Walk in it,« whether it turns to the right or to the left.

22 Then you will dishonor your silver-plated idols and your gold-covered statues. You will throw them away like clothing ruined by stains. You will say to them: »Get out!«

23 Jehovah will give you rain for the seed that you plant in the ground, and the food that the ground provides will be rich and nourishing. When that day comes, your cattle will graze in large pastures.

24 The cattle and the donkeys that work the soil will eat a mixture of food that has been winnowed with forks and shovels.

25 Brooks and streams will be on every lofty mountain and every high hill. When the day of the great slaughter comes, towers will fall.

26 Then the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun. The light of the sun will be seven times as strong, like the light of seven days. When that day comes, Jehovah will bandage his people's injuries and heal the wounds he inflicted.

27 The name of Jehovah is going to come from far away. His anger is burning. His burden is heavy. His lips are filled with fury. His tongue is like a devouring flame.

28 His breath is like an overflowing stream. It raises neck high and sifts the nations with a sieve of destruction. It places a bit in the mouths of the people to lead them astray.

29 You will sing a song like the song you sing on a festival night. Your hearts will be happy like someone going out with a flute on the way to Jehovah’s mountain, to the rock of Israel.

30 Jehovah will make his majestic voice heard. He will come with all his might, with furious anger, with firestorms, windstorms, rainstorms, and hailstones.

31 The people of Assyria will be shattered at the sound of Jehovah’s voice. He will strike them with his rod.

32 To the sound of tambourines and lyres, Jehovah will pound on them. He will fight them in battle, swinging his fists displaying his power .

33 Topheth was prepared long ago. It was made ready for the king. It was made deep and wide and piled high with plenty of burning logs. Jehovah’s breath will be like a flood of burning sulfur, setting it on fire.

31

1 How horrible it will be for those who go to Egypt for help! Cursed are those who rely on very strong warhorses, who depend on many chariots. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel. They do not seek Jehovah.

2 He is wise and can bring about disaster. He does not take back his words. He rises against wicked people and against those who help troublemakers.

3 The Egyptians are humans, not God. Their horses are flesh and blood, not spirit. Jehovah will stretch out his powerful hand extend his power . The one who gives help will stumble. The one who receives help will fall. Both will die together.

4 This is what Jehovah said to me: »A lion, even a young lion, growls over its prey when a crowd of shepherds is called to fight it. It is not frightened by their voices or disturbed by the noise they make. So Jehovah of Hosts will come to fight for Mount Zion and on its hill.

5 »Jehovah of Hosts will defend Jerusalem like a hovering bird. He will defend it and rescue it. He will pass over it and protect it.«

6 Return you people of Israel, return to the one whom you have so violently rebelled against.

7 When that day comes, all of you will reject the worthless gods of silver and gold, the idols that your sinful hands have made.

8 Then Assyrians will be killed with a sword not made by human hands. The swords not made by human hands will destroy them. They will flee from battle, and their young men will be made to do forced labor.

9 »In terror they will run to their stronghold, and their officers will be frightened at the sight of the battle flag.« Jehovah declares this. His fire light is in Zion and his furnace is in Jerusalem.

32

1 Some day there will be a king who rules with integrity, and national leaders who govern with righteousness. Princes will rule for the sake of justice.

2 Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a place to hide from storms. They will be like streams flowing in a desert, like the shadow of a giant rock in a barren land.

3 Their eyes and ears will be open to the needs of the people.

4 They will not be impatient any longer, but they will act with understanding and will pay attention to the needs of the people.

5 No one will think that a fool is honorable or say that a scoundrel is honest.

6 A fool speaks foolishly and thinks up evil things to do. He promotes wickedness and what he says insults Jehovah. He never feeds the hungry or gives thirsty people anything to drink.

7 As for a rogue, his weapons are evil. He devises wicked schemes to destroy the afflicted with slander, even though the needy one speaks what is right.

8 But the noble man devises noble plans. He stands firm for what is honorable.

9 Rise up, you women who are at ease. Hear my voice and pay attention to my word, you complacent daughters.

10 Within a year and some days you will be troubled, O complacent women for the vintage is ended, the fruit gathering will not happen.

11 Tremble you women who are at ease. Be troubled you complacent ones. Undress and put sackcloth on your waist,

12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,

13 For the land of my people where thorns and briars will grow for they are on the delightful houses and the exultant city.

14 Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken. Hill and watchtower have become caves forever. They will be a delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks.

15 The Spirit will be poured out upon us from on high. Then the wilderness will be turned into a fertile field, and the fertile field will be considered a forest.

16 Then justice will live in the wilderness, and righteousness will be at home in the fertile field.

17 An act of righteousness will bring about peace and security forever.

18 My people will live in a peaceful place, in safe homes and quiet places of rest.

19 The forest will be flattened because of hail, and the city will be completely leveled.

20 Blessed are those who plant beside every stream and those who let cattle and donkeys roam freely.

33

1 Woe to you who destroy for you have not been destroyed! Woe to you who betray for you who have not been betrayed! When you stop destroying you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying you will be betrayed.

2 Jehovah, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.

3 When you make a sound the peoples flee. When you rise up, the nations scatter.

4 Your plunder, O nations, is harvested like young devouring locusts; like a swarm of cockroaches men pounce on it.

5 Jehovah is exalted, for he dwells on high. He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.

6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge. Respect for Jehovah is the key to this treasure.

7 Their brave men cry aloud in the streets; the messengers ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

8 The highways are deserted, no travelers are on the roads. The treaty is broken and its witnesses are despised. No one is respected.

9 The land dries up and wastes away. Lebanon is ashamed and withers. Sharon is like a desert plain. Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.

10 »Now I will arise,« says Jehovah. »Now I will be exalted and lifted up.

11 »You conceive chaff and you give birth to straw. Your strength will be in vain. Fire will consume you.

12 »The peoples will be burned as if to lime. Like thorn bushes they will be set ablaze.

13 »You who are far away hear what I have done. You who are near will acknowledge comprehend recognize my power!«

14 The sinners in Zion are terrified. The godless tremble. Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with long lasting fire?

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 man will dwell on the heights. His refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and he will have water.

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 Zion, the city of our festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved. Its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.

21 Jehovah will be the Almighty One Powerful One Excellent 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 Jehovah is our Judge. Jehovah is our Lawgiver. Jehovah is our King! He will save us.

23 Your rigging hangs loose. The mast is not held secure and 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 Zion will say: »I am sick.« The sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.

34

1 Draw near, people of all nations! Gather around and listen. Let the whole earth and everyone living on it come here and pay attention.

2 JEHOVAH IS ANGRY WITH ALL THE NATIONS. He is furious with all their armies. He has condemned them for destruction. He has handed them over to be slaughtered.

3 Their dead bodies will be thrown out. A stench will rise from their corpses. The mountains will be laid waste with their blood.

4 All the stars in the sky will dissolve. The heavens will be rolled up like a scroll. The stars will fade away like leaves fall from a vine or fruit from a tree.

5 My sword is covered with blood in the heavens. It will fall on EDOM and on the people I have claimed for destruction.

6 Jehovah’s sword is covered with blood. It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of rams' kidneys. Jehovah will receive a sacrifice in Bozrah, a huge slaughter in the land of Edom.

7 Wild oxen will be killed with them, young bulls along with rams. Their land will be drenched with blood. Their dust will be covered with fat.

8 Jehovah will have a day of vengeance! He will have a year of retribution recompense in defense of Zion.

9 Edom's streams will be turned to tar. Its soil will be turned to burning sulfur. Its land will become blazing tar.

10 They will not be extinguished day or night, and smoke will always go up from them. Edom will lie in ruins for generations. No one will ever travel through it.

11 Pelicans and herons will take possession of the land. Porcupines and crows will live there. He will stretch the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of destruction over it.

12 There are no nobles to rule a kingdom. All of its princes have disappeared.

13 Its palaces are covered with thorns. Its fortresses have nettles and thistles. It will become a home for jackals and a place for ostriches.

14 Hyenas will meet with jackals. Male goats will call to their mates. Screech owls will rest there and find a resting place for themselves.

15 Arrow snakes will make their nests there, lay eggs, and hatch them. They will gather their young under their shadow. Vultures also will gather there, each one with its mate.

16 Search Jehovah’s book and read it out loud. Not one of these animals will be missing. Not one will lack a mate, because Jehovah has commanded it, and his Spirit will gather them together.

17 He is the one who casts the lot for them, and his hand divides up the land for them with a measuring line. They will possess it permanently and live there for generations.

35

1 The desert will rejoice, and flowers will bloom in the wastelands.

2 The desert will sing and shout for joy! It will be beautiful like the Lebanon Mountains. It will be fertile as the fields of Carmel and Sharon. Everyone will see Jehovah’s splendor. They will see his greatness and power.

3 Strengthen the tired hands and the knees that tremble with weakness.

4 Tell the discouraged ones with anxious heart: »Be strong and do not be afraid! God is coming to your rescue! He is coming to punish your enemies.«

5 Then the blind will be able to see, and the deaf will hear.

6 The lame will leap and dance, and those who cannot speak will shout for joy. Streams of water will flow through the desert plain.

7 The parched ground will become a lake, and dry land will be filled with springs. Marsh grass and reeds will grow where jackals used to live.

8 There will be a highway there, called: »The Road of Holiness.« No sinner will ever travel that road. No fools will mislead those who follow it.

9 No lions will be there. No fierce animals will pass that way! Those whom Jehovah has rescued will travel home by that road.

10 They will reach Jerusalem with gladness, singing and shouting for joy. They will be happy forever. They will be forever free from sorrow and grief.

36

1 It was Hezekiah's fourteenth year as king. King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

2 The king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He stood at the channel for the Upper Pool on the road to the Laundryman's Field.

3 Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was the son of Hilkiah, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, who was the royal historian and the son of Asaph, went out to the field commander.

4 He said to them: »Tell Hezekiah, This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: ‘What makes you so confident?

5 »‘You give useless advice about getting ready for war. Whom do you trust for support in your rebellion against me?

6 »When you trust Egypt, you trust a broken stick for a staff. If you lean on it, it stabs your hand and goes through it. This is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like for everyone who trusts him.

7 »‘Suppose you say: ‘We are trusting Jehovah our God. He is the god whose places of worship and altars Hezekiah got rid of. Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem: Worship at this altar.’« ’

8 »Now, make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses if you can put riders on them.

9 »How can you defeat my master's lowest-ranking officers when you trust Egypt for chariots and horses?

10 »Have I come to destroy this country without Jehovah on my side? Jehovah said to me: Attack this country, and destroy it.’« ’

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the field commander: »Speak to us in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in the Judean language as long as there are people on the wall listening.«

12 However the field commander asked: »Did my master send me to tell these things only to you and your master? Did he not send me to the men sitting on the wall who will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine with you?«

13 Then the field commander stood and shouted loudly in the Judean language: »Listen to the great king, the king of Assyria.

14 »‘This is what the king says: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot rescue you.

15 »‘Do not let Hezekiah get you to trust Jehovah by saying: ‘Jehovah will certainly rescue us, and this city will not be put under the control of the king of Assyria.

16 »‘Do not listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me! Come out, and give yourselves up to me! Everyone will eat from his own grapevine and fig tree and drink from his own cistern.

17 »‘Then I will come and take you away to a country like your own. It is a country with grain and new wine, a country with bread and vineyards.

18 »‘Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying to you: ‘Jehovah will rescue us. Did any of the gods of the nations rescue their countries from the king of Assyria?

19 »‘Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Did they rescue Samaria from my control?

20 »‘Did the gods of these countries indeed rescue them from my control? Could Jehovah then rescue Jerusalem from my control?’«

21 They were silent and did not say anything to him because the king commanded them not to answer him.

22 Then Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was son of Hilkiah, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, who was the royal historian and the son of Asaph, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief. They told him the message from the field commander.

37

1 King Hezekiah heard it and he tore his clothes. He covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of Jehovah.

2 Hezekiah sent Eliakim the palace administrator along with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

3 They said to him: »Hezekiah says: ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke and rejection. Children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver.

4 »‘Perhaps Jehovah your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh. His master the king of Assyria has sent him to reproach the living God! He will rebuke the words Jehovah your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that survives.’«

5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6 Isaiah said to them: »Say to your master: ‘Jehovah says: »Do not be afraid because of the words you have heard from the servants of the king of Assyria. For they have blasphemed me.

7 »‘»Listen! I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.« ’«

8 Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah. He had heard a report that the king had left Lachish.

9 He heard this concerning Tirhakah king of Cush: »He has come out to fight against you.« So he sent messengers to Hezekiah and said:

10 »Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you. He says to you: »Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.«

11 »‘You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries. He destroyed them completely. And will you be delivered?

12 »‘Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them? And what about the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar?

13 »‘Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?’«

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. He went to the temple of Jehovah and spread it out before Jehovah.

15 Hezekiah prayed to Jehovah:

16 »O Jehovah of Hosts, 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 Jehovah, and hear! Open your eyes, O Jehovah, and see! Listen to all the words Sennacherib said to insult the living God.

18 »It is true, Jehovah, 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. But they were not gods! They were only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.

20 »Now, O Jehovah our God, deliver us from his hand. That way all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Jehovah, are God.

21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: »This is what Jehovah, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,

22 this is the word Jehovah spoke 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? It is against the Holy One of Israel!

24 »By your messengers you have heaped insults on Jehovah. You said: With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines. I reach its remotest heights, the finest of its forests.

25 »I dug wells and drank the water there. With the bottom of my feet I dried up all the streams of Egypt.

26 »Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it! And now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone.

27 »Their people are drained of power. They are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, parched before it grows.

28 »I know where you stay and when you come and go and how you rage against me.

29 »For the reason that you rage against me and because your insolence arrogance has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth. 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. The second year you will eat what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

31 »‘Again a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above.

32 »‘Out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Jehovah will accomplish this.

33 »‘Therefore this is what Jehovah says concerning the king of Assyria: »He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield, or build a siege ramp against it.

34 »‘He will return by the way that he came. He will not enter this city, declares Jehovah.

35 »‘I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!’«

36 The angel of Jehovah put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. The people got up the next morning and saw all the dead bodies!

37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

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. They escaped to the land of Ararat. Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

38

1 King Hezekiah became sick and almost died. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to see him. Isaiah said to him: »Jehovah tells you: ‘You are to put everything in order because you will not recover. Get ready to die.« ’

2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Jehovah:

3 »Remember, Jehovah, that I have served you faithfully and loyally. I have always tried to do what you wanted me to.« Then he cried bitterly.

4 Then Jehovah commanded Isaiah

5 to go back to Hezekiah and say to him: »I Jehovah, the God of your ancestor David, have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will add fifteen more years to your life.

6 »I will rescue you and this city of Jerusalem from the king of Assyria, and I will continue to protect the city.«

7 Isaiah said:« This is your sign from Jehovah that he will do what he promises.

8 »The sun made a shadow that went down the stairway of the upper palace of Ahaz. ‘I am going to make the shadow go back ten steps.’« So the sun on the stairway went back up the ten steps it had gone down.

9 King Hezekiah of Judah wrote this after he was sick and became well again:

10 »I thought that in the prime of my life I would go down to the gates of the grave and be robbed of the rest of my life.

11 »I thought that I would not see Jehovah in this world. Even with all the people in the world, I thought I would never see another person.

12 »My life was over. You rolled it up like a shepherd's tent. You rolled up my life like a weaver. You cut me off from the loom. You ended my life in one day.

13 »Until morning came, I thought you would crush my bones just like a hungry lion; both night and day you make an end of me.

14 »I cry like a swallow swift . I mourn like a dove. My eyes are red from looking to you, Jehovah. I am terribly abused. Please come and help me.

15 »There is nothing I can say in answer to you. For you are the one who has done this to me. My life has turned sour. I will limp until I die.

16 »Your words and your deeds bring life to everyone, including me. Please make me healthy and strong again.

17 »Yes, it was for my benefit that I suffered such distress. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction. You have put thrown hurled all my sins behind your back.

18 »For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise. Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.

19 »The living, yes the living praise you, as I am doing today! Fathers tell their children about your faithfulness.

20 »Jehovah will save me! We will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the Temple of Jehovah.«

21 Isaiah said: »Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.«

22 Hezekiah said: »What will be the sign that I will go up to the Temple of Jehovah?«

39

1 At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery.

2 Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses. He showed them the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oil, his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in his entire kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

3 Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked: »What did those men say, and where did they come from?« Hezekiah replied: »They came from the distant land of Babylon.«

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 Isaiah said to Hezekiah: »Hear the word of the Jehovah of Hosts:

6 »‘The time will 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 Jehovah.

7 »‘Some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away! They will become officers in the palace of the king of Babylon.’«

8 »The word of Jehovah you have spoken is good,« Hezekiah replied. For he thought: »There will be peace and security in my lifetime.«

40

1 »Comfort, comfort my people,« says your God.

2 »Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed. Her sin has been paid for and she has received double for all her sins from Jehovah’s hand.«

3 A voice of one calling: »In the wilderness prepare the way for Jehovah. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 »Every valley will be raised up! Every mountain and hill made low. The rough ground will become level and the rugged places a plain.

5 »The glory of Jehovah will be revealed and together all mankind will see it. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken!«

6 A voice shouts: »Cry out!« And I said: »What shall I cry?« The voice shouts: »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 Jehovah 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 bring good news to Zion. Go up on a high mountain. You bring good news to Jerusalem. Lift up your voice with a shout! Lift it up and do not be afraid! Say to the towns of Judah: »Here is your God!«

10 See the Sovereign Lord Jehovah comes with power. His arm power 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 span 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 of the scale?

13 Who has understood the mind of Jehovah, or has instructed him, as his counselor?

14 Whom did Jehovah consult to enlighten him? Who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?

15 Truly 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 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.

17 Before him all the nations are as nothing! He regards them 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 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to 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 nothing 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? Who is my equal?« says the Holy One.

26 »Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? The being that brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name created all these! 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 Jehovah! My God disregards my cause?’

28 »Do you not know? Have you not heard? JEHOVAH IS THE EVERLASTING GOD, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and no one can measure find out his understanding.

29 »He gives strength to those who grow tired and increases the strength of those who are weak.

30 Even young people grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.

31 »Those who hope in Jehovah 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.«

41

1 »Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak. Let us meet together at the place of judgment.

2 »Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.

3 »He pursues them and moves on unscathed. He goes 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, Jehovah have done this 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. 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 »However 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. I called you from its farthest corners. I said: ‘You are my servant. I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

10 »‘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 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 »I AM JEHOVAH, YOUR GOD! I take hold of your right hand and say to you: Do not fear; I will help you.

14 »Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I will help you. This is the declaration of Jehovah, your Redeemer, and 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. You will 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 Jehovah 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 Jehovah 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 the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive in the desert. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together.

20 »People may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand power of Jehovah has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

21 »Present your case,« says Jehovah. »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 shocked and filled with fear.

24 »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 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 Zion: »Look, here they are!« I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news.

28 I look but there is no one. There is no one among them to give counsel! There is no one to give answer when I ask them.

29 See they are all false hurtful nonexistent ! Their deeds amount to nothing! Their images are but wind and confusion.

42

1 Here is my servant, whom I have strengthened. Here is the one I have chosen, with whom I am pleased. I have filled him with my Spirit, and he will bring justice to every nation.

2 He will not shout or raise his voice or make loud speeches in the streets.

3 He will not break off a bent reed nor extinguish a flickering lamp. He will bring lasting justice to all.

4 He will not lose hope or courage. He will establish justice on the earth. Distant lands eagerly wait for his law.

5 God created the heavens and stretched them out. He fashioned the earth and all that lives there. He gave life and breath to all its people. And now Jehovah God says to his servant:

6 »I, Jehovah, have called you and have given you power to see that justice is done on earth. I will make a covenant with all peoples and bring light truth light of instruction (Psalm 27:1) to the nations through you.

7 »You will open the eyes of the blind and set free those who sit in dark prisons.

8 »I ALONE AM JEHOVAH. THAT IS MY NAME. I WILL NOT GIVE MY GLORY TO ANOTHER! I will not let idols share my praise.

9 »The things I predicted have now come true. Now I will tell you of new things even before they begin to happen.«

10 Sing a new song to Jehovah. Sing his praise, all the world! Praise him, you that sail the sea. Praise him, all creatures of the sea! Sing, distant lands and all who live there!

11 Let the desert and its towns praise God. Let the people of Kedar praise him! Let those who live in the city of Sela shout for joy from the tops of the mountains!

12 Let those who live in distant lands give praise and glory to Jehovah!

13 Jehovah goes out to fight like a warrior. He is ready and eager for battle. He gives a war cry, a battle shout and he shows his power against his enemies.

14 »I kept silent for a long time. I did not answer my people. The time to act has come. I cry out like a woman in labor.

15 »I will destroy the hills and mountains and dry up the grass and trees. I will turn the river valleys into deserts and dry up the pools of water.

16 »I will lead my blind people by roads they have never traveled. I will turn their darkness into light and make rough country smooth before them. I will keep my promises without fail.«

17 Those who trust in idols and call images their gods will be humiliated and disgraced.

18 Jehovah says: »Hear, you deaf people! Look closely, you who are blind!«

19 Is anyone more blind than my servant or more deaf than the messenger I send?

20 Israel, you have seen so much, but what has it meant to you? You have ears to hear with, but what have you really heard?

21 Jehovah is a God who is eager to save. He exalted his laws and teachings, and he wanted his people to honor them.

22 Now his people have been plundered. They are locked up in dungeons and hidden away in prisons. They were robbed and plundered, with no one to come to their rescue.

23 Will any of you listen to this? From now on will you listen with care?

24 Who gave Israel up to the looters? It was Jehovah, against whom we sinned! We would not live as he wanted us to live or obey the teachings he gave us.

25 So he made us feel the force of his anger and suffer the violence of war. Like fire his anger burned throughout Israel. Yet we never knew what was happening. We learned nothing at all from it.

43

1 Jehovah created Jacob and formed Israel. Jehovah says: »Do not be afraid for I have reclaimed you. I have called you by my name. You are mine.

2 »When you go through the sea, I am with you. When you go through rivers, they will not sweep you away. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, and the flames will not harm you.

3 »I AM JEHOVAH YOUR GOD, THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, YOUR SAVIOR. Egypt is the ransom I exchanged for you. Sudan and Seba are the price I paid for you.

4 »I honor you because you are precious to me and I love you. I will exchange others for you. Nations will be the price I pay for your life.

5 »Do not be afraid for I am with you. I will bring your descendants 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 keep them. Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the ends of the earth.

7 »‘Bring everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.’

8 »Bring the people who are blind but still have eyes, the people who are deaf but still have ears.

9 »‘All nations have gathered together, and people have assembled. Who among them could have revealed this? Who among them could have foretold this to us? They should bring their witnesses to prove that they were right. Let the people hear them. Then they will say: ‘It is the truth.’«

10 »YOU ARE MY WITNESSES,« DECLARES JEHOVAH! »I have chosen you as my servant so that you can know and believe in me and understand that I am the one who did this. No god was formed before me, and there will be none after me.

11 »I ALONE AM JEHOVAH, AND THERE IS NO SAVIOR BESIDES ME.«

12 »I have revealed it to you. I have saved you, and I have announced it to you. There was no foreign god among you. You are my witnesses that I am God, declares Jehovah.

13 »From the beginning I was the one who did this. No one can rescue people from my power. When I do something, who can undo it?«

14 This is what Jehovah, your redeemer, and the Holy One of Israel, says: »For your sake I will send an army to Babylon. I will bring back all the Babylonian refugees in the ships that they take pride in.

15 »I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.«

16 Jehovah makes a path through the sea and a road through the strong currents.

17 He leads chariots and horses, an army and reinforcements. »They lie down together and do not get up again. They are extinguished and snuffed out like a wick.« This is what Jehovah says:

18 »Forget what happened in the past, and do not dwell on events from long ago.

19 »I am going to do something new. It is already happening. Do you recognize it? I will clear a way in the desert. I will make rivers on dry land.

20 »Wild animals, jackals, and ostriches will honor me. I will provide water in the desert. I will make rivers on the dry land for my chosen people to drink.

21 »I have formed these people for myself. They will praise me.

22 »Jacob, you have not prayed to me. Israel, you have grown tired of me.

23 »You did not bring me sheep for your burnt offerings or honor me with your sacrifices. I did not burden you by requiring grain offerings or trouble you by requiring incense offerings.

24 »You did not buy me any sugar cane with your money or satisfy me with the best part of your sacrifices. Rather, you burdened me with your sins and troubled me with your iniquities.

25 »I alone am the one who is going to wipe away your rebellious actions for my own sake. I will not remember your sins anymore.

26 »Remind me of what happened. Let us argue our case together. State your case so that you can prove you are right.

27 »Your first ancestor sinned, and your priests rebelled against me.

28 »That is why I will corrupt the leaders of the holy place. I will claim Jacob for destruction. I will set up Israel for ridicule.«

44

1 »Listen, O Jacob, my servant, Listen Israel, whom I have chosen.

2 »‘This is what Jehovah says, the one 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 »‘I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring. I will give blessing to your descendants.

4 »‘They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.

5 »‘»One person will say: »I belong to Jehovah.« Another person will call himself by the name of Jacob. Still another will write on his hand: »Jehovah’s.« And he will take the name Israel.’

6 »This is what Jehovah, Israel’s King and Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts 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. There is not one!’«

9 All who make idols are nothing. The things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind. They are shamefully ignorant.

10 Who shapes a god and casts a useless and good for nothing idol.

11 He and his kind will be put to shame. Craftsmen are merely men. Let them all come together and take their stand for 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 red chalk marker. He roughs it out with chisels and marks it with a compass. He shapes it in the form of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.

14 He cut down cedars, or 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 so he takes some to warm himself. He kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it. Yes he makes an idol and bows down to it.

16 Half of the wood they burn in the fire. Over this half they roast meat that they can eat until they are full. They also warm themselves and say: We are warm. We can see the fire!

17 But the rest of the wood they make into gods, carved statues. They bow to them and worship them. They pray to them and say: »Rescue us, because you are our gods.«

18 They do not know or understand anything. Their eyes are plastered shut and cannot see. Their minds are closed and therefore they cannot understand.

19 No one stops to think. No one has enough knowledge or understanding to say: »I burned half of the wood in the fire. I also baked bread over its coals. I roasted meat and ate it. Now I am making the rest of the wood into a disgusting thing and bowing to a block of wood.«

20 They eat ashes because they are deceived. Their own misguided minds lead them astray. They cannot rescue themselves or ask themselves: »Is what I hold in my right hand a false god?«

21 Jehovah says: »Israel, remember this! Remember that you are my servant. I created you to be my servant, and I will never forget you.

22 »I have swept your sins away like a cloud. Come back to me! I am the one who saves you.

23 »Shout for joy, you heavens! Shout, deep places of the earth! Shout for joy, mountains, and every tree of the forest! Jehovah has shown his greatness by saving his people Israel.«

24 »I am Jehovah, your savior. I am the one who created you. I am Jehovah, the Creator of all things. I alone stretched out the heavens! No one helped me when I made the earth I was by myself Who was with me? .

25 »I make fools of fortunetellers and frustrate the predictions of astrologers. The words of the wise I refute and show that their wisdom is foolishness.

26 »‘I make the word of my servant come true. I accomplish the purpose of my messengers. I say of Jerusalem, 'She will be inhabited!’ And I say to the cities of Judah, 'You will be rebuilt! I will make your ruins raise up.’

27 »‘I say to the watery deep: ‘Be a waste and I will dry up your rivers!’

28 »‘I say of Cyrus: ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please. He will say of Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt,’ and of the Temple, ‘Let its foundations be laid.’«

45

1 This is WHAT JEHOVAH SAYS ABOUT CYRUS, his anointed one: »I have held him by his right hand so he could conquer the nations ahead of him; that he could strip kings of their power, and open doors ahead of him so that the gates would not be shut.

2 »I will go ahead of you, Cyrus. I will smooth out the rough places. I will break down the copper doors and cut through the iron bars.

3 »I will give you treasures from dark places and hidden stockpiles. You will know that I, Jehovah the God of Israel, have called you by name.

4 »For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen one, I have called you by name. I have given you a title of honor, although you do not know me.

5 »I AM JEHOVAH AND THERE IS NO OTHER. THERE IS NO OTHER GOD BESIDES ME. I will strengthen you, although you do not know me.

6 »From the east to the west sunrise to sunset people will know that there is no God except me. I am Jehovah, and there is no other.

7 »I make light and create darkness. I make blessings and create disasters. I, Jehovah, do all these things.

8 »Rain down from above, you heavens, and pour down righteousness, you skies. Let the earth open. Let salvation and righteousness sprout. Let them spring up for I Jehovah have created them.«

9 »Does a clay pot dare argue with its maker, a pot that is like all the others? Does the clay ask the potter what he is doing? Does the pot complain that its maker has no skill?

10 »‘Do we dare say to our parents: ‘Why did you make me like this?’

11 Jehovah, the Holy God of Israel, the one who shapes the future says: »You have no right to question me about my children or to tell me what I ought to do!

12 »I am the one who made the earth. I created human beings to live there. With my power I stretched out the heavens. I control the sun, the moon, and the stars.

13 »I have stirred Cyrus to action to fulfill my purpose and put things right. I will straighten out every road that he travels. He will rebuild my city, Jerusalem, and set my captive people free. No one has hired him or bribed him to do this.« Jehovah of Hosts has spoken.

14 This is what Jehovah says: »The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and those tall Sabeans will come over to you and will be yours. They will walk behind you. They will come to you in chains. They will bow down before you and plead with you. They will say: ‘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 The makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced. They will go off into disgrace together.

17 Jehovah will save Israel with an everlasting salvation. You will never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting.

18 Jehovah says: »Who created the heavens? He who is God. He fashioned and made the earth. He founded it and he did not create it to be empty but formed it to be inhabited.« He says: »I am Jehovah, 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, Jehovah, speak the truth; I declare what is right.

20 »Come here, you refugees from the nations. Ignorant people carry wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save anyone.

21 »Speak and present your case. Yes, let them consult one another. Who revealed this in the distant past and predicted it long ago? Was it not I, Jehovah? There is no other God except me. There is no other righteous God and Savior besides me.

22 »Turn to me and be saved! Turn to me all who live at the ends of the earth for I am God, and there is no other.

23 »I have bound myself with an oath. A word has gone out from my righteous mouth that will not be recalled. Every knee will bow to me and every tongue will swear allegiance.

24 »It will be said of me: ‘Certainly, righteousness and strength are found in Jehovah alone. All who are angry with him will come to him and be ashamed.

25 »‘All the descendants of Israel will be declared righteous, and they will praise Jehovah.’«

46

1 Bel bows down and Nebo stoops low. Their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome. They are a burden for the weary.

2 They stoop and bow down together. They are unable to rescue the burden and they go off into captivity.

3 »Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel. I have upheld you since you were conceived. I have carried you since your birth.

4 Even in your old age with gray hair I am he, I am he who will support you. I have made you and I will bear your burden take care of you . I will sustain support strengthen you and I will rescue you keep you safe .

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. 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! Keep it in mind and take it to heart, you rebels.

9 »Remember the former things, the things 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 I summon a bird of prey from the east. I summon a man to fulfill my purpose from a far off land. What I have said I will bring about. What I have determined purposed I will do.

12 »Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness.

13 »I bring near my righteousness. It is not far away. My salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.«

47

1 »Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.

2 »Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, strip off the skirt; uncover the leg and cross the rivers.

3 »Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance. I will not spare a man.«

4 Our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel.

5 »Sit silently and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans. You will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.

6 »I was angry with my people. I profaned my heritage and gave them into your hand. You did not show mercy to them. You made your yoke very heavy on the aged.

7 »‘You said: ‘I will be a queen for a very long time!’ You did not consider these things or remember their outcome.

8 »Hear this you sensual one! You dwell securely and say in your heart: ‘I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a widow. I will not lose children.’ (Revelation 18:2-8)

9 »Two things will come on you suddenly in one day: Loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in full measure in spite of your abundance of sorceries, in spite of the great power of your spells.

10 »You felt sure of yourself in your evil. You thought that no one could see you. Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray. Then you said to yourself: ‘I am God! There is no one else like me.’

11 »Disaster will come upon you, and none of your magic can stop it. Ruin will come on you suddenly, ruin you never dreamed of!

12 Keep all your magic spells and charms. You have used them since you were young. Perhaps they will be of some help to you. Perhaps you can frighten your enemies.

13 »You are powerless in spite of the advice you get. Let your astrologers come forward and save you! Let those people who study the stars, who map out the zones of the heavens tell you from month to month what is going to happen to 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 and 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. No one can save you.

48

1 Listen to this, people of Israel, you that are descended from Judah. You swear by the name of Jehovah and claim to worship the God of Israel. However you do not mean a word you say.

2 Yet you are proud to say that you are citizens of the holy city and that you depend on Israel's God, whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.

3 Jehovah says to Israel: »Long ago I predicted what would take place. Then suddenly I made it happen.

4 »I knew that you would prove to be stubborn. You were as rigid as iron and unyielding as copper.

5 »I predicted your future long ago. I announced events before they took place, to keep you from claiming that your idols and images made them happen.

6 »All I foretold has now taken place. You have to admit my predictions were right. Now I will tell you of new things to come, events that I did not reveal before.

7 They are created now, not in the past. You have not heard about them before today, so you cannot say that you already knew about them.

8 »You have never heard about them. You have never known about them. Your ears have never been open to hear them before. I know that you have acted very treacherously and that you have been called a rebel since you were born.

9 »For my name's sake I will be patient. For my glory's sake I will hold my anger back from you, and not destroy you.

10 »I have been testing you for myself like silver. I have put you through the fire of trouble.

11 »I did it for myself and because of my name. I will not let my name be shamed profaned . I will not give my glory to another.

12 »Listen to me Jacob and Israel, my loved one. I am he, I am the first and I am the last.

13 »My hand laid the foundation of the earth. My right hand stretched out the heavens. When I call for them, they both stand.

14 »Gather together, all of you, and listen. What idol has revealed such things? Jehovah loves Cyrus. He will carry out Jehovah’s plan against Babylon. He will use his strength against the Babylonians.

15 »I alone have spoken. I have called him. I will bring him here and he will succeed.

16 »Come here. Listen to this! From the beginning I have spoken nothing in private. From the time it took place, I was there. Now the Lord Jehovah has sent me, and his Spirit.

17 This is what Jehovah your Defender Redeemer , the Holy One of Israel, says: »I am Jehovah your God. I teach you what is best for you. I lead you where you should go.

18 »If only you had listened to my commandments! Your peace would be like a river that never runs dry. Your righteousness would be like waves on the sea.

19 »Your descendants would be like sand. Your children would be like its grains. Their names would not be cut off or wiped out in my presence.«

20 Get out of Babylon! Flee from the Babylonians! Shout for joy as you tell it and announce it. Shout it out to the ends of the earth. Say: »Jehovah has reclaimed his servant Jacob.

21 »They were not thirsty when he led them through the deserts. He made water flow from a rock for them. He split a rock, and water gushed out.

22 »There is no peace for the wicked,« says Jehovah.

49

1 Listen to this, you islands! Pay attention you people far away. Jehovah chose me long before I was born. He recorded my name while I was in my mother’s womb.

2 He made my tongue like a sharp sword. He hid me in the palm of his hand. He made me like a sharpened arrow and hid me in his quiver.

3 He said to me: »You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will show my glory.«

4 I said: »I have toiled in vain. I have spent my energy for nothing and vanity. Yet, to be sure, the justice due to me is with Jehovah. My reward is with my God.«

5 Jehovah formed me in the womb to be his servant. I am to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to him. Jehovah honors me. My God has become my strength.

6 He says: »It is a small thing that you are my servant. You will raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also make you a light to the nations that my salvation will reach to the end of the earth.«

7 Israel’s Holy God and Savior says to the one who is deeply despised, hated by the nations and is the servant of rulers: »Kings will see you released and will rise to show their respect. Princes will also see it and they will bow low to honor you.«

8 This is what Jehovah says: »In the time of favor I will answer you. I will appoint you as my promise to the people. You will restore the land. You will make them inherit the desolate inheritance.«

9 Say to those who are bound: »Go forth, to those in the darkness and show yourselves. They will feed along the roads and their pasture is on all bare heights.

10 »They will never be hungry or thirsty. The sun and the burning hot wind will not strike them. The one who has compassion on them will lead them and guide them to springs.

11 »I will make all my mountains a road. My highways will be raised up.

12 »They will come from far away. They will come from the north and from the west. They will come from the land of Sinim.«

13 Shout for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Break into joyful shouting, O mountains! For Jehovah has comforted his people. He will have compassion on his afflicted.

14 Zion replied: »Jehovah has forsaken me and Jehovah has forgotten me!«

15 Can a woman forget her nursing child? Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb? Although mothers forget, I will not forget you.

16 I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are constantly before me.

17 Your children will hurry back. Those who destroyed you and laid you waste will leave you.

18 Lift up your eyes and look around for they all gather together and come to you. »As I live,« declares Jehovah, »you will certainly wear them like jewels and bind them on like a bride does.«

19 »Even if you are destroyed and demolished, and your land is in ruins, you will be too crowed for your people. Those who devoured you will be long gone.

20 »‘The children removed from you will say to you: ‘This place is too crowed for me. Make room for me to live here.’

21 »‘You will think in your heart: ‘Who brought these children to birth? I am barren sterile and bereaved of my children. I am an exiled wonderer. Who gave birth to these? From where did these come?’

22 »Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,« said Jehovah. »I will set up my standard for the peoples. They will bring your sons and your daughters in their bosom and carried on their shoulders.

23 »Kings will be your guardians. Their princesses will be your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth. They will lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am Jehovah. Those who hopefully wait for me will not be put to shame.

24 »Can the prey be taken from the strong man? Can the captives be rescued from the tyrant?«

25 Certainly Jehovah says: »The captives of the strong man will be taken away. The prey of the tyrant will be rescued. I will contend with the one who grapples with you and I will save your sons.

26 »I will feed oppressors with their own flesh. They will be intoxicated with their own blood as if by sweet wine. Everyone will know that I am Jehovah, your Savior and Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.«

50

1 This is what Jehovah says: »Where are your mother's divorce papers? Did I give her any to get rid of her? To which of my creditors did I sell you? You were sold because of your sins. I got rid of your mother because of your rebellion.

2 »Why was no one here when I came? Why was no one here to answer when I called? Am I too weak to reclaim you? Do I not have the power to rescue you? I dry up the sea with my command, and I turn rivers into deserts. Their fish stink because there is no water, and people die of thirst.

3 »I clothe the heavens in darkness and cover them with sackcloth.«

4 The Lord Jehovah will teach me what to say, so I will know how to encourage tired people. Morning after morning he will wake me to listen like a student.

5 The Lord Jehovah has opened my ears. I will not rebel, nor will I turn away from him.

6 I will offer my back to those who whip me. I will offer my cheeks to those who pluck hairs out of my beard. I will not turn my face away from those who humiliate me and spit on me.

7 The Lord Jehovah helps me. That is why I will not be ashamed. I have set my face like a flint firm and resolute . I know that I will not be put to shame.

8 The one who pronounces me innocent is near. Who will bring a case against me? Let us confront each other! Who accuses me? Let him draw near to me!

9 The Lord Jehovah helps me. Who will find me guilty? They will all wear out like a garment and moths will eat them.

10 Who among you respects Jehovah and obeys his servant? Let those who walk in darkness and have no light trust the name of Jehovah and depend upon their God.

11 But all of you light fires and arm yourselves with flaming torches. So walk in your own light and among the torches you have lit. This is what you will receive from me: You will be tormented.

51

1 »Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek Jehovah. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug out.

2 »Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one. I blessed him and made him many.«

3 Jehovah will surely comfort Zion. He will look with compassion on all her ruins. He will make her deserts like Eden and her wastelands like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness will be found in her along with 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 is near. My salvation is on the way and my arm power will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm power .

6 »Lift up your eyes to the heavens. Look at the earth below. The heavens will vanish like smoke and the earth will wear out like a garment. Its inhabitants die like flies gnats . 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 »The moth will eat them up like a garment. The worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever! My salvation will last through all generations.«

9 Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of Jehovah. 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 Jehovah’s ransomed will return. They will enter Zion with singing! Everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

12 »I, even I, am the one who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men? The sons of men are like grass!

13 »You forget Jehovah your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. Will you live in constant terror of the human oppressor, who is bent on your destruction? Will you fear your enemies from morning until night?

14 »The cowering prisoners will soon be set free. They will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.

15 »I am Jehovah your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar. Jehovah of Hosts is his name.

16 »I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand protection of my power, Holy Spirit . I set the heavens in place and laid the foundations of the earth. Yet I say to Zion: ‘You are my people!« ’

17 Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of Jehovah 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? You experience ruin and destruction, famine and sword. Who can console you?

20 Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of every street. They are like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the rage of Jehovah and the rebuke of your God.

21 Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine.

22 This is what your Lord Jehovah says, your God, who defends his people: »See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger. You will never drink from that cup, that cup of wrath, again.

23 »I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you: ‘Lie down that we may walk all over you. You made your back like the ground like a street to be walked over.« ’

52

1 Awake, awake, O Zion, put on your strength. Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again.

2 Shake off your dust! Rise up and sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.

3 For this is what Jehovah says: »You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.«

4 The Lord Jehovah says: »At first my people went down to Egypt to live as aliens. Now Assyria has oppressed them.«

5 »What do I have here?« Declares Jehovah. »For my people have been taken away for nothing. Those who rule them mock,« declares Jehovah. »And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed.

6 »Therefore my people will all know my name! 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 and who bring good tidings of good things! For they proclaim salvation and say to Zion: »Your God reigns as king!« Hebrew: Elohiym’ malak’: God rules!

8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices. Together they shout for joy. They will see it with their own eyes when Jehovah returns to Zion.

9 Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem! Jehovah has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.

10 Jehovah will lay bare his holy arm show his holy power in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

11 Get out of her my people! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of Jehovah.

12 You will not leave in haste or go in panic. For Jehovah will go before you. The God of Israel will be your rear guard.

13 My servant will act wisely. He will be raised, lifted up and highly exalted.

14 There were many who were appalled at him and his appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness.

15 He will startle amaze astonish many nations, 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.

53

1 THIS IS THE PEOPHESY ABOUT THE MESSIAH. Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm power of Jehovah 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 will make us desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men. He was a man of sorrows familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised. We did not consider him to be worth much.

4 He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. 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. There has been healing for us because of his wounds.

6 We are all like sheep. We have gone astray! Each of us has turned to his own way. Jehovah has caused the iniquity sin of all of us to be laid on him.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted and yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He was silent like sheep ready to be sheared. He did not open his mouth.

8 He was oppressed, judged and taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? He was removed from the land of the living. He was destroyed because of the transgression of my people.

9 He was buried like a criminal in a rich mans grave. He had done no wrong, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 It was Jehovah’s will to allow him to be crushed. Even though Jehovah makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of Jehovah will prosper in his hand.

11 After his suffering he will see the light and be satisfied. By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many. He will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great. He will divide the spoils with the strong. This is because he poured out his life unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors. He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

54

1 »Sing joyfully, O barren woman, you who never bore a child! Burst into song and shout for joy, you who were never in labor! More are the children of the desolate woman than of the woman, who has a husband,« proclaims Jehovah.

2 »Enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch your tent curtains wide and do not hold back. Lengthen your cords and 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. Jehovah of Hosts is his name! The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He is called the God of all the earth.

6 »Jehovah 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 Jehovah 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 Jehovah. »I have compassion on you.«

11 »O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires.

12 »I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.

13 »Your sons will all be taught by Jehovah. Your sons will have an abundance of peace.

14 »You will be established in righteousness. Tyranny will be far from you. You will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed and 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 »I created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. I also created the destroyer who will work havoc.

17 »Weapons forged against you will not prevail! You will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of Jehovah and this is their vindication from me,« declares Jehovah.

55

1 Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the water. 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 you will delight in the richest of fare.

3 Give ear and come to me; listen to me, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the nations.

5 You will summon nations you do not know. Nations that do not know you will run to you, because of Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.

6 Seek Jehovah 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 Jehovah, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

8 »My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,« declares Jehovah.

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 the sky, 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 the pine tree will grow. Instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for Jehovah’s fame. It will be for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.«

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1 Jehovah 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 »‘No foreigner bound to Jehovah should say: ‘Jehovah will surely exclude separate me from his people. No eunuch should complain: I am only a dry tree.’«

4 For Jehovah says: »To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me. They hold fast to my covenant.

5 »I will give to those within my Temple and its walls a memorial and a name that is better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.

6 »Foreigners have become allied with Jehovah, to serve Jehovah, to love the name of Jehovah, and to worship him. They keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and hold fast to my covenant.

7 »I will bring them to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.«

8 The Sovereign Lord Jehovah declares: »He who gathers the exiles of Israel, 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 Israel’s watchmen are blind. They all lack knowledge they are all mute dogs. They cannot bark. They just 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 and each one seeks dishonest unjust 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.«

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1 The righteous perishes and no man takes it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil.

2 He will enter into peace. The honorable and honest will rest in his bed.

3 »But come here, you sons of the witch, you offspring of the adulterer and the prostitute!

4 With whom are you effeminate self-indulgent ? With whom do you open wide your mouth and offer your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, offspring of falsehood and deceit?

5 Are you inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?

6 »Is your portion among the smooth stones of the stream? They indeed are your lot! Even to them you have poured a drink offering. You have offered a grain offering. Should this give me comfort?

7 »You placed your bed on a lofty and high mountain. Even there you went up to offer sacrifice.

8 »You ordained your memorial behind the doors and their posts. You revealed uncovered yourself to those other than me. You went to them. You enlarged your bed and made a covenant with them. You have loved their bed, where you saw their naked manhood.

9 »You went to the king with ointment and much perfume. You sent your messengers far off, and descended even to the grave.

10 »You are wearied because of the length of your trip. Yet you did not say: I give up. There is no hope. You have found the renewal of your strength. Therefore you were not grieved.

11 »Who frightened you? Who made you afraid, that you have lied and not remembered me? You did not take it to your heart. Is it not because I have held my peace from of old that you do not reverence respect me?

12 »I will declare your righteousness and your works, yet they will not profit you.

13 »When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry them all away. A breath will take them. But he who puts his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain.

14 »‘One will say: ‘Heap it up! Heap it up! Prepare the way; Take the stumbling block out of the way of my people.’«

15 The High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, says: ‘I dwell in the high and holy and also with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. I revive the spirit of the humble, and the heart of the contrite ones.’

16 For I will not contend rebuke forever! Nor will I always be angry! The spirit would fail before me, and those whom I have made.

17 Because of the iniquity of his covetousness gain I was angry and struck him. I hid and was angry. He went on backsliding in the way of his heart his heart directed course of life .

18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him. I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.

19 I create the fruit praise of the lips: Peace, peace to the near and the far off, says Jehovah, and I will heal him.

20 But the wicked are like the troubled and restless sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

21 My God has said: »There is no peace for the wicked.«

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1 »Cry aloud! Do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram's horn. Tell my people about their rebellion and the descendants of Jacob about their sins.

2 »They seek me day by day. They delight to know my ways like a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask me for justice and delight. They are pleased that God is near.

3 »‘Why have we fasted and you do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and you do not notice? Behold, on the day of your fast you find desire, and mistreat all your workers.’

4 »You fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast today to make your voice heard on high.

5 »Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed rush and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Jehovah?

6 »Is this not the fast I choose to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke?

7 »Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house? When you see the naked, should you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh?

8 »Your light will break out like the dawn. Your recovery will speedily spring forth. Your righteousness will go before you and the glory of Jehovah will be your rear guard.

9 »‘Then you will call, and Jehovah will answer! You will cry and he will say: ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,

10 and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will be like midday.

11 Jehovah will continually guide you. He will satisfy your desire in scorched places and give strength to your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

12 Those among you will rebuild the ancient ruins. You will raise up the age-old foundations. You will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

13 »If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and you call the Sabbath a delight and the holy of Jehovah honorable, and honor it, desisting from your ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word,

14 »you will take delight in Jehovah! I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. I will feed you the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of Jehovah has spoken!«

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1 The hand of Jehovah is not too weak to save or his ear too deaf to hear.

2 But your wrongs have separated you from your God. Your sins have made him hide his face so that he does not even hear you.

3 Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers are desecrated with sin. You speak lies, and you mutter wicked things.

4 No one calls for justice and no one pleads his case truthfully. People trust pointless arguments and speak lies. They conceive trouble and give birth to evil.

5 They hatch viper eggs and weave spider webs. Those who eat their eggs will die. When an egg is crushed, a poisonous snake is hatched.

6 Their webs cannot be used for clothes. They cannot cover themselves with their works for their works are evil. Their hands have committed acts of violence.

7 Their feet run to do evil. They hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil. Ruin and destruction are on their highways.

8 They do not know the way of peace. There is no justice on their highways. They made their paths crooked. Those who walk on them will never know peace.

9 That is why justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light and we walk in darkness. We hope for brightness but we walk in gloom.

10 We grope like blind men along a wall. We grope like people without eyes. We stumble at noon as if it were evening. We are like dead people among the living.

11 We all growl like bears. We coo like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none. We hope for salvation, but it is far from us.

12 You are aware of our many rebellious acts. Our sins testify against us. Our rebellious acts are with us. We know our iniquities.

13 We rebelled and denied Jehovah. We turned away from our God. We spoke about oppression and revolt. We conceived and uttered lies in our hearts.

14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away. Truth has fallen in the street, and honesty cannot come in.

15 Truth is missing. Those who turn away from evil become victims. Jehovah sees it, and what he saw displeased him because there is no justice.

16 He sees that there is no one to help. He is astounded that there is no one to intercede. So he saves him with his own power. His righteousness supports him.

17 He puts on righteousness like a coat of armor and a helmet of salvation on his head. He wears clothes of vengeance. He wraps himself with zeal as a coat.

18 He will pay them back according to their deeds. He will pay back his opponents with wrath and punish his enemies. He will pay back the people who live on the coastlands.

19 The people from the sunset the west will respect the name of Jehovah. Those from the rising of the sun the east will reverence his glory. He will come like a rushing stream that the Spirit wind breath of Jehovah drives.

20 »A Savior will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from sin, declares Jehovah.

21 »This is my promise to them,« says Jehovah. »My Spirit is on you and my words that I put in your mouth will not leave you. They will be with your children and your grandchildren permanently,« says Jehovah

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1 »Arise O woman and shine! Your light has come, and the glory of Jehovah beams on you.

2 »Darkness now covers the earth! Thick darkness overwhelms the nations. But Jehovah shines for you. His glory appears to you.

3 »Nations will come to your light. Kings will come to the brightness of your illumination.

4 »Look up, look around, and watch. All of your people assemble and come to you. Your sons come from far away. Your daughters are carried in their arms.

5 »Then you will see this and rejoice. Your heart will shake with joy. The riches of the sea will be brought to you. The wealth of the nations will come to you.

6 »Many camels will cover your land, young camels from Midian and Ephah. Everyone from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and incense. They will sing the praises of Jehovah.

7 »All of the flocks from Kedar will gather and come to you. The rams of Nebaioth will serve you. They will be sacrificed as acceptable offerings on my altar. So I will honor my beautiful Temple.

8 »Who are these people that fly by like clouds and like doves to their nests?

9 »Surely the coastlands wait with hope for me. The ships from Tarshish are the first to bring your children from far away. They bring their silver and their gold with them to honor the name of Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, because he has honored you.

10 »Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. I struck you because of my anger, but in my favor I have compassion on you.

11 »Your gates will always be open. They will never be closed day or night so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations. Even their kings are led as prisoners.

12 »Nations and kingdoms that do not serve you will be destroyed. The nations will definitely be ruined.

13 »Lebanon's glory will come to you: Cedar, fir, and cypress trees will come to beautify my holy place. I will honor the place where my feet rest.

14 »The sons of those who oppress you will bow in front of you. All who loathe you will bow at your feet. They will call you the city of Jehovah, Zion, the city of the Holy One of Israel.

15 »You have been abandoned and hated. No one has passed through you. But now I will make you a foundation of everlasting pride, a joy for all generations.

16 »You will drink milk from other nations and nurse at royal breasts. Then you will know that I am Jehovah, your Savior, the Mighty One of Jacob, and your Defender Protector .

17 »I will bring gold instead of copper. I will bring silver instead of iron, copper instead of wood, and iron instead of stone. I will appoint peace as your governor and righteousness as your ruler.

18 »You will no longer hear about violence in your land or desolation and destruction within your borders. You will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.

19 »The sun will no longer be your light during the day. The brightness of the moon will not give you light, for Jehovah will be your everlasting light. Your God will be your glory.

20 »Your sun will no longer go down, nor will your moon disappear. Jehovah will be your everlasting light, and your days of sadness will be over.

21 »Then all your people will be righteous and they will possess the land everlastingly. They will be the seedlings I have planted, the honored work of my hands.

22 »The smallest of them will become a thousand. The weakest of them will become a mighty nation. At the right time I, Jehovah, will make it happen quickly.«

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1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah is upon me, because Jehovah has anointed me to announce good news to the lowly and meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.

2 To proclaim the favorable Year of Jehovah and the day of vengeance of our God. To comfort all who mourn,

3 to present a garland, instead of ashes, to those who mourn in Zion, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. They will be called oaks of righteousness. They are the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified.

4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins. They will raise up the former devastations. And they will repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.

5 »Strangers will stand and shepherd your flocks. Foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.

6 »You will be called the priests of Jehovah. You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, you will boast in their riches.

7 »Instead of your shame there will be a double portion. Instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land. Everlasting joy will be theirs.

8 »For I, Jehovah, love justice. I hate robbery in the burnt offering. Therefore I will faithfully give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them.

9 »Then their offspring will be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them because they are the blessed offspring of Jehovah.«

10 I will rejoice greatly in Jehovah. I will exult in my God for he has clothed me with garments of salvation. He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, the Lord Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

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1 For Zion's sake I will not remain silent. For Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until its righteousness shines like the sunrise and its salvation burns brightly like a torch.

2 »The nations will see your righteousness. All kings will see your glory. You will be given a new name that Jehovah will designate.

3 »You will be a beautiful crown in the hand of Jehovah, a royal crown in the hand of your God.

4 »You will no longer be called »Deserted,« and your land will no longer be called »Destroyed.« You will be named »My Delight.« Your land will be named »Married« owned as a wife . Jehovah is delighted with you, and your land will be married.

5 »Your sons will marry you like a young man marries a woman. Your God will rejoice over the same way a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.

6 »I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. They will never be silent day or night. Whoever calls on Jehovah, do not allow yourselves any rest,

7 and do not give him any rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it an object of praise throughout the earth.«

8 Jehovah has sworn with his right hand and with his mighty arm of power : »I will never again let your enemies eat your grain, nor will foreigners drink the new wine that you produced.

9 »Those who harvest grain will eat it and praise Jehovah. Those who gather grapes will drink wine in my holy courtyards.«

10 Pass through! Pass through the gates! Prepare a way for the people! Build up! Build up the highway! Clear away the stones! Raise a flag standard for the people!

11 Jehovah has announced to the ends of the earth: »Tell my people, Zion, your salvation is coming. His reward for us and recompense are with him.’«

12 They will be called the holy people reclaimed repurchased by Jehovah! You will be called »searched for,« a »City Not Deserted.«

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1 Who is this coming from Bozrah in Edom with his clothes stained bright red? Who is this dressed in splendor, going forward with great strength? It is I, Jehovah! I am coming to announce my victory. I am powerful enough to save you!

2 Why are your clothes red and your garments like those who trample grapes in a winepress?

3 »I have trampled alone in the winepress. No one was with me. In my anger I trampled on people. In my wrath I stomped on them. Their blood splattered my clothes so all my clothing has been stained.

4 »The day of vengeance was in my heart. The year for my reclaiming you has come.

5 »I looked, but there was no help. I was astounded that there was no outside support. So my own arm power brought me salvation. My anger supported me.

6 »In my wrath I trampled on people. In my rage I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.«

7 I will acknowledge Jehovah’s acts of loving-kindness, and sing the praises of Jehovah, because of everything that Jehovah has done for us. He has done many good things for the nation of Israel because of his compassion and the abundance of his loving-kindness.

8 He said: They are my people, sons who will not lie to me. So he became their Savior.

9 In all their difficulty he was concerned, and he was the messenger who saved them. In his love and compassion he reclaimed redeemed them. He always held them and carried them in the past.

10 But they rebelled and grieved offended and hurt his Holy Spirit. So he turned against them as their enemy. He fought against them.

11 His people finally remembered Moses and the days of old. Where is the one who brought them out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who put his Holy Spirit in the midst of them?

12 Where is the one who sent his powerful arm to support the right hand of Moses? Where is the one who divided the water in front of them to make an everlasting name for himself?

13 Where is the one who led them through the deep water? Like horses in the wilderness, they did not stumble.

14 Just like animals going down into a valley, they were given rest by Jehovah’s Spirit. In this way you guided your people to make an honored name for yourself.

15 Look down and see from heaven, from your holy and beautiful dwelling. Where is your determination zeal and might? Where is the longing of your heart and your compassion? Do not hold back.

16 You are our Father. Even though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not pay attention to us, O Jehovah, you are our Father. Your name is our Defender From Everlasting.

17 O Jehovah, why do you let us wander from your ways and become so stubborn that we are unable to respect you? Return for the sake of your servants. They are the tribes that belong to you.

18 Your holy people possessed the land for a little while. Our enemies have trampled on your holy place.

19 We have become like those whom you never ruled, like those who are not called by your name.

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1 O that you would split open the heavens and come down! The mountains would quake at your presence.

2 Be like the fire that kindles brushwood and makes water boil. Come down to make your name known to your enemies. The nations may tremble in your presence.

3 When you did awe-inspiring things that we did not expect, you came down and the mountains quaked at your presence.

4 No one has ever heard and no one has paid attention. No one has perceived any god except you. You help those who wait for you.

5 You greeted the one who gladly does right and remembers your ways. You were angry because we sinned. We continued to sin for a long time. Can we still be saved?

6 All of us have become unclean, and all our righteous acts are like permanently stained rags. All of us wither like leaves, and our sins carry us away like the wind.

7 No one calls on your name or tries to hold on to you. You have hidden your face from us. You allowed us be ruined by our sins.

8 But now, Jehovah, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. We are the work of your hands.

9 Do not be too angry, Jehovah. Do not remember our sin forever. Now look, we are all your people.

10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a desert. Jerusalem is a wasteland.

11 Our holy and beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned to the ground. All that we valued has been ruined.

12 Despite these things, Jehovah, will you restrain yourself? Will you be silent and make us suffer beyond measure?

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1 »I permitted myself to be sought by those who did not ask for me. Those who did not seek me found me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said: ‘Here I am, here I am.’

2 »All day long I held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations thoughts ,

3 »a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick.

4 »They sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil. They eat the flesh of pigs. Their pots are full of unclean meat.

5 »‘They say: ‘Keep away! Do not 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 Jehovah. This is 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 Jehovah says: »As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and men say, ‘Do not 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 offspring from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains. My chosen people will inherit them and my servants will live there.

10 Sharon will be pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.

11 »But as for you who forsake Jehovah and forget my holy mountain, which spread a table for the God of Fortune Babylonian diety 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! 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 Jehovah 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 Jehovah 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 amen, so be it 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 A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

18 »Be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.

19 »I will rejoice over Jerusalem 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. The sinner who reaches 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 Jehovah, 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 bull, but dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on my entire holy mountain,« Jehovah proclaims.

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1 This is what Jehovah says: »Heaven is my throne. Earth is my footstool. Where can you people build a house or resting place for me?

2 »I have made all these things. That is why all these things have come into being,« declares Jehovah. »I will pay attention to those who are humble and sorry for their sins and who tremble at my word.

3 »Whoever kills a bull is like someone who kills a person. Whoever sacrifices a lamb is like someone who breaks a dog's neck. Whoever offers a grain sacrifice is like someone who offers pig's blood. Whoever burns incense is like someone who worships an idol. People have certainly chosen their own ways, and they delight in detestable things.

4 »Therefore I will choose harsh treatment for them and bring on them what they fear. I called, but no one answered. I spoke, but they did not listen. They did what I consider evil. They chose what I do not like.«

5 »Listen to the word of Jehovah, all who tremble at his word. Your brothers, who hate you, exclude you because of my name. They say: Let Jehovah show his glory and then we will see your joy. But they will be put to shame.

6 »Listen to the uproar from the city. Listen to the sound from the temple. It is the sound of Jehovah paying back his enemies as they deserve.

7 »Before a woman goes into labor, she gives birth. Before she has labor pains, she delivers a male child.

8 »Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in one day? Can a nation be born in a moment? When Zion went into labor, she also gave birth to her sons.

9 »Do I bring a mother to the moment of birth and not let her deliver?« Asks Jehovah. »Do I cause a mother to deliver and then make her unable to have children?« Asks your God.

10 »All who love Jerusalem, be happy and rejoice with her. All who mourn for her be glad with her.

11 »You will nurse and be satisfied from her comforting breasts. You will nurse and be satisfied at her full breasts.«

12 This is what Jehovah says: »I will offer you peace like a river and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream. You will nurse and be carried in Jerusalem's arms and cuddled on her knees.

13 »As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you. You will be comforted in Jerusalem.«

14 When you see it, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like new grass. The power of Jehovah will be made known to his servants, but he will condemn his enemies.

15 Jehovah will come with fire and with his chariots like a thunderstorm. He will pay them back with his burning anger and punish them with flames of fire.

16 Jehovah will judge with fire, and he will judge all people with his sword. Jehovah will strike many people dead.

17 »People make themselves holy and prepare themselves for their garden rituals. They go into the garden and devour pork, disgusting things, and mice. They will come to an end at the same time, declares Jehovah.

18 »Because of their actions and their thoughts, I am coming to gather the nations of every language. They will come and see my glory.

19 »I will set up a sign among them and send some of their survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Meshech, Rosh, Tubal, Javan, and to the distant coastlands who have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will tell about my glory among the nations.

20 They will bring all your brothers from every nation like a grain offering to Jehovah. They will come on horses, in chariots, in wagons, on mules and camels to my holy mountain, Jerusalem, declares Jehovah. They will come like the people of Israel who bring their grain offerings in clean dishes to Jehovah’s temple.

21 »I will make some of them priests and Levites, declares Jehovah.

22 »The new heaven and earth that I am about to make will continue in my presence,« declares Jehovah. »So your descendants and your name will also continue in my presence.

23 »From one month to the next and from one week to the next all people will come to worship me,« declares Jehovah.

24 »Then they will go out and look at the corpses of those who have rebelled sinned against me. The worms that eat them will not die. The fire that burns them will not go out and they will disgust all humanity.«