1 The vision which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw, which he saw concerning Judah, and Jerusalem, in the reign of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, who reigned over Judah.
2 The Wickedness of Judah Hear, O heaven, and hearken, O earth! For the Lord has spoken, saying, “I have begotten and reared up children, but they have rebelled against Me.
3 The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib; but Israel does not know Me, and the people have not regarded Me.”
4 Alas, sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless children; you have forsaken the Lord, and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
5 Why should you be smitten anymore, transgressing more and more? The whole head is pained, and the whole heart sad.
6 From the feet to the head, there is no soundness in them; neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering ulcer are healed; it is not possible to apply a plaister, nor oil, nor bandages.
7 Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is made desolate, overthrown by strange nations.
8 The daughter of Zion shall be deserted as a tent in a vineyard, and as a storehouse of fruits in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
9 And if the Lord of Sabaoth had not left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and been made like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; attend to the law of God, you people of Gomorrah.
11 “Of what value to Me is the abundance of your sacrifices?” Says the Lord. “I am full of burnt offerings of rams; and I delight not in the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats;
12 neither shall you come with these to appear before Me; for who has required these things at your hands? You shall no more tread My court.
13 Though you bring fine flour, it is futile; incense is an abomination to Me; I cannot bear your new moons, and your Sabbaths, and the great day;
14 your fasting, and rest from work, your new moons also, and your feasts My soul hates; you have become loathsome to Me; I will no longer pardon your sins.
15 When you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away My eyes from you; and though you make many supplications, I will not hearken to you; for your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash, and be clean; remove your iniquities from your souls before My eyes; cease from your iniquities;
17 learn to do well; diligently seek judgment, deliver him that is suffering wrong, plead for the orphan, and obtain justice for the widow.
18 “And come, let us reason together,” says the Lord; “and though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow; and though they be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool.
19 And if you are willing, and hearken to Me, you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you be not willing, nor hearken to Me, a sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.”
21 The Degenerate City How has the faithful city of Zion, once full of judgment, become a harlot! Where righteousness lodged, but now murderers.
22 Your silver is worthless, your wine merchants mix the wine with water.
23 Your princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving bribes, seeking after rewards; not pleading for orphans, and not heeding the cause of widows.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord, the Lord of hosts, “Woe to the mighty men of Israel; for My wrath shall not cease against My adversaries, and I will execute judgment on My enemies.
25 And I will bring My hand upon you, and purge you completely, and I will destroy the rebellious, and I will take away all transgressors from you.
26 And I will establish your judges as before, and your counselors as at the beginning; and afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful mother city of Zion.”
27 For her captives shall be saved with judgment, and with mercy.
28 And the transgressors and the sinners shall be crushed together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be utterly consumed.
29 For they shall be ashamed of their idols, which they delighted in, and they have been made ashamed of the gardens which they coveted.
30 For they shall be as a terebinth tree that has cast its leaves, and as a garden that has no water.
31 And their strength shall be as a thread of tow, and their works as sparks, and the transgressors and the sinners shall be burned up together, and there shall be none to quench them.
1 The Future House of God The word which came to Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah, and concerning Jerusalem.
2 For in the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be glorious, and the house of God shall be on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall come to it.
3 And many nations shall go and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will tell us His way, and we will walk in it”; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.
4 And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into sickles; and nation shall not take up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war anymore.
5 Judgment Pronounced on Arrogance And now, O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
6 For He has forsaken His people the house of Israel, because their land is filled as at the beginning with divinations, as the land of the Philistines, and many strange children were born to them.
7 For their land is filled with silver and gold, and there was no number of their treasures; their land also is filled with horses, and there was no number of chariots.
8 And the land is filled with abominations, even the works of their hands; and they have worshipped the works which their fingers made.
9 And the mean man bowed down, and the great man was humbled; and I will not pardon them.
10 Now therefore enter into the rocks, and hide yourselves in the earth, for fear of the Lord, and by reason of the glory of His might, when He shall arise to strike mightily the earth.
11 For the eyes of the Lord are high, but man is low; and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
12 For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and haughty, and upon everyone that is high and lifted up, and they shall be brought down;
13 and upon every cedar of Lebanon, of them that are high and lifted up, and upon every oak of Bashan,
14 and upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill,
15 and upon every high tower, and upon every high wall,
16 and upon every ship of the sea, and upon every display of fine ships.
17 And every man shall be brought low, and the pride of men shall fall; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
18 And they shall hide all idols made with hands,
19 having carried them into the caves, and into the clefts of the rocks, and into the caverns of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and by reason of the glory of His might, when He shall arise to strike mightily the earth.
20 For in that day a man shall cast forth his silver and gold abominations, which they made, in order to worship vanities and bats;
21 to enter into the caverns of the solid rock, and into the clefts of the rocks, for fear of the Lord, and by reason of the glory of His might, when He shall arise to strike mightily the earth.
1 Judgment on Judah and Israel Behold now, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the mighty man and mighty woman, the strength of bread, and the strength of water,
2 the great and mighty man, the warrior and the judge, the prophet, the counselor, and the elder,
3 the captain of fifty also, and the honorable counselor, and the skillful artisan, and the intelligent hearer.
4 And I will make youths their princes, and mockers shall have dominion over them.
5 And the people shall fall, man upon man, and every man upon his neighbor; the child shall insult the elder man, and the base toward the honorable.
6 For a man shall lay hold of his brother, as one of his father's household, saying, “You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let my food be under your power.”
7 And he shall answer in that day, and say, “I will not be your ruler; for I have no bread in my house, nor clothing; I will not be the ruler of this people.”
8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah has fallen, and their tongues have spoken with iniquity, disobedient as they are towards the Lord.
9 Wherefore now their glory has been brought low, and the shame of their countenance has withstood them, and they have proclaimed their sin as Sodom, and made it manifest.
10 Woe to their soul, for they have devised an evil counsel against themselves, saying against themselves, “Let us bind the just, for he is burdensome to us; therefore shall they eat the fruits of their works.”
11 Woe to the transgressor! Evils shall happen to him according to the works of his hands.
12 “O My people, your exactors strip you, and extortioners rule over you; O My people, they that pronounce you blessed lead you astray, and pervert the path of your feet.”
13 But now the Lord will stand up for judgment, and will enter into judgment with His people.
14 The Lord Himself shall enter into judgment with the elders of the people, and with their rulers; “but why have you set My vineyard on fire, and why is the spoil of the poor in your houses?
15 Why do you wrong My people, and shame the face of the poor?”
16 Thus says the Lord, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and have walked with an outstretched neck, and winking with their eyes, and jingling with their feet, at the same time drawing their garments in trains, and at the same time sporting with their feet;
17 therefore the Lord will humble the chief daughters of Zion, and the Lord will expose their form in that day.”
18 And the Lord will take away the glory of their garments, the curls and the fringes, and the crescents,
19 and the chains, and the ornaments of their faces,
20 and the array of glorious ornaments, and the armlets, and the bracelets, and the wreathed work, and the finger rings, and the ornaments for the right hand,
21 and the earrings, and the garments with scarlet borders,
22 and the garments with purple grounds, and the shawls to be worn in the house, and the Spartan transparent dresses,
23 and those made of fine linen, and the purple ones, and the scarlet ones, and the fine linen, interwoven with gold and purple, and the light coverings for couches.
24 And instead of a sweet smell there shall be dust; and instead of a sash, you shall gird yourself with a rope; and instead of a golden ornament for your head, you shall have baldness on account of your works; and instead of a tunic with a scarlet ground, you shall gird yourself with sackcloth.
25 And your most beautiful son whom you love shall fall by the sword; and your mighty men shall fall by the sword, and shall be brought low.
26 And the stores of your ornaments shall mourn, and you shall be left alone, and shall be leveled to the ground.
1 And seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothes; only let your name be called upon us, and take away our reproach.”
2 TheFuture Glory of the Survivors in Zion And in that day God shall shine gloriously in counsel on the earth, to exalt and glorify the remnant of Israel.
3 And it shall be, that the remnant left in Zion, and the remnant left in Jerusalem, even all that are appointed to life in Jerusalem, shall be called holy.
4 For the Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion, and He shall purge out the blood from the midst of them, with the spirit of judgment, and the spirit of burning.
5 And He shall come, and it shall be with regard to every place in Mount Zion, yea, all the region round about it shall a cloud overshadow by day, and there shall be as it were the smoke and light of fire burning by night; and upon all the glory shall be a defense.
6 And it shall be for a shadow from the heat, and as a shelter and a hiding place from inclemency of weather and from rain.
1 God’s Disappointing Vineyard Now I will sing to my Beloved a song of my Beloved concerning His vineyard. My Beloved had a vineyard on a high hill in a fertile place.
2 And I made a hedge round it, and dug a trench, and planted a choice vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and dug a place for the wine vat in it; and I waited for it to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth thorns.
3 And now, you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and every man of Judah, judge between Me and My vineyard.
4 What shall I do anymore to My vineyard, that I have not done to it? Whereas I expected it to bring forth grapes, but it has brought forth thorns.
5 And now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard; I will take away its hedge, and it shall be for a spoil; and I will pull down its walls, and it shall be left to be trodden down.
6 And I will forsake My vineyard; and it shall not be pruned, nor dug, and thorns shall come up upon it as on barren land; and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His beloved plant; I expected it to bring forth judgment, and it brought forth iniquity; and not righteousness, but a cry.
8 Social Injustice Denounced Woe to them that join house to house, and add field to field, that they may take away something of their neighbor's; will you dwell alone upon the land?
9 For these things have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts; for though many houses should be built, many and fair houses shall be desolate, and there shall be no inhabitants in them.
10 For where ten yoke of oxen plow the land shall yield one jar full, and he that sows six homers shall produce three measures.
11 Woe to them that rise up in the morning, and follow strong drink; who wait at it till evening; for the wine shall inflame them.
12 For they drink wine with harp, and psaltery, and drums, and pipes; but they do not regard the works of the Lord, and do not consider the works of His hands.
13 Therefore my people have been taken captive, because they do not know the Lord; and there has been a multitude of dead bodies, because of hunger and of thirst for water.
14 Therefore hell has enlarged its desire and opened its mouth without ceasing; and her glorious and great, and her rich and her pestilent men shall go down into it.
15 And the mean man shall be brought low, and the great man shall be disgraced, and the lofty eyes shall be brought low.
16 But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be glorified in righteousness.
17 And they that were spoiled shall be fed as bulls, and lambs shall feed on the waste places of them that are taken away.
18 Woe to them that draw sins to them as with a long rope, and iniquities as with a thong of the heifer's yoke;
19 who say, “Let him speedily hasten what he will do, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it.”
20 Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; who make darkness light, and light darkness; who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter.
21 Woe to them that are wise in their own conceit, and knowing in their own sight.
22 Woe to the strong of you that drink wine, and the mighty that mingle strong drink;
23 who justify the ungodly for rewards, and take away the righteousness of the righteous.
24 Foreign Invasion Predicted Therefore as stubble shall be burned by a coal of fire, and shall be consumed by a violent flame, their root shall be as chaff, and their flower shall go up as dust; for they rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and insulted the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the Lord of hosts was greatly angered against His people, and He reached forth His hand upon them, and struck them. And the mountains were troubled, and their carcasses were as dung in the midst of the streets; yet for all this His anger has not been turned away, but His hand is yet raised.
26 Therefore shall He lift up a signal to the nations that are afar, and shall whistle for them from the end of the earth; and behold, they are coming very quickly.
27 They shall not hunger nor be weary, neither shall they slumber nor sleep; neither shall they loose their sashes from their loins, neither shall their sandal straps be broken.
28 Whose arrows are sharp, and their bows bent; their horses' hoofs are counted as solid rock; their chariot wheels are as a storm.
29 They rage as lions, and draw near as a lion's whelps; and he shall seize, and roar as a wild beast, and he shall cast them forth, and there shall be none to deliver them.
30 And he shall roar on account of them in that day, as the sound of the swelling sea; and they shall look to the land, and behold, there shall be thick darkness in their perplexity.
1 A Vision of God in the Temple And it came to pass in the year in which King Uzziah died, that I saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne, and the house was full of His glory.
2 And seraphim stood round about Him; each one had six wings; and with two they covered their face, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
3 And one cried to the other, and they said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
4 And the doorpost shook at the voice they uttered, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 And I said, “Woe is me, for I am pricked to the heart; for being a man, and having unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips; and I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of hosts.”
6 Then one of the seraphim was sent to me, and he had in his hand a coal which he had taken off the altar with the tongs;
7 and he touched my mouth and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips, and will take away your iniquities, and will purge off your sins.”
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people?” And I said, “Behold, here am I, send me.” And He said, “Go, and say to this people,
9 ‘You shall hear indeed, but you shall not understand; and you shall see indeed, but you shall not perceive.’
10 For the heart of this people has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.”
11 And I said, “How long, O Lord?” And He said, “Until cities are deserted by reason of them not being inhabited, and the houses by reason of there being no men, and the land shall be left desolate.”
12 And after this God shall remove the men far off, and they that are left upon the land shall be multiplied.
13 And yet there shall be a tenth upon it, and again it shall be for a spoil, as a terebinth tree, and as an acorn when it falls out of its husk.
1 Isaiah Reassures King Ahaz And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Aram, and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up against Jerusalem to war against it, but they could not take it.
2 And a message was brought to the house of David, saying, “Aram has conspired with Ephraim.” And his soul was amazed, and the soul of his people, as in a wood a tree is moved by the wind.
3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go forth to meet Ahaz; you, and your son Jashub who is left, to the pool of the upper way of the fuller's field.
4 And you shall say to him, ‘Take care to be quiet, and fear not, neither let your soul be disheartened because of these two smoking firebrands; for when My fierce anger is over, I will heal again.
5 And as for the son of Aram, and the son of Remaliah, forasmuch as they have devised an evil counsel, saying,
6 “We will go up against Judah, and having conferred with them we will turn them away to our side, and we will make the son of Tabel king over it”;
7 thus says the Lord of hosts: “This counsel shall not abide, nor come to pass.
8 But the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and yet within sixty-five years the kingdom of Ephraim shall cease from being a people.
9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria the son of Romaliah; but if you do not believe, neither will you at all understand.”’
10 The Emmanuel Prophecy And the Lord again spoke to Ahaz, saying,
11 “Ask for yourself a sign of the Lord your God, in the depth or in the height.”
12 And Ahaz said, “I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.”
13 And he said, “Hear now, O house of David; is it a little thing for you to contend with men? And how do you contend against the Lord?
14 Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His name Emmanuel.
15 Butter and honey shall He eat, before He knows either to prefer evil or choose the good.
16 For before the child shall know good or evil, He shall refuse evil, to choose the good; and the land shall be forsaken which you are afraid of because of the two kings.
17 But God shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon the house of your father, days which have never come, from the day that Ephraim took away from Judah the king of the Assyrians.”
18 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall call for the flies, which shall rule over a part of the river of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the land of the Assyrians.
19 And they all shall enter into the clefts of the land, and into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves, and into every ravine.
20 In that day the Lord shall shave with a hired razor the head of the king of Assyria beyond the river, and the hairs of the feet, and will remove the beard.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall rear a heifer, and two sheep.
22 And it shall come to pass from their drinking an abundance of milk, that everyone that is left on the land shall eat butter and honey.
23 And it shall come to pass in that day, for every place where there shall be a thousand vines at a thousand shekels, they shall become barren land and thorns.
24 Men shall enter there with arrow and bow; for all the land shall be barren ground and thorns.
25 And every mountain shall be certainly plowed; and no fear shall come there; for there shall be from among the barren ground and thorns on which the cattle shall feed, and oxen shall tread.
1 Assyria Will Invade the Land And the Lord said to me, “Take to yourself a volume of a great new book, and write in it with a man's pen concerning the making a rapid plunder of spoils; for it is close at hand.
2 And make for Me witnesses among faithful men, Uriah, and Zechariah the son of Berechiah.”
3 And I went in to the prophetess; and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me, “Call his name, Spoil Quickly, Plunder Speedily.
4 For before the child shall know how to call his father or his mother, one shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians.”
5 And the Lord spoke to me yet again, saying,
6 “Because this people chooses not the water of Siloam that goes softly, but wills to have Rezin, and the son of Remaliah to be king over you;
7 therefore behold, the Lord shall bring upon you the water of the river, strong and abundant, even the king of the Assyrians, and his glory; and he shall come up over every valley of yours, and shall walk over every wall of yours;
8 and he shall take away from Judah every man who shall be able to lift up his head, and everyone able to accomplish anything; and his camp shall fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”
9 Know, you Gentiles, and be conquered; listen, even to the extremity of the earth; be conquered, after you strengthened yourselves; for even if you should again strengthen yourselves, you shall again be conquered.
10 And whatever counsel you shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nought; and whatever word you shall speak, it shall not stand among you; for God is with us.
11 Thus says the Lord, “With a strong hand they revolt from the course of the way of this people, saying,
12 ‘Let them not say, “It is hard,”’ for whatsoever this people says, is hard; but do not fear their fear, neither be dismayed.”
13 Sanctify the Lord Himself; and He shall be your fear.
14 And if you shall trust in Him, He shall be to you for a sanctuary; and you shall not come against Him as against a stumbling stone, neither as against the falling of a rock; but the houses of Jacob are in a snare, and those who dwell in Jerusalem are in a pit.
15 Therefore many among them shall be weak and fall, and be crushed; and they shall draw near, and men shall be taken securely.
16 Then those who seal themselves, that they may not learn the law, shall be made manifest.
17 And one shall say, “I will wait for God, who has turned away His face from the house of Jacob, and I will trust in Him.”
18 Behold I and the children which God has given me; and they shall be for signs and wonders in the house of Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion.
19 And if they should say to you, “Seek those who have in them a divining spirit, and those that speak from out of the ground”—those that speak vain words, who speak out of their belly; shall not a nation diligently seek their God? Why do they look to the dead concerning the living?
20 For He has given the law for a help, that they should not speak according to this word, concerning which there are no gifts to give for it.
21 And famine shall come sorely upon you, and it shall come to pass, that when you shall be hungry, you shall be grieved, and you shall speak evil of the prince and of your fathers' ordinances; and they shall look up to heaven above,
22 and they shall look on the earth below, and behold severe distress, and darkness, affliction, and anguish, and darkness so that no one can see; and he that is in anguish shall not be distressed only for a season.
1 The Righteous Reign of the Coming King Drink this first. Act quickly, O land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, and the rest that inhabit the seacoast, and the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
2 O people walking in darkness, behold a great light; you that dwell in the region and shadow of death, a light shall shine upon you.
3 The multitude of the people which you have brought down in your joy, they shall even rejoice before you as they that rejoice in harvest, and as they that divide the spoil.
4 Because the yoke that was laid upon them has been taken away, and the rod that was on their neck; for he has broken the rod of the exactors, as in the day of Midian.
5 For they shall compensate for every garment that has been acquired by deceit, and all garments with restitution; and they shall be willing, even if they were burned with fire.
6 For a Child is born to us, and a Son is given to us, whose government is upon His shoulder; and His name is called The Messenger of Great Counsel; for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to Him.
7 His government shall be great, and of His peace there is no end; it shall be upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to establish it, and to support it with judgment and with righteousness, from this time forward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this.
8 The Punishment of Samaria The Lord has sent death upon Jacob, and it has come upon Israel.
9 And all the people of Ephraim, and those that dwelt in Samaria shall know, who say in their pride and lofty heart,
10 “The bricks are fallen down, but come, let us hew stones, and cut down sycamores and cedars, and let us build for ourselves a tower.”
11 And God shall dash them down that rise up against Him on Mount Zion, and He shall scatter His enemies;
12 even Syria from the rising of the sun, and the Greeks from the setting of the sun, who devour Israel with open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, but still His hand is exalted.
13 But the people did not turn until they were smitten, and they did not seek the Lord.
14 So the Lord took away from Israel the head and tail, great and small, in one day;
15 the old man, and them that respect persons, this is the head; and the prophet teaching unlawful things, he is the tail.
16 And they that pronounce this people blessed shall mislead them; and they mislead them that they may devour them.
17 Therefore the Lord shall not take pleasure in their young men, neither shall He have pity on their orphans or on their widows; for they are all transgressors and wicked, and every mouth speaks unjustly. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is yet exalted.
18 And iniquity shall burn as fire, and shall be devoured by fire as dry grass; and it shall burn in the thickets of the wood, and shall devour all that is round about the hills.
19 The whole earth is set on fire because of the fierce anger of the Lord, and the people shall be as men burned by fire; no man shall pity his brother.
20 But one shall turn aside to the right hand, for he shall be hungry; and shall eat on the left, and a man shall by no means be satisfied with eating the flesh of his own arm.
21 For Manasseh shall eat the flesh of Ephraim, and Ephraim the flesh of Manasseh; for they shall besiege Judah together. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is yet exalted.
1 “Woe to them that write wickedness; for when they write, they write wickedness,
2 perverting the cause of the poor, violently seizing the judgment of the needy ones of My people, that the widow may be a prey to them, and the orphan a spoil.
3 And what will they do in the day of visitation? For affliction shall come to you from afar; and to whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory,
4 that you may not fall into captivity? For all this His wrath is not turned away, but His hand is yet exalted.
5 Arrogant Assyria Also Judged “Woe to the Assyrians; the rod of My wrath and anger are in their hands.
6 I will send My wrath against a sinful nation, and I will command My people to take plunder and spoil, and to trample the cities, and to make dust out of them.
7 But he does not mean so, neither did he devise thus in his heart; but his mind shall change, and that to destroy nations not a few.
8 And if they should say to him, ‘You alone are ruler’;
9 then shall he say, ‘Have I not taken the country above Babylon and Chalanes, where the tower was built? And have I not taken Arabia, and Damascus, and Samaria?’
10 As I have taken them, I will also take all the kingdoms; howl, you idols in Jerusalem, and in Samaria.
11 For as I did to Samaria and her idols, so will I also do to Jerusalem and her idols.”
12 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has finished doing all things on Mount Zion and Jerusalem, that I will visit upon the proud heart, even upon the ruler of the Assyrians, and upon the boastful haughtiness of his eyes.
13 For he said, I will act in strength, and in the wisdom of my understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and will spoil their strength.
14 And I will shake the inhabited cities; and I will take with My hand all the world as a nest; and I will even take them as eggs that have been left; and there is none that shall escape Me, or contradict Me.
15 Shall the ax glorify itself without him that chops with it? Or shall the saw lift itself up without him that uses it, as if one should lift a rod or staff? But it shall not be so;
16 but the Lord of hosts shall send dishonor upon your honor, and burning fire shall be kindled upon your glory.
17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and He shall sanctify him with burning fire, and it shall devour the wood as grass.
18 In that day the mountains shall be consumed, and the hills, and the forests, and fire shall devour both soul and body; and he that flees shall be as one fleeing from a burning flame.
19 And they that are left of them shall be a small number, and a child shall write them.
20 The Returning Remnant of Israel And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel shall no more join themselves with, and the saved of Jacob shall no more trust in them that injured them; but they shall trust in the Holy God of Israel, in truth.
21 And the remnant of Jacob shall trust in the mighty God.
22 And though the people of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be saved.
23 He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness; because the Lord will make a short work in all the world.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Be not afraid, My people who dwell in Zion, of the Assyrians, because he shall smite you with a rod; for I am bringing a stroke upon you, that you may see the way of Egypt.
25 For yet a little while, and the indignation shall cease; but My wrath shall be against their counsel.”
26 And God will stir up enemies against them, according to the stroke of Midian in the place of affliction; and His wrath shall be by the way of the sea, even to the way that leads to Egypt.
27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his yoke shall be taken away from your shoulder, and his fear from you, and the yoke shall be destroyed from off your shoulders.
28 For he shall arrive at the city of Aiath, and shall pass on to Migron, and shall lay up his stores in Michmash.
29 And he shall pass by the valley, and shall arrive at Aiath; fear shall seize upon Ramah, the city of Saul.
30 The daughter of Gallim shall flee; Laish shall hear; one shall hear in Anathoth.
31 Madmenah also is amazed, and the inhabitants of Gebim.
32 Exhort them today to remain in the way; exhort, beckoning the mountain with your hand, the daughter of Zion, even you hills that are in Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will mightily confound the glorious ones; and the haughty in pride shall be crushed, and the lofty shall be brought low;
34 and the lofty ones shall fall by the sword, and Lebanon shall fall with his lofty ones.
1 The Reign of Jesse’s Offspring And there shall come forth a Rod out of the root of Jesse, and a blossom shall come up from his root;
2 and the Spirit of God shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness shall fill Him;
3 the spirit of the fear of God. He shall not judge according to appearance, nor reprove according to report;
4 but He shall judge the cause of the lowly, and shall reprove the lowly of the earth; and He shall smite the earth with the word of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He destroy the ungodly one.
5 And He shall have His loins girded with righteousness, and His sides clothed with truth.
6 And the wolf shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the young calf and bull and lion shall feed together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 And the ox and bear shall feed together; and their young shall be together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And an infant shall put his hand into the holes of asps, and on the nest of young asps.
9 And they shall not be hurt, nor shall they be able to destroy anyone on My holy mountain; for the whole world is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the seas.
10 And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, and He that shall arise to rule over the Gentiles; in Him shall the Gentiles trust, and His rest shall be glorious.
11 And it shall be in that day, that the Lord shall again show His hand, to be zealous for the remnant that is left of the people, which shall be left by the Assyrians, and that from Egypt, and from the country of Babylon, and from Ethiopia, and from the Elamites, and from the rising of the sun, and out of Arabia.
12 And He shall lift up a standard for the nations, and He shall gather the lost ones of Israel, and He shall gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13 And the envy of Ephraim shall be taken away, and the enemies of Judah shall perish; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not afflict Ephraim.
14 And they shall fly in the ships of the Philistines; they shall at the same time spoil the sea, and them that come from the east, and Edom; and they shall lay their hands on Moab first; but the children of Ammon shall first obey them.
15 And the Lord shall make desolate the sea of Egypt; and He shall lay His hand on the river with a strong wind, and He shall smite the seven channels, so that men shall pass through it dry-shod.
16 And there shall be a passage for His people that are left in Egypt; and it shall be to Israel as the day when he came forth out of the land of Egypt.
1 And in that day you shall say, “I will bless You, O Lord; for You were angry with me, but You have turned aside Your wrath, and have pitied me.”
2 Behold, my God is my Savior; I will trust in Him, and not be afraid; for the Lord is my glory and my praise, and has become my salvation.
3 Therefore draw water with joy out of the wells of salvation.
4 And in that day you shall say, “Sing to the Lord, call aloud upon His name, proclaim His glorious deeds among the Gentiles; make mention that His name is exalted.
5 Sing praise to the name of the Lord; for He has done great things; declare this in all the earth.
6 Exalt and rejoice, you that dwell in Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is exalted in the midst of her.”
1 Proclamation Against Babylon The vision which Isaiah son of Amoz saw against Babylon.
2 “Lift up a standard on the mountain of the plain, exalt the voice to them, beckon with the hand, open the gates, you rulers.
3 I give command, and I bring them; giants are coming to fulfill My wrath, rejoicing at the same time and insulting.”
4 A voice of many nations on the mountains, even like to that of many nations; a voice of kings and nations gathered together; the Lord of hosts has given command to a war-like nation,
5 to come from a land afar off, from the utmost foundation of heaven; the Lord and His warriors are coming to destroy all the world.
6 Howl, for the day of the Lord is near, and destruction from God shall arrive.
7 Therefore every hand shall become powerless, and every soul of man shall be dismayed.
8 The elders shall be troubled, and pangs shall seize them, as of a woman in labor; and they shall mourn one to another, and shall be amazed, and shall change their countenance as a flame.
9 For behold, the day of the Lord is coming which cannot be escaped, a day of wrath and anger, to make the world desolate, and to destroy sinners out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven, and Orion, and all the host of heaven, shall not give their light; and it shall be dark at sunrise, and the moon shall not give her light.
11 “And I will command evils for the whole world, and will visit their sins on the ungodly; and I will destroy the pride of transgressors, and will bring low the pride of the haughty.
12 And they that are left shall be more precious than gold tried in the fire; and a man shall be more precious than the stone that is in Ophir.”
13 For the heaven shall be enraged, and the earth shall be shaken from her foundation, because of the fierce anger of the Lord of hosts, in the day in which His wrath shall come on.
14 And they that are left shall be as a fleeing fawn, and as a stray sheep, and there shall be none to gather them; so that a man shall turn back to his people, and a man shall flee to his own land.
15 For whosoever shall be taken shall be overcome; and they that are gathered together shall fall by the sword.
16 And they shall dash their children before their eyes; and they shall spoil their houses, and shall take their wives.
17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against you, who do not regard silver, neither have they need of gold.
18 They shall break the bows of the young men; and they shall have no mercy on your children; nor shall their eyes spare your children.
19 And Babylon, which is called glorious by the king of the Chaldeans, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall any enter into it for many generations; neither shall the Arabians pass through it; nor shall shepherds at all rest in it.
21 But wild beasts shall rest there; and the houses shall be filled with howling; and monsters shall rest there, and demons shall dance there,
22 and satyrs shall dwell there; and hedgehogs shall make their nests in their houses. It will come soon, and will not tarry.”
1 Mercy on Jacob And the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and they shall rest on their land; and the stranger shall be added to them; yes, they shall be added to the house of Jacob.
2 And the Gentiles shall take them, and bring them into their place; and they shall inherit them, and they shall be multiplied upon the land for servants and handmaidens; and they that took them captives shall become captives to them; and they that had lordship over them shall be under their rule.
3 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall give you rest from your sorrow and vexation, and from your hard servitude in which you served them.
4 And you shall take up this lamentation against the king of Babylon: “How has the extortioner ceased, and the taskmaster ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the yoke of sinners, and the yoke of princes.
6 Having smitten a nation in wrath with an incurable plague, smiting a nation with a wrathful plague, which did not spare, he rested in quiet.
7 All the earth cries aloud with joy;
8 the trees of Lebanon also rejoice against you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘From the time that you have been laid low, no one has come up to cut us down.’
9 Hell from beneath is provoked to meet you; all the great ones that have ruled over the earth have risen up together against you, they that have raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
10 All shall answer and say to you, ‘You also have been taken, even as we; and you are numbered amongst us.
11 Your glory has come down to Hades, and your great mirth; under you they shall spread corruption, and the worm shall be your covering.’
12 The Fall of Lucifer “How has Lucifer, that rose of the morning, fallen from heaven! He that sent orders to all the nations is crushed to the earth.
13 But you have said in your heart, ‘I will go up to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven; I will sit on a lofty mount, on the lofty mountains toward the north;
14 I will go up above the clouds; I will be like the Most High.’
15 “But now you shall go down to hell, even to the foundations of the earth!
16 They that see you shall marvel at you, and say, ‘Is this is the man that troubled the earth, that made kings to shake?
17 Who made the whole world desolate, and destroyed its cities; he loosed not those who were in captivity.’
18 All the kings of the nations lie in honor, every man in his house.
19 But you shall be cast forth on the mountains, as a loathsome carcass, with many dead who have been pierced with swords, going down to the grave.
20 As a garment defiled with blood shall not be pure, so neither shall you be pure; because you have destroyed My land, and have slain My people; you shall not endure forever; you are an evil seed.
21 Prepare your children to be slain for the sins of their father; that they may not arise, and inherit the earth, nor fill the earth with wars.
22 Babylon Destroyed “And I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will destroy their name, and remnant, and seed”; thus says the Lord.
23 “And I will make the region of Babylon a desert, so that hedgehogs shall dwell there, and it shall come to nothing; and I will make it a pit of clay for destruction.”
24 Assyria Destroyed Thus says the Lord of hosts: “As I have said, so it shall be; and as I have purposed, so the matter shall remain;
25 even to destroy the Assyrians upon My land, and upon My mountains; and they shall be for trampling; and their yoke shall be taken away from them, and their glory shall be taken away from their shoulders.”
26 This is the purpose which the Lord has purposed upon the whole earth; and this the hand that is uplifted against all the nations.
27 For what the Holy God has purposed, who shall frustrate? And who shall turn back His uplifted hand?
28 Philistia Destroyed In the year in which King Ahaz died, this word came:
29 “Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, because the yoke of him that struck you is broken; for out of the seed of the serpent shall come forth the young asps, and their young shall come forth as flying serpents,
30 and the poor shall be fed by him, and poor men shall rest in peace; but he shall destroy your offspring with hunger, and shall destroy your remnant.
31 Howl, you gates of cities; let the cities be troubled and cry, even all the Philistines; for smoke is coming from the north, and there is no possibility of living.”
32 And what shall the kings of the nations answer? That the Lord has founded Zion, and by Him the poor of the people shall be saved.
1 Proclamation Against Moab The word against the land of Moab. By night the land of Moab shall be destroyed; for by night the wall of the land of Moab shall be destroyed.
2 Grieve for yourselves; for even Dibon, where your altar is, shall be destroyed; there shall you go up to weep, over Nebo of the land of Moab; howl; baldness shall be on every head, and all arms shall be wounded.
3 Gird yourselves with sackcloth in her streets; and lament upon her roofs, and in her streets, and in her ways; howl, all of you, with weeping.
4 For Heshbon and Elealeh have cried; their voice was heard to Jahaz; therefore the loins of the region of Moab cry aloud; her soul shall know.
5 The heart of the region of Moab cries within her to Segor; for it is as a heifer of three years old; and on the Ascent of Luith they shall go up to you weeping by the way of Aroniim; she cries, “Destruction, and trembling.”
6 The water of Nimrim shall be desolate, and its grass shall fail; for there shall be no green grass.
7 Shall Moab even thus be delivered? “For I will bring the Arabians upon the valley, and they shall take it.
8 For the cry has reached the border of the region of Moab, even of Eglaim; and her howling has gone as far as the Well of Elim.
9 And the water of Dimon shall be filled with blood; for I will bring Arabians upon Dimon, and I will take away the descendants of Moab, and Ariel, and the remnant of Adamah.”
1 Moab Destroyed “I will send as it were reptiles on the land; is not the mount of the daughter of Zion a desolate rock?
2 For you shall be as a young bird taken away from a bird that has flown; even you shall be so, O daughter of Moab; and then do you, O Arnon,
3 take farther counsel, and continually make a shelter from grief; they flee in darkness at midday; they are amazed; do not be led captive.
4 The fugitives of Moab shall sojourn with you; they shall be to you a shelter from the face of the pursuer; for your alliance has been taken away, and the oppressing ruler has perished from off the earth.
5 And a throne shall be established with mercy; and one shall sit upon it with truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and earnestly seeking judgments, and hastening righteousness.”
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud. I have cut off his pride; your prophecy shall not be thus, no not thus.
7 Moab shall howl; for all shall howl in the land of Moab; but you shall care for them that dwell in Hareseth, and you shall not be ashamed.
8 The plains of Heshbon shall mourn, the vine of Sibmah; swallowing up the nations, trample her vines, even to Jazer; you shall not come together; wander in the desert; they that were sent are deserted, for they have gone over to the sea.
9 Therefore will I weep as with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; Heshbon and Elealeh have cast down your trees; for I will trample on your harvest and on your vintages, and all your plants shall fall.
10 And gladness and rejoicing shall be taken away from the vineyards; and they shall not at all tread wine into the vats; for the vintage has ceased.
11 Therefore my belly shall sound as a harp for Moab, and you have repaired my inward parts as a wall.
12 And it shall be to your shame (for Moab is wearied at the altars), that he shall go in to the idols thereof to pray, but they shall by no means be able to deliver him.
13 This is the word which the Lord spoke against Moab, when He spoke.
14 “And now I say, in three years, of the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be dishonored with all his great wealth; and he shall be left few in number, and not honored.”
1 Proclamation Against Syria and Israel The word against Damascus. “Behold, Damascus shall be taken away from among cities, and shall become a ruin;
2 abandoned forever, to be a fold and resting place for flocks, and there shall be none to go after them.
3 And she shall no longer be a strong place for Ephraim to flee to, and there shall no longer be a kingdom in Damascus, or a remnant of Syrians; for you are no better than the children of Israel, even than their glory”; thus says the Lord of hosts.
4 “There shall be in that day a failure of the glory of Jacob, and the riches of his glory shall be shaken.
5 And it shall be as if one should gather standing grain, and reap the grain off the ears; and it shall be as if one should gather heads of grain in a rich valley;
6 and as if there should be left stubble therein, or the berries of an olive tree, two or three on the topmost bough, or as if four or five should be left on their branches”; thus says the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 In that day a man shall trust in Him that made him, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
8 And they shall not at all trust in their altars, nor in the works of their hands, which their fingers made; and they shall not look to the trees, nor to their abominations.
9 In that day your cities shall be deserted, as the Amorites and the Evaens deserted theirs, because of the children of Israel; and they shall be desolate.
10 Because you have forsaken God your Savior, and have not been mindful of the Lord your Helper; therefore shall you plant a false plant, and a false seed.
11 In the day in which you shall plant you shall be deceived; but if you sow in the morning, the seed shall spring up for a crop in the day in which you shall obtain an inheritance, and as a man's father, you shall obtain an inheritance for your sons.
12 Woe to the multitude of many nations, as the swelling sea, so shall you be confounded; and the force of many nations shall sound like water;
13 many nations like much water, as when much water rushes violently; and they shall drive him away, and pursue him afar, as the dust of chaff when men winnow before the wind, and as a storm whirling the dust of the wheel.
14 Toward evening, and there shall be grief; before the morning, and he shall not be. This is the portion of them that spoiled you, and the inheritance to them that robbed you of your inheritance.
1 Proclamation Against Ethiopia Woe to you, you wings of the land of ships, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
2 He sends messengers by the sea, and paper letters on the water; for swift messengers shall go to a lofty nation, and to a strange and harsh people. Who is beyond it? A nation not looked for, and trodden down.
3 Now all the rivers of the land shall be inhabited as an inhabited country; their land shall be as when a signal is raised from a mountain; it shall be audible as the sound of a trumpet.
4 For thus said the Lord to me: “There shall be security in My city, as the light of noonday heat, and it shall be as a cloud of dew in the day of harvest.”
5 Before the reaping time, when the flower has been completely formed, and the unripe grape has put forth its flower and blossomed, then shall He take away the little clusters with pruning hooks, and shall take away the small branches, and cut them off;
6 And He shall leave them together to the birds of the sky, and to the wild beasts of the earth; and the fowls of the sky shall be gathered upon them, and all the beasts of the land shall come upon them.
7 In that time shall presents be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people afflicted and peeled, and from a people great from henceforth and forever; a nation hoping and yet trodden down, which is in a part of a river of His land, to the place where is the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion.
1 Proclamation Against Egypt The vision of Egypt. Behold, the Lord sits on a swift cloud, and shall come to Egypt. And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence, and their hearts shall faint within them.
2 And the Egyptians shall be stirred up against the Egyptians; and a man shall fight against his brother, and a man against his neighbor, city against city, and law against law.
3 And the spirit of the Egyptians shall be troubled within them. “I will frustrate their counsel; and they shall inquire of their gods and their images, and them that speak out of the earth, and them that have in them a divining spirit.
4 And I will deliver Egypt into the hands of men, of cruel masters; and cruel kings shall rule over them”; thus says the Lord of hosts.
5 And the Egyptians shall drink the water that is by the sea, but the river shall fail, and be dried up.
6 And the streams shall fail, and the canals of the river; and every reservoir of water shall be dried up, in every marsh also of reed and papyrus.
7 And all the green herbs round about the river, and everything sown by the side of the river, shall be blasted with the wind and dried up.
8 And the fishermen shall groan, and all that cast a hook into the river shall groan; they also that cast nets, and the anglers shall mourn.
9 And shame shall come upon them that work fine flax, and them that make fine linen.
10 And they that work at them shall be in pain, and all that brew beer shall be grieved, and be pained in their souls.
11 And the princes of Tanis shall be fools; as for the king's wise counselors, their counsel shall be turned into folly; how will you say to the king, “We are sons of wise men, sons of ancient kings?”
12 Where are your wise men now? And let them declare to you, and say, “What has the Lord of hosts purposed upon Egypt?”
13 The princes of Tanis have failed, and the princes of Memphis are lifted up with pride, and they shall cause Egypt to wander by tribes.
14 For the Lord has prepared for them a spirit of error, and they have caused Egypt to err in all their works, as one staggers who is drunken and vomits also.
15 And there shall be no work to the Egyptians, which shall make head or tail, or beginning or end.
16 But in that day the Egyptians shall be as women, in fear and in trembling because of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He shall bring upon them.
17 And the land of the Jews shall be for a terror to the Egyptians; whosoever shall name it to them, they shall fear, because of the counsel which the Lord of hosts has purposed concerning it.
18 Egypt, Assyria, and Israel Blessed In that day there shall be five cities in Egypt speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing by the name of the Lord of hosts; one city shall be called the City of Asedek.
19 In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of the Egyptians, and a pillar to the Lord by its border.
20 And it shall be for a sign to the Lord forever in the land of Egypt; for they shall presently cry to the Lord by reason of them that afflict them, and He shall send them a man who shall save them; He shall judge and save them.
21 And the Lord shall be known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day; and they shall offer sacrifices, and shall vow vows to the Lord, and pay them.
22 And the Lord shall strike the Egyptians with a stroke, and shall completely heal them; and they shall return to the Lord, and He shall hear them, and thoroughly heal them.
23 In that day there shall be a way from Egypt to the Assyrians, and the Assyrians shall enter into Egypt, and the Egyptians shall go to the Assyrians, and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians.
24 In that day shall Israel be third with the Egyptians and the Assyrians, blessed in the land which the Lord of hosts has blessed,
25 saying, “Blessed be My people that are in Egypt, and that are among the Assyrians, and Israel My inheritance.”
1 The Sign Against Egypt and Ethiopia In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when he was sent by Sargon king of the Assyrians, and warred against Ashdod, and took it;
2 then the Lord spoke to Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go and take the sackcloth off your loins, and loose your sandals from off your feet, and do thus, going naked and barefoot.”
3 And the Lord said, “As My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years, there shall be three years for signs and wonders to the Egyptians and Ethiopians;
4 for thus shall the king of the Assyrians lead the captivity of Egypt and the Ethiopians, young men and old, naked and barefoot, having the shame of Egypt exposed.
5 And the Egyptians, being defeated, shall be ashamed of the Ethiopians, in whom they had trusted; for they were their glory.
6 And they that dwell in this island shall say in that day, ‘Behold, we trusted to flee to them for help, who could not save themselves from the king of the Assyrians; and how shall we be saved?’”
1 The vision of the desert. As though a whirlwind should pass through the desert, coming from a desert, even from such a land,
2 so a fearful and a grievous vision was declared to me; he that is treacherous deals treacherously, the transgressor transgresses. The Elamites are upon me, and the ambassadors of the Persians come against me; now will I groan and comfort myself.
3 Therefore are my loins filled with feebleness, and pangs have seized me as a travailing woman; I dealt wrongfully that I might not hear; I hastened that I might not see.
4 My heart wanders, and transgression overwhelms me; my soul is occupied with fear.
5 Prepare the table; eat, drink. Arise, you princes, and prepare your shields.
6 For thus said the Lord to me: “Go and station a watchman for yourself, and declare whatever you shall see.”
7 And I saw two mounted horsemen, and a rider on a donkey, and a rider on a camel.
8 “Listen with great attention, and call Uriah to the watchtower”; the Lord has spoken. I stood continually during the day, and I stood in the camp all night;
9 and behold, he comes riding in a chariot and pair; and he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all her images and her idols have been crushed to the ground.”
10 Hear, you that are left, and you that are in pain, hear what things I have heard of the Lord of hosts, which the God of Israel has declared to us.
11 The vision of Edom. Call to me out of Seir; guard the bulwarks.
12 I watch in the morning and the night, if you would inquire, inquire, and dwell by me.
13 You may lodge in the forest in the evening, or in the way of Dedan.
14 You that dwell in the country of Tema, bring water to meet him that is thirsty;
15 meet the fugitives with bread, because of the multitude of the slain, and because of the multitude of them that lose their way, and because of the multitude of swords, and because of the multitude of bent bows, and because of the multitude of them that have fallen in war.
16 For thus said the Lord to me, “Yet a year, as the year of a hireling, and the glory of the sons of Kedar shall fail”;
17 and the remnant of the strong bows of the sons of Kedar shall be small; for the Lord God of Israel has spoken it.
1 Proclamation Against Jerusalem The word of the valley of Zion. What has happened to you, that you now are all going up to the housetops, which do not help you?
2 The city is filled with shouting; your slain are not slain with swords, nor are your dead those who have died in battle.
3 All your princes have fled, and your captives are tightly bound, and the mighty men in you have fled far away.
4 Therefore I said, “Let me alone, I will weep bitterly; labor not to comfort me for the breach of the daughter of my people.”
5 For it is a day of trouble, and of destruction, and of treading down, and there is perplexity sent from the Lord of hosts; they wander in the valley of Zion; they wander from the least to the greatest on the mountains.
6 And the Elamites took their quivers, and there were men mounted on horses, and there was a gathering for battle.
7 And it shall be that your choice valleys shall be filled with chariots, and horsemen shall block up your gates.
8 And they shall uncover the gates of Judah, and they shall look in that day on the choice houses of the city.
9 And they shall uncover the secret places of the houses of the citadel of David; and they saw that they were many, and that one had turned the water of the old pool into the city;
10 and that they had pulled down the houses of Jerusalem, to fortify the wall of the city.
11 And you procured for yourselves water between the two walls within the ancient pool; but you did not look to Him that made it from the beginning, and did not regard Him that created it.
12 And the Lord, the Lord of hosts, called in that day for weeping, and lamentation, and baldness, and for girding with sackcloth;
13 but they engaged in joy and gladness, slaying calves, and killing sheep, so as to eat flesh, and drink wine; saying, “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.”
14 And these things are revealed in the ears of the Lord of hosts; for this sin shall not be forgiven you, until you die.
15 The Judgment on Shebna Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Go into the chamber, to Shebna the treasurer, and say to him, ‘Why are you here?
16 And what have you to do here, that you have hewn yourself a tomb, and made yourself a tomb on high, and have graven for yourself a dwelling in the rock?’
17 Behold now, the Lord of hosts casts forth and will utterly destroy such a man, and will take away your robe and your glorious crown,
18 and will cast you into a great and unmeasured land, and there you shall die; and He will bring your fair chariot to shame, and the house of your prince to be trodden down.
19 And you shall be removed from your stewardship, and from your place.
20 “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah;
21 and I will put on him your robe, and I will grant him your crown with power, and I will give your stewardship into his hands; and he shall be as a father to them that dwell in Jerusalem, and to them that dwell in Judah.
22 And I will give him the glory of David; and he shall rule, and there shall be none to speak against him; and I will give him the key of the house of David upon his shoulder. And he shall open, and there shall be none to shut; and he shall shut, and there shall be none to open.
23 And I will make him a ruler in a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious throne in his father's house.
24 And everyone that is glorious in the house of his father shall trust in him, from the least to the greatest; and they shall depend upon him in that day.”
25 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “The man that is fastened in the sure place shall be removed and be taken away, and shall fall; and the glory that is upon him shall be utterly destroyed; for the Lord has spoken it.”
1 Proclamation Against Tyre The word concerning Tyre. Howl, you ships of Carthage; for she has perished, and men no longer arrive from the land of the Citians; she is led captive.
2 To whom have the inhabitants of the island become like, the merchants of Phoenice, passing over the sea
3 in great waters, a generation of merchants? As when the harvest is gathered in, so are these traders with the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon; the sea has said, yea, the strength of the sea has said, “I have not travailed, nor brought forth, nor have I brought up young men, nor reared virgins.”
5 Moreover when it shall be heard in Egypt, sorrow shall seize them for Tyre.
6 Depart to Carthage. Howl, you that dwell in this island.
7 Was not this your pride from the beginning, before she was given up?
8 Who has devised this counsel against Tyre. Is she inferior? Or has she no strength? Her merchants were the glorious princes of the earth.
9 The Lord of hosts has purposed to bring down all the pride of the glorious ones, and to disgrace every glorious thing on the earth.
10 Till your land; for ships no more come out of Carthage.
11 And your hand prevails no more by sea, which troubled kings; the Lord of hosts has given a command concerning Canaan, to destroy the strength thereof.
12 And men shall say, “You shall no longer at all continue to insult and injure the daughter of Sidon; and if you depart to the Citians, neither there shall you have rest.
13 And if you depart to the land of the Chaldeans, this also is laid waste by the Assyrians, for her wall is fallen.”
14 Howl, you ships of Carthage; for your stronghold is destroyed.
15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be left seventy years, as the time of a king, as the time of a man; and it shall come to pass after seventy years, that Tyre shall be as the song of a harlot.
16 Take a harp, go about, O city, you harlot that have been forgotten; play well on the harp, sing many songs, that you may be remembered.
17 And it shall come to pass after the seventy years, that God will visit Tyre, and she shall be again restored to her primitive state, and she shall be a mart for all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.
18 And her trade and her gain shall be holiness to the Lord; it shall not be gathered for them, but for those that dwell before the Lord, even all her trade, to eat and drink and be filled, and for a covenant and a memorial before the Lord.
1 Impending Judgment on the Earth Behold, the Lord is about to lay waste the world, and will make it desolate, and will lay bare its surface, and scatter them that dwell in it.
2 And the people shall be as the priest, and the servant as the master, and the maid as the mistress; the buyer shall be as the seller, the lender as the borrower, and the debtor as his creditor.
3 The earth shall be completely laid waste, and the earth shall be utterly spoiled; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.
4 The earth mourns, and the world is ruined, the lofty ones of the earth are mourning.
5 And she has sinned by reason of her inhabitants; because they have transgressed the law, and changed the ordinances, even the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse shall consume the earth, because its inhabitants have sinned; therefore the inhabitants of the earth shall be poor, and few men shall be left.
7 The wine shall mourn, the vine shall mourn, all the merry-hearted shall sigh.
8 The mirth of timbrels has ceased, the sound of the harp has ceased.
9 They are ashamed, they have not drunk wine; strong drink has become bitter to them that drink it.
10 All the city has become desolate; one shall shut his house so that none shall enter.
11 There is a howling for the wine everywhere; all the mirth of the land has ceased, all the mirth of the land has departed.
12 And cities shall be left desolate, and houses being left shall fall to ruin.
13 All this shall be in the land in the midst of the nations, as if one should strip an olive tree, so shall they strip them, but when the vintage is done,
14 these shall cry aloud. But they that are left on the land shall rejoice together in the glory of the Lord; the water of the sea shall be troubled.
15 Therefore shall the glory of the Lord be in the isles of the sea; the name of the Lord shall be glorious.
16 O Lord God of Israel, from the ends of the earth we have heard wonderful things, and there is hope for the godly; but they shall say, “Woe to the despisers, that abhor the law.”
17 Fear, and a pit, and a snare, are upon you that dwell on the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he that flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that comes up out of the pit shall be caught by the snare; for windows have been opened in heaven, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken,
19 the earth shall be utterly confounded, and the earth shall be completely perplexed.
20 It reels as a drunkard and one oppressed with wine, and the earth shall be shaken as a storehouse of fruits; for iniquity has prevailed upon it, and it shall fall, and shall not be able to rise.
21 And God shall bring His hand upon the host of heaven, and upon the kings of the earth.
22 And they shall gather the multitude thereof into prisons, and they shall shut them into a stronghold; after many generations they shall be visited.
23 And the brick shall decay, and the wall shall fall; for the Lord shall reign from out of Zion, and out of Jerusalem, and shall be glorified before His elders.
1 Praise to God O Lord God, I will glorify You, I will sing to Your name; for You have done wonderful things, even an ancient and faithful counsel. Amen.
2 For You have reduced cities to a heap of ruins—cities made strong that their foundations should not fall; the city of ungodly men shall not be built forever.
3 Therefore shall the poor people bless You, and cities of injured men shall bless You.
4 For You have been a helper to every lowly city, and a shelter to them that were disheartened by reason of poverty; You shall deliver them from wicked men; You have been a shelter for them that thirst, and a refreshing air to injured men.
5 We were as faint-hearted men thirsting in Zion, by reason of ungodly men to whom You delivered us.
6 And the Lord of hosts shall make a feast for all the nations; on this mount they shall drink gladness, they shall drink wine;
7 they shall anoint themselves with ointment in this mountain. Impart all these things to the nations; for this is God’s counsel upon all the nations.
8 Death has prevailed and swallowed men up; but again the Lord God has taken away every tear from every face. He has taken away the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
9 And in that day they shall say, “Behold, our God in whom we have trusted, and He shall save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, and we have exalted, and will rejoice in our salvation.”
10 God will give rest on this mountain, and the country of Moab shall be trodden down, as they tread the floor with wagons.
11 And He shall spread forth His hands, even as He also brings down man to destroy him; and He shall bring low his pride regarding that in which he has laid his hands.
12 And He shall bring down the height of the refuge of the wall, and it shall come down, even to the ground.
1 A Song of Salvation In that day they shall sing this song in the land of Judah; Behold a strong city; and He shall make salvation its wall and bulwark.
2 Open the gates, let the nation enter that keeps righteousness, and keeps truth,
3 supporting truth, and keeping peace; for on You, O Lord,
4 they have trusted with confidence forever, the great, eternal God;
5 who has humbled and brought down them that dwell on high; You shall cast down strong cities, and bring them to the ground.
6 And the feet of the meek and lowly shall trample them.
7 The way of the godly is made straight; the way of the godly is also prepared.
8 For the way of the Lord is judgment; we have hoped in Your name, and on the remembrance of You,
9 which our soul longs for; my spirit seeks You very early in the morning, O God, for Your commandments are a light on the earth; learn righteousness, you that dwell upon the earth.
10 For the ungodly one is put down; no one who will not learn righteousness on the earth, shall be able to do the truth; let the ungodly be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the Lord.
11 O Lord, Your arm is exalted, yet they did not know it; but when they know, they shall be ashamed; jealously shall seize upon an untaught nation, and now fire shall devour the adversaries.
12 O Lord our God, give us peace, for You have rendered to us all things.
13 O Lord our God, take possession of us; O Lord, we know no other beside You; we name Your name.
14 But the dead shall not see life, neither shall physicians by any means raise them up; therefore You have brought wrath upon them, and slain them, and have taken away all their males. Bring more evils upon them, O Lord;
15 bring more evils on the glorious ones of the earth.
16 Lord, in affliction I remembered You; Your chastening was to us with small affliction.
17 And as a woman in labor draws near to be delivered, and cries out in her pain; so have we been to Your beloved.
18 We have conceived, O Lord, because of Your fear, and have been in pain, and have brought forth the breath of Your salvation, which we have wrought upon the earth; we shall not fall, but all that dwell upon the land shall fall.
19 The dead shall rise, and those that are in the tombs shall be raised up, and those that are in the earth shall rejoice; for the dew from You is healing to them; but the land of the ungodly shall perish.
20 Go, my people, enter into your closets, shut your door, hide yourself for a short season, until the anger of the Lord has passed away.
21 For behold, the Lord is bringing wrath from His holy place on those that dwell upon the earth; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall not cover her slain.
1 In that day God shall bring His holy and great and strong sword upon the dragon, even the serpent that flees, upon the dragon, the crooked serpent; He shall destroy the dragon.
2 The Restoration of Israel In that day there shall be a fair vineyard, and a desire to commence a song concerning it.
3 I am a strong city, a city in a siege; in vain shall I water it; for it shall be taken by night, and by day the wall shall fall.
4 There is no woman that has not taken hold of it; who will set me to watch stubble in the field? Because of this enemy I have set her aside; therefore on this account the Lord has done all that He has appointed.
5 I am burned up; they that dwell in her shall cry, “Let us make peace with Him, let us make peace”;
6 they that are coming are the children of Jacob. Israel shall bud and blossom, and the world shall be filled with his fruit.
7 Shall he himself be stricken this way, even as he has struck? And as he slew, shall he be thus slain?
8 Fighting and reproaching he will dismiss them; did you not meditate with a harsh spirit, to slay them with a wrathful spirit?
9 “Therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be taken away; and this is his blessing, when I have taken away his sin; when they have broken to pieces all the stones of the altars as fine dust, and their trees shall not remain, and their idols shall be cut off, as a thicket afar off.”
10 The flock that dwelt there shall be left, as a deserted flock; and the ground shall be for a long time for pasture, and there shall flocks lie down to rest.
11 And after a time there shall be in it no green thing because of the grass being parched. Come here, you woman that comes from a sight; for it is a people of no understanding; therefore He that made them shall have no pity upon them, and He that formed them shall have no mercy upon them.
12 And it shall come to pass in that day that God shall fence men off from the channel of the river as far as the Brook of Egypt; but gather one by one the children of Israel.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day that they shall blow the great trumpet, and the lost ones in the land of the Assyrians shall come, and the lost ones in Egypt, and shall worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
1 Woe to Ephraim and Jerusalem Woe to the crown of pride, the hirelings of Ephraim, the flower that has fallen from the glory of the top of the fertile mountain, they that are drunken without wine.
2 Behold, the anger of the Lord is strong and severe, as descending hail where there is no shelter, violently descending; as a great body of water sweeping away the soil, He shall make rest for the land.
3 The crown of pride, the hirelings of Ephraim, shall be beaten down with the hands and with the feet.
4 And the fading flower of the glorious hope on the top of the high mountain shall be as the early fig; he that sees it, before he takes it into his hand, will desire to swallow it down.
5 In that day the Lord of hosts shall be the crown of hope, the woven crown of glory, to the remnant of the people.
6 They shall be left in the spirit of judgment for judgment, and for the strength of them that hinder slaying.
7 For these have trespassed through wine; they have erred through strong drink; the priest and the prophet are mad through strong drink, they are swallowed up by reason of wine, they have staggered through drunkenness; they have erred; this is their vision.
8 A curse shall devour this counsel, for this is their counsel for the sake of covetousness.
9 To whom have we reported evils? And to whom have we reported a message? Even to those that are weaned from the milk, who are drawn from the breast.
10 Receive affliction on affliction, hope upon hope; yet a little, and yet a little,
11 by reason of the contemptuous words of the lips, by means of another language; for they shall speak to this people, saying to them,
12 “This is the rest to him that is hungry, and this is the calamity”; but they would not hear.
13 Therefore the oracle of God shall be to them affliction on affliction, hope on hope, yet a little, and yet a little, that they may go and fall backward; and they shall be crushed and shall be in danger, and shall be taken.
14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you afflicted men, and you princes of this people that is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with Hades, and agreements with death; if the rushing storm should pass, it shall not come upon us; we have made falsehood our hope, and by falsehood shall we be protected.”
16 A Cornerstone in Zion Therefore thus says the Lord, even the Lord, “Behold, I lay for the foundations of Zion a costly stone, a choice cornerstone and precious, for its foundations; and he that believes on Him shall by no means be ashamed.
17 And I will cause judgment to be for hope, and My compassion shall be for just measures, and you that trust vainly in falsehood shall fall; for the storm shall by no means pass by you,
18 except it also take away your covenant of death, and your trust in Hades shall by no means stand; if the rushing storm should come upon you, you shall be beaten down by it.
19 Whenever it shall pass by, it shall overtake you; morning by morning it shall pass by in the day, and in the night there shall be an evil hope.”
20 Learn to hear, you that are distressed; we cannot fight, but we are ourselves too weak for you to be gathered.
21 The Lord shall rise up as against a mountain of ungodly men, and shall be in the valley of Gibeon; He shall perform His works with wrath, even a work of bitterness, and His wrath shall deal strangely, and His destruction shall be strange.
22 Therefore do not rejoice, neither let your bands be made strong; for I have heard of works finished and cut short by the Lord of hosts, which He will execute upon all the earth.
23 Listen, and hear my voice; give ear, and hear my words.
24 Will the plowman plow all the day? Or will he prepare the seed beforehand, before he tills the ground?
25 Does he not, when he has leveled the surface, then sow the small black poppy, or cummin, and afterward sow wheat, barley, millet, and grain in your borders?
26 So you shall be chastened by the judgment of your God, and shall rejoice.
27 For the black poppy is not cleansed with harsh treatment, nor will a wagon wheel pass over the cummin; but the black poppy is threshed with a rod, and the cummin shall be eaten with bread;
28 “For I will not be angry with you forever, neither shall the voice of My anger crush you.”
29 And these signs came forth from the Lord of hosts. Take counsel, exalt vain comfort.
1 Woe to Jerusalem “Alas for the city of Ariel, which David besieged. Gather your fruits year by year; eat, for you shall eat with Moab.
2 For I will grievously afflict Ariel; and her strength and her wealth shall be Mine.
3 And I will compass you round about like David, and will raise a mound about you, and set up towers around you.
4 And your words shall be brought down to the earth, and your words shall sink down to the earth, and your voice shall be as they that speak out of the earth, and your voice shall be lowered to the ground.
5 “But the wealth of the ungodly shall be as dust from a wheel, and the multitude of them that oppress you as flying chaff, and it shall be suddenly as a moment,
6 from the Lord of Hosts; for there shall be a visitation with thunder, and earthquake, and a loud noise, a rushing tempest, and a devouring flame of fire.
7 And the wealth of all the nations together, as many as have fought against Ariel, and all they that war against Jerusalem, and all who are gathered against her, and they that distress her, shall be as one that dreams in sleep by night.
8 And as men drink and eat in sleep, and when they have arisen, the dream is vain. And as a thirsty man dreams as if he drank, and having arisen is still thirsty, and his soul has desired in vain, so shall be the wealth of all the nations, as many as have fought against Mount Zion.”
9 Faint, and be amazed, and be overpowered, not with strong drink, nor with wine.
10 For the Lord has made you to drink a spirit of deep sleep; and He shall close their eyes, and the eyes of their prophets and of their rulers, who see secret things.
11 And all these things shall be to you as the words of this sealed book, which if they shall give to a learned man, saying, “Read this,” he shall then say, “I cannot read it, for it is sealed.”
12 And this book shall be given into the hands of a man that is unlearned, and one shall say to him, “Read this”; and he shall say, “I am unlearned.”
13 And the Lord has said, “This people draw near to Me with their mouth, and they honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; and in vain do they worship Me, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men.
14 Therefore behold, I will proceed to remove this people, and I will remove them; and I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will hide the understanding of the prudent.”
15 Woe to them that deepen their counsel, and not by the Lord. Woe to them that take secret counsel, and whose works are in darkness, and they say, “Who has seen us? And who shall know us, or what we do?”
16 Shall you not be counted as clay of the potter? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, “You did not form me?” Or the work to the maker, “You have not made me wisely?”
17 Is it not yet a little while, and Lebanon shall be changed as the mountains of Carmel, and Carmel shall be reckoned as a forest?
18 And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and they that are in darkness, and they that are in mist; the eyes of the blind shall see,
19 and the poor shall rejoice with joy because of the Lord, and they that had no hope among men shall be filled with joy.
20 The lawless man has been brought down, and the proud man has perished, and they that transgress mischievously have been utterly destroyed;
21 and they that cause men to sin by a word; and men shall make all that reprove in the gates an offense, because they have unjustly turned aside the righteous.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the house of Jacob, whom He set apart from Abraham: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall he now change his countenance.
23 But when their children shall have seen My works, they shall sanctify My name for My sake, and they sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
24 And they that erred in spirit shall know understanding, and the murmurers shall learn obedience, and the stammering tongues shall learn to speak peace.”
1 Futile Confidence in Egypt “Woe to the apostate children,” says the Lord; “you have framed counsel, not by Me, and covenants not by My Spirit, to add sins to sins;
2 even they that proceed to go down into Egypt, for they have not inquired of Me, that they might be helped by Pharaoh, and protected by the Egyptians.
3 For the protection of Pharaoh shall be to you a disgrace, and there shall be a reproach to them that trust in Egypt.
4 For there are princes in Tannis, evil messengers.
5 In vain shall they labor in seeking for a people which shall not profit them for help, but shall be for a shame and reproach.”
6 The vision against the beasts of the south. In affliction and distress, where are the lion and lion's whelp, from there also come asps, and the young of flying asps, there shall they be who bore their wealth on donkeys and camels to a nation which shall not profit them.
7 The Egyptians shall help you utterly in vain; tell them, “This your consolation is vain.”
8 Now then sit down and write these words on a tablet, and in a book; for these things shall be for many long days, even forever.
9 For the people are disobedient, false children, who would not hear the law of God;
10 who say to the prophets, “Do not report to us”; and to them that see visions, “Do not speak them to us, but speak and report to us deceitful things;
11 and turn us aside from this way; remove from us this path, and remove from us the oracle of Israel.”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: “Because you have refused to obey these words, and have trusted in falsehood; and because you have murmured, and been confident in this respect;
13 therefore shall this sin be to you as a wall suddenly falling when a strong city has been taken, of which the fall is very close at hand.
14 And its fall shall be as the breaking of an earthen vessel, as small fragments of a pitcher, so that you should not find among them a sherd, with which you might take up fire, and with which you should draw a little water.”
15 Thus says the Lord, the Holy Lord of Israel; “When you shall turn and mourn, then you shall be saved; and you shall know where you were, when you trusted in vanities; then your strength became vain, yet you would not obey.
16 But you said, ‘We will flee upon horses’; therefore shall you flee; and you said, ‘We will be aided by swift riders’; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
17 A thousand shall flee because of the voice of one, and many shall flee on account of the voice of five; until you are left as a signal-post upon a mountain, and as one bearing an ensign upon a hill.”
18 God Will Be Gracious And the Lord will again wait, that He may pity you, and will therefore be exalted that He may have mercy upon you; because the Lord your God is a Judge; blessed are they that wait on Him.
19 For the holy people shall dwell in Zion; and whereas Jerusalem has wept bitterly, saying, “Pity me”; He shall pity you; when He heard the voice of your cry, He listened to you.
20 And though the Lord shall give you the bread of affliction and scant water, yet they that cause you to err shall no longer draw near to you; for your eyes shall see those that cause you to err,
21 and your ears shall hear the words of them that went after you to lead you astray, who say, “This is the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right or to the left.”
22 And you shall pollute the plated idols, and you shall grind to powder the gilt ones, and shall scatter them as the water of a removed woman, and you shall thrust them forth as dung.
23 Then shall there be rain to the seed of your land; and the bread of the fruit of your land shall be plenteous and rich; and your cattle shall feed in that day in a fertile and spacious place.
24 Your bulls and your oxen that till the ground shall eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley.
25 And there shall be upon every lofty mountain and upon every high hill, water running in that day, when many shall perish, and when the towers shall fall.
26 And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold in the day when the Lord shall heal the breach of His people, and shall heal the pain of your wound.
27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes after a long time, burning wrath; the word of His lips is with glory, a word full of anger, and the anger of His wrath shall devour like fire.
28 And His breath, as rushing water in a valley, shall reach as far as the neck, and be divided, to confound the nations for their vain error; error also shall pursue them, and overtake them.
29 “Must you always rejoice, and go into My holy places continually, as they that keep a feast? And must you go with a flute, as those that rejoice, into the mountain of the Lord, to the God of Israel?”
30 And the Lord shall make His glorious voice to be heard, and the wrath of His outstretched arm, to make a display with wrath and anger and devouring flame; He shall lighten terribly, and His wrath shall be as water and violent hail.
31 For by the voice of the Lord the Assyrians shall be overcome, even by the stroke in which He shall strike them.
32 And it shall happen to him from every side, that they from whom their hope of assistance was, in which he trusted, themselves shall war against Him in turn with drums and with harps.
33 For you shall be required before your time; has it been prepared for you also to reign? No, God has prepared for you a deep trench, wood piled, fire and much wood; the wrath of the Lord shall be as a trench kindled with sulphur.
1 Alliance with Egypt is Futile Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, who trust in horses and chariots, for they are many; and in horses, which are a great multitude; and have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel, and have not sought the Lord.
2 Therefore He has wisely brought evils upon them, and His word shall not be frustrated; and He shall rise up against the houses of wicked men, and against their vain hope,
3 even an Egyptian, a man, and not God; the flesh of horses, and there is no help in them; but the Lord shall bring His hand upon them, and the helpers shall fail, and all shall perish together.
4 God Will Deliver Jerusalem For thus said the Lord unto me: “As a lion roars, or a lion's whelp over prey which he has taken, and cry over it, until the mountains are filled with his voice, and the animals are awe-struck and tremble at the fierceness of his wrath; so the Lord of hosts shall descend to fight upon Mount Zion, even upon her mountains.
5 As birds flying, so shall the Lord of hosts defend; He shall defend Jerusalem, and He shall rescue, and save and deliver.”
6 Turn, you children of Israel, who devise a deep and sinful counsel.
7 For in that day men shall renounce their silver idols and their golden idols, which their hands have made.
8 And the Assyrian shall fall; not the sword of a great man, nor the sword of a mean man shall devour him; neither shall he flee from the face of the sword; but the young men shall be overthrown;
9 for they shall be compassed with rocks as with a trench, and shall be overcome; and he that flees shall be taken. Thus says the Lord: “Blessed is he that has a seed in Zion, and household friends in Jerusalem.”
1 Government with Justice Predicted For behold, a righteous king shall reign, and princes shall govern with judgment.
2 And a man shall hide his words, and be hidden, as from rushing water, and shall appear in Zion as a rushing river, glorious in a thirsty land.
3 And they shall no longer trust in men, but they shall incline their ears to hear.
4 And the heart of the weak ones shall attend to hear, and the stammering tongues shall soon learn to speak peace.
5 And they shall no longer tell a fool to rule, and your servants shall no longer say, “Be silent.”
6 For the fool shall speak foolish words, and his heart shall meditate vanities, and to perform lawless deeds and to speak error against the Lord, to scatter hungry souls, and He will cause the thirsty souls to be empty.
7 For the counsel of the wicked will devise iniquity, to destroy the poor with unjust words, and ruin the cause of the poor in judgment.
8 But the godly have devised wise measures, and this counsel shall stand.
9 Complacent Women Warned of Disaster Rise up, you rich women, and hear my voice; you confident daughters, listen to my words.
10 Remember for a full year in pain, yet with hope; the vintage has been cut off; it has ceased, it shall by no means come again.
11 Be amazed, be pained, you confident ones; strip, bare yourselves, gird your loins
12 and beat your breasts, because of the pleasant field, and the fruit of the vine.
13 As for the land of my people, the thorn and grass shall come upon it, and joy shall be removed from every house.
14 As for the rich city, the houses are deserted; they shall abandon the wealth of the city, and the pleasant houses; and the villages shall be caves forever, the joy of wild donkeys, shepherds' pastures;
15 until the Spirit shall come upon you from on high, and Carmel shall be desert, and Carmel shall be counted for a forest.
16 The Peace of God’s Reign Then judgment shall abide in the wilderness, and righteousness shall dwell in Carmel.
17 And the works of righteousness shall be peace; and righteousness shall ensure rest, and the righteous shall be confident forever.
18 And His people shall inhabit a city of peace, and dwell in it in confidence, and they shall rest with wealth.
19 And if the hail should come down, it shall not come upon you; and they that dwell in the forests shall be in confidence, as those in the plain country.
20 Blessed are they that sow by every water, where the ox and the donkey tread.
1 A Prophecy of Deliverance from Foes Woe to those that afflict you; but no one makes you miserable; and he that deals treacherously with you does not deal treacherously; those that deal treacherously shall be taken and given up, and like a moth on a garment, so shall they be spoiled.
2 Lord, have mercy upon us; for we have trusted in You; the descendants of the rebellious has gone to destruction, but our deliverance was in a time of affliction.
3 By reason of the terrible sound, the nations were dismayed for fear of You, and the heathen were scattered.
4 And now shall the spoils of Your small and great be gathered, as if one should gather locusts, so shall they mock You.
5 The God who dwells on high is holy; Zion is filled with judgment and righteousness.
6 They shall be delivered up to the law; our salvation is our treasure; there is wisdom and knowledge and godliness toward the Lord; these are the treasures of righteousness.
7 Behold now, these shall be terrified with fear of you; those whom you feared shall cry out because of you; messengers shall be sent, bitterly weeping, entreating for peace.
8 For the ways of these shall be made desolate; the terror of the nations has been made to cease, and the covenant with these is taken away, and you shall by no means deem them men.
9 The land mourns; Lebanon is ashamed; Sharon has become a marsh; Galilee shall be laid bare, and Carmel.
10 Impending Judgment on Zion “Now will I arise,” says the Lord, “now will I be glorified; now will I be exalted.
11 Now shall you see, now shall you perceive; the strength of your breath shall be vain; fire shall devour you.
12 And the nations shall be burned up, as a thorn in the field is cast out and burned up.
13 They that are afar off shall hear what I have done; they that draw near shall know My strength.”
14 The sinners in Zion have departed; trembling shall seize the ungodly. Who will tell you that a fire is kindled? Who will tell you of the eternal place?
15 He that walks in righteousness, speaking rightly, hating transgression and iniquity, and shaking his hands from gifts, stopping his ears that he should not hear the judgment of blood, shutting his eyes that he should not see injustice.
16 He shall dwell in a high cave of a strong rock; bread shall be given to him, and his water shall be sure.
17 The Land of the Majestic King You shall see a king with glory; your eyes shall behold a land from afar.
18 Your soul shall meditate terror. Where are the scribes? Where are the counselors? Where is he that numbers them that are growing up,
19 both the small and great people? With whom he did not take counsel, neither did he understand a people of deep speech, so that a despised people should not hear, and there is no understanding to him that hears.
20 Behold the city of Zion, our refuge; your eyes shall behold Jerusalem, a rich city, tabernacles which shall not be shaken, neither shall the pins of her tabernacle be moved forever, neither shall her cords be at all broken;
21 for the name of the Lord is great to you; you shall have a place, even rivers and wide and spacious channels; you shall not go this way, neither shall a vessel with oars go thereby.
22 For my God is great; the Lord our judge shall not pass me by; the Lord is our Prince, the Lord is our King; the Lord, He shall save us.
23 Your cords are broken, for they had no strength; your food has given way, it shall not spread the sails, it shall not bear a signal, until it is given up for plunder; therefore shall many lame men take spoil.
24 And the people dwelling among them shall by no means say, “I am in pain”; for their sin shall be forgiven them.
1 Judgment on the Nations Draw near, you nations; and hearken, you princes; let the earth hear, and they that are in it; the world, and the people therein.
2 For the wrath of the Lord is upon all nations, and His anger upon the number of them, to destroy them, and give them up to slaughter.
3 And their slain shall be cast forth, and their corpses; and their stench shall come up, and the mountains shall be made wet with their blood.
4 And all the powers of the heavens shall melt, and the sky shall be rolled up like a scroll; and all the stars shall fall like leaves from a vine, and as leaves fall from a fig tree.
5 “My sword has been made drunk in heaven; behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and with judgment upon the people doomed to destruction.”
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is glutted with fat, with the blood of goats and lambs, and with the fat of goats and rams; for the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in Edom.
7 And the mighty ones shall fall with them, and the rams and the bulls; and the land shall be soaked with blood, and shall be filled with their fat.
8 For it is the day of the judgment of the Lord, and the year of the recompense of Zion in judgment.
9 And her valleys shall be turned into pitch, and her land into sulphur; and her land shall be as pitch burning night and day;
10 and it shall never be quenched, and her smoke shall go up; it shall be made desolate throughout her generations,
11 and for a long time birds and hedgehogs, and ibises and ravens shall dwell in it; and the measuring line of desolation shall be cast over it, and satyrs shall dwell in it.
12 Her princes shall be no more, for her kings and her great men shall be destroyed.
13 And thorns shall spring up in their cities, and in her strongholds; and they shall be habitations of monsters, and a court of ostriches.
14 And demons shall meet with satyrs, and they shall cry one to the other; there shall the satyrs rest, having found for themselves a place of rest.
15 There has the hedgehog made its nest, and the earth has safely preserved its young; there have the deer met, and seen one another's faces.
16 They passed by in full number, and not one of them perished; they did not seek one another; for the Lord commanded them, and His Spirit gathered them.
17 And He shall cast lots for them, and His hand has portioned out their pasture, saying, “You shall inherit the land forever; they shall rest on it throughout all generations.”
1 The Return of the Redeemed to Zion Be glad, you thirsty desert; let the wilderness rejoice, and flower as the lily.
2 And the desert places of the Jordan shall blossom and rejoice; the glory of Lebanon has been given to it, and the honor of Carmel; and my people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the majesty of God.
3 Be strong, you relaxed hands and feeble knees.
4 Comfort one another, you fainthearted; be strong, do not fear; behold, our God renders judgment, and He will render it; He will come and save us.
5 Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear.
6 Then shall the lame man leap as a deer, and the tongue of the stammerers shall speak plainly; for water has burst forth in the desert, and a channel of water in a thirsty land.
7 And the dry land shall become pools, and a fountain of water shall be poured into the thirsty land; there shall there be a joy of birds, ready habitations and marshes.
8 There shall be there a pure way, and it shall be called a holy way; and there shall not pass by there any unclean person, neither shall there be there an unclean way; but the dispersed shall walk on it, and they shall not go astray.
9 And there shall be no lion there, neither shall any evil beast go up upon it, nor at all be found there; but the redeemed and gathered on the Lord's behalf shall walk in it,
10 and shall return, and come to Zion with joy, and everlasting joy shall be over their head; for on their head shall be praise and exaltation, and joy shall take possession of them; sorrow and pain, and groaning have fled away.
1 Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, that Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, came up against the strong cities of Judah, and took them.
2 And the king of the Assyrians sent Rabshakeh out of Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah with a large force; and he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the way of the fuller's field.
3 And there went forth to him Eliakim the manager, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
4 And Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of the Assyrians: ‘Why are you secure?
5 Is war carried on with counsel and mere words of the lips? And now on whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?
6 Behold, you trust on this bruised staff of reed, on Egypt; as soon as a man leans upon it, it shall go into his hand, and pierce it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt and all that trust in him.’
7 But if you say, ‘We trust in the Lord our God’;
8 yet now make an agreement with my lord the king of the Assyrians, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you shall be able to set riders upon them.
9 And how can you then turn to the face of the satraps? They that trust in the Egyptians for horse and rider are our servants.
10 And now, Have we come up against this land to fight against it without the Lord? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to him, “Speak to your servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it; and do not speak to us in the Jewish language; and why do you speak in the ears of the men on the wall?”
12 And Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my lord sent me to your master or to you, to speak these words? Has he not sent me to the men that sit on the wall, that they may eat dung, and drink their urine together with you?”
13 And Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jewish language and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of the Assyrians:
14 Thus says the king: ‘Let not Hezekiah deceive you with words; he will not be able to deliver you.
15 And let not Hezekiah say to you that God will deliver you, and this city will not at all be delivered into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.’
16 Do not listen to Hezekiah. Thus says the king of the Assyrians: ‘If you wish to be blessed, come out to me; and you shall all eat of his own vine and his own fig trees, and you shall drink water out of your own cisterns;
17 until I come and take you to a land, like your own land, a land of grain and wine, and bread and vineyards.
18 Let not Hezekiah deceive you, saying, “God will deliver you.” Have the gods of the nations delivered each one his own land out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians?
19 Where is the god of Hamath, and Arpad? And where is the god of Sepharvaim? Have they been able to deliver Samaria out of my hand?
20 Which is the god of all these nations that has delivered his land out of my hand, that God should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
21 And they were silent, and none answered him a word, because the king had commanded that none should answer.
22 And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, the manager, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came in to Hezekiah, having torn their clothes, and they reported to him the words of Rabshakeh.
1 Isaiah Assures Deliverance And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth, and went up to the house of the Lord.
2 And he sent Eliakim the manager, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests clothed with sackcloth, to Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet. And they said to him, thus says Hezekiah:
3 “Today is a day of affliction, and reproach, and rebuke, and anger; for the pangs have come upon the travailing woman, but she has not the strength to bring forth.
4 May the Lord your God hear the words of Rabshakeh, which the king of the Assyrians has sent, to reproach the living God, even to reproach with the words which the Lord your God has heard; therefore you shall pray to your Lord for these that are left.”
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said to them, “Thus shall you say to your master, Thus says the Lord: ‘Be not afraid at the words which you have heard, in which the ambassadors of the king of the Assyrians have reproached Me.
7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a report, and return to his own country, and he shall fall by the sword in his own land.”
8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of the Assyrians besieging Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.
9 And Tirhakah king of the Ethiopians went forth to attack him. And when he heard it, he turned aside, and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 Thus shall you say to Hezekiah king of Judah: “Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, ‘Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.’
11 Have you not heard what the kings of the Assyrians have done, how they have destroyed the whole earth? And shall you be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed delivered them, be it Gozan, Haran, or Rezeph, which are in the land of Telassar?
13 Where are the kings of Hamath? And where is the king of Arpad? And where is the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Ivah?”
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, and read it, and went up to the house of the Lord, and opened it before the Lord.
15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying,
16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who sits upon the cherubim, You alone are God of every kingdom of the world; You have made heaven and earth.
17 Incline Your ear, O Lord, hearken, O Lord; open Your eyes, O Lord, look, O Lord; and behold the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
18 For truly, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste the whole world, and the countries thereof,
19 and have cast their idols into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; and they have cast them away.
20 But now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hands, that every kingdom of the earth may know that You alone are God.”
21 And Isaiah the son of Amoz was sent to Hezekiah, and said to him, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: “I have heard your prayer to Me concerning Sennacherib king of the Assyrians.
22 This is the word which God has spoken concerning him: ‘The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you, and mocked you; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.
23 Whom have you reproached and provoked? And against whom have you lifted up your voice? And have you not lifted up your eyes on high against the Holy One of Israel?
24 For you have reproached the Lord by messengers; for you have said, “With the multitude of chariots have I ascended to the height of mountains, and to the sides of Lebanon, and I have cropped the height of his cedars and the beauty of his cypresses, and I entered into the height of the forest region;
25 and I have made a bridge, and dried up the waters, and every pool of water.”
26 Have you not heard of these things which I have done of old? I appointed them from ancient times; but now have I manifested My purpose of desolating nations in their strongholds, and them that dwell in strong cities.
27 I weakened their hands, and they withered; and they became as dry grass on the housetops, and as grass.
28 But now I know your dwelling place, and your going out, and your coming in.
29 And your wrath in which you have been enraged, and your rage has come up before Me; therefore I will put a hook in your nose, and a bit in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way which you came.’”
30 “And this shall be a sign to you: eat this year what you have sown; and the second year that which is left; and the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
31 And they that are left in Judah shall take root downward, and bear fruit upward;
32 for out of Jerusalem there shall be a remnant, and the saved ones out of Mount Zion; the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this.
33 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians: ‘He shall not enter into this city, nor cast a weapon against it, nor bring a shield against it, nor make a rampart around it.
34 But by the way in which he came, by it shall he return, and shall not enter into this city,’ says the Lord,
35 ‘for I will protect this city to save it for My own sake, and for My servant David's sake.’”
36 Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death And the angel of the Lord went forth, and killed out of the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand; and they arose in the morning and found a multitude of dead bodies.
37 And Sennacherib king of the Assyrians turned and departed, and dwelt in Nineveh.
38 And while he was worshipping Nisroch his country's god in the house, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with swords; and they escaped into Armenia; and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
1 Hezekiah’s Life Extended And it came to pass at that time, that Hezekiah was sick, even unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Give orders concerning your house; for you shall die, and not live.’”
2 And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying,
3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before You in truth, with a true heart, and have done that which was pleasing in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, “Go and say to Hezekiah,
5 ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, and have seen your tears; behold, I will add to your days fifteen years.
6 And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians; and I will defend this city.
7 And this shall be a sign to you from the Lord, that God will do this thing:
8 Behold, I will turn back the shadow of the degrees of the sundial by ten degrees on the house of your father. I will turn back the sun the ten degrees.’” So the sun went back the ten degrees by which the shadow had gone down.
9 This was the prayer of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered from his sickness:
10 “I said in the end of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave; I shall part with the remainder of my years.
11 I said, I shall no more see the salvation of God in the land of the living; I shall no more see the salvation of Israel on the earth; I shall no more see man.
12 My life has failed from among my kindred; I have parted with the remainder of my life; it has gone forth and departed from me, as one that has pitched a tent takes it down again; my breath was with me as a weaver's web, when she that weaves draws near to cut off the thread.
13 In that day I was given up as to a lion until the morning; so has He broken all my bones; for I was so given up from day even to night.
14 As a swallow, so will I cry, and as a dove, so do I mourn; for my eyes have failed from looking to the height of heaven to the Lord, who has delivered me,
15 and removed the sorrow of my soul.
16 “O Lord, for it was told You concerning this; and You have revived my breath; and I am comforted, and live.
17 For You have chosen my soul, that it should not perish; and You have cast all my sins behind me.
18 For they that are in the grave shall not praise You, neither shall the dead bless You, neither shall they that are in Hades hope for Your mercy.
19 The living shall bless You, as I also do; for from this day shall I beget children, who shall declare Your righteousness,
20 O God of my salvation; and I will not cease from blessing You with the psaltery all the days of my life before the house of God.”
21 Now Isaiah had said to Hezekiah: “Take a cake of figs, and mash them, and apply them as a plaster, and you shall be well.”
22 And Hezekiah said, “This is a sign to Hezekiah, that I shall go up to the house of God.”
1 The Babylonion Envoys At that time Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent letters and ambassadors and gifts to Hezekiah; for he had heard that he had been sick, even unto death, and had recovered.
2 And Hezekiah was pleased that they came, and he showed them the house of his spices, and of silver, gold, myrrh, incense, ointment, and all the houses of his treasures, and all that he had in his stores. And there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, which Hezekiah did not show them.
3 And Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a land afar off, from Babylon.”
4 And Isaiah said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah said, “They have seen everything in my house; and there is nothing in my house which they have not seen, even all the possessions in my treasuries.”
5 And Isaiah said to him, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts:
6 ‘Behold, the days are coming when they shall take all the things that are in your house, and all that your fathers have gathered until this day, and they shall go to Babylon, and they shall not leave one thing.’” And God said,
7 “They shall also take of your children whom you shall father, and they shall make them eunuchs in the house of the king of the Babylonians.”
8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord is good, which He has spoken; let there be peace and righteousness in my days.”
1 God’s People Are Comforted “Comfort, yes, comfort My people,” says your God.
2 Speak, you priests, to the heart of Jerusalem; comfort her, for her humiliation is accomplished, her sin is put away; for she has received of the Lord's hand double for her sins.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.
4 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and all the crooked ways shall become straight, and the rough places smooth.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God; for the Lord has spoken it.”
6 The voice of one saying, “Proclaim”; and I said, “What shall I proclaim? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
7 (This verse omitted in LXX)
8 The grass withers, and the flower fades; but the word of our God abides forever.”
9 O you that brings glad tidings to Zion, go up on the high mountain; lift up your voice with strength, you that brings glad tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, fear not; say unto the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
10 Behold the Lord! The Lord is coming with strength, and His arm is with power; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.
11 He shall tend His flock as a shepherd, and He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and He shall soothe them that are with young.
12 Who has measured the water in His hand, and the heaven with a span, and all the earth in a handful? Who has weighed the mountains in scales, and the forests in a balance?
13 Who has known the mind of the Lord? And who has been His counselor, to instruct Him?
14 Or with whom has He taken counsel, and he has instructed Him? Or who has taught Him judgment, or who has taught Him the way of understanding;
15 since all the nations are counted as a drop in a bucket, and as the turning of a balance, and shall be counted as spittle?
16 And Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor all beasts enough for a burnt offering;
17 and all the nations are as nothing, and counted as nothing.
18 To whom have you compared the Lord? And with what likeness have you compared Him?
19 Has not the carpenter made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, guilded it over, and made it a likeness of Him?
20 For the carpenter chooses out a wood that will not rot, and will wisely inquire how he shall set up his image, and that so that it should not be moved.
21 Will you not know? Will you not hear? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not known the foundations of the earth?
22 It is He that comprehends the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants in it are as grasshoppers; He that set up the heaven as a chamber, and stretched it out as a tent to dwell in;
23 He that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing.
24 For they shall not plant, neither shall they sow, neither shall their root be fixed in the ground; He has blown upon them, and they have withered, and a storm shall carry them away like sticks.
25 “Now then to whom have you compared Me, that I may be exalted?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see, who has displayed all these things? Even He that brings forth His host by number; He shall call them all by name by means of His great glory, and by the power of His might; nothing has escaped you.
27 For do not say, O Jacob, and why have you spoken, O Israel, saying, “My way is hid from God, and my God has taken away my judgment, and has departed?”
28 And now, have you not known? Have you not heard? The eternal God, the God that formed the ends of the earth, shall not hunger, neither shall He be weary, and there is no searching of His understanding.
29 He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to them that are not suffering.
30 For the young men shall hunger, and the youths shall be weary, and the choice men shall be powerless;
31 but they that wait on God shall renew their strength; they shall put forth new feathers like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.
1 Israel Assured of God’s Help “Hold a feast to Me, you islands; for the princes shall renew their strength; let them draw near and speak together; then let them declare judgment.
2 Who raised up righteousness from the east, and called it to His feet, so that it should go? Who shall appoint it as an adversary of Gentiles, and shall dismay kings, and bury their swords in the earth, and cast forth their bows and arrows as sticks?
3 And he shall pursue them; the way of his feet shall proceed in peace.
4 Who has performed and done these things? He has called it who called it from the generations of old; I God, the first and to all futurity, I AM.”
5 The nations saw, and feared; the ends of the earth drew near, and came together,
6 everyone judging for his neighbor and that to assist his brother; and one will say,
7 “The carpenter has become strong, and the coppersmith that plates with the hammer, and forges also”; sometimes he will say, “It is a piece well joined”; they have fastened them with nails; they will fix them, and they shall not be moved.
8 “But you, O Israel, are My servant Jacob, and he whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham, whom I have loved;
9 whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and from the high places of it I have called you, and said to you, ‘You are My servant; I have chosen you, and I have not forsaken you.’
10 Do not fear; for I am with you; do not be led astray; for I am your God, who has strengthened you; and I have helped you, and have established you with My righteous right hand.
11 Behold, all your adversaries shall be ashamed and confounded; for they shall be as if they were not; and all your opponents shall perish.
12 You shall seek them, and you shall not find the men who shall insolently rage against you; for they shall be as if they were not, and they that war against you shall not be.
13 For I am your God, who holds your right hand, who says to you,
14 ‘Do not fear, O Jacob, and you Israel, few in number; for I have helped you,’ says your God, He that redeems you, O Israel.
15 Behold, I have made you as new saw-shaped threshing wheels of a wagon; and you shall thresh the mountains, and beat the hills to powder, and make them as chaff;
16 and you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and a tempest shall scatter them; but you shall rejoice in the holy ones of Israel.
17 “And the poor and the needy shall rejoice; for when they shall seek water, and there shall be none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord God, I the God of Israel will hear, and will not forsake them;
18 but I will open rivers on the mountains, and fountains in the midst of plains; I will make the desert pools of water, and a thirsty land watercourses.
19 I will plant in the dry land the cedar and box, the myrtle and cypress, and white poplar;
20 that they may see, and know, and perceive, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done these works, and the Holy One of Israel has displayed them.
21 “Your judgment draws near,” says the Lord God; “your counsel has drawn near,” says the King of Jacob.
22 Let them draw near, and declare to you what things shall come to pass; or tell us what things were of old, and we will apply our understanding, and we shall know what are the last and the future things;
23 tell us, declare to us the things that are coming on at the last time, and we shall know that you are gods; do good, and do evil, and we shall wonder, and see at the same time
24 where you are, and where your works are; they have chosen you an abomination out of the earth.
25 “But I have raised up him that comes from the north, and him that comes from the rising of the sun; they shall be called by My name; let the princes come, and as potter's clay, and as a potter treading clay, so shall you be trodden down.
26 For who will declare the things from the beginning, that we may know also the former things, and we will say that they are true? There is no one that speaks beforehand, nor anyone that hears your words.
27 I will give dominion to Zion, and will comfort Jerusalem by the way.
28 For from among the nations, behold, there was no one; and of their idols there was none to declare anything; and if I should ask them, ‘Where are you from?’ They could not answer Me.
29 For these are your makers, as you think, and they that cause you to err in vain.
1 The Servant of the Lord Jacob is My servant, I will help him; Israel is My elect, My soul has accepted him; I have put My Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
2 He shall not cry, nor lift up his voice, nor shall his voice be heard outside.
3 A bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench; but he shall bring forth judgment to truth.
4 He shall shine out, and shall not be discouraged, until he has set judgment on the earth; and in his name shall the Gentiles trust.”
5 Thus says the Lord God, who made the heaven, and established it; who settled the earth, and the things in it, and gives breath to the people in it, and spirit to them that tread on it:
6 “I, the Lord God, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will strengthen you; and I have given you for the covenant of a race, for a light of the Gentiles;
7 to open the eyes of the blind, to bring the bound and them that sit in darkness out of bonds and the prison house.
8 I am the Lord God; that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praises to graven images.
9 Behold, the ancient things have come to pass, and so will the new things which I tell you; yes, before I declare them they are made known to you.”
10 Sing to the Lord a new song; you who are His dominion, glorify His name from the ends of the earth; you that go down to the sea, and sail upon it; the islands, and they that dwell in them.
11 Rejoice, you wilderness, and the villages thereof, the hamlets, and the inhabitants of Kedar; the inhabitants of the rock shall rejoice, they shall shout from the top of the mountains.
12 They shall give glory to God, and shall proclaim His praises in the islands.
13 The Lord God of hosts shall go forth, and crush the war; He shall stir up jealousy, and shall shout mightily against His enemies.
14 “I have been silent; shall I also always be silent and forbear; I have endured like a travailing woman; I will now amaze and wither at once.
15 I will make desolate mountains and hills, and will dry up all their grass; and I will make the rivers islands, and dry up the pools.
16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they did not know, and I will cause them to tread paths which they have not known; I will turn darkness into light for them, and crooked things into straight. These things will I do, and I will not forsake them.
17 But they are turned back; be utterly ashamed, you that trust in graven images, who say to the molten images, ‘You are our gods.’
18 “Hear, you deaf, and look up, you blind, to see.
19 And who is blind, but My servants? And who is deaf, but those that rule over them? Yes, the servants of God have been made blind.
20 You have often seen, and have not taken heed; your ears have been opened, and you have not heard.”
21 The Lord God has taken counsel, that He might be justified, and might magnify His praise.
22 And I beheld, and the people were spoiled and plundered; for there is a snare in the secret chambers everywhere, and in the houses also, where they have hidden them; they became a spoil, and there was no one that delivered the prey, and there was none who said, “Restore.”
23 Who is there among you that will give ear to these things? Hearken to the things which are coming to pass.
24 For what did He give Jacob up to spoil, and Israel to them that plundered him? Did not God do it against whom they sinned? And they would not walk in His ways, nor obey His law.
25 So He brought upon them the fury of His wrath; and the war, and those that burned round about them, prevailed against them; yet none of them knew it, neither did they take it to heart.
1 The Redeemer of Israel And now thus says the Lord God that made you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear; for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are Mine.
2 And if you pass through water, I am with you; and the rivers shall not overflow you; and if you go through the fire, you shall not be burned; the flame shall not burn you.
3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, that saves you; I have made Egypt and Ethiopia your ransom, and have given Seba for you.
4 Since you became precious in My sight, you have become glorious, and I have loved you; and I will give men for you, and princes for your life.
5 Do not fear; for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and will gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’; and to the south, ‘Do not keep them back’; bring My sons from the land afar off, and My daughters from the ends of the earth;
7 even all who are called by My name; for I have prepared him for My glory, and I have formed him, and have made him;
8 and I have brought forth the blind people; for their eyes are as if they were blind, and those that have ears are deaf.
9 All the nations are gathered together, and princes shall be gathered out of them; who will declare these things? Or who will declare to you things from the beginning? Let them bring forth their witnesses, and be justified; and let them hear, and declare the truth.
10 “Be My witnesses, and I too am a witness,” says the Lord God, “and My servant whom I have chosen; that you may know, and believe, and understand that I am He; before Me there was no other God, and after Me there shall be none.
11 I am God; and beside Me there is no savior.
12 I have declared, and have saved; I have reproached, and there was no strange god among you; you are My witnesses, and I am the Lord God,
13 even from the beginning; and there is none that can deliver out of My hands; I will work, and who shall turn it back?”
14 Thus says the Lord God that redeems you, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sakes I will send to Babylon, and I will stir up all that flee, and the Chaldeans shall be bound in ships.
15 I am the Lord God, your Holy One, who has appointed for Israel your king.”
16 Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty water;
17 who brought forth chariots and horse, and a mighty multitude; but they have laid down, and shall not rise; they are extinct, as quenched flax:
18 “Do not remember the former things, and do not consider the ancient things.
19 Behold, I will do new things, which shall presently spring forth, and you shall know them; and I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the dry land;
20 the beasts of the field shall bless Me, the owls and young ostriches; for I have given water in the wilderness, and rivers in the dry land, to give drink to My chosen race,
21 My people whom I have preserved to tell forth My praises.
22 Pleading with Unfaithful Israel “I have not now called you, O Jacob; neither have I made you weary, O Israel.
23 You have not brought Me the sheep of your burnt offering; neither have you glorified Me with your sacrifices. I have not caused you to serve with sacrifices, neither have I wearied you with frankincense.
24 Neither have you purchased for Me victims for silver, neither have I desired the fat of your sacrifices; but you stood before Me in your sins, and in your iniquities.
25 “I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and your sins; and I will remember them no more.
26 Put Me in rememberance, and let us contend together; confess your transgressions first, that you may be justified.
27 Your fathers first, and your princes have transgressed against Me.
28 And the princes have defiled My sanctuaries; so I gave Jacob to enemies to destroy, and Israel to reproach.
1 God’s Blessing on Israel “But now hear, O Jacob My servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen.
2 Thus says the Lord God that made you, and He that formed you from the womb: ‘You shall yet be helped; do not fear, My servant Jacob; and My beloved Israel, whom I have chosen.
3 For I will give water to the thirsty that walk in a dry land; I will put My Spirit upon your descendants, and My blessings upon your children;
4 and they shall spring up as grass between brooks, and as willows on the banks of running water.’
5 One shall say, ‘I am God's’; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall write with his hand, ‘I am God's,’ and shall call himself by the name of Israel.
6 “Thus says God, the King of Israel, and the God of hosts that delivered him: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; beside Me there is no God.
7 Who is like Me? Let him stand, and call, and declare, and prepare for Me from the time that I made man forever; and let them tell you the things that are coming before they arrive.
8 Do not hide yourselves, nor go astray; have you not heard from the beginning, and have I not told you? You are witnesses if there is a God beside Me.’”
9 Idolatry is Foolishness But they that framed false gods did not then hearken; and they that engraved images are all vain, performing their own desires, which shall not profit them, but they shall be ashamed
10 that form a god, and all that engrave worthless things;
11 and all by whom they were made have withered; yes, let all the deaf be gathered from among men, and let them stand together; and let them be ashamed and confounded together;
12 For the blacksmith sharpens the iron; he fashions the idol with an ax, and fixes it with an awl, and fashions it with the strength of his arm; and he will be hungry and weak, and will drink no water.
13 The carpenter, having chosen a piece of wood, marks it out with a rule, and fits it with glue, and makes it as the form of a man, and as the beauty of a man, to set it up in the house.
14 He cuts wood out of the forest, which the Lord planted, even a pine tree, and the rain made it grow,
15 that it might be for men to burn; and having taken part of it he warms himself; yes, they burn part of it, and bake loaves on it; and of the rest they make for themselves gods, and they worship them.
16 Half of it he burns in the fire, and with half of it he bakes loaves on the coals; and having roasted flesh on it he eats, and is satisfied, and having warmed himself he says, “I am comfortable, for I have warmed myself, and have seen the fire.”
17 And the rest he makes a graven god, and worships and prays, saying, “Deliver me; for you are my god.”
18 They have no understanding to perceive; for they have been blinded so that they should not see with their eyes, nor perceive with their heart.
19 And one has not considered in his mind, nor known in his understanding, that he has burned up half of it in the fire, and baked loaves on its coals and has roasted and eaten flesh, and of the rest of it he has made an abomination, and they worship it.
20 Know that their heart is ashes, and they err, and no one is able to deliver his soul; see, you will not say, “There is a lie in my right hand.”
21 Israel is not Forgotten “Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel; for you are My servant; I have formed you to be My servant; and do not forget Me, O Israel.
22 For behold, I have blotted your transgressions out as a cloud, and your sin as darkness; turn to Me, and I will redeem you.”
23 Rejoice, you heavens; for God has had mercy upon Israel; sound the trumpet, you foundations of the earth; you mountains, shout with joy, you hills, and all the trees therein; for God has redeemed Jacob, and Israel shall be glorified.
24 Thus says the Lord that redeems you, and who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord that performs all things; I stretched out the heaven alone, and established the earth.
25 Who else will frustrate the tokens of those that have divining spirits, and prophecies from the heart of man? Turning the wise back, and making their counsel foolishness;
26 and confirming the word of His servant, and verifying the counsel of His messengers; who says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be inhabited’; and to the cities of Edom, ‘You shall be built, and her desert places shall spring forth.’
27 Who says to the deep, ‘You shall be dried up, and I will dry up the rivers.’
28 Who bids Cyrus, ‘Be wise, and he shall perform all My will’; who says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be built, and I will lay the foundation of My holy house.’”
1 Cyrus, God’s Instrument “Thus says the Lord God to My anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, that nations might be obedient before him; and I will break through the strength of kings; I will open doors before him, and cities shall not be closed.
2 I will go before you, and I will level mountains; I will break to pieces the bronze doors, and burst the iron bars.
3 And I will give you the treasures of darkness, I will open to you hidden, unseen treasures, that you may know that I, the Lord your God, that call you by name, am the God of Israel.
4 For the sake of My servant Jacob, and Israel My elect, I will call you by your name, and accept you; but you have not known Me.
5 For I am the Lord God, and there is no other God beside Me; I strengthened you, and you have not known Me.
6 That they that come from the east, and they that come from the west may know that there is no God but Me. I am the Lord God, and there is no other.
7 I am He that prepared light, and formed darkness; who makes peace, and creates calamity; I am the Lord God, that does all these things.
8 “Let the heavens rejoice from above, and let the clouds rain righteousness; let the earth bring forth, and blossom with mercy, and bring forth righteousness likewise; I am the Lord that created you.
9 “What excellent thing have I prepared as clay of the potter? Will the plowman plow the earth all day? Shall the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing that you do not work, nor have hands?’ Shall the thing formed answer Him that formed it?
10 As though one should say to his father, ‘What will you beget me?’ And to his mother, ‘What are you bringing forth?’
11 “For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, who has formed the things that are to come: Inquire of Me concerning My sons, and concerning the works of My hands, ask of Me.
12 I have made the earth, and man upon it; with My hand I have established the heavens; I have given commandment to all the stars.
13 I have raised him up to be a king with righteousness, and all his ways are right; he shall build My city, and shall turn the captivity of My people, not for ransoms, nor for rewards,” says the Lord of hosts.
14 The Lord, the Only Savior Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Egypt has labored for you; and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall pass over to you, and shall be your servants; and they shall follow after you bound with chains, and shall pass over to you, and shall bow down to you, and they shall pray to you; for God is in you.” There is no God beside You.”
15 For you are God, the God of Israel, the Savior, yet we did not know.
16 All that are opposed to Him shall be ashamed and confounded, and shall walk in shame. “Dedicate yourselves to Me, you islands!”
17 Israel is saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; they shall not be ashamed nor confounded forever.
18 Thus says the Lord that made the heaven, the very God that created the earth, and made it; He marked it out, He did not create it in vain, but formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret, nor in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek vanity’; I, even I, am the Lord, speaking righteousness, and proclaiming truth.
20 “Assemble yourselves and come; take counsel together, you that escape from the nations. They that set up wood, even their graven image, have no knowledge, nor do they who pray to gods that do not save.
21 If they will declare, let them draw near, that they may know together, who has caused these things to be heard from the beginning; then was it told you. I am God, and there is no other beside Me; a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me.
22 Turn to Me, and you shall be saved, you that come from the end of the earth; I am God, and there is none other.
23 By Myself I swear, righteousness shall surely proceed out of My mouth; My words shall not be frustrated; that to Me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear by God,
24 saying, ‘Righteousness and glory shall come to Him; and all that remove them from their borders shall be ashamed.
25 By the Lord shall they be justified, and in God shall all the descendants of the children of Israel be glorified.’”
1 Idols Cannot Save Babylon Bel has fallen, Nebo is broken to pieces, their graven images have gone to the wild beasts and the cattle; you take them packed up as a burden to the weary, exhausted, hungry, and at the same time helpless man;
2 who will not be able to save themselves from war, but they themselves are led away captive.
3 “Hear Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of Israel, who are borne by Me from the womb, and taught by Me from infancy, even unto old age.
4 I am He; and until you have grown old, I am He; I bear you, I have made, and I will relieve, I will take up and save you.
5 “To whom have you compared Me? See and consider, you that go astray.
6 They that furnish gold out of a purse, and silver by weight, will weigh it in a scale, and they hire a goldsmith and make idols, and bow down, and worship them.
7 They bear it upon the shoulder, and go; and if they put it upon its place, it remains, it cannot move; and whosoever shall cry to it, it cannot hear; it cannot save him from trouble.
8 “Therefore remember these things, and groan; repent, you that have gone astray, return in your heart;
9 and remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none besides Me,
10 declaring beforehand the latter events before they come to pass, and they are accomplished together; and I said, ‘All My counsel shall stand, and I will do all things that I have planned’;
11 calling a bird from the east, and from a land afar off, for the things which I have planned; I have spoken, and brought him; I have created and made him; I have brought him, and prospered his way.
12 “Listen to Me, you senseless ones, that are far from righteousness;
13 I have brought near My righteousness, and I will not be slow with the salvation that is from Me; I have given salvation in Zion to Israel for glory.
1 The Humiliation of Babylon “Come down, sit on the ground, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called tender and luxurious.
2 Take a millstone, grind meal; remove your veil, uncover your white hairs, make bare the leg, pass through the rivers.
3 Your shame shall be uncovered, your reproaches shall be brought to light; I will exact of you due vengeance, I will no longer deliver you to men.”
4 Your deliverer is the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel is His name.
5 “Sit down, you that are pierced with woe, go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; you shall no more be called the strength of a kingdom.
6 I have been provoked with My people; you have defiled My inheritance; I gave them into your hand, but you did not extend mercy to them; you made the yoke of the aged man very heavy,
7 and said, ‘I shall be a princess forever’; you did not perceive these things in your heart, nor did you remember the latter end.
8 “But now hear these words, you luxurious one, that sits at ease, that is secure, that says in her heart, ‘I am, and there is not another; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know bereavement.’
9 But now these two things shall come upon you suddenly in one day, the loss of children and widowhood shall come suddenly upon you, for your sorcery, for the strength of your enchantments,
10 for your trusting in wickedness; for you said, ‘I am, and there is not another’; know therefore the understanding of these things and your harlotry shall be your shame; for you said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is not another.’
11 And destruction shall come upon you, and you shall not be aware; there shall be a pit, and you shall fall into it; and grief shall come upon you, and you shall not be able to be clear; and destruction shall come suddenly upon you, and you shall not know.
12 “Stand now with your enchantments, and with the abundance of your sorcery, which you have learned from your youth; if you can be profited.
13 You are wearied in your counsels. Let now the astrologers of the heaven stand and deliver you, let them that see the stars tell you what is about to come upon you.
14 Behold, they all shall be burned up as sticks in the fire; neither shall they at all deliver their life from the flame. Because you have coals of fire, sit upon them;
15 these shall be your help. You have wearied yourself with traffic from your youth; every man has wandered to his own home, but you shall have no deliverance.
1 Israel Refined for God’s Glory “Hear these words, you house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord God of Israel, making mention of it, but not with truth, nor with righteousness;
2 maintaining also the name of the holy city, and staying themselves on the God of Israel; the Lord of hosts is His name. “The former things I have already declared;
3 and they that have proceeded out of My mouth, and it became well known; I wrought suddenly, and the events came to pass.
4 I know that you are stubborn, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead bronze.
5 And I told you of old what would be before it came upon you; I made it known to you, lest you should say, ‘My idols have done it for me’; and should say, ‘My graven and molten images have commanded me.’
6 You have heard all this, but you have not known; yet I have made known to you the new things which hereafter shall come to pass, and you did not say,
7 ‘Now they come to pass, and not formerly’; and you did not hear of them in former days; do not say, ‘Yes, I know them.’
8 You have neither known, nor understood, neither from the beginning have I opened your ears; for I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and would be called a transgressor even from the womb.
9 For My own sake will I show you My wrath, and will bring before you My glorious acts, that I may not utterly destroy you.
10 Behold, I have sold you, but not for silver; but I have rescued you from the furnace of affliction.
11 For My own sake I will do this for you, because My name is profaned; and I will not give My glory to another.
12 God’s Ancient Plan to Redeem Israel “Hear Me, O Jacob, and Israel whom I call; I am the first, and I endure forever.
13 My hand also has founded the earth, and My right hand has fixed the sky; I will call them, and they shall stand together.
14 And all shall be gathered, and shall hear. Who has told them these things? Out of love to you I have fulfilled your desire on Babylon, to abolish the descendants of the Chaldeans.
15 I have spoken, I have called, I have brought him, and made his way prosperous.
16 Draw near to Me, and hear these words; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; when it took place I was there.” And now the Lord, even the Lord, and His Spirit, has sent me.
17 Thus says the Lord that delivered you, the Holy One of Israel: “I am your God, I have shown you how you should find the way in which you should walk.
18 And if you had hearkened to My commandments, then would your peace have been like a river, and your righteousness as a wave of the sea.
19 Your descendants also would have been as the sand, and the offspring of your belly as the dust of the ground; neither now shall you by any means be utterly destroyed, neither shall your name perish from before Me.”
20 Go forth of Babylon, you that flee from the Chaldeans; utter aloud a voice of joy, and let this be made known, proclaim it to the end of the earth; say, “The Lord has delivered His servant Jacob.”
21 And if they shall thirst, He shall lead them through the desert; He shall bring forth water to them out of the rock; the rock shall be split, and the water shall flow forth, and my people shall drink.
22 “There is no rejoicing,” says the Lord, “for the ungodly.”
1 The Servant, the Light to the Gentiles “Hearken to Me, you islands; and attend, you Gentiles; after a long time it shall come to pass,” says the Lord. “From my mother's womb He has called my name;
2 and He has made my mouth as a sharp sword, and He has hid me under the shadow of His hand; He has made me as a choice shaft, and He has hid me in His quiver;
3 and said to me, ‘You are My servant, O Israel, and in you I will be glorified.’
4 Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have given my strength for vanity and for nothing; therefore is my judgment with the Lord, and my labor before my God.’”
5 And now thus says the Lord, who formed me from the womb to be His own servant, to gather Jacob to Him and Israel. I shall be gathered and glorified before the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.
6 And He said to me, “It is a great thing for you to be called My servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob, and to recover the dispersion of Israel; behold, I have given you for the covenant of a race, for a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says the Lord that delivered you, the God of Israel: “Sanctify him that despises his life, him that is abhorred by the nations that are the servants of princes; kings shall behold him, and princes shall arise, and shall worship him, for the Lord's sake; for the Holy One of Israel is faithful, and I have chosen you.”
8 Thus says the Lord: “In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I have formed you, and given you for a covenant of the nations, to establish the earth, and to cause to inherit the desert heritages;
9 saying to them that are in bonds, ‘Go forth’; and bidding them that are in darkness, ‘show themselves.’ They shall be fed in all the ways, and in all the paths shall be their pasture.
10 They shall not hunger, neither shall they thirst; neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them; but He that has mercy on them shall comfort them, and by fountains of waters shall He lead them.
11 And I will make every mountain a passage, and every path a pasture to them.
12 Behold, these shall come from afar; and these from the north and the west, and others from the land of the Persians.
13 “Rejoice, you heavens; and let the earth be glad; let the mountains break forth with joy; for the Lord has had mercy on His people, and has comforted the lowly ones of His people.”
14 God Will Remember Zion But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,” and, “The Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Will a woman forget her child, so as not to have compassion upon the offspring of her womb? But if a woman should even forget these, yet I will not forget you,” says the Lord.
16 “Behold, I have painted your walls on My hands, and you are continually before Me.
17 And you shall soon be built by those by whom you were destroyed, and they that made you desolate shall go forth from you.
18 Lift up your eyes round about, and look on them all. Behold, they are gathered together, and have come to you. As I live, says the Lord, you shall clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and put them on, as a bride in her attire.
19 For your deserted and marred and ruined places shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that devoured you shall be removed far from you.
20 For your sons whom you have lost shall say in your ears, The place is too narrow for me; make room for me that I may dwell.
21 And you shall say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten me these? Whereas I was childless, and a widow; but who has brought up these for me? And I was left alone; but from where did these come to me?’”
22 Thus says the Lord, even the Lord: “Behold, I lift up My hand to the nations, and I will lift up My signal to the islands; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and shall bear your daughters on their shoulders.
23 And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their princesses your nurses, they shall bow down to you on the face of the earth, and shall lick up the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the Lord, and they that wait on Me shall not be ashamed.
24 “Will anyone take spoils from a giant? And if one should take a man captive unjustly, shall he be delivered?
25 For thus says the Lord: ‘If one should take a giant captive, he shall take spoils, and he who takes them from a mighty man shall be delivered; for I will plead your cause, and I will deliver your children.
26 And they that afflicted you shall eat their own flesh; and they shall drink their own blood as new wine, and shall be drunk; and all flesh shall perceive that I am the Lord that delivers you, and that upholds the strength of Jacob.’”
1 The Servant, Israel’s Hope Thus says the Lord: “Of what kind is your mother's bill of divorcement, by which I put her away? Or to which debtor have I sold you? Behold, you are sold for your sins, and for your iniquities have I put your mother away.
2 Why did I come, and there was no man? Why did I call, and there was none to obey? Is not My hand strong to redeem? Or can I not deliver? Behold, by My rebuke I will dry up the sea, and make rivers a wilderness; and their fish shall be dried up because there is no water, and shall die of thirst.
3 I will clothe the sky with darkness, and will make its covering as sackcloth.”
4 The Lord, even God, gives me the tongue of instruction, to know when it is fit to speak a word; He has appointed for me early, He has given me an ear to hear;
5 and the instruction of the Lord, even the Lord, opens my ears, and I do not disobey, nor dispute.
6 I gave my back to scourges, and my cheeks to blows; and I did not turn away my face from the shame of spitting;
7 but the Lord God became my helper; therefore I was not ashamed, but I set my face as a solid rock; and I know that I shall never be ashamed,
8 for He that has justified me draws near. Who is he that pleads with me? Let him stand up against me at the same time; yea, who is he that pleads with me? Let him draw near to me.
9 Behold, the Lord, the Lord will help me; who will hurt me? Behold, all you shall grow as old as a garment, and a moth shall devour you.
10 Who is among you that fears the Lord? Let him heed the voice of His servant; you that walk in darkness, and have no light, trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon God.
11 Behold, you all kindle a fire, and feed a flame; walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled. This has happened to you for my sake; you shall lie down in sorrow.
1 The Lord Comforts Zion “Listen to Me, all you that follow after righteousness, and seek the Lord; look to the solid rock, which you have hewn, and to the hole of the pit which you have dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for he was alone when I called him, and blessed him, and loved him, and multiplied him.
3 “And now I will comfort you, O Zion; and I have comforted all her desert places; and I will make her desert places as a garden, and her western places as the garden of the Lord; they shall find in her gladness and exaltation, thanksgiving and the voice of praise.
4 “Hear Me, hear Me, My people; and you kings, listen to Me; for a law shall proceed from Me, and My judgment shall be for a light of the nations.
5 My righteousness speedily draws near, and My salvation shall go forth as light, and on My arm shall the Gentiles trust; the isles shall wait for Me, and on My arm shall they trust.
6 Lift up your eyes to the sky, and look on the earth beneath; for the sky was darkened like smoke, and the earth shall grow old like a garment, and the inhabitants shall die in like manner; but My righteousness shall not fail.
7 “Hear Me, you that know judgment, the people in whose heart is My law; do not fear the reproach of men, and do not be overcome by their contempt.
8 For as a garment will be devoured by time, and as wool will be devoured by a moth, so shall they be consumed; but My righteousness shall be forever, and My salvation for all generations.”
9 Awake, awake, O Jerusalem, and put on the strength of your arm; awake as in the early time, as the ancient generation.
10 Are you not the One that dried the sea, the water, even the abundance of the deep; that made the depths of the sea a way of passage for the delivered and redeemed?
11 For by the help of the Lord they shall return, and come to Zion with joy and everlasting exaltation, for praise and joy shall come upon their head; pain, grief, and groaning have fled away.
12 “I, even I, am He that comforts you; consider who you are, that you were afraid of mortal man, and of the son of man, who have withered as grass.
13 And you have forgotten God who made you, who made the sky and founded the earth; and you were continually afraid because of the wrath of him that afflicted you; for whereas he counseled to take you away, yet now where is the wrath of him that afflicted you?
14 For in your deliverance he shall not halt, nor tarry;
15 for I am your God, that troubles the sea, and causes its waves to roar; the Lord of hosts is My name.
16 I will put My words into your mouth, and I will shelter you under the shadow of My hand, with which I fixed the sky, and founded the earth; and the Lord shall say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
17 God’s Fury Removed Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; for you have drunk out and drained the cup of calamity, the cup of wrath;
18 and there was none to comfort you of all the children whom you bore; and there was none to take hold of your hand, not even of all the children whom you have reared.
19 Therefore these things are against you; who shall sympathize with you in your grief? Downfall and destruction, famine and sword; who shall comfort you?
20 Your sons are the perplexed ones, that sleep at the top of every street as a half-boiled beet; they that are full of the anger of the Lord, caused to faint by the Lord God.
21 Therefore hear, you afflicted one, and drunken, but not with wine;
22 thus says the Lord God that judges His people: “Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of calamity, the cup of My wrath; and you shall not drink it anymore.
23 And I will give it into the hands of them that injured you, and them that afflicted you; who said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may pass over’; and you laid your body to the ground to them passing by outside.”
1 God Redeems Jerusalem Awake, awake, O Zion; put on your strength, and put on your glory, O Jerusalem the holy city; for the uncircumcised and unclean shall pass through you no more.
2 Shake off the dust and arise; sit down, O Jerusalem; put off the band of your neck, captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus says the Lord: “You have been sold for nothing; and you shall not be ransomed with silver.”
4 Thus says the Lord: “My people went down at first to Egypt to sojourn there; and were carried away forcibly to the Assyrians.
5 And now why are you here? Thus says the Lord: Because My people were taken for nothing, wonder and howl. Thus says the Lord: On account of you My name is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles.
6 “Therefore shall My people know My name in that day, for I am He that speaks. I am at hand,
7 like beauty on the mountains—like the feet of one preaching glad tidings of peace, like one preaching good news.” For I will proclaim your salvation, saying, “O Zion, your God shall reign.”
8 For the voice of them that guard you is exalted, and with the voice together they shall rejoice; for eyes shall look to eyes, when the Lord shall have mercy upon Zion.
9 Let the waste places of Jerusalem break forth in joy together, because the Lord has had mercy upon her, and has delivered Jerusalem.
10 And the Lord shall reveal His holy arm in the sight of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation that comes from our God.
11 Depart! Depart, go out from there, and touch not the unclean thing! Go out from the midst of her; separate yourselves, you that bear the vessels of the Lord.
12 For you shall not go forth with haste, neither go by flight; for the Lord shall go first in advance of you; and the God of Israel shall be the One that brings up your rear.
13 The Suffering Servant “Behold, My servant shall understand, and be exalted, and glorified exceedingly.”
14 As many shall be amazed at You, so shall Your face be without glory from men, and Your glory shall not be honored by the sons of men.
15 Thus shall many nations wonder at Him; and kings shall keep their mouths shut; for they to whom no report was brought concerning Him shall see; and they who have not heard, shall consider.
1 O Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 We brought a report as of a child before Him; He is as a root in a thirsty land; He has no form, nor comeliness; and we saw Him, but He had no form nor beauty.
3 But His appearance was without honor, and inferior to that of the sons of men; He was a man in suffering, and acquainted with the bearing of sickness, for His face has turned from us; He was dishonored, and not esteemed.
4 He bears our sins, and is pained for us; yet we accounted Him to be in trouble, and in suffering, and in affliction.
5 But He was wounded on account of our sins, and was bruised because of our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; everyone has wandered in his way; and the Lord has delivered Him up for our sins.
7 And He, because of His affliction, opened not His mouth; He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
8 In His humiliation His judgment was taken away; who shall declare His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth; because of the iniquities of My people He was led to death.
9 And I will give the wicked for His burial, and the rich for His death; for He practiced no iniquity, nor craft with His mouth.
10 The Lord also is pleased to purge Him from His stroke. If you give an offering for sin, Your soul shall see a long-lived seed;
11 the Lord also is pleased to take away from the travail of His soul, to show Him light, and to form Him with understanding; to justify the just one who serves many well; and He shall bear their sins.
12 Therefore He shall inherit many, and He shall divide the spoils of the mighty; because His soul was delivered to death; and He was numbered among the transgressors; and He bore the sins of many, and was delivered up because of their transgressions.
1 The Eternal Covenant of Peace Rejoice, you barren that do not bear; break forth and cry, you that does not travail; for more are the children of the desolate than of her that has a husband; for the Lord has said,
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, and of your curtains; fix the pins, do not spare, lengthen your cords, and strengthen your pins;
3 spread forth your tent yet to the right and the left; for your descendants shall inherit the Gentiles, and you shall make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
4 “Do not fear, because you have been put to shame, neither be confounded, because you were reproached; for you shall forget your former shame, and shall no more at all remember the reproach of your widowhood.
5 For it is the Lord that made you; the Lord of hosts is His name; and He that delivered you, He is the God of Israel, and shall be called so by the whole earth.
6 The Lord has not called you as a deserted and faint-hearted woman, nor as a woman hated from her youth,” says your God.
7 “For a little while I left you; but with great mercy will I have compassion upon you.
8 In a little wrath I turned away My face from you; but with everlasting mercy will I have compassion upon you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer.
9 “From the time of the water of Noah this is My purpose; as I swore to him at that time, saying of the earth, ‘I will no more be angry with you, neither when you are threatened,
10 shall the mountains depart, nor shall your hills be removed; so neither shall My mercy fail you, nor shall the covenant of your peace be at all removed; for the Lord who is gracious to you has spoken it.’
11 “Afflicted and outcast, you have not been comforted; behold, I will prepare carbuncle for your stones, and sapphire for your foundations;
12 and I will make your buttresses jasper, and your gates crystal, and your border precious stones.
13 And I will cause all your sons to be taught of God, and your children to be in great peace.
14 And you shall be built in righteousness; abstain from injustice, and you shall not fear; and trembling shall not come near to you.
15 Behold, strangers shall come to you by Me, and shall sojourn with you, and shall run to you for refuge.
16 Behold, I have created you, not as the coppersmith blowing coals, and bringing out a vessel fit for work; but I have created you, not for ruin, that I should destroy you.
17 I will not allow any weapon formed against you to prosper; and every voice that shall rise up against you for judgment, you shall vanquish them all; and your adversaries shall be condemned thereby. There is an inheritance to them that serve the Lord, and you shall be righteous before Me,” says the Lord.
1 An Invitation to Abundant Life “You that thirst, go to the water, and all that have no money, go and buy; and eat and drink wine and milk without money or price.
2 Why do you value at the price of money, and give your labor for that which will not satisfy? Hearken to Me, and you shall eat of all that is good, and your soul shall feast itself on good things.
3 Listen with your ears, and follow My ways; obey Me, and your soul shall live in prosperity; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have made him a testimony among the Gentiles, a prince and commander to the Gentiles.
5 Nations which know you not shall call upon you, and peoples which are not acquainted with you shall flee to you for refuge, for the sake of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you.”
6 Seek the Lord, and when you find Him, call upon Him; and when He draws near to you,
7 let the ungodly leave his ways, and the transgressor his counsels; and let him return to the Lord, and he shall find mercy; for He shall abundantly pardon your sins.
8 “For My counsels are not as your counsels, nor are My ways as your ways,” says the Lord.
9 “But as the heaven is distant from the earth, so are My ways distant from your ways, and your thoughts from My mind.
10 For as the rain shall come down, or snow from heaven, and shall not return until it has saturated the earth, and it bring forth and bud, and give seed to the sower, and bread for food;
11 so shall My word be, whatever shall proceed out of My mouth, it shall by no means return to Me void, until all the things which I willed have been accomplished; and I will make your ways prosperous, and will effect My commands.
12 For you shall go forth with joy, and shall be taught with gladness; for the mountains and the hills shall exalt to welcome you with joy, and all the trees of the field shall applaud with their branches.
13 And instead of the bramble shall come up the cypress, and instead of the nettle shall come up the myrtle; and the Lord shall be for a name, and for an everlasting sign, and shall not fail.”
1 Salvation for the Gentiles Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness; for My salvation is about to come, and My mercy shall be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man that does these things, and the man that holds by them, and keeps the Sabbaths, from profaning them, and keeps his hands from doing unrighteousness.”
3 Let not the stranger who attaches himself to the Lord, say, “Surely the Lord will separate me from His people”; and let not the eunuch say, “I am a dry tree.”
4 Thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: “As many as shall keep My Sabbaths, and choose the things which I take pleasure in, and take hold of My covenant;
5 I will give to them in My house and within My walls an honorable place, better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, and it shall not fail.”
6 “And I will give it to the strangers that attach themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be to Him servants and handmaids; and as for all that keep My Sabbaths, from profaning them, and that take hold of My covenant,
7 I will bring them to My holy mountain, and gladden them in My house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable upon My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations,”
8 says the Lord that gathers the dispersed of Israel; “for I will gather to him a congregation.”
9 All you beasts of the field, come, devour, all you beasts of the forest.
10 See how they are all blinded; they have not known; they are dumb dogs that will not bark; dreaming of rest, loving to slumber.
11 Yes, they are insatiable dogs, that know not what it is to be filled, and they are wicked, having no understanding; all have followed their own ways, each according to his will.
1 Israel’s Futile Idolatry See how the just man has perished, and no one lays it to heart; and righteous men are taken away, and no one considers; for the righteous has been removed out of the way of injustice.
2 His burial shall be in peace; he has been removed out of the way.
3 “But draw nearby, you lawless children, the seed of adulterers and the harlot.
4 Against whom have you been rioting? And against whom have you opened your mouth, and against whom have you loosed your tongue? Are you not children of perdition? A lawless seed?
5 Who call upon idols under the leafy trees, slaying your children in the valleys among the rocks?
6 That is your portion, this is your lot; and to them have you poured forth drink offerings, and to these have you offered meat offerings. Shall I not therefore be angry for these things?
7 On a lofty and high mountain, there is your bed, and from there you carried up your meat offerings;
8 and behind the posts of your door did you placed your memorials. Did you think that if you should depart from Me, you would gain? You have loved those that lay with you;
9 and you have multiplied your whoredom with them, and you have increased the number of them that are far from you, and have sent ambassadors beyond your borders, and have been debased, even to hell.
10 You have wearied yourself with your many ways; yet you did not say, ‘I will cease to strengthen myself’; for you have done these things; therefore you have not supplicated Me.
11 “Through dread of whom have you feared, and lied against Me, and have not remembered, nor considered Me, nor regarded Me; yea, though when I see you I pass them by, yet you have not feared Me.
12 And I will declare your righteousness, and your sins, which shall not profit you.
13 When you cry out, let them deliver you in your affliction; for all these the wind shall take, and the tempest shall carry them away; but they that cleave to Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain.”
14 Healing for the Backslider And they shall say, “Clear the ways before him, and take up the stumbling blocks out of the way of My people.”
15 Thus says the Most High, who dwells on high forever, Holy in the holies is His name, the Most High resting in the holies, and giving patience to the faint-hearted, and giving life to the broken-hearted:
16 “I will not take vengeance on you forever, neither will I always be angry with you; for My Spirit shall go forth from Me, and I have created all breath.
17 On account of sin for a little while I grieved him and struck him, and turned away My face from him; and he was grieved, and he went on sorrowful in his ways.
18 I have seen his ways, and healed him, and comforted him, and given him true comfort;
19 peace upon peace to them that are far off, and to them that are close by”; and the Lord has said, “I will heal them.”
20 But the unrighteous shall be tossed as troubled waves, and shall not be able to rest.
21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
1 Fasting that Pleases God “Cry aloud, and spare not; lift up your voice as with a trumpet, and declare to My people their sins, and to the house of Jacob their iniquities.
2 They seek Me day by day, and desire to know My ways, as a people that had done righteousness, and had not forsaken the judgment of their God; they now ask of Me righteous judgment, and desire to draw near to God,
3 saying, ‘Why have we fasted, and You did not see? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You did not know it?’ In fact, in the days of your fasts you find your pleasures, and all them that are under your power you wound.
4 If you fast for quarrels and strife, and strike the lowly with your fists, why do you fast to Me as you do this day, so that your voice may be heard in crying?
5 I have not chosen this fast, nor such a day for a man to afflict his soul; although you should bend down your neck as a ring, and spread under you sackcloth and ashes, neither thus shall you call a fast acceptable.
6 “I have not chosen such a fast,” says the Lord; “but do you loose every burden of iniquity, do you untie the knots of hard bargains, set the bruised free, and cancel every unjust account?
7 Break your bread to the hungry, and lead the unsheltered poor to your house; if you see one naked, clothe him, and you shall not disregard the relations of your own seed.
8 Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall speedily spring forth; and your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall surround you.
9 Then shall you cry, and God shall hearken to you; while you are yet speaking He will say, ‘Behold, I am here.’ If you remove from you the band, and the stretching forth of the hands, and murmuring speech;
10 and if you give bread to the hungry from your heart, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light spring up in darkness, and your darkness shall be as noon day;
11 and your God shall be with you continually, and you shall be satisfied according as your soul desires; and your bones shall be made fat, and shall be as a well-watered garden, and as a fountain from which the water has not failed.
12 And your old waste places shall be built up, and your foundations shall last through all generations; and you shall be called a repairer of breaches, and you shall cause your paths between to be in peace.
13 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, so as not to do your pleasure on the holy days, and shall call the Sabbaths delightful, holy to God; if you shall not lift up your foot to work, nor speak a word in anger out of your mouth,
14 then shall you trust on the Lord; and He shall bring you up to the good places of the land, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.”
1 Separated from God Has the hand of the Lord no power to save? Or has He made His ear heavy, so that He should not hear?
2 But rather, your iniquities separate between you and God, and because of your sins has He turned away His face from you, so as not to have mercy upon you.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with sins; your lips also have spoken iniquity, and your tongue meditates unrighteousness.
4 None speaks justly, neither is there true judgment; they trust in vanities, and speak empty words; for they conceive trouble, and bring forth iniquity.
5 They have hatched vipers’ eggs, and weave a spider's web; and he that is going to eat of their eggs, having broken one, has found a viper therein.
6 Their web shall not become a garment, nor shall they at all clothe themselves with their works; for their works are works of iniquity.
7 And their feet run to wickedness, and are swift to shed blood; their thoughts also are thoughts of murder; destruction and misery are in their ways;
8 and the way of peace they do not know, neither is there judgment in their ways; for their paths by which they go are crooked, and they do not know peace.
9 Therefore has judgment departed from them, and righteousness shall not overtake them; while they waited for light, darkness came upon them; while they waited for brightness, they walked in perplexity.
10 They shall feel for the wall as blind men, and shall feel for it as if they had no eyes; and they shall feel at noonday as at midnight; they shall groan as dying men.
11 They shall proceed together as a bear and as a dove; we have waited for judgment, and there is no salvation, it is gone far from us.
12 For our iniquity is great before You, and our sins have risen up against us; for our iniquities are in us, and we know our unrighteous deeds.
13 We have sinned, and dealt falsely, and revolted from our God; we have spoken unrighteous words, and have been disobedient; we have conceived and uttered from our heart unrighteous words.
14 And we have turned back judgment, and righteousness has departed afar off; for truth is consumed in their ways, and they could not pass by a straight path.
15 And truth has been taken away, and they have turned aside their mind from understanding. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment.
16 And He looked, and there was no man, and He observed, and there was none to help; so He defended them with His arm, and established them with His mercy.
17 And He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and placed the helmet of salvation on His head; and He clothed himself with the garment of vengeance, and with His cloak,
18 as one about to render a recompense, even reproach to His adversaries.
19 So shall they of the west fear the name of the Lord, and they that come from the rising of the sun shall fear His glorious name; for the wrath of the Lord shall come as a mighty river, it shall come with fury.
20 And the deliverer shall come for Zion's sake, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
21 “And this shall be My covenant with them,” said the Lord: “My Spirit which is upon you, and the words which I have put in your mouth, shall never fail from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, for the Lord has spoken it, from this time and forevermore!”
1 The Gentiles Bless Zion Be enlightened, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you!
2 Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and there shall be deep darkness on the nations; but the Lord shall appear upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you.
3 And kings shall walk in your light, and nations in your brightness.
4 “Lift up your eyes round about, and behold your children gathered; all your sons have come from far, and your daughters shall be borne on men’s shoulders.
5 Then shall you see, and fear, and be amazed in your heart; for the wealth of the sea shall come round to you, and of nations and peoples; and herds of camels shall come to you,
6 and the camels of Midian and Ephah shall cover you; all from Saba shall come bearing gold, and shall bring frankincense, and they shall proclaim the salvation of the Lord.
7 And all the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered, and the rams of Nebaioth shall come; and acceptable sacrifices shall be offered on My altar, and My house of prayer shall be glorified.
8 Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves with young ones to Me?
9 The isles have waited for Me, and the ships of Tarshish among the first, to bring your children from afar, and their silver and their gold with them, and that for the sake of the holy name of the Lord, and because the Holy One of Israel is glorified.
10 “And strangers shall build your walls, and their kings shall wait upon you; for by reason of My wrath I have struck you, and by reason of mercy I have loved you.
11 And your gates shall be opened continually; they shall not be shut, day or night; to bring in to you the power of the Gentiles, and their kings as captives.
12 For the nations and the kings which will not serve you shall perish; and those nations shall be made utterly desolate.
13 And the glory of Lebanon shall come to you, with the cypress, and pine, and cedar together, to glorify My holy place.
14 And the sons of them that afflicted you, and of them that provoked you, shall come to you in fear; and you shall be called Zion, the city of the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Because you have become desolate and hated, and there was no helper, therefore I will make you a perpetual gladness, a joy of many generations.
16 And you shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, and shall eat the wealth of kings; and shall know that I am the Lord that saves you and delivers you, the Holy One of Israel.
17 “And for brass I will bring you gold, and for iron I will bring you silver, and instead of wood I will bring you brass, and instead of stones, iron; and I will make your princes peaceable, and your overseers righteous.
18 And injustice shall no more be heard in your land, nor destruction nor misery in your coasts; but your walls shall be called Salvation, and your gates Sculptured Work.
19 God the Glory of His People “And you shall no more have the sun for a light by day, nor shall the rising of the moon lighten your night; but the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and God your glory.
20 For the sun shall no more set, nor shall the moon be eclipsed; for the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be completed.
21 Your people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, preserving that which they have planted, even the works of their hands, for glory.
22 The little one shall become thousands, and the least a great nation; I the Lord will gather them in due time.”
1 The Good News of Salvation “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me; He has sent Me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind;
2 to declare the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompense; to comfort all that mourn;
3 that there should be given to them that mourn in Zion glory instead of ashes, the oil of joy to the mourners, the garment of glory for the spirit of heaviness; and they shall be called generations of righteousness, the planting of the Lord for glory.”
4 And they shall build the old waste places, they shall raise up those that were before made desolate, and shall renew the desert cities, even those that had been desolate for many generations.
5 And strangers shall come and feed your flocks, and aliens shall be your plowmen and vinedressers.
6 But you shall be called priests of the Lord, the ministers of God; you shall eat the strength of nations, and shall be admired because of their wealth.
7 Thus shall they inherit the land a second time, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head.
8 “For I am the Lord who loves righteousness, and hate robberies of injustice; and I will give their labor to the just, and will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 And their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring in the midst of peoples; everyone that sees them shall take notice of them, that they are a seed blessed of God;
10 and they shall greatly rejoice in the Lord.” Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for He has clothed me with the robe of salvation, and the garment of joy; He has put a turban on me as on a bridegroom, and adorned me with ornaments as a bride.
11 And as the earth putting forth her flowers, and as a garden its seed; so shall the Lord, even the Lord, cause righteousness to spring forth, and exaltation before all nations.
1 Assurance of Zion’s Salvation “For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness go forth as light, and My salvation burn as a torch.”
2 And the Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and kings your glory; and one shall call you by a new name, which the Lord shall name.
3 And you shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 And you shall no more be called ‘Forsaken’; and your land shall no more be called ‘Desert’; for you shall be called ‘My Pleasure,’ and your land Inhabited; for the Lord has taken pleasure in you, and your land shall be inhabited.
5 And as a young man lives with a virgin, so shall your sons dwell in you; and it shall come to pass that as a bridegroom will rejoice over a bride, so will the Lord rejoice over you.
6 And on your walls, O Jerusalem, have I set watchmen all day and all night, who shall never cease making mention of the Lord, for there is none like You.
7 When He shall have re-established, and made Jerusalem a praise on the earth.
8 For the Lord has sworn by His glory, and by the might of His arm, saying, “I will no more give your grain and your provisions to your enemies; nor shall strangers anymore drink your wine, for which you have labored.
9 But they that have gathered them shall eat them, and they shall praise the Lord; and they that have gathered the grapes shall drink thereof in My holy courts.
10 “Go through My gates, and make a way for My people; and cast the stones out of the way; lift up a standard for the Gentiles.
11 For behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth, say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your Savior has come to you, having His reward and His work before His face.’
12 And one shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called a city sought out, and not forsaken.”
1 Vengeance on Edom Who is this that has come from Edom, with red garments from Bosor? Thus fair in his apparel, with mighty strength? I speak of righteousness and saving judgment.
2 Why are your garments red, and your clothing as if fresh from a trodden winepress?
3 “I am full of trodden grapes, and of the nations there is not a man with Me; and I trampled them in My fury, and dashed them to pieces as earth, and brought down their blood to the earth.
4 For the day of recompense has come upon them, and the year of redemption is at hand.
5 And I looked, and there was no helper; and I observed, and none upheld; therefore My arm delivered them, and My anger drew near.
6 And I trampled them in My anger, and brought down their blood to the earth.”
7 God’s Mercy Remembered I remembered the mercy of the Lord, the praises of the Lord in all things in which He recompenses us. The Lord is a good judge to the house of Israel; He deals with us according to His mercy, and according to the abundance of His righteousness.
8 And He said, “Is it not My people?” The children surely will not be rebellious; and He became to them deliverance
9 out of all their affliction; not an ambassador, nor a messenger, but He Himself saved them, because He loved them and spared them; He Himself redeemed them, and took them up, and lifted them up all the days of old.
10 But they disobeyed, and provoked His Holy Spirit; so He turned to be an enemy, He Himself contended against them.
11 Then he remembered the days of old, saying, “Where is He that brought up from the sea the shepherd of the sheep? Where is He that put His Holy Spirit in them?
12 Who led Moses with His right hand, the arm of His glory? He forced the water to separate from before him, to make Himself an everlasting name.
13 He led them through the deep, as a horse through the wilderness, and they did not faint.”
14 And as cattle through a plain; the Spirit came down from the Lord, and guided them; thus You led Your people, to make Yourself a glorious name.
15 A Prayer of Penitence Turn from heaven, and look from Your holy habitation and from Your glory; where is Your zeal and Your strength? Where is the abundance of Your mercy and of Your compassions, that You have withheld Yourself from us?
16 For You are our Father; and though Abraham did not know us, and Israel did not acknowledge us, yet do You, O Lord, our Father, deliver us; Your name has been upon us from the beginning.
17 Why have You caused us to err, O Lord, from Your way? And have hardened our hearts, that we should not fear You? Return for Your servants' sake, for the sake of the tribes of Your inheritance,
18 that we may inherit a small part of Your holy mountain.
19 We have become as at the beginning, when You did not rule over us, and Your name was not called upon us.
1 If you would open the heaven, trembling will take hold upon the mountains from You, and they shall melt,
2 as wax melts before the fire; and fire shall burn up the enemies, and Your name shall be manifest among the adversaries; at Your presence the nations shall be troubled,
3 whenever You shall work gloriously; trembling from You shall take hold upon the mountains.
4 From of old we have not heard, neither have our eyes seen a God besides You, and Your works which You will perform to them that wait for mercy.
5 For these blessings shall happen to them that work righteousness, and they shall remember Your ways; behold, You were angry and we have sinned; therefore we have erred,
6 and we have all become as unclean, and all our righteousness is as a filthy rag; and we have fallen as leaves because of our iniquities; thus the wind shall carry us away.
7 And there is none that calls upon Your name, or that remembers to take hold of You; for You have turned Your face away from us, and have delivered us up because of our sins.
8 And now, O Lord, You are our Father, and we are the clay, all of us are the work of Your hands.
9 Do not be very angry with us, and do not remember our sins forever; but now look on us, for we are all Your people.
10 The city of Your holiness has become desolate, Zion has become as a wilderness, Jerusalem a curse.
11 The house, our sanctuary, and the glory which our fathers blessed, has been burned with fire; and all our glorious things have gone to ruin.
12 And for all these things You, O Lord, have withheld Yourself, and have been silent, and have brought us very low.
1 The Righteousness of God’s Judgment “I became manifest to them that did not ask for Me; I was found by them that did not seek Me. I said, ‘Behold, I am here,’ to a nation who did not call on My name.
2 I have stretched forth My hands all day long to a disobedient and gainsaying people, to them that walked in a way that was not good, but according to their sins.
3 This is the people that provokes Me continually in My presence; they offer sacrifices in gardens, and burn incense on bricks to demons, which do not exist.
4 They lie down to sleep in the tombs and in the caves for the sake of dreams, even they that eat swine's flesh, and the broth of their sacrifices; all their vessels are defiled;
5 who say, ‘Depart from me, do not draw near to me, for I am pure.’ This is the smoke of My wrath, a fire burns with it continually.
6 Behold, it is written before Me; I will not be silent until I have recompensed into their bosom,
7 their sins and the sins of their fathers,” says the Lord, “who have burned incense on the mountains, and reproached Me on the hills; I will recompense their works into their bosom.”
8 Thus says the Lord: “As the new wine shall be found in the cluster, and they shall say, ‘Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it’; so will I do for the sake of him that serves Me, for his sake I will not destroy them all.
9 And I will lead forth the descendants that came of Jacob and of Judah, and they shall inherit My holy mountain; and My elect and My servants shall inherit it, and shall dwell there.
10 And there shall be in the forest folds of flocks, and the Valley of Achor shall be for a resting place of herds for My people, who have sought Me.
11 But you are they that have left Me, and forget My holy mountain, and prepare a table for the demon, and fill up the drink offering to Fortune.
12 I will deliver you up to the sword, you shall all fall by slaughter; for I called you, and you did not listen; I spoke, and you refused to hear; and you did evil in My sight, and chose the things in which I do not delight.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, My servants shall eat, but you shall hunger; behold, My servants shall drink, but you shall thirst; behold, My servants shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed;
14 behold, My servants shall exalt with joy, but you shall cry for the sorrow of your heart, and shall howl for the grief of your spirit.
15 For you shall leave your name for a loathing to My chosen, and the Lord shall destroy you; but My servants shall be called by a new name,
16 which shall be blessed on the earth; for they shall bless the true God; and they that swear upon the earth shall swear by the true God; for they shall forget the former affliction, it shall not come into their mind.
17 The Glorious New Creation “For there shall be a new heaven and a new earth; and they shall not at all remember the former, neither shall they at all come into their mind.
18 But they shall find in her joy and exaltation; for behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and My people a joy.
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and will be glad in My people; and there shall no more be heard in her the voice of weeping, or the voice of crying.
20 “Neither shall there be there anymore a child that dies untimely, or an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the youth shall be a hundred years old, and the sinner who dies at a hundred years shall also be accursed;
21 and they shall build houses, and they shall dwell in them; and they shall plant vineyards, and shall eat its fruit.
22 They shall by no means build, and others inhabit; and they shall by no means plant, and others eat; for as the days of the tree of life shall be the days of My people, they shall long enjoy the fruits of their labors.
23 My elect shall not toil in vain; neither shall they beget children to be cursed; for they are a seed blessed of God, and their offspring with them.
24 “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will listen to them; while they are yet speaking, I will say, ‘What is it?’
25 Then wolves and lambs shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and earth shall be the serpent’s bread. They shall not injure nor destroy on My holy mountain,” says the Lord.
1 True Worship and False Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool; what kind of a house will you build for Me? And of what kind is to be the place of My rest?
2 For all these things are Mine,” says the Lord; “and to whom will I have respect, but to the humble and meek, and the man that trembles at My words?
3 “But the transgressor that sacrifices a calf to Me, is as he that kills a dog; and he that offers fine flour, as one that offers swine's blood; he that gives frankincense for a memorial, is as a blasphemer. Yet they have chosen their own ways, and their soul has delighted in their abominations.
4 I also will choose their mockeries, and will recompense their sins upon them; because I called them, and they did not hearken to Me; I spoke, and they did not listen; and they did evil before Me, and chose the things in which I did not delight.”
5 Hear the words of the Lord, you that tremble at His word; speak, our brothers, to them that hate you and abominate you, that the name of the Lord may be glorified, and may appear their joy; but they shall be ashamed.
6 A voice of a cry from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord rendering recompense to His adversaries.
7 Before she that travailed has brought forth, before the birth pains came on, she escaped it and brought forth a male.
8 Who has heard such a thing? And who has seen after this manner? Has the earth travailed in one day? Or has even a nation been born at once, that Zion has travailed, and brought forth her children?
9 “But I have raised this expectation, yet you have not remembered Me,” says the Lord. “Behold, have not I made the bearing and barren woman?” Says your God.
10 Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and all you that love her hold in her a general assembly; rejoice greatly with her, all that now mourn over her;
11 that you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom; that you may drink deeply, and delight yourselves with the abundance of her glory.
12 For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I turn toward them as a river of peace, and as a torrent bringing upon them in a flood the glory of the Gentiles; their children shall be borne upon the shoulders, and comforted on the knees.
13 As if his mother should comfort one, so will I also comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
14 And you shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall thrive like grass; and the hand of the Lord shall be known to them that fear Him, and He shall threaten the disobedient.
15 For behold, the Lord will come as fire, and His chariots as a storm, to render His vengeance with wrath, and His rebuke with a flame of fire.
16 For with the fire of the Lord all the earth shall be judged, and all flesh with His sword; many shall be slain by the Lord.
17 “They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens, and eat swine's flesh in the porches, and the abominations, and the mouse, shall be consumed together,” says the Lord.
18 “And I know their works and their imagination. I am going to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see My glory.
19 And I will leave a sign upon them, and I will send forth them that have escaped of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Mosoch, and to Tubal, and to Greece, and to the isles afar off, to those who have not heard of My name, nor seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles.
20 And they shall bring your brothers out of all nations for a gift to the Lord with horses, and chariots, in litters drawn by mules with awnings, to the holy city Jerusalem,” said the Lord, “as though the children of Israel should bring their sacrifices to Me with psalms into the house of the Lord.
21 And I will take of them priests and Levites, says the Lord.
22 “For as the new heaven and the new earth, which I make, remain before Me,” says the Lord, “so shall your descendants and your name continue.
23 And it shall come to pass from month to month, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, that all flesh shall come to worship before Me in Jerusalem,” says the Lord.
24 “And they shall go forth, and see the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me; for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh.”