Isaiah Chapters
Against an Unthinking People
1 | • 1 This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz, foretold, concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Listen, O heavens!
Give heed, O earth! for the Lord speaks:
“I raised children, I brought them up,
but they have risen against me.
3 The ox knows its master
and the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know me.
My people do not understand.
4 A sinful nation,
a people weighed down with iniquity,
a wicked race, perverted children!
They have turned away from the Lord
and despised the Holy One of Israel.
5 Shall I strike you again and again?
People always rebelling,
your whole head is diseased
and your heart is also afflicted.
6 From the soles of your feet
to the top of your head—
all is wounds and bruises,
sores uncleaned and unbound,
not eased with soothing ointment.
7 Your country lies desolate,
your cities razed by fire.
Aliens have devoured the harvest
before your very eyes,
and you were left in ruins.
8 The Daughter of Zion is left
like a shanty in a vineyard,
like a hut in a melon field,
like a city besieged.
9 Had not the Lord of Hosts
left us a small remnant,
we would resemble Sodom,
we would be like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the warning of the Lord,
rulers of Sodom.
Listen to the word of God,
people of Gomorrah.”
- 11 “What do I care,” says the Lord
“for your endless sacrifices?
I am fed up with your burnt offerings,
and the fat of your bulls.
The blood of fatlings, lambs and he-goats
I abhor, 12 when you come before me and
trample on my courts.
Who asked you to visit me?
13 I am fed up with your oblations.
I grow sick with your incense.
Your New Moons, Sabbaths and meetings,
evil with holy assemblies,
I can no longer bear.
14 I hate your New Moons and appointed feasts.
They burden me.
15 When you stretch out your hands
I will close my eyes;
the more you pray,
the more I refuse to listen,
for your hands are bloody.
16 Wash and make yourselves clean.
Remove from my sight
the evil of your deeds.
Put an end to your wickedness
17 and learn to do good.
Seek justice and keep in line the abusers;
give the fatherless their rights
and defend the widow.”
18 “Come,” says the Lord,
“let us reason together.
Though your sins be like scarlet,
they will be white as snow;
though they be as crimson red,
they will be white as wool.
19 If you will obey me,
you will eat the goods of the earth;
20 but if you resist and rebel,
the sword will eat you instead.”
Truly the Lord has spoken.
You Became a Harlot
- 21 Zion, the faithful city,
has become a harlot!
She who abounded in justice,
in whom righteousness lodged,
has become a hideout of murderers!
22 Your silver has turned to dross,
your best wine thinned with water.
23 Your rulers are tyrants,
partners of thieves.
They love a bribe
and look around for gifts.
No one protects the orphan,
or listens to the claim of the widow.
24 This is why the Lord speaks,
the Lord Sabaoth,
the Mighty One of Israel:
“I will subdue my foes
and exact payment from my enemies.
25 I will turn my hand against you,
I will smelt away your dross and remove your impurities.
26 I will restore your judges,
I will give back your counselors,
as it was in the beginning.
Then you will be called
the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.”
27 The deliverance of Zion will be like a judgment.
There will be a remnant: the just ones.
28 But rebels and sinners
alike will be destroyed,
and those who desert the Lord
will likewise perish.
- 29 Yes, you will be ashamed of your sacred oaks, which have
given you delight;
you will blush for your gardens
which you have chosen.
30 You will be like an oak,
the leaves of which wither,
and like a garden
which runs out of water.
31 The strongman will be as tinder
and all his work a spark:
both will burn together
and no one will quench the fire.
God Promises Lasting Peace
2 | • 1 The vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be set over the highest mountains and tower over the hills.
3 All the nations shall stream to it, saying, “Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and we may walk in his paths. For the teaching comes from Zion, and from Jerusalem the word of the Lord.
4 He will rule over the nations and settle disputes for many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not raise sword against nation; they will no longer train for war.
5 O nation of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”
Hide in the Dust
- 6 You have forsaken your people,
the land of Jacob,
for it was full of diviners.
They turned into soothsayers like the Philistines,
and clasped hands with pagans.
7 Their land is full of silver and gold,
there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is full of horses,
there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is full of idols,
and they bow down
before the work of their hands,
before the things their fingers have made.
9 Man will be humbled
and the mortal fallen,
forgive them not!
10 Get behind the rocks,
hide in the dust,
for fear of the Lord
and the splendor of his majesty!
11 The haughty looks of man will be humbled;
the pride of mortals will be brought low.
The Lord alone will be exalted on that day.
12 The Lord will stand up on that day
against all the proud and arrogant,
against all that is high or great,
13 against all the cedars of Lebanon
and all the oaks of Bashan,
14 against all the lofty mountains,
and all the soaring hills,
15 against every high tower
and fortified walls,
16 against all the ships of Tarshish
and their luxurious load.
17 The arrogance of man will be humbled;
the pride of mortals will be brought low.
The Lord alone will be exalted on that day.
18 All the idols will pass away.
19 People will flee
into the hollows of the rocks,
into the caverns of the earth,
from the terror of the Lord,
from the splendor of his majesty,
when he arises to terrify the earth.
20 On that day,
they will throw to the moles and the bats
their idols of silver and gold,
which they made for themselves to worship.
21 They will flee
into the caverns of the rocks,
into the crevices of the crags,
from the terror of the Lord,
from the splendor of his majesty,
when he arises to terrify the earth.
22 Rely not on man,
who has but a breath in his nostrils.
What is he worth?
3 | 1 See how the Lord,
the Lord Sabaoth,
takes away provisions and supplies
from Judah and Jerusalem—
2 the hero and the soldier,
the judge and the prophet,
the diviner and the elder,
3 the captain and the man of rank,
the counselor, the wise man, the
craftsman, and the enchanter.
4 I will make striplings their princes
and raw lads their rulers.
5 People will oppress each other—
every neighbor his neighbor;
the young will bully the old
and the base will insult the honorable.
6 When that day comes,
a man will take hold of his brother
in the house of his father
and say, “You have clothes,
so be our leader
and rule over this heap of ruins.”
7 But he will cry out in protest:
“I cannot undertake to remedy all this,
when in my own house
there is neither food nor clothing;
do not make me a leader of the people.”
8 See how Jerusalem crumbles
and Judah falls,
for in word and deed
they have defied the Lord,
and insulted his glorious presence.
Alas for the Wicked!
- 9 The look on their faces denounces them: they do not hide their sin; instead, they parade it, like Sodom: Woe to them! They bring about their own downfall!
10 Say, “Fortunate are the righteous; they will eat of the fruit of their deeds.”
11 But woe to the wicked: the evil that their hands have done shall be done to them!
12 O my people, plundered by your rulers, enslaved by your creditors! O my people, your leaders deceive you and lead you astray.
13 The Lord takes his place in court and stands to try his people. 14 The Lord calls to judgment the elders and the princes:
“You have devoured my vineyard. The spoils of the poor are in your houses. 15 What right have you to crush the people and to grind down the poor?” declares the Lord Sabaoth.
How Haughty Are These Women!
- 16 The Lord says, “Haughty are the women of Zion, walking with their heads held high, with mincing steps, flirting with their eyes, ornaments tinkling on their ankles.”
17 But the Lord will cover with scabs the heads of Zion’s women and make their scalps bald.
18 On that day the Lord will take away the ankle ornaments, the headbands and the crescents, 19 the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves, 20 the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume bottles and the amulets, 21 the signet rings and nose rings, 22 the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags, 23 the garments, the turbans, and the veils.
24 Instead of fragrance, there will be stench; instead of a girdle, a rope; instead of well-set hair, baldness; instead of jeweled gown, sackcloth; and instead of beauty, shame.
25 Your men will fall by the sword;
your heroes in battle.
26 The city gates will lament and mourn
as Zion, ravaged, sits on the ground.
4 | 1 On that day, seven women will fight over one man.
“We will eat our own food,” they will say, “we will wear our own clothing, only let us be called by your name and take away our disgrace.”
A Remnant Saved on Mount Zion
- 2 On that day, the Shoot of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be honor and splendor for the survivors of Israel.
3 Those who are left in Zion and remain in Jerusalem will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem,
4 when the Lord washes away the filth of the women of Zion and purges Jerusalem of the bloodstains in its midst with the blast of searing judgment, the blast of fire.
5 Then will the Lord create a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of fire by night over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its assemblies.
For the glory of the Lord will be a canopy and a pavilion for all, 6 a shade from the scorching heat by day, a refuge from the storm and rain.
The Song of the Vineyard
5 | • 1 Let me sing for my beloved my love song about his vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up, cleared the stones,
and planted the choicest vines.
He built there a watchtower
and hewed out a winepress as well.
Then he looked
for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only wild grapes.
3 Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do
that I have not done for my vineyard?
Good grapes were the yield I expected.
Why did it yield only sour grapes?
5 Now I will let you know
what I am going to do
with my vineyard:
I will remove its hedge
and it will be burned;
I will break down its wall
and it will be trampled on.
6 I will make it a wasteland,
I will neither prune nor hoe it,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I command the clouds, as well,
not to send rain on it.
7 The vineyard of the Lord Sabaoth
is the people of Israel;
and the people of Judah
are his pleasant vine.
He looked for justice,
but found bloodshed;
He looked for righteousness
but heard cries of distress.
Woe to You, Rich!
- 8 What sorrow for you to buy up house after house,
and field after field,
until everyone is evicted
and you live alone in the land.
9 The Lord Sabaoth has sworn in my hearing:
“Many houses will remain in ruins,
beautiful mansions without occupants.
10 Ten acres of vineyard
will yield only a barrel of wine;
ten bushels of seed,
only a bushel of grain.”
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning
to run after a strong drink,
and tarry late in the evening
till they are inflamed with wine.
12 They have lyres and harps,
timbrels and flutes,
and wine at their banquets;
but they have no thought for the deeds of the Lord,
nor do they see his plans.
13 Thus, my people will go into exile
for want of understanding,
their dignitaries dying of hunger,
their masses parched with thirst.
14 Therefore, the grave has enlarged its throat
and opened its mouth to the full;
it swallows the upper crust of Zion,
their throngs and their revelry.
15 Man shall be humbled
and the mortal fallen,
and the eyes of the haughty cast down.
16 But the Lord Sabaoth will be exalted
when he comes in judgment;
the sentences of the holy God
will reveal his holiness.
(17 Then will the lambs graze as at pasture,
fatlings and kids will browse among the ruins.)
18 Woe to those who haul their wrongs with cords of deceit,
to those who pull a cart of sins,
19 to those who say, “Let God hurry,
let him speed up his work
so that we may see it.
Let the plans of the Holy One of Israel
draw near and come true,
which we are eager to learn about!”
20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who change darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who give bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and take themselves for sages.
22 Woe to those who are champions in mixing drinks
and valiant at drinking bouts,
23 but acquit the guilty for a bribe
and deprive the innocent of his rights.
24 Therefore, as the tongues of fire lick up stubble,
as dry grass shrivels in the flames,
so their roots will rot,
and their flowers be blown away like dust,
for they have rejected the law of the Lord Sabaoth
and scorned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore, the Lord,
his wrath burning against his people,
raises his hand against them
and strikes them down.
The mountains quake:
the corpses litter the streets.
For all this, his anger does not subside,
his hand is still raised, poised to strike.
26 He gives a signal to nations afar,
he whistles to them from the ends of the earth;
speedily and swiftly they come.
27 None of them is weary; none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps;
not a waist belt is loosened,
not a sandal-thong broken.
28 Their arrows are sharp,
all their bows are strong:
their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
their chariot wheels like the whirlwind.
29 They roar like young lions;
they growl as they seize their prey,
no one to rescue it as they carry it off.
30 On that day, they will roar over these people
like the roaring of the sea.
Just look at the land—
darkness and distress,
the light flickering out in shadows,
darkened finally by the clouds.
The Call of Isaiah
6 | • 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: two to cover the face, two to cover the feet, and two to fly with.
3 They were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Sabaoth.
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
4 At the sound of their voices, the foundations of the threshold shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 I said, “Poor me! I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips, yet I have seen the King, the Lord Sabaoth.”
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me; in his hands was a live coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said,
“See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” I answered, “Here I am. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go and say to this people: ‘Much as you hear, you will not understand; much as you see, you do not perceive.’
10 Let their hearts be hardened, make their ears deaf and their eyes blind; what a misfortune for them, should they hear and see! Yet, if they understood and came back to me, I would heal them.”
11 Then I said, “For how long, O Lord?” And he answered,
“Until towns have been laid waste and left without inhabitant; until the houses are deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the Lord has sent away the people and the fields are left deserted.
13 Even though a tenth remains in it, it will be burned. Yet there, a stump will remain like a fallen oak; this stump is a holy seed.”
First Warning to Ahaz
7 | • 1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, laid siege to Jerusalem but they were unable to capture it.
2 When the news reached the house of David, “Aram’s troops are encamped in Ephraim,” the king's heart and the people's hearts trembled as the forest's trees tremble before the wind.
3 The Lord then said to Isaiah: “Go with your son A-remnant-will-return, and meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washer man’s Field.
4 Say to him,
Stay calm and fear not; do not lose courage before these two stumps of smoldering firebrands—the fierce anger of Rezin the Aramean and the blazing fury of the son of Remaliah. You know that 5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted against Judah, saying: 6 Let us invade and scare it, seize it and put the son of Tabeel king over it. 7 But the Lord God says:
It shall not be so;
it shall not come to pass.
8a For Damascus is only the head of Aram
and Rezin the lord of Damascus.
9a Samaria is only the head of Ephraim
and Remaliah’s son is only the lord of Samaria.
8b Within fifty-six years,
Ephraim will be shattered
and will no longer be a people.
9b But if you do not stand firm in the faith,
you, too, will not stand at all.”
The Virgin Is With Child
- 10 Again the Lord addressed Ahaz, 11 “Ask for a sign from the Lord your God, let it come either from the deepest depths or from the heights of heaven.”
12 But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”
13 Then Isaiah said, “Now listen, descendants of David. Have you not been satisfied trying the patience of people that you also try the patience of my God? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:
The Virgin is with child and bears a son and calls his name Immanuel. 15 He will live on curds and honey by the time he learns to refuse evil and choose good. 16 For before the child knows how to reject evil and cherish virtue, the land of the two kings that you abhor will be deserted. 17 The Lord will bring a time much worse than any since Ephraim broke away from Judah.
18 On that day the Lord will whistle
for flies from the farthest streams of Egypt
and for bees from the land of Assyria.
19 They will come and settle
in the steep ravines,
in the clefts of the rocks,
on all the bushes,
and on every pasture.
20 On that day,
with a razor hired from beyond the river
(with the king of Assyria),
the Lord will shave the head
and the hair of the legs
and the beard as well.
21 On that day a man will raise
a heifer and a couple of sheep,
22 and from the abundance of milk
those who survive in the land
will feed on curds and honey.
23 On that day every place
planted with a thousand vines
worth a thousand silver shekels
will be covered with briers and thorns.
24 Men will go there
armed with bows and arrows,
for the whole country
will be covered with briers and thorns.
25 No one will dare come
to all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe,
for fear of briers and thorns.
There, cattle will be let loose
and sheep left to graze.
The Waters of Shiloah Gently Flowing
8 | • 1 The Lord said to me, “Take a large cylindrical seal and write on it in ordinary characters: Quick spoils–speedy plunder. 2 Do this before Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah my reliable witness.”
3 I went to my wife; she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call him Quick to plunder–Booty is Close, for this is the Lord’s word:
4 Before the child knows how to say ‘father’ or ‘mother, Damascus's wealth and Samaria's booty will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
5 Again the Lord spoke to me: 6 “Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah, and cowers in fear before Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, the Lord will bring against them the waters of the Euphrates River, deep and mighty—the king of Assyria with all his pomp.
It will rise over all its channels
and overflow all its banks;
8 it will sweep on to Judah,
it will overflow and pass on,
reaching up to the neck.
It will spread its wings over the whole breadth of your land, O Immanuel!
9 Know it, O you nations.
Hear, O you distant lands;
gird yourselves for war and be dismayed!
10 Devise a plan and it will be thwarted,
make a resolve and it will not stand,
for “God is with us.”
The Lord, a Hidden God
- 11 Thus the Lord spoke to me when his hand grasped me, and he warned me not to walk in the way of these people:
12 “Do not speak of conspiracy whenever these people dread conspiracy; do not fear what they fear nor be in dread. 13 Only the Lord Sabaoth is holy, only him must you fear, only him must you dread.
14 He will be a Sanctuary and, at the same time, a stumbling stone, the rock that brings down, for both houses of Israel. He will be like a trap and snare for the people of Jerusalem. 15 Many of them will stumble, many will fall and be broken, be trapped and captured.”
16 The Lord added: “Bind this testimony and seal it amid my disciples.”
17 So I will wait for the Lord who hides his face from the people of Jacob. I will hope in him. 18 Here am I and the children he has given me. We are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord Sabaoth, who dwells on Mount Zion.
- 19 Should people tell you to consult mediums and spiritists who whisper and mutter, you must tell them: “A people, of course, must consult its gods! On behalf of the living, will you consult the dead?”
20 This is said through the law and revelations: this word will not fade away.
21 Distressed and famished,
they will roam the land.
In their hunger, they will fume
and curse their God and their king.
They will look upward,
and then look towards the earth,
but they will only find distress and darkness,
and frightening gloom.
23 Yet, where there was but anguish, darkness will disappear.
He has just afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future, he will confer glory on the way of the sea, on the land beyond the Jordan—the pagans’ Galilee.
To Us, a Child Is Born
9 | • 1 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.
A light has dawned
on those who live in the land of the shadow of death.
2 You have enlarged the nation;
you have increased their joy.
They rejoice before you,
as people rejoice at harvest time
as they rejoice in dividing the spoil.
3 For the yoke of their burden,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressors,
you have broken it as on the day of Midian.
4 Every warrior’s boot that tramped in war,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be thrown out for burning,
will serve as fuel for the fire.
5 For a child is born to us,
a son is given us;
the royal ornament is laid upon his shoulder,
and his name is proclaimed:
“Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
6 To the increase of his powerful rule
in peace, there will be no end.
Vast will be his dominion,
he will reign on David’s throne
and over all his kingdom,
to establish and uphold it
with justice and righteousness
from this time onward and forever.
The zealous love of the Lord Sabaoth will do this.
Threats Against Israel
- 7 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob: the sentence fell upon Israel.
8 The people of Samaria and Ephraim saw it, but they said in pride and arrogance of heart: 9 “The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with hewn stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but in their place, we will plant cedars.”
10 Therefore, the Lord raises foes against them and stirs up their adversaries: 11 from the east, Arameans, from the west, Philistines—with open mouth they devour Israel.
Yet for all this, his anger does not subside; his hand is poised to strike.
12 For the people have not come back to him who has smitten them; they have not sought the Lord Sabaoth.
13 Therefore, the Lord has cut off from Israel both head and tail, palm branch and reed in a single day. 14 The elders and prominent men are the head, and the tail is the prophet of lies. 15 The guides of these people mislead them, and the leaders have lost their way. 16 The Lord, therefore, does not spare their young men nor have compassion on their orphans and widows. For everyone has become evil and ungodly; every mouth speaks folly.
Yet for all this, his anger does not subside; his hand is poised to strike.
17 Their wickedness has become like a fire, which consumes both thorn and brier; it rages, sets thickets ablaze, and all vanish like smoke.
18 The Lord Sabaoth's wrath set the land aflame, and the people were burned like fuel for fire because no one spared another.
19 Snatching left and right, they still go hungry and remain unfilled: each one devours his neighbor’s flesh.
20 Manasseh devours Ephraim, Ephraim devours Manasseh; and against Judah, together they march.
Yet for all this, his anger does not subside; his hand is poised to strike.
Legal Injustice
10 | 1 Woe to those who enact unjust laws
and issue oppressive decrees!
2 Woe to those who rob the poor of their rights
and deprive the helpless of justice!
They prey on widows and plunder the orphans.
3 What will you do on the day of punishment?
Where will you flee for help
when disaster suddenly comes?
Where will you save your wealth?
4 You can do nothing
but cringe among the captives and exiles
or fall beneath the slain.
Yet for all this, the Lord’s anger does not subside,
his hand is poised to strike.
Assyria: An Instrument of God
- 5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff of my fury!
6 Against a godless nation, I send him,
against a people who provoke my wrath, I dispatch him,
to plunder and pillage,
to tread them down like mud in the streets.
7 But the mind of his king is far from this,
his heart harbors other thoughts;
what he wants is to destroy,
to make an end of all nations.
8 For he says:
“Are not my commanders like kings?
9 Was it not the same for Calno as for Carchemish,
or Hamath like Arpad,
and for Samaria, as for Damascus?
10 Just as my hands have seized idolatrous kingdoms, whose graven images excelled those of Samaria and Jerusalem,
11 just as I have dealt with Samaria and her idols, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols?”
12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will punish the king of Assyria for his willful pride and arrogant insolence. 13 For the king says:
“By my own strength, I have done this
and by my own wisdom, for I am clever.
I have moved the frontiers of people,
I have plundered treasures,
I have brought inhabitants down to the dust,
I have toppled kings from their thrones.
14 As one reaches into a nest,
so my hands have reached into nations’ wealth.
As one gathers deserted eggs,
so have I gathered the earth's riches.
No one flapped a wing
or opened its mouth to chirp a protest.”
15 Does the ax claim more credit
than the man who wields it?
Does the saw magnify itself
more than the one who uses it?
This would be like a rod wielding the man who lifts it up;
will those not made of wood be controlled by the cudgel?
16 This is why the Lord Sabaoth
is ready to send a wasting sickness
upon the king’s sturdy warriors.
Beneath his plenty, a flame will burn
like a consuming fire.
17 The Light of Israel will be a fire
and his Holy One a flame—
to burn and devour his thorns and briers
all in a single day.
18 The splendor of his forest and fruitful land
comes undone and raves,
body and soul disappear and pass away.
19 The remnant of the trees in his forest
will be so few, so easy to count,
that a child could make a list of them.
A Remnant Will Return
- 20 On that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the people of Jacob will no longer rely upon the tyrant who struck them down but will truly rely upon the Holy One of Israel. 21 A-remnant-will-return—a remnant of Jacob—to the mighty God.
22 Yes, Israel! Though your people are as the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return; their end has been ordered, and justice shall be fully done. 23 For the Lord, the God of hosts, is about to carry out the destruction decreed in the whole land.
24 Thus says the Lord, the Lord Sabaoth,
“O my people, who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians who strike you with the rod and lift their staff against you as did the Egyptians. 25 In a while, my anger against you will be over and directed to their destruction.
26 The Lord Sabaoth will lash at them with a scourge, as he did with the Midianites at the rock of Oreb and in Egypt when he raised his rod over the sea.
27 On that day, their burden will be lifted off your shoulders, their yoke lifted off your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed.
28 They have gone up from Rimmon
and have come to Aiath;
they have passed through Migron
and stored supplies at Michmash.
29 They have crossed over the pass
and now camp at Geba for the night.
Ramah is in terror;
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Lift up your voice, O daughter of Gallim,
let it be heard at Laishah
and answered at Anathoth.
31 Madmenah is in flight;
the people of Gebim flee for their lives.
32 This day the invaders will halt at Nob;
they will shake their fists
at the mount of the Daughter of Zion,
at the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Suddenly, the Lord, the Lord Sabaoth
lops off the boughs with terrifying violence.
The tall trees are hewn down,
the lofty ones are brought low.
34 With an ax he cuts down the thickets;
and Lebanon, the majestic, falls.
The Prince of Peace
11 | • 1 From the stump of Jesse a shoot will come forth;
from his roots, a branch will grow and bear fruit.
2 The spirit of the Lord will rest upon him—
a spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a spirit of counsel and power,
a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
3 Not by appearances will he judge,
nor by what is said must he decide,
4 but with justice he will judge the poor
and with righteousness decide for the meek.
Like a rod, his word will strike the oppressor,
and the breath of his lips slays the wicked.
5 Justice will be the girdle of his waist,
truth the girdle of his loins.
6 The wolf will dwell with the lamb,
the leopard will rest beside the kid,
the calf and the lion cub will feed together
and a little child will lead them.
7 Befriending each other, the cow and the bear
will see their young ones lie down together.
Like cattle, the lion will eat hay.
8 By the cobra’s den, the infant will play.
The child will put his hand into the viper’s lair.
9 No one will harm or destroy over my holy mountain,
for as water fills the sea
the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.
- 10 On that day, the “Root of Jesse” will be raised as a signal for the nations. The people will come in search of him, thus making his dwelling place glorious.
11 On that day, the Lord will again raise his hand to reclaim the remnant of his people from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Ethiopia, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coastlands of the sea.
12 He will set up a signal that can be seen from all the countries and assemble the exiles of Israel; he will gather the scattered people of Judah from all the corners of the earth.
13 Then Ephraim will cast off its jealousy, and Judah will be rid of its enemies. Ephraim will not envy Judah, nor Judah be hostile to Ephraim. 14 But the two will sweep down together upon the shoulder of Philistia to the west and plunder the nations to the east. They will lay their hands upon Edom and Moab and make the Ammonites their subjects.
15 The Lord will dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea; he will sweep his hand over the Euphrates in scorching fury and break it into seven streams that people can cross dry-shod. 16 Then there will be a highway for the remnant of his people returning from Assyria, as when Israel came out of Egypt.
Song of the Saved
12 | 1 On that day you will say:
“I give praise to you, O Lord.
Although you have been angry with me
your anger has been appeased
and you have consoled me.
2 He is the God of my salvation;
in him, I trust and am not afraid,
the Lord is my strength: him I will praise,
the one who saved me.”
3 You will draw water with joy
from the very fountain of salvation.
4 Then you will say: “Praise to the Lord,
break into songs of joy for him,
proclaim his marvelous deeds among the nations
and exalt his Name.
5 Sing to the Lord: wonders he has done
let these be known all over the earth.
6 Sing for joy, O people of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Against Babylon
13 | • 1 An oracle concerning Babylon,
seen by Isaiah, son of Amoz:
2 On a bare hilltop, raise a banner;
cry aloud to them,
wave a hand for them
to enter the Gates of the Nobles.
3 I have ordered my sacred knights,
I have summoned my holy ones—
all those who rejoice in my triumph—
I have commanded them to carry out my wrath.
4 Listen, a rumbling on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
Listen, a tumultuous uproar
as of kingdoms massing together!
Yes, the Lord Sabaoth is mustering his army.
5 From faraway lands,
from the ends of the heavens
they come—the Lord
and the instruments of his wrath—
to destroy the whole earth.
6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
7 All arms will go limp,
every human heart will fail him.
8 Everyone will be gripped with terror.
Pain and sorrow taking hold of them,
men will be in anguish
like women in travail.
They will look aghast at each other,
their faces aflame as with fever.
9 See how the day of the Lord comes:
it is a cruel day
coming with wrath and fierce anger.
It will make the earth desolate;
it will destroy sinners within it.
10 The stars and constellations at night
will send forth no light, the moon
will not shine; in the morning the sun
will be dark as it rises.
11 I punish the world for the evil it does,
and the wicked for their sins.
I make the arrogance of the proud cease.
I end the haughtiness of the ruthless.
12 I will make mortals scarcer than gold
and humans more rare than the gold of Ophir.
13 This is why the heavens tremble
and the earth shakes its foundation,
at the wrath of the Lord Sabaoth
on the day of his burning anger.
14 Like a hunted gazelle,
or like a flock without a shepherd
everyone returns to his own people,
each one flees to his native land.
15 Whoever is captured will be butchered,
whoever is caught will be slaughtered.
16 Their babies will be dashed to pieces before their eyes,
their houses will be looted,
their wives raped.
17 Against them, I will stir up the Medes,
who doesn’t crave for money
and are not interested in gold.
18 Their bows and arrows will strike down young men
without mercy or compassion.
They do not spare infants and children.
19 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
pride and glory of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when overthrown by God.
20 She will never be inhabited,
nor dwelt in from age to age.
There no Arab will pitch his tent,
no shepherd will tend his flock.
21 There, wild beasts of the desert will lie,
howling creatures will fill the houses,
owls and ostriches will dwell there
and wild goats will leap about.
22 There, mad dogs will cry out in her strongholds,
and jackals in her palaces.
Her time is close at hand;
her days are now numbered.
14 | 1 The Lord will take pity on Jacob; he will choose Israel again and settle them in their own land. Then foreigners will join them and be counted with the people of Jacob.
2 Nations will take them and bring them to their own place. But as soon as they are back home, the people of Israel will subdue them and make them servants and maids. Thus the people of Israel will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.
How You Have Fallen, Shining Star!
- 3 On the day the Lord gives you rest from your suffering and turmoil, from your fear and your cruel bondage, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
How has oppression ceased?
How has the strongman ended?
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of the tyrant
6 who struck down the people
with blow after blow,
who ruled the nations in anger,
with unrelenting persecution.
7 The whole earth is at rest and at peace,
breaking forth into song.
8 Even the cypresses exult
and the cedars of Lebanon say:
“Now that you have fallen,
no loggers come to cut us down.”
9 The netherworld is all astir
to meet you when you come.
It stirs up the dead to greet you,
all who were leaders of the world.
It raises from their thrones,
all who were kings of the nations.
10 They all speak and say to you:
“You have also been thrown to the ground and have become like us!
11 All your pomp has been brought down to the kingdom of death,
along with the sound of your harps.
Maggots are the bed beneath you
and worms are your blanket.”
12 How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cast down to the ground,
you who mowed down the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to heaven,
I will raise my throne
higher than the stars of God;
I will sit on the Mount of Assembly,
in the far recesses of the North.
14 I will climb up above the clouds;
I will be like the Most High!”
15 But down to the netherworld you go,
to the deep recesses of the Pit.
16 All who see you stare at you
and ponder over your fate:
“Is this the man who shook the earth,
who made kingdoms quake,
17 who made the world a waste,
who overthrew its cities
and would not give its captives
release?”
18 All kings of nations lie in state,
each in his own tomb.
19 You are nevertheless cast out of the tomb,
like a rejected untimely birth,
like a trampled corpse buried
under the slaughtered,
under those cut down by the sword,
thrown into the common grave.
20 You were not given a monument
for you have brought your land to ruin,
and caused your people to be slain.
May the descendants of evildoers never be mentioned again!
21 Go up, slaughter the sons for the sins of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the land
and cover the earth with their cities.
22 “I will rise up against them,” says the Lord Sabaoth. “I will cut off from Babylon her name, her remnant, offspring, and posterity,” says the Lord.
23 “I will turn her into a swampland, a habitation of reptiles and crocodiles; I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,” says the Lord Sabaoth.
24 The Lord Sabaoth has sworn:
“As I have planned, so will it be!
As I have decided, so will I do;
25 I will destroy the Assyrian in my land,
trample him down on my mountains;
take his yoke off my people’s necks,
and remove his burden from their shoulders.
26 This is the sentence he pronounced for the whole earth, with his hand stretched out over all nations. 27 The Lord has decided, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?
Warning to the Philistines
28 In the year King Ahaz died, this oracle was proclaimed:
29 “Rejoice not, all you Philistines, that the rod which smote you is broken; for from the snake's root will come forth a viper, and its offspring will be a flying dragon.
30 On that day, my poor will have their fill with the fruits of my fields, and the helpless will rest secure. But through famine, I will kill your children and slay even your remnant.”
31 Wail, O gate! Cry, O city!
tremble in fear, all you Philistines!
For smoke comes from the north—
a great army sweeps down on you.
32 What answer will then be given to the messengers of that nation? “The Lord has laid the foundation of Zion, and there his afflicted people will take refuge.”
Lament for Moab
15 | 1 An oracle concerning Moab:
Laid waste in a night,
Ar of Moab is silent!
Laid waste in a night,
Kir of Moab is ruined!
2 The people of Dibon have gone
to the high places to weep.
Over Nebo and Medeba Moab wails.
Every head is shaved,
every beard is shorn.
3 In the streets they wear sackcloth,
on the rooftops and in the squares;
everyone wails,
every heart melts in tears.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their howling is heard as far as Jahaz;
the armed men of Moab cry aloud
and their hearts are faint.
5 My heart cries out for Moab;
her fugitives flee as far as Zoar,
as far as Eglath-shelishiyah.
At the ascent of Luhith
they go up weeping;
on the way to Horonaim
their cries are heart-rending.
6 The watered fields of Nimrim
have become a wasteland;
the turf is dried up,
the grass is withered,
the verdure is gone.
7 Now they carry away their possessions,
the wealth they have stored up,
to the Brook of the Willows.
8 Their cry rings round the border of Moab,
resounds as far as Eglaim,
reaches as far as Beer-elim.
9 The waters of Dimon flow with blood,
but worse is yet in store,
for I will bring lions upon Dimon,
upon those who escape from Moab,
and upon those who survive in the land.
16 | 1 Like bewildered birds
cast out of their nests,
the daughters of Moab
stay at the fords of Arnon.
2 From Sela, across the wilderness,
they send lambs to the Mount of Zion:
are they not the rulers of the land?
3 They say: “Take counsel,
render decisions with justice.
Even at high noon
let your shade be like the night
to hide the fugitives.
Do not betray the refugees.
4 Let the outcasts from Moab
sojourn among you;
be a refuge for them
against the destroyer.”
(When the oppressor is no more
and the destruction is over
and those who trample the land
underfoot have gone,
5 a throne will be established
steadfast in love.
One from the house of David,
for the sake of truth will sit on it;
he will administer justice swiftly
and judge the people righteously.)
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab,
of her arrogance and insolence,
of her empty pretensions.
7 Let her wail then,
and let everyone wail for her.
Mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.
8 The fields of Heshbon languish,
the vines of Sibmah wither.
The tyrants of the nations
have trampled down the choicest vines,
those that once reached Jazer,
spreading towards the desert,
stretching out as far as the sea.
9 Therefore, I weep as Jazer weeps
for the vines of Sibmah.
I drench you, O Heshbon,
O Elealeh, with my tears!
For over your fruit and your vintage
have been heard loud battle cheers.
10 But they are gone: joy and gladness
have now vanished from your orchards.
In the vineyards
no more singing is heard,
no more shout of joy is raised.
In the wine presses
no foot treads out wine,
no voice shouts in exultation,
no heart sings a vintage song.
11 Like a lyre, therefore,
my soul moans for Moab;
my heart pines for Kir-hareseth.
12 When Moab appears on the high places,
she will only grow weary;
when she goes to pray at the Sanctuary,
it will be useless.
13 This is the word the Lord spoke against Moab in the past. But 14 now the Lord says, “Within three years, like the years of a servant bound by contract, the glorious power of Moab will have ceased to command respect, her survivors will be very few and feeble.”
Against Damascus
17 | • 1 An oracle concerning Damascus:
“Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
2 Her towns will be abandoned
and left as pasture for flocks;
there they will lie down afraid of no one.
Damascus will no longer be a kingdom,
3 so Ephraim will be left undefended.
From now on, the remnant of Aram will have no more power than the children of Israel.”
This is the Lord Sabaoth speaking.
4 On that day
the glory of Jacob will fade;
the fat of his flesh will waste away.
5 It will be as when a reaper
gathers the standing grain
and lops off the stalks,
or as when they gather the gleanings
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet some gleanings remain,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three olives are left on the topmost bough,
four or five on the fruitful branches,
says the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 On that day people will look to their Creator, their eyes turned to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will no longer look to the altars, the work of their hand,
the sacred pole, or the incense stand their fingers have made.
9 On that day, your cities will be like the cities of the Hivites and the Amorites, which they abandoned to the Israelites. All will be desolation.
10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
you have failed to remember the Rock of your refuge.
You may plant the finest plants,
you may plant out imported shoots,
11 you may make them grow
on the day you plant them,
you may make them blossom
on the day you sow,
yet they dwindle, and the harvest is gone:
then you may cry!
The Upsurge of Nations
12 Oh, the rage of many people—
they rage like the raging sea!
Oh, the thunder of many nations—
they thunder like the thundering of mighty waves!
13 But God rebukes them,
and they flee far away,
swept away like chaff
on the hills before the wind,
whirled away like eddying dust
before the thunderstorm.
14 At eventide, they sow terror;
before morning they are no more.
Such is the portion of our despoilers,
such is the lot of our plunderers.
Against Ethiopia
18 | • 1 Woe to the land of whirring wings
beyond the rivers of Cush,
2 which sends ambassadors by sea
in papyrus boats over the waters!
Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and bronzed,
to a nation feared far and wide,
a nation conquering and strong,
whose land the rivers divide.
3 All you inhabitants of the world,
all you who dwell on earth,
when a banner on the mountain is raised, look!
When a horn on the hill is sounded, listen!
4 For thus the Lord spoke to me:
“From where I dwell, I gaze untroubled,
like heat shimmering in the sunshine,
like a dewy mist in the heat of harvest.”
5 For before the vintage,
when the flowers fall,
and the blooms become ripened grapes,
I will cut shoots and prune
and hew away, spreading branches.
6 They will be left to the birds of prey
and to the beasts of the earth.
The birds will feed on them all summer,
and the beasts all winter.
7 At that time, the tall, bronzed people from a country traversed by rivers—a conquering and strong nation feared far and wide—will bring offerings to the Lord Sabaoth to Mount Zion. For this is the place where the name of the Lord dwells.
Against Egypt
19 | 1 An oracle concerning Egypt:
The Lord rides on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him;
the heart of Egypt melts within it.
2 I will stir Egyptians against each other:
brother will fight against brother,
friend against friend,
city against city,
kingdom against kingdom.
3 The Egyptians will lose heart for I will confound their plans;
they will consult idols and sorcerers,
ghosts and necromancers.
4 I will deliver the Egyptians
into the hands of a cruel master,
and a tyrant will be their ruler.
It is the Lord Sabaoth who speaks.
5 The waters of the river will dry up;
the river bed will be parched.
6 The canals will become foul dry,
the tributaries of Egypt’s Nile will dwindle and cease to flow.
The reeds and rushes will wither.
7 The plants on the banks
and at the mouth of the river,
and all the crops along the Nile will dry up, blow away and be no more.
8 The fishermen will mourn,
all who cast hook in the Nile will groan,
and those who throw nets upon the waters will lament.
9 The flax worker will despair,
the carders, too, and white cloth weavers;
10 the spinners will be crushed;
the hired laborers despondent.
11 The princes of Zoan are utter fools,
and brutish is the counsel
of the wisest of Pharaoh’s counselors.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the wise men,
a disciple of ancient kings?”
12 Where are your wise men?
Let them come forward now,
let them explain to you
what the Lord will do against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools;
the princes of Memphis have been deceived;
Egypt is led astray by the chiefs of her tribes.
14 The Lord has poured into them a spirit
which makes Egypt err in all her ventures,
as a vomiting drunkard errs.
15 And Egypt will never succeed
in anything it attempts
by head or by tail, by palm or by reed.
Egypt Will Be Converted
16 On that day the Egyptians will be like a woman trembling in fear whenever they see the hand of the Lord Sabaoth raised against them. 17 Judah will be a terror to Egypt. Whenever they think of Judah, the Egyptians will be terrified because of the terrible fate the Lord Sabaoth has in store for them.
18 On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan, in which people will call upon the Lord Sabaoth. One of them is called the City of the Sun.
19 On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the center of the land of Egypt and a sacred pillar to the Lord at its border. 20 It will be a sign and a remembrance of the Lord Sabaoth in the land of Egypt so that they may call to him when they are oppressed, and he will send a savior to defend and deliver them. 21 The Lord will reveal himself to the Egyptians. They will acknowledge him on that day and worship him with sacrifice and burnt offerings. They will make vows to the Lord and perform them. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt and then cure it. He will heal them and heed their supplications when they turn to him.
23 On that day, a highway will be built from Egypt to Assyria. Assyrians will come to Egypt, and Egyptians will come to Assyria. Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.
24 On that day, Israel will be a third party with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the earth. 25 And the Lord will bless them saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my creation, and Israel my heritage.”
The Sign of the Naked Prophet
20 | • 1 In the year that the general sent by Sargon, king of Assyria, made an assault upon Ashdod, capturing it, 2 The Lord gave a warning through Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saying, “Hang the sackcloth from your hips, take off your sandals and go.” He did so, and walked naked and barefoot.
3 Then the Lord said: Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent for Egypt and Ethiopia, 4 so will the king of Assyria lead away captives from Egypt and exiles from Ethiopia, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, their buttocks uncovered, to the disgrace of Egypt. 5 Those who pinned their hope upon Ethiopia and made a boast of Egypt will be frightened and put to shame.
6 On that day the inhabitants of this coastland will say, “Look at what happened to those we trusted and fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! What are we going to do now to save ourselves?”
Fall of Babylon
21 | 1 An oracle concerning the Desert by the Sea:
A fearful vision is shown to me:
As whirlwinds sweep over the Negeb,
coming in waves from the desert,
from the fearful land,
2 the traitor betrays,
the plunderer plunders.
“Go up, O Elam!
Lay siege, O Media!”
“I have silenced all the groanings.”
3 Therefore I am in anguish;
my body is wracked with pain
as a woman in travail.
I am so bewildered that I cannot hear,
I am so dismayed that I cannot see.
4 My mind reels,
my heart falters in fear;
the twilight I longed for
has become a horror.
5 They set the tables,
they spread the rugs,
they eat and drink.
Arise, O princes,
oil the shield!
6 For this is what the Lord said to me,
“Go, post a watchman
and make him report what he sees.
7 If he sees riders:
horsemen in pairs,
men mounted on camels,
men mounted on donkeys;
let him observe diligently,
let him listen attentively.”
8 Then the watchman shouted,
“On a watchtower, O Lord, I stand
through all the watches of the day,
and at my post, I stay
through all the watches of the night.
9 And look, here come riders,
horsemen in pairs.”
And he spoke up again:
“Fallen is Babylon, fallen,
and all the graven images of her gods
lie shattered on the ground!”
10 O my people, threshed and winnowed,
I announce to you what I have heard
from the Lord Sabaoth, the God of Israel.
Against Edom and Arabia
11 An oracle concerning Dumah:
Someone calls to me out of Seir,
“Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?”
12 The watchman answers,
“Morning comes, but soon
it will be night again.
Come back and ask,
if you want to ask again.”
13 An oracle concerning Arabia:
In the forest of Arabia lodge
the Dedanites’ traveling companies.
14 Those who dwell in the land of Tema
went to meet the fugitives:
bring bread for the hungry
and water for the thirsty.
15 These people have fled from the sword,
from the whetted swords,
from the bent bows,
from the fury of battle.
16 For this is what the Lord has told me, “In a year’s time, as a worker bound by contract would reckon it, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. 17 Few of Kedar’s archers and warriors will remain.” The Lord God of Israel has spoken.
22 | • 1 An oracle concerning the Valley of Vision.
What ails you now,
that you have all gone up to the housetops,
2 you with your hustle and bustle
a tumultuous city, a wanton town?
Your slain men
have not been killed by the sword,
nor have they died in battle.
3 Together your leaders have fled;
they were captured under the threat of the bow.
Your valiant were caught together,
they had fled far away.
4 That is why I say,
“Look away from me.
I will weep bitterly.
Do not try to comfort me
over the ruin of the daughter of my people.”
5 It is a day of panic, rout and confusion,
from the Lord, the God of hosts,
in the Valley of Vision
Walls crash;
a cry for help to the mountains.
6 Elam bears the quiver
with charioteers and horsemen;
Kir uncovers the shield.
7 Chariots are all over your choicest valleys;
horsemen are stationed at the gates.
8 Judah is stripped of her defenses.
Let Us Eat and Drink!
- On that day you turned your eyes to the arsenal at the Palace of the Forest. 9 You saw the many breaches in the defenses of the city of David. You gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore down some of them to strengthen the wall. 11 You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old Pool.
But you gave no thought to its Maker. You had no regard for him who had planned it long ago. 12 On that day the Lord, the God of hosts, called you to weep and mourn, to shave your head and put on sackcloth.
13 But look, instead of that, there is wanton revelry: oxen are butchered, and sheep are slaughtered. You eat meat and get drunk, saying, “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.”
14 A word from the Lord Sabaoth has reached my ears: “This sin will not be forgiven until they die.”
Against a Minister
15 Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: Go and talk to this man Shebna, the palace steward. Ask him:
16 Who are you and what right have you
to carve a resting place on the heights,
to cut out a burial place
for yourself here in the rock?
17 Look here, O you strongman,
the Lord will seize you;
he will take you captive
and take firm hold of you.
18 He will roll you up,
toss you like a ball,
then violently hurl you down
into a large open land.
There you will perish
with the chariots of your glory,
O you, the shame of your master’s house!
19 You will be deposed, strongman.
I will hurl you down from where you are.
20 On that day I will summon
my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah.
21 I will clothe him with your robe,
I will strengthen him with your girdle,
I will give him your authority,
and he will be a father
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
and to the people of Judah.
22 Upon his shoulder, I will place
the key of the house of David:
what he opens, no one shall shut;
what he shuts, no one shall open.
23 I will fasten him like a peg
in a sure spot,
and he will be a seat of honor
in the house of his father.
24 (Upon him will hang all the load of his father’s house—offspring and descendants, all the little vessels from bowls to jars. 25 On that day, says the Lord Sabaoth, the peg fastened in a sure spot will give way; it will be cut down and the load hanging on it will fall. Thus the Lord has spoken.)
Against Tyre
23 | • 1 An oracle concerning Tyre:
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is destroyed!
When you return from Kittim
you will hear the news and wonder.
2 Keep silent, merchants of Sidon,
all you inhabitants of the coast.
Your messengers passed over the sea,
3 across the wide oceans;
the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile,
was your income
and you were the fair of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, refuge on the sea!
The queen of the sea wonders:
“Have I not had labor pains
and brought forth children?
Have I not nourished young men
and brought up daughters?”
5 Those in Egypt will be in anguish
when they learn the fate of Tyre.
6 You who dwell on the coastlands,
wail as you pass over to Tarshish.
7 Is this the ancient city, your pride,
whose feet had carried her afar
to found colonies in distant lands?
8 Who has planned this against Tyre,
the imperial city whose merchants
are princes,
whose traders are among the great ones of the world?
9 It is the Lord Sabaoth who has planned it,
to bring down her proud majesty,
to humble the great ones of the world.
10 Till your land like the valley of the Nile
O Daughter of Tarshish,
you have no more shipbuilding yard.
11 The Lord has stretched out his hand
over the sea to make kingdoms tremble.
He has ordered the destruction
of the fortresses of Phoenicia.
12 He has said, “Rejoice no longer,
ravished virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise, pass over to Cyprus;
even there you will find no rest.”
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
a people now of no account.
The Assyrians have destined the land
to be a place for wild beasts.
They have erected siege towers
and demolished her bastions,
razed her palaces, completely
reducing her to ruins.
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your haven is destroyed.
15 On that day, Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, about a king’s life span. Then at the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in a prostitute’s song:
16 Take a harp, go about the city, forgotten prostitute, sing your sweetest song, play your best melody, that they may remember you.
17 At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre. She will return to her hire and once again play whore with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 But her wages and activities as harlot will be dedicated to the Lord, instead of being stored or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live in the presence of the Lord so that they may have abundant food and beautiful clothes.
The Sentence
24 | • 1 See how the Lord breaks
the land and makes it crack,
how he turns it upside down
and scatters its inhabitants,
2 priest and people alike,
servant and master, maid and mistress;
buyer and seller, lender and borrower.
As it will be with the creditor,
so will it be with the debtor.
3 Cracked is the earth,
worn out is the world,
for the Lord has spoken.
4 The earth mourns and withers,
the world pines and fades,
both heaven and earth languish.
5 The land lies polluted,
defiled by its inhabitants
who have transgressed the laws,
violated the ordinances,
and broken the Covenant.
6 Therefore, a curse consumes the land
and its people burn for their guilt.
Few of its inhabitants are left.
(7 The new wine mourns,
the vine pines away,
all the revelers groan.
8 The merry timbrels are stilled,
the noise of the revelers is over,
the harps and lyres are silenced.
9 No more will they drink wine with a song;
strong drink tastes bitter to the drinker.
10 The city of confusion is broken down,
every door is closed; you cannot enter.
11 In the streets they cry for wine:
all joy is gone,
all cheer has left the land.
12 The city is left in distress,
its ruined market is deserted.)
13 Some remain where nations have been
as olives after the beating of the trees,
as grapes after the vintage.
14 They lift up their voices and shout for joy,
from the vast lands they acclaim the Lord.
15 People give him glory from the western islands:
“Islands, sing to the Lord, the God of Israel!”
16 From the remotest part of the earth
we hear songs of praise:
“Glory to the Righteous One.”
Yet I said: “Woe is me! Woe is me!
There is but treachery and traitors!”
17 Not at all!
Terror, pit, and snare
await you, inhabitants of the earth.
18 He who flees at the cry of terror
falls into the pit,
and he who climbs out of the pit
gets caught in the snare.
For the floodgates of heaven are opened
and the earth shakes to its foundation.
19 The earth is broken into fragments,
the earth is in convulsion.
20 The earth reels like a drunkard,
it sways like a hut in the storm,
weighed down by its transgression,
and it falls, never to rise again.
21 On that day the Lord will punish
the host of the heavens above,
and the kings of the earth below.
22 They will be gathered together
as prisoners are gathered in the pit;
they will be shut up in a dungeon
and after a time, punished.
23 Then the moon will be confounded
and the sun ashamed,
when the Lord Sabaoth reigns
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and lets his glory be shown to his elders.
Thanksgiving
25 | • 1 The Lord, you are my God; I exalt you and praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, faithful and true, planned long ago.
2 You have made the city a heap, the massively defended city a ruin. The bastion of foreign domination is a city no more, nor will it ever be rebuilt.
3 Therefore, a strong people glorifies you; the head of a great nation holds you in awe.
4 For you have been a refuge to the poor, a haven to the needy in time of distress, a harbor in the storm, a shade from the heat.
For the blast from the ruthless is like an icy storm, 5 like heat in a dry place. You silence the noise of foreigners; you subdue the singing of the despot and the proud.
6 On this mountain, the Lord Sabaoth will prepare a feast of rich food and choice wines, meat full of marrow, and fine wine strained for all peoples.
7 On this mountain he will destroy the pall cast over all peoples, this very shroud spread over all nations, 8 and death will be no more. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all cheeks and eyes; he will take away the humiliation of his people all over the world:
for the Lord has spoken.
9 On that day you will say: This is our God. We have waited for him to save us; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. 10 For on this mountain the hand of the Lord rests.
Moab instead will be trodden down, as straw is trodden down on a dunghill. 11 He will stretch forth his hands there, as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim. But the Lord will strike down their pride together with their falsehood. 12 He will raze the high-walled fortress and level it to the ground as dust.
Song of Victory
26 | 1 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city,
he himself has set up
walls and fortifications to protect us.
2 Open the gates!
Let the righteous nation enter,
she who is firm in faithfulness.
3 You keep in perfect peace
the one of steadfast mind,
the one who trusts in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord is an everlasting Rock.
5 He brought down those who dwell on high,
he laid low the lofty city,
he razed it to the ground,
leveled it to the dust.
6 Now it is trampled
the poor and the lowly tread upon it.
Psalm of Hope
- 7 Let the righteous walk in righteousness. You make smooth the path of the just, 8 and we only seek the way of your laws, O Lord.
Your name and your memory are the desire of our hearts. 9 My soul yearns for you in the night; for you, my spirit keeps vigil.
When your judgments come to earth, the world’s inhabitants learn to be upright. 10 But when a favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn to be just. He does evil in a land of righteousness and fails to see the Lord’s majesty.
11 The Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they fail to see that. Let them see your zeal for your people, that they may be put to shame. Let your enemies be burned in the fire of your anger.
12 Lord, please give us peace; for all that we accomplish is your work.
13 O Lord, our God, other lords besides you have ruled us, but it is your name alone that we honor.
14 They are now dead, never to rise again, for you have passed sentence on them. You have wiped out all remembrance of them.
15 You have enlarged the nation, O Lord; you have given glory to your name; you have widened the country's borders. 16 For they sought you in distress, they cried out to you during their punishment.
17 As a woman in travail moans and writhes in pain, so are we now in your presence.
18 We conceived, we had labor pains, but we gave birth to the wind. We have not brought salvation to the land; the inhabitants of a new world have not been born.
19 Your dead will live! Their corpses will rise! Awake and sing, you who lie in the dust!
For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew, and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits.
20 Come, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a moment until his wrath is over.
21 For look, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling; he will punish the earth's inhabitants for their sins. The earth will reveal the bloodshed upon her and will not conceal her slain any longer.
The Vineyard of the Lord
27 | 1 On that day, with his fierce, strong, and powerful sword, the Lord will punish Leviathan, the twisting serpent always fleeing; he will slay the dragon of the sea.
- 2 On that day, he will say, “Praise my fruitful vineyard! 3 I, the Lord, am its keeper; I water it every moment. So that no one will harm it, day and night I guard it.”
4 – “I have no wall; who will cleanse me from thorns?”
– “I will march against them and burn them altogether. 5 Or if they come to me for refuge, let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me.”
6 In days to come, Jacob will take root,
Israel will blossom and bear many a shoot
and fill the face of the earth with fruit.
7 Has the Lord beaten them as he beat those who beat them?
Has he slain them as he slew those who slew them?
8 With expulsion and exile
the city has been punished;
with a blast as fierce as a storm from the east,
she has been pursued and carried off.
9 By this, therefore, the guilt
of Jacob will be expiated
and he will atone for his sins
when he pulverizes all the altar stones
like chalkstones crushed to pieces.
No more Asherah poles or incense altars!
10 For the fortified city is abandoned:
it lies deserted now,
a forsaken habitation
left like a wilderness.
There the calves graze,
there they lie down, and there
they strip bare its branches.
11 Its dry boughs are broken;
women come and make fire with them.
This is a people without understanding;
therefore their Maker will not spare them;
he will not show compassion to them.
12 On that day,
between the Euphrates and the Wadi of Egypt,
the Lord will thresh out the grain.
One by one, you will be gleaned,
O people of Israel.
13 On that day
a great trumpet will blow,
and those who were perishing
in the land of Assyria
and those who were driven out
to the land of Egypt
will return to worship the Lord
on the mountain in Jerusalem.
The Irresponsible Rulers
28 | • 1 Woe to the drunkards of Ephraim proudly adorned,
to that fading flower of glorious beauty
on the head of a rich valley—
all are dizzy with wine.
2 Look, the Lord is sending
a powerful and strong one.
Like a downpour of hail,
like a destructive tempest,
like flooding water
in torrential rain,
he will cast it down to the ground—
3 that proud ornament
of the drunkards of Ephraim.
He will trample it underfoot—
4 that fading flower of glorious beauty
on the head of a rich valley.
It will be like an early fruit
which ripened before summer:
as soon as someone sees it
he picks it, and while it is yet
in his hand, he eats it.
5 On that day, the Lord Sabaoth
will be a glorious ornament,
a diadem of beauty,
to the remnant of his people.
6 He will be a spirit of justice
to him who sits in judgment,
a source of strength
to those who turn back the enemies at the gate.
Scoffers Beware
- 7 But they also have erred through wine,
reeling and stumbling from a strong drink.
Priests and prophets stagger,
befuddled with wine,
reeling when seeing visions,
stumbling when rendering decisions.
8 All the tables are full of vomit;
there is not a spot without filth.
9 “Who does he think he is teaching?
Who does he think listens to him?
Babies just weaned from their mother’s milk?
Babies just taken from their mother’s breast?
10 Indeed, they will hear meaningless, gibberish,
senseless babbling, a syllable here, a syllable there.
11 Yes, surely, with stammering lips
and in a strange tongue,
he will talk to this nation,
12 he who once said to them,
“This is rest; give rest to the weary;”
and, “This is repose.”
But they would not listen.
13 So the Lord’s word to them will sound like
meaningless, gibberish, senseless
babbling,
a syllable here, a syllable there. As a result,
they will fall on their backsides when they try
to walk and be injured, ensnared, and captured.
- 14 Therefore, listen to the word of the Lord,
you scoffers who rule these people of Jerusalem.
15 Because you make a boast,
“We have made a covenant with death,
we have made a pact with the netherworld.
When the flood passes by
it cannot harm us,
for we have made lies our refuge
and falsehood our hiding place.”
The Cornerstone
16 Therefore, the Lord God says this:
“See, I lay in Zion a granite stone,
a precious stone,
a sure foundation;
he who relies on it shall not be put to shame.
17 I will make justice the measure
and righteousness the plumb line.
Violent hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and raging waters will overflow your hiding place.”
18 Your covenant with death will not stand,
your pact with the netherworld will be annulled.
When the overwhelming flood passes,
you will be crushed by it.
19 Morning after morning,
by day and by night,
the scourge will seize and crush you.
If you understood this message,
you would be terrified.
20 “The bed will be too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.”
21 The Lord will arise as on Mount Perazim,
he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon,
to work his work—his singular work;
to do his deed—his strange deed.
22 Put an end to your mocking,
or your bonds will be tightened,
for I have heard the destruction decreed
from the Lord, the God of hosts,
for the whole land.
Parable of the Farmer
- 23 Listen to my words, pay attention, and understand what I say.
24 Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time? Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground?
25 After leveling the soil, does he not begin to sow caraway, scatter cumin, wheat, and barley, and put spelt as the border? 26 For his God instructs him on what to do, and he gives him guidance and discretion, too.
27 For caraway is not threshed nor cumin crushed, but caraway is beaten with a stick and cumin with a rod.
28 Is the wheat milled on the threshing floor? Is it threshed without end? They put in movement chariots and horses but do not grind them.
29 All comes from the Lord Sabaoth, whose advice and wisdom are excellent.
On Jerusalem
29 | • 1 Woe to Ariel—Ariel,
the city where David encamped!
After a year or two,
after the feasts have made their full round,
2 I will lay siege on Ariel
and there will be grief and mourning.
To me, she will be like an Ariel.
3 I will send warriors against you;
they will encircle you with outposts
and raise siege works against you.
4 Thrown down, you will speak from the ground:
from the dust, your words will come muffled,
your voice will rise as a ghost’s,
your speech will be a whisper in the dust.
But in a flash,
5 the horde of your enemies will be like dust,
the horde of tyrants, flying chaff.
6 For suddenly, the Lord Sabaoth will come
with thunder, earthquake, and great noise,
with whirlwind and thunderstorm
and flames of consuming fire.
7 The hordes of all nations
that fight against Ariel,
that attack and besiege her fortress,
will vanish like a dream,
like a vision in the night.
8 As when a hungry man dreams he is eating
and awakens with an empty stomach,
or when a thirsty man dreams, he is drinking
and awakens with a parched throat,
so will the horde of nations be
that make war against Zion.
9 Be irresolute, be stupefied,
lose your sight and remain blind!
Be drunk but not from wine,
stagger but not from beer.
10 For the Lord has poured out on you
a spirit of deep sleep;
he has shut your eyes—the prophets;
he has covered your heads—the seers.
11 The revelation of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed scroll. When someone gives it to another who knows how to read and says, “Read this,” the other one answers, “I cannot; it is sealed.” 12 When the scroll is given to one who doesn’t know how to read,” he answers, “I do not know.”
These People Honor Me With Words
- 13 The Lord then said: “This people say they are loyal to me; they honor me with lip service, while their hearts stay afar. The worship they offer me is useless, these are no more than traditions and human rules.
14 Because of this, I will surprise them once more; the wisdom of the wise will be useless, and the understanding of their prudent men will be at a loss.
15 Woe to those
who hide deep from the Lord their plans,
who work in the dark and say,
“Who will know, and who will see us?”
16 You turn things upside down,
as though the potter were the clay,
and of him it could say,
“He did not make me; he knows nothing.”
17 In a very short time,
Lebanon will become a fruitful field
and the fruitful field will be as a forest.
18 On that day
the deaf will hear the words of the book,
and out of the dark and obscurity
the eyes of the blind will see.
19 The meek will find joy
and the poor among men will rejoice
in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the tyrant will be no more
and the scoffers gone forever,
and all who plan
to do evil will be cut down—
21 those who by a word make you guilty,
those who for a bribe can lay a snare
and send home the just empty-handed.
22 Therefore the Lord, Abraham’s redeemer,
speaks concerning the people of Jacob:
No longer will Jacob be ashamed;
no longer will his face grow pale.
23 When he sees the work of my hands,
his children again in his midst,
they will sanctify my name,
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,
and stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Those who err in spirit will understand;
those who murmur will learn.
Do Not Rely on the Great Powers
30 | • 1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord; “they make plans which are not mine, they form alliances I did not inspire, and thus add sin upon sin.
2 They go down to Egypt without my advice to take refuge in Pharaoh’s protection and seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.
3 Therefore Pharaoh’s protection will be your shame and Egypt’s shadow your confusion.
4 When your officials reach Zoan, and your ambassadors come to Hanes, 5 they will all be put to shame by a people who can do nothing for them, who can give neither help nor benefit but only disgrace and reproach.”
6 An oracle concerning the beasts of the Negeb:
Through a distressed and troubled land
of lions and lionesses,
of vipers and darting snakes,
the envoys carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses,
their treasures upon the humps of camels,
to a people that is of no use to them.
7 Egypt! An illusory and useless help. Because of that I call it: Scarecrow, the Do-Nothing.
Just Tell Us Pleasant Things
8 Now go, write it down as a record for them, inscribe it on a scroll, so it will be an everlasting accusation against them.
9 These are rebellious people, their children deceitful. They do not listen to the Lord’s advice.
10 To the seers they say, “See not,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy the truth. Just tell us pleasant things; see illusions and prophesy deceits. 11 Stray from the path, turn from the way! Take away from us the Holy One of Israel!”
12 Therefore, the Holy One of Israel says, “Because you despised this message and resorted instead to lies and abusive taxes, choosing to stay with it, 13 therefore this guilt of yours will be like a breach on a high wall, cracked and bulging, ready to fall; the crash will come suddenly and instantly.
14 It will be like the breaking of a potter’s vessel, smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not one shard remains big enough to scoop cinder out of the hearth or ladle water out of the cistern.”
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “Conversion and calmness would have been your salvation, quietness and trust your strength.”
16 But instead, you said, “No, we will flee on horses!” Very well then, flee! And you added, “We will ride on swift steeds.” Your pursuer will be swifter.
17 At the threat of one, a thousand will flee; at the threat of five, all will flee, till what is left of you will be like a staff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.
The Coming Prosperity
- 18 Yet the Lord waits to give you grace; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him.
19 O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. When you cry, he will listen; when he hears, he will answer.
20 When the Lord has given you the bread of anguish and the water of distress, he, your teacher will hide no longer. 21 Your own eyes will see him, and your ear will listen to his words behind you: “This is the way, walk in it.”
22 You will see the uncleanliness of your idols and images overlaid with silver and gold. You will throw them out like a menstrual cloth. “Away with you then!” you will say to them.
23 He will then give rain for the seed you sow and make the harvest abundant from the crops you grow. On that day, your cattle will graze in wide pastures. 24 Your beasts of burden will eat silage tossed to them with pitchfork and shovel.
25 For on the day of the great slaughter, when fortresses fall, streams of water will flow on every mountain and lofty hill.
26 When the Lord binds up the wounds of his people and heals the bruises inflicted by his blows, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven times greater, like the light of seven days.
Assyria Will Be Sacrificed
27 Look, from afar
the Name of the Lord is coming,
burning in anger,
with a heavy hand.
Filled with fury are his lips,
like a consuming fire is his tongue.
28 Like a rushing torrent is his breath,
rising up to the neck,
shaking the nations
as in a sieve of destruction,
putting the bit of his bridle
between the jaws of the people
causing them to err and stray.
29 You will sing,
as on the night of a holy solemnity;
your hearts will rejoice
as when people go up with flutes,
with timbrels and lyres.
to the mountain of the Lord
to the mighty One of Israel.
30 The Lord will make his majestic voice heard
and show his arm descending
in devastating fury and consuming fire,
with sweeping wind and crashing thunder.
31 At the voice of the Lord,
Assyria will be battered;
at the blows of his rod,
it will be shattered.
32 At every beat of the punishing rod
the plagues will fall on him.
For the Lord will fight him
with outstretched hand.
33 The pyre has long been ready,
prepared for the king.
Broad and deep is its fire pit,
piled up with dry grass and wood.
The breath of the Lord,
like a stream of brimstone,
will set it ablaze.
Look to the Holy One of Israel
31 | • 1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who pin their hopes on cavalry, putting their trust in chariots because they are many, relying on horsemen because they are strong.
Why did they not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord? 2 And yet he is very wise, and from him disaster will come.
He does not back down on his word; he will rise against the evildoers and cut off the help the wicked waited for.
3 The Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the Lord stretches forth his hand, the helper and the one he helped will fall and perish together.
4 For thus the Lord has spoken: Just as a lion or a lion cub growls over its prey and is neither frightened nor disturbed by the shepherd's shouts, so will the Lord Sabaoth descend to fight on Mount Zion.
5 Like birds that hover, so will the Lord Sabaoth shield Jerusalem: he will protect, deliver, rescue, and save.
6 Return, O children of Israel, to him you have so wickedly betrayed. 7 On that day each of you will throw away the idols of silver and gold that his sinful hands have made.
8 Assyria will fall by a sword not wielded by a man. They will be devoured by a sword not held by a mortal. They will flee before the sword, their young men will be captured and put to forced labor. 9 They will desert their post, and the officers, in terror, will abandon the standard.”
It is the Lord who speaks, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
A King Will Reign with Justice
32 | • 1 A king will reign with justice
and princes reign in righteousness.
2 Each will be like a shield from the wind
and a shelter from the rain,
like streams of water in a dry, parched land,
like the shade of a rock in a weary land.
3 The eyes that see will not be shut;
the ears that hear will not be stopped.
4 The mind of the rash will not judge hastily;
the tongue that stammers will speak clearly.
5 No more will the fool be taken as noble,
nor the scoundrel considered honorable.
6 For the fool speaks folly, and his mind thinks sinfully. He practices wickedness and takes pride in godlessness; he lets the hungry go without food and the thirsty without drink.
7 The ways of the scoundrel are also evil. They scheme wickedly against the poor and destroy the needy with lies even when their plea is just.
8 But noble people plan noble things, and so are their deeds.
Tremble, You Idle Women
9 Rise up, women who are at ease; hear my voice, carefree daughters; give heed to my words.
10 In a little over a year, you who feel complacent will be shaken, for harvest will not come, and the vintage will fail.
11 Tremble, you women who are at ease; be troubled, you carefree ones. Strip yourselves bare, with only a sackcloth to cover your loins.
12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, 13 for the soil of my people overgrown with briers and thorns, for all the houses of joy, for the city of the wanton.
14 For the palace will be abandoned, and the noisy city deserted; the fort and the tower will become dens forever, the delight of wild asses, a pasture for flocks.
My People Will Live in Peace
15 Until the spirit is poured on us from on high, then will the desert become a garden, and this garden land seems as common as forest.
16 Justice will dwell in the wilderness; and in the fertile land, righteousness. 17 Justice will bring about peace, producing calm and security forever.
18 My people will live in comfort and bliss in a land of secure dwellings and undisturbed resting places. 19 While the forest will be beaten down and the fortress laid waste.
20 How blessed you will be, sowing by every stream, letting your work animals roam contented and free.
Psalm of Hope
33 | 1 Woe to you, O destroyer
who never have been destroyed,
betrayer never betrayed!
When your ravaging is over,
you yourself will be ravaged;
when your treacherous deals are ended,
you yourself will be betrayed.
2 O Lord, have mercy on us
who put all our hope in you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation when trouble comes.
3 People flee when you thunder and threaten,
nations scatter when you rise majestically.
4 Your spoil, O nations, will be gathered
like grasshoppers or locusts
leaping and pouncing at the grain in the fields.
5 Great is the Lord who dwells in the height
who fills Zion with justice and right,
6 at any time he makes you secure.
Wisdom and knowledge are helpful riches,
the fear of the Lord will be your treasure.
The Intervention of the Lord
7 The people of Ariel lament in the street,
their envoys of peace bitterly weep.
8 The highways lie waste with no traveler in sight.
For the covenants were broken,
the promises trampled down;
no one has been respected.
9 The earth mourns and languishes,
Lebanon withers away with shame,
Sharon has become a wilderness,
and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.
10 The Lord says: now I will rise up,
now I will be exalted,
now I will lift myself up.
11 You conceived chaff,
you will deliver stubble,
my breath like fire will devour you.
12 The nations will be burned to lime,
like thorns cut down and burned in the fire.
13 You who are afar,
hear what I have done;
and you who are near,
acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners of Zion shake,
trembling in fear are the hypocrites.
“Who among us will dwell with flames?
Who can subsist with everlasting flames?
15 He who walks uprightly
and speaks righteously,
spurns profit from oppression,
shakes his fists at graft and corruption,
stops his ears against suggestions of bloodshed
and averts his eyes from evil plans.
16 This is the one
who will dwell on the heights,
his stronghold a fortress of rocks;
bread is given to him,
his water will not fail.
After the Oppression
- 17 Your eyes will behold a king in his splendor and a land that stretches afar.
18 Yet your mind may still dwell on its old fears: Where is the oppressor who counted and weighed the taxes and enrolled our sons?
19 But you will see no more of those fierce people with obscure speech and stammering tongues.
20 Look to Zion, the city of our festivals; see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tabernacle never to be destroyed. Not one of its stakes will ever be removed nor any of its ropes severed.
21 But there is the Lord mighty for our sake, in place of broad rivers and streams. Here you see no galley with oars, no stately sailing ship. 22 But the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our king: he will save us.
The Oppressor Pillaged
23 Your rigging hangs loose: it cannot hold the mast firm; it cannot keep the sail spread out.
Such have been the prey and spoil that even the lame pounced on it. 24 On that day no one apologized, “I am sickly.” The people who dwell there have been forgiven their sins.
The End of Edom
34 | • 1 Come, O nations, hear
and take heed, O peoples!
Listen, O earth and all that is in you;
listen, O world and all that comes from you.
2 The wrath of the Lord is upon all nations.
His fury is upon all their armies.
He has doomed them,
he has given them over for slaughter.
3 Their slain will be thrown away,
stench coming from the carcasses,
mountains will flow with blood.
4 The heavens will dissolve
and the skies roll up like a scroll,
all their hosts shall fall,
as the leaf falls from its vine,
as the fruit falls from its tree.
5 My sword waited in the heavens;
and look, it descends upon Edom,
to judge the people I have doomed.
6 The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood
and covered with fat—
the blood of goats and lambs,
the fat of the saddle of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 Wild oxen will fall
and young steers with the bulls.
Their land will be drenched with blood;
their soil enriched with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
Zion’s defender has a year of recompense.
9 The streams of Edom will become pitch,
her soil will be turned into brimstone,
her land will be burning pitch.
10 Never will its fire be quenched, night or day,
forever will its smoke go up.
From generation to generation, the land will lie desolate
and none will ever pass through it.
11 It will be the haunt of pelicans and wild hogs,
the dwelling place of the owl and the hawk.
God has decided to make it empty,
he has destined it to be desolate.
12 There will be no more kings to be proclaimed,
no princes to be acclaimed,
for the nobility will vanish
in a kingdom doomed to perish.
13 Thorns will grow over the castles,
nettles and brambles over the citadels;
the place will be a haunt of reptiles,
an abode of owls and ostriches.
14 Wild beasts will meet there,
wild goats will call to one another;
there will the night creatures alight
to find for themselves a resting place.
15 There will the great owl make her nest
to lay and hatch and also find rest.
There will the vultures gather,
each with its mate.
16 Seek and read from the book of the Lord:
not one of them will be missing,
for his mouth has given the order
and his spirit has brought them together.
17 He has cast the lot for them.
His hand has divided it among them.
They will possess the land forever,
and from generation to generation, they shall dwell there.
The Return of the Exiles
35 | 1 Let the wilderness and the arid land rejoice,
the desert be glad and blossom.
2 Covered with flowers, it sings and shouts with joy,
adorned with the splendor of Lebanon,
the magnificence of Carmel and Sharon.
They, my people, see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.
3 Give vigor to weary hands
and strength to enfeebled knees.
4 Say to those who are afraid:
“Have courage, do not fear.
See, your God comes, demanding justice.
He is the God who rewards,
the God who comes to save you.”
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unsealed.
6 Then will the lame leap as a hart
and the tongue of the dumb sing and shout.
For water will break out in the wilderness
and streams gush forth from the desert.
7 The thirsty ground will become a pool,
the arid land springs of water.
In the haunts where once reptiles lay,
grass will grow with reeds and rushes.
8 There will be a highway
which will be called The Way of Holiness;
no one unclean will pass over it
nor any wicked fool stray there.
9 No lion will be found there
nor any beast of prey.
Only the redeemed will walk there.
10 For the ransomed of the Lord will return:
with everlasting joy upon their heads,
they will come to Zion singing,
gladness and joy marching with them,
while sorrow and sighing flee away.
Sennacherib’s Invasion
36 | • 1 In the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 From Lachish, the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. They halted at the channel of the Upper Pool on the highway of the fuller’s field. 3 So Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, went out to him with Shebna, the secretary, and Joah, son of Asaph, the recorder.
4 The field commander told them, “Give Hezekiah this message of the great king of Assyria: How can you be so confident? 5 Do you think words can replace strategy and military strength? On whom are you relying on to rebel against me?
6 You rely on Egypt, a broken staff which pierces the palm of him who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, for all who rely on him. 7 Yes, you may say to me: ‘We rely on the Lord our God.’ But isn’t he the one whose altars and high places Hezekiah removed when he commanded Judah and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar?
8 Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king. I will give you two thousand horses if you are able to supply riders. 9 How could you ever repulse one of the least of my master’s generals? And you rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen! 10 Do you think that I have come to attack and destroy this land without consulting the Lord? He himself said to me: Go up to this land and conquer it!”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the field commander, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic; we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of these people on the walls.”
12 But the field commander said, “Do you think that my master sent me to speak these words only to your master and you? Isn’t it also to the men on the walls who, with you, will have to eat their own dung and drink their urine?”
13 Then the field commander stood and cried out with a loud voice in Hebrew, “Hear the words of the great king of Assyria: 14 Do not let Hezekiah deceive you! No, he will not be able to help you! 15 Do not listen to him when he tells you to trust in the Lord, saying, ‘the Lord will save us; this city will not be given over to the king of Assyria.’ 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah but to what the king of Assyria says, ‘Make your peace with me 17 and surrender. So I will let each of you eat of your vine and of your fig tree and drink the water of your cistern until I come again. Then I will take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards.’
18 Hezekiah misled you when he said that the Lord would save you. Have the gods of the nations rescued their lands from the hands of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Shepharvaim? And have the gods delivered Samaria from my hand? 20 Who among these nations' gods has been able to save his country from me? Do you think that the Lord could deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”
21 The people were silent and did not respond, for the king had commanded them not to answer him.
22 Then Eliakim, with Shebna and Joah, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him what the field commander had said.
King Hezekiah Consults Isaiah
37 | 1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went to the house of the Lord. 2 He sent Eliakim, Shebna, and the elders among the priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz.
3 And they told Isaiah, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, as when children come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver. 4 May your God hear the words of the field commander whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent. May the Lord your God rebuke him for his words, insulting the living God. Therefore offer a prayer for the few of us that are left.”
5 When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, 6 he said to them: “Tell your master this word of the Lord: Do not fear because of what you heard when the servants of the king of Assyria insulted me. Listen! 7 I will let him be disturbed by certain news, so he will return to his country, and there I will have him slain by the sword.”
8 The field commander returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 This was because King Sennacherib had heard that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was going out to fight him.
Again Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah with these words, 10 “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah that his God in whom he trusts might deceive him in saying that Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria. 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands they have destroyed! And will you be spared? 12 Have the gods saved the nations that my fathers destroyed? Gozan and Haran, Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the kings of the cities of Sepharvaim, of Hena and of Ivvah?”
14 Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers, and when he had read it, he went to the house of the Lord where he unrolled the letter 15 and prayed to say, 16 “O Lord, God of Hosts and God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth; give ear, Lord, and hear! 17 Open your eyes and see! Listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent men to insult the living God!
18 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries of the earth. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not true gods but made of wood and stone by human hands. 20 Now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that you alone, Lord, are God.”
- 21 Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent word to Hezekiah: “You have called upon the Lord and he has heard your prayer regarding Sennacherib, king of Assyria. This is what the Lord has spoken against him:
22 The Virgin Daughter of Zion
despises and scorns you;
the Daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head behind you.
23 Whom have you insulted and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted up your brow?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 Through your servants
you have insulted the Lord.
For you have said:
With my numerous chariots,
I have climbed the heights of the mountains,
the topmost recesses of Lebanon.
I have felled its tallest cedars and its choicest fir trees.
I have reached the remotest heights of its border,
the best of its forests.
25 I have dug wells and drunk waters;
I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.
26 But have you not heard how I decreed it long ago?
I have just brought to pass what I planned from days of old:
to lay waste fortified cities,
to turn them into heaps of ruins.
27 Shorn of power, their inhabitants
have been dismayed and confounded;
they have been as the grass
and green plants in the field,
as the grass on the housetops,
as grain scorched before it blooms.
28 I know whenever you rise or sit,
whenever you come or go.
29 Because of your rage against me
and of your arrogance that has
reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bridle in your mouth,
and I will turn you back
on the way by which you came.
30 This will be a sign for you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat the gleaning of the fields and next year the self-sown grain, but in the third year sow and reap, plant vines and eat the fruit.
31 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit. 32 A remnant will leave Jerusalem; survivors will come out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this. 33 So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: He shall not enter this city nor shoot his arrows. 34 He shall not raise a shield to oppose it nor build a siege ramp against it. He shall leave by the way he came, and he shall not enter the city, says the Lord.
35 I will protect this city and so save it for my own sake and for the sake of David, my servant.
36 That night the angel of the Lord went and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people rose early next morning, there lay all the corpses.
37 So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed, returned home, and lived in Nineveh. 38 While he was worshiping in the temple of his god, Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer slew him with the sword and then escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon, his son, succeeded him as king.
Illness and Cure of Hezekiah
38 | • 1 In those days, Hezekiah fell mortally ill, and the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, went to him with a message from the Lord, “Put your house in order for you shall die; you shall not live.”
2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Ah the Lord! Remember how I have walked before you in truth and wholeheartedly and done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, 5 “Go and tell Hezekiah what the Lord, the God of his father David, says: I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. See! I am adding fifteen years to your life 6 and I will save you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria. I will defend it for my sake and for David, my servant.
21 Isaiah then said, “Bring a fig cake to rub on the ulcer and let Hezekiah be cured!”
22 Hezekiah asked, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?” 7 Isaiah answered, “This shall be for you a sign from the Lord, that he will do what he has promised. 8 See! I shall make the shadow descending on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.” So the sunlight went back to the ten steps it had covered on the stairway.
Canticle of Hezekiah
9 Canticle of Hezekiah king of Judah
after his illness and recovery:
10 Once I said: In the noontime of my life, I go;
I am sent to the land of the dead,
for the rest of my years.
11 I said: Never again shall I see the Lord
in the land of the living;
never again shall I see the inhabitants of the earth.
12 Like a shepherd’s tent, my dwelling
has been pulled down and thrown away;
like a weaver, you rolled up my life
and cut it from the loom:
from day to night you made me waste away.
13 I have cried for help until morning.
Like a lion, he has broken all my bones.
14 I have uttered shrill cries
like a swallow or a crane,
I have moaned like a dove.
My eyes all the while are growing weary
as I look up to the heavens:
Come and help me, O Lord!
For I am troubled.
15 But how can I speak
and what shall I say to him,
if he himself is doing this to me?
I will have to walk all my years
bearing this anguish of my soul.
16 O Lord, give me back my health
and give me back my life!
17 My anguish has turned to peace;
you have retrieved my life
from the pit of corruption;
you have cast all my sins behind you.
18 For the dead cannot give you thanks,
death cannot give you praise;
those who go down to the pit
cannot hope for your kindness.
19 The living, the living alone
can give you thanks and praise, as I do;
fathers will tell their sons of your fidelity.
20 O Lord, come and save me!
We will sing, accompanied by harps,
in the temple of the Lord
all the days of our life.
Babylonian Embassy
39 | • 1 At that time, Merodach-baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah after hearing that he was recovering from an illness. 2 Hezekiah was pleased and showed the envoys all that was in his treasure house, the silver, gold, spices and fine oil, his entire armory and all that was in his treasury. In fact, there was nothing in his palace or in his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
3 Isaiah the prophet came to Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say and from where did they come?” Hezekiah answered, “They came to me from a distant country—from Babylon.”
4 And Isaiah said, “What have they seen in your palace?” Hezekiah replied, “They have seen everything in my palace; there is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”
5 Isaiah then said, “Hear this word of the Lord, the God of Hosts: 6 Behold the days are coming when all that is in your palace, and which your fathers have treasured to this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left. 7 And some of your descendants, born of you, will be taken and will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
8 Hezekiah then said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken to me is good!” For he thought: there will be peace and truth in my lifetime.
Be Comforted, My People
40 | • 1 Be comforted, my people,
be strengthened, says your God.
2 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, proclaim to her
that her time of bondage is at an end,
that her guilt has been paid for,
that from the hand of the Lord
she has received double punishment
for all her iniquity.
3 A voice cries,
“In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord.
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley will be raised;
every mountain and hill will be laid low.
The stumbling blocks shall become level
and the rugged places smooth.
5 The glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all mortals together will see it;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry.”
and I say, “What shall I cry?”
“All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty as the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower wilts,
when the breath of the Lord blows upon it.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will forever stand.”
9 Go up onto the high mountain,
messenger of good news to Zion,
lift up your voice with strength,
fear not to cry aloud when you tell Jerusalem
and announce to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
10 Here comes the Lord Sabaoth with might;
his strong arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
and here before him is his booty.
11 Like a shepherd he tends his flock:
he gathers the lambs in his arms,
he carries them in his bosom,
gently leading those that are with young.
The Great God
- 12 Who has measured the waters of the sea in a cupped hand,
or the breadth of the sky in the span of a hand?
Who has collected the sands of the earth?
Who has weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has probed the spirit of the Lord
or as a counselor advised him?
14 Whom has he consulted to enlighten him,
and help him to decide?
Who gave him knowledge
and taught him the ways of success?
15 The nations before him are like a drop on the brim of the bucket,
or like dust on the scales.
The islands weigh no more than powder.
16 Lebanon is not enough to burn as altar fire,
nor will its animals provide a holocaust.
17 All nations before him are as nothing,
all emptiness, all vanity in his eyes.
18 To whom, then, will you liken God?
With whose image will you compare him?
19 To an idol cast by a craftsman,
covered with gold by a goldsmith
and adorned with silver chains?
20 Or to wood that will not rot, chosen and fashioned by a skilled craftsman into an image that cannot move?
21 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning,
that you may understand how the earth was founded?
22 He sits far above the vault of the earth,
with its inhabitants like grasshoppers;
he stretches out the heavens as a curtain
and spreads them out like a tent where he dwells.
23 He reduces the princes to naught,
and the rulers of the earth to nothingness.
24 No sooner are they planted or sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them, and they wither,
a storm sweeps them away like stubble.
25 To whom, then, will you liken me
or make me equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and see:
Who created all this?
He has ordered them as a starry host
and called them each by name.
So mighty is his power,
so great his strength,
that not one of them is missing.
27 How can you say, O Jacob,
how can you complain, O Israel,
that your destiny is hidden from me,
that your rights are ignored by the Lord?
28 Have you not known, have you not heard
that the Lord is an everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth?
He does not grow tired or weary,
his knowledge is without limit.
29 He gives strength to the enfeebled,
he gives vigor to the wearied.
30 Youth may grow tired and faint,
young men will stumble and fall,
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar as with eagle’s wings;
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and never tire.
Cyrus, Liberator of Israel
41 | • 1 Keep silent before me, O islands,
or be prepared to contend with me;
O nations, draw near and speak.
Let us meet together for judgment.
2 Who has called from the east
one that victory hails at every step?
Who has given him the nations to rule
and their kings to subdue?
His sword makes dust of them
and his arrows scatter them like chaff.
3 Unharmed he pursues them through paths
that his feet have scarcely touched.
4 Who really has done all this?
I, who call the generations from the beginning,
I, the Lord, who am the first
and will be with the last.
5 The islands have seen it and feared,
the ends of the earth were scared.
6 (Each helps the other and says to his companion, “Take heart!” 7 So the craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who beats out with the hammer assures the other who strikes the anvil, saying, “It is ready for soldering,” and he fastens the idol with nails to hold it in place.)
Hope for a New Exodus
- 8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend, 9 I have taken you from the ends of the earth. I have called you from the remotest corners, and I said,
“You are my servant; I have chosen you and will not cast you away.”
10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will give you strength, I will bring you help, I will uphold you with the right hand of my justice.
11 All who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; all who fight against you will perish and come to nothing.
12 You will seek them but will not find them; your enemies, those who took up arms against you, will be destroyed, brought to nothing.
13 For I, the Lord, your God, take hold of your right hand and say to you: “Fear not, I am your assistance.”
14 Fear not, Jacob, poor worm, and you, people of Israel, so frail.
I am your redeemer, says the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, your helper.
15 I will make you a new thresher with sharp double teeth: you will thresh hills and mountains, crushing them and reducing them to chaff.
16 You will winnow them, the wind will carry them off and the storm will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 The poor and the afflicted seek water, and find none.
Their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I, the Lord, will hear them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open up streams over the barren heights
and let the rivers flow through all the valleys;
I will turn the desert into lakes and brooks
and the thirsty earth
into a land of springs.
19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle and the olive;
I will plant in the wasteland fir, cypress and pine—
20 that all may see and know,
consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
- 21 Present your case, says the Lord.
Produce your evidence, says the king of Jacob.
22 Bring your idols and let them tell us what will happen. What have they foretold so that we may consider them and reflect on the outcome?
23 Let them foretell what is to come so that we may know that they are gods. Let them do good or do evil so that we may be dismayed and terrified.
24 See, they are nothing,
their work is nothing,
and to choose them is foolishness.
25 From the north I have called him, and he comes;
from the east, I have called him by his name.
He tramples kings and princes down
as if they were mortar,
as if he were a potter working the clay.
26 Has anyone announced this from the beginning, so we might know,
or foretold it long ago, so we might say, “It is true?”
No one among you foretold it,
no one proclaimed it.
No one heard a word from you.
27 I was the first to announce to Zion:
“Look, here they come!”
and I sent a messenger to Jerusalem.
28 But when I looked, there was no one;
there was not a single counselor among them who, if asked, could give an answer.
29 All of them are nothing,
emptiness is their works;
their images are of wind and nothingness.
First Song of the Servant: Here Is My Servant
42 | • 1 Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight.
I have put my spirit upon him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
2 He does not shout or raise his voice.
Proclamations are not heard in the streets.
3 A broken reed he will not crush,
nor will he snuff out the light
of the wavering wick.
He will make justice appear in truth.
4 He will not waver or be broken
until he has established justice on earth;
the islands are waiting for his law.
5 Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread the earth and all that comes from it,
who gives life and breath to those who walk on it:
6 I, the Lord, have called you for the sake of justice;
I will hold your hand to make you firm;
I will make you a Covenant to the people,
and as a light to the nations,
7 to open eyes that do not see,
to free captives from prison,
to bring out to light those who sit in darkness.
8 I am the Lord, that is my name,
I will not give my glory to another;
or my praise to graven images.
9 See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things do I declare:
before they spring forth, I tell you of them.
Song of Victory
- 10 Sing a new song to the Lord;
let his praise reach the ends of the earth.
Let the sea and all that it holds,
let the coastlands and their inhabitants
resound with song and praise of him.
11 Let the wilderness and the cities
lift up their voice,
together with the villages of Kedar.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing,
and shout from the top of the mountain.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord
and praise him in the far islands.
13 The Lord comes like a mighty warrior,
he stirs up his fury before the fight.
He threatens, he raises the battle cry,
and he triumphs over his enemies.
14 For a long time I have been silent;
I have kept still and restrained myself,
I moaned like a woman in labor,
breathing and panting:
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills
and wither all their vegetation;
I will turn rivers into wasteland
and dry up the pools.
16 I will lead the blind by ways
which they do not know;
along unseen paths, I will guide them.
I will turn darkness into light before them
and make the rough ground smooth.
These are the things that I will do,
and I will not forsake them.
17 But those who trust in graven images and say to idols, “You are our gods” will be turned back in shame.
- 18 Listen, O deaf,
look, O blind, that you may see!
19 Who is blind, but my servant,
or deaf as the messenger I send?
Who is blind but the one I am lifting up? Who is deaf but the servant of the Lord?
20 You have seen many things without observing; your ears were open but without hearing.
21 It pleased the Lord, the Just One,
that his law receives glory and fame.
22 But this is a people robbed and plundered,
all of them ensnared in pits or languishing in prison.
They have become a prey,
with no one to rescue them;
they have become a spoil,
with no one to order, “Send them back!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this?
Who will listen and hear for the time to come?
24 Who handed Jacob to the spoilers
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord,
against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
25 Therefore, he poured out on them
the fury of his anger—
the violence of war.
It blazed round about them,
and they failed to know what it meant;
it burned and consumed them,
and they remained in bewilderment.
Amid the Flames, You Shall Not Be Burned
43 | 1 But now, thus says the Lord,
who created you, Jacob,
who formed you, Israel:
Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you.
When you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through fire,
you will not be burned;
neither will the flames consume you.
3 For I am your savior,
I, the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel.
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
4 Since you are precious in my sight,
and important—for I have loved you,
I give people in exchange for you
and nations in return for your life.
5 Fear not, for I am with you:
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, “Give them up!”
and to the south, “Do not hold them!”
Bring back my sons from afar,
my daughters from the ends of the earth,
7 all those called by my name
all I have created for my glory.
8 Lead out my people—
who have eyes but are blind,
who have ears but are deaf.
9 Let the nations gather together,
let the people assemble.
Who among them can foretell this
or declare to us the things to come?
Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right;
let others hear so that they may say, “It is true.”
- 10 You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
you are my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am He.
Before me no God was formed,
neither will there be one after me.
11 I, I am the Lord,
there is no savior but me.
12 It is I who have foretold;
I have spoken and made it known,
I, not any of your foreign gods.
Therefore you are my witnesses
—it is the Lord who speaks,
I am God.
13 From ever I am God
there is no one who can deliver from my hand.
I act, and what I do, no one undoes.
14 Thus says the Lord,
your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
For your sake, I send an army to Babylon
to bring down all their bars.
The Chaldeans’ shout of joy
will turn into lamentation.
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King.
16 Thus says the Lord,
who opened a way through the sea
and a path in the mighty waters,
17 who brought down chariots and horses,
a whole army of them,
and there they lay, never to rise again,
snuffed out like a wick.
18 But do not dwell on the past,
or remember the things of old.
19 Look, I am doing a new thing:
now it springs forth.
Do you not see?
I am opening up a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
20 The beasts of the land will honor me,
jackals and ostriches,
because I give water in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert
that my chosen people may drink.
21 I have formed this people for myself;
they will proclaim my praise.
- 22 You have not called upon me, O Jacob,
indeed you were tired of me, O Israel;
23 neither have you brought me sheep for burnt offerings,
nor honored me with your sacrifices.
I have not burdened you with offerings,
nor wearied you asking for incense.
24 You have not spent money on sweet frankincense for me,
neither have you satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.
Instead you have burdened me with your sins
and wearied me with your offenses.
25 I it is, I am He
who blots out your offenses for my own sake,
and remembers your sins no more.
26 Remind me about the past;
let us argue together.
Speak up and prove your innocence.
27 Your first father sinned, and your mediators have rebelled against me. 28 Therefore I have disgraced the dignitaries of your temple, I have consigned Jacob to destruction, Israel to scorn.
44 | 1 But now listen, Jacob my servant,
Israel whom I have chosen:
2 This is what the Lord says—
he who made you and will help you,
he who formed you from the womb:
Fear not, O Jacob, my servant,
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water upon the thirsty land
and streams on the dry ground.
I will pour my spirit upon your race
and my blessing upon your offspring.
4 They will spring up like grass,
like poplars beside the flowing streams.
5 One will say, “I belong to the Lord”;
another will call himself by Jacob’s name.
On his hand another will write “Lord”
and take the name of Israel.
6 This is what the Lord says—
Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Sabaoth:
I am the first and the last,
there is no other God besides me.
7 Who then is like me?
Let him stand up and speak,
let him argue this out with me.
Who from the beginning has foretold the future
and revealed to us what was to come?
8 Do not be afraid or troubled.
Have I not proclaimed
and foretold this long ago?
You are my witnesses;
is there a God besides me
or another Rock? I know of none.
Mockery Against Those Who Worship Idols
- 9 Good-for-nothing are all idol makers, and useless are the works they prize so much. Their witnesses, blind and ignorant, will be put to shame. 10 Who ever fashioned a god or cast an idol without hope of gain? See how its devotees will be ridiculed, for its craftsmen are but humans. 11 Let them all assemble; let them come to court; they will be both terrified and scorned.
12 The blacksmith works on an iron image over the fire and beats it into shape with a hammer. He gets hungry and tired; he gets exhausted if there is no water to drink.
13 In like manner, the wood carver takes the measurement and marks the outline of an idol and carves it with chisels, giving it a bodily form and a human face that it may live in a shrine. 14 He cut down cedars, perhaps took an oak or cypress from the forest, or maybe planted a cedar that the rain caused to grow. 15 For the common people that means fuel they use to warm themselves and cook their food. But the craftsman carves out of the tree trunk an idol which he worships and before which he bows down. 16 The remaining portion he burns to warm himself; over its live embers, he roasts meat and is satisfied. He says, “Well and good; I feel warm and enjoy the light.” 17 The other portion he has made into an idol, he worships and bows before it, praying, “Rescue me, for you are my god.”
18 They have no knowledge, no discernment. For they have shut their mind to understanding, their heart to all reason. 19 None of them has the intelligence to reflect and the sense to say, “Half of the log I burned, and on its embers I baked bread and roasted meat. Shall I then make a dirty idol of what remains? Am I to worship a block of wood?”
20 Only one of deluded mind can hold on to ashes. Will he not save himself at least and confess, “What I hold is only a lie?”
21 Remember this, Jacob,
for you are my servant, O Israel,
I have formed you to be my servant; Israel, do not forget me.
22 I have blotted out your offenses as a thick cloud,
your sins as a mist.
Return to me, for I am redeeming you.
23 Sing gladly, O heavens,
for the Lord has done this.
Shout aloud, O earth below!
Burst into song, you mountains,
you forests with all your trees!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob
and showed his glory to Israel.
24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
who formed you from the womb:
I am the Lord who made all things,
I alone stretched out the heavens,
and spread out the earth. Who helped me?
25 I am he who thwarts the omens of false prophets,
who makes fools of diviners,
who turns the wise back
and makes nonsense of their knowledge.
26 I confirm the word of my servant
and carry out the plan announced by my messengers.
I am he who says of Jerusalem,
“It shall be inhabited,”
and of the towns of Judah,
“They shall be rebuilt; I will restore their ruins.”
27 I am he who says to the ocean, “Be dry,
I will dry up your wellsprings!”
28 I call on Cyrus, “My shepherd!”
and he goes to fulfill my will.
I say to Jerusalem, “Be rebuilt!”
and see: the cornerstone is laid.
45 | • 1 Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus:
“I have taken you by the right hand
to subdue nations before you
and strip kings of their armor,
to open the gateways before you
so that they will be closed no more.
2 I will go before you to level the slopes,
I will break the gates of brass
and destroy the iron bars;
3 I will give you treasures hidden in darkness
and riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel who calls you by your name.
4 For the sake of Jacob my servant,
of Israel, my chosen one,
I have called you by your name
and given you your mission
although you do not know me.
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other;
there is no God besides me.
I armed you when you did not know me,
6 so that, from the rising
to the setting of the sun,
all may know
that there is no one besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7 I form the light and create the dark;
I usher in prosperity and bring calamity.
I, the Lord, do all this.
- 8 Let the heavens send righteousness like dew
and the clouds rain it down.
Let the earth open and salvation blossom,
so that justice also may sprout;
I, the Lord, have created it.
- 9 Woe to him who argues with his Maker being but a pot among pots. Will the clay tell him who fashions it, “What are you making? You have no skill.” 10 Woe to him who asks a father, “What have you begotten!” or a mother, “To what have you given birth?”
11 Thus says the Lord, the Holy One, he who fashions Israel: Is it for you to question me about my children, or decide the work of my hands for me?
12 I am He who made the earth and created humankind upon it.
I am He who stretched out the heavens with my own hands and gave order to their whole array.
13 I have raised Cyrus for the sake of justice. I will direct his ways and make him rebuild my city. He will send my exiles home without ransom or indemnity. It is the Lord Sabaoth who speaks.
- 14 Thus says the Lord:
The peasants of Egypt, the traders of Ethiopia, and the tall men of Seba will pass near you in chains and bow down facing you. In worship, they will say,
“Surely God is with you. There is no one else, there is no other god.”
15 Truly you are the God who remains hidden, the God of Israel, the Savior.
16 All idol makers will be put to shame; they will go away humiliated. 17 But Israel will be saved by the Lord—delivered with an everlasting salvation. You will never be put to disgrace for everlasting ages.
18 Yes, this is what the Lord says,
he who created the heavens,
– for he is God,
who formed and shaped the earth,
– for he himself set it:
“I did not let confusion in it,
I wanted people to live there instead”
—for I am the Lord and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
from a dark place of the earth;
I have not said to the race of Jacob:
“Seek me, but all will be confused,”
—for I, the Lord, tell the truth and I speak openly—.
Every Knee Will Bend
20 Come, gather together, and try to understand,
survivors from among the nations:
They are but fools they who follow idols of wood
and pray to gods that cannot move—.
21 Let them present their arguments
take counsel together and tell me:
Who announced this from the beginning,
who foretold it in the distant past?
Is it not me, the Lord?
There is no other God besides me,
a Savior, a God of justice, there is no other one but me.
22 Turn to me and be saved,
all you from the ends of the earth,
for I am God, and there is no other.
23 By my own self, I swear it,
and what comes from my mouth is the truth,
a word I say will not be revoked.
Before me, every knee will bend,
by me, every tongue will swear, 24 saying,
“In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength.”
All who have raged against him will come to him in shame.
25 But through the Lord, there will be victory and glory
to the people of Israel.
Difference Between God and the False Gods
46 | • 1 Bel bows down, Nebo collapses, and the carriages are weighed down with their idols. Their sacred objects have become a burden for the weary feasts.
2 They cringe and crouch together, powerless to save those who carry them, as they themselves are taken captive.
3 Hear me, O people of Jacob,
and all who remain of Israel,
whom I have cared for since you were conceived,
and carried since you were born.
4 Even in your old age, I am he
and I will sustain you
even when your hair turns gray.
It is I who have done this,
and who bears the burdens,
I will sustain and save you.
5 To whom will you compare me or consider me equal?
Against whom will you match me,
as though we were alike?
6 Some pour out gold from their purses,
and with silver weighed on the scales
they hire a goldsmith to make an image
before which they bow and worship.
7 They carry it upon their shoulders
and set it up in its place;
and there it stands, unmoving and silent.
They cry out to it, but it does not answer,
it delivers no one from distress and disaster.
8 Bear it well in mind, you rebels,
9 recall those things of long ago.
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
10 From the beginning, I foretold the outcome,
from ancient times, what was yet to come.
I say, and my plan will be fulfilled;
and what I wish I would accomplish.
11 From the east, I call forth a bird of prey,
from a distant land, a man to carry out my plan.
Yes, I have spoken, it will be done;
I have planned, and it will be executed.
12 Listen to me, you without hope,
you who are deprived of any right.
13 I am bringing my justice; it is not far away;
my salvation will not be delayed.
I will make salvation appear in Zion,
upon Israel, I will bestow my glory.
47 | • 1 Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon!
No more throne! Sit on the ground,
O daughter of the Chaldeans.
No longer will you be called
dainty and delicate.
2 Take the millstone and grind meal;
uncover your hair, bare your legs;
strip to the thighs and pass over the rivers.
3 Your nakedness will be exposed,
your shame will be uncovered.
I will take revenge on you
and no one will save you,
4 says our Redeemer, the Lord Sabaoth.
His name is the Holy One of Israel.
5 Go creep into the shadows and sit in silence,
O daughter of the Chaldeans,
for no more will you be called
sovereign lady of the kingdoms.
6 Angry with my people, I had left my inheritance;
I gave them into your hands,
but you showed them no mercy.
You laid a heavy yoke on the aged.
7 You said, “I will reign forever;”
but you did not take this to heart
or ponder on what would ensue.
8 Listen, therefore, you wanton woman, lounging in security and deluding yourself, “I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.”
9 But these two things will come to you
in a moment, on a single day—
loss of children and widowhood.
They will come upon you in full measure,
in spite of all your witchcraft,
in spite of the power of your spells.
10 You have trusted in your wickedness,
saying, “Nobody sees me.”
Your intelligence and knowledge
have perverted you, for you have said:
“I am, and there is none besides me.”
11 Evil, suddenly, will come your way
though you do not know it.
Disaster will fall upon you,
and no ransom will ward it off;
a catastrophe you cannot foresee
will come upon you suddenly.
12 Keep on, then, with your magic spells and the multitude of sorceries you have labored at since your youth.
Do you think they will help you now? Do you think they will cause terror around you?
13 Yet you are wearied with so many advisers. Let your astrologers stand up, stargazers who foretell what will happen each month; let them save you from what will come upon you.
14 Look, they will be like stubble
and the fire will burn them.
They cannot even save themselves
from the power of consuming flames.
These are no embers to warm anyone,
no fireside to sit by.
15 This is your lot and of your wizards
with whom you have labored from your youth.
Now each will go his own way—powerless to save you.
48 | • 1 Listen to this, house of Jacob,
called by the name of Israel
and born out of Judah’s womb,
you who swear by the name of the Lord
and invoke the God of Israel,
though not in truth or righteousness—
2 calling yourselves after the Holy City,
and relying on the God of Israel
whose name is the Lord Sabaoth.
3 From long ago I revealed things past:
they went forth from my mouth;
I declared them. Then suddenly I acted
and the word came to be.
4 Because I know that you are stubborn,
your head as hard as iron,
your forehead as bronze.
5 So I told you about them;
before they took place
I let you hear of them,
lest you should say: “My idols did these, my graven image, my molten image commanded them.”
6 Now that you have heard and seen, will you not admit it?
From now on, I will tell you new things,
even hidden things you have not known before.
7 They are created now and not long ago;
up to this day, you have not heard of them
lest you should say, “I already knew.”
8 You have not heard; you didn’t know
nor were your ears opened before,
for I knew how treacherous you were—
you who from birth have been called a rebel.
9 For my name’s sake, I delayed my anger,
for my honor’s sake, I restrained it,
lest I destroy you.
10 See: I have refined you as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11 But now, for my own sake, I will act, yes, for my own sake.
For how could I let my Name be defiled?
Never will I yield my glory to another.
12 Listen to me, O Jacob,
Israel whom I have called,
I am the same, I am the first,
and I am also the last.
13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
my right hand spread out the heavens.
When I call on the stars,
they all stand forth together.
14 Assemble all of you, and listen.
Who among them has foretold these things?
The beloved of the Lord will do what pleases him
with Babylon and the people of Chaldea.
15 I, yes I myself, have spoken;
I, myself, called him and made him prosper in his way.
If You Had Obeyed My Law
16 Come near me and listen to this: From the beginning, I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it happened, I have been there. Know then, and now, Lord the Lord has sent me with his spirit!
17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I, the Lord, your God, teach you what is best for you; I lead you in the way that you must go.
18 Had you paid attention to my commandments, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants would have been like the sand, and those born of your stock like its grains, their names never cut off nor blotted out from my presence.
20 “Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chaldea!” Declare this with shouts of joy; make this known to the ends of the earth. Proclaim: the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!
21 Those he led through the desert were never thirsty. He made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out.
22 There is no peace for the wicked, the Lord says.
The Second Song of the Servant:
The Lord Called Me from my Mother’s Womb
49 | • 1 Listen to me, O islands,
pay attention, people from distant lands.
The Lord called me from my mother’s womb;
he pronounced my name before I was born.
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword.
He hid me in the shadow of his hand.
He made me into a polished arrow
set apart in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are Israel, my servant,
Through you, I will be known.”
4 “I have labored in vain,” I thought,
“and spent my strength for nothing.”
Yet what is due me was in the hand of the Lord,
and my reward was with my God.
I am important in the sight of the Lord,
and my God is my strength.
5 And now the Lord has spoken,
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
to gather Israel to him.
6 He said: “It is not enough
that you be my servant,
to restore the tribes of Jacob,
to bring back the remnant of Israel.
I will make you the light of the nations,
that my salvation will reach to the ends of the earth.”
7 Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel,
to him whom people despise,
to him whom nations abhor,
to the servant of tyrants:
“Kings will see you and stand up,
and princes will bow down
for the sake of the Lord, the faithful one,
the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”
8 This is what the Lord says:
“I have answered you at a favorable time, and on the day of salvation, I have been your help; I have formed you and made you my Covenant with the people.
You will restore the land and allot its abandoned farms. 9 You will say to the captives: Come out, and to those in darkness: Show yourselves.
They will feed along the road and find pasture on barren hills. 10 They will neither hunger nor thirst nor will the scorching wind or the sun beat upon them; for he who has mercy on them will guide them and lead them to water springs.
11 I will turn all my mountains into roads and raise up my highways.
12 See, they come from afar, some from the north and west, others from the land of Sinim.”
Though your mother forgets you
- 13 Sing, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth;
break forth into song, O mountains:
for the Lord has comforted his people
and taken pity on those who are afflicted.
14 But Zion said: “The Lord has forsaken me,
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 Can a woman forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child of her womb?
Yet though she forgets, I will never forget you.
16 See, I have written your name upon the palm of my hands; your walls are ever before me. 17 Your sons hurry back, and those who laid you waste hasten to depart from you.
18 Lift up your eyes, look around and see: your children are all assembling and coming to you. As I live, says the Lord, you will wear them all as your jewels; they will adorn you as brides are adorned.
19 Your lonely places and your ruins, your wastelands and devastated country, will now be too small for your people, while those who destroy you will be driven off.
20 The children you will have, after those you lost, will also say in your hearing, “This place is too small for us. Give us more space to live in.”
21 You will then say in your heart, “Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, and who has brought these up? I was left alone, but these—where have they come from?”
22 Thus speaks the Lord God: See, I am to make signs to the nations; and to raise my banner to the people, that they will bring your sons in their arms, your daughters upon their shoulders.
23 Kings will be your foster fathers, their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground, licking the dust of your feet. Then you will know I am the Lord, and those who hope in me will not be ashamed.
24 Can booty be taken from a warrior or captives be rescued from a tyrant? But thus says the Lord: 25 Yes, captives will be taken from warriors and booty rescued from a tyrant: for I will fight whoever fights you, and I will save your children.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh and be drunk with their own blood, as with wine. All peoples will know that I, the Lord, am your savior, your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
50 | 1 Thus says the Lord: Where is the writ of divorce with which I dismissed your mother? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you? It was for your sins that you were sold, for your crimes that your mother was dismissed.
2 Why was there no one when I came?
Why did no one answer when I called?
Is my hand too short to reach out and save?
Have I not the power to deliver?
See how, at my threat, the sea dries up,
the rivers turn into desert,
their fish dying, for lack of water.
3 I clothe the heavens in mourning:
I make sackcloth their covering.
The Third Song of the Servant:
The Lord Has Opened My Ear
- 4 The Lord God has taught me
so I speak as his disciple
and I know how to sustain the weary.
Morning after morning he wakes me up
to hear, to listen like a disciple.
5 The Lord God has opened my ear.
I have not rebelled,
nor have I withdrawn.
6 I offered my back to those who strike me,
my cheeks to those who pulled my beard;
neither did I shield my face
from blows, spittle, and disgrace.
7 I have not despaired,
for the Lord God comes to my help.
So, like a flint I set my face,
knowing that I will not be disgraced.
8 He who avenges me is near.
Who then will accuse me?
Let us confront each other.
Who is now my accuser?
Let him approach.
9 If the Lord God is my help,
who will condemn me?
All of them will wear out like cloth;
the moth will devour them.
10 Let anyone among you who fears the Lord listen to the voice of his servant. Whoever walks in darkness and has no light to shine for him, let him trust in the name of the Lord; let him rely upon his God.
11 Yet all of you who kindle flames and carry about burning torches go into the flames of your own fire, into the sparks you have kindled. This will befall you from my hand, you will lie down in torment.
God Will Save the Children of Abraham
51 | 1 Listen to me, you who pursue justice, you who go in search of the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, to the pit from which you were quarried.
2 Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. He was alone when I called him, but I blessed and increased him.
3 Truly the Lord’s compassion is for Zion, his mercy is upon all her ruins. He will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the Lord’s garden. In her will be found joy and rejoicing, melody and song of praise and thanksgiving.
4 Listen to me, you people,
hear me, O nations.
I am to give you my law,
my justice will be a light to the nations.
5 Suddenly my justice will appear,
my salvation is on the way,
and my arm will impose my rule.
The islands also wait in hope for me,
trusting in my arm.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens
and look upon the earth beneath.
Like smoke, the heavens will vanish,
and the earth wear out like a garment;
its inhabitants will fall like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
my justice will never fail.
7 Hear me, you who know righteousness,
you who have my law in your hearts:
do not fear the reproach of others
or be terrified by their mocking.
8 For they will be like garments eaten by moths,
like wool consumed by grubs.
But my justice will last forever
and my salvation for all generations.
Awake, Lord
- 9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord!
Awake as in ancient days,
in times of generations long ago.
Did you not split Rahab in two
and pierced the dragon through?
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
to make a way on the seabed
for the redeemed to pass over?
11 The redeemed of the Lord will return
and come to Zion singing with joy,
crowned with everlasting gladness,
while sorrow and mourning flee away.
12 I, yes I, am your comforter.
How then can you be afraid of the one who dies,
of humans who fade like grass?
13 Are you forgetting the Lord who made you,
who stretched forth the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth?
Why live every day in constant fear
of the fury of the oppressor,
when he sets out to destroy you?
And where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The captive exiles will soon be free;
they will not die in deep prison,
nor will they want for food.
15 I am the Lord, your God,
the one who stirs the sea,
making its waves roar.
My name is the Lord Sabaoth.
16 I have put my words in your mouth as I stretched out the heavens. When I laid the earth's foundations, I told Zion: “You are my people, and I have shielded you in the shadow of my hand.”
17 Awake, awake!
Arise, O Jerusalem, you who drank at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury, the cup which made you tremble, that you drank to the last drop!
18 Among all the children she bore, she has no one to guide her; among all the sons she reared, she has no one to take her by the hand.
19 These double calamities have befallen you—ruin and destruction, famine and sword.
Who Is There To Console You?
20 Your children were found helpless at the corner of every street, like wild bulls in a net. They had drunk to the full the fury of the Lord, the wrath of your God.
21 Therefore, hear this now, you afflicted one who is drunk but not with wine. 22 Thus says the Lord, your Master, your God, who defends his people:
See, I am taking out of your hand the cup of trembling, the cup of my anger—you will drink of it no more. 23 But I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, those who ordered you to bow down, that they might trample on you, while you laid your body as a pavement, as a street for them to walk on.
52 | 1 Awake, awake!
Put on your strength, O Zion;
put on your glorious garments, O Jerusalem, Holy City.
For never will the uncircumcised
or the unclean enter you again.
2 Shake the dust off yourself
and rise up, O Jerusalem.
Loose the bonds from your neck,
O captive Daughter of Zion.
3 For thus says the Lord:
You were sold for no amount,
you will be redeemed without money.
4 Thus says the Lord God:
In the beginning
my people lived as aliens in Egypt;
then Assyria oppressed them without reason.
5 But now, what am I doing here? says the Lord. My people have been carried off for no money, and their masters boast of it; all day long, my name is scorned.
6 Therefore, my people will know my name;
Therefore, they will know on that day
that it is I who say: “Here I am!”
- 7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those
who bring good news,
who herald peace and happiness,
who proclaim salvation
and announce to Zion: “Your God is King!”
8 Together, your watchmen
raise their voices in praise and song;
they see the Lord face to face, returning to Zion.
9 Break into shouts of joy,
O ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord consoles his people
and redeems Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
in the eyes of the nations;
all the ends of the earth, in alarm,
will witness God’s salvation.
11 Depart, depart from that nation, come out!
Touch nothing unclean.
Purify yourselves, you who bear
all the Lord’s holy vessels.
12 Yet not in escape, or fright, will you come out,
you will not leave in headlong flight;
for ahead is the Lord, your vanguard,
and behind, the God of Israel, your rearguard.
The Fourth Song of the Servant:
Through His Punishment, We Are Made Whole
- 13 It is now when my servant will succeed;
he will be exalted and highly praised.
14 Just as many have been horrified
at his disfigured appearance:
“Is this a man? He does not look like one,”
15 so will nations be astounded,
kings will stand speechless,
for they will see something never told,
they will witness something never heard of.
53 | 1 Who could believe what we have heard,
and to whom has the Lord revealed his feat?
2 Like a root out of the dry ground,
like a sapling, he grew up before us,
with nothing attractive in his appearance,
no beauty, no majesty.
3 He was despised and rejected,
a man of sorrows familiar with grief,
a man from whom people hide their faces,
spurned and considered of no account.
4 Yet ours were the sorrows he bore,
ours were the sufferings he endured,
although we considered him as one
punished by God, stricken, and brought low.
5 Destroyed because of our sins,
he was crushed for our wickedness.
Through his punishment, we are made whole;
by his wounds, we are healed.
6 Like sheep we had all gone astray,
each following his own way;
but the Lord laid upon him all our guilt.
7 He was harshly treated,
but unresisting and silent, he humbly submitted.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter
or a sheep before the shearer
he did not open his mouth.
8 He was taken away to detention and judgment—
what an unthinkable fate!
He was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for his people’s sin.
9 They made his tomb with the wicked,
they put him in the graveyard of the oppressors,
though he had done no violence nor spoken in deceit.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with grief.
When he makes himself an offering for sin,
he will have a long life and see his descendants.
Through him, the will of the Lord is done.
11 For the anguish he suffered,
he will see the light and obtain perfect knowledge.
My just servant will justify the multitude;
he will bear and take away their guilt.
12 Therefore I will give him his portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong.
For he surrendered himself to death
and was even counted among the wicked,
bearing the sins of the multitude
and interceding for sinners.
Rejoice, O barren Woman
54 | • 1 Rejoice, O barren woman who has not given birth; sing and shout for joy, you who never had children, for more are the children of the rejected woman than the children of the married wife, says the Lord.
2 Enlarge the space for your tent, stretch out your hangings, lengthen your ropes, and strengthen your stakes, 3 for you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will take possession of the nations and inhabit abandoned cities.
4 Do not be afraid, for you will not be deceived, and do not be ashamed, for you will not be disgraced. You will forget the shame of your youth; no longer will you remember the disgrace of your widowhood.
5 For your Maker is to marry you; the Lord Sabaoth is his name. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; he is called God of all the earth.
6 For the Lord has called you back as one forsaken and grieved in spirit. Who could abandon his first beloved? says your God.
7 I have abandoned you for a brief moment, but with great tenderness, I will gather my people. 8 For a moment, in an outburst of anger, I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love, I have had mercy on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer.
9 This is for me like Noah’s waters, when I swore that they would no more flood the earth; so now I swear not to be angry with you and never again to rebuke you. 10 The mountains may depart, and the hills be moved, but never will my love depart from you, nor my Covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord whose compassion is for you.
11 O afflicted city, lashed by storm and unconsoled, I will set your stones with turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. 12 I will crown your wall with agate, crystalizing your gates and ramparts of precious stones.
13 All your children will be taught by the Lord, and they will prosper greatly. 14 Justice will be your foundation; tyranny and the fear of oppression will never come near you.
15 If ever you are attacked, it will not be of my doing; and your attacker will surely fail.
16 Look, it is I who created the blacksmith, who fans the burning coals and forges his weapons. But I have also prepared the one who makes them useless.
17 No weapon forged against you will succeed, and all who speak against you will be silenced. Such is the lot of the Lord's servants, and such is the right I grant them, says the Lord.
Come To the Water
55 | • 1 Come here, all you who are thirsty, come to the water!
All who have no money, come!
Yes, buy and drink wine and milk without money and at no cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not food and labor for what does not satisfy? Listen to me, and you will eat well and enjoy the richest of fare.
3 Incline your ear and come to me; listen, your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting Covenant, I will fulfill in you my promises to David.
4 See, I have given him for a witness to the nations, a leader and commander of the people. 5 Likewise, you will summon a nation unknown to you, and nations that do not know you will hurry to you for the sake of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has promoted you.
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call to him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked abandon his way,
let him forsake his thoughts,
let him turn to the Lord, for he will have mercy,
for our God is generous in forgiving.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
my ways are not your ways, says the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are above the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts above your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow come down
from the heavens and do not return
till they have watered the earth,
making it yield seed for the sower
and food for others to eat,
11 so is my word that goes forth out of my mouth:
it will not return to me idle,
but it shall accomplish my will,
the purpose for which it has been sent.
12 Yes, in joy, you will depart; in peace, you will be led forth: mountains and hills will break into song before you, and trees of the countryside will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn bush, the cypress will thrive; instead of briers, the myrtle. This will make the Lord famous and remain as an everlasting witness to him.
The third part of the Book of Isaiah
The Jews have come home, but the miracles announced in Chapters 40–55 of this book have not occurred. A poor community tries to organize itself and solve all kinds of problems resulting from the fact that others have taken their place during the seventy years of exile.
A prophet whose name we do not know witnesses these beginnings. He announces that God comes to take revenge on his enemies, both those within Israel who do not want to give up their sins and those outside. Above all, God comes to save those who return to him, not only the members of the Israelite community but strangers as well. This prophet continues the enthusiastic description of Zion-Jerusalem and the Messiah in his own style: she is God’s beloved, and the wedding feast will be soon. The Messiah will come with the Spirit of the Lord to deliver his Gospel to the poor.
The poems of this prophet are in Chapters 56–66 of the Book of Isaiah, there is a metrical arrangement of the poems with the announcement of the new Zion at the center:
56:1-8 The people of God welcome everyone 66:18-24
56:9-58 Reproaches, warnings and promises 65 and 66:1-17
59:1-4 Confession of sins 63:7–64:11
59:15-20 God’s vengeance 63:1-6
60 The new Jerusalem 62
61 The spirit of the Lord is upon me
God Calls Everyone
56 | • 1 This is what the Lord says:
Maintain what is right
and do what is just,
for my salvation is close at hand,
my justice is soon to come.
2 Blessed is the mortal who does these things and perseveres in them, who does not defile the Sabbath, and who refrains from evil.
3 Let no foreigner say, “Surely the Lord will exclude me from his people.” Neither let the castrated man say, “I have become a mere dry tree.”
4 For this is what the Lord says: To the castrated men who keep my Sabbaths, who choose to do what pleases me and remain faithful to my Covenant:
5 I will give them in my house and within its walls, a memorial and a name worth more than sons and daughters; I will give them a name that will never die or be forgotten.
6 The Lord says to the foreigners who join him, serving him and loving his name, keeping his Sabbath unprofaned and remaining faithful to his Covenant:
7 I will bring them to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. I will accept on my altar their burnt offerings and sacrifices, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.
8 Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the exiles of Israel: There are others I will gather besides those already gathered.
Reproaches
9 All you wild beasts, come and devour, all you beasts of the forests!
10 Blind are Israel’s watchmen: they all see nothing. They are dumb watchdogs, they are unable to bark. Lying down and dreaming, they love to slumber.
11 Greedy dogs that are never satisfied; shepherds with no discretion; they all turn their own way, every one of them for his own gain.
12 “Come, bring wine,” they say, “and let us all get drunk, and tomorrow will be as today, or perhaps even a happier day.”
57 | 1 Righteous people perish, and no one cares about it.
The just one is taken off, and no one understands that he is taken away from the calamity that comes, 2 he enters into peace.
3 But all you children of a witch, come here, you offspring of the whore and the adulterer.
4 Who are you mocking?
At whom are you making faces, opening your mouth wide, and sticking out your tongue?
You are children of sin, offspring of deceit and falsehood,
5 burning with lust among the bushes,
under spreading branches,
sacrificing your children by the streams,
in the clefts of rocks.
6 Your heart is with your idols,
the smooth stones of the wadis to which you have poured out drink offerings
and brought oblations of grain.
Can I Tolerate This?
7 You have made your bed upon a high and lofty mountain.
You went up there to offer your sacrifice.
8 You have set up your domestic idols
behind your doorposts and your doors.
Deserting me, you have uncovered your bed, climbed into it and spread it wide.
You made a bargain with those
whose bed you enjoy,
and you had intercourse with them.
9 With perfumed oil, you made yourself
look your best for Molech;
you sent envoys far afield—
the children you sent to your pagan god through a sacrificial death.
10 Although wearied with your misdeeds,
you have never given up;
you have never tired or weakened,
but instead found your strength revived.
11 Where had gone your fear of me
that you should lie and disown me,
refuse me a place in your heart
and not remember me?
Have I held my peace so long
that you no longer fear me?
12 But now I will tell your merits and deeds, it will not be for your advantage. 13 When you cry out in distress, let your idols save you! The wind will blow them all away; a whiff of a breeze will carry them off.
But he who takes refuge in me will take possession of the land, my holy mountain, his inheritance.
There Is No Peace Without Justice
14 Then it shall be said:
“Prepare, prepare, open up a way,
remove all obstructions from my people’s way.”
15 For thus says the Most High,
he who is enthroned forever,
he whose name is holy:
“I reign exalted and holy
but I am also with him, who is contrite and humble in spirit,
to give the contrite a heart revived
and the humble in spirit a new life.
16 For I will not contend forever,
nor will I always be angry,
lest the spirit of man faint before me,
the very breath that I have created.
17 His wickedness enraged me for a time,
I smote him and hid my face,
for he, a rebel, wanted to go his own drive.
And I have seen his ways.
18 But from now on, I will console,
I will heal and fully comfort him
—all his people who mourn.
19 I will bring smiles to their lips. Peace!
Peace to him who is far and to him who is near.
I will indeed heal you,” the Lord says.
20 But the wicked are like a turbulent sea
that finds no rest
and whose waters cast up mire and slime.
21 “There is no peace,” says my God,
“for the wicked.”
The Kind of Fast that Pleases Me
58 | • 1 Cry out aloud for all you are worth;
raise your voice like a trumpet blast;
tell my people of their offenses,
Jacob’s family of their sins.
2 Is it true that they seek me
day after day, longing to know my ways,
as a people that does what is right
and has not forsaken the word of its God?
They want to know the just laws
and not to drift away from their God.
3 “Why are we fasting,” they complain,
“and you do not even see it?
We are doing penance, and you never notice it.”
Look, on your fast days, you push your trade
and you oppress your laborers.
4 Yes, you fast but end up quarreling,
striking each other with wicked blows.
Fasting as you do
will not make your voice heard on high.
5 Is that the kind of fast that pleases me,
just a day to humble oneself?
Is fasting merely bowing down one’s head,
and making use of sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call that fasting,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 See the fast that pleases me:
breaking the fetters of injustice
and unfastening the thongs of the yoke,
setting the oppressed free
and breaking every yoke.
7 Fast by sharing your food with the hungry,
bring to your house the homeless,
clothe the one you see naked
and do not turn away from your own kin.
8 Then will your light break forth as the dawn
and your healing comes in a flash.
Your righteousness will be your vanguard,
the glory of the Lord, your rearguard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer,
you will cry, and he will say, I am here.
If you remove from your midst the yoke,
the clenched fist and the wicked word,
10 if you share your food with the hungry
and give relief to the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the dark,
your night will be like noon.
11 The Lord will guide you always
and give you relief in desert places.
He will strengthen your bones;
he will make you as a watered garden,
like a spring of water
whose waters never fail.
12 Your ancient ruins will be rebuilt,
and the age-old foundations will be raised.
You will be called the Breach-mender
and the Restorer of ruined houses.
13 If you stop profaning the Sabbath
and doing as you please on the holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a day of delight
and keep sacred the Lord’s holy day,
if you honor it by not going your own way,
not doing as you please
and not speaking with malice,
14 then you will find happiness in the Lord,
over the heights you will ride triumphantly,
and feast joyfully on the inheritance of your father Jacob.
The mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Penitential Psalm
59 | 1 The Lord’s arm is not too short to save nor his ear too dull to hear.
2 It is your sins, rather,
that separates you from God.
It is your iniquities that veil his face,
so that he does not hear you.
3 For your hands are blood-stained,
your fingers blotted with crimes;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongues have uttered deceit.
4 No one fights for a right cause;
no one makes a truthful plea.
They all tell lies and rely on vanity;
they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch vipers’ eggs
and weave spiders’ webs.
Whoever eats their eggs dies;
and from an egg that is crushed
a venomous snake is hatched.
6 Their thread gives useless cloth;
their works are of help to no one.
Their plans are evil plots
executed in deeds of violence.
7 Their feet rush to do evil;
they are quick to shed innocent blood.
Their minds are full of wicked thoughts,
leaving in their wake ruin and havoc.
8 They do not know the way of peace;
from them no one can expect justice.
They have made their roads tricky and crooked
so that he who follows them is lost or waylaid.
9 So, far away from us lies justice,
and beyond reach is righteousness.
We look for light but behold darkness;
we long for brightness but walk in gloom.
10 Like the blind we grope for the wall,
like those without eyes we feel our way.
We stumble at noon as at twilight;
we are dead amid our sins.
11 We are like bears that growl;
we are like doves that moan.
We look for justice and find none;
we wait for salvation that never comes.
12 For our offenses before you are many,
and our sins bear witness against us.
We acknowledge our offenses;
we know all our iniquities.
13 Yes, we have betrayed and deceived the Lord,
turning away from following our God.
We have planned violence and rebellion;
we have thought and murmured lies.
14 Justice has been withheld,
righteousness stands aloof,
for truth has fallen in the public square
and integrity is not allowed to enter.
15 There is no sincerity nor honesty.
The one who turns from evil is despoiled.
- The Lord has seen this and is aggrieved
that justice does not exist.
16 Appalled at seeing none would intervene,
his own arm brought about the victory,
his justice giving him its support.
17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and salvation as a helmet upon his head.
He wrapped himself in garments of vengeance
and put on a mantle of fury.
18 To each he will pay his due—
wrath to his enemy, reprisal to his foe.
19 Those in the west will hear the name of the Lord;
those in the east will see his glory.
For it will come like a pent-up stream
driven by the breath of the Lord.
20 But to Zion he will come as redeemer,
and to those of Jacob who turn from sin.
This is the Lord speaking.
21 For my part, this is my Covenant with them, says the Lord. My spirit, which I have poured out on you, and my words, which I have put in your mouth, will never leave you, your children, or your children’s children forever and ever.
The Glory of the Lord Rises Upon You
60 | • 1 Arise, shine, for your light has come.
The glory of the Lord rises upon you.
2 Night still covers the earth
and gloomy clouds veil the people,
but the Lord now rises
and over you, his glory appears.
3 Nations will come to your light
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
4 Lift up your eyes round about and see:
they are all gathered and come to you,
your sons from afar,
your daughters tenderly carried.
5 This sight will make your face radiant,
your heart throbbing and full;
the riches of the sea will be turned to you,
the wealth of the nations will come to you.
6 A multitude of camels will cover you,
caravans from Midian and Ephah.
Those from Sheba will come,
bringing with them gold and incense,
all singing in praise of the Lord.
7 The flocks of Kedar will be gathered for you,
the rams of Nebaioth put at your service:
they are acceptable offerings on my altar
and will enhance the glory of my house.
8 Who are these as thick as clouds,
flying like doves to their cote?
9 Ah, they are ships, with those of Tarshish in the front,
for the islands now trust in me.
They bear your sons from far away
bringing their gold and silver with them,
for the name of the Lord your God,
for the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
10 Foreigners will rebuild your walls,
and their kings will attend to you.
For though in anger I have struck you,
in love I will have mercy on you.
11 Your gates will forever be open
and never be shut by night or day,
that you may receive the wealth of the nations,
their kings leading them in procession;
(12 for the nations and kingdoms that refuse to serve you will perish; they will be destroyed.)
13 The glory of Lebanon will come to you,
the pine, the fir and the cypress, too,
to adorn the place of my Sanctuary,
to give glory to the resting place of my feet.
14 The sons of those who oppressed you will come bending low;
all who despised you will fall before your feet.
They will call you the City of the Lord,
Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 Though you have been forsaken, hated and avoided,
I will make of you an everlasting pride,
a joy for all generations.
16 You will suck the milk of nations
and be nursed at royal breasts.
You will know that I, the Lord, am your savior,
your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze, I will bring you gold;
instead of iron, I will bring silver;
instead of wood, bronze;
instead of stones and iron.
Peace will be overseers,
justice your taskmasters.
18 Violence will no more be heard in your land,
nor ruin and destruction within your borders.
You will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
19 No more will the sun give you light by day,
nor the moon shine on you by night.
For the Lord will be your everlasting light
and your God will be your glory.
20 No more will your sun go down,
never will your moon wane.
For the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your days of mourning will come to an end.
21 Your people will be upright;
forever they will possess the land—
they the shoot of my planting,
the work of my hand—
in them I shall be glorified.
22 The least of them will become a clan,
the smallest a mighty nation.
I, the Lord, will do this,
swiftly, in due time.
The Spirit of the Lord Is Upon Me
61 | • 1 The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up broken hearts,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
freedom to those languishing in prison;
2 to announce the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to give comfort to all who grieve;
3 (to comfort those who mourn in Zion)
and give them a garland instead of ashes,
oil of gladness instead of mourning,
and festal clothes instead of despair.
They will be called oaks of integrity
planted by the Lord to show his glory.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and repair cities laid waste,
left desolate for many generations.
5 Strangers will stand to feed your flocks,
foreigners to be your plowmen and vinedressers.
6 But you will be named priests of the Lord,
you will be called ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations
and bathe in the splendor of their riches.
7 Since my people’s shame has been twofold
and disgrace has been their lot,
they will possess a double portion
of inheritance in their land.
I will give them everlasting joy.
8 For I, the Lord, love justice,
I hate robbery and oppression;
I will give them their due reward
and make an everlasting Covenant with them.
9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations
and their offspring among the people.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a race, the Lord has blessed.
10 I rejoice greatly in the Lord,
my soul exults for joy in my God,
for he has clothed me in the garments of his salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of his righteousness,
like a bridegroom wearing a garland,
like a bride adorned with jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its growth,
and as a garden makes seeds spring up,
so will the Lord God make justice and praise
spring up in the sight of all nations.
Your God Will Rejoice in You
62 | •1 For Zion’s sake, I will not hold my peace,
for Jerusalem’s sake, I will not keep silent,
until her holiness shines like the dawn
and her salvation flames like a burning torch.
2 The nations will see your holiness
and all the kings your glory.
You will be called by a new name
which the mouth of the Lord will reveal.
3 You will be a crown of glory
in the hand of the Lord,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 No longer will you be named Forsaken;
no longer will your land be called
Abandoned;
but you will be called My Delight
and your land Espoused.
For the Lord delights in you
and will make your land his spouse.
5 As a young man marries a virgin,
so will your builder marry you;
and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride,
so will your God rejoice in you.
He Who Sows Will Reap
6 Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have stationed watchmen; all the day and throughout the night they will not be silent.
You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest; 7 and give him no rest either, till he restores Jerusalem and makes of it the pride of the earth.
8 The Lord swears by his right hand and by his mighty arm: Never again will I give your grain as food for your enemies, nor will foreigners drink the wine for which you have labored. 9 But those who toil will eat the harvest, and praise the Lord, and those working for the vintage shall drink of the wine in the courts of my Sanctuary.
10 “Pass through, pass through the gates, prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones; raise up a standard for the people.”
11 For the Lord proclaims to the ends of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion, here comes your salvation! The Lord brings the reward of his victory, his booty is carried before him.
12 They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called The Sought After, a city no longer abandoned.
Why are your clothes red?
63 | •1 Who is this coming from Edom,
majestically arrayed
in crimson garments from Bozrah,
marching in great strength?
“It is I, proclaiming justice,
I who am powerful to save.”
2 Why are your clothes red?
Such garments have those who tread the wine press.
3 “Alone I have trod the grapes;
not one of my people was with me.
I trampled them in my anger,
I trod them down in my wrath,
their lifeblood spattering my garments,
staining with crimson all my raiment.
4 For I had set a day of vengeance
and my year of redemption had come.
5 I looked about: there was no one to help.
I was appalled: there was no one to give support.
My own arm, then, brought about the victory,
and my own fury supported me.
6 I crushed the people in my anger,
I trampled them down in my wrath,
and on the earth I poured their lifeblood.”
Rend the Heavens and Come Down
- 7 I will sing in praise of the Lord and recall his kindness, according to all that he has done for us, his great goodness to the family of Israel. He has granted us mercy in the abundance of his blessings.
8 For he said: “Surely they are my people, children who will not be disloyal.” So he proved himself their Savior 9 in all their trials.
It was not a messenger or an angel but he himself who delivered them. Out of his love and mercy, he redeemed them, lifting them up and carrying them throughout the ages.
10 Yet they rebelled, giving grief to his holy spirit. So he turned and became their enemy, fighting against them.
11 His people then remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is he who brought them out of the sea, the shepherd of his flock?
Where is he who poured out his holy spirit in their midst, 12 who sent his own power to accompany Moses, who divided the waters before them, winning for himself eternal renown, 13 who made them go through the depths as easily as a horse in the wilderness? 14 Like cattle going down into the valley, they did not stumble.
The spirit of the Lord led them to their rest; you guided your people, winning for yourself glorious renown.
15 Look down from heaven; look down from your holy and glorious throne. Where are your zeal and strength, the yearning of your heart, and your compassion? How long will you ignore our pain? 16 For you are our Father, whereas Abraham does not know us, nor has Israel any knowledge of us. But you, O Lord, are our Father, from the beginning. You are our redeemer: this is your name.
17 Why have you made us stray from your ways? Why have you made our hearts hard so that we do not fear you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance.
18 Why have irreligious people invaded your Sanctuary? Why have our enemies trampled it down?
19 For too long we have become like those you do not rule, like those who do not bear your name.
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down! The mountains would quake at your presence.
64 | 1 As when fire sets brushwood ablaze and causes water to boil, make the nations know your name and your enemies tremble. 2 Let them witness your stunning deeds.
3 No one has ever heard or perceived, no eye has ever seen a God besides you who works for those who trust in him.
4 You have confounded those who acted righteously and who joyfully kept your ways in mind. But you are angry with our sins, yet conceal them, and we shall be saved.
5 All of us have become like the unclean; all our good deeds are like polluted garments; we have all withered like leaves, blown away by our iniquities.
6 No one calls upon your name, no one rouses himself to lay hold of you. For you have hidden your face; you have given us up to the power of our evil acts.
7 And yet, Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are the work of your hand.
8 Do not let your anger go too far, O Lord, or think of our sins forever. See, we all are your people!
9 Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.
10 Our holy and glorious house, where our ancestors used to pray to you, has been razed to the ground, and all that we treasure lies in ruins.
11 Can you still remain unmoved, O Lord, before all this? Will you punish us further with your silence?
God’s Response
65 | • 1 I let myself be found by those who did not ask for me; I have been met by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation who did not call on my name. 2 I have stretched out my hands all day to a rebellious people who chose the evil way, following their own wishes.
3 These people provoked me to my face, continually, sacrificing in gardens, burning incense on bricks, 4 living in tombs and spending nights in dark places; a people who eat the flesh of swine and broth of abominable meat.
5 They cry out, “Stay away, do not come near, for I am too sacred to be touched.” Such people and their acts arouse my anger like fire that burns all day.
6 Look, all this is written in my book; I will not keep silent till I have settled my account with them 7 for their crimes and the crimes of their fathers as well, the Lord says. I will pay them back in full because they burned incense on the mountains and blasphemed against me on the hills.
God Saves and Blesses the Just
8 The Lord says: When people find juice in a grape, they say: ‘Do not destroy it, there is a blessing here.’ So will I do with my servants; I will not destroy all of them.
9 I will create a new race from Jacob, and they will own the hills of Judah. My chosen people will inherit them, and my servants will dwell there.
10 Sharon will be a pasture for flocks, the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds;
they will be for my people who have sought me.
11 But as for you who have forsaken the Lord, you who have forgotten my holy mountain, you who spread a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny, 12 I have destined you to the sword. All of you will kneel for the slaughter.
For I called, and you did not answer;
I spoke, and you did not listen.
Instead, you did what was evil in my sight
and chose that in which I had no delight.
13 Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
Look, my servants will eat
but you will go hungry;
my servants will drink
but you will be thirsty;
my servants will rejoice
but you will be disgraced;
14 my servants will sing with gladness of heart,
but you will cry with grief in your heart
and wail in anguish of spirit.
15 My chosen ones will use the name you will leave behind as a curse, as I strike you dead and give my servants a new name.
16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will receive the blessing from the God of truth; whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of truth; for past troubles will be forgotten, and I will see them no more.
A New Heaven and a New Earth
- 17 I now create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind again.
18 Be glad forever and rejoice in what I create; for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people.
The sound of distress and the voice of weeping will not be heard anymore.
20 You will no longer know of dead children or of adults who do not live out a lifetime. One who reaches a hundred years will have died a mere youth, but one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They will build and dwell in houses; they will plant crops and eat fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses for others to dwell in; no longer will they plant for others to eat the harvest.
For as the days of a tree will be the days of my people, my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 Their labor will not be in vain, nor will they bear children destined for misfortune, for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call, I will have answered; while they are yet speaking, I will have heard.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
the lion will eat straw like the ox,
(but the serpent will feed on dust).
They will not destroy nor do any harm
over all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
True Worship of the Lord
66 | 1 Thus says the Lord:
Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool. What house, then, could you build for me, and what could you offer as my resting place?
2 My hands have made all this, and it is all mine, but I am looking for the one who is meek and contrite of heart, who trembles at my word.
3 They sacrifice an ox, then they murder a human being. They sacrifice a lamb, then they break a dog’s neck; they bring a cereal offering, then they offer swine’s blood. They burn incense, but they burn it for idols.
Since they have chosen their own ways and taken delight in their dirty idols, 4 I will likewise choose afflictions they fear and abhor for them.
For when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke, no one listened.
Instead, they did what was evil in my sight
and chose that in which I had no delight.
5 Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word: Because of my name, your own people hate and reject you, saying, “Let the Lord show his glory, that we may see your joy.”
These mockers will be put to shame. 6 Listen, an uproar from the city, a voice from the temple! It is the voice of the Lord avenging and paying back his enemies.
Birth of the New Jerusalem
7 Long before being in labor,
she has given birth;
before having birth pangs
she has been delivered of a son.
8 Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? Has anyone seen the like of it? How could a land spring forth in one day? How could a nation be formed in a moment?
Yet Zion had scarcely been in travail when she gave birth to her children.
9 The Lord says: Do I allow to conceive and yet not to give birth? For I am the one who opens the womb and who closes it.
10 “Rejoice for Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her. Be glad with her, rejoice with her, all you who were in grief over her, 11 that you may suck of the milk from her comforting breasts, that you may drink deeply from the abundance of her glory.”
12 For this is what the Lord says: I will send her peace, overflowing like a river; and the nations’ wealth, rushing like a torrent towards her.
And you will be nursed and carried in her arms and fondled upon her lap.
13 As a son comforted by his mother, so will I comfort you. 14 At this sight, your heart will rejoice; like grass, your bones will flourish. For it shall be known that the Lord’s hand is with his servant, but his fury is upon his enemy.
15 Look, the Lord will come in fire,
his chariots like the whirlwind,
to release his anger with fury
and his threat with flames of fire.
16 For by fire will the Lord execute judgment,
and by his sword against all mortals.
Those slain by the Lord will be many.
17 As for those who sanctify and purify themselves by going to the gardens and following the priestess in the midst—those who eat the flesh of pigs, reptiles and rats—their deeds and thoughts will suddenly come to an end, says the Lord.
The Pagans Enter the Kingdom of God
- 18 Now I am going to gather the nations of every tongue, and they will witness my glory, 19 for I will perform a wonderful thing among them. Then I will send some of their survivors to the nations—Tarshish, Put, Lud, Mosoch, Rosh, Tubal, and Javan—to the distant islands where no one has ever heard of me or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. 20 They will bring your kindred from all the nations as an offering to the Lord on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, on camels to my holy mountain in Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring oblations in clean vessels to the house of the Lord. 21 Then I will choose priests and Levites even from them, says the Lord.
22 The Lord says, “As the new heavens and the new earth that I will make shall endure before me, so will your name and your descendants also endure.”
23 From new moon to new moon, from Sabbath to Sabbath, every mortal will come to worship me, says the Lord. 24 And on their way out, they will see the corpses of those who rebelled against me. Their worms shall not die, their fire not be quenched, and they will be abhorrent to all.