↑   7.

A message for AHAZ, king of Judah.

¹In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not conquer it. ²When the house of David was told, "Syria is in league with Ephraim," his heart and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

³And Yahweh said to Isaiah, "Go forth to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field, ⁴and say to him, 'Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. ⁵Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, ⁶"Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it," ⁷thus says the Lord Yahweh:

¹⁶Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of hosts,
will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled,
like the burning of fire.
¹⁷The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame;
and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.
¹⁸The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land
Yahweh will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
¹⁹The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.

A remnant will return.

The LORD will punish Assyria.

²⁴Therefore thus says Yahweh, Yahweh of hosts: "O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they smite with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. ²⁵For in a very little while my indignation will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. ²⁶And Yahweh of hosts will wield against them a scourge, as when he smote Midian at the rock of Oreb; and his rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. ²⁷And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck."

²⁸he has come to Aiath;
he has passed through Migron,
at Michmash he stores his baggage;
²⁹they have crossed over the pass,
at Geba they lodge for the night;
Ramah trembles,
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim!
Hearken, O Laishah!
Answer her, O Anathoth!
³¹Madmenah is in flight,
the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
³²This very day he will halt at Nob,
he will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.


³³Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts
will lop the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
and the lofty will be brought low.
³⁴He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe,
and Lebanon with its majestic trees will fall.

---

↑   11.

The peaceful kingdom.

¹There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
²And the Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge
and the fear of Yahweh.
³And his delight shall be in the fear of Yahweh.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
⁴but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
⁵Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist,
and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.
⁶The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
and the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
⁷The cow and the bear shall feed;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁸The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
⁹They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Yahweh
as the waters cover the sea.

The exiled people will return.

¹⁰In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious.

¹¹In that day Yahweh will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. ¹²He will raise an ensign for the nations,
and will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
¹³The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
¹⁴But they shall swoop down upon the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
and together they shall plunder the people of the east.
They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites shall obey them.
¹⁵And Yahweh will utterly destroy
the tongue of the sea of Egypt;
and will wave his hand over the River
with his scorching wind,
and smite it into seven channels
that men may cross dryshod.
¹⁶And there will be a highway from Assyria
for the remnant which is left of his people,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.

---

↑   12.

Hymn of thanksgiving.

¹You will say in that day:
"I will give thanks to you, O Yahweh,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
and you comforted me.


²"Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord Yahweh is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation."
³With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
⁴And you will say in that day:
"Give thanks to Yahweh,
call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the nations,
proclaim that his name is exalted.


⁵"Sing praises to Yahweh,
for he has done gloriously;
let this be known in all the earth.
⁶Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

---

↑   13.

God will punish Babylon.

¹The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. ²On a bare hill raise a signal,
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
the gates of the nobles.
³I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
my proudly exulting ones.


⁴Hark, a tumult on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
Hark, an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
Yahweh of hosts is mustering a host for battle.
⁵They come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
Yahweh and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole earth.


⁶Wail, for the day of Yahweh is near;
as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
⁷Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every man's heart will melt,
⁸and they will be dismayed.
Pangs and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in travail.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.


⁹Behold, the day of Yahweh comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy its sinners from it.
¹⁰For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising
and the moon will not shed its light.
¹¹I will punish the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant,
and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless.
¹²I will make men more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the gold of Ophir.
¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of Yahweh of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
¹⁴And like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with none to gather them,
every man will turn to his own people,
and every man will flee to his own land.
¹⁵Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.
¹⁷Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.


¹⁸Their bows will slaughter the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
¹⁹And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
the splendour and pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.
²⁰It will never be inhabited
or dwelt in for all generations;
no Arab will pitch his tent there,
no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
²¹But wild beasts will lie down there,
and its houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ostriches will dwell,
and there satyrs will dance.
²²Hyenas will cry in its towers,
and jackals in the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.

---

↑   14.

Israel - The exiled will return.

¹Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and aliens will join them and will cleave to the house of Jacob. ²And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in Yahweh's land as male and female slaves; they will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.

³When Yahweh has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,

The king of Babylonia in the world of the dead.

⁴you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
"How the oppressor has ceased,
the insolent fury ceased!
⁵Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
⁶that smote the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution.
⁷The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
they break forth into singing.
⁸The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon,
saying, 'Since you were laid low,
no hewer comes up against us.'
⁹Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come,
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
¹⁰All of them will speak and say to you:
'You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!
¹¹Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are the bed beneath you,
and worms are your covering.
¹²"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
¹³You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north;
¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will make myself like the Most High.'
¹⁵But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the depths of the Pit.
¹⁶Those who see you will stare at you,
and ponder over you:
'Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
¹⁷who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
who did not let his prisoners go home?
¹⁸All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;
¹⁹but you are cast out,
away from your sepulchre,
like a loathed untimely birth,
clothed with the slain,
those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the Pit,
like a dead body trodden under foot.
²⁰You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.
"May the descendants of evildoers nevermore be named!
²¹Prepare slaughter for his sons
because of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the face of the world with cities."

God will destroy Babylon.

²²"I will rise up against them," says Yahweh of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity, says Yahweh. ²³And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says Yahweh of hosts."

God will destroy the Assyrians.

²⁴Yahweh of hosts has sworn:
"As I have planned, so shall it be,
and as I have purposed, so shall it stand,
²⁵that I will break the Assyrian in my land,
and upon my mountains trample him under foot;
and his yoke shall depart from them,
and his burden from their shoulder."
²⁶This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth;
and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.
²⁷For Yahweh of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?


God will destroy the Philistines.

²⁸In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle:

²⁹"Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you,
that the rod which smote you is broken,
for from the serpent's root will come forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a flying serpent.
³⁰And the first-born of the poor will feed,
and the needy lie down in safety;
but I will kill your root with famine,
and your remnant I will slay.
³¹Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in his ranks."


³²What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
"Yahweh has founded Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge."

---

↑   15.

God will destroy Moab.

¹An oracle concerning Moab.

Because Ar is laid waste in a night Moab is undone;
because Kir is laid waste in a night Moab is undone.
²The daughter of Dibon has gone up
to the high places to weep;
over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails.
On every head is baldness,
every beard is shorn;
³in the streets they gird on sackcloth;
on the housetops and in the squares
every one wails and melts in tears.
⁴Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
their voice is heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
his soul trembles.
⁵My heart cries out for Moab;
his fugitives flee to Zoar,
to Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ascent of Luhith
they go up weeping;
on the road to Horonaim
they raise a cry of destruction;
⁶the waters of Nimrim are a desolation;
the grass is withered,
the new growth fails,
the verdure is no more.
⁷Therefore the abundance they have gained
and what they have laid up
they carry away
over the Brook of the Willows.
⁸For a cry has gone round the land of Moab;
the wailing reaches to Eglaim,
the wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
⁹For the waters of Dibon are full of blood;
yet I will bring upon Dibon even more,
a lion for those of Moab who escape,
for the remnant of the land.

---

↑   16.

Moab's hopeless situation.

¹They have sent lambs
to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, by way of the desert,
to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
²Like fluttering birds,
like scattered nestlings,
so are the daughters of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.
³"Give counsel, grant justice;
make your shade like night
at the height of noon;
hide the outcasts,
betray not the fugitive;
⁴let the outcasts of Moab
sojourn among you;
be a refuge to them
from the destroyer.
When the oppressor is no more,
and destruction has ceased,
and he who tramples under foot
has vanished from the land,
⁵then a throne will be established in steadfast love
and on it will sit in faithfulness
in the tent of David
one who judges and seeks justice
and is swift to do righteousness."

⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab,
how proud he was;
of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence -
his boasts are false.
⁷Therefore let Moab wail,
let every one wail for Moab.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
for the raisin-cakes of Kir-hareseth.

⁸For the fields of Heshbon languish,
and the vine of Sibmah;
the lords of the nations
have struck down its branches,
which reach to Jazer
and strayed to the desert;
its shoots spread abroard
and passed over the sea.
⁹Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer
for the vine of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
O Heshbon and Elealeh;
for upon your fruit and your harvest
the battle shout has fallen.
¹⁰And joy and gladness are taken away
from the fruitful field;
and in the vineyards no songs are sung,
no shouts are raised;
no treader treads out wine in the presses;
the vintage shout is hushed.
¹¹Therefore my soul moans like a lyre for Moab,
and my heart for Kir-heres.

¹²And when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself upon the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.

¹³This is the word which Yahweh spoke concerning Moab in the past. ¹⁴But now Yahweh says, "In three years, like the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who survive will be very few and feeble."

---

↑   17.

God will punish Syria & Israel.

¹An oracle concerning Damascus.

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city,
and will become a heap of ruins.
²Her cities will be deserted for ever;
they will be for flocks, which will lie down,
and none will make them afraid.
³The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel,
says Yahweh of hosts.


⁴And in that day
the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
⁵And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain
and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
⁶Gleanings will be left in it,
as when an olive tree is beaten -
two or three berries
in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
on the branches of a fruit tree,
says Yahweh God of Israel. ⁷In that day men will regard their Maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel; ⁸they will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense. ⁹In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the Hivites and the Amorites, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.

¹⁰For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,
and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and set out slips of an alien god,
¹¹though you make them grow on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow;
yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.


Enemy nations defeated.

¹²Ah, the thunder of many peoples,
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations,
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
¹³The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind
and whirling dust before the storm.
¹⁴At evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who despoil us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.

---

↑   18.

God will punish Egypt.

¹Ah, land of whirring wings
which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;
²which sends ambassadors by the Nile,
in vessels of papyrus upon the waters!
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation, tall and smooth,
to a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide.


³All you inhabitants of the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
when a signal is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet is blown, hear!
⁴For thus Yahweh said to me:
"I will quietly look from my dwelling
like clear heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."
⁵For before the harvest, when the blossom is over,
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning hooks,
and the spreading branches he will hew away.
⁶They shall all of them be left
to the birds of prey of the mountains
and to the beasts of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer upon them,
and all the beasts of the earth will winter upon them.


⁷At that time gifts will be brought to Yahweh of hosts
from a people tall and smooth,
from a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide,
to Mount Zion, the place of the name of Yahweh of hosts.

---

↑   19.

God will punish Egypt.

¹An oracle concerning Egypt.

Behold, Yahweh is riding on a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt;
and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
²And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
and they will fight, every man against his brother
and every man against his neighbour,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
³and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
and I will confound their plans;
and they will consult the idols and the sorcerers,
and the mediums and the wizards;
⁴and I will give over the Egyptians
into the hand of a hard master;
and a fierce king will rule over them,
says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.


⁵And the waters of the Nile will be dried up,
and the river will be parched and dry;
⁶and its canals will become foul,
and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up,
reeds and rushes will rot away.
⁷There will be bare places by the Nile,
on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will dry up,
be driven away, and be no more.
⁸The fishermen will mourn and lament,
all who cast hook in the Nile;
and they will languish who spread nets upon the water.
⁹The workers in combed flax will be in despair,
and the weavers of white cotton.
¹⁰Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed,
and all who work for hire will be grieved.


¹¹The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish;
the wise counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
"I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings"?
¹²Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you and make known
what Yahweh of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
¹³The princes of Zoan have become fools,
and the princes of Memphis are deluded;
those who are the cornerstones of her tribes
have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴Yahweh has mingled within her
a spirit of confusion;
and they have made Egypt stagger in all her doings
as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
¹⁵And there will be nothing for Egypt
which head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.

Egypt will worship the LORD.

¹⁶In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand which Yahweh of hosts shakes over them. ¹⁷And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians; every one to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose which Yahweh of hosts has purposed against them.

¹⁸In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to Yahweh of hosts. One of these will be called the City of the Sun.

¹⁹In that day there will be an altar to Yahweh in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Yahweh at its border. ²⁰It will be a sign and a witness to Yahweh of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry to Yahweh because of oppressors he will send them a saviour, and will defend and deliver them. ²¹And Yahweh will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will know Yahweh in that day and worship with sacrifice and burnt offering, and they will make vows to Yahweh and perform them. ²²And Yahweh will smite Egypt, smiting and healing, and they will return to Yahweh, and he will heed their supplications and heal them.

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

²⁴In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, ²⁵whom Yahweh of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage."

---

↑   20.

The sign of the naked prophet.

¹In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and took it, - ²at that time Yahweh had spoken by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and loose the sackcloth from your loins and take off your shoes from your feet," and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot - ³Yahweh said, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Ethiopia, ⁴so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians captives and the Ethiopians exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. ⁵Then they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia their hope and of Egypt their boast. ⁶And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, 'Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?"

---

↑   21.

A vision of the fall of Babylon.

¹The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.

As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
it comes from the desert,
from a terrible land.
²A stern vision is told to me;
the plunderer plunders,
and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O Elam,
lay siege, O Media;
all the sighing she has caused
I bring to an end.
³Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
pangs have seized me,
like the pangs of a woman in travail;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear,
I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
⁴My mind reels, horror has appalled me;
the twilight I longed for
has been turned for me into trembling.
⁵They prepare the table,
they spread the rugs,
they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes,
oil the shield!
⁶For thus Yahweh said to me:
"Go, set a watchman,
let him announce what he sees.
⁷When he sees riders,
horsemen in pairs,
riders on asses,
riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
very diligently."
⁸Then he who saw cried:
"Upon a watchtower I stand, O Yahweh,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
whole nights.
⁹And, behold, here come riders,
horsemen in pairs!"
And he answered,
"Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
and all the images of her gods
he has shattered to the ground."
¹⁰O my threshed and winnowed one,
what I have heard from Yahweh of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.
A message about Edom.
¹¹The oracle concerning Dumah.
One is calling to me from Seir,
"Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?"
¹²The watchman says:
"Morning comes, and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
come back again."

A message about Arabia.

¹³The oracle concerning Arabia.

In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge,
O caravans of Dedanites.
¹⁴To the thirsty bring water,
meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema.
¹⁵For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the press of battle. ¹⁶For thus Yahweh said to me, "Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end; ¹⁷and the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken."

---

↑   22.

A message about Jerusalem.

¹The oracle concerning the valley of vision.

What do you mean that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,
²you who are full of shoutings,
tumultuous city, exultant town?
Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle.
³All your rulers have fled together,
without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away.
⁴Therefore I said: "Look away from me,
let me weep bitter tears;
do not labour to comfort me
for the destruction of the daughter of my people."


⁵For the Lord Yahweh of hosts has a day of tumult
and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a shouting to the mountains.
⁶And Elam bore the quiver
with chariots and horsemen,
and Kir uncovered the shield.
⁷Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
⁸He has taken away the covering of Judah.

In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, ⁹and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many, and you collected the waters of the lower pool, ¹⁰and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. ¹¹You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or have regard for him who planned it long ago.

¹²In that day the Lord Yahweh of hosts
called to weeping and mourning,
to baldness and girding with sackcloth;
¹³and behold, joy and gladness,
slaying oxen and killing sheep,
eating flesh and drinking wine.
"Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die."
¹⁴Yahweh of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:
"Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you
till you die,"
says the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

A warning to Shebna.

¹⁵Thus says the Lord Yahweh of hosts, "Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: ¹⁶What have you to do here and whom have you here, that you have hewn here a tomb for yourself, you who hew a tomb on the height, and carve a habitation for yourself in the rock? ¹⁷Behold, Yahweh will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you, ¹⁸and whirl you round and round, and throw you like a ball into a wide land; there you shall die, and there shall be your splendid chariots, you shame of your master's house. ¹⁹I will thrust you from your office, and you will be cast down from your station. ²⁰In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, ²¹and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your girdle on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ²²And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. ²³And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honour to his father's house. ²⁴And they will hang on him the whole weight of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. ²⁵In that day, says Yahweh of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a sure place will give way; and it will be cut down and fall, and the burden that was upon it will be cut off, for Yahweh has spoken."

---

↑   23.

A message about Phoenicia.

¹The oracle concerning Tyre.

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste, without house or haven!
From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them.
²Be still, O inhabitants of the coast,
O merchants of Sidon;
your messengers passed over the sea
³and were on many waters;
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
you were the merchant of the nations.
⁴Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
the stronghold of the sea, saying:
"I have neither travailed nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men
nor brought up virgins."
⁵When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
⁶Pass over to Tarshish,
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
⁷Is this your exultant city
whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her to settle afar?
⁸Who has purposed this
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honoured of the earth?
⁹Yahweh of hosts has purposed it,
to defile the pride of all glory,
to dishonour all the honoured of the earth.
¹⁰Overflow your land like the Nile,
O daughter of Tarshish;
there is no restraint any more.
¹¹He has stretched out his hand over the sea,
he has shaken the kingdoms;
Yahweh has given command concerning Canaan
to destroy its strongholds.
¹²And he said:
"You will no more exult,
O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon;
arise, pass over to Cyprus,
even there you will have no rest."

¹³Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people; it was not Assyria. They destined Tyre for wild beasts. They erected their siegetowers, they razed her palaces, they made her a ruin. ¹⁴Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is laid waste. ¹⁵In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot: ¹⁶"Take a harp,
go about the city,
O forgotten harlot!
Make sweet melody,
sing many songs,
that you may be remembered." ¹⁷At the end of seventy years, Yahweh will visit Tyre, and she will return to her hire, and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. ¹⁸Her merchandise and her hire will be dedicated to Yahweh; it will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before Yahweh.

---

↑   24.

The LORD will punish the earth.

¹Behold, Yahweh will lay waste the earth and make it desolate,
and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
²And it shall be,
as with the people, so with the priest;
as with the slave, so with his master;
as with the maid, so with her mistress;
as with the buyer, so with the seller;
as with the lender, so with the borrower;
as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
³The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled;
for Yahweh has spoken this word.


⁴The earth mourns and withers,
the world languishes and withers;
the heavens languish together with the earth.
⁵The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
⁶Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.
⁷The wine mourns,
the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.
⁸The mirth of the timbrels is stilled,
the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
⁹No more do they drink wine with singing;
strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰The city of chaos is broken down,
every house is shut up so that none can enter.
¹¹There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;
all joy has reached its eventide;
the gladness of the earth is banished.
¹²Desolation is left in the city,
the gates are battered into ruins.
¹³For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth
among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
as at the gleaning when the vintage is done.


¹⁴They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;
over the majesty of Yahweh they shout from the west.
¹⁵Therefore in the east give glory to Yahweh;
in the coastlands of the sea, to the name of Yahweh,
the God of Israel. ¹⁶From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,
of glory to the Righteous One.
But I say, "I pine away,
I pine away. Woe is me!
For the treacherous deal treacherously,
the treacherous deal very treacherously."


¹⁷Terror, and the pit,
and the snare are upon you,
O inhabitant of the earth!
¹⁸He who flees at the sound of the terror
shall fall into the pit;
and he who climbs out of the pit
shall be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven are opened,
and the foundations of the earth tremble.
¹⁹The earth is utterly broken,
the earth is rent asunder,
the earth is violently shaken.
²⁰The earth staggers like a drunken man,
it sways like a hut;
its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls,
and will not rise again.


²¹On that day Yahweh will punish
the host of heaven, in heaven,
and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
²²They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit;
they will be shut up in a prison,
and after many days they will be punished.
²³Then the moon will be confounded,
and the sun ashamed;
for Yahweh of hosts will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
and before his elders he will manifest his glory.

---

↑   25.

A Hymn of praise.

¹ O Yahweh, you are my God;
I will exalt you, I will praise your name;
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
²For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin;
the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt.
³Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
⁴For you have been a stronghold to the poor,
a stronghold to the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;
for the blast of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,
⁵like heat in a dry place.
You subdue the noise of the aliens;
as heat by the shade of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

God prepares a banquet.

⁶On this mountain Yahweh of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined. ⁷And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. ⁸He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth; for Yahweh has spoken.

⁹It will be said on that day, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is Yahweh; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

God will punish Moab.

¹⁰For the hand of Yahweh will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trodden down in his place, as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit. ¹¹And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim; but Yahweh will lay low his pride together with the skill of his hands. ¹²And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down, lay low, and cast to the ground, even to the dust.

---

↑   26.

God will give his people victory.

¹In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
"We have a strong city;
he sets up salvation
as walls and bulwarks.
²Open the gates,
that the righteous nation which keeps faith
may enter in.
³You keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
⁴Trust in Yahweh for ever,
for the Lord Yahweh is an everlasting rock.
⁵For he has brought low
the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city.
He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,
casts it to the dust.
⁶The foot tramples it,
the feet of the poor,
the steps of the needy."


⁷The way of the righteous is level;
you make smooth the path of the righteous.
⁸In the path of your judgments,
O Yahweh, we wait for you;
your memorial name
is the desire of our soul.
⁹My soul yearns for you in the night,
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
¹⁰If favour is shown to the wicked,
he does not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness he deals perversely
and does not see the majesty of Yahweh.


¹¹ O Yahweh, your hand is lifted up,
but they see it not.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
¹² O Yahweh, you will ordain peace for us,
you have wrought for us all our works.
¹³ O Yahweh our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but your name alone we acknowledge.
¹⁴They are dead, they will not live;
they are shades, they will not arise;
to that end you have visited them with destruction
and wiped out all remembrance of them.
¹⁵But you have increased the nation, O Yahweh,
you have increased the nation;
you are glorified;
you have enlarged all the borders of the land.


¹⁶ O Yahweh, in distress they sought you,
they poured out a prayer
when your chastening was upon them.
¹⁷Like a woman with child,
who writhes and cries out in her pangs,
when she is near her time,
so were we because of you, O Yahweh;
¹⁸we were with child, we writhed,
we have as it were brought forth wind.
We have wrought no deliverance in the earth,
and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
¹⁹Your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise.
O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a dew of light,
and on the land of the shades you will let it fall.


Judgement & restoration.

²⁰Come, my people, enter your chambers,
and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until the wrath is past.
²¹For behold, Yahweh is coming forth out of his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed upon her,
and will no more cover her slain.

---

↑   27.

¹In that day Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

²In that day:
"A pleasant vineyard, sing of it!
³I, Yahweh, am its keeper;
every moment I water it.
Lest any one harm it,
I guard it night and day;
⁴I have no wrath.
Would that I had thorns and briers to battle!
I would set out against them,
I would burn them up together.
⁵Or let them lay hold of my protection,
let them make peace with me,
let them make peace with me."
⁶In days to come Jacob shall take root,
Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots,
and fill the whole world with fruit.


⁷Has he smitten them as he smote those who smote them?
Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain?
⁸Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them;
he removed them with his fierce blast in the day of the east wind.
⁹Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be expiated,
and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:
when he makes all the stones of the altars
like chalkstones crushed to pieces,
no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing.
¹⁰For the fortified city is solitary,
a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;
there the calf grazes,
there he lies down, and strips its branches.
¹¹When its boughs are dry, they are broken;
women come and make a fire of them.
For this is a people without discernment;
therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them,
he that formed them will show them no favour.

¹²In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt Yahweh will thresh out the grain, and you will be gathered one by one, O people of Israel.

¹³And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship Yahweh on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

---

↑   28.

A warning to Israel.

¹Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
and to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!
²Behold, Yahweh has one who is mighty and strong;
like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,
like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters,
he will cast down to the earth with violence.
³The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim
will be trodden under foot;
⁴and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley,
will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer:
when a man sees it, he eats it up
as soon as it is in his hand.


⁵In that day Yahweh of hosts will be a crown of glory,
and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people;
⁶and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.


Isaiah & the drunken prophets of Judah.

⁷These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink;
the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,
they are confused with wine, they stagger with strong drink;
they err in vision, they stumble in giving judgment.
⁸For all tables are full of vomit,
no place is without filthiness.


⁹"Whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from the milk,
those taken from the breast?
¹⁰For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little."


¹¹Nay, but by men of strange lips
and with an alien tongue
Yahweh will speak to this people,
¹²to whom he has said,
"This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose";
yet they would not hear.
¹³Therefore the word of Yahweh will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little;
that they may go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.


A cornerstone of Zion.

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, you scoffers,
who rule this people in Jerusalem!
¹⁵Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death,
and with Sheol we have an agreement;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through
it will not come to us;
for we have made lies our refuge,
and in falsehood we have taken shelter";
¹⁶therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh,
"Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
'He who believes will not be in haste.'
¹⁷And I will make justice the line,
and righteousness the plummet;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and waters will overwhelm the shelter."
¹⁸Then your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through
you will be beaten down by it.
¹⁹As often as it passes through it will take you;
for morning by morning it will pass through,
by day and by night;
and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.
²⁰For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on it,
and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in it.
²¹For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim,
he will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon;
to do his deed - strange is his deed!
and to work his work - alien is his work!
²²Now therefore do not scoff,
lest your bonds be made strong;
for I have heard a decree of destruction
from the Lord Yahweh of hosts upon the whole land.


God's wisdom.

²³Give ear, and hear my voice;
hearken, and hear my speech.
²⁴Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?
does he continually open and harrow his ground?
²⁵When he has leveled its surface,
does he not scatter dill, sow cummin,
and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place,
and spelt as the border?
²⁶For he is instructed aright;
his God teaches him.


²⁷Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
nor is a cart wheel rolled over cummin;
but dill is beaten out with a stick,
and cummin with a rod.
²⁸Does one crush bread grain?
No, he does not thresh it for ever;
when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses,
he does not crush it.
²⁹This also comes from Yahweh of hosts;
he is wonderful in counsel,
and excellent in wisdom.

---

↑   29.

The fate of Jerusalem.

¹Ho Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the feasts run their round.
²Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
and she shall be to me like an Ariel.
³And I will encamp against you round about,
and will besiege you with towers
and I will raise siegeworks against you.
⁴Then deep from the earth you shall speak,
from low in the dust your words shall come;
your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,
and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.


⁵But the multitude of your foes shall be like small dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
And in an instant, suddenly,
⁶you will be visited by Yahweh of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest,
and the flame of a devouring fire.
⁷And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
⁸As when a hungry man dreams he is eating
and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking
and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion.


Disregarded warnings.

⁹Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor,
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
stagger, but not with strong drink!
¹⁰For Yahweh has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes, the prophets,
and covered your heads, the seers. ¹¹And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed." ¹²And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot read."

¹³And Yahweh said:

"Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honour me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment of men learned by rote;
¹⁴therefore, behold, I will again
do marvelous things with this people,
wonderful and marvelous;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hid."


Hope for the future.

¹⁵Woe to those who hide deep from Yahweh their counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"
¹⁶You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay;
that the thing made should say of its maker,
"He did not make me";
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
"He has no understanding"?


¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while
until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
¹⁸In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
¹⁹The meek shall obtain fresh joy in Yahweh,
and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
²⁰For the ruthless shall come to nought and the scoffer cease,
and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
²¹who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.


²²Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham,
concerning the house of Jacob:
"Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale.
²³For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
²⁴And those who err in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction."

---

↑   30.

A useless treaty with Egypt.

¹"Woe to the rebellious children," says Yahweh,
"who carry out a plan, but not mine;
and who make a league, but not of my spirit,
that they may add sin to sin;
²who set out to go down to Egypt,
without asking for my counsel,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh,
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
³Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
⁴For though his officials are at Zoan
and his envoys reach Hanes,
⁵every one comes to shame
through a people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
but shame and disgrace."

⁶An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,
from where come the lioness and the lion,
the viper and the flying serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of asses,
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
⁷For Egypt's help is worthless and empty,
therefore I have called her
"Rahab who sits still."


The disobedient people.

⁸And now, go, write it before them on a tablet,
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
as a witness for ever.
⁹For they are a rebellious people,
lying sons,
sons who will not hear
the instruction of Yahweh;
¹⁰who say to the seers, "See not";
and to the prophets, "Prophesy not to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
¹¹leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more of the Holy One of Israel."
¹²Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
"Because you despise this word,
and trust in oppression and perverseness,
and rely on them;
¹³therefore this iniquity shall be to you
like a break in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse,
whose crash comes suddenly, in an instant;
¹⁴and its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel
which is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a sherd is found
with which to take fire from the hearth,
or to dip up water out of the cistern."


¹⁵For thus said the Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel,
"In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."
And you would not,
¹⁶but you said, "No! We will speed upon horses,"
therefore you shall speed away;
and, "We will ride upon swift steeds,"
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
¹⁷A thousand shall flee at the threat of one,
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.


¹⁸Therefore Yahweh waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For Yahweh is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.

God will bless his people.

¹⁹Yea, O people in Zion who dwell at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. ²⁰And though Yahweh give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. ²¹And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. ²²Then you will defile your silver-covered graven images and your gold-plated molten images. You will scatter them as unclean things; you will say to them, "Begone!"

²³And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your cattle will graze in large pastures; ²⁴and the oxen and the asses that till the ground will eat salted provender, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. ²⁵And upon every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. ²⁶Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when Yahweh binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

God will punish Assyria.

²⁷Behold, the name of Yahweh comes from far,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;
his lips are full of indignation,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
²⁸his breath is like an overflowing stream
that reaches up to the neck;
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.

²⁹You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel. ³⁰And Yahweh will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and tempest and hailstones. ³¹The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of Yahweh, when he smites with his rod. ³²And every stroke of the staff of punishment which Yahweh lays upon them will be to the sound of timbrels and lyres; battling with brandished arm he will fight with them. ³³For a burning place has long been prepared; yea, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of Yahweh, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.

---

↑   31.

God will protect Jerusalem.

¹Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult Yahweh!
²And yet he is wise and brings disaster,
he does not call back his words,
but will arise against the house of the evildoers,
and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.
³The Egyptians are men, and not God;
and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.
When Yahweh stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble,
and he who is helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.


⁴For thus Yahweh said to me,
As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,
and when a band of shepherds is called forth against him
is not terrified by their shouting
or daunted at their noise,
so Yahweh of hosts will come down
to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill.
⁵Like birds hovering, so Yahweh of hosts
will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it,
he will spare and rescue it.

⁶Turn to him from whom you have deeply revolted, O people of Israel. ⁷For in that day every one shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you. ⁸"And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man;
and a sword, not of man, shall devour him;
and he shall flee from the sword,
and his young men shall be put to forced labour.
⁹His rock shall pass away in terror,
and his officers desert the standard in panic,"
says Yahweh, whose fire is in Zion,
and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

---

↑   32.

A king with integrity.

¹Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,
and princes will rule in justice.
²Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
a covert from the tempest,
like streams of water in a dry place,
like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
³Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will hearken.
⁴The mind of the rash will have good judgment,
and the tongue of the stammerers will speak readily and distinctly.
⁵The fool will no more be called noble,
nor the knave said to be honourable.
⁶For the fool speaks folly,
and his mind plots iniquity:
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning Yahweh,
to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
⁷The knaveries of the knave are evil;
he devises wicked devices
to ruin the poor with lying words,
even when the plea of the needy is right.
⁸But he who is noble devises noble things,
and by noble things he stands.


Judgement & restoration.

⁹Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;
you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
¹⁰In little more than a year
you will shudder, you complacent women;
for the vintage will fail,
the fruit harvest will not come.
¹¹Tremble, you women who are at ease,
shudder, you complacent ones;
strip, and make yourselves bare,
and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
¹²Beat upon your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine,
¹³for the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers;
yea, for all the joyous houses
in the joyful city.
¹⁴For the palace will be forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens for ever,
a joy of wild asses,
a pasture of flocks;
¹⁵until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
¹⁶Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
¹⁷And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever.
¹⁸My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
¹⁹And the forest will utterly go down,
and the city will be utterly laid low.
²⁰Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
who let the feet of the ox and the ass range free.

---

↑   33.

A prayer for help.

¹Woe to you, destroyer,
who yourself have not been destroyed;
you treacherous one,
with whom none has dealt treacherously!
When you have ceased to destroy,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have made an end of dealing treacherously,
you will be dealt with treacherously.


² O Yahweh, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
Be our arm every morning,
our salvation in the time of trouble.
³At the thunderous noise peoples flee,
at the lifting up of yourself nations are scattered;
⁴and spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
as locusts leap, men leap upon it.
⁵Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness;
⁶and he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of Yahweh is his treasure.


⁷Behold, the valiant ones cry without;
the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
⁸The highways lie waste,
the wayfaring man ceases.
Covenants are broken,
witnesses are despised,
there is no regard for man.
⁹The land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert;
and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.


The LORD warns his enemies.

¹⁰"Now I will arise," says Yahweh,
"now I will lift myself up;
now I will be exalted.
¹¹You conceive chaff, you bring forth stubble;
your breath is a fire that will consume you.
¹²And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire."


¹³Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
¹⁴The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
"Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?"
¹⁵He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
and shuts his eyes from looking upon evil,
¹⁶he will dwell on the heights;
his place of defence will be the fortresses of rocks;
his bread will be given him, his water will be sure.


The glorious future.

¹⁷Your eyes will see the king in his beauty;
they will behold a land that stretches afar.
¹⁸Your mind will muse on the terror:
"Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute?
Where is he who counted the towers?"
¹⁹You will see no more the insolent people,
the people of an obscure speech which you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a tongue which you cannot understand.
²⁰Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a quiet habitation, an immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
²¹But there Yahweh in majesty will be for us
a place of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars can go,
nor stately ship can pass.
²²For Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh is our ruler,
Yahweh is our king; he will save us.


²³Your tackle hangs loose;
it cannot hold the mast firm in its place,
or keep the sail spread out.
Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
even the lame will take the prey.
²⁴And no inhabitant will say, "I am sick";
the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.

---

↑   34.

God will punish his enemies.

¹Draw near, O nations, to hear,
and hearken, O peoples!
Let the earth listen, and all that fills it;
the world, and all that comes from it.
²For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations,
and furious against all their host,
he has doomed them, has given them over for slaughter.
³Their slain shall be cast out,
and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
the mountains shall flow with their blood.
⁴All the host of heaven shall rot away,
and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine,
like leaves falling from the fig tree.


⁵For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom,
upon the people I have doomed.
⁶Yahweh has a sword; it is sated with blood,
it is gorged with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
⁷Wild oxen shall fall with them,
and young steers with the mighty bulls.
Their land shall be soaked with blood,
and their soil made rich with fat.


⁸For Yahweh has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
⁹And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch,
and her soil into brimstone;
her land shall become burning pitch.
¹⁰Night and day it shall not be quenched;
its smoke shall go up for ever.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
¹¹But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it,
the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
He shall stretch the line of confusion over it,
and the plummet of chaos over its nobles.
¹²They shall name it No Kingdom There,
and all its princes shall be nothing.


¹³Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of jackals,
an abode for ostriches.
¹⁴And wild beasts shall meet with hyenas,
the satyr shall cry to his fellow;
yea, there shall the night hag alight,
and find for herself a resting place.
¹⁵There shall the owl nest and lay and hatch
and gather her young in her shadow;
yea, there shall the kites be gathered,
each one with her mate.
¹⁶Seek and read from the book of Yahweh:
Not one of these shall be missing;
none shall be without her mate.
For the mouth of Yahweh has commanded,
and his Spirit has gathered them.
¹⁷He has cast the lot for them,
his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
they shall possess it for ever,
from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.


---

↑   35.

The Way of Holiness.

¹The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus ²it shall blossom abundantly,
and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of Yahweh,
the majesty of our God.


³Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
⁴Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
"Be strong, fear not!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you."


⁵Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
⁶then shall the lame man leap like a hart,
and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
⁷the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.


⁸And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not pass over it,
and fools shall not err therein.
⁹No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
¹⁰And the ransomed of Yahweh shall return,
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

---

↑   36.

The Assyrians threaten Jerusalem. - 2Kgs.18.13-27, 2Chr.32.1-19

¹In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ²And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field. ³And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

⁴And the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this confidence of yours? ⁵Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? ⁶Behold, you are relying on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. ⁷But if you say to me, "We rely on Yahweh our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar"? ⁸Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders upon them. ⁹How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ¹⁰Moreover, is it without Yahweh that I have come up against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.' "

¹¹Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, "Pray, speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall." ¹²But the Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?"

¹³Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵Do not let Hezekiah make you rely on Yahweh by saying, "Yahweh will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." ¹⁶Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat of his own vine, and every one of his own fig tree, and every one of you will drink the water of his own cistern; ¹⁷until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, "Yahweh will deliver us." Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰Who among all the gods of these countries have delivered their countries out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?" ²¹But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, "Do not answer him." ²²Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

---

↑   37.

Hezekiah asks Isaiah's advice. - 2Kgs.19.1-7

¹When King Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Yahweh. ²And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, clothed with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. ³They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. ⁴It may be that Yahweh your God heard the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.' "

⁵When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶ISAIAH said to them, "Say to your master, 'Thus says Yahweh: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. ⁷Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.' "

The Assyrians send another threat. - 2Kgs.19.8-19

⁸The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. ⁹Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, "He has set out to fight against you." And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰"Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: 'Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. And shall you be delivered? ¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations which my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?"

¹⁴Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of Yahweh, and spread it before Yahweh. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh: ¹⁶" O Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷Incline your ear, O Yahweh, and hear; open your eyes, O Yahweh, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁸Of a truth, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, ¹⁹and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore they were destroyed. ²⁰So now, O Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are Yahweh."

Isaiah's message to Hezekiah. - 2Kgs.19.20-37

²¹Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²²this is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him:

'She despises you, she scorns you -
the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you -
the daughter of Jerusalem.
²³'Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and haughtily lifted your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
²⁴By your servants you have mocked Yahweh,
and you have said, With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses;
I came to its remotest height,
its densest forest.
²⁵I dug wells
and drank waters,
and I dried up with the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt.


²⁶'Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
²⁷while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted before it is grown.


²⁸'I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
²⁹Because you have raged against me
and your arrogance has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will turn you back
on the way by which you came.'

³⁰"And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same; then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward,
and bear fruit upward; ³²for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will accomplish this.

³³"Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege mound against it. ³⁴By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, says Yahweh. ³⁵For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David."

³⁶And the angel of Yahweh went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁷Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went home and dwelt at Nineveh. ³⁸And as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, slew him with the sword, and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.

---

↑   38.

Hezekiah's illness & recovery. - 2Kgs.20.1-11, 2Chr.32.24-26

¹In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh: Set your house in order; for you shall die, you shall not recover." ²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, ³and said, "Remember now, O Yahweh, I beseech you, how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah: ⁵"Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and defend this city.

⁷"This is the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has promised: ⁸Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps." So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.

Hezekiah's psalm of praise.

⁹A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness: ¹⁰I said, In the noontide of my days
I must depart;
I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
for the rest of my years.
¹¹I said, I shall not see Yahweh
in the land of the living;
I shall look upon man no more
among the inhabitants of the world.
¹²My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
like a shepherd's tent;
like a weaver I have rolled up my life;
he cuts me off from the loom;
from day to night you bring me to an end;
¹³I cry for help until morning;
like a lion he breaks all my bones;
from day to night you bring me to an end.


¹⁴Like a swallow or a crane I clamor,
I moan like a dove.
My eyes are weary with looking upward.
O Yahweh, I am oppressed; be you my security!
¹⁵But what can I say? For he has spoken to me,
and he himself has done it.
All my sleep has fled
because of the bitterness of my soul.


¹⁶O Yahweh, by these things men live,
and in all these is the life of my spirit.
Oh, restore me to health and make me live!
¹⁷Lo, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness;
but you have held back my life from the pit of destruction,
for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
¹⁸For Sheol cannot thank you,
death cannot praise you;
those who go down to the pit
cannot hope for your faithfulness.
¹⁹The living, the living, he thanks you,
as I do this day;
the father makes known to the children
your faithfulness.


²⁰Yahweh will save me,
and we will sing to stringed instruments
all the days of our life,
at the house of Yahweh. ²¹Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs, and apply it to the boil, that he may recover." ²²Hezekiah also had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh?"

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↑   39.

Messengers from Babylon. - 2Kgs.20.12-19

¹At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. ²And Hezekiah welcomed them; and he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. ³Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? And whence did they come to you?" Hezekiah said, "They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon." ⁴He said, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them."

⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of Yahweh of hosts: ⁶Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says Yahweh. ⁷And some of your own sons, who are born to you, shall be taken away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." ⁸Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh which you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days."

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↑   40.

ISAIAH 2. (The Exile). Words of hope.

¹Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from Yahweh's hand
double for all her sins.


³A voice cries:
"In the wilderness prepare the way of Yahweh,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
⁴Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
⁵And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken."


⁶A voice says, "Cry!"
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
⁷The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of Yahweh blows upon it;
surely the people is grass.
⁸The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand for ever.


⁹Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
"Behold your God!"
¹⁰Behold, the Lord Yahweh comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd,
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.


The LORD of the universe.

¹²Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
¹³Who has directed the Spirit of Yahweh,
or as his counselor has instructed him?
¹⁴Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,
and who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
¹⁵Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the isles like fine dust.
¹⁶Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.


¹⁸To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
¹⁹The idol? A workman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold,
and casts for it silver chains.
²⁰He who is impoverished chooses for an offering
wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skilful craftsman
to set up an image that will not move.


²¹Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²²It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
²³who brings princes to nought,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.


²⁴Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
²⁵To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him?
says the Holy One.
²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power
not one is missing.


²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
"My way is hid from Yahweh,
and my right is disregarded by my God"?
²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Yahweh is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary,
his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹but they who wait for Yahweh shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.

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↑   41.

God's assurance to Israel.

¹Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.


²Who stirred up one from the east
whom victory meets at every step?
He gives up nations before him,
so that he tramples kings under foot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
like driven stubble with his bow.
³He pursues them and passes on safely,
by paths his feet have not trod.
⁴Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, Yahweh, the first,
and with the last; I am He.


⁵The coastlands have seen and are afraid,
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
⁶Every one helps his neighbour,
and says to his brother, "Take courage!"
⁷The craftsman encourages the goldsmith,
and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, "It is good";
and they fasten it with nails so that it cannot be moved.


⁸But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
⁹you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, "You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off";
¹⁰fear not, for I am with you,
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.


¹¹Behold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
¹²You shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you shall be as nothing at all.
¹³For I, Yahweh your God, hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I will help you."


¹⁴Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I will help you, says Yahweh;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵Behold, I will make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
¹⁶You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you shall rejoice in Yahweh;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.


¹⁷When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I Yahweh will answer them,
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
¹⁸I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
¹⁹I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together;
²⁰that men may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of Yahweh has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.


The LORD's challenge to false gods.

²¹Set forth your case, says Yahweh;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
²²Let them bring them, and tell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.
²³Tell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
do good, or do harm,
that we may be dismayed and terrified.
²⁴Behold, you are nothing,
and your work is nought;
an abomination is he who chooses you.


²⁵I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
from the rising of the sun, and he shall call on my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
²⁶Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
and beforetime, that we might say, "He is right"?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
²⁷I first have declared it to Zion,
and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good tidings.
²⁸But when I look there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
²⁹Behold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their molten images are empty wind.

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↑   42.

The servant of the LORD.

¹Behold my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him,
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
²He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
³a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
⁴He will not fail or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.


⁵Thus says God, Yahweh,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread forth the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
⁶"I am Yahweh,
I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
⁷to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
⁸I am Yahweh,
that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to graven images.
⁹Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth I tell you of them."


A song of praise.

¹⁰Sing to Yahweh a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roar and all that fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
¹¹Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.
¹²Let them give glory to Yahweh,
and declare his praise in the coastlands.
¹³Yahweh goes forth like a mighty man,
like a man of war he stirs up his fury;
he cries out, he shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.


God promises to help his people.

¹⁴For a long time I have held my peace,
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in travail,
I will gasp and pant.
¹⁵I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their herbage;
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
¹⁶And I will lead the blind
in a way that they know not,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.
¹⁷They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame,
who trust in graven images,
who say to molten images,
"You are our gods."

Israel's failure to learn.

¹⁸Hear, you deaf;
and look, you blind,
that you may see!
¹⁹Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,
or blind as the servant of Yahweh?
²⁰He sees many things, but does not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.
²¹Yahweh was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
²²But this is a people robbed and plundered,
they are all of them trapped in holes
and hidden in prisons;
they have become a prey with none to rescue,
a spoil with none to say, "Restore!"
²³Who among you will give ear to this,
will attend and listen for the time to come?
²⁴Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler,
and Israel to the robbers?
Was it not Yahweh, against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
²⁵So he poured upon him the heat of his anger
and the might of battle;
it set him on fire round about, but he did not understand;
it burned him, but he did not take it to heart.

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↑   43.

God promises to rescue his people.

¹But now thus says Yahweh,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
²When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
³For I am Yahweh your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
⁴Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honoured, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.
⁵Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
⁶I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
⁷every one who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made."


Israel is the LORD's witness.

⁸Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears!
⁹Let all the nations gather together,
and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them can declare this,
and show us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,
and let them hear and say, It is true.
¹⁰"You are my witnesses," says Yahweh,
"and 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,
nor shall there be any after me.
¹¹I, I am Yahweh,
and besides me there is no saviour.
¹²I declared and saved and proclaimed,
when there was no strange god among you;
and you are my witnesses," says Yahweh.
¹³"I am God, and also henceforth I am He;
there is none who can deliver from my hand;
I work and who can hinder it?"


Escape from Babylon.

¹⁴Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
"For your sake I will send to Babylon
and break down all the bars,
and the shouting of the Chaldeans will be turned to lamentations.
¹⁵I am Yahweh, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King."
¹⁶Thus says Yahweh,
who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,
¹⁷who brings forth chariot and horse,
army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
¹⁸"Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
¹⁹Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
²⁰The wild beasts will honour me,
the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
²¹the people whom I formed for myself
that they might declare my praise.


Israel's sin.

²²"Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;
but you have been weary of me, O Israel!
²³You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,
or honoured me with your sacrifices.
I have not burdened you with offerings,
or wearied you with frankincense.
²⁴You have not bought me sweet cane with money,
or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.
But you have burdened me with your sins,
you have wearied me with your iniquities.


²⁵"I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
²⁶Put me in remembrance, let us argue together;
set forth your case, that you may be proved right.
²⁷Your first father sinned,
and your mediators transgressed against me.
²⁸Therefore I profaned the princes of the sanctuary,
I delivered Jacob to utter destruction
and Israel to reviling.

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↑   44.

The LORD is the only god.

¹"But now hear, O Jacob my servant,
Israel whom I have chosen!
²Thus says Yahweh who made you,
who formed you from the womb and will help you:
Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
³For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit upon your descendants,
and my blessing on your offspring.
⁴They shall spring up like grass amid waters,
like willows by flowing streams.
⁵This one will say, 'I am Yahweh's,'
another will call himself by the name of Jacob,
and another will write on his hand, 'Yahweh's,'
and surname himself by the name of Israel."


⁶Thus says Yahweh, the King of Israel
and his Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts:
"I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
⁷Who is like me?
Let him proclaim it,
let him declare and set it forth before me.
Who has announced from of old the things to come?
Let them tell us what is yet to be.
⁸Fear not, nor be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
And you are my witnesses!
Is there a God besides me?
There is no Rock;
I know not any."

Idolatry ridiculed.

⁹All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. ¹⁰Who fashions a god or casts an image, that is profitable for nothing? ¹¹Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are but men; let them all assemble, let them stand forth, they shall be terrified, they shall be put to shame together.

¹²The ironsmith fashions it and works it over the coals; he shapes it with hammers, and forges it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry and his strength fails, he drinks no water and is faint. ¹³The carpenter stretches a line, he marks it out with a pencil; he fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. ¹⁴He cuts down cedars; or he chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. ¹⁵Then it becomes fuel for a man; he takes a part of it and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread; also he makes a god and worships it, he makes it a graven image and falls down before it. ¹⁶Half of it he burns in the fire; over the half he eats flesh, he roasts meat and is satisfied; also he warms himself and says, "Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!" ¹⁷And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol; and falls down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!"

¹⁸They know not, nor do they discern; for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their minds, so that they cannot understand. ¹⁹No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, "Half of it I burned in the fire, I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted flesh and have eaten; and shall I make the residue of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?" ²⁰He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"

The LORD, creator, saviour.

²¹Remember these things, O Jacob,
and Israel, for you are my servant;
I formed you, you are my servant;
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
²²I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud,
and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.


²³Sing, O heavens, for Yahweh has done it;
shout, O depths of the earth;
break forth into singing, O mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
For Yahweh has redeemed Jacob,
and will be glorified in Israel.


²⁴Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer,
who formed you from the womb:
"I am Yahweh, who made all things,
who stretched out the heavens alone,
who spread out the earth -
Who was with me? -
²⁵who frustrates the omens of liars,
and makes fools of diviners;
who turns wise men back,
and makes their knowledge foolish;
²⁶who confirms the word of his servant,
and performs the counsel of his messengers;
who says of Jerusalem, 'She shall be inhabited,'
and of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be built,
and I will raise up their ruins';
²⁷who says to the deep, 'Be dry,
I will dry up your rivers';
²⁸who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd,
and he shall fulfil all my purpose';
saying of Jerusalem, 'She shall be built,'
and of the temple, 'Your foundation shall be laid.' "

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↑   45.

Cyrus - The LORD's appointed king.

¹Thus says Yahweh to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and ungird the loins of kings,
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed:
²"I will go before you
and level the mountains,
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut asunder the bars of iron,
³I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, Yahweh,
the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
⁴For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name,
I surname you, though you do not know me.
⁵I am Yahweh, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I gird you, though you do not know me,
⁶that men may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am Yahweh, and there is no other.
⁷I form light and create darkness,
I make weal and create woe,
I am Yahweh, who do all these things.


⁸"Shower, O heavens, from above,
and let the skies rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth,
and let it cause righteousness to spring up also;
I Yahweh have created it.


The LORD of creation & history.

⁹"Woe to him who strives with his Maker,
an earthen vessel with the potter!
Does the clay say to him who fashions it, 'What are you making'?
or 'Your work has no handles?'
¹⁰Woe to him who says to a father, 'What are you begetting?'
or to a woman, 'With what are you in travail?"
¹¹Thus says Yahweh,
the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:
"Will you question me about my children,
or command me concerning the work of my hands?
¹²I made the earth,
and created man upon it;
it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
and I commanded all their host.
¹³I have aroused him in righteousness,
and I will make straight all his ways;
he shall build my city and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,"
says Yahweh of hosts.


¹⁴Thus says Yahweh:
"The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia,
and the Sabeans, men of stature,
shall come over to you and be yours,
they shall follow you;
they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.
They will make supplication to you, saying:
'God is with you only, and there is no other,
no god besides him.' "
¹⁵Truly, you are a God who hides yourself,
O God of Israel, the Saviour.
¹⁶All of them are put to shame and confounded,
the makers of idols go in confusion together.
¹⁷But Israel is saved by Yahweh
with everlasting salvation;
you shall not be put to shame or confounded
to all eternity.


¹⁸For thus says Yahweh,
who created the heavens (he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it a chaos,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
"I am Yahweh, and there is no other.
¹⁹I did not speak in secret,
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
'Seek me in chaos.'
I Yahweh speak the truth,
I declare what is right.


The LORD of the universe & Babylon's idols.

²⁰"Assemble yourselves and come,
draw near together,
you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge
who carry about their wooden idols,
and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.
²¹Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, Yahweh?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Saviour;
there is none besides me.


²²"Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
²³By myself I have sworn,
from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
'To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear.'


²⁴"Only in Yahweh, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed,
all who were incensed against him.
²⁵In Yahweh all the offspring of Israel
shall triumph and glory."

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↑   46. ¹Bel bows down, Nebo stoops,
their idols are on beasts and cattle;
these things you carry are loaded
as burdens on weary beasts.
²They stoop,
they bow down together,
they cannot save the burden,
but themselves go into captivity.


³"Hearken to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from your birth,
carried from the womb;
⁴even to your old age I am He,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.


⁵"To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
and compare me, that we may be alike?
⁶Those who lavish gold from the purse,
and weigh out silver in the scales,
hire a goldsmith,
and he makes it into a god;
then they fall down and worship!
⁷They lift it upon their shoulders, they carry it,
they set it in its place, and it stands there;
it cannot move from its place.
If one cries to it, it does not answer
or save him from his trouble.


⁸"Remember this and consider,
recall it to mind, you transgressors,
⁹remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
¹⁰declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, 'My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,'
¹¹calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.


¹²"Hearken to me, you stubborn of heart,
you who are far from deliverance:
¹³I bring near my deliverance, it is not far off,
and my salvation will not tarry;
I will put salvation in Zion,
for Israel my glory."

---

↑   47.

Judgement on Babylon.

¹Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon;
sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you shall no more be called
tender and delicate.
²Take the millstones and grind meal,
put off your veil,
strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
pass through the rivers.
³Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
and your shame shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
and I will spare no man.
⁴Our Redeemer - Yahweh of hosts is his name -
is the Holy One of Israel.


⁵Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
the mistress of kingdoms.
⁶I was angry with my people,
I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand,
you showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke
exceedingly heavy.
⁷You said, "I shall be mistress for ever,"
so that you did not lay these things to heart
or remember their end.


⁸Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,
who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
"I am, and there is no one besides me;
I shall not sit as a widow
or know the loss of children":
⁹These two things shall come to you
in a moment, in one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
shall come upon you in full measure,
in spite of your many sorceries
and the great power of your enchantments.


¹⁰You felt secure in your wickedness,
you said, "No one sees me";
your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
"I am, and there is no one besides me."
¹¹But evil shall come upon you,
for which you cannot atone;
disaster shall fall upon you,
which you will not be able to expiate;
and ruin shall come on you suddenly,
of which you know nothing.


¹²Stand fast in your enchantments
and your many sorceries,
with which you have laboured from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed,
perhaps you may inspire terror.
¹³You are wearied with your many counsels;
let them stand forth and save you,
those who divide the heavens,
who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons predict
what shall befall you.


¹⁴Behold, they are like stubble,
the fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
no fire to sit before!
¹⁵Such to you are those with whom you have laboured,
who have trafficked with you from your youth;
they wander about each in his own direction;
there is no one to save you.

---

↑   48.

God is LORD of the Time.

¹Hear this, O house of Jacob,
who are called by the name of Israel,
and who came forth from the loins of Judah;
who swear by the name of Yahweh,
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
²For they call themselves after the holy city,
and stay themselves on the God of Israel;
Yahweh of hosts is his name.


³"The former things I declared of old,
they went forth from my mouth and I made them known;
then suddenly I did them and they came to pass.
⁴Because I know that you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,
⁵I declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, 'My idol did them,
my graven image and my molten image commanded them.'


⁶"You have heard;
now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forth I make you hear new things,
hidden things which you have not known.
⁷They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.'
⁸You have never heard, you have never known,
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,
and that from birth you were called a rebel.


⁹"For my name's sake I defer my anger,
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
¹⁰Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
¹¹For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.


Cyrus - the LORD's chosen conqueror.

¹²"Hearken to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am He, I am the first,
and I am the last.
¹³My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I call to them, they stand forth together.


¹⁴"Assemble, all of you, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
Yahweh loves him;
he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
¹⁵I, even I, have spoken and called him,
I have brought him,
and he will prosper in his way.
¹⁶Draw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there."
And now the Lord Yahweh has sent me and his Spirit.


the LORD's plan for his people.

¹⁷Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
"I am Yahweh your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
¹⁸O that you had hearkened to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
¹⁹your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me."


²⁰Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chaldea,
declare this with a shout of joy,
proclaim it, send it forth to the end of the earth;
say, "Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!"
²¹They thirsted not when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow for them from the rock;
he cleft the rock and the water gushed out.
²²"There is no peace," says Yahweh, "for the wicked."

---

↑   49.

Israel - a light to the nations.

¹Listen to me. O coastlands,
and hearken, you peoples from afar.
The Yahweh called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
²He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me away.
³And he said to me, "You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
⁴But I said, "I have laboured in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with Yahweh,
and my recompense with my God."


⁵And now Yahweh says,
who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honoured in the eyes of Yahweh,
and my God has become my strength -
⁶he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."


⁷Thus says Yahweh,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the servant of rulers:
"Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of Yahweh, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."


The restoration of Jerusalem.

⁸Thus says Yahweh:
"In a time of favour I have answered you,
in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I have kept you and given you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
to apportion the desolate heritages;
⁹saying to the prisoners, 'Come forth,'
to those who are in darkness, 'Appear.'
They shall feed along the ways,
on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
¹⁰they shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall smite them,
for he who has pity on them will lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.
¹¹And I will make all my mountains a way,
and my highways shall be raised up.
¹²Lo, these shall come from afar,
and lo, these from the north and from the west,
and these from the land of Syene."
¹³Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For Yahweh has comforted his people,
and will have compassion on his afflicted.


¹⁴But Zion said, "Yahweh has forsaken me,
my Yahweh has forgotten me."
¹⁵"Can a woman forget her sucking child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
¹⁶Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
¹⁷Your builders outstrip your destroyers,
and those who laid you waste go forth from you.
¹⁸Lift up your eyes round about and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
As I live, says Yahweh, you shall put them all on as an ornament,
you shall bind them on as a bride does.


¹⁹"Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land -
surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
²⁰The children born in the time of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears:
'The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.'
²¹Then you will say in your heart:
'Who has borne me these?
I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
whence then have these come?"


²²Thus says the Lord Yahweh:
"Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my signal to the peoples;
and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
²³Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am Yahweh;
those who wait for me shall not be put to shame."


²⁴Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?
²⁵Surely, thus says Yahweh:
"Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children.
²⁶I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know that I am Yahweh your Saviour,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."

---

↑   50. ¹Thus says Yahweh:
"Where is your mother's bill of divorce,
with which I put her away?
Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was put away.
²Why, when I came, was there no man?
When I called, was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a desert;
their fish stink for lack of water, and die of thirst.
³I clothe the heavens with blackness,
and make sackcloth their covering."


The servant of the LORD.

⁴The the Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word him that is weary.
Morning by morning he wakens,
he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
⁵The the Lord Yahweh has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I turned not backward.
⁶I gave my back to the smiters,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I hid not my face from shame and spitting.


⁷For the Lord Yahweh helps me;
therefore I have not been confounded;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
⁸he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
⁹Behold, the Lord Yahweh helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.


¹⁰Who among you fears Yahweh
and obeys the voice of his servant,
who walks in darkness and has no light,
yet trusts in the name of Yahweh
and relies upon his God?
¹¹Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who set brands alight!
Walk by the light of your fire,
and by the brands which you have kindled!
This shall you have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.

---

↑   51.

Words of comfort to Jerusalem.

¹"Hearken to me, you who pursue deliverance,
you who seek Yahweh;
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were digged.
²Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for when he was but one I called him,
and I blessed him and made him many.
³For Yahweh will comfort Zion;
he will comfort all her waste places,
and will make her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of Yahweh;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.


⁴"Listen to me, my people,
and give ear to me, my nation;
for a law will go forth from me,
and my justice for a light to the peoples.
⁵My deliverance draws near speedily,
my salvation has gone forth,
and my arms will rule the peoples;
the coastlands wait for me,
and for my arm they hope.
⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
for the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and they who dwell in it will die like gnats;
but my salvation will be for ever,
and my deliverance will never be ended.

⁷"Hearken to me, you who know righteousness,
the people in whose heart is my law;
fear not the reproach of men,
and be not dismayed at their revilings.
⁸For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool;
but my deliverance will be for ever,
and my salvation to all generations."

⁹Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of Yahweh;
awake, as in days of old,
the generations of long ago.
Was it not you that cut Rahab in pieces,
that pierced the dragon?
¹⁰Was it not you that dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep;
that made the depths of the sea
a way for the redeemed to pass over?
¹¹And the ransomed of Yahweh shall return,
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹²"I, I am he that comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,
of the son of man who is made like grass,
¹³and have forgotten Yahweh, your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth,
and fear continually all the day
because of the fury of the oppressor,
when he sets himself to destroy?
And where is the fury of the oppressor?
¹⁴He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
he shall not die and go down to the Pit,
neither shall his bread fail.
¹⁵For I am Yahweh your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar -
Yahweh of hosts is his name.
¹⁶And I have put my words in your mouth,
and hid you in the shadow of my hand,
stretching out the heavens
and laying the foundations of the earth,
and saying to Zion, 'You are my people.' "

The end of Jerusalem's suffering.

¹⁷Rouse yourself, rouse yourself,
stand up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk at the hand of Yahweh
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
the bowl of staggering.
¹⁸There is none to guide her
among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
among all the sons she has brought up.
¹⁹These two things have befallen you -
who will condole with you? -
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
who will comfort you?
²⁰Your sons have fainted,
they lie at the head of every street
like an antelope in a net;
they are full of the wrath of Yahweh,
the rebuke of your God.


²¹Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
who are drunk, but not with wine:
²²Thus says your Yahweh, Yahweh,
your God who pleads the cause of his people:
"Behold, I have taken from your hand
the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath
you shall drink no more;
²³and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
who have said to you,
'Bow down, that we may pass over';
and you have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to pass over."

---

↑   52.

God will rescue Jerusalem.

¹Awake, awake,
put on your strength, O Zion;
put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city;
for there shall no more come into you
the uncircumcised and the unclean.
²Shake yourself from the dust, arise,
O captive Jerusalem;
loose the bonds from your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion.

³For thus says Yahweh: "You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. ⁴For thus says the Lord Yahweh: My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. ⁵Now therefore what have I here, says Yahweh, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail, says Yahweh, and continually all the day my name is despised. ⁶Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I."

⁷How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good tidings,
who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."
⁸Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice,
together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see
the return of Yahweh to Zion.
⁹Break forth together into singing,
you waste places of Jerusalem;
for Yahweh has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
¹⁰Yahweh has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God.


¹¹Depart, depart, go out thence,
touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of her, purify yourselves,
you who bear the vessels of Yahweh.
¹²For you shall not go out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight,
for Yahweh will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.


The suffering servant.

¹³Behold, my servant shall prosper,
he shall be exalted and lifted up,
and shall be very high.
¹⁴As many were astonished at him -
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the sons of men -
¹⁵so shall he startle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which has not been told them they shall see,
and that which they have not heard they shall understand.

---

↑   53. ¹Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
²For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
³He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised,
and we esteemed him not.


⁴Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed.
⁶All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.


⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb,
so he opened not his mouth.
⁸By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation,
who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
⁹And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.


¹⁰Yet it was the will of Yahweh to bruise him;
he has put him to grief;
when he makes himself an offering for sin,
he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days;
the will of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand;
¹¹he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one,
my servant, make many to be accounted righteous;
and he shall bear their iniquities.
¹²Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out his soul to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

---

↑   54.

The LORD's love for Israel.

¹"Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
break forth into singing and cry aloud,
you who have not been in travail!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than the children of her that is married, says Yahweh.
²Enlarge the place of your tent,
and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
hold not back, lengthen your cords
and strengthen your stakes.
³For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,
and your descendants will possess the nations
and will people the desolate cities.


⁴"Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;
be not confounded, for you will not be put to shame;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
⁵For your Maker is your husband,
Yahweh of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.
⁶For Yahweh has called you
like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
says your God.
⁷For a brief moment I forsook you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
⁸In overflowing wrath for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,
says Yahweh, your Redeemer.


⁹"For this is like the days of Noah to me:
as I swore that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you
and will not rebuke you.
¹⁰For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,
says Yahweh, who has compassion on you.


The future Jerusalem.

¹¹"O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,
behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
and lay your foundations with sapphires.
¹²I will make your pinnacles of agate,
your gates of carbuncles,
and all your wall of precious stones.
¹³All your sons shall be taught by Yahweh,
and great shall be the prosperity of your sons.
¹⁴In righteousness you shall be established;
you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
¹⁵If any one stirs up strife,
it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
shall fall because of you.
¹⁶Behold, I have created the smith
who blows the fire of coals,
and produces a weapon for its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
¹⁷no weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper,
and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of Yahweh
and their vindication from me, says Yahweh."

---

↑   55.

God's offer of mercy.

¹"Ho, every one who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
²Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in fatness.
³Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
⁴Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵Behold, you shall call nations that you know not,
and nations that knew you not shall run to you,
because of Yahweh your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.


⁶"Seek Yahweh while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
⁷let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to Yahweh, that he may have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, says Yahweh.
⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.


¹⁰"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and return not thither but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.


¹²"For you shall go out in joy,
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
¹³Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to Yahweh for a memorial,
for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off."

---

↑   56.

ISAIAH 3. God's people will include all nations.

¹Thus says Yahweh:
"Keep justice, and do righteousness,
for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed.
²Blessed is the man who does this,
and the son of man who holds it fast,
who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it,
and keeps his hand from doing any evil."


³Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to Yahweh say,
"Yahweh will surely separate me from his people";
and let not the eunuch say,
"Behold, I am a dry tree."
⁴For thus says Yahweh:
"To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
⁵I will give in my house and within my walls
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
which shall not be cut off.


⁶"And the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh,
to minister to him, to love the name of Yahweh,
and to be his servants,
every one who keeps the sabbath, and does not profane it,
and holds fast my covenant -
⁷these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.
⁸Thus says the Lord Yahweh,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel,
I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered."


Israel's leaders are condemned.

⁹All you beasts of the field, come to devour -
all you beasts in the forest.
¹⁰His watchmen are blind,
they are all without knowledge;
they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark;
dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
¹¹The dogs have a mighty appetite;
they never have enough.
The shepherds also have no understanding;
they have all turned to their own way,
each to his own gain, one and all.
¹²"Come," they say, "let us get wine,
let us fill ourselves with strong drink;
and tomorrow will be like this day,
great beyond measure."

---

↑   57.

Israel's idolatry condemned.

¹The righteous man perishes,
and no one lays it to heart;
devout men are taken away,
while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from calamity,
²he enters into peace;
they rest in their beds
who walk in their uprightness.
³But you, draw near hither,
sons of the sorceress,
offspring of the adulterer and the harlot.
⁴Of whom are you making sport?
Against whom do you open your mouth wide
and put out your tongue?
Are you not children of transgression,
the offspring of deceit,
⁵you who burn with lust among the oaks,
under every green tree;
who slay your children in the valleys,
under the clefts of the rocks?
⁶Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion;
they, they, are your lot;
to them you have poured out a drink offering,
you have brought a cereal offering.
Shall I be appeased for these things?
⁷Upon a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed,
and thither you went up to offer sacrifice.
⁸Behind the door and the doorpost you have set up your symbol;
for, deserting me, you have uncovered your bed,
you have gone up to it, you have made it wide;
and you have made a bargain for yourself with them,
you have loved their bed, you have looked on nakedness.
⁹You journeyed to Molech with oil
and multiplied your perfumes;
you sent your envoys far off,
and sent down even to Sheol.
¹⁰You were wearied with the length of your way,
but you did not say, "It is hopeless";
you found new life for your strength,
and so you were not faint.


¹¹Whom did you dread and fear,
so that you lied,
and did not remember me,
did not give me a thought?
Have I not held my peace,
even for a long time,
and so you do not fear me?
¹²I will tell of your righteousness and your doings,
but they will not help you.
¹³When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!
The wind will carry them off,
a breath will take them away.
But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land,
and shall inherit my holy mountain.


God's promise of help & healing.

¹⁴And it shall be said, "Build up, build up, prepare the way,
remove every obstruction from my people's way."
¹⁵For thus says the high and lofty One
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
"I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
¹⁶For I will not contend for ever,
nor will I always be angry;
for from me proceeds the spirit,
and I have made the breath of life.
¹⁷Because of the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry,
I smote him, I hid my face and was angry;
but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.
¹⁸I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will lead him and requite him with comfort,
creating for his mourners the fruit of the lips.
¹⁹Peace, peace, to the far and to the near, says Yahweh;
and I will heal him.
²⁰But the wicked are like the tossing sea;
for it cannot rest,
and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
²¹There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked."

---

↑   58.

True fasting.

¹"Cry aloud, spare not,
Lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
²Yet they seek me daily,
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw near to God.
³'Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you take no knowledge of it?'
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
⁴Behold, you fast only to quarrel
and to fight and to hit with wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
⁵Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a rush,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to Yahweh?


⁶"Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you,
the glory of Yahweh shall be your rear guard.
⁹Then you shall call, and Yahweh will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.
"If you take away from the midst of you the yoke,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
¹⁰if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
¹¹And Yahweh will guide you continually,
and satisfy your desire with good things,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters fail not.
¹²And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.


Keeping the Sabbath.

¹³"If you turn back your foot from the sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the sabbath a delight
and the holy day of Yahweh honourable;
if you honour it, not going your own ways,
or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
¹⁴then you shall take delight in Yahweh,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken."

---

↑   59.

The prophet condemns the people's sins.

¹Behold, Yahweh's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
²but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hid his face from you
so that he does not hear.
³For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue mutters wickedness.
⁴No one enters suit justly,
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
⁵They hatch adders' eggs,
they weave the spider's web;
he who eats their eggs dies,
and from one which is crushed a viper is hatched.
⁶Their webs will not serve as clothing;
men will not cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.
⁷Their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,
desolation and destruction are in their highways.
⁸The way of peace they know not,
and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked,
no one who goes in them knows peace.


The people confess their sin.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not overtake us;
we look for light, and behold, darkness,
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
¹⁰We grope for the wall like the blind,
we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
¹¹We all growl like bears,
we moan and moan like doves;
we look for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
¹³transgressing, and denying Yahweh,
and turning away from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
¹⁴Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands afar off;
for truth has fallen in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
¹⁵Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
Yahweh saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.


The LORD prepares to rescue his people.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intervene;
then his own arm brought him victory,
and his righteousness upheld him.
¹⁷He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation upon his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in fury as a mantle.
¹⁸According to their deeds, so will he repay,
wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;
to the coastlands he will render requital.
¹⁹So they shall fear the name of Yahweh from the west,
and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come like a rushing stream,
which the wind of Yahweh drives.
²⁰"And he will come to Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says Yahweh. ²¹"And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh: my spirit which is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your children, or out of the mouth of your children's children, says Yahweh, from this time forth and for evermore."

---

↑   60.

The future glory of Jerusalem.

¹Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of Yahweh has risen upon you.
²For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but Yahweh will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.
³And nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising.


⁴Lift up your eyes round about, and see;
they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far,
and your daughters shall be carried in the arms.
⁵Then you shall see and be radiant,
your heart shall thrill and rejoice;
because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
⁶A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall proclaim the praise of Yahweh.
⁷All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you,
the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,
and I will glorify my glorious house.


⁸Who are these that fly like a cloud,
and like doves to their windows?
⁹For the coastlands shall wait for me,
the ships of Tarshish first,
to bring your sons from far,
their silver and gold with them,
for the name of Yahweh your God,
and for the Holy One of Israel,
because he has glorified you.


¹⁰Foreigners shall build up your walls,
and their kings shall minister to you;
for in my wrath I smote you,
but in my favour I have had mercy on you.
¹¹Your gates shall be open continually;
day and night they shall not be shut;
that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations,
with their kings led in procession.
¹²For the nation and kingdom that
will not serve you shall perish;
those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
¹³The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
the cypress, the plane, and the pine,
to beautify the place of my sanctuary;
and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
¹⁴The sons of those who oppressed you
shall come bending low to you;
and all who despised you
shall bow down at your feet;
they shall call you the City of Yahweh,
the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.


¹⁵Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
with no one passing through,
I will make you majestic for ever,
a joy from age to age.
¹⁶You shall suck the milk of nations,
you shall suck the breast of kings;
and you shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Saviour
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.


¹⁷Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
and instead of iron I will bring silver;
instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron.
I will make your overseers peace
and your taskmasters righteousness.
¹⁸Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
devastation or destruction within your borders;
you shall call your walls Salvation,
and your gates Praise.


¹⁹The sun shall be no more your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night;
but Yahweh will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
²⁰Your sun shall no more go down,
nor your moon withdraw itself;
for Yahweh will be your everlasting light,
and your days of mourning shall be ended.
²¹Your people shall all be righteous;
they shall possess the land for ever,
the shoot of my planting,
the work of my hands,
that I might be glorified.
²²The least one shall become a clan,
and the smallest one a mighty nation;
I am Yahweh;
in its time I will hasten it.

---

↑   61.

Good news of deliverance.

¹The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me,
because Yahweh has anointed me
to bring good tidings to the afflicted;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
²to proclaim the year of Yahweh's favour,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
³to grant to those who mourn in Zion -
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified.
⁴They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.


⁵Aliens shall stand and feed your flocks,
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
⁶but you shall be called the priests of Yahweh,
men shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their riches you shall glory.
⁷Instead of your shame you shall have a double portion,
instead of dishonour you shall rejoice in your lot;
therefore in your land you shall possess a double portion;
yours shall be everlasting joy.


⁸For I Yahweh love justice,
I hate robbery and wrong;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
⁹Their descendants shall be known among the nations,
and their offspring in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are a people whom Yahweh has blessed.

¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh,
my soul shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
¹¹For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise
to spring forth before all the nations.

---

↑   62. ¹For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
until her vindication goes forth as brightness,
and her salvation as a burning torch.
²The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
and you shall be called by a new name
which the mouth of Yahweh will give.
³You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of Yahweh,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
⁴You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My delight is in her,
and your land Married;
for Yahweh delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
⁵For as a young man marries a virgin,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.


⁶Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have set watchmen;
all the day and all the night
they shall never be silent.
You who put Yahweh in remembrance,
take no rest,
⁷and give him no rest
until he establishes Jerusalem
and makes it a praise in the earth.
⁸Yahweh has sworn by his right hand
and by his mighty arm:
"I will not again give your grain
to be food for your enemies,
and foreigners shall not drink your wine
for which you have laboured;
⁹but those who garner it shall eat it
and praise Yahweh,
and those who gather it shall drink it
in the courts of my sanctuary."


¹⁰Go through, go through the gates,
prepare the way for the people;
build up, build up the highway,
clear it of stones,
lift up an ensign over the peoples.
¹¹Behold, Yahweh has proclaimed
to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
"Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him."
¹²And they shall be called The holy people,
The redeemed of Yahweh;
and you shall be called Sought out,
a city not forsaken.


---

↑   63.

the LORD's victory over the nations.

¹Who is this that comes from Edom,
in crimsoned garments from Bozrah,
he that is glorious in his apparel,
marching in the greatness of his strength?
"It is I, announcing vindication,
mighty to save."
²Why is your apparel red,
and your garments like his that treads in the wine press?
³"I have trodden the wine press alone,
and from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
and trampled them in my wrath;
their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments,
and I have stained all my raiment.
⁴For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
and my year of redemption has come.
⁵I looked, but there was no one to help;
I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;
so my own arm brought me victory,
and my wrath upheld me.
⁶I trod down the peoples in my anger,
I made them drunk in my wrath,
and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."


The LORD's goodness to Israel.

⁷I will recount the steadfast love of Yahweh,
the praises of Yahweh,
according to all that Yahweh has granted us,
and the great goodness to the house of Israel
which he has granted them according to his mercy,
according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
⁸For he said, Surely they are my people,
sons who will not deal falsely;
and he became their Saviour.
⁹In all their affliction he was afflicted,
and the angel of his presence saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
¹⁰But they rebelled and grieved his holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
and himself fought against them.
¹¹Then he remembered the days of old,
of Moses his servant.
Where is he who brought up out of the sea
the shepherds of his flock?
Where is he who put in the midst of them
his holy Spirit,
¹²who caused his glorious arm
to go at the right hand of Moses,
who divided the waters before them
to make for himself an everlasting name,
¹³who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
they did not stumble.
¹⁴Like cattle that go down into the valley,
the Spirit of Yahweh gave them rest.
So you led your people,
to make for yourself a glorious name.


A prayer for mercy & help.

¹⁵Look down from heaven and see,
from your holy and glorious habitation.
Where are your zeal and your might?
The yearning of your heart and your compassion
are withheld from me.
¹⁶For you are our Father,
though Abraham does not know us
and Israel does not acknowledge us;
You, O Yahweh, are our Father,
our Redeemer from of old is your name.
¹⁷ O Yahweh, why do you make us err from your ways
and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your heritage.
¹⁸Your holy people possessed your sanctuary a little while;
our adversaries have trodden it down.
¹⁹We have become like those
over whom you have never ruled,
like those who are not called by your name.

---

↑   64. ¹O that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence -
²as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil -
to make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
³From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.
⁴You meet him that joyfully works righteousness,
those that remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time,
and shall we be saved?
⁵You meet him that joyfully works righteousness,
those that remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time,
and shall we be saved?
⁶There is no one that calls upon your name,
that bestirs himself to take hold of you;
for you have hid your face from us,
and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquities.
⁷There is no one that calls upon your name,
that bestirs himself to take hold of you;
for you have hid your face from us,
and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquities.


⁸Yet, O Yahweh, you are our father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are the work of your hand.
⁹Be not exceedingly angry, O Yahweh,
and remember not iniquity for ever.
Behold, consider, we are all your people.
¹⁰Your holy cities have become a wilderness,
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
¹¹Our holy and beautiful house,
where our fathers praised you,
has been burned by fire,
and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
¹²Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Yahweh?
Wilt you keep silent, and afflict us sorely?

---

↑   65.

God's punishment on the rebellious.

¹I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;
I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, "Here am I, here am I,"
to the nation that did not call my name.
²I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
following their own devices;
³a people who provoke me to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens and burning incense upon bricks;
⁴who sit in tombs,
and spend the night in secret places;
who eat swine's flesh,
and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
⁵who say, "Keep to yourself,
do not come near me, for I am set apart from you."
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that burns all the day.
⁶Behold, it is written before me:
"I will not keep silent, but I will repay,
yea, I will repay into their bosom ⁷their iniquities
and their fathers' iniquities together,
says Yahweh;
because they burned incense upon the mountains
and reviled me upon the hills,
I will measure into their bosom
payment for their former doings."


⁸Thus says Yahweh:
"As the wine is found in the cluster,
and they say, 'Do not destroy it,
for there is a blessing in it,'
so I will do for my servants' sake,
and not destroy them all.
⁹I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and from Judah inheritors of my mountains;
my chosen shall inherit it,
and my servants shall dwell there.
¹⁰Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
for my people who have sought me.
¹¹But you who forsake Yahweh,
who forget my holy mountain,
who set a table for Fortune
and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny;
¹²I will destine you to the sword,
and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter;
because, when I called, you did not answer,
when I spoke, you did not listen,
but you did what was evil in my eyes,
and chose what I did not delight in."


¹³Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh:
"Behold, my servants shall eat,
but you shall be hungry;
behold, my servants shall drink,
but you shall be thirsty;
behold, my servants shall rejoice,
but you shall be put to shame;
¹⁴behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
but you shall cry out for pain of heart,
and shall wail for anguish of spirit.
¹⁵You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse,
and the Lord Yahweh will slay you;
but his servants he will call by a different name.
¹⁶So that he who blesses himself in the land
shall bless himself by the God of truth,
and he who takes an oath in the land
shall swear by the God of truth;
because the former troubles are forgotten
and are hid from my eyes.


The new creation.

¹⁷"For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth;
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
¹⁸But be glad and rejoice for ever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing,
and her people a joy.
¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
²⁰No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the child shall die a hundred years old,
and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
²¹They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²²They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
²³They shall not labour in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be the offspring
of the blessed of Yahweh,
and their children with them.
²⁴Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
and dust shall be the serpent's food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,
says Yahweh."

---

↑   66.

The LORD judges the nations.

¹Thus says Yahweh:
"Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house which you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
²All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things are mine,
says Yahweh.
But this is the man to whom I will look,
he that is humble and contrite in spirit,
and trembles at my word.


³“He who slaughters an ox
is like him who kills a man;
he who sacrifices a lamb,
like him who breaks a dog’s neck;
he who presents a cereal offering,
like him who offers swine’s blood;
he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense,
like him who blesses an idol.
These have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their abominations;
⁴I also will choose affliction for them,
and bring their fears upon them;
because, when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke they did not listen;
but they did what was evil in my eyes,
and chose that in which I did not delight."


⁵Hear the word of Yahweh,
you who tremble at his word:
"Your brethren who hate you
and cast you out for my name's sake
have said, 'Let Yahweh be glorified,
that we may see your joy';
but it is they who shall be put to shame.


⁶"Hark, an uproar from the city!
A voice from the temple!
The voice of Yahweh,
rendering recompense to his enemies!


⁷“Before she was in labour she gave birth;
before her pain came upon her
she was delivered of a son.
⁸Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment?
For as soon as Zion was in labour
she brought forth her sons.
⁹Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth?
says Yahweh;
shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?
says your God.


¹⁰"Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy,
all you who mourn over her;
¹¹that you may suck and be satisfied
with her consoling breasts;
that you may drink deeply with delight
from the abundance of her glory."


¹²For thus says Yahweh:
"Behold, I will extend prosperity to her like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream;
and you shall suck, you shall be carried upon her hip,
and dandled upon her knees.
¹³As one whom his mother comforts,
so I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
¹⁴You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
your bones shall flourish like the grass;
and it shall be known
that the hand of Yahweh is with his servants,
and his indignation is against his enemies.


¹⁵"For behold, Yahweh will come in fire,
and his chariots like the stormwind,
to render his anger in fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
¹⁶For by fire will Yahweh execute judgment,
and by his sword, upon all flesh;
and those slain by Yahweh shall be many.

¹⁷"Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating swine's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, says Yahweh.

¹⁸"For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, ¹⁹and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. ²⁰And they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to Yahweh, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh, just as the Israelites bring their cereal offering in a clean vessel to the house of Yahweh. ²¹And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says Yahweh.

²²“For as the new heavens and the new earth
which I will make shall remain before me, says Yahweh;
so shall your descendants and your name remain.
²³From new moon to new moon,
and from sabbath to sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
says Yahweh.

²⁴"And they shall go forth and look on the dead bodies of the men that have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."

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Notes: This webpage enables you to select-a-version from the Bible versions held on the katapi bible database.
This page displays the katapi New Standard Bible as flowing text.
The katapi New Standard Bible is a very light revision of the RSV. The changes are: (1) In places where 'the LORD', 'O LORD' occurs in the RSV, (it represents the tetragrammaton - YHWH - which is in the hebrew text), I have used the name 'Yahweh'.
(2) I have removed the quotation marks and hyphens that were used in so many names in the RSV as an aid to correct pronunciation. This now brings it in line with all other English versions, and makes any word-search more accurate.
(3) I have changed all (I hope!) of the RSV archaic language sections to modern.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971], Apocrypha, copyright 1957; The Third and Fourth Books of the Maccabees and Psalm 151, copyright 1977, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The katapi New Study Bible reference section has been incorporated into the page as follows: Links to parallel passages show below passage headings. Links to Old Testament quotations in New Testament verses show after the verse number.
Quotations of OT passages by NT authors can in most cases be viewed within their context of the OT passage as a whole, with the quoted text displayed, against a subdued background.
Any mismatches, truncated verses, other mistakes ? Please e-mail me. © this page layout: Paul Ingram 2012.