Read and Listen to Isaiah
Isaiah 1-6 (ESV)
Chapter 1
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The Wickedness of Judah
2 Hear,
O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for
the Lord has
spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but
they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its
owner,
and the donkey its master's
crib,
but Israel does not know,
my
people do not understand.”
4 Ah,
sinful nation,
a people laden with
iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children
who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they
have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they
are utterly estranged.
5 Why will you still be struck down?
Why
will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and
the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even to
the head,
there is no soundness in
it,
but bruises and sores
and raw
wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
or
softened with oil.
7 Your country lies desolate;
your
cities are burned with fire;
in your very
presence
foreigners devour your
land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by
foreigners.
8 And the daughter of Zion is
left
like a booth in a
vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
like
a besieged city.
9 If
the Lord of
hosts
had not left us a few
survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and
become like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you
rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our
God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 “What
to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says
the Lord;
I
have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and
the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of
bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12 “When you come to appear before me,
who
has required of you
this trampling of my
courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense
is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling
of convocations—
I cannot
endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
14 Your new
moons and your appointed feasts
my soul
hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I
am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your
hands,
I will hide my eyes from
you;
even though you make many prayers,
I
will not listen;
your hands are full of
blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves
clean;
remove the evil of your deeds
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17 learn
to do good;
seek justice,
correct
oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead
the widow's cause.
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says
the Lord:
though
your sins are like scarlet,
they shall
be as white as snow;
though they are red like
crimson,
they shall become like
wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you
shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and
rebel,
you shall be eaten by the
sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has
spoken.”
The Unfaithful City
21 How the faithful city
has become
a whore,
she who was full of
justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
but
now murderers.
22 Your silver has become dross,
your
best wine mixed with water.
23 Your princes are
rebels
and companions of
thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe
and
runs after gifts.
They do not bring justice to the
fatherless,
and the widow's cause does
not come to them.
24 Therefore the Lord declares,
the Lord of
hosts,
the Mighty One of
Israel:
“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies
and
avenge myself on my foes.
25 I will turn my hand against
you
and will smelt away your dross
as with lye
and remove all your
alloy.
26 And I will restore your judges as at the
first,
and your counselors as at the
beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of
righteousness,
the faithful city.”
27 Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
and
those in her who repent, by righteousness.
28 But rebels
and sinners shall be broken together,
and
those who forsake the Lord shall
be consumed.
29 For they shall be ashamed of the
oaks
that you desired;
and you
shall blush for the gardens
that
you have chosen.
30 For you shall be like an
oak
whose leaf withers,
and
like a garden without water.
31 And the strong shall
become tinder,
and his work a
spark,
and both of them shall burn together,
with none
to quench them.
Chapter 2
The Mountain of the Lord
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the
mountain of the house of the Lord
shall
be established as the highest of the mountains,
and
shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations
shall flow to it,
3 and many
peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord,
to
the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his
ways
and that we may walk in his
paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and
the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and
shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat
their swords into plowshares,
and their
spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword
against nation,
neither shall they learn
war anymore.
5 O
house of Jacob,
come, let us
walk
in the light of the Lord.
The Day of the Lord
6 For you have rejected your people,
the
house of Jacob,
because they are full of things from the
east
and of fortune-tellers like
the Philistines,
and they strike
hands with the children of foreigners.
7 Their land
is filled with silver and gold,
and
there is no end to their treasures;
their land is filled
with horses,
and there is no end to
their chariots.
8 Their land is filled with
idols;
they bow down to the work of
their hands,
to what their own fingers
have made.
9 So man is humbled,
and
each one is brought low—
do not
forgive them!
10 Enter into the rock
and
hide in the dust
from before the terror of the Lord,
and
from the splendor of his majesty.
11 The haughty looks of
man shall be brought low,
and the lofty
pride of men shall be humbled,
and the Lord alone
will be exalted in that day.
12 For the Lord of
hosts has a day
against all that is
proud and lofty,
against all that is
lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
13 against all
the cedars of Lebanon,
lofty and
lifted up;
and against all the oaks
of Bashan;
14 against all the lofty mountains,
and
against all the uplifted hills;
15 against every high
tower,
and against every fortified
wall;
16 against all the ships of Tarshish,
and
against all the beautiful craft.
17 And the haughtiness of
man shall be humbled,
and the lofty
pride of men shall be brought low,
and
the Lord alone
will be exalted in that day.
18 And the idols shall utterly
pass away.
19 And people shall enter the caves of the
rocks
and the holes of the ground,
from
before the terror of the Lord,
and
from the splendor of his majesty,
when
he rises to terrify the earth.
20 In that day mankind will cast away
their
idols of silver and their idols of gold,
which they made for
themselves to worship,
to the moles and
to the bats,
21 to enter the caverns of the
rocks
and the clefts of the cliffs,
from
before the terror of the Lord,
and
from the splendor of his majesty,
when
he rises to terrify the earth.
22 Stop regarding man
in
whose nostrils is breath,
for of what
account is he?
Chapter 3
Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem
1 For behold, the Lord God of hosts
is taking away from Jerusalem and
from Judah
support and supply,
all support
of bread,
and all support of
water;
2 the mighty man and the soldier,
the
judge and the prophet,
the diviner and
the elder,
3 the captain of fifty
and
the man of rank,
the counselor and the skillful magician
and
the expert in charms.
4 And I will make boys their
princes,
and infants shall rule
over them.
5 And the people will oppress one
another,
every one his fellow
and
every one his neighbor;
the youth will be insolent to the
elder,
and the despised to the
honorable.
6 For a man will take hold of his brother
in
the house of his father, saying:
“You have a cloak;
you
shall be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
shall
be under your rule”;
7 in that day he will speak out,
saying:
“I will not be a healer;
in
my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
you shall not make
me
leader of the people.”
8 For
Jerusalem has stumbled,
and Judah has
fallen,
because their speech and their deeds are against
the Lord,
defying
his glorious presence.
9 For the look on their faces bears witness against
them;
they proclaim their sin like
Sodom;
they do not hide it.
Woe to
them!
For they have brought evil on
themselves.
10 Tell the righteous that it shall be well
with them,
for they shall eat the fruit
of their deeds.
11 Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with
him,
for what his hands have dealt out
shall be done to him.
12 My people—infants are their
oppressors,
and women rule over them.
O
my people, your guides mislead you
and
they have swallowed up the course of your paths.
13 The Lord has
taken his place to contend;
he stands to
judge peoples.
14 The Lord will
enter into judgment
with the elders
and princes of his people:
“It is you who have
devoured the vineyard,
the spoil of
the poor is in your houses.
15 What do you mean by crushing
my people,
by grinding the face of the
poor?”
declares the Lord God of
hosts.
16 The Lord said:
Because the
daughters of Zion are haughty
and walk
with outstretched necks,
glancing
wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
tinkling
with their feet,
17 therefore the Lord will strike
with a scab
the heads of the
daughters of Zion,
and the Lord will
lay bare their secret parts.
18 In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; 19 the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; 20 the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; 21 the signet rings and nose rings; 22 the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; 23 the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.
24 Instead of perfume there will be rottenness;
and
instead of a belt, a rope;
and instead of well-set
hair, baldness;
and instead of a
rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth;
and branding
instead of beauty.
25 Your men shall fall by the
sword
and your mighty men in
battle.
26 And her gates shall lament and
mourn;
empty, she shall sit on the
ground.
1 And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”
The Branch of the Lord Glorified
2 In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. 5 Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6 There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
Chapter 5
The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed
1 Let
me sing for my beloved
my love song
concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on
a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of
stones,
and planted it with choice
vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and
hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield
grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and
men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What
more was there to do for my vineyard,
that
I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield
grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I
will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and
it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and
it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;
it
shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers
and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the
clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For
the vineyard of the Lord of
hosts
is the house of Israel,
and
the men of Judah
are his pleasant
planting;
and he looked for justice,
but
behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but
behold, an outcry!
Woe to the Wicked
8 Woe to those who join house to house,
who
add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and
you are made to dwell alone
in the midst
of the land.
9 The Lord of
hosts has sworn in my hearing:
“Surely many houses shall be
desolate,
large and beautiful houses,
without inhabitant.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall
yield but one bath,
and a homer of
seed shall yield but an ephah.”
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
that
they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the
evening
as wine inflames them!
12 They
have lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute
and wine at their feasts,
but they do not regard the deeds of
the Lord,
or
see the work of his hands.
13 Therefore my people go into exile
for
lack of knowledge;
their honored men go hungry,
and
their multitude is parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol
has enlarged its appetite
and
opened its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of
Jerusalem and her multitude will go down,
her
revelers and he who exults in her.
15 Man is humbled,
and each one is brought low,
and the
eyes of the haughty are brought low.
16 But
the Lord of
hosts is exalted in justice,
and
the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
17 Then
shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,
and nomads
shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of
falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart
ropes,
19 who say: “Let him be quick,
let
him speed his work
that we may see
it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and
let it come, that we may know it!”
20 Woe to those
who call evil good
and good evil,
who
put darkness for light
and light for
darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and
sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in
their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own
sight!
22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking
wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong
drink,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and
deprive the innocent of his right!
24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the
stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in
the flame,
so their root will be as
rottenness,
and their blossom go up like
dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord of
hosts,
and have despised the word
of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the anger of
the Lord was
kindled against his people,
and he
stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
and the
mountains quaked;
and their corpses were as refuse
in
the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned
away,
and his hand is stretched out
still.
26 He will raise a signal for nations far
away,
and whistle for them from
the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they
come!
27 None is weary, none stumbles,
none
slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistband is loose,
not
a sandal strap broken;
28 their arrows are sharp,
all
their bows bent,
their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
and
their wheels like the whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is
like a lion,
like young lions they
roar;
they growl and seize their prey;
they
carry it off, and none can rescue.
30 They will growl over
it on that day,
like the growling of the
sea.
And if one looks to the land,
behold, darkness
and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.
Chapter 6
Isaiah's Vision of the Lord
1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Isaiah's Commission from the Lord
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on
seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 Make the heart of
this people dull,
and their ears
heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest
they see with their eyes,
and hear with
their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and
turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “How long, O
Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie
waste
without inhabitant,
and
houses without people,
and the land is a
desolate waste,
12 and the Lord removes
people far away,
and the forsaken places
are many in the midst of the land.
13 And though a tenth
remain in it,
it will be
burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose
stump remains
when it is
felled.”
The holy seed is its stump.
Isaiah 7-12 (ESV)
Chapter 7
Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz
1 In 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 could not yet mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. 4 And say to him, ‘Be careful, 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. 5 Because 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,” 7 thus says the Lord God:
“‘It shall not stand,
and it shall
not come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria
is Damascus,
and the head of
Damascus is Rezin.
And within sixty-five years
Ephraim
will be shattered from being a people.
9 And the head of
Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of
Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you are not firm in
faith,
you will not be firm at all.’”
The Sign of Immanuel
10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”
18 In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.
20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.
21 In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey.
23 In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns. 24 With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. 25 And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.
Chapter 8
The Coming Assyrian Invasion
1 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ 2 And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”
3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”
9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
give
ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be
shattered;
strap on your armor and be
shattered.
10 Take counsel together, but it will come to
nothing;
speak a word, but it will
not stand,
for God is with us.
Fear God, Wait for the Lord
11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
Chapter 9
For to Us a Child Is Born
1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 The people who walked in darkness
have
seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep
darkness,
on them has light shone.
3 You
have multiplied the nation;
you have
increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as
with joy at the harvest,
as
they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4 For
the yoke of his burden,
and the staff
for his shoulder,
the rod of his
oppressor,
you have broken as on
the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior
in battle tumult
and every garment
rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel
for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to
us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his
shoulder,
and his name shall be
called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God,
Everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of
peace
there will be no end,
on the
throne of David and over his kingdom,
to
establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with
righteousness
from this time forth and
forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of
hosts will do this.
Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression
8 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
and
it will fall on Israel;
9 and all the people will
know,
Ephraim and the inhabitants of
Samaria,
who say in pride and in
arrogance of heart:
10 “The bricks have fallen,
but
we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut
down,
but we will put cedars in their
place.”
11 But the Lord raises
the adversaries of Rezin against him,
and
stirs up his enemies.
12 The Syrians on the east and the
Philistines on the west
devour Israel
with open mouth.
For all this his anger has not turned
away,
and his hand is stretched out
still.
13 The people did not turn to him who struck them,
nor
inquire of the Lord of
hosts.
14 So the Lord cut
off from Israel head and tail,
palm
branch and reed in one day—
15 the elder and honored man
is the head,
and the prophet who
teaches lies is the tail;
16 for those who guide this
people have been leading them astray,
and
those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
17 Therefore
the Lord does not rejoice over their young men,
and
has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone
is godless and an evildoer,
and
every mouth speaks folly.
For all this his anger has not
turned away,
and his hand is stretched
out still.
18 For wickedness burns like a fire;
it
consumes briers and thorns;
it kindles the thickets of the
forest,
and they roll upward in a column
of smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of
hosts
the land is scorched,
and the
people are like fuel for the fire;
no
one spares another.
20 They slice meat on the right, but
are still hungry,
and they devour on the
left, but are not satisfied;
each devours the flesh of his own
arm,
21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours
Manasseh;
together they are against
Judah.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and
his hand is stretched out still.
Chapter 10
1 Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,
and
the writers who keep writing oppression,
2 to turn
aside the needy from justice
and to
rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be
their spoil,
and that they may make the
fatherless their prey!
3 What will you do on the day
of punishment,
in the ruin that will
come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and
where will you leave your wealth?
4 Nothing remains but to
crouch among the prisoners
or fall among
the slain.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and
his hand is stretched out still.
Judgment on Arrogant Assyria
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;
the
staff in their hands is my fury!
6 Against a godless
nation I send him,
and against the
people of my wrath I command him,
to take spoil and seize
plunder,
and to tread them down
like the mire of the streets.
7 But he does not so
intend,
and his heart does not so
think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
and
to cut off nations not a few;
8 for he says:
“Are
not my commanders all kings?
9 Is not Calno
like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath
like Arpad?
Is not Samaria
like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached to the
kingdoms of the idols,
whose carved
images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 shall
I not do to Jerusalem and her idols
as
I have done to Samaria and her images?”
12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. 13 For he says:
“By the
strength of my hand I have done it,
and
by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries
of peoples,
and plunder their
treasures;
like a bull I bring down
those who sit on thrones.
14 My hand has found like a
nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and
as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so
I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a
wing
or opened the mouth or chirped.”
15 Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
or
the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod
should wield him who lifts it,
or as if
a staff should lift him who is not wood!
16 Therefore the
Lord God of
hosts
will send wasting sickness among
his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will
be kindled,
like the burning of
fire.
17 The 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.
18 The glory of his
forest and of his fruitful land
the Lord will
destroy, both soul and body,
and it will
be as when a sick man wastes away.
19 The remnant of the
trees of his forest will be so few
that
a child can write them down.
The Remnant of Israel Will Return
20 In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. 22 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23 For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. 25 For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. 26 And the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. 27 And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”
28 He has come to Aiath;
he has passed
through Migron;
at Michmash he
stores his baggage;
29 they have crossed over the
pass;
at Geba they lodge for the
night;
Ramah trembles;
Gibeah of
Saul has fled.
30 Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim!
Give
attention, O Laishah!
O
poor Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is in flight;
the
inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
32 This very day he
will halt at Nob;
he will shake his
fist
at the mount of the daughter
of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord God of
hosts
will lop the boughs with
terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
and
the lofty will be brought low.
34 He will cut down the
thickets of the forest with an axe,
and Lebanon
will fall by the Majestic One.
Chapter 11
The Righteous Reign of the Branch
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump
of Jesse,
and a branch from his
roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of
the Lord shall
rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and
understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and
might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the
fear of the Lord.
3 And
his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He
shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or
decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with
righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and
decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he
shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with
the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness
shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness
the belt of his loins.
6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and
the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and
the lion and the fattened calf together;
and
a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear
shall graze;
their young shall lie down
together;
and the lion shall eat straw
like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole
of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall
put his hand on the adder's den.
9 They shall not hurt or
destroy
in all my holy
mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of
the Lord
as
the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
12 He will raise a signal for the nations
and
will assemble the banished of Israel,
and gather the
dispersed of Judah
from the four corners
of the earth.
13 The 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.
14 But they shall swoop
down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
and
together they shall plunder the people of the east.
They
shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab,
and the
Ammonites shall obey them.
15 And the Lord will
utterly destroy
the tongue of the Sea of
Egypt,
and will wave his hand over the River
with
his scorching breath,
and strike it into seven channels,
and
he will lead people across in sandals.
16 And there will
be a highway from Assyria
for the
remnant that remains of his people,
as there was for
Israel
when they came up from the land
of Egypt.
Chapter 12
The Lord Is My Strength and My Song
1 You will say in that
day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for
though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that
you might comfort me.
2 “Behold,
God is my salvation;
I will trust, and
will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is
my strength and my song,
and he has
become my salvation.”
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say in that day:
“Give thanks to the Lord,
call
upon his name,
make known his deeds among the
peoples,
proclaim that his name is
exalted.
5 “Sing praises to the Lord,
for he has done gloriously;
let this be
made known in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for
joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in
your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 13-23 (NIV)
A Prophecy Against Babylon
1 A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:
2 Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,
shout
to them;
beckon to them
to enter
the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded those I
prepared for battle;
I have summoned my
warriors to carry out my wrath—
those
who rejoice in my triumph.
4 Listen, a noise on the mountains,
like
that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar among the
kingdoms,
like nations massing
together!
The Lord Almighty is
mustering
an army for war.
5 They
come from faraway lands,
from the ends
of the heavens—
the Lord and
the weapons of his wrath—
to
destroy the whole country.
6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is
near;
it will come like destruction from
the Almighty.
7 Because of this, all hands will go
limp,
every heart will melt with
fear.
8 Terror will seize them,
pain
and anguish will grip them;
they
will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each
other,
their faces aflame.
9 See, the day of the Lord is
coming
—a cruel day, with
wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
and
destroy the sinners within it.
10 The stars of heaven and
their constellations
will not show their
light.
The rising sun will be darkened
and
the moon will not give its light.
11 I will punish the
world for its evil,
the wicked for
their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the
haughty
and will humble the pride
of the ruthless.
12 I will make people scarcer than
pure gold,
more rare than the gold of
Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens
tremble;
and the earth will shake from
its place
at the wrath of the Lord Almighty,
in
the day of his burning anger.
14 Like a hunted gazelle,
like
sheep without a shepherd,
they will all return to their own
people,
they will flee to their
native land.
15 Whoever is captured will be thrust
through;
all who are caught will fall by
the sword.
16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be
looted and their wives violated.
17 See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
who
do not care for silver
and have no
delight in gold.
18 Their bows will strike down the
young men;
they will have no mercy on
infants,
nor will they look with
compassion on children.
19 Babylon, the jewel of
kingdoms,
the pride and glory of
the Babylonians,
will be overthrown by God
like
Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 She will never be inhabited
or
lived in through all generations;
there no nomads will
pitch their tents,
there no shepherds
will rest their flocks.
21 But desert creatures will
lie there,
jackals will fill her
houses;
there the owls will dwell,
and
there the wild goats will leap about.
22 Hyenas will
inhabit her strongholds,
jackals her
luxurious palaces.
Her time is at hand,
and
her days will not be prolonged.
Chapter 14
1 The Lord will
have compassion on Jacob;
once
again he will choose Israel
and
will settle them in their own land.
Foreigners will join
them
and unite with the descendants of
Jacob.
2 Nations will take them
and
bring them to their own place.
And Israel will take
possession of the nations
and make them
male and female servants in the Lord’s
land.
They will make captives of their captors
and
rule over their oppressors.
3 On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor has come to an end!
How
his fury has ended!
5 The Lord has
broken the rod of the wicked,
the
scepter of the rulers,
6 which in anger struck down
peoples
with unceasing blows,
and
in fury subdued nations
with
relentless aggression.
7 All the lands are at rest and at
peace;
they break into singing.
8 Even
the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon
gloat
over you and say,
“Now that you have been laid low,
no
one comes to cut us down.”
9 The realm of the dead below is all astir
to
meet you at your coming;
it rouses the spirits of the
departed to greet you—
all those
who were leaders in the world;
it makes them rise from
their thrones—
all those who were
kings over the nations.
10 They will all respond,
they
will say to you,
“You also have become weak, as we
are;
you have become like us.”
11 All
your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
along
with the noise of your harps;
maggots are spread out beneath
you
and worms cover you.
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
morning
star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the
earth,
you who once laid low the
nations!
13 You said in your heart,
“I
will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my
throne
above the stars of God;
I
will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on
the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
14 I will ascend
above the tops of the clouds;
I will
make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought
down to the realm of the dead,
to
the depths of the pit.
16 Those who see you stare at you,
they
ponder your fate:
“Is this the man who shook the
earth
and made kingdoms tremble,
17 the
man who made the world a wilderness,
who
overthrew its cities
and would not
let his captives go home?”
18 All the kings of the nations lie in state,
each
in his own tomb.
19 But you are cast out of your
tomb
like a rejected branch;
you
are covered with the slain,
with those
pierced by the sword,
those who descend
to the stones of the pit.
Like a corpse trampled
underfoot,
20 you will not join
them in burial,
for you have destroyed your land
and
killed your people.
Let the
offspring of the wicked
never be
mentioned again.
21 Prepare a place to slaughter his
children
for the sins of their
ancestors;
they are not to rise to inherit the land
and
cover the earth with their cities.
22 “I will rise up against them,”
declares
the Lord Almighty.
“I
will wipe out Babylon’s name and survivors,
her
offspring and descendants,”
declares the Lord.
23 “I
will turn her into a place for owls
and
into swampland;
I will sweep her with the broom of
destruction,”
declares
the Lord Almighty.
24 The Lord Almighty has sworn,
“Surely,
as I have planned, so it will be,
and
as I have purposed, so it will happen.
25 I will crush the
Assyrian in my land;
on my
mountains I will trample him down.
His yoke will be taken
from my people,
and his burden removed
from their shoulders.”
26 This is the plan determined for the whole
world;
this is the hand stretched
out over all nations.
27 For the Lord Almighty
has purposed, and who can thwart him?
His
hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?
A Prophecy Against the Philistines
28 This prophecy came in the year King Ahaz died:
29 Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
that
the rod that struck you is broken;
from the root of that snake
will spring up a viper,
its fruit will
be a darting, venomous serpent.
30 The poorest of the poor
will find pasture,
and the needy will
lie down in safety.
But your root I will destroy by
famine;
it will slay your
survivors.
31 Wail, you gate! Howl, you city!
Melt
away, all you Philistines!
A cloud of smoke comes from the
north,
and there is not a straggler in
its ranks.
32 What answer shall be given
to
the envoys of that nation?
“The Lord has
established Zion,
and in her his
afflicted people will find refuge.”
Chapter 15
A Prophecy Against Moab
1 A prophecy against Moab:
Ar in Moab is ruined,
destroyed in
a night!
Kir in Moab is ruined,
destroyed
in a night!
2 Dibon goes up to its temple,
to
its high places to weep;
Moab
wails over Nebo and Medeba.
Every head is
shaved
and every beard cut off.
3 In
the streets they wear sackcloth;
on the
roofs and in the public squares
they all
wail,
prostrate with
weeping.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
their
voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.
Therefore the armed men
of Moab cry out,
and their hearts are
faint.
5 My heart cries out over Moab;
her
fugitives flee as far as Zoar,
as
far as Eglath Shelishiyah.
They go up the hill to
Luhith,
weeping as they go;
on the
road to Horonaim
they lament their
destruction.
6 The waters of Nimrim are dried up
and
the grass is withered;
the vegetation is gone
and
nothing green is left.
7 So the wealth they have
acquired and stored up
they carry
away over the Ravine of the Poplars.
8 Their outcry echoes
along the border of Moab;
their wailing
reaches as far as Eglaim,
their
lamentation as far as Beer Elim.
9 The waters of
Dimon are full of blood,
but I will
bring still more upon Dimon—
a lion upon the fugitives of
Moab
and upon those who remain in the
land.
Chapter 16
1 Send lambs as tribute
to
the ruler of the land,
from Sela, across the desert,
to
the mount of Daughter Zion.
2 Like fluttering
birds
pushed from the nest,
so are
the women of Moab
at the fords of
the Arnon.
3 “Make up your mind,” Moab says.
“Render
a decision.
Make your shadow like night—
at
high noon.
Hide the fugitives,
do
not betray the refugees.
4 Let the Moabite fugitives stay
with you;
be their shelter from the
destroyer.”
The
oppressor will come to an end,
and
destruction will cease;
the aggressor
will vanish from the land.
5 In love a throne will be
established;
in faithfulness a man will
sit on it—
one from the house of
David—
one who in judging seeks justice
and
speeds the cause of righteousness.
6 We have heard of Moab’s pride—
how
great is her arrogance!—
of her conceit, her pride and her
insolence;
but her boasts are
empty.
7 Therefore the Moabites wail,
they
wail together for Moab.
Lament and grieve
for
the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.
8 The fields of
Heshbon wither,
the vines of
Sibmah also.
The rulers of the nations
have
trampled down the choicest vines,
which once reached
Jazer
and spread toward the
desert.
Their shoots spread out
and
went as far as the sea.
9 So I weep, as Jazer
weeps,
for the vines of Sibmah.
Heshbon
and Elealeh,
I drench you with
tears!
The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit
and
over your harvests have been stilled.
10 Joy and
gladness are taken away from the orchards;
no
one sings or shouts in the vineyards;
no one treads out
wine at the presses,
for I have put an
end to the shouting.
11 My heart laments for Moab like
a harp,
my inmost being for Kir
Hareseth.
12 When Moab appears at her high place,
she
only wears herself out;
when she goes to her shrine to
pray,
it is to no avail.
13 This is the word the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab. 14 But now the Lord says: “Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble.”
Chapter 17
A Prophecy Against Damascus
1 A prophecy against Damascus:
“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
but
will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer will
be deserted
and left to flocks, which
will lie down,
with no one to make them
afraid.
3 The fortified city will disappear from
Ephraim,
and royal power from
Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
like
the glory of the Israelites,”
declares the Lord Almighty.
4 “In that day the glory of Jacob will fade;
the
fat of his body will waste away.
5 It will be as when
reapers harvest the standing grain,
gathering the
grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of
grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet
some gleanings will remain,
as when an
olive tree is beaten,
leaving two or three olives on the topmost
branches,
four or five on the fruitful
boughs,”
declares the Lord,
the God of Israel.
7 In that day people will look to their Maker
and
turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will
not look to the altars,
the work of
their hands,
and they will have no regard for the Asherah
poles
and the incense altars their
fingers have made.
9 In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.
10 You have forgotten God your Savior;
you
have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore,
though you set out the finest plants
and
plant imported vines,
11 though on the day you set them
out, you make them grow,
and on the
morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the
harvest will be as nothing
in the
day of disease and incurable pain.
12 Woe to the many nations that rage—
they
rage like the raging sea!
Woe to the peoples who roar—
they
roar like the roaring of great waters!
13 Although the
peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,
when
he rebukes them they flee far away,
driven before the
wind like chaff on the hills,
like
tumbleweed before a gale.
14 In the evening,
sudden terror!
Before the morning,
they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the
lot of those who plunder us.
Chapter 18
A Prophecy Against Cush
1 Woe to
the land of whirring wings
along the
rivers of Cush,
2 which sends envoys by sea
in
papyrus boats over the water.
Go, swift messengers,
to a people
tall and smooth-skinned,
to a people
feared far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange
speech,
whose land is divided by rivers.
3 All you people of the world,
you
who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the
mountains,
you will see it,
and
when a trumpet sounds,
you will
hear it.
4 This is what the Lord says
to me:
“I will remain quiet and
will look on from my dwelling place,
like shimmering heat in the
sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in
the heat of harvest.”
5 For, before the harvest, when the
blossom is gone
and the flower becomes a
ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning
knives,
and cut down and take away the
spreading branches.
6 They will all be left to the mountain
birds of prey
and to the wild
animals;
the birds will feed on them all summer,
the
wild animals all winter.
7 At that time gifts will be brought to the Lord Almighty
from a people tall and
smooth-skinned,
from a people feared far
and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose
land is divided by rivers—
the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.
Chapter 19
A Prophecy Against Egypt
1 A prophecy against Egypt:
See, the Lord rides
on a swift cloud
and is coming to
Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
and
the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.
2 “I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—
brother
will fight against brother,
neighbor
against neighbor,
city against
city,
kingdom against kingdom.
3 The
Egyptians will lose heart,
and I will
bring their plans to nothing;
they will consult the idols
and the spirits of the dead,
the mediums
and the spiritists.
4 I will hand the Egyptians over
to
the power of a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule
over them,”
declares the Lord,
the Lord Almighty.
5 The waters of the river will dry up,
and
the riverbed will be parched and dry.
6 The canals will
stink;
the streams of Egypt will dwindle
and dry up.
The reeds and rushes will wither,
7 also
the plants along the Nile,
at the
mouth of the river.
Every sown field along the
Nile
will become parched, will blow away
and be no more.
8 The fishermen will groan and
lament,
all who cast hooks into the
Nile;
those who throw nets on the water
will
pine away.
9 Those who work with combed flax will
despair,
the weavers of fine linen will
lose hope.
10 The workers in cloth will be
dejected,
and all the wage earners will
be sick at heart.
11 The
officials of Zoan are nothing but fools;
the
wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice.
How can
you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the
wise men,
a disciple of the ancient
kings”?
12 Where are your wise men now?
Let
them show you and make known
what the Lord Almighty
has
planned against Egypt.
13 The officials of Zoan have
become fools,
the leaders of Memphis are
deceived;
the cornerstones of her peoples
have
led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has
poured into them
a spirit of
dizziness;
they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,
as
a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
15 There is
nothing Egypt can do—
head or tail,
palm branch or reed.
16 In that day the Egyptians will become weaklings. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the Lord Almighty raises against them. 17 And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the Lord Almighty is planning against them.
18 In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.
19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border. 20 It will be a sign and witness to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. 21 So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”
Chapter 20
A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush
1 In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it— 2 at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.
3 Then the Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame. 5 Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be dismayed and put to shame. 6 In that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’”
Chapter 21
A Prophecy Against Babylon
1 A prophecy against the Desert by the Sea:
Like whirlwinds sweeping through
the southland,
an invader comes from the
desert,
from a land of terror.
2 A
dire vision has been shown to me:
The
traitor betrays, the looter takes loot.
Elam, attack!
Media, lay siege!
I will bring to
an end all the groaning she caused.
3 At this my body is racked with pain,
pangs
seize me, like those of a woman in labor;
I am staggered by what
I hear,
I am bewildered by what I
see.
4 My heart falters,
fear
makes me tremble;
the twilight I longed for
has
become a horror to me.
5 They
set the tables,
they spread the
rugs,
they eat, they drink!
Get up,
you officers,
oil the shields!
6 This is what the Lord says to me:
“Go, post
a lookout
and have him report what he
sees.
7 When he sees chariots
with
teams of horses,
riders on donkeys
or
riders on camels,
let him be alert,
fully
alert.”
“Day after
day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower;
every
night I stay at my post.
9 Look, here comes a man in a
chariot
with a team of horses.
And
he gives back the answer:
‘Babylon has
fallen, has fallen!
All the images of its gods
lie
shattered on the ground!’”
10 My
people who are crushed on the threshing floor,
I
tell you what I have heard
from the Lord Almighty,
from
the God of Israel.
A Prophecy Against Edom
11 A prophecy against Dumah:
Someone
calls to me from Seir,
“Watchman, what
is left of the night?
Watchman, what is
left of the night?”
12 The watchman replies,
“Morning
is coming, but also the night.
If you would ask, then
ask;
and come back yet again.”
A Prophecy Against Arabia
13 A prophecy against Arabia:
You caravans of Dedanites,
who camp in
the thickets of Arabia,
14 bring
water for the thirsty;
you who live in Tema,
bring
food for the fugitives.
15 They flee from the
sword,
from the drawn sword,
from
the bent bow
and from the heat of
battle.
16 This is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end. 17 The survivors of the archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.
Chapter 22
A Prophecy About Jerusalem
1 A prophecy against the Valley of Vision:
What troubles you now,
that you have all
gone up on the roofs,
2 you town so full of
commotion,
you city of tumult and
revelry?
Your slain were not killed by the sword,
nor
did they die in battle.
3 All your leaders have
fled together;
they have been
captured without using the bow.
All you who were caught
were taken prisoner together,
having
fled while the enemy was still far away.
4 Therefore I
said, “Turn away from me;
let me
weep bitterly.
Do not try to console me
over
the destruction of my people.”
5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
has a day
of tumult and trampling and
terror
in the Valley of Vision,
a
day of battering down walls
and of
crying out to the mountains.
6 Elam takes up the
quiver,
with her charioteers and
horses;
Kir uncovers the
shield.
7 Your choicest valleys are full of
chariots,
and horsemen are posted at the
city gates.
8 The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,
and
you looked in that day
to the weapons in
the Palace of the Forest.
9 You saw that the walls of the
City of David
were broken through in
many places;
you stored up water
in
the Lower Pool.
10 You counted the buildings in
Jerusalem
and tore down houses to
strengthen the wall.
11 You built a reservoir between the
two walls
for the water of the Old
Pool,
but you did not look to the One who made it,
or
have regard for the One who planned it long ago.
12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
called
you on that day
to weep and to wail,
to
tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
13 But see,
there is joy and revelry,
slaughtering
of cattle and killing of sheep,
eating
of meat and drinking of wine!
“Let us eat and drink,” you
say,
“for tomorrow we die!”
14 The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
15 This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says:
“Go, say
to this steward,
to Shebna the
palace administrator:
16 What are you doing here and
who gave you permission
to cut out a
grave for yourself here,
hewing your grave on the
height
and chiseling your resting place
in the rock?
17 “Beware, the Lord is
about to take firm hold of you
and
hurl you away, you mighty man.
18 He will roll you up
tightly like a ball
and throw you
into a large country.
There you will die
and
there the chariots you were so proud of
will
become a disgrace to your master’s house.
19 I will
depose you from your office,
and you
will be ousted from your position.
20 “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father. 24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.
25 “In that day,” declares the Lord Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The Lord has spoken.
Chapter 23
A Prophecy Against Tyre
1 A prophecy against Tyre:
Wail, you ships of
Tarshish!
For Tyre is destroyed
and
left without house or harbor.
From the land of Cyprus
word
has come to them.
2 Be silent, you people of the island
and
you merchants of Sidon,
whom the
seafarers have enriched.
3 On the great waters
came
the grain of the Shihor;
the harvest of the Nile was the
revenue of Tyre,
and she became the
marketplace of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, Sidon, and you fortress of the sea,
for
the sea has spoken:
“I have neither been in labor nor given
birth;
I have neither reared sons nor
brought up daughters.”
5 When word comes to
Egypt,
they will be in anguish at
the report from Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, you
people of the island.
7 Is this your city of
revelry,
the old, old city,
whose
feet have taken her
to settle in far-off
lands?
8 Who planned this against Tyre,
the
bestower of crowns,
whose merchants are princes,
whose
traders are renowned in the earth?
9 The Lord Almighty
planned it,
to bring down her
pride in all her splendor
and to
humble all who are renowned on the earth.
10 Till your land as they do along the Nile,
Daughter
Tarshish,
for you no longer have a
harbor.
11 The Lord has
stretched out his hand over the sea
and
made its kingdoms tremble.
He has given an order concerning
Phoenicia
that her fortresses be
destroyed.
12 He said, “No more of your
reveling,
Virgin Daughter Sidon,
now crushed!
“Up, cross
over to Cyprus;
even there you will find
no rest.”
13 Look at the land of the
Babylonians,
this people that is now of
no account!
The Assyrians have made it
a
place for desert creatures;
they raised up their siege
towers,
they stripped its fortresses
bare
and turned it into a ruin.
14 Wail,
you ships of Tarshish;
your
fortress is destroyed!
15 At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16 “Take
up a harp, walk through the city,
you
forgotten prostitute;
play the harp well, sing many a
song,
so that you will be remembered.”
17 At the end of seventy years, the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18 Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the Lord; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the Lord, for abundant food and fine clothes.
Isaiah 24-27 (NLT)
Destruction of the Earth
1 Look! The Lord is
about to destroy the earth
and make it a
vast wasteland.
He devastates the surface of the earth
and
scatters the people.
2 Priests and laypeople,
servants
and masters,
maids and
mistresses,
buyers and
sellers,
lenders and
borrowers,
bankers and debtors—none
will be spared.
3 The earth will be completely emptied and
looted.
The Lord has
spoken!
4 The earth mourns and dries up,
and
the land wastes away and withers.
Even
the greatest people on earth waste away.
5 The earth
suffers for the sins of its people,
for
they have twisted God’s instructions,
violated his
laws,
and broken his everlasting
covenant.
6 Therefore, a curse consumes the earth.
Its
people must pay the price for their sin.
They are destroyed by
fire,
and only a few are left
alive.
7 The grapevines waste away,
and
there is no new wine.
All the
merrymakers sigh and mourn.
8 The cheerful sound of
tambourines is stilled;
the happy cries
of celebration are heard no more.
The
melodious chords of the harp are silent.
9 Gone are the
joys of wine and song;
alcoholic drink
turns bitter in the mouth.
10 The city writhes in
chaos;
every home is locked to keep out
intruders.
11 Mobs gather in the streets, crying out for
wine.
Joy has turned to
gloom.
Gladness has been banished from
the land.
12 The city is left in ruins,
its
gates battered down.
13 Throughout the earth the story is
the same—
only a remnant is left,
like
the stray olives left on the tree
or the
few grapes left on the vine after harvest.
14 But all who are left shout and sing for joy.
Those
in the west praise the Lord’s
majesty.
15 In eastern lands, give glory to
the Lord.
In
the lands beyond the sea, praise the name of the Lord,
the God of Israel.
16 We hear songs of praise from the ends
of the earth,
songs that give glory to
the Righteous One!
But my heart is heavy with grief.
Weep
for me, for I wither away.
Deceit still prevails,
and
treachery is everywhere.
17 Terror and traps and snares
will be your lot,
you people of the
earth.
18 Those who flee in terror will fall into a
trap,
and those who escape the trap will
be caught in a snare.
Destruction falls like rain from the heavens;
the
foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth has broken
up.
It has utterly collapsed;
it
is violently shaken.
20 The earth staggers like a
drunk.
It trembles like a tent in a
storm.
It falls and will not rise again,
for
the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy.
21 In that day the Lord will
punish the gods in the heavens
and the
proud rulers of the nations on earth.
22 They will be
rounded up and put in prison.
They will
be shut up in prison
and will finally be
punished.
23 Then the glory of the moon will wane,
and
the brightness of the sun will fade,
for the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies will rule on Mount Zion.
He
will rule in great glory in Jerusalem,
in
the sight of all the leaders of his people.
Chapter 25
Praise for Judgment and Salvation
1 O Lord, I
will honor and praise your name,
for you
are my God.
You do such wonderful things!
You
planned them long ago,
and now you have
accomplished them.
2 You turn mighty cities into heaps of
ruins.
Cities with strong walls are
turned to rubble.
Beautiful palaces in distant lands
disappear
and will never be
rebuilt.
3 Therefore, strong nations will declare your
glory;
ruthless nations will fear you.
4 But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O Lord,
a
tower of refuge to the needy in distress.
You are a refuge from
the storm
and a shelter from the
heat.
For the oppressive acts of ruthless people
are
like a storm beating against a wall,
5 or
like the relentless heat of the desert.
But you silence the roar
of foreign nations.
As the shade of a
cloud cools relentless heat,
so the
boastful songs of ruthless people are stilled.
6 In Jerusalem, the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies
will spread a
wonderful feast
for all the people of
the world.
It will be a delicious banquet
with
clear, well-aged wine and choice meat.
7 There he will
remove the cloud of gloom,
the shadow of
death that hangs over the earth.
8 He will swallow up death
forever!
The Sovereign Lord will
wipe away all tears.
He will remove forever all insults and
mockery
against his land and
people.
The Lord has
spoken!
9 In that day the people will proclaim,
“This is our
God!
We trusted in him, and he saved
us!
This is the Lord,
in whom we trusted.
Let us rejoice in
the salvation he brings!”
10 For the Lord’s
hand of blessing will rest on Jerusalem.
But
Moab will be crushed.
It will be like
straw trampled down and left to rot.
11 God will push down
Moab’s people
as a swimmer pushes down
water with his hands.
He will end their pride
and
all their evil works.
12 The high walls of Moab will be
demolished.
They will be brought down to
the ground,
down into the dust.
Chapter 26
A Song of Praise to the Lord
1 In that day, everyone in the land of Judah will sing this song:
Our city is strong!
We are surrounded by
the walls of God’s salvation.
2 Open the gates to all who
are righteous;
allow the faithful to
enter.
3 You will keep in perfect peace
all
who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are
fixed on you!
4 Trust in the Lord always,
for
the Lord God is
the eternal Rock.
5 He humbles the proud
and
brings down the arrogant city.
He brings
it down to the dust.
6 The poor and oppressed trample it
underfoot,
and the needy walk all over
it.
7 But for those who are righteous,
the
way is not steep and rough.
You are a God who does what is
right,
and you smooth out the path ahead
of them.
8 Lord,
we show our trust in you by obeying your laws;
our
heart’s desire is to glorify your name.
9 In the night I
search for you;
in the morning I
earnestly seek you.
For only when you come to judge the
earth
will people learn what is
right.
10 Your kindness to the wicked
does
not make them do good.
Although others do right, the wicked keep
doing wrong
and take no notice of
the Lord’s
majesty.
11 O Lord,
they pay no attention to your upraised fist.
Show
them your eagerness to defend your people.
Then they will be
ashamed.
Let your fire consume your
enemies.
12 Lord, you will
grant us peace;
all we have accomplished
is really from you.
13 O Lord our
God, others have ruled us,
but you alone
are the one we worship.
14 Those we served before are dead
and gone.
Their departed spirits will
never return!
You attacked them and destroyed them,
and
they are long forgotten.
15 O Lord,
you have made our nation great;
yes, you
have made us great.
You have extended our borders,
and
we give you the glory!
16 Lord, in
distress we searched for you.
We prayed
beneath the burden of your discipline.
17 Just as a
pregnant woman
writhes and cries out in
pain as she gives birth,
so were we in
your presence, Lord.
18 We,
too, writhe in agony,
but nothing comes
of our suffering.
We have not given salvation to the
earth,
nor brought life into the
world.
19 But those who die in the Lord will
live;
their bodies will rise
again!
Those who sleep in the earth
will
rise up and sing for joy!
For your life-giving light will fall
like dew
on your people in the place of
the dead!
Restoration for Israel
20 Go
home, my people,
and lock your
doors!
Hide yourselves for a little while
until
the Lord’s anger
has passed.
21 Look! The Lord is
coming from heaven
to punish the people
of the earth for their sins.
The earth will no longer hide those
who have been killed.
They will be
brought out for all to see.
Chapter 27
1 In that day the Lord will take his terrible, swift sword and punish Leviathan, the swiftly moving serpent, the coiling, writhing serpent. He will kill the dragon of the sea.
2 “In that day,
sing about the
fruitful vineyard.
3 I, the Lord,
will watch over it,
watering it
carefully.
Day and night I will watch so no one can harm
it.
4 My anger will be gone.
If
I find briers and thorns growing,
I will
attack them;
I will burn them up—
5 unless
they turn to me for help.
Let them make peace with me;
yes,
let them make peace with me.”
6 The time is coming when
Jacob’s descendants will take root.
Israel
will bud and blossom
and fill the whole
earth with fruit!
7 Has the Lord struck
Israel
as he struck her enemies?
Has
he punished her
as he punished
them?
8 No, but he exiled Israel to call her to
account.
She was exiled from her
land
as though blown away in a storm
from the east.
9 The Lord did
this to purge Israel’s wickedness,
to
take away all her sin.
As a result, all the pagan altars will be
crushed to dust.
No Asherah pole or
pagan shrine will be left standing.
10 The fortified towns
will be silent and empty,
the houses
abandoned, the streets overgrown with weeds.
Calves will graze
there,
chewing on twigs and
branches.
11 The people are like the dead branches of a
tree,
broken off and used for kindling
beneath the cooking pots.
Israel is a foolish and stupid
nation,
for its people have turned away
from God.
Therefore, the one who made them
will
show them no pity or mercy.
12 Yet the time will come when the Lord will gather them together like handpicked grain. One by one he will gather them—from the Euphrates River in the east to the Brook of Egypt in the west. 13 In that day the great trumpet will sound. Many who were dying in exile in Assyria and Egypt will return to Jerusalem to worship the Lord on his holy mountain.
.
Isaiah 28-33 (NLT)
A Message about Samaria
1 What sorrow awaits the proud city of Samaria—
the
glorious crown of the drunks of Israel.
It sits at the head of a
fertile valley,
but its glorious beauty
will fade like a flower.
It is the pride of a people
brought
down by wine.
2 For the Lord will send a mighty army
against it.
Like a mighty hailstorm and
a torrential rain,
they will burst upon it like a surging
flood
and smash it to the ground.
3 The
proud city of Samaria—
the glorious
crown of the drunks of Israel—
will be
trampled beneath its enemies’ feet.
4 It sits at the head
of a fertile valley,
but its glorious
beauty will fade like a flower.
Whoever sees it will snatch it
up,
as an early fig is quickly picked
and eaten.
5 Then at last the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies
will himself be
Israel’s glorious crown.
He will be the pride and joy
of
the remnant of his people.
6 He will give a longing for
justice
to their judges.
He will
give great courage
to their warriors who
stand at the gates.
7 Now, however, Israel is led by drunks
who
reel with wine and stagger with alcohol.
The priests and
prophets stagger with alcohol
and lose
themselves in wine.
They reel when they see visions
and
stagger as they render decisions.
8 Their tables are
covered with vomit;
filth is
everywhere.
9 “Who does the Lord think
we are?” they ask.
“Why does he
speak to us like this?
Are we little children,
just
recently weaned?
10 He tells us everything over and
over—
one line at a time,
one
line at a time,
a little here,
and
a little there!”
11 So now God will have to speak to his people
through
foreign oppressors who speak a strange language!
12 God has
told his people,
“Here is a place of rest;
let
the weary rest here.
This is a place of quiet rest.”
But
they would not listen.
13 So the Lord will
spell out his message for them again,
one line at a
time,
one line at a time,
a little
here,
and a little there,
so that
they will stumble and fall.
They will be
injured, trapped, and captured.
14 Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord,
you
scoffing rulers in Jerusalem.
15 You boast, “We have
struck a bargain to cheat death
and have
made a deal to dodge the grave.
The coming destruction can never
touch us,
for we have built a strong
refuge made of lies and deception.”
16 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“Look!
I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem,
a
firm and tested stone.
It is a precious cornerstone that is safe
to build on.
Whoever believes need never
be shaken.
17 I will test you with the measuring line of
justice
and the plumb line of
righteousness.
Since your refuge is made of lies,
a
hailstorm will knock it down.
Since it is made of
deception,
a flood will sweep it
away.
18 I will cancel the bargain you made to cheat
death,
and I will overturn your deal to
dodge the grave.
When the terrible enemy sweeps through,
you
will be trampled into the ground.
19 Again and again that
flood will come,
morning after
morning,
day and night,
until you
are carried away.”
This message will bring terror to your people.
20 The bed
you have made is too short to lie on.
The
blankets are too narrow to cover you.
21 The Lord will
come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim
and
against the Amorites at Gibeon.
He will come to do a strange
thing;
he will come to do an unusual
deed:
22 For the Lord, the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies,
has plainly said that
he is determined to crush the whole land.
So scoff no
more,
or your punishment will be even
greater.
23 Listen to me;
listen, and pay
close attention.
24 Does a farmer always plow and never
sow?
Is he forever cultivating the soil
and never planting?
25 Does he not finally plant his
seeds—
black cumin, cumin, wheat,
barley, and emmer wheat—
each in its proper way,
and
each in its proper place?
26 The farmer knows just what to
do,
for God has given him
understanding.
27 A heavy sledge is never used to thresh
black cumin;
rather, it is beaten with a
light stick.
A threshing wheel is never rolled on
cumin;
instead, it is beaten lightly
with a flail.
28 Grain for bread is easily crushed,
so
he doesn’t keep on pounding it.
He threshes it under the
wheels of a cart,
but he doesn’t
pulverize it.
29 The Lord of
Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher,
and
he gives the farmer great wisdom.
Chapter 29
A Message about Jerusalem
1 “What sorrow awaits Ariel, the City of David.
Year
after year you celebrate your feasts.
2 Yet I will bring
disaster upon you,
and there will be
much weeping and sorrow.
For Jerusalem will become what her name
Ariel means—
an altar covered with
blood.
3 I will be your enemy,
surrounding
Jerusalem and attacking its walls.
I will build siege
towers
and destroy it.
4 Then
deep from the earth you will speak;
from
low in the dust your words will come.
Your voice will whisper
from the ground
like a ghost conjured up
from the grave.
5 “But suddenly, your ruthless enemies will be
crushed
like the finest of dust.
Your
many attackers will be driven away
like
chaff before the wind.
Suddenly, in an instant,
6 I,
the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies, will act for you
with thunder and earthquake
and great noise,
with whirlwind and
storm and consuming fire.
7 All the nations fighting
against Jerusalem
will vanish like a
dream!
Those who are attacking her walls
will
vanish like a vision in the night.
8 A hungry person dreams
of eating
but wakes up still hungry.
A
thirsty person dreams of drinking
but is
still faint from thirst when morning comes.
So it will be with
your enemies,
with those who attack
Mount Zion.”
9 Are you amazed and incredulous?
Don’t
you believe it?
Then go ahead and be blind.
You
are stupid, but not from wine!
You
stagger, but not from liquor!
10 For the Lord has
poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep.
He
has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries.
11 All the future events in this vision are like a sealed book to them. When you give it to those who can read, they will say, “We can’t read it because it is sealed.” 12 When you give it to those who cannot read, they will say, “We don’t know how to read.”
13 And so the Lord says,
“These
people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
but
their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
is
nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.
14 Because of
this, I will once again astound these hypocrites
with
amazing wonders.
The wisdom of the wise will pass away,
and
the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.”
15 What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from
the Lord,
who
do their evil deeds in the dark!
“The Lord can’t
see us,” they say.
“He doesn’t
know what’s going on!”
16 How foolish can you
be?
He is the Potter, and he is
certainly greater than you, the clay!
Should the created thing
say of the one who made it,
“He didn’t
make me”?
Does a jar ever say,
“The
potter who made me is stupid”?
17 Soon—and it will not be very long—
the
forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field,
and
the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
18 In that
day the deaf will hear words read from a book,
and
the blind will see through the gloom and darkness.
19 The
humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord.
The
poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 The scoffer
will be gone,
the arrogant will
disappear,
and those who plot evil will
be killed.
21 Those who convict the innocent
by
their false testimony will disappear.
A similar fate awaits
those who use trickery to pervert justice
and
who tell lies to destroy the innocent.
22 That is why the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the people of Israel,
“My people will no longer be ashamed
or
turn pale with fear.
23 For when they see their many
children
and all the blessings I have
given them,
they will recognize the holiness of the Holy One of
Jacob.
They will stand in awe of the God
of Israel.
24 Then the wayward will gain
understanding,
and complainers will
accept instruction.
Chapter 30
Judah’s Worthless Treaty with Egypt
1 “What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,”
says
the Lord.
“You
make plans that are contrary to mine.
You
make alliances not directed by my Spirit,
thus
piling up your sins.
2 For without consulting me,
you
have gone down to Egypt for help.
You have put your trust in
Pharaoh’s protection.
You have tried
to hide in his shade.
3 But by trusting Pharaoh, you will
be humiliated,
and by depending on him,
you will be disgraced.
4 For though his power extends to
Zoan
and his officials have arrived in
Hanes,
5 all who trust in him will be ashamed.
He
will not help you.
Instead, he will
disgrace you.”
6 This message came to me concerning the animals in the Negev:
The caravan
moves slowly
across the terrible desert
to Egypt—
donkeys weighed down with riches
and
camels loaded with treasure—
all to
pay for Egypt’s protection.
They travel through the
wilderness,
a place of lionesses and
lions,
a place where vipers and
poisonous snakes live.
All this, and Egypt will give you nothing
in return.
7 Egypt’s promises are
worthless!
Therefore, I call her Rahab—
the
Harmless Dragon.
A Warning for Rebellious Judah
8 Now go and write down these words.
Write
them in a book.
They will stand until the end of time
as
a witness
9 that these people are stubborn rebels
who
refuse to pay attention to the Lord’s
instructions.
10 They tell the seers,
“Stop
seeing visions!”
They tell the prophets,
“Don’t
tell us what is right.
Tell us nice things.
Tell
us lies.
11 Forget all this gloom.
Get
off your narrow path.
Stop telling us about your
‘Holy
One of Israel.’”
12 This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel:
“Because you despise what I tell you
and
trust instead in oppression and lies,
13 calamity will come
upon you suddenly—
like a bulging wall
that bursts and falls.
In an instant it will collapse
and
come crashing down.
14 You will be smashed like a piece of
pottery—
shattered so completely
that
there won’t be a piece big enough
to
carry coals from a fireplace
or a little
water from the well.”
15 This is what the Sovereign Lord,
the
Holy One of Israel, says:
“Only in returning to me
and
resting in me will you be saved.
In quietness and confidence is
your strength.
But you would have none
of it.
16 You said, ‘No, we will get our help from
Egypt.
They will give us swift horses
for riding into battle.’
But the only swiftness you are going
to see
is the swiftness of your enemies
chasing you!
17 One of them will chase a thousand of
you.
Five of them will make all of you
flee.
You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill
or
a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.”
Blessings for the Lord’s People
18 So the Lord must
wait for you to come to him
so he can
show you his love and compassion.
For the Lord is
a faithful God.
Blessed are those who
wait for his help.
19 O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem,
you
will weep no more.
He will be gracious if you ask for
help.
He will surely respond to the
sound of your cries.
20 Though the Lord gave you adversity
for food
and suffering for drink,
he
will still be with you to teach you.
You
will see your teacher with your own eyes.
21 Your own ears
will hear him.
Right behind you a voice
will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
whether
to the right or to the left.
22 Then you will destroy all
your silver idols
and your precious gold
images.
You will throw them out like filthy rags,
saying
to them, “Good riddance!”
23 Then the Lord will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock. 24 The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind. 25 In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill. 26 The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days in one! So it will be when the Lord begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.
27 Look! The Lord is
coming from far away,
burning with
anger,
surrounded by thick, rising
smoke.
His lips are filled with fury;
his
words consume like fire.
28 His hot breath pours out like a
flood
up to the neck of his enemies.
He
will sift out the proud nations for destruction.
He
will bridle them and lead them away to ruin.
29 But the people of God will sing a song of joy,
like
the songs at the holy festivals.
You will be filled with
joy,
as when a flutist leads a group of
pilgrims
to Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord—
to
the Rock of Israel.
30 And the Lord will
make his majestic voice heard.
He will
display the strength of his mighty arm.
It will descend with
devouring flames,
with cloudbursts,
thunderstorms, and huge hailstones.
31 At the Lord’s
command, the Assyrians will be shattered.
He
will strike them down with his royal scepter.
32 And as
the Lord strikes
them with his rod of punishment,
his
people will celebrate with tambourines and harps.
Lifting
his mighty arm, he will fight the Assyrians.
33 Topheth—the
place of burning—
has long been ready
for the Assyrian king;
the pyre is piled
high with wood.
The breath of the Lord,
like fire from a volcano,
will set it
ablaze.
Chapter 31
The Futility of Relying on Egypt
1 What sorrow awaits those who look to Egypt for
help,
trusting their horses, chariots,
and charioteers
and depending on the strength of human
armies
instead of looking to
the Lord,
the
Holy One of Israel.
2 In his wisdom, the Lord will
send great disaster;
he will not change
his mind.
He will rise against the wicked
and
against their helpers.
3 For these Egyptians are mere
humans, not God!
Their horses are puny
flesh, not mighty spirits!
When the Lord raises
his fist against them,
those who help
will stumble,
and those being helped will fall.
They
will all fall down and die together.
4 But this is what the Lord has told me:
“When a
strong young lion
stands growling over a
sheep it has killed,
it is not frightened by the shouts and
noise
of a whole crowd of shepherds.
In
the same way, the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies
will come down and
fight on Mount Zion.
5 The Lord of
Heaven’s Armies will hover over Jerusalem
and
protect it like a bird protecting its nest.
He will defend and
save the city;
he will pass over it and
rescue it.”
6 Though you are such wicked rebels, my people, come and return to the Lord. 7 I know the glorious day will come when each of you will throw away the gold idols and silver images your sinful hands have made.
8 “The Assyrians will be destroyed,
but
not by the swords of men.
The sword of God will strike
them,
and they will panic and flee.
The
strong young Assyrians
will be taken
away as captives.
9 Even the strongest will quake with
terror,
and princes will flee when they
see your battle flags,”
says the Lord,
whose fire burns in Zion,
whose flame
blazes from Jerusalem.
Chapter 32
Israel’s Ultimate Deliverance
1 Look,
a righteous king is coming!
And honest
princes will rule under him.
2 Each one will be like a
shelter from the wind
and a refuge from
the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and
the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.
3 Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the
truth,
and everyone who has ears will be
able to hear it.
4 Even the hotheads will be full of sense
and understanding.
Those who stammer
will speak out plainly.
5 In that day ungodly fools will
not be heroes.
Scoundrels will not be
respected.
6 For fools speak foolishness
and
make evil plans.
They practice ungodliness
and
spread false teachings about the Lord.
They
deprive the hungry of food
and give no
water to the thirsty.
7 The smooth tricks of scoundrels are
evil.
They plot crooked schemes.
They
lie to convict the poor,
even when the
cause of the poor is just.
8 But generous people plan to do
what is generous,
and they stand firm in
their generosity.
9 Listen, you women who lie around in ease.
Listen
to me, you who are so smug.
10 In a short time—just a
little more than a year—
you careless
ones will suddenly begin to care.
For your fruit crops will
fail,
and the harvest will never take
place.
11 Tremble, you women of ease;
throw
off your complacency.
Strip off your pretty clothes,
and
put on burlap to show your grief.
12 Beat your breasts in
sorrow for your bountiful farms
and your
fruitful grapevines.
13 For your land will be overgrown
with thorns and briers.
Your joyful
homes and happy towns will be gone.
14 The palace and the
city will be deserted,
and busy towns
will be empty.
Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will
graze
in the empty forts and
watchtowers
15 until at last the Spirit is poured
out
on us from heaven.
Then the
wilderness will become a fertile field,
and
the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
16 Justice will rule in the wilderness
and
righteousness in the fertile field.
17 And this
righteousness will bring peace.
Yes, it
will bring quietness and confidence forever.
18 My people
will live in safety, quietly at home.
They
will be at rest.
19 Even if the forest should be
destroyed
and the city torn
down,
20 the Lord will
greatly bless his people.
Wherever they
plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up.
Their
cattle and donkeys will graze freely.
Chapter 33
A Message about Assyria
1 What sorrow awaits you Assyrians, who have destroyed
others
but have never been destroyed
yourselves.
You betray others,
but
you have never been betrayed.
When you are done
destroying,
you will be destroyed.
When
you are done betraying,
you will be
betrayed.
2 But Lord,
be merciful to us,
for we have waited
for you.
Be our strong arm each day
and
our salvation in times of trouble.
3 The enemy runs at the
sound of your voice.
When you stand up,
the nations flee!
4 Just as caterpillars and locusts strip
the fields and vines,
so the fallen army
of Assyria will be stripped!
5 Though the Lord is
very great and lives in heaven,
he will
make Jerusalem his home of justice and righteousness.
6 In
that day he will be your sure foundation,
providing
a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
The
fear of the Lord will
be your treasure.
7 But now your brave warriors weep in public.
Your
ambassadors of peace cry in bitter disappointment.
8 Your
roads are deserted;
no one travels them
anymore.
The Assyrians have broken their peace treaty
and
care nothing for the promises they made before witnesses.
They
have no respect for anyone.
9 The land of Israel wilts in
mourning.
Lebanon withers with
shame.
The plain of Sharon is now a wilderness.
Bashan
and Carmel have been plundered.
10 But the Lord says:
“Now I will stand up.
Now I will show
my power and might.
11 You Assyrians produce nothing but
dry grass and stubble.
Your own breath
will turn to fire and consume you.
12 Your people will be
burned up completely,
like thornbushes
cut down and tossed in a fire.
13 Listen to what I have
done, you nations far away!
And you that
are near, acknowledge my might!”
14 The sinners in Jerusalem shake with fear.
Terror
seizes the godless.
“Who can live with this devouring fire?”
they cry.
“Who can survive this
all-consuming fire?”
15 Those who are honest and
fair,
who refuse to profit by
fraud,
who stay far away from
bribes,
who refuse to listen to those who plot murder,
who
shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong—
16 these
are the ones who will dwell on high.
The
rocks of the mountains will be their fortress.
Food will be
supplied to them,
and they will have
water in abundance.
17 Your eyes will see the king in all his splendor,
and
you will see a land that stretches into the distance.
18 You
will think back to this time of terror, asking,
“Where are the
Assyrian officers
who counted our
towers?
Where are the bookkeepers
who
recorded the plunder taken from our fallen city?”
19 You
will no longer see these fierce, violent people
with
their strange, unknown language.
20 Instead, you will see Zion as a place of holy
festivals.
You will see Jerusalem, a
city quiet and secure.
It will be like a tent whose ropes are
taut
and whose stakes are firmly
fixed.
21 The Lord will
be our Mighty One.
He will be like a
wide river of protection
that no enemy can cross,
that
no enemy ship can sail upon.
22 For the Lord is
our judge,
our lawgiver, and our
king.
He will care for us and save
us.
23 The enemies’ sails hang loose
on
broken masts with useless tackle.
Their treasure will be divided
by the people of God.
Even the lame will
take their share!
24 The people of Israel will no longer
say,
“We are sick and
helpless,”
for the Lord will
forgive their sins.
Isaiah 34-39 (NLT)
A Message for the Nations
1 Come here and listen, O nations of the earth.
Let
the world and everything in it hear my words.
2 For
the Lord is
enraged against the nations.
His fury is
against all their armies.
He will completely
destroy them,
dooming them to
slaughter.
3 Their dead will be left unburied,
and
the stench of rotting bodies will fill the land.
The
mountains will flow with their blood.
4 The heavens above
will melt away
and disappear like a
rolled-up scroll.
The stars will fall from the sky
like
withered leaves from a grapevine,
or
shriveled figs from a fig tree.
5 And when my sword has finished its work in the heavens,
it
will fall upon Edom,
the nation I have
marked for destruction.
6 The sword of the Lord is
drenched with blood
and covered with
fat—
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with
the fat of rams prepared for sacrifice.
Yes, the Lord will
offer a sacrifice in the city of Bozrah.
He
will make a mighty slaughter in Edom.
7 Even men as strong
as wild oxen will die—
the young men
alongside the veterans.
The land will be soaked with
blood
and the soil enriched with fat.
8 For it is the day of the Lord’s
revenge,
the year when Edom will be paid
back for all it did to Israel.
9 The streams of Edom will
be filled with burning pitch,
and the
ground will be covered with fire.
10 This judgment on Edom
will never end;
the smoke of its burning
will rise forever.
The land will lie deserted from generation to
generation.
No one will live there
anymore.
11 It will be haunted by the desert owl and the
screech owl,
the great owl and the
raven.
For God will measure that land carefully;
he
will measure it for chaos and destruction.
12 It will be
called the Land of Nothing,
and all its
nobles will soon be gone.
13 Thorns will overrun its
palaces;
nettles and thistles will grow
in its forts.
The ruins will become a haunt for jackals
and
a home for owls.
14 Desert animals will mingle there with
hyenas,
their howls filling the
night.
Wild goats will bleat at one another among the
ruins,
and night creatures will
come there to rest.
15 There the owl will make her nest and
lay her eggs.
She will hatch her young
and cover them with her wings.
And the buzzards will
come,
each one with its mate.
16 Search the book of the Lord,
and
see what he will do.
Not one of these birds and animals will be
missing,
and none will lack a mate,
for
the Lord has
promised this.
His Spirit will make it
all come true.
17 He has surveyed and divided the
land
and deeded it over to those
creatures.
They will possess it forever,
from
generation to generation.
Chapter 35
Hope for Restoration
1 Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those
days.
The wasteland will rejoice and
blossom with spring crocuses.
2 Yes, there will be an
abundance of flowers
and singing and
joy!
The deserts will become as green as the mountains of
Lebanon,
as lovely as Mount Carmel or
the plain of Sharon.
There the Lord will
display his glory,
the splendor of our
God.
3 With this news, strengthen those who have tired
hands,
and encourage those who have weak
knees.
4 Say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be
strong, and do not fear,
for your God is coming to destroy your
enemies.
He is coming to save you.”
5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind
and
unplug the ears of the deaf.
6 The lame will leap like a
deer,
and those who cannot speak will
sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,
and
streams will water the wasteland.
7 The parched ground will
become a pool,
and springs of water will
satisfy the thirsty land.
Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will
flourish
where desert jackals once
lived.
8 And a great road will go through that once deserted
land.
It will be named the Highway of
Holiness.
Evil-minded people will never travel on it.
It
will be only for those who walk in God’s ways;
fools
will never walk there.
9 Lions will not lurk along its
course,
nor any other ferocious
beasts.
There will be no other dangers.
Only
the redeemed will walk on it.
10 Those who have been
ransomed by the Lord will
return.
They will enter
Jerusalem singing,
crowned with
everlasting joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
and
they will be filled with joy and gladness.
Chapter 36
Assyria Invades Judah
1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.
3 These are the officials who went out to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian.
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
4 Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah:
“This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident? 5 Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me? 6 On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!
7 “But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?
8 “I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them! 9 With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers? 10 What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the Lord’s direction? The Lord himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew, for the people on the wall will hear.”
12 But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”
13 Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you. 15 Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’
16 “Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well. 17 Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one—a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards.
18 “Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? 19 What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? 20 What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?”
21 But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”
22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian chief of staff had said.
Chapter 37
Hezekiah Seeks the Lord’s Help
1 When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the Temple of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They told him, “This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby. 4 But perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian chief of staff, sent by the king to defy the living God, and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!”
5 After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered the king’s message to Isaiah, 6 the prophet replied, “Say to your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers. 7 Listen! I myself will move against him, and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.’”
8 Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
9 Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message:
10 “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. 11 You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different? 12 Have the gods of other nations rescued them—such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My predecessors destroyed them all! 13 What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
14 After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: 16 “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. 17 Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.
18 “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. 19 And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. 20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”
Isaiah Predicts Judah’s Deliverance
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria, 22 the Lord has spoken this word against him:
“The virgin daughter of
Zion
despises you and laughs at you.
The
daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head in
derision as you flee.
23 “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?
Against
whom did you raise your voice?
At whom did you look with such
haughty eyes?
It was the Holy One of
Israel!
24 By your messengers you have defied the
Lord.
You have said, ‘With my many
chariots
I have conquered the highest mountains—
yes,
the remotest peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest
cedars
and its finest cypress trees.
I
have reached its farthest heights
and
explored its deepest forests.
25 I have dug wells in many
foreign lands
and refreshed myself with
their water.
With the sole of my foot,
I
stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’
26 “But have you not heard?
I
decided this long ago.
Long ago I planned it,
and
now I am making it happen.
I planned for you to crush fortified
cities
into heaps of rubble.
27 That
is why their people have so little power
and
are so frightened and confused.
They are as weak as
grass,
as easily trampled as tender
green shoots.
They are like grass sprouting on a
housetop,
scorched before it can
grow lush and tall.
28 “But I know you well—
where
you stay
and when you come and go.
I
know the way you have raged against me.
29 And because of
your raging against me
and your
arrogance, which I have heard for myself,
I will put my hook in
your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
I
will make you return
by the same road on
which you came.”
30 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Here is the proof that what I say is true:
“This year you will eat only what grows up by itself,
and
next year you will eat what springs up from that.
But in the
third year you will plant crops and harvest them;
you
will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.
31 And you who are
left in Judah,
who have escaped the
ravages of the siege,
will put roots down in your own
soil
and grow up and flourish.
32 For
a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem,
a
group of survivors from Mount Zion.
The passionate commitment of
the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!
33 “And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
“‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem.
They
will not even shoot an arrow at it.
They will not march outside
its gates with their shields
nor build
banks of earth against its walls.
34 The king will return
to his own country
by the same road on
which he came.
He will not enter this city,’
says
the Lord.
35 ‘For
my own honor and for the sake of my servant David,
I
will defend this city and protect it.’”
36 That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. 37 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.
38 One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.
Chapter 38
Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery
1 About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.’”
2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
4 Then this message came to Isaiah from the Lord: 5 “Go back to Hezekiah and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life, 6 and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. Yes, I will defend this city.
7 “‘And this is the sign from the Lord to prove that he will do as he promised: 8 I will cause the sun’s shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!’” So the shadow on the sundial moved backward ten steps.
Hezekiah’s Poem of Praise
9 When King Hezekiah was well again, he wrote this poem:
10 I said, “In the prime of my life,
must
I now enter the place of the dead?
Am I
to be robbed of the rest of my years?”
11 I said, “Never
again will I see the Lord
God
while still in the land of
the living.
Never again will I see my friends
or
be with those who live in this world.
12 My life has been
blown away
like a shepherd’s tent in a
storm.
It has been cut short,
as
when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom.
Suddenly,
my life was over.
13 I waited patiently all night,
but
I was torn apart as though by lions.
Suddenly,
my life was over.
14 Delirious, I chattered like a swallow
or a crane,
and then I moaned like a
mourning dove.
My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for
help.
I am in trouble, Lord. Help me!”
15 But what could I say?
For he
himself sent this sickness.
Now I will walk humbly throughout my
years
because of this anguish I have
felt.
16 Lord, your discipline is good,
for
it leads to life and health.
You restore my health
and
allow me to live!
17 Yes, this anguish was good for
me,
for you have rescued me from
death
and forgiven all my sins.
18 For
the dead cannot praise you;
they
cannot raise their voices in praise.
Those who go down to the
grave
can no longer hope in your
faithfulness.
19 Only the living can praise you as I do
today.
Each generation tells of your
faithfulness to the next.
20 Think of it—the Lord is
ready to heal me!
I will sing his
praises with instruments
every day of my life
in
the Temple of the Lord.
21 Isaiah had said to Hezekiah’s servants, “Make an ointment from figs and spread it over the boil, and Hezekiah will recover.”
22 And Hezekiah had asked, “What sign will prove that I will go to the Temple of the Lord?”
Chapter 39
Envoys from Babylon
1 Soon after this, Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah his best wishes and a gift. He had heard that Hezekiah had been very sick and that he had recovered. 2 Hezekiah was delighted with the Babylonian envoys and showed them everything in his treasure-houses—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the aromatic oils. He also took them to see his armory and showed them everything in his royal treasuries! There was nothing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
3 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did those men want? Where were they from?”
Hezekiah replied, “They came from the distant land of Babylon.”
4 “What did they see in your palace?” asked Isaiah.
“They saw everything,” Hezekiah replied. “I showed them everything I own—all my royal treasuries.”
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to this message from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: 6 ‘The time is coming when everything in your palace—all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now—will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. 7 ‘Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon’s king.’”
8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “This message you have given me from the Lord is good.” For the king was thinking, “At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.”
Isaiah 40-48 (NLT)
Comfort for God’s People
1 “Comfort,
comfort my people,”
says your
God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
Tell her that
her sad days are gone
and her sins are
pardoned.
Yes, the Lord has
punished her twice over
for all her
sins.”
3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,
“Clear
the way through the wilderness
for
the Lord!
Make
a straight highway through the wasteland
for
our God!
4 Fill in the valleys,
and
level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves,
and
smooth out the rough places.
5 Then the glory of
the Lord will
be revealed,
and all people will see it
together.
The Lord has
spoken!”
6 A
voice said, “Shout!”
I asked, “What
should I shout?”
“Shout that people are like the grass.
Their
beauty fades as quickly
as the flowers
in a field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers
fade
beneath the breath of
the Lord.
And
so it is with people.
8 The grass withers and the flowers
fade,
but the word of our God stands
forever.”
9 O Zion, messenger of good news,
shout
from the mountaintops!
Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.
Shout,
and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah,
“Your
God is coming!”
10 Yes, the Sovereign Lord is
coming in power.
He will rule with a
powerful arm.
See, he brings his reward
with him as he comes.
11 He will feed his flock like a
shepherd.
He will carry the lambs in his
arms,
holding them close to his heart.
He
will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.
The Lord Has No Equal
12 Who else has held the oceans in his hand?
Who
has measured off the heavens with his fingers?
Who else knows
the weight of the earth
or has weighed
the mountains and hills on a scale?
13 Who is able to
advise the Spirit of the Lord?
Who
knows enough to give him advice or teach him?
14 Has
the Lord ever
needed anyone’s advice?
Does he need
instruction about what is good?
Did someone teach him what is
right
or show him the path of justice?
15 No, for all the nations of the world
are
but a drop in the bucket.
They are nothing more
than
dust on the scales.
He picks up the whole earth
as
though it were a grain of sand.
16 All the wood in
Lebanon’s forests
and all Lebanon’s
animals would not be enough
to make a
burnt offering worthy of our God.
17 The nations of the
world are worth nothing to him.
In his
eyes they count for less than nothing—
mere
emptiness and froth.
18 To whom can you compare God?
What
image can you find to resemble him?
19 Can he be compared
to an idol formed in a mold,
overlaid
with gold, and decorated with silver chains?
20 Or if
people are too poor for that,
they might
at least choose wood that won’t decay
and a skilled
craftsman
to carve an image that won’t
fall down!
21 Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand?
Are
you deaf to the words of God—
the words he gave before the
world began?
Are you so ignorant?
22 God
sits above the circle of the earth.
The
people below seem like grasshoppers to him!
He spreads out the
heavens like a curtain
and makes his
tent from them.
23 He judges the great people of the
world
and brings them all to
nothing.
24 They hardly get started, barely taking
root,
when he blows on them and they
wither.
The wind carries them off like
chaff.
25 “To
whom will you compare me?
Who is my
equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look up into the heavens.
Who
created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one
after another,
calling each by its
name.
Because of his great power and incomparable
strength,
not a single one is
missing.
27 O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does
not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can
you say God ignores your rights?
28 Have you never
heard?
Have you never
understood?
The Lord is
the everlasting God,
the Creator of all
the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No
one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He
gives power to the weak
and strength to
the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and
tired,
and young men will fall in
exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the Lord will
find new strength.
They will soar high
on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They
will walk and not faint.
Chapter 41
God’s Help for Israel
1 “Listen in silence before me,
you lands beyond the sea.
Bring your
strongest arguments.
Come now and speak.
The
court is ready for your case.
2 “Who has stirred up this king from the east,
rightly
calling him to God’s service?
Who gives this man victory over
many nations
and permits him to trample
their kings underfoot?
With his sword, he reduces armies to
dust.
With his bow, he scatters them
like chaff before the wind.
3 He chases them away and goes
on safely,
though he is walking over
unfamiliar ground.
4 Who has done such mighty
deeds,
summoning each new generation
from the beginning of time?
It is I, the Lord,
the First and the Last.
I alone am he.”
5 The lands beyond the sea watch in fear.
Remote
lands tremble and mobilize for war.
6 The idol makers
encourage one another,
saying to each
other, “Be strong!”
7 The carver encourages the
goldsmith,
and the molder helps at the
anvil.
“Good,” they say. “It’s
coming along fine.”
Carefully they join the parts
together,
then fasten the thing in place
so it won’t fall over.
8 “But as for you, Israel my servant,
Jacob
my chosen one,
descended from Abraham my
friend,
9 I have called you back from the ends of the
earth,
saying, ‘You are my
servant.’
For I have chosen you
and
will not throw you away.
10 Don’t be afraid, for I am
with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I
am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I
will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
11 “See, all your angry enemies lie there,
confused
and humiliated.
Anyone who opposes you will die
and
come to nothing.
12 You will look in vain
for
those who tried to conquer you.
Those who attack you
will
come to nothing.
13 For I hold you by your right
hand—
I, the Lord your
God.
And I say to you,
‘Don’t
be afraid. I am here to help you.
14 Though you are a lowly
worm, O Jacob,
don’t be afraid, people
of Israel, for I will help you.
I am the Lord,
your Redeemer.
I am the Holy One of
Israel.’
15 You will be a new threshing
instrument
with many sharp teeth.
You
will tear your enemies apart,
making
chaff of mountains.
16 You will toss them into the
air,
and the wind will blow them all
away;
a whirlwind will scatter
them.
Then you will rejoice in the Lord.
You
will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 “When the poor and needy search for water and there is
none,
and their tongues are parched from
thirst,
then I, the Lord,
will answer them.
I, the God of Israel,
will never abandon them.
18 I will open up rivers for them
on the high plateaus.
I will give them
fountains of water in the valleys.
I will fill the desert with
pools of water.
Rivers fed by springs
will flow across the parched ground.
19 I will plant trees
in the barren desert—
cedar, acacia,
myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine.
20 I am doing this
so all who see this miracle
will
understand what it means—
that it is the Lord who
has done this,
the Holy One of Israel
who created it.
21 “Present the case for your idols,”
says
the Lord.
“Let
them show what they can do,”
says the
King of Israel.
22 “Let them try to tell us what happened
long ago
so that we may consider the
evidence.
Or let them tell us what the future holds,
so
we can know what’s going to happen.
23 Yes, tell us what
will occur in the days ahead.
Then we
will know you are gods.
In fact, do anything—good or
bad!
Do something that will amaze and
frighten us.
24 But no! You are less than nothing and can
do nothing at all.
Those who choose you
pollute themselves.
25 “But
I have stirred up a leader who will approach from the north.
From
the east he will call on my name.
I will give him victory over
kings and princes.
He will trample them
as a potter treads on clay.
26 “Who told you from the beginning
that
this would happen?
Who predicted this,
making
you admit that he was right?
No one said
a word!
27 I was the first to tell Zion,
‘Look!
Help is on the way!’
I will send
Jerusalem a messenger with good news.
28 Not one of your
idols told you this.
Not one gave any
answer when I asked.
29 See, they are all foolish,
worthless things.
All your idols are as
empty as the wind.
Chapter 42
The Lord’s Chosen Servant
1 “Look at my servant, whom I strengthen.
He
is my chosen one, who pleases me.
I have put my Spirit upon
him.
He will bring justice to the
nations.
2 He will not shout
or
raise his voice in public.
3 He will not crush the weakest
reed
or put out a flickering
candle.
He will bring justice to all who
have been wronged.
4 He will not falter or lose
heart
until justice prevails throughout
the earth.
Even distant lands beyond the
sea will wait for his instruction.”
5 God, the Lord,
created the heavens and stretched them out.
He
created the earth and everything in it.
He gives breath to
everyone,
life to everyone who walks the
earth.
And it is he who says,
6 “I, the Lord,
have called you to demonstrate my righteousness.
I
will take you by the hand and guard you,
and I will give you to
my people, Israel,
as a symbol of my
covenant with them.
And you will be a light to guide the
nations.
7 You will open the eyes
of the blind.
You will free the captives from
prison,
releasing those who sit in dark
dungeons.
8 “I am the Lord;
that is my name!
I will not give my
glory to anyone else,
nor share my
praise with carved idols.
9 Everything I prophesied has
come true,
and now I will prophesy
again.
I will tell you the future before it happens.”
A Song of Praise to the Lord
10 Sing a new song to the Lord!
Sing
his praises from the ends of the earth!
Sing, all you who sail
the seas,
all you who live in distant
coastlands.
11 Join in the chorus, you desert
towns;
let the villages of Kedar
rejoice!
Let the people of Sela sing for joy;
shout
praises from the mountaintops!
12 Let the whole world
glorify the Lord;
let
it sing his praise.
13 The Lord will
march forth like a mighty hero;
he will
come out like a warrior, full of fury.
He will shout his battle
cry
and crush all his enemies.
14 He will say, “I have long been silent;
yes,
I have restrained myself.
But now, like a woman in labor,
I
will cry and groan and pant.
15 I will level the mountains
and hills
and blight all their
greenery.
I will turn the rivers into dry land
and
will dry up all the pools.
16 I will lead blind Israel down
a new path,
guiding them along an
unfamiliar way.
I will brighten the darkness before them
and
smooth out the road ahead of them.
Yes, I will indeed do these
things;
I will not forsake them.
17 But
those who trust in idols,
who say, ‘You
are our gods,’
will be turned away in
shame.
Israel’s Failure to Listen and See
18 “Listen, you who are deaf!
Look
and see, you blind!
19 Who is as blind as my own people, my
servant?
Who is as deaf as my
messenger?
Who is as blind as my chosen people,
the
servant of the Lord?
20 You
see and recognize what is right
but
refuse to act on it.
You hear with your ears,
but
you don’t really listen.”
21 Because he is righteous,
the Lord has
exalted his glorious law.
22 But his own people have been
robbed and plundered,
enslaved,
imprisoned, and trapped.
They are fair game for anyone
and
have no one to protect them,
no one to
take them back home.
23 Who will hear these lessons from the past
and
see the ruin that awaits you in the future?
24 Who allowed
Israel to be robbed and hurt?
It was
the Lord, against
whom we sinned,
for the people would not walk in his
path,
nor would they obey his
law.
25 Therefore, he poured out his fury on them
and
destroyed them in battle.
They were enveloped in flames,
but
they still refused to understand.
They were consumed by
fire,
but they did not learn their
lesson.
Chapter
The Savior of Israel
1 But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who
created you.
O Israel, the one who
formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed
you.
I have called you by name; you are
mine.
2 When you go through deep waters,
I
will be with you.
When you go through rivers of
difficulty,
you will not drown.
When
you walk through the fire of oppression,
you
will not be burned up;
the flames will
not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord,
your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your
Savior.
I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom;
I
gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
4 Others were
given in exchange for you.
I traded
their lives for yours
because you are precious to me.
You
are honored, and I love you.
5 “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
I
will gather you and your children from east and west.
6 I
will say to the north and south,
‘Bring
my sons and daughters back to Israel
from
the distant corners of the earth.
7 Bring all who claim me
as their God,
for I have made them for
my glory.
It was I who created them.’”
8 Bring out the people who have eyes but are blind,
who
have ears but are deaf.
9 Gather the nations
together!
Assemble the peoples of the
world!
Which of their idols has ever foretold such
things?
Which can predict what will
happen tomorrow?
Where are the witnesses of such
predictions?
Who can verify that they
spoke the truth?
10 “But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says
the Lord.
“You
are my servant.
You have been chosen to know me, believe in
me,
and understand that I alone am
God.
There is no other God—
there
never has been, and there never will be.
11 I, yes I, am
the Lord,
and
there is no other Savior.
12 First I predicted your
rescue,
then I saved you and proclaimed
it to the world.
No foreign god has ever done this.
You
are witnesses that I am the only God,”
says
the Lord.
13 “From
eternity to eternity I am God.
No one
can snatch anyone out of my hand.
No one
can undo what I have done.”
The Lord’s Promise of Victory
14 This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“For your sakes I will send an army against Babylon,
forcing
the Babylonians to flee in those ships they are so proud
of.
15 I am the Lord,
your Holy One,
Israel’s Creator and
King.
16 I am the Lord,
who opened a way through the waters,
making
a dry path through the sea.
17 I called forth the mighty
army of Egypt
with all its chariots and
horses.
I drew them beneath the waves, and they
drowned,
their lives snuffed out like a
smoldering candlewick.
18 “But forget all that—
it is
nothing compared to what I am going to do.
19 For I am
about to do something new.
See, I have
already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through
the wilderness.
I will create rivers in
the dry wasteland.
20 The wild animals in the fields will
thank me,
the jackals and owls,
too,
for giving them water in the
desert.
Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland
so
my chosen people can be refreshed.
21 I have made Israel
for myself,
and they will someday honor
me before the whole world.
22 “But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask for my
help.
You have grown tired of me, O
Israel!
23 You have not brought me sheep or goats for burnt
offerings.
You have not honored me with
sacrifices,
though I have not burdened and wearied you
with
requests for grain offerings and frankincense.
24 You have
not brought me fragrant calamus
or
pleased me with the fat from sacrifices.
Instead, you have
burdened me with your sins
and wearied
me with your faults.
25 “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own
sake
and will never think of them
again.
26 Let us review the situation together,
and
you can present your case to prove your innocence.
27 From
the very beginning, your first ancestor sinned against me;
all
your leaders broke my laws.
28 That is why I have disgraced
your priests;
I have decreed complete
destruction for Jacob
and shame for
Israel.
Chapter 44
1 “But now, listen to me, Jacob my servant,
Israel
my chosen one.
2 The Lord who
made you and helps you says:
Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my
servant,
O dear Israel, my chosen
one.
3 For I will pour out water to quench your
thirst
and to irrigate your parched
fields.
And I will pour out my Spirit on your
descendants,
and my blessing on your
children.
4 They will thrive like watered grass,
like
willows on a riverbank.
5 Some will proudly claim, ‘I
belong to the Lord.’
Others
will say, ‘I am a descendant of Jacob.’
Some will write
the Lord’s name
on their hands
and will take the name of
Israel as their own.”
The Foolishness of Idols
6 This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies:
“I am the First and the Last;
there is
no other God.
7 Who is like me?
Let
him step forward and prove to you his power.
Let him do as I
have done since ancient times
when I
established a people and explained its future.
8 Do not
tremble; do not be afraid.
Did I not
proclaim my purposes for you long ago?
You are my witnesses—is
there any other God?
No! There is no
other Rock—not one!”
9 How foolish are those who manufacture idols.
These
prized objects are really worthless.
The people who worship
idols don’t know this,
so they are all
put to shame.
10 Who but a fool would make his own
god—
an idol that cannot help him one
bit?
11 All who worship idols will be disgraced
along
with all these craftsmen—mere humans—
who
claim they can make a god.
They may all stand together,
but
they will stand in terror and shame.
12 The blacksmith stands at his forge to make a sharp
tool,
pounding and shaping it with all
his might.
His work makes him hungry and weak.
It
makes him thirsty and faint.
13 Then the wood-carver
measures a block of wood
and draws a
pattern on it.
He works with chisel and plane
and
carves it into a human figure.
He gives it human beauty
and
puts it in a little shrine.
14 He cuts down cedars;
he
selects the cypress and the oak;
he plants the pine in the
forest
to be nourished by the
rain.
15 Then he uses part of the wood to make a
fire.
With it he warms himself and bakes
his bread.
Then—yes, it’s true—he takes the rest of
it
and makes himself a god to
worship!
He makes an idol
and bows
down in front of it!
16 He burns part of the tree to roast
his meat
and to keep himself
warm.
He says, “Ah, that fire feels
good.”
17 Then he takes what’s left
and
makes his god: a carved idol!
He falls down in front of
it,
worshiping and praying to
it.
“Rescue me!” he says.
“You
are my god!”
18 Such stupidity and ignorance!
Their
eyes are closed, and they cannot see.
Their
minds are shut, and they cannot think.
19 The person who
made the idol never stops to reflect,
“Why,
it’s just a block of wood!
I burned half of it for
heat
and used it to bake my bread and
roast my meat.
How can the rest of it be a god?
Should
I bow down to worship a piece of wood?”
20 The poor,
deluded fool feeds on ashes.
He trusts
something that can’t help him at all.
Yet he cannot bring
himself to ask,
“Is this idol that I’m
holding in my hand a lie?”
Restoration for Jerusalem
21 “Pay
attention, O Jacob,
for you are my
servant, O Israel.
I, the Lord,
made you,
and I will not forget
you.
22 I have swept away your sins like a cloud.
I
have scattered your offenses like the morning mist.
Oh, return
to me,
for I have paid the price to set
you free.”
23 Sing,
O heavens, for the Lord has
done this wondrous thing.
Shout for joy,
O depths of the earth!
Break into song,
O
mountains and forests and every tree!
For the Lord has
redeemed Jacob
and is glorified in
Israel.
24 This is what the Lord says—
your
Redeemer and Creator:
“I am the Lord,
who made all things.
I alone stretched
out the heavens.
Who was with me
when
I made the earth?
25 I expose the false prophets as
liars
and make fools of
fortune-tellers.
I cause the wise to give bad advice,
thus
proving them to be fools.
26 But I carry out the
predictions of my prophets!
By them I
say to Jerusalem, ‘People will live here again,’
and to the
towns of Judah, ‘You will be rebuilt;
I
will restore all your ruins!’
27 When I speak to the
rivers and say, ‘Dry up!’
they will
be dry.
28 When I say of Cyrus, ‘He is my
shepherd,’
he will certainly do as I
say.
He will command, ‘Rebuild Jerusalem’;
he
will say, ‘Restore the Temple.’”
Chapter 45
Cyrus, the Lord’s Chosen One
1 This
is what the Lord says
to Cyrus, his anointed one,
whose right
hand he will empower.
Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed
with fear.
Their fortress gates will be
opened,
never to shut again.
2 This
is what the Lord says:
“I will go
before you, Cyrus,
and level the
mountains.
I will smash down gates of bronze
and
cut through bars of iron.
3 And I will give you treasures
hidden in the darkness—
secret
riches.
I will do this so you may know that I am
the Lord,
the
God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.
4 “And why have I called you for this work?
Why
did I call you by name when you did not know me?
It is for the
sake of Jacob my servant,
Israel my
chosen one.
5 I am the Lord;
there
is no other God.
I have equipped you for battle,
though
you don’t even know me,
6 so all the world from east to
west
will know there is no other God.
I
am the Lord, and
there is no other.
7 I create the
light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad
times.
I, the Lord,
am the one who does these things.
8 “Open
up, O heavens,
and pour out your
righteousness.
Let the earth open wide
so
salvation and righteousness can sprout up together.
I,
the Lord, created
them.
9 “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their
Creator.
Does a clay pot argue with its
maker?
Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it,
saying,
‘Stop, you’re doing it
wrong!’
Does the pot exclaim,
‘How
clumsy can you be?’
10 How terrible it would be if a
newborn baby said to its father,
‘Why
was I born?’
or if it said to its mother,
‘Why
did you make me this way?’”
11 This is what the Lord says—
the
Holy One of Israel and your Creator:
“Do you question what I
do for my children?
Do you give me
orders about the work of my hands?
12 I am the one who made
the earth
and created people to live on
it.
With my hands I stretched out the heavens.
All
the stars are at my command.
13 I will raise up Cyrus to
fulfill my righteous purpose,
and I will
guide his actions.
He will restore my city and free my captive
people—
without seeking a
reward!
I, the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”
Future Conversion of Gentiles
14 This is what the Lord says:
“You will rule the Egyptians,
the
Ethiopians, and the Sabeans.
They will come to you with all
their merchandise,
and it will all be
yours.
They will follow you as prisoners in chains.
They
will fall to their knees in front of you and say,
‘God is with
you, and he is the only God.
There is no
other.’”
15 Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior,
you
work in mysterious ways.
16 All craftsmen who make idols
will be humiliated.
They will all be
disgraced together.
17 But the Lord will
save the people of Israel
with eternal
salvation.
Throughout everlasting ages,
they
will never again be humiliated and disgraced.
18 For the Lord is
God,
and he created the heavens and
earth
and put everything in place.
He
made the world to be lived in,
not to be
a place of empty chaos.
“I am the Lord,”
he says,
“and there is no other.
19 I
publicly proclaim bold promises.
I do
not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.
I would not have
told the people of Israel to seek me
if
I could not be found.
I, the Lord,
speak only what is true
and declare only
what is right.
20 “Gather together and come,
you
fugitives from surrounding nations.
What fools they are who
carry around their wooden idols
and pray
to gods that cannot save!
21 Consult together, argue your
case.
Get together and decide what to
say.
Who made these things known so long ago?
What
idol ever told you they would happen?
Was it not I,
the Lord?
For
there is no other God but me,
a righteous God and
Savior.
There is none but me.
22 Let
all the world look to me for salvation!
For
I am God; there is no other.
23 I have sworn by my own
name;
I have spoken the truth,
and
I will never go back on my word:
Every knee will bend to
me,
and every tongue will declare
allegiance to me.”
24 The people will
declare,
“The Lord is
the source of all my righteousness and strength.”
And all who
were angry with him
will come to him and
be ashamed.
25 In the Lord all
the generations of Israel will be justified,
and
in him they will boast.
Chapter 46
Babylon’s False Gods
1 Bel
and Nebo, the gods of Babylon,
bow as
they are lowered to the ground.
They are being hauled away on ox
carts.
The poor beasts stagger under the
weight.
2 Both the idols and their owners are bowed
down.
The gods cannot protect the
people,
and the people cannot protect the gods.
They
go off into captivity together.
3 “Listen to me, descendants of Jacob,
all
you who remain in Israel.
I have cared for you since you were
born.
Yes, I carried you before you were
born.
4 I will be your God throughout your
lifetime—
until your hair is white
with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.
I
will carry you along and save you.
5 “To whom will you compare me?
Who
is my equal?
6 Some people pour out their silver and
gold
and hire a craftsman to make a god
from it.
Then they bow down and worship
it!
7 They carry it around on their shoulders,
and
when they set it down, it stays there.
It
can’t even move!
And when someone prays to it, there is no
answer.
It can’t rescue anyone from
trouble.
8 “Do not forget this! Keep it in mind!
Remember
this, you guilty ones.
9 Remember the things I have done in
the past.
For I alone am God!
I
am God, and there is none like me.
10 Only I can tell you
the future
before it even
happens.
Everything I plan will come to pass,
for
I do whatever I wish.
11 I will call a swift bird of prey
from the east—
a leader from a distant
land to come and do my bidding.
I have said what I would
do,
and I will do it.
12 “Listen to me, you stubborn people
who
are so far from doing right.
13 For I am ready to set
things right,
not in the distant future,
but right now!
I am ready to save Jerusalem
and
show my glory to Israel.
Chapter 47
Prediction of Babylon’s Fall
1 “Come down, virgin daughter of Babylon, and sit in the
dust.
For your days of sitting on a
throne have ended.
O daughter of Babylonia, never again
will you be
the lovely princess, tender
and delicate.
2 Take heavy millstones and grind
flour.
Remove your veil, and strip off
your robe.
Expose yourself to public
view.
3 You will be naked and burdened with shame.
I
will take vengeance against you without pity.”
4 Our
Redeemer, whose name is the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies,
is the Holy One of
Israel.
5 “O beautiful Babylon, sit now in darkness and
silence.
Never again will you be known
as the queen of kingdoms.
6 For I was angry with my chosen
people
and punished them by letting them
fall into your hands.
But you, Babylon, showed them no
mercy.
You oppressed even the
elderly.
7 You said, ‘I will reign forever as queen of
the world!’
You did not reflect on
your actions
or think about their
consequences.
8 “Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom,
living
at ease and feeling secure.
You say, ‘I am the only one, and
there is no other.
I will never be a
widow or lose my children.’
9 Well, both these things
will come upon you in a moment:
widowhood
and the loss of your children.
Yes, these calamities will come
upon you,
despite all your witchcraft
and magic.
10 “You felt secure in your wickedness.
‘No
one sees me,’ you said.
But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’
have led you astray,
and you said, ‘I
am the only one, and there is no other.’
11 So disaster
will overtake you,
and you won’t be
able to charm it away.
Calamity will fall upon you,
and
you won’t be able to buy your way out.
A catastrophe will
strike you suddenly,
one for which you
are not prepared.
12 “Now use your magical charms!
Use
the spells you have worked at all these years!
Maybe they will
do you some good.
Maybe they can make
someone afraid of you.
13 All the advice you receive has
made you tired.
Where are all your
astrologers,
those stargazers who make predictions each
month?
Let them stand up and save you
from what the future holds.
14 But they are like straw
burning in a fire;
they cannot save
themselves from the flame.
You will get no help from them at
all;
their hearth is no place to sit for
warmth.
15 And all your friends,
those
with whom you’ve done business since childhood,
will go their
own ways,
turning a deaf ear to your
cries.
Chapter 48
God’s Stubborn People
1 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
you
who are called by the name of Israel
and
born into the family of Judah.
Listen, you who take oaths in the
name of the Lord
and
call on the God of Israel.
You don’t keep your
promises,
2 even though you call
yourself the holy city
and talk about depending on the God of
Israel,
whose name is the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies.
3 Long ago I told you what was going to
happen.
Then suddenly I took
action,
and all my predictions came
true.
4 For I know how stubborn and obstinate you
are.
Your necks are as unbending as
iron.
Your heads are as hard as
bronze.
5 That is why I told you what would happen;
I
told you beforehand what I was going to do.
Then you could never
say, ‘My idols did it.
My wooden image
and metal god commanded it to happen!’
6 You have heard
my predictions and seen them fulfilled,
but
you refuse to admit it.
Now I will tell you new
things,
secrets you have not yet
heard.
7 They are brand new, not things from the
past.
So you cannot say, ‘We knew that
all the time!’
8 “Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely
new,
things you never heard of
before.
For I know so well what traitors you are.
You
have been rebels from birth.
9 Yet for my own sake and for
the honor of my name,
I will hold back
my anger and not wipe you out.
10 I have refined you, but
not as silver is refined.
Rather, I have
refined you in the furnace of suffering.
11 I will rescue
you for my sake—
yes, for my own
sake!
I will not let my reputation be tarnished,
and
I will not share my glory with idols!
Freedom from Babylon
12 “Listen
to me, O family of Jacob,
Israel my
chosen one!
I alone am God,
the
First and the Last.
13 It was my hand that laid the
foundations of the earth,
my right hand
that spread out the heavens above.
When I call out the
stars,
they all appear in order.”
14 Have
any of your idols ever told you this?
Come,
all of you, and listen:
The Lord has
chosen Cyrus as his ally.
He will use
him to put an end to the empire of Babylon
and
to destroy the Babylonian armies.
15 “I have said it: I am calling Cyrus!
I
will send him on this errand and will help him succeed.
16 Come
closer, and listen to this.
From the
beginning I have told you plainly what would happen.”
And now the Sovereign Lord and
his Spirit
have sent me with this
message.
17 This is what the Lord says—
your
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your
God,
who teaches you what is good for
you
and leads you along the paths you
should follow.
18 Oh, that you had listened to my
commands!
Then you would have had peace
flowing like a gentle river
and
righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.
19 Your
descendants would have been like the sands along the
seashore—
too many to count!
There
would have been no need for your destruction,
or
for cutting off your family name.”
20 Yet even now, be free from your captivity!
Leave
Babylon and the Babylonians.
Sing out this message!
Shout
it to the ends of the earth!
The Lord has
redeemed his servants,
the people of
Israel.
21 They were not thirsty
when
he led them through the desert.
He divided the rock,
and
water gushed out for them to drink.
22 “But there is no
peace for the wicked,”
says the Lord.
Isaiah 49-57 (NLT)
The Lord’s Servant Commissioned
1 Listen
to me, all you in distant lands!
Pay
attention, you who are far away!
The Lord called
me before my birth;
from within the womb
he called me by name.
2 He made my words of judgment as
sharp as a sword.
He has hidden me in
the shadow of his hand.
I am like a
sharp arrow in his quiver.
3 He
said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,
and
you will bring me glory.”
4 I
replied, “But my work seems so useless!
I
have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.
Yet I
leave it all in the Lord’s
hand;
I will trust God for my reward.”
5 And now the Lord speaks—
the
one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant,
who
commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.
The Lord has
honored me,
and my God has given me
strength.
6 He says, “You will do more than restore the
people of Israel to me.
I will make you
a light to the Gentiles,
and you will
bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
7 The Lord,
the Redeemer
and Holy One of
Israel,
says to the one who is despised and rejected by the
nations,
to the one who is the servant
of rulers:
“Kings will stand at attention when you pass
by.
Princes will also bow low
because
of the Lord, the
faithful one,
the Holy One of Israel,
who has chosen you.”
Promises of Israel’s Restoration
8 This is what the Lord says:
“At just the right time, I will respond to you.
On
the day of salvation I will help you.
I will protect you and
give you to the people
as my covenant
with them.
Through you I will reestablish the land of
Israel
and assign it to its own people
again.
9 I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in
freedom,’
and to those in darkness,
‘Come into the light.’
They will be my sheep, grazing in
green pastures
and on hills that were
previously bare.
10 They will neither hunger nor
thirst.
The searing sun will not reach
them anymore.
For the Lord in
his mercy will lead them;
he will lead
them beside cool waters.
11 And I will make my mountains
into level paths for them.
The highways
will be raised above the valleys.
12 See, my people will
return from far away,
from lands to the
north and west,
and from as far south as
Egypt.”
13 Sing
for joy, O heavens!
Rejoice, O
earth!
Burst into song, O mountains!
For
the Lord has
comforted his people
and will have
compassion on them in their suffering.
14 Yet
Jerusalem says, “The Lord has
deserted us;
the Lord has forgotten us.”
15 “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
Can
she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that
were possible,
I would not forget
you!
16 See, I have written your name on the palms of my
hands.
Always in my mind is a picture of
Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
17 Soon your descendants will
come back,
and all who are trying to
destroy you will go away.
18 Look around you and
see,
for all your children will come
back to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“they
will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.
19 “Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned
land
will soon be crowded with your
people.
Your enemies who enslaved you
will
be far away.
20 The generations born in exile will return
and say,
‘We need more room! It’s
crowded here!’
21 Then you will think to
yourself,
‘Who has given me all these
descendants?
For most of my children were killed,
and
the rest were carried away into exile.
I was left here all
alone.
Where did all these people come
from?
Who bore these children?
Who
raised them for me?’”
22 This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“See,
I will give a signal to the godless nations.
They will carry
your little sons back to you in their arms;
they
will bring your daughters on their shoulders.
23 Kings and
queens will serve you
and care for all
your needs.
They will bow to the earth before you
and
lick the dust from your feet.
Then you will know that I am
the Lord.
Those
who trust in me will never be put to shame.”
24 Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a
warrior?
Who can demand that a
tyrant let his captives go?
25 But the Lord says,
“The
captives of warriors will be released,
and
the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved.
For I will fight those
who fight you,
and I will save your
children.
26 I will feed your enemies with their own
flesh.
They will be drunk with rivers of
their own blood.
All the world will know that I,
the Lord,
am
your Savior and your Redeemer,
the
Mighty One of Israel.”
Chapter 50
“Was your mother sent away because I divorced her?
Did
I sell you as slaves to my creditors?
No, you were sold because
of your sins.
And your mother, too, was
taken because of your sins.
2 Why was no one there when I
came?
Why didn’t anyone answer when I
called?
Is it because I have no power to rescue?
No,
that is not the reason!
For I can speak to the sea and make it
dry up!
I can turn rivers into deserts
covered with dying fish.
3 I dress the skies in
darkness,
covering them with clothes of
mourning.”
The Lord’s Obedient Servant
4 The Sovereign Lord has
given me his words of wisdom,
so that I
know how to comfort the weary.
Morning by morning he wakens
me
and opens my understanding to his
will.
5 The Sovereign Lord has
spoken to me,
and I have listened.
I
have not rebelled or turned away.
6 I offered my back to
those who beat me
and my cheeks to those
who pulled out my beard.
I did not hide my face
from
mockery and spitting.
7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps
me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore,
I have set my face like a stone,
determined
to do his will.
And I know that I will
not be put to shame.
8 He who gives me justice is
near.
Who will dare to bring charges
against me now?
Where are my accusers?
Let
them appear!
9 See, the Sovereign Lord is
on my side!
Who will declare me
guilty?
All my enemies will be destroyed
like
old clothes that have been eaten by moths!
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and
obeys his servant?
If you are walking in darkness,
without
a ray of light,
trust in the Lord
and
rely on your God.
11 But watch out, you who live in your
own light
and warm yourselves by your
own fires.
This is the reward you will receive from me:
You
will soon fall down in great torment.
Chapter 51
A Call to Trust the Lord
1 “Listen
to me, all who hope for deliverance—
all
who seek the Lord!
Consider
the rock from which you were cut,
the
quarry from which you were mined.
2 Yes, think about
Abraham, your ancestor,
and Sarah, who
gave birth to your nation.
Abraham was only one man when I
called him.
But when I blessed him, he
became a great nation.”
3 The Lord will
comfort Israel again
and have pity
on her ruins.
Her desert will blossom like Eden,
her
barren wilderness like the garden of the Lord.
Joy
and gladness will be found there.
Songs
of thanksgiving will fill the air.
4 “Listen to me, my people.
Hear
me, Israel,
for my law will be proclaimed,
and
my justice will become a light to the nations.
5 My mercy
and justice are coming soon.
My
salvation is on the way.
My strong arm
will bring justice to the nations.
All distant lands will look
to me
and wait in hope for my powerful
arm.
6 Look up to the skies above,
and
gaze down on the earth below.
For the skies will disappear like
smoke,
and the earth will wear out like
a piece of clothing.
The people of the earth will die like
flies,
but my salvation lasts
forever.
My righteous rule will never
end!
7 “Listen to me, you who know right from wrong,
you
who cherish my law in your hearts.
Do not be afraid of people’s
scorn,
nor fear their insults.
8 For
the moth will devour them as it devours clothing.
The
worm will eat at them as it eats wool.
But my righteousness will
last forever.
My salvation will continue
from generation to generation.”
9 Wake up, wake up, O Lord!
Clothe yourself with strength!
Flex your
mighty right arm!
Rouse yourself as in the days of old
when
you slew Egypt, the dragon of the Nile.
10 Are you not the
same today,
the one who dried up the
sea,
making a path of escape through the depths
so
that your people could cross over?
11 Those who have been
ransomed by the Lord will
return.
They will enter
Jerusalem singing,
crowned with
everlasting joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
and
they will be filled with joy and gladness.
12 “I, yes I, am the one who comforts you.
So
why are you afraid of mere humans,
who
wither like the grass and disappear?
13 Yet you have
forgotten the Lord,
your Creator,
the one who stretched out
the sky like a canopy
and laid the
foundations of the earth.
Will you remain in constant dread of
human oppressors?
Will you continue to
fear the anger of your enemies?
Where is their fury and anger
now?
It is gone!
14 Soon all
you captives will be released!
Imprisonment,
starvation, and death will not be your fate!
15 For I am
the Lord your
God,
who stirs up the sea, causing its
waves to roar.
My name is the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies.
16 And I have put my words in your
mouth
and hidden you safely in my
hand.
I stretched out the sky like a canopy
and
laid the foundations of the earth.
I am the one who says to
Israel,
‘You are my people!’”
17 Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem!
You
have drunk the cup of the Lord’s
fury.
You have drunk the cup of terror,
tipping
out its last drops.
18 Not one of your children is left
alive
to take your hand and guide
you.
19 These two calamities have fallen on
you:
desolation and destruction, famine
and war.
And who is left to sympathize with you?
Who
is left to comfort you?
20 For your children have fainted
and lie in the streets,
helpless as
antelopes caught in a net.
The Lord has
poured out his fury;
God has rebuked
them.
21 But now listen to this, you afflicted ones
who
sit in a drunken stupor,
though not from
drinking wine.
22 This is what the Sovereign Lord,
your
God and Defender, says:
“See, I have taken the terrible cup
from your hands.
You will drink no more
of my fury.
23 Instead, I will hand that cup to your
tormentors,
those who said, ‘We will
trample you into the dust
and walk on
your backs.’”
Chapter 52
Deliverance for Jerusalem
1 Wake up, wake up, O Zion!
Clothe
yourself with strength.
Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy
city of Jerusalem,
for unclean and
godless people will enter your gates no longer.
2 Rise from
the dust, O Jerusalem.
Sit in a place of
honor.
Remove the chains of slavery from your neck,
O
captive daughter of Zion.
3 For this is what
the Lord says:
“When
I sold you into exile,
I received no
payment.
Now I can redeem you
without
having to pay for you.”
4 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Long ago my people chose to live in Egypt. Now they are oppressed by Assyria. 5 What is this?” asks the Lord. “Why are my people enslaved again? Those who rule them shout in exultation. My name is blasphemed all day long. 6 But I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them.”
7 How beautiful on the mountains
are
the feet of the messenger who brings good news,
the good news of
peace and salvation,
the news that the
God of Israel reigns!
8 The watchmen shout and sing
with joy,
for before their very
eyes
they see the Lord returning
to Jerusalem.
9 Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into
joyful song,
for the Lord has
comforted his people.
He has redeemed
Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has
demonstrated his holy power
before the
eyes of all the nations.
All the ends of the earth will
see
the victory of our God.
11 Get out! Get out and leave your captivity,
where
everything you touch is unclean.
Get out of there and purify
yourselves,
you who carry home the
sacred objects of the Lord.
12 You
will not leave in a hurry,
running for
your lives.
For the Lord will
go ahead of you;
yes, the God of Israel
will protect you from behind.
The Lord’s Suffering Servant
13 See, my servant will prosper;
he
will be highly exalted.
14 But many were amazed when they
saw him.
His face was so disfigured he
seemed hardly human,
and from his
appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.
15 And he
will startle many nations.
Kings
will stand speechless in his presence.
For they will see what
they had not been told;
they will
understand what they had not heard about.
Chapter 53
1 Who has believed our message?
To
whom has the Lord revealed
his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s
presence like a tender green shoot,
like
a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic
about his appearance,
nothing to attract
us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
a
man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our
backs on him and looked the other way.
He
was despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it
was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his
troubles were a punishment from God,
a
punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our
rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He
was beaten so we could be whole.
He was
whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep,
have strayed away.
We have left God’s
paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid
on him
the sins of us all.
7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet
he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the
slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent
before the shearers,
he did not open his
mouth.
8 Unjustly condemned,
he
was led away.
No one cared that he died without
descendants,
that his life was cut short
in midstream.
But he was struck down
for
the rebellion of my people.
9 He had done no wrong
and
had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a
criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s
grave.
10 But it was the Lord’s
good plan to crush him
and cause him
grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he
will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and
the Lord’s good
plan will prosper in his hands.
11 When he sees all that is
accomplished by his anguish,
he will be
satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my
righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted
righteous,
for he will bear all their
sins.
12 I will give him the honors of a victorious
soldier,
because he exposed himself to
death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He
bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
Chapter 54
Future Glory for Jerusalem
1 “Sing, O childless woman,
you
who have never given birth!
Break into loud and joyful song, O
Jerusalem,
you who have never been in
labor.
For the desolate woman now has more children
than
the woman who lives with her husband,”
says
the Lord.
2 “Enlarge
your house; build an addition.
Spread
out your home, and spare no expense!
3 For you will soon be
bursting at the seams.
Your descendants
will occupy other nations
and resettle
the ruined cities.
4 “Fear not; you will no longer live in shame.
Don’t
be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you.
You will no longer
remember the shame of your youth
and the
sorrows of widowhood.
5 For your Creator will be your
husband;
the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies is his name!
He is your Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel,
the God of all the
earth.
6 For the Lord has
called you back from your grief—
as
though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband,”
says
your God.
7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but
with great compassion I will take you back.
8 In a burst of
anger I turned my face away for a little while.
But
with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
says
the Lord, your
Redeemer.
9 “Just as I swore in the time of Noah
that
I would never again let a flood cover the earth,
so now I
swear
that I will never again be angry
and punish you.
10 For the mountains may move
and
the hills disappear,
but even then my faithful love for you will
remain.
My covenant of blessing will
never be broken,”
says the Lord,
who has mercy on you.
11 “O storm-battered city,
troubled
and desolate!
I will rebuild you with precious jewels
and
make your foundations from lapis lazuli.
12 I will make
your towers of sparkling rubies,
your
gates of shining gems,
and your walls of
precious stones.
13 I will teach all your children,
and
they will enjoy great peace.
14 You will be secure under a
government that is just and fair.
Your
enemies will stay far away.
You will live in peace,
and
terror will not come near.
15 If any nation comes to fight
you,
it is not because I sent
them.
Whoever attacks you will go down
in defeat.
16 “I have created the blacksmith
who
fans the coals beneath the forge
and makes the weapons of
destruction.
And I have created the
armies that destroy.
17 But in that coming day
no
weapon turned against you will succeed.
You will silence every
voice
raised up to accuse you.
These
benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord;
their
vindication will come from me.
I,
the Lord, have
spoken!
Chapter 55
Invitation to the Lord’s Salvation
1 “Is
anyone thirsty?
Come and drink—
even
if you have no money!
Come, take your choice of wine or
milk—
it’s all free!
2 Why
spend your money on food that does not give you strength?
Why
pay for food that does you no good?
Listen to me, and you will
eat what is good.
You will enjoy the
finest food.
3 “Come to me with your ears wide open.
Listen,
and you will find life.
I will make an everlasting covenant with
you.
I will give you all the unfailing
love I promised to David.
4 See how I used him to display
my power among the peoples.
I made him a
leader among the nations.
5 You also will command nations
you do not know,
and peoples unknown to
you will come running to obey,
because I, the Lord your
God,
the Holy One of Israel, have made
you glorious.”
6 Seek the Lord while
you can find him.
Call on him now while
he is near.
7 Let the wicked change their ways
and
banish the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn to
the Lord that
he may have mercy on them.
Yes, turn to
our God, for he will forgive generously.
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says
the Lord.
“And
my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For
just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so
my ways are higher than your ways
and my
thoughts higher than your thoughts.
10 “The rain and snow come down from the heavens
and
stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to
grow,
producing seed for the
farmer
and bread for the hungry.
11 It
is the same with my word.
I send it out,
and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it
to,
and it will prosper everywhere I
send it.
12 You will live in joy and peace.
The
mountains and hills will burst into song,
and
the trees of the field will clap their hands!
13 Where once
there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.
Where
nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.
These events will bring
great honor to the Lord’s
name;
they will be an everlasting sign
of his power and love.”
Chapter 56
Blessings for All Nations
1 This is what the Lord says:
“Be just
and fair to all.
Do what is right and
good,
for I am coming soon to rescue you
and
to display my righteousness among you.
2 Blessed are all
those
who are careful to do
this.
Blessed are those who honor my Sabbath days of
rest
and keep themselves from doing
wrong.
3 “Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to
the Lord say,
‘The Lord will
never let me be part of his people.’
And don’t let the
eunuchs say,
‘I’m a dried-up tree
with no children and no future.’
4 For this is what
the Lord says:
I
will bless those eunuchs
who keep my
Sabbath days holy
and who choose to do what pleases me
and
commit their lives to me.
5 I will give them—within the
walls of my house—
a memorial and a
name
far greater than sons and daughters
could give.
For the name I give them is an everlasting
one.
It will never disappear!
6 “I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to
the Lord,
who
serve him and love his name,
who worship him and do not
desecrate the Sabbath day of rest,
and
who hold fast to my covenant.
7 I will bring them to my
holy mountain of Jerusalem
and will fill
them with joy in my house of prayer.
I will accept their burnt
offerings and sacrifices,
because my
Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.
8 For
the Sovereign Lord,
who
brings back the outcasts of Israel, says:
I will bring others,
too,
besides my people Israel.”
Sinful Leaders Condemned
9 Come, wild animals of the field!
Come,
wild animals of the forest!
Come and
devour my people!
10 For the leaders of my
people—
the Lord’s
watchmen, his shepherds—
are blind and
ignorant.
They are like silent watchdogs
that
give no warning when danger comes.
They love to lie around,
sleeping and dreaming.
11 Like
greedy dogs, they are never satisfied.
They are ignorant
shepherds,
all following their own
path
and intent on personal
gain.
12 “Come,” they say, “let’s get some wine and
have a party.
Let’s all get
drunk.
Then tomorrow we’ll do it again
and
have an even bigger party!”
Chapter 57
1 Good people pass away;
the godly
often die before their time.
But no one
seems to care or wonder why.
No one seems to understand
that
God is protecting them from the evil to come.
2 For those
who follow godly paths
will rest in
peace when they die.
Idolatrous Worship Condemned
3 “But you—come here, you witches’ children,
you
offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!
4 Whom do you
mock,
making faces and sticking out your
tongues?
You children of sinners and
liars!
5 You worship your idols with great
passion
beneath the oaks and under every
green tree.
You sacrifice your children down in the
valleys,
among the jagged rocks in the
cliffs.
6 Your gods are the smooth stones in the
valleys.
You worship them with liquid
offerings and grain offerings.
They, not I, are your
inheritance.
Do you think all this makes
me happy?
7 You have committed adultery on every high
mountain.
There you have worshiped
idols
and have been unfaithful to
me.
8 You have put pagan symbols
on
your doorposts and behind your doors.
You have left me
and
climbed into bed with these detestable gods.
You have committed
yourselves to them.
You love to look at
their naked bodies.
9 You have gone to Molech
with
olive oil and many perfumes,
sending your agents far and
wide,
even to the world of the
dead.
10 You grew weary in your search,
but
you never gave up.
Desire gave you renewed strength,
and
you did not grow weary.
11 “Are you afraid of these idols?
Do
they terrify you?
Is that why you have lied to me
and
forgotten me and my words?
Is it because of my long
silence
that you no longer fear
me?
12 Now I will expose your so-called good
deeds.
None of them will help
you.
13 Let’s see if your idols can save you
when
you cry to them for help.
Why, a puff of wind can knock them
down!
If you just breathe on them, they
fall over!
But whoever trusts in me will inherit the
land
and possess my holy mountain.”
God Forgives the Repentant
14 God says, “Rebuild the road!
Clear
away the rocks and stones
so my people
can return from captivity.”
15 The high and lofty one who
lives in eternity,
the Holy One, says
this:
“I live in the high and holy place
with
those whose spirits are contrite and humble.
I restore the
crushed spirit of the humble
and revive
the courage of those with repentant hearts.
16 For I will
not fight against you forever;
I will
not always be angry.
If I were, all people would pass
away—
all the souls I have made.
17 I
was angry,
so I punished these greedy
people.
I withdrew from them,
but
they kept going on their own stubborn way.
18 I have seen
what they do,
but I will heal them
anyway!
I will lead them.
I will
comfort those who mourn,
19 bringing
words of praise to their lips.
May they have abundant peace,
both near and far,”
says the Lord,
who heals them.
20 “But those who still reject me are
like the restless sea,
which is never
still
but continually churns up mud and
dirt.
21 There is no peace for the wicked,”
says
my God.
Isaiah 58-66 (NLT)
True and False Worship
1 “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.
Shout
aloud! Don’t be timid.
Tell my people Israel of their
sins!
2 Yet they act so pious!
They
come to the Temple every day
and seem
delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous
nation
that would never abandon the laws
of its God.
They ask me to take action on their
behalf,
pretending they want to be near
me.
3 ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why
aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on
ourselves,
and you don’t even notice
it!’
“I will tell you why!” I respond.
“It’s
because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you
fast,
you keep oppressing your
workers.
4 What good is fasting
when
you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of
fasting
will never get you anywhere with
me.
5 You humble yourselves
by
going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
like
reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
and
cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call
fasting?
Do you really think this will
please the Lord?
6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who
are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the
burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go
free,
and remove the chains that bind
people.
7 Share your food with the hungry,
and
give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need
them,
and do not hide from relatives who
need your help.
8 “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
and
your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you
forward,
and the glory of the Lord will
protect you from behind.
9 Then when you call,
the Lord will
answer.
‘Yes, I am here,’ he will
quickly reply.
“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.
Stop
pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
10 Feed
the hungry,
and help those in
trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the
darkness,
and the darkness around you
will be as bright as noon.
11 The Lord will
guide you continually,
giving you water
when you are dry
and restoring your
strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like
an ever-flowing spring.
12 Some of you will rebuild the
deserted ruins of your cities.
Then you
will be known as a rebuilder of walls
and
a restorer of homes.
13 “Keep the Sabbath day holy.
Don’t
pursue your own interests on that day,
but enjoy the
Sabbath
and speak of it with delight as
the Lord’s holy
day.
Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day,
and
don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.
14 Then
the Lord will
be your delight.
I will give you great
honor
and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your
ancestor Jacob.
I, the Lord,
have spoken!”
Chapter 59
Warnings against Sin
1 Listen! The Lord’s
arm is not too weak to save you,
nor is
his ear too deaf to hear you call.
2 It’s your sins that
have cut you off from God.
Because of
your sins, he has turned away
and will
not listen anymore.
3 Your hands are the hands of
murderers,
and your fingers are filthy
with sin.
Your lips are full of lies,
and
your mouth spews corruption.
4 No one cares about being fair and honest.
The
people’s lawsuits are based on lies.
They conceive evil
deeds
and then give birth to sin.
5 They
hatch deadly snakes
and weave spiders’
webs.
Whoever eats their eggs will die;
whoever
cracks them will hatch a viper.
6 Their webs can’t be
made into clothing,
and nothing they do
is productive.
All their activity is filled with sin,
and
violence is their trademark.
7 Their feet run to do
evil,
and they rush to commit
murder.
They think only about sinning.
Misery
and destruction always follow them.
8 They don’t know
where to find peace
or what it means to
be just and good.
They have mapped out crooked roads,
and
no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace.
9 So there is no justice among us,
and
we know nothing about right living.
We look for light but find
only darkness.
We look for bright skies
but walk in gloom.
10 We grope like the blind along a
wall,
feeling our way like people
without eyes.
Even at brightest noontime,
we
stumble as though it were dark.
Among the living,
we
are like the dead.
11 We growl like hungry bears;
we
moan like mournful doves.
We look for justice, but it never
comes.
We look for rescue, but it is far
away from us.
12 For our sins are piled up before
God
and testify against us.
Yes,
we know what sinners we are.
13 We know we have rebelled
and have denied the Lord.
We
have turned our backs on our God.
We know how unfair and
oppressive we have been,
carefully
planning our deceitful lies.
14 Our courts oppose the
righteous,
and justice is nowhere to be
found.
Truth stumbles in the streets,
and
honesty has been outlawed.
15 Yes, truth is gone,
and
anyone who renounces evil is attacked.
The Lord looked
and was displeased
to find there was no
justice.
16 He was amazed to see that no one
intervened
to help the oppressed.
So
he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm,
and
his justice sustained him.
17 He put on righteousness as
his body armor
and placed the helmet of
salvation on his head.
He clothed himself with a robe of
vengeance
and wrapped himself in a cloak
of divine passion.
18 He will repay his enemies for their
evil deeds.
His fury will fall on his
foes.
He will pay them back even to the
ends of the earth.
19 In the west, people will respect the
name of the Lord;
in
the east, they will glorify him.
For he will come like a raging
flood tide
driven by the breath of
the Lord.
20 “The
Redeemer will come to Jerusalem
to buy
back those in Israel
who have turned from their sins,”
says
the Lord.
21 “And this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the Lord, have spoken!
Chapter 60
Future Glory for Jerusalem
1 “Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to
see.
For the glory of the Lord rises
to shine on you.
2 Darkness as black as night covers all
the nations of the earth,
but the glory
of the Lord rises
and appears over you.
3 All nations will come to your
light;
mighty kings will come to see
your radiance.
4 “Look and see, for everyone is coming home!
Your
sons are coming from distant lands;
your
little daughters will be carried home.
5 Your eyes will
shine,
and your heart will thrill with
joy,
for merchants from around the world will come to
you.
They will bring you the wealth of
many lands.
6 Vast caravans of camels will converge on
you,
the camels of Midian and Ephah.
The
people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense
and
will come worshiping the Lord.
7 The
flocks of Kedar will be given to you,
and
the rams of Nebaioth will be brought for my altars.
I will
accept their offerings,
and I will make
my Temple glorious.
8 “And what do I see flying like clouds to Israel,
like
doves to their nests?
9 They are ships from the ends of the
earth,
from lands that trust in
me,
led by the great ships of
Tarshish.
They are bringing the people of Israel home from far
away,
carrying their silver and
gold.
They will honor the Lord your
God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for
he has filled you with splendor.
10 “Foreigners will come to rebuild your towns,
and
their kings will serve you.
For though I have destroyed you in
my anger,
I will now have mercy on you
through my grace.
11 Your gates will stay open day and
night
to receive the wealth of many
lands.
The kings of the world will be led as captives
in
a victory procession.
12 For the nations that refuse to
serve you
will be destroyed.
13 “The glory of Lebanon will be yours—
the
forests of cypress, fir, and pine—
to beautify my
sanctuary.
My Temple will be
glorious!
14 The descendants of your tormentors
will
come and bow before you.
Those who despised you
will
kiss your feet.
They will call you the City of the Lord,
and
Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Though you were once despised and hated,
with
no one traveling through you,
I will make you beautiful
forever,
a joy to all
generations.
16 Powerful kings and mighty nations
will
satisfy your every need,
as though you were a child
nursing
at the breast of a queen.
You will know at last that I,
the Lord,
am
your Savior and your Redeemer,
the
Mighty One of Israel.
17 I will exchange your bronze for
gold,
your iron for silver,
your
wood for bronze,
and your stones for
iron.
I will make peace your leader
and
righteousness your ruler.
18 Violence will disappear from
your land;
the desolation and
destruction of war will end.
Salvation will surround you like
city walls,
and praise will be on the
lips of all who enter there.
19 “No longer will you need the sun to shine by day,
nor
the moon to give its light by night,
for the Lord your
God will be your everlasting light,
and
your God will be your glory.
20 Your sun will never
set;
your moon will not go down.
For
the Lord will
be your everlasting light.
Your days of
mourning will come to an end.
21 All your people will be
righteous.
They will possess their land
forever,
for I will plant them there with my own hands
in
order to bring myself glory.
22 The smallest family will
become a thousand people,
and the
tiniest group will become a mighty nation.
At
the right time, I, the Lord,
will make it happen.”
Chapter 61
Good News for the Oppressed
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is
upon me,
for the Lord has
anointed me
to bring good news to the
poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and
to proclaim that captives will be released
and
prisoners will be freed.
2 He has sent me to tell those who
mourn
that the time of the Lord’s
favor has come,
and with it, the day of
God’s anger against their enemies.
3 To all who mourn in
Israel,
he will give a crown of beauty
for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive
praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be
like great oaks
that the Lord has
planted for his own glory.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins,
repairing
cities destroyed long ago.
They will revive them,
though
they have been deserted for many generations.
5 Foreigners
will be your servants.
They will feed
your flocks
and plow your fields
and
tend your vineyards.
6 You will be called priests of
the Lord,
ministers
of our God.
You will feed on the treasures of the
nations
and boast in their
riches.
7 Instead of shame and dishonor,
you
will enjoy a double share of honor.
You will possess a double
portion of prosperity in your land,
and
everlasting joy will be yours.
8 “For I, the Lord,
love justice.
I hate robbery and
wrongdoing.
I will faithfully reward my people for their
suffering
and make an everlasting
covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be
recognized
and honored among the
nations.
Everyone will realize that they are a
people
the Lord has
blessed.”
10 I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my
God!
For he has dressed me with the
clothing of salvation
and draped me in a
robe of righteousness.
I am like a bridegroom dressed for his
wedding
or a bride with her
jewels.
11 The Sovereign Lord will
show his justice to the nations of the world.
Everyone
will praise him!
His righteousness will be like a garden in
early spring,
with plants springing up
everywhere.
Isaiah’s Prayer for Jerusalem
62 Because I love Zion,
I will not
keep still.
Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem,
I
cannot remain silent.
I will not stop praying for her
until
her righteousness shines like the dawn,
and
her salvation blazes like a burning torch.
2 The nations
will see your righteousness.
World
leaders will be blinded by your glory.
And you will be given a
new name
by the Lord’s
own mouth.
3 The Lord will
hold you in his hand for all to see—
a
splendid crown in the hand of God.
4 Never again will you
be called “The Forsaken City”
or
“The Desolate Land.”
Your new name will be “The City of
God’s Delight”
and “The Bride of
God,”
for the Lord delights
in you
and will claim you as his
bride.
5 Your children will commit themselves to you, O
Jerusalem,
just as a young man commits
himself to his bride.
Then God will rejoice over you
as
a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.
6 O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls;
they
will pray day and night, continually.
Take
no rest, all you who pray to the Lord.
7 Give
the Lord no
rest until he completes his work,
until
he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.
8 The Lord has
sworn to Jerusalem by his own strength:
“I
will never again hand you over to your enemies.
Never again will
foreign warriors come
and take away your
grain and new wine.
9 You raised the grain, and you will
eat it,
praising the Lord.
Within
the courtyards of the Temple,
you
yourselves will drink the wine you have pressed.”
10 Go out through the gates!
Prepare
the highway for my people to return!
Smooth out the road; pull
out the boulders;
raise a flag for all
the nations to see.
11 The Lord has
sent this message to every land:
“Tell
the people of Israel,
‘Look, your Savior is coming.
See,
he brings his reward with him as he comes.’”
12 They
will be called “The Holy People”
and
“The People Redeemed by the Lord.”
And
Jerusalem will be known as “The Desirable Place”
and
“The City No Longer Forsaken.”
Chapter 63
Judgment against the Lord’s Enemies
1 Who is this who comes from
Edom,
from the city of Bozrah,
with
his clothing stained red?
Who is this in royal
robes,
marching in his great strength?
“It is I, the Lord,
announcing your salvation!
It is I,
the Lord, who has
the power to save!”
2 Why
are your clothes so red,
as if you have
been treading out grapes?
3 “I have been treading the winepress alone;
no
one was there to help me.
In my anger I have trampled my
enemies
as if they were grapes.
In
my fury I have trampled my foes.
Their
blood has stained my clothes.
4 For the time has come for
me to avenge my people,
to ransom them
from their oppressors.
5 I was amazed to see that no one
intervened
to help the oppressed.
So
I myself stepped in to save them with my strong arm,
and
my wrath sustained me.
6 I crushed the nations in my
anger
and made them stagger and fall to
the ground,
spilling their blood upon
the earth.”
Praise for Deliverance
7 I will tell of the Lord’s
unfailing love.
I will praise
the Lord for
all he has done.
I will rejoice in his great goodness to
Israel,
which he has granted according
to his mercy and love.
8 He said, “They are my very own
people.
Surely they will not betray me
again.”
And he became their
Savior.
9 In all their suffering he also suffered,
and
he personally rescued them.
In his love and mercy he
redeemed them.
He lifted them up and
carried them
through all the
years.
10 But they rebelled against him
and
grieved his Holy Spirit.
So he became their enemy
and
fought against them.
11 Then they remembered those days of old
when
Moses led his people out of Egypt.
They cried out, “Where is
the one who brought Israel through the sea,
with
Moses as their shepherd?
Where is the one who sent his Holy
Spirit
to be among his people?
12 Where
is the one whose power was displayed
when
Moses lifted up his hand—
the one who divided the sea before
them,
making himself famous
forever?
13 Where is the one who led them through the
bottom of the sea?
They were like fine
stallions
racing through the desert,
never stumbling.
14 As with cattle going down into a
peaceful valley,
the Spirit of
the Lord gave
them rest.
You led your people, Lord,
and
gained a magnificent reputation.”
Prayer for Mercy and Pardon
15 Lord, look down
from heaven;
look from your holy,
glorious home, and see us.
Where is the passion and the
might
you used to show on our
behalf?
Where are your mercy and
compassion now?
16 Surely you are still our
Father!
Even if Abraham and Jacob would
disown us,
Lord,
you would still be our Father.
You are
our Redeemer from ages past.
17 Lord,
why have you allowed us to turn from your path?
Why
have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you?
Return
and help us, for we are your servants,
the
tribes that are your special possession.
18 How briefly
your holy people possessed your holy place,
and
now our enemies have destroyed it.
19 Sometimes it seems as
though we never belonged to you,
as
though we had never been known as your people.
Chapter 64
1 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come
down!
How the mountains would quake in
your presence!
2 As fire causes wood to burn
and
water to boil,
your coming would make the nations
tremble.
Then your enemies would learn
the reason for your fame!
3 When you came down long
ago,
you did awesome deeds beyond our
highest expectations.
And oh, how the
mountains quaked!
4 For since the world began,
no
ear has heard
and no eye has seen a God like you,
who
works for those who wait for him!
5 You welcome those who
gladly do good,
who follow godly
ways.
But you have been very angry with us,
for
we are not godly.
We are constant sinners;
how
can people like us be saved?
6 We are all infected and
impure with sin.
When we display our
righteous deeds,
they are nothing but
filthy rags.
Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,
and
our sins sweep us away like the wind.
7 Yet no one calls on
your name
or pleads with you for
mercy.
Therefore, you have turned away from us
and
turned us over to our sins.
8 And yet, O Lord,
you are our Father.
We are the clay, and
you are the potter.
We all are formed by
your hand.
9 Don’t be so angry with us, Lord.
Please
don’t remember our sins forever.
Look at us, we pray,
and
see that we are all your people.
10 Your holy cities are
destroyed.
Zion is a
wilderness;
yes, Jerusalem is a desolate
ruin.
11 The holy and beautiful Temple
where
our ancestors praised you
has been burned down,
and
all the things of beauty are destroyed.
12 After all
this, Lord, must
you still refuse to help us?
Will you
continue to be silent and punish us?
Chapter 65
Judgment and Final Salvation
1 The Lord says,
“I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help.
I
was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me.
I said,
‘Here I am, here I am!’
to a nation
that did not call on my name.
2 All day long I opened my
arms to a rebellious people.
But they
follow their own evil paths
and their
own crooked schemes.
3 All day long they insult me to my
face
by worshiping idols in their sacred
gardens.
They burn incense on pagan
altars.
4 At night they go out among the
graves,
worshiping the dead.
They
eat the flesh of pigs
and make stews
with other forbidden foods.
5 Yet they say to each
other,
‘Don’t come too close or you
will defile me!
I am holier than
you!’
These people are a stench in my nostrils,
an
acrid smell that never goes away.
6 “Look, my decree is written out in front of me:
I
will not stand silent;
I will repay them in full!
Yes,
I will repay them—
7 both for their own sins
and
for those of their ancestors,”
says
the Lord.
“For
they also burned incense on the mountains
and
insulted me on the hills.
I will pay
them back in full!
8 “But I will not destroy them all,”
says
the Lord.
“For
just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones
(and
someone will say, ‘Don’t throw them all away—
some
of those grapes are good!’),
so I will not destroy all
Israel.
For I still have true servants
there.
9 I will preserve a remnant of the people of
Israel
and of Judah to possess my
land.
Those I choose will inherit it,
and
my servants will live there.
10 The plain of Sharon will
again be filled with flocks
for my
people who have searched for me,
and the
valley of Achor will be a place to pasture herds.
11 “But because the rest of you have forsaken the Lord
and
have forgotten his Temple,
and because you have prepared feasts
to honor the god of Fate
and have
offered mixed wine to the god of Destiny,
12 now I will
‘destine’ you for the sword.
All of
you will bow down before the executioner.
For when I called, you
did not answer.
When I spoke, you did
not listen.
You deliberately sinned—before my very
eyes—
and chose to do what you know I
despise.”
13 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“My
servants will eat,
but you will
starve.
My servants will drink,
but
you will be thirsty.
My servants will rejoice,
but
you will be sad and ashamed.
14 My servants will sing for
joy,
but you will cry in sorrow and
despair.
15 Your name will be a curse word among my
people,
for the Sovereign Lord will
destroy you
and will call his true
servants by another name.
16 All who invoke a blessing or
take an oath
will do so by the God of
truth.
For I will put aside my anger
and
forget the evil of earlier days.
17 “Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth,
and
no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
18 Be
glad; rejoice forever in my creation!
And
look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.
Her
people will be a source of joy.
19 I will rejoice over
Jerusalem
and delight in my people.
And
the sound of weeping and crying
will be
heard in it no more.
20 “No longer will babies die when only a few days old.
No
longer will adults die before they have lived a full life.
No
longer will people be considered old at one hundred!
Only
the cursed will die that young!
21 In those days people
will live in the houses they build
and
eat the fruit of their own vineyards.
22 Unlike the past,
invaders will not take their houses
and
confiscate their vineyards.
For my people will live as long as
trees,
and my chosen ones will have time
to enjoy their hard-won gains.
23 They will not work in
vain,
and their children will not be
doomed to misfortune.
For they are people blessed by
the Lord,
and
their children, too, will be blessed.
24 I will answer them
before they even call to me.
While they
are still talking about their needs,
I
will go ahead and answer their prayers!
25 The wolf and the
lamb will feed together.
The lion will
eat hay like a cow.
But the snakes will
eat dust.
In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my
holy mountain.
I, the Lord,
have spoken!”
Chapter 66
“Heaven is
my throne,
and the earth is my
footstool.
Could you build me a temple as good as
that?
Could you build me such a resting
place?
2 My hands have made both heaven and earth;
they
and everything in them are mine.
I,
the Lord, have
spoken!
“I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts,
who
tremble at my word.
3 But those who choose their own
ways—
delighting in their detestable
sins—
will not have their offerings
accepted.
When such people sacrifice a bull,
it
is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice.
When they
sacrifice a lamb,
it’s as though they
had sacrificed a dog!
When they bring an offering of
grain,
they might as well offer the
blood of a pig.
When they burn frankincense,
it’s
as if they had blessed an idol.
4 I will send them great
trouble—
all the things they
feared.
For when I called, they did not answer.
When
I spoke, they did not listen.
They deliberately sinned before my
very eyes
and chose to do what they know
I despise.”
5 Hear this message from the Lord,
all
you who tremble at his words:
“Your own people hate
you
and throw you out for being loyal to
my name.
‘Let the Lord be
honored!’ they scoff.
‘Be joyful in
him!’
But they will be put to
shame.
6 What is all the commotion in the city?
What
is that terrible noise from the Temple?
It is the voice of
the Lord
taking
vengeance against his enemies.
7 “Before the birth pains even begin,
Jerusalem
gives birth to a son.
8 Who has ever seen anything as
strange as this?
Who ever heard of such
a thing?
Has a nation ever been born in a single day?
Has
a country ever come forth in a mere moment?
But by the time
Jerusalem’s birth pains begin,
her
children will be born.
9 Would I ever bring this nation to
the point of birth
and then not deliver
it?” asks the Lord.
“No!
I would never keep this nation from being born,”
says
your God.
10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem!
Be
glad with her, all you who love her
and
all you who mourn for her.
11 Drink deeply of her
glory
even as an infant drinks at its
mother’s comforting breasts.”
12 This is what the Lord says:
“I
will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity.
The
wealth of the nations will flow to her.
Her children will be
nursed at her breasts,
carried in her
arms, and held on her lap.
13 I will comfort you there in
Jerusalem
as a mother comforts her
child.”
14 When you see these things, your heart will rejoice.
You
will flourish like the grass!
Everyone will see the Lord’s
hand of blessing on his servants—
and
his anger against his enemies.
15 See, the Lord is
coming with fire,
and his swift chariots
roar like a whirlwind.
He will bring punishment with the fury of
his anger
and the flaming fire of his
hot rebuke.
16 The Lord will
punish the world by fire
and by his
sword.
He will judge the earth,
and
many will be killed by him.
17 “Those who ‘consecrate’ and ‘purify’ themselves in a sacred garden with its idol in the center—feasting on pork and rats and other detestable meats—will come to a terrible end,” says the Lord.
18 “I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory. 19 I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations. 20 They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord. They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord. 21 “And I will appoint some of them to be my priests and Levites. I, the Lord, have spoken!
22 “As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain,
so
will you always be my people,
with a name that will never
disappear,”
says the Lord.
23 “All
humanity will come to worship me
from
week to week
and from month to
month.
24 And as they go out, they will see
the
dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me.
For the worms
that devour them will never die,
and the
fire that burns them will never go out.
All who pass by
will
view them with utter horror.”
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