Isaiah 40-55

New King James Version

^3 (C)The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
^(D)“Prepare the way of the Lord;
^(E)Make straight ^[b]in the desert
A highway for our God.
⁴ Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
^(F)The crooked places shall be made ^[c]straight
And the rough places smooth;
⁵ The ^(G)glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

⁶ The voice said, “Cry out!”
And ^[d]he said, “What shall I cry?”

^(H)“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades,
But ^(I)the word of our God stands forever.”

⁹ O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

¹⁰ Behold, the Lord God shall come ^[e]with a strong hand,
And ^(J)His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, ^(K)His reward is with Him,
And His ^[f]work before Him.
¹¹ He will ^(L)feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.

^12 (M)Who has measured the ^[g]waters in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a ^[h]span
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
^13 (N)Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?
¹⁴ With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
And ^(O)taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?

¹⁵ Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
¹⁶ And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
¹⁷ All nations before Him are as ^(P)nothing,
And ^(Q)they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

¹⁸ To whom then will you ^(R)liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
^19 (S)The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
²⁰ Whoever is too impoverished for such ^[i]a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
^(T)To prepare a carved image that will not totter.

^21 (U)Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²² It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who ^(V)stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a ^(W)tent to dwell in.
²³ He ^[j]brings the ^(X)princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.

²⁴ Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

²⁵ “To^(Y) whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
^(Z)He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.

^27 (AA)Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
²⁸ Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
^(AB)His understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
³¹ But those who ^(AC)wait on the Lord
^(AD)Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

² “Who raised up one ^(AG)from the east?
Who in righteousness called him to His feet?
Who ^(AH)gave the nations before him,
And made him rule over kings?
Who gave them as the dust to his sword,
As driven stubble to his bow?
³ Who pursued them, and passed ^[k]safely
By the way that he had not gone with his feet?
^4 (AI)Who has performed and done it,
Calling the generations from the beginning?
‘I, the Lord, am ^(AJ)the first;
And with the last I am ^(AK)He.’ ”

⁵ The coastlands saw it and feared,
The ends of the earth were afraid;
They drew near and came.
^6 (AL)Everyone helped his neighbor,
And said to his brother,
^[l]“Be of good courage!”
^7 (AM)So the craftsman encouraged the ^(AN)goldsmith;^[m]
He who smooths with the hammer inspired him who strikes the anvil,
Saying, ^[n]“It is ready for the soldering”;
Then he fastened it with pegs,
^(AO)That it might not totter.

⁸ “But you, Israel, are My servant,
Jacob whom I have ^(AP)chosen,
The descendants of Abraham My ^(AQ)friend.
⁹ You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its farthest regions,
And said to you,
‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and have not cast you away:
^10 (AR)Fear not, ^(AS)for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

¹¹ “Behold, all those who were incensed against you
Shall be ^(AT)ashamed and disgraced;
They shall be as nothing,
And those who strive with you shall perish.
¹² You shall seek them and not find them—
^[o]Those who contended with you.
Those who war against you
Shall be as nothing,
As a nonexistent thing.
¹³ For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand,
Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’

¹⁴ “Fear not, you ^(AU)worm Jacob,
You men of Israel!
I will help you,” says the Lord
And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵ “Behold, ^(AV)I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth;
You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small,
And make the hills like chaff.
¹⁶ You shall ^(AW)winnow them, the wind shall carry them away,
And the whirlwind shall scatter them;
You shall rejoice in the Lord,
And ^(AX)glory in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷ “The poor and needy seek water, but there is none,
Their tongues fail for thirst.
I, the Lord, will hear them;
I, the God of Israel, will not ^(AY)forsake them.
¹⁸ I will open ^(AZ)rivers in desolate heights,
And fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the ^(BA)wilderness a pool of water,
And the dry land springs of water.
¹⁹ I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree,
The myrtle and the oil tree;
I will set in the ^(BB)desert the cypress tree and the pine
And the box tree together,
^20 (BC)That they may see and know,
And consider and understand together,
That the hand of the Lord has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

²⁵ “I have raised up one from the north,
And he shall come;
From the ^[q]rising of the sun ^(BJ)he shall call on My name;
^(BK)And he shall come against princes as though mortar,
As the potter treads clay.
^26 (BL)Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know?
And former times, that we may say, ‘He is righteous’?
Surely there is no one who shows,
Surely there is no one who declares,
Surely there is no one who hears your words.
^27 (BM)The first time ^(BN)I said to Zion,
‘Look, there they are!’
And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good tidings.
^28 (BO)For I looked, and there was no man;
I looked among them, but there was no counselor,
Who, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
^29 (BP)Indeed they are all ^[r]worthless;
Their works are nothing;
Their molded images are wind and confusion.

⁵ Thus says God the Lord,
^(BU)Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it,
^(BV)Who gives breath to the people on it,
And spirit to those who walk on it:
⁶ “I,^(BW) the Lord, have called You in righteousness,
And will hold Your hand;
I will keep You ^(BX)and give You as a covenant to the people,
As ^(BY)a light to the Gentiles,
^7 (BZ)To open blind eyes,
To ^(CA)bring out prisoners from the prison,
Those who sit in ^(CB)darkness from the prison house.
⁸ I am the Lord, that is My name;
And My ^(CC)glory I will not give to another,
Nor My praise to carved images.
⁹ Behold, the former things have come to pass,
And new things I declare;
Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

¹⁸ “Hear, you deaf;
And look, you blind, that you may see.
^19 (CH)Who is blind but My servant,
Or deaf as My messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as he who is perfect,
And blind as the Lord’s servant?
²⁰ Seeing many things, ^(CI)but you do not observe;
Opening the ears, but he does not hear.”

²³ Who among you will give ear to this?
Who will listen and hear for the time to come?
²⁴ Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers?
Was it not the Lord,
He against whom we have sinned?
^(CJ)For they would not walk in His ways,
Nor were they obedient to His law.
²⁵ Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger
And the strength of battle;
^(CK)It has set him on fire all around,
^(CL)Yet he did not know;
And it burned him,
Yet he did not take it to ^(CM)heart.

^8 (CZ)Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
And the ^(DA)deaf who have ears.
⁹ Let all the nations be gathered together,
And let the people be assembled.
^(DB)Who among them can declare this,
And show us former things?
Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified;
Or let them hear and say, “It is truth.”
¹⁰ “You^(DC) are My witnesses,” says the Lord,
^(DD)“And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and ^(DE)believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
¹¹ I, even I, ^(DF)am the Lord,
And besides Me there is no savior.
¹² I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed,
And there was no ^(DG)foreign god among you;
^(DH)Therefore you are My witnesses,”
Says the Lord, “that I am God.
^13 (DI)Indeed before the day was, I am He;
And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will ^(DJ)reverse it?”

¹⁴ Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon,
And bring them all down as fugitives—
The Chaldeans, who rejoice in their ships.
¹⁵ I am the Lord, your Holy One,
The Creator of Israel, your ^(DK)King.”

¹⁶ Thus says the Lord, who ^(DL)makes a way in the sea
And a ^(DM)path through the mighty waters,
¹⁷ Who ^(DN)brings forth the chariot and horse,
The army and the power
(They shall lie down together, they shall not rise;
They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick):
¹⁸ “Do^(DO) not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
¹⁹ Behold, I will do a ^(DP)new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
^(DQ)I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
²⁰ The beast of the field will honor Me,
The jackals and the ostriches,
Because ^(DR)I give waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to My people, My chosen.
^21 (DS)This people I have formed for Myself;
They shall declare My ^(DT)praise.

²⁵ “I, even I, am He who ^(DX)blots out your transgressions ^(DY)for My own sake;
^(DZ)And I will not remember your sins.
²⁶ Put Me in remembrance;
Let us contend together;
State your case, that you may be ^[y]acquitted.
²⁷ Your first father sinned,
And your ^[z]mediators have transgressed against Me.
²⁸ Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;
^(EA)I will give Jacob to the curse,
And Israel to reproaches.

^12 (EK)The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals,
Fashions it with hammers,
And works it with the strength of his arms.
Even so, he is hungry, and his strength fails;
He drinks no water and is faint.

¹³ The craftsman stretches out his rule,
He marks one out with chalk;
He fashions it with a plane,
He marks it out with the compass,
And makes it like the figure of a man,
According to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house.
¹⁴ He cuts down cedars for himself,
And takes the cypress and the oak;
He ^[aa]secures it for himself among the trees of the forest.
He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it.

¹⁵ Then it shall be for a man to burn,
For he will take some of it and warm himself;
Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread;
Indeed he makes a god and worships it;
He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.
¹⁶ He burns half of it in the fire;
With this half he eats meat;
He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.
He even warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm,
I have seen the fire.”
¹⁷ And the rest of it he makes into a god,
His carved image.
He falls down before it and worships it,
Prays to it and says,
“Deliver me, for you are my god!”

^18 (EL)They do not know nor understand;
For ^(EM)He has ^[ab]shut their eyes, so that they cannot see,
And their hearts, so that they cannot ^(EN)understand.
¹⁹ And no one ^(EO)considers in his heart,
Nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say,
“I have burned half of it in the fire,
Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals;
I have roasted meat and eaten it;
And shall I make the rest of it an abomination?
Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”
²⁰ He feeds on ashes;
^(EP)A deceived heart has turned him aside;
And he cannot deliver his soul,
Nor say, “Is there not a ^(EQ)lie in my right hand?”

^23 (EU)Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it!
Shout, you lower parts of the earth;
Break forth into singing, you mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
And ^(EV)glorified Himself in Israel.

⁸ “Rain^(FV) down, you heavens, from above,
And let the skies pour down righteousness;
Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation,
And let righteousness spring up together.
I, the Lord, have created it.

⁹ “Woe to him who strives with ^(FW)his Maker!
Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth!
^(FX)Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?
¹⁰ Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What are you begetting?’
Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?’ ”

¹¹ Thus says the Lord,
The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:
^(FY)“Ask Me of things to come concerning ^(FZ)My sons;
And concerning ^(GA)the work of My hands, you command Me.
^12 (GB)I have made the earth,
And ^(GC)created man on it.
I—My hands—stretched out the heavens,
And ^(GD)all their host I have commanded.
^13 (GE)I have raised him up in righteousness,
And I will ^[ag]direct all his ways;
He shall ^(GF)build My city
And let My exiles go free,
^(GG)Not for price nor reward,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

^(GH)“The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Cush
And of the Sabeans, men of stature,
Shall come over to you, and they shall be yours;
They shall walk behind you,
They shall come over ^(GI)in chains;
And they shall bow down to you.
They will make supplication to you, saying, ^(GJ)‘Surely God is in you,
And there is no other;
^(GK)There is no other God.’ ”

¹⁵ Truly You are God, ^(GL)who hide Yourself,
O God of Israel, the Savior!
¹⁶ They shall be ^(GM)ashamed
And also disgraced, all of them;
They shall go in confusion together,
Who are makers of idols.
^17 (GN)But Israel shall be saved by the Lord
With an ^(GO)everlasting salvation;
You shall not be ashamed or ^(GP)disgraced
Forever and ever.

¹⁸ For thus says the Lord,
^(GQ)Who created the heavens,
Who is God,
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it,
Who did not create it ^[ah]in vain,
Who formed it to be ^(GR)inhabited:
^(GS)“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
¹⁹ I have not spoken in ^(GT)secret,
In a dark place of the earth;
I did not say to the seed of Jacob,
‘Seek Me ^[ai]in vain’;
^(GU)I, the Lord, speak righteousness,
I declare things that are right.

²⁰ “Assemble yourselves and come;
Draw near together,
You who have escaped from the nations.
^(GV)They have no knowledge,
Who carry the wood of their carved image,
And pray to a god that cannot save.
²¹ Tell and bring forth your case;
Yes, let them take counsel together.
^(GW)Who has declared this from ancient time?
Who has told it from that time?
Have not I, the Lord?
^(GX)And there is no other God besides Me,
A just God and a Savior;
There is none besides Me.

²² “Look to Me, and be saved,
^(GY)All you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
^23 (GZ)I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness,
And shall not return,
That to Me every ^(HA)knee shall bow,
^(HB)Every tongue shall take an oath.
²⁴ He shall say,
^[aj]‘Surely in the Lord I have ^(HC)righteousness and strength.
To Him men shall come,
And ^(HD)all shall be ashamed
Who are incensed against Him.
^25 (HE)In the Lord all the descendants of Israel
Shall be justified, and ^(HF)shall glory.’ ”

³ “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
^(HJ)Who have been upheld by Me from ^[ak]birth,
Who have been carried from the womb:
⁴ Even to your old age, ^(HK)I am He,
And even to gray hairs ^(HL)I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

⁵ “To^(HM) whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal
And compare Me, that we should be alike?
^6 (HN)They lavish gold out of the bag,
And weigh silver on the scales;
They hire a ^(HO)goldsmith, and he makes it a god;
They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship.
^7 (HP)They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it
And set it in its place, and it stands;
From its place it shall not move.
Though ^(HQ)one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer
Nor save him out of his trouble.

⁸ “Remember this, and ^[al]show yourselves men;
^(HR)Recall to mind, O you transgressors.
^9 (HS)Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and ^(HT)there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
^10 (HU)Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ^(HV)‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’
¹¹ Calling a bird of prey ^(HW)from the east,
The man ^(HX)who executes My counsel, from a far country.
Indeed ^(HY)I have spoken it;
I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it;
I will also do it.

¹² “Listen to Me, you ^(HZ)stubborn-hearted,
^(IA)Who are far from righteousness:
^13 (IB)I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off;
My salvation ^(IC)shall not ^[am]linger.
And I will place ^(ID)salvation in Zion,
For Israel My glory.

⁴ As for ^(IK)our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.

⁵ “Sit in ^(IL)silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans;
^(IM)For you shall no longer be called
The Lady of Kingdoms.
^6 (IN)I was angry with My people;
^(IO)I have profaned My inheritance,
And given them into your hand.
You showed them no mercy;
^(IP)On the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily.
⁷ And you said, ‘I shall be ^(IQ)a lady forever,’
So that you did not ^(IR)take these things to heart,
^(IS)Nor remember the latter end of them.

⁸ “Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures,
Who dwell securely,
Who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me;
I shall not sit as a widow,
Nor shall I know the loss of children’;
⁹ But these two things shall come to you
^(IT)In a moment, in one day:
The loss of children, and widowhood.
They shall come upon you in their fullness
Because of the multitude of your sorceries,
For the great abundance of your enchantments.

¹⁰ “For you have trusted in your wickedness;
You have said, ‘No one ^(IU)sees me’;
Your wisdom and your knowledge have ^[ao]warped you;
And you have said in your heart,
‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
¹¹ Therefore evil shall come upon you;
You shall not know from where it arises.
And trouble shall fall upon you;
You will not be able ^[ap]to put it off.
And ^(IV)desolation shall come upon you ^(IW)suddenly,
Which you shall not know.

¹² “Stand now with your enchantments
And the multitude of your sorceries,
In which you have labored from your youth—
Perhaps you will be able to profit,
Perhaps you will prevail.
^13 (IX)You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels;
Let now ^(IY)the^[aq] astrologers, the stargazers,
And ^[ar]the monthly prognosticators
Stand up and save you
From what shall come upon you.
¹⁴ Behold, they shall be ^(IZ)as stubble,
The fire shall ^(JA)burn them;
They shall not deliver themselves
From the power of the flame;
It shall not be a coal to be warmed by,
Nor a fire to sit before!
¹⁵ Thus shall they be to you
With whom you have labored,
^(JB)Your merchants from your youth;
They shall wander each one to his ^[as]quarter.
No one shall save you.

³ “I have ^(JF)declared the former things from the beginning;
They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.
Suddenly I did them, ^(JG)and they came to pass.
⁴ Because I knew that you were ^[at]obstinate,
And ^(JH)your neck was an iron sinew,
And your brow bronze,
⁵ Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my molded image
Have commanded them.’

⁶ “You have heard;
See all this.
And will you not declare it?
I have made you hear new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and you did not know them.
⁷ They are created now and not from the beginning;
And before this day you have not heard them,
Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’
⁸ Surely you did not hear,
Surely you did not know;
Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,
And were called ^(JI)a transgressor from the womb.

⁹ “For^(JJ) My name’s sake ^(JK)I will ^[au]defer My anger,
And for My praise I will restrain it from you,
So that I do not cut you off.
¹⁰ Behold, ^(JL)I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the ^(JM)furnace of affliction.
¹¹ For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For ^(JN)how should My name be profaned?
And ^(JO)I will not give My glory to another.

¹⁴ “All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
^(JT)The Lord loves him;
^(JU)He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,
And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
¹⁵ I, even I, have spoken;
Yes, ^(JV)I have called him,
I have brought him, and his way will prosper.

¹⁶ “Come near to Me, hear this:
^(JW)I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it was, I was there.
And now ^(JX)the Lord God and His Spirit
^[av]Have sent Me.”

¹⁷ Thus says ^(JY)the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
^(JZ)Who leads you by the way you should go.
^18 (KA)Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
^(KB)Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
^19 (KC)Your descendants also would have been like the sand,
And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;
His name would not have been cut off
Nor destroyed from before Me.”

^20 (KD)Go forth from Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
With a voice of singing,
Declare, proclaim this,
Utter it to the end of the earth;
Say, “The Lord has ^(KE)redeemed
His servant Jacob!”
²¹ And they ^(KF)did not thirst
When He led them through the deserts;
He ^(KG)caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;
He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.

²² “There^(KH) is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

³ “And He said to me,
^(KN)‘You are My servant, O Israel,
^(KO)In whom I will be glorified.’
^4 (KP)Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain;
Yet surely my ^[ax]just reward is with the Lord,
And my ^[ay]work with my God.’ ”

⁵ “And now the Lord says,
Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel ^(KQ)is ^[az]gathered to Him
(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
And My God shall be My strength),
⁶ Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a ^(KR)light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

⁷ Thus says the Lord,
The Redeemer of Israel, ^[ba]their Holy One,
^(KS)To Him ^[bb]whom man despises,
To Him whom the nation abhors,
To the Servant of rulers:
^(KT)“Kings shall see and arise,
Princes also shall worship,
Because of the Lord who is faithful,
The Holy One of Israel;
And He has chosen You.”

“In an ^(KU)acceptable^[bc] time I have heard You,
And in the day of salvation I have helped You;
I will ^[bd]preserve You ^(KV)and give You
As a covenant to the people,
To restore the earth,
To cause them to inherit the desolate ^[be]heritages;
⁹ That You may say ^(KW)to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’

“They shall feed along the roads,
And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights.
¹⁰ They shall neither ^(KX)hunger nor thirst,
^(KY)Neither heat nor sun shall strike them;
For He who has mercy on them ^(KZ)will lead them,
Even by the springs of water He will guide them.
^11 (LA)I will make each of My mountains a road,
And My highways shall be elevated.
¹² Surely ^(LB)these shall come from afar;
Look! Those from the north and the west,
And these from the land of Sinim.”

^13 (LC)Sing, O heavens!
Be joyful, O earth!
And break out in singing, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted His people,
And will have mercy on His afflicted.

¹⁵ “Can^(LE) a woman forget her nursing child,
^[bf]And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
^(LF)Yet I will not forget you.
¹⁶ See, ^(LG)I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
¹⁷ Your ^[bg]sons shall make haste;
Your destroyers and those who laid you waste
Shall go away from you.
^18 (LH)Lift up your eyes, look around and see;
All these gather together and come to you.
As I live,” says the Lord,
“You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all ^(LI)as an ornament,
And bind them on you as a bride does.

¹⁹ “For your waste and desolate places,
And the land of your destruction,
^(LJ)Will even now be too small for the inhabitants;
And those who swallowed you up will be far away.
^20 (LK)The children you will have,
^(LL)After you have lost the others,
Will say again in your ears,
‘The place is too small for me;
Give me a place where I may dwell.’
²¹ Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who has begotten these for me,
Since I have lost my children and am desolate,
A captive, and wandering to and fro?
And who has brought these up?
There I was, left alone;
But these, where were they?’ ”

“Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations,
And set up My ^[bh]standard for the peoples;
They shall bring your sons in their ^[bi]arms,
And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
^23 (LN)Kings shall be your foster fathers,
And their queens your nursing mothers;
They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,
And ^(LO)lick up the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord,
^(LP)For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”

^24 (LQ)Shall the prey be taken from the mighty,
Or the captives ^[bj]of the righteous be delivered?

“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
And the prey of the terrible be delivered;
For I will contend with him who contends with you,
And I will save your children.
²⁶ I will ^(LR)feed those who oppress you with their own flesh,
And they shall be drunk with their own ^(LS)blood as with sweet wine.
All flesh ^(LT)shall know
That I, the Lord, am your Savior,
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

“Where is ^(LU)the certificate of your mother’s divorce,
Whom I have put away?
Or which of My ^(LV)creditors is it to whom I have sold you?
For your iniquities ^(LW)you have sold yourselves,
And for your transgressions your mother has been put away.
² Why, when I came, was there no man?
Why, when I called, was there none to answer?
Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Indeed with My ^(LX)rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a wilderness;
Their fish stink because there is no water,
And die of thirst.
^3 (LY)I clothe the heavens with blackness,
^(LZ)And I make sackcloth their covering.”

⁴ “The^(MA) Lord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is ^(MB)weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
⁵ The Lord God ^(MC)has opened My ear;
And I was not ^(MD)rebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
^6 (ME)I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And ^(MF)My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and ^(MG)spitting.

⁷ “For the Lord God will help Me;
Therefore I will not be disgraced;
Therefore ^(MH)I have set My face like a flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
^8 (MI)He is near who justifies Me;
Who will contend with Me?
Let us stand together.
Who is ^[bk]My adversary?
Let him come near Me.
⁹ Surely the Lord God will help Me;
Who is he who will condemn Me?
^(MJ)Indeed they will all grow old like a garment;
^(MK)The moth will eat them up.

¹⁰ “Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who ^(ML)walks in darkness
And has no light?
^(MM)Let him trust in the name of the Lord
And rely upon his God.
¹¹ Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—
^(MN)This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down ^(MO)in torment.

³ For the Lord will ^(MU)comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert ^(MV)like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

⁴ “Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
^(MW)For law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
^(MX)As a light of the peoples.
^5 (MY)My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
^(MZ)And My arms will judge the peoples;
^(NA)The coastlands will wait upon Me,
And ^(NB)on My arm they will trust.
^6 (NC)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For ^(ND)the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
^(NE)The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be ^(NF)forever,
And My righteousness will not be ^[bm]abolished.

⁷ “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people ^(NG)in whose heart is My law:
^(NH)Do not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
⁸ For ^(NI)the moth will eat them up like a garment,
And the worm will eat them like wool;
But My righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation from generation to generation.”

^9 (NJ)Awake, awake, ^(NK)put on strength,
O arm of the Lord!
Awake ^(NL)as in the ancient days,
In the generations of old.
^(NM)Are You not the arm that cut ^(NN)Rahab apart,
And wounded the ^(NO)serpent?

¹⁰ Are You not the One who ^(NP)dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the depths of the sea a road
For the redeemed to cross over?
¹¹ So ^(NQ)the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness;
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹² “I, even I, am He ^(NR)who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
^(NS)Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made ^(NT)like grass?
¹³ And ^(NU)you forget the Lord your Maker,
^(NV)Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
^(NW)And where is the fury of the oppressor?
¹⁴ The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,
^(NX)That he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
¹⁵ But I am the Lord your God,
Who ^(NY)divided the sea whose waves roared—
The Lord of hosts is His name.
¹⁶ And ^(NZ)I have put My words in your mouth;
^(OA)I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
^(OB)That I may ^[bn]plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”

²¹ Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk ^(OH)but not with wine.
²² Thus says your Lord,
The Lord and your God,
Who ^(OI)pleads the cause of His people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
^23 (OJ)But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to ^[bo]you,
‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over.”

^(ON)“You have sold yourselves for nothing,
And you shall be redeemed ^(OO)without money.”

“My people went down at first
Into ^(OP)Egypt to ^[bp]dwell there;
Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
⁵ Now therefore, what have I here,” says the Lord,
“That My people are taken away for nothing?
Those who rule over them
^[bq]Make them wail,” says the Lord,
“And My name is ^(OQ)blasphemed continually every day.
⁶ Therefore My people shall know My name;
Therefore they shall know in that day
That I am He who speaks:
‘Behold, it is I.’ ”

^7 (OR)How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
^(OS)“Your God reigns!”
⁸ Your watchmen shall lift up their voices,
With their voices they shall sing together;
For they shall see eye to eye
When the Lord brings back Zion.
⁹ Break forth into joy, sing together,
You waste places of Jerusalem!
For the Lord has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
^10 (OT)The Lord has ^[br]made bare His holy arm
In the eyes of ^(OU)all the nations;
And all the ends of the earth shall see
The salvation of our God.

^11 (OV)Depart! Depart! Go out from there,
Touch no unclean thing;
Go out from the midst of her,
^(OW)Be clean,
You who bear the vessels of the Lord.
¹² For ^(OX)you shall not go out with haste,
Nor go by flight;
^(OY)For the Lord will go before you,
^(OZ)And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

⁴ Surely ^(PJ)He has borne our ^[cc]griefs
And carried our ^[cd]sorrows;
Yet we ^[ce]esteemed Him stricken,
^[cf]Smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But He was ^(PK)wounded^[cg] for our transgressions,
He was ^[ch]bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His ^(PL)stripes^[ci] we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord ^[cj]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet ^(PM)He opened not His mouth;
^(PN)He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
⁸ He was ^(PO)taken from ^[ck]prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For ^(PP)He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
^9 (PQ)And ^[cl]they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any ^(PR)deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it pleased the Lord to ^[cm]bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul ^(PS)an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
^11 [cn]He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge ^(PT)My righteous ^(PU)Servant shall ^(PV)justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
^12 (PW)Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
^(PX)And He shall divide the ^[co]spoil with the strong,
Because He ^(PY)poured out His soul unto death,
And He was ^(PZ)numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And ^(QA)made intercession for the transgressors.

⁴ “Do^(QE) not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame;
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
^5 (QF)For your Maker is your husband,
The Lord of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called ^(QG)the God of the whole earth.
⁶ For the Lord ^(QH)has called you
Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Like a youthful wife when you were refused,”
Says your God.
⁷ “For^(QI) a mere moment I have forsaken you,
But with great mercies ^(QJ)I will gather you.
⁸ With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
^(QK)But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the Lord, your Redeemer.

⁹ “For this is like the waters of ^(QL)Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn
That I would not be angry with ^(QM)you, nor rebuke you.
¹⁰ For ^(QN)the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
^(QO)But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

¹¹ “O you afflicted one,
Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with ^(QP)colorful gems,
And lay your foundations with sapphires.
¹² I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
Your gates of crystal,
And all your walls of precious stones.
¹³ All your children shall be ^(QQ)taught by the Lord,
And ^(QR)great shall be the peace of your children.
¹⁴ In righteousness you shall be established;
You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
¹⁵ Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me.
Whoever assembles against you shall ^(QS)fall for your sake.

¹⁶ “Behold, I have created the blacksmith
Who blows the coals in the fire,
Who brings forth an ^[cp]instrument for his work;
And I have created the ^[cq]spoiler to destroy.
¹⁷ No weapon formed against you shall ^(QT)prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
^(QU)And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.

^6 (RF)Seek the Lord while He may be ^(RG)found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
^7 (RH)Let the ^[cs]wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man ^(RI)his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
^(RJ)And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.

⁸ “For^(RK) My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
⁹ “For^(RL) as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰ “For ^(RM)as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
^11 (RN)So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me ^[ct]void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall ^(RO)prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

¹² “For^(RP) you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall ^(RQ)break forth into singing before you,
And ^(RR)all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
^13 (RS)Instead of ^(RT)the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
And it shall be to the Lord ^(RU)for a name,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”