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

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

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

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

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

²¹ 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 stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
²³ who brings princes to nought,
    and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

²⁴ Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
    scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
    and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

²⁵ To whom then will you compare me,
    that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
    calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might,
    and because he is strong in power
    not one is missing.

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hid from the Lord,
    and my right is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary,
    his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹ but they who wait for the Lord 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 stirred up one from the east
    whom victory meets at every step?
He gives up nations before him,
    so that he tramples kings under foot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
    like driven stubble with his bow.
³ He pursues them and passes on safely,
    by paths his feet have not trod.
⁴ Who has performed and done this,
    calling the generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord, the first,
    and with the last; I am He.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁸ Hear, you deaf;
    and look, you blind, that you may see!
¹⁹ Who is blind but my servant,
    or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,
    or blind as the servant of the Lord?
²⁰ He sees^[j] many things, but does not observe them;
    his ears are open, but he does not hear.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁴ Thus says the Lord:
“The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia,
    and the Sabe′ans, men of stature,
shall come over to you and be yours,
    they shall follow you;
    they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.
They will make supplication to you, saying:
    ‘God is with you only, and there is no other,
    no god besides him.’”
¹⁵ Truly, thou art a God who hidest thyself,
    O God of Israel, the Savior.
¹⁶ All of them are put to shame and confounded,
    the makers of idols go in confusion together.
¹⁷ But Israel is saved by the Lord
    with everlasting salvation;
you shall not be put to shame or confounded
    to all eternity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

⁶ “Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of wickedness,
    to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
    and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸ Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you,
    the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.

“If you take away from the midst of you the yoke,
    the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
¹⁰ if you pour yourself out for the hungry
    and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
    and your gloom be as the noonday.
¹¹ And the Lord will guide you continually,
    and satisfy your desire with good things,^[au]
    and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters fail not.
¹² And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
    you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
    the restorer of streets to dwell in.

¹³ “If you turn back your foot from the sabbath,
    from doing your pleasure^[av] on my holy day,
and call the sabbath a delight
    and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
    or seeking your own pleasure,^[aw] or talking idly;
¹⁴ then you shall take delight in the Lord,
    and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

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

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
    that there was no justice.
¹⁶ He saw that there was no man,
    and wondered that there was no one to intervene;
then his own arm brought him victory,
    and his righteousness upheld him.
¹⁷ He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
    and a helmet of salvation upon his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
    and wrapped himself in fury as a mantle.
¹⁸ According to their deeds, so will he repay,
    wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;
    to the coastlands he will render requital.
¹⁹ So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,
    and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come like a rushing stream,
    which the wind of the Lord drives.

²⁰ “And he will come to Zion as Redeemer,
    to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the lord.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It is I, announcing vindication,
    mighty to save.”

² Why is thy apparel red,
    and thy garments like his that treads in the wine press?

³ “I have trodden the wine press alone,
    and from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
    and trampled them in my wrath;
their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments,
    and I have stained all my raiment.
⁴ For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
    and my year of redemption^[bl] has come.
⁵ I looked, but there was no one to help;
    I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;
so my own arm brought me victory,
    and my wrath upheld me.
⁶ I trod down the peoples in my anger,
    I made them drunk in my wrath,
    and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

¹⁰ But they rebelled
    and grieved his holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
    and himself fought against them.
¹¹ Then he remembered the days of old,
    of Moses his servant.
Where is he who brought up out of the sea
    the shepherds of his flock?
Where is he who put in the midst of them
    his holy Spirit,
¹² who caused his glorious arm
    to go at the right hand of Moses,
who divided the waters before them
    to make for himself an everlasting name,
¹³     who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
    they did not stumble.
¹⁴ Like cattle that go down into the valley,
    the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.
So thou didst lead thy people,
    to make for thyself a glorious name.

64 O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down,
    that the mountains might quake at thy presence—
^2 [bn]as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
to make thy name known to thy adversaries,
    and that the nations might tremble at thy presence!
³ When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for,
    thou camest down, the mountains quaked at thy presence.
⁴ From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides thee,
    who works for those who wait for him.
⁵ Thou meetest him that joyfully works righteousness,
    those that remember thee in thy ways.
Behold, thou wast angry, and we sinned;
    in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?^[bo]
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
⁷ There is no one that calls upon thy name,
    that bestirs himself to take hold of thee;
for thou hast hid thy face from us,
    and hast delivered^[bp] us into the hand of our iniquities.

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

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

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