¹⁸ They know nothing, they understand^(A) nothing;
    their eyes^(B) are plastered over so they cannot see,
    and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
¹⁹ No one stops to think,
    no one has the knowledge or understanding^(C) to say,
“Half of it I used for fuel;^(D)
    I even baked bread over its coals,
    I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable^(E) thing from what is left?
    Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”^(F)
20 Such a person feeds on ashes;^(G) a deluded^(H) heart misleads him;
    he cannot save himself, or say,
    “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?^(I)”

²¹ “Remember^(J) these things, Jacob,
    for you, Israel, are my servant.^(K)
I have made you, you are my servant;^(L)
    Israel, I will not forget you.^(M)
22 I have swept away^(N) your offenses like a cloud,
    your sins like the morning mist.
Return^(O) to me,
    for I have redeemed^(P) you.”

²³ Sing for joy,^(Q) you heavens, for the Lord has done this;
    shout aloud, you earth^(R) beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,^(S)
    you forests and all your trees,^(T)
for the Lord has redeemed^(U) Jacob,
    he displays his glory^(V) in Israel.

I am the Lord,
    the Maker of all things,
    who stretches out the heavens,^(Z)
    who spreads out the earth^(AA) by myself,
²⁵ who foils^(AB) the signs of false prophets
    and makes fools of diviners,^(AC)
who overthrows the learning of the wise^(AD)
    and turns it into nonsense,^(AE)
26 who carries out the words^(AF) of his servants
    and fulfills^(AG) the predictions of his messengers,

who says of Jerusalem,^(AH) ‘It shall be inhabited,’
    of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuilt,’
    and of their ruins,^(AI) ‘I will restore them,’^(AJ)
27 who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry,
    and I will dry up^(AK) your streams,’
²⁸ who says of Cyrus,^(AL) ‘He is my shepherd
    and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem,^(AM) “Let it be rebuilt,”
    and of the temple,^(AN) “Let its foundations^(AO) be laid.”’