Isaiah 27-63

New Living Translation

² “In that day,
    sing about the fruitful vineyard.
³ I, the Lord, will watch over it,
    watering it carefully.
Day and night I will watch so no one can harm it.
⁴     My anger will be gone.
If I find briers and thorns growing,
    I will attack them;
I will burn them up—
⁵     unless they turn to me for help.
Let them make peace with me;
    yes, let them make peace with me.”
⁶ The time is coming when Jacob’s descendants will take root.
    Israel will bud and blossom
    and fill the whole earth with fruit!

⁷ Has the Lord struck Israel
    as he struck her enemies?
Has he punished her
    as he punished them?
⁸ No, but he exiled Israel to call her to account.
    She was exiled from her land
    as though blown away in a storm from the east.
⁹ The Lord did this to purge Israel’s^[b] wickedness,
    to take away all her sin.
As a result, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust.
    No Asherah pole or pagan shrine will be left standing.
¹⁰ The fortified towns will be silent and empty,
    the houses abandoned, the streets overgrown with weeds.
Calves will graze there,
    chewing on twigs and branches.
¹¹ The people are like the dead branches of a tree,
    broken off and used for kindling beneath the cooking pots.
Israel is a foolish and stupid nation,
    for its people have turned away from God.
Therefore, the one who made them
    will show them no pity or mercy.

⁵ Then at last the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    will himself be Israel’s glorious crown.
He will be the pride and joy
    of the remnant of his people.
⁶ He will give a longing for justice
    to their judges.
He will give great courage
    to their warriors who stand at the gates.

⁷ Now, however, Israel is led by drunks
    who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol.
The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol
    and lose themselves in wine.
They reel when they see visions
    and stagger as they render decisions.
⁸ Their tables are covered with vomit;
    filth is everywhere.
⁹ “Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask.
    “Why does he speak to us like this?
Are we little children,
    just recently weaned?
¹⁰ He tells us everything over and over—
one line at a time,
    one line at a time,
a little here,
    and a little there!”

¹¹ So now God will have to speak to his people
    through foreign oppressors who speak a strange language!
¹² God has told his people,
“Here is a place of rest;
    let the weary rest here.
This is a place of quiet rest.”
    But they would not listen.
¹³ So the Lord will spell out his message for them again,
one line at a time,
    one line at a time,
a little here,
    and a little there,
so that they will stumble and fall.
    They will be injured, trapped, and captured.

¹⁴ Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord,
    you scoffing rulers in Jerusalem.
¹⁵ You boast, “We have struck a bargain to cheat death
    and have made a deal to dodge the grave.^[f]
The coming destruction can never touch us,
    for we have built a strong refuge made of lies and deception.”

¹⁶ Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem,^[g]
    a firm and tested stone.
It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on.
    Whoever believes need never be shaken.^[h]
17 I will test you with the measuring line of justice
    and the plumb line of righteousness.
Since your refuge is made of lies,
    a hailstorm will knock it down.
Since it is made of deception,
    a flood will sweep it away.
¹⁸ I will cancel the bargain you made to cheat death,
    and I will overturn your deal to dodge the grave.
When the terrible enemy sweeps through,
    you will be trampled into the ground.
¹⁹ Again and again that flood will come,
    morning after morning,
day and night,
    until you are carried away.”

This message will bring terror to your people.
²⁰ The bed you have made is too short to lie on.
    The blankets are too narrow to cover you.
²¹ The Lord will come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perazim
    and against the Amorites at Gibeon.
He will come to do a strange thing;
    he will come to do an unusual deed:
²² For the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    has plainly said that he is determined to crush the whole land.
So scoff no more,
    or your punishment will be even greater.

²³ Listen to me;
    listen, and pay close attention.
²⁴ Does a farmer always plow and never sow?
    Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting?
²⁵ Does he not finally plant his seeds—
    black cumin, cumin, wheat, barley, and emmer wheat—
each in its proper way,
    and each in its proper place?
²⁶ The farmer knows just what to do,
    for God has given him understanding.
²⁷ A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin;
    rather, it is beaten with a light stick.
A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin;
    instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail.
²⁸ Grain for bread is easily crushed,
    so he doesn’t keep on pounding it.
He threshes it under the wheels of a cart,
    but he doesn’t pulverize it.
²⁹ The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher,
    and he gives the farmer great wisdom.

⁵ “But suddenly, your ruthless enemies will be crushed
    like the finest of dust.
Your many attackers will be driven away
    like chaff before the wind.
Suddenly, in an instant,
⁶     I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will act for you
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
    with whirlwind and storm and consuming fire.
⁷ All the nations fighting against Jerusalem^[j]
    will vanish like a dream!
Those who are attacking her walls
    will vanish like a vision in the night.
⁸ A hungry person dreams of eating
    but wakes up still hungry.
A thirsty person dreams of drinking
    but is still faint from thirst when morning comes.
So it will be with your enemies,
    with those who attack Mount Zion.”

⁹ Are you amazed and incredulous?
    Don’t you believe it?
Then go ahead and be blind.
    You are stupid, but not from wine!
    You stagger, but not from liquor!
¹⁰ For the Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep.
    He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries.

¹³ And so the Lord says,
    “These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
    is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.^[k]
14 Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites
    with amazing wonders.
The wisdom of the wise will pass away,
    and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.”

¹⁵ What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord,
    who do their evil deeds in the dark!
“The Lord can’t see us,” they say.
    “He doesn’t know what’s going on!”
¹⁶ How foolish can you be?
    He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay!
Should the created thing say of the one who made it,
    “He didn’t make me”?
Does a jar ever say,
    “The potter who made me is stupid”?

¹⁷ Soon—and it will not be very long—
    the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field,
    and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
¹⁸ In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book,
    and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness.
¹⁹ The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord.
    The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
²⁰ The scoffer will be gone,
    the arrogant will disappear,
    and those who plot evil will be killed.
²¹ Those who convict the innocent
    by their false testimony will disappear.
A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice
    and who tell lies to destroy the innocent.

“My people will no longer be ashamed
    or turn pale with fear.
²³ For when they see their many children
    and all the blessings I have given them,
they will recognize the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob.
    They will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
²⁴ Then the wayward will gain understanding,
    and complainers will accept instruction.

The caravan moves slowly
    across the terrible desert to Egypt—
donkeys weighed down with riches
    and camels loaded with treasure—
    all to pay for Egypt’s protection.
They travel through the wilderness,
    a place of lionesses and lions,
    a place where vipers and poisonous snakes live.
All this, and Egypt will give you nothing in return.
⁷     Egypt’s promises are worthless!
Therefore, I call her Rahab—
    the Harmless Dragon.^[m]

“Because you despise what I tell you
    and trust instead in oppression and lies,
¹³ calamity will come upon you suddenly—
    like a bulging wall that bursts and falls.
In an instant it will collapse
    and come crashing down.
¹⁴ You will be smashed like a piece of pottery—
    shattered so completely that
there won’t be a piece big enough
    to carry coals from a fireplace
    or a little water from the well.”

¹⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord,
    the Holy One of Israel, says:
“Only in returning to me
    and resting in me will you be saved.
In quietness and confidence is your strength.
    But you would have none of it.
¹⁶ You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt.
    They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’
But the only swiftness you are going to see
    is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!
¹⁷ One of them will chase a thousand of you.
    Five of them will make all of you flee.
You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill
    or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.”

¹⁹ O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem,
    you will weep no more.
He will be gracious if you ask for help.
    He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.
²⁰ Though the Lord gave you adversity for food
    and suffering for drink,
he will still be with you to teach you.
    You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
²¹ Your own ears will hear him.
    Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
    whether to the right or to the left.
²² Then you will destroy all your silver idols
    and your precious gold images.
You will throw them out like filthy rags,
    saying to them, “Good riddance!”

²⁷ Look! The Lord is coming from far away,
    burning with anger,
    surrounded by thick, rising smoke.
His lips are filled with fury;
    his words consume like fire.
²⁸ His hot breath pours out like a flood
    up to the neck of his enemies.
He will sift out the proud nations for destruction.
    He will bridle them and lead them away to ruin.

²⁹ But the people of God will sing a song of joy,
    like the songs at the holy festivals.
You will be filled with joy,
    as when a flutist leads a group of pilgrims
to Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord—
    to the Rock of Israel.
³⁰ And the Lord will make his majestic voice heard.
    He will display the strength of his mighty arm.
It will descend with devouring flames,
    with cloudbursts, thunderstorms, and huge hailstones.
³¹ At the Lord’s command, the Assyrians will be shattered.
    He will strike them down with his royal scepter.
³² And as the Lord strikes them with his rod of punishment,^[n]
    his people will celebrate with tambourines and harps.
    Lifting his mighty arm, he will fight the Assyrians.
³³ Topheth—the place of burning—
    has long been ready for the Assyrian king;
    the pyre is piled high with wood.
The breath of the Lord, like fire from a volcano,
    will set it ablaze.

“When a strong young lion
    stands growling over a sheep it has killed,
it is not frightened by the shouts and noise
    of a whole crowd of shepherds.
In the same way, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    will come down and fight on Mount Zion.
⁵ The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will hover over Jerusalem
    and protect it like a bird protecting its nest.
He will defend and save the city;
    he will pass over it and rescue it.”

⁸ “The Assyrians will be destroyed,
    but not by the swords of men.
The sword of God will strike them,
    and they will panic and flee.
The strong young Assyrians
    will be taken away as captives.
⁹ Even the strongest will quake with terror,
    and princes will flee when they see your battle flags,”
says the Lord, whose fire burns in Zion,
    whose flame blazes from Jerusalem.

³ Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth,
    and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it.
⁴ Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding.
    Those who stammer will speak out plainly.
⁵ In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes.
    Scoundrels will not be respected.
⁶ For fools speak foolishness
    and make evil plans.
They practice ungodliness
    and spread false teachings about the Lord.
They deprive the hungry of food
    and give no water to the thirsty.
⁷ The smooth tricks of scoundrels are evil.
    They plot crooked schemes.
They lie to convict the poor,
    even when the cause of the poor is just.
⁸ But generous people plan to do what is generous,
    and they stand firm in their generosity.

⁹ Listen, you women who lie around in ease.
    Listen to me, you who are so smug.
¹⁰ In a short time—just a little more than a year—
    you careless ones will suddenly begin to care.
For your fruit crops will fail,
    and the harvest will never take place.
¹¹ Tremble, you women of ease;
    throw off your complacency.
Strip off your pretty clothes,
    and put on burlap to show your grief.
¹² Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms
    and your fruitful grapevines.
¹³ For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers.
    Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.
¹⁴ The palace and the city will be deserted,
    and busy towns will be empty.
Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze
    in the empty forts^[o] and watchtowers
¹⁵ until at last the Spirit is poured out
    on us from heaven.
Then the wilderness will become a fertile field,
    and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.

¹⁶ Justice will rule in the wilderness
    and righteousness in the fertile field.
¹⁷ And this righteousness will bring peace.
    Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
¹⁸ My people will live in safety, quietly at home.
    They will be at rest.
¹⁹ Even if the forest should be destroyed
    and the city torn down,
²⁰ the Lord will greatly bless his people.
    Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up.
    Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.

⁵ Though the Lord is very great and lives in heaven,
    he will make Jerusalem^[q] his home of justice and righteousness.
⁶ In that day he will be your sure foundation,
    providing a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
    The fear of the Lord will be your treasure.

⁷ But now your brave warriors weep in public.
    Your ambassadors of peace cry in bitter disappointment.
⁸ Your roads are deserted;
    no one travels them anymore.
The Assyrians have broken their peace treaty
    and care nothing for the promises they made before witnesses.^[r]
    They have no respect for anyone.
⁹ The land of Israel wilts in mourning.
    Lebanon withers with shame.
The plain of Sharon is now a wilderness.
    Bashan and Carmel have been plundered.

¹⁰ But the Lord says: “Now I will stand up.
    Now I will show my power and might.
¹¹ You Assyrians produce nothing but dry grass and stubble.
    Your own breath will turn to fire and consume you.
¹² Your people will be burned up completely,
    like thornbushes cut down and tossed in a fire.
¹³ Listen to what I have done, you nations far away!
    And you that are near, acknowledge my might!”

¹⁴ The sinners in Jerusalem shake with fear.
    Terror seizes the godless.
“Who can live with this devouring fire?” they cry.
    “Who can survive this all-consuming fire?”
¹⁵ Those who are honest and fair,
    who refuse to profit by fraud,
    who stay far away from bribes,
who refuse to listen to those who plot murder,
    who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong—
¹⁶ these are the ones who will dwell on high.
    The rocks of the mountains will be their fortress.
Food will be supplied to them,
    and they will have water in abundance.

¹⁷ Your eyes will see the king in all his splendor,
    and you will see a land that stretches into the distance.
¹⁸ You will think back to this time of terror, asking,
“Where are the Assyrian officers
    who counted our towers?
Where are the bookkeepers
    who recorded the plunder taken from our fallen city?”
¹⁹ You will no longer see these fierce, violent people
    with their strange, unknown language.

²⁰ Instead, you will see Zion as a place of holy festivals.
    You will see Jerusalem, a city quiet and secure.
It will be like a tent whose ropes are taut
    and whose stakes are firmly fixed.
²¹ The Lord will be our Mighty One.
    He will be like a wide river of protection
that no enemy can cross,
    that no enemy ship can sail upon.
²² For the Lord is our judge,
    our lawgiver, and our king.
    He will care for us and save us.
²³ The enemies’ sails hang loose
    on broken masts with useless tackle.
Their treasure will be divided by the people of God.
    Even the lame will take their share!
²⁴ The people of Israel will no longer say,
    “We are sick and helpless,”
    for the Lord will forgive their sins.

⁵ And when my sword has finished its work in the heavens,
    it will fall upon Edom,
    the nation I have marked for destruction.
⁶ The sword of the Lord is drenched with blood
    and covered with fat—
with the blood of lambs and goats,
    with the fat of rams prepared for sacrifice.
Yes, the Lord will offer a sacrifice in the city of Bozrah.
    He will make a mighty slaughter in Edom.
⁷ Even men as strong as wild oxen will die—
    the young men alongside the veterans.
The land will be soaked with blood
    and the soil enriched with fat.

⁸ For it is the day of the Lord’s revenge,
    the year when Edom will be paid back for all it did to Israel.^[t]
9 The streams of Edom will be filled with burning pitch,
    and the ground will be covered with fire.
¹⁰ This judgment on Edom will never end;
    the smoke of its burning will rise forever.
The land will lie deserted from generation to generation.
    No one will live there anymore.
¹¹ It will be haunted by the desert owl and the screech owl,
    the great owl and the raven.^[u]
For God will measure that land carefully;
    he will measure it for chaos and destruction.
¹² It will be called the Land of Nothing,
    and all its nobles will soon be gone.^[v]
13 Thorns will overrun its palaces;
    nettles and thistles will grow in its forts.
The ruins will become a haunt for jackals
    and a home for owls.
¹⁴ Desert animals will mingle there with hyenas,
    their howls filling the night.
Wild goats will bleat at one another among the ruins,
    and night creatures^[w] will come there to rest.
¹⁵ There the owl will make her nest and lay her eggs.
    She will hatch her young and cover them with her wings.
And the buzzards will come,
    each one with its mate.

¹⁶ Search the book of the Lord,
    and see what he will do.
Not one of these birds and animals will be missing,
    and none will lack a mate,
for the Lord has promised this.
    His Spirit will make it all come true.
¹⁷ He has surveyed and divided the land
    and deeded it over to those creatures.
They will possess it forever,
    from generation to generation.

⁵ And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind
    and unplug the ears of the deaf.
⁶ The lame will leap like a deer,
    and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,
    and streams will water the wasteland.
⁷ The parched ground will become a pool,
    and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.
Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish
    where desert jackals once lived.

⁸ And a great road will go through that once deserted land.
    It will be named the Highway of Holiness.
Evil-minded people will never travel on it.
    It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways;
    fools will never walk there.
⁹ Lions will not lurk along its course,
    nor any other ferocious beasts.
There will be no other dangers.
    Only the redeemed will walk on it.
¹⁰ Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.
    They will enter Jerusalem^[x] singing,
    crowned with everlasting joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
    and they will be filled with joy and gladness.

“The virgin daughter of Zion
    despises you and laughs at you.
The daughter of Jerusalem
    shakes her head in derision as you flee.

²³ “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?
    Against whom did you raise your voice?
At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?
    It was the Holy One of Israel!
²⁴ By your messengers you have defied the Lord.
    You have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have conquered the highest mountains—
    yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars
    and its finest cypress trees.
I have reached its farthest heights
    and explored its deepest forests.
²⁵ I have dug wells in many foreign lands^[ah]
    and refreshed myself with their water.
With the sole of my foot,
    I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’

²⁶ “But have you not heard?
    I decided this long ago.
Long ago I planned it,
    and now I am making it happen.
I planned for you to crush fortified cities
    into heaps of rubble.
²⁷ That is why their people have so little power
    and are so frightened and confused.
They are as weak as grass,
    as easily trampled as tender green shoots.
They are like grass sprouting on a housetop,
    scorched^[ai] before it can grow lush and tall.

²⁸ “But I know you well—
    where you stay
and when you come and go.
    I know the way you have raged against me.
²⁹ And because of your raging against me
    and your arrogance, which I have heard for myself,
I will put my hook in your nose
    and my bit in your mouth.
I will make you return
    by the same road on which you came.”

“This year you will eat only what grows up by itself,
    and next year you will eat what springs up from that.
But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them;
    you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.
³¹ And you who are left in Judah,
    who have escaped the ravages of the siege,
will put roots down in your own soil
    and grow up and flourish.
³² For a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem,
    a group of survivors from Mount Zion.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
    will make this happen!

“‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem.
    They will not even shoot an arrow at it.
They will not march outside its gates with their shields
    nor build banks of earth against its walls.
³⁴ The king will return to his own country
    by the same road on which he came.
He will not enter this city,’
    says the Lord.
³⁵ ‘For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David,
    I will defend this city and protect it.’”

¹⁰ I said, “In the prime of my life,
    must I now enter the place of the dead?^[al]
    Am I to be robbed of the rest of my years?”
¹¹ I said, “Never again will I see the Lord God
    while still in the land of the living.
Never again will I see my friends
    or be with those who live in this world.
¹² My life has been blown away
    like a shepherd’s tent in a storm.
It has been cut short,
    as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom.
    Suddenly, my life was over.
¹³ I waited patiently all night,
    but I was torn apart as though by lions.
    Suddenly, my life was over.
¹⁴ Delirious, I chattered like a swallow or a crane,
    and then I moaned like a mourning dove.
My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for help.
    I am in trouble, Lord. Help me!”

¹⁵ But what could I say?
    For he himself sent this sickness.
Now I will walk humbly throughout my years
    because of this anguish I have felt.
¹⁶ Lord, your discipline is good,
    for it leads to life and health.
You restore my health
    and allow me to live!
¹⁷ Yes, this anguish was good for me,
    for you have rescued me from death
    and forgiven all my sins.
¹⁸ For the dead^[am] cannot praise you;
    they cannot raise their voices in praise.
Those who go down to the grave
    can no longer hope in your faithfulness.
¹⁹ Only the living can praise you as I do today.
    Each generation tells of your faithfulness to the next.
²⁰ Think of it—the Lord is ready to heal me!
    I will sing his praises with instruments
every day of my life
    in the Temple of the Lord.

³ Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,
“Clear the way through the wilderness
    for the Lord!
Make a straight highway through the wasteland
    for our God!
⁴ Fill in the valleys,
    and level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves,
    and smooth out the rough places.
⁵ Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
    and all people will see it together.
    The Lord has spoken!”^[an]

⁶ A voice said, “Shout!”
    I asked, “What should I shout?”

“Shout that people are like the grass.
    Their beauty fades as quickly
    as the flowers in a field.
⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fade
    beneath the breath of the Lord.
    And so it is with people.
⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fade,
    but the word of our God stands forever.”

⁹ O Zion, messenger of good news,
    shout from the mountaintops!
Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.^[ao]
    Shout, and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah,
    “Your God is coming!”
¹⁰ Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power.
    He will rule with a powerful arm.
    See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.
¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd.
    He will carry the lambs in his arms,
holding them close to his heart.
    He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

¹⁵ No, for all the nations of the world
    are but a drop in the bucket.
They are nothing more
    than dust on the scales.
He picks up the whole earth
    as though it were a grain of sand.
¹⁶ All the wood in Lebanon’s forests
    and all Lebanon’s animals would not be enough
    to make a burnt offering worthy of our God.
¹⁷ The nations of the world are worth nothing to him.
    In his eyes they count for less than nothing—
    mere emptiness and froth.

¹⁸ To whom can you compare God?
    What image can you find to resemble him?
¹⁹ Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold,
    overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?
²⁰ Or if people are too poor for that,
    they might at least choose wood that won’t decay
and a skilled craftsman
    to carve an image that won’t fall down!

²¹ Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand?
    Are you deaf to the words of God—
the words he gave before the world began?
    Are you so ignorant?
²² God sits above the circle of the earth.
    The people below seem like grasshoppers to him!
He spreads out the heavens like a curtain
    and makes his tent from them.
²³ He judges the great people of the world
    and brings them all to nothing.
²⁴ They hardly get started, barely taking root,
    when he blows on them and they wither.
    The wind carries them off like chaff.

²⁵ “To whom will you compare me?
    Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

²⁶ Look up into the heavens.
    Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another,
    calling each by its name.
Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
    not a single one is missing.
²⁷ O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
    O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
²⁸ Have you never heard?
    Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
    No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
²⁹ He gives power to the weak
    and strength to the powerless.
³⁰ Even youths will become weak and tired,
    and young men will fall in exhaustion.
³¹ But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.

² “Who has stirred up this king from the east,
    rightly calling him to God’s service?
Who gives this man victory over many nations
    and permits him to trample their kings underfoot?
With his sword, he reduces armies to dust.
    With his bow, he scatters them like chaff before the wind.
³ He chases them away and goes on safely,
    though he is walking over unfamiliar ground.
⁴ Who has done such mighty deeds,
    summoning each new generation from the beginning of time?
It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last.
    I alone am he.”

⁵ The lands beyond the sea watch in fear.
    Remote lands tremble and mobilize for war.
⁶ The idol makers encourage one another,
    saying to each other, “Be strong!”
⁷ The carver encourages the goldsmith,
    and the molder helps at the anvil.
    “Good,” they say. “It’s coming along fine.”
Carefully they join the parts together,
    then fasten the thing in place so it won’t fall over.

⁸ “But as for you, Israel my servant,
    Jacob my chosen one,
    descended from Abraham my friend,
⁹ I have called you back from the ends of the earth,
    saying, ‘You are my servant.’
For I have chosen you
    and will not throw you away.
¹⁰ Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
    Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
    I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

¹¹ “See, all your angry enemies lie there,
    confused and humiliated.
Anyone who opposes you will die
    and come to nothing.
¹² You will look in vain
    for those who tried to conquer you.
Those who attack you
    will come to nothing.
¹³ For I hold you by your right hand—
    I, the Lord your God.
And I say to you,
    ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.
¹⁴ Though you are a lowly worm, O Jacob,
    don’t be afraid, people of Israel, for I will help you.
I am the Lord, your Redeemer.
    I am the Holy One of Israel.’
¹⁵ You will be a new threshing instrument
    with many sharp teeth.
You will tear your enemies apart,
    making chaff of mountains.
¹⁶ You will toss them into the air,
    and the wind will blow them all away;
    a whirlwind will scatter them.
Then you will rejoice in the Lord.
    You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷ “When the poor and needy search for water and there is none,
    and their tongues are parched from thirst,
then I, the Lord, will answer them.
    I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them.
¹⁸ I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus.
    I will give them fountains of water in the valleys.
I will fill the desert with pools of water.
    Rivers fed by springs will flow across the parched ground.
¹⁹ I will plant trees in the barren desert—
    cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine.
²⁰ I am doing this so all who see this miracle
    will understand what it means—
that it is the Lord who has done this,
    the Holy One of Israel who created it.

²¹ “Present the case for your idols,”
    says the Lord.
“Let them show what they can do,”
    says the King of Israel.^[aq]
22 “Let them try to tell us what happened long ago
    so that we may consider the evidence.
Or let them tell us what the future holds,
    so we can know what’s going to happen.
²³ Yes, tell us what will occur in the days ahead.
    Then we will know you are gods.
In fact, do anything—good or bad!
    Do something that will amaze and frighten us.
²⁴ But no! You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all.
    Those who choose you pollute themselves.

²⁵ “But I have stirred up a leader who will approach from the north.
    From the east he will call on my name.
I will give him victory over kings and princes.
    He will trample them as a potter treads on clay.

²⁶ “Who told you from the beginning
    that this would happen?
Who predicted this,
    making you admit that he was right?
    No one said a word!
²⁷ I was the first to tell Zion,
    ‘Look! Help is on the way!’^[ar]
    I will send Jerusalem a messenger with good news.
²⁸ Not one of your idols told you this.
    Not one gave any answer when I asked.
²⁹ See, they are all foolish, worthless things.
    All your idols are as empty as the wind.

⁵ God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out.
    He created the earth and everything in it.
He gives breath to everyone,
    life to everyone who walks the earth.
And it is he who says,
⁶ “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness.
    I will take you by the hand and guard you,
and I will give you to my people, Israel,
    as a symbol of my covenant with them.
And you will be a light to guide the nations.
⁷     You will open the eyes of the blind.
You will free the captives from prison,
    releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.

⁸ “I am the Lord; that is my name!
    I will not give my glory to anyone else,
    nor share my praise with carved idols.
⁹ Everything I prophesied has come true,
    and now I will prophesy again.
I will tell you the future before it happens.”

¹⁴ He will say, “I have long been silent;
    yes, I have restrained myself.
But now, like a woman in labor,
    I will cry and groan and pant.
¹⁵ I will level the mountains and hills
    and blight all their greenery.
I will turn the rivers into dry land
    and will dry up all the pools.
¹⁶ I will lead blind Israel down a new path,
    guiding them along an unfamiliar way.
I will brighten the darkness before them
    and smooth out the road ahead of them.
Yes, I will indeed do these things;
    I will not forsake them.
¹⁷ But those who trust in idols,
    who say, ‘You are our gods,’
    will be turned away in shame.

²¹ Because he is righteous,
    the Lord has exalted his glorious law.
²² But his own people have been robbed and plundered,
    enslaved, imprisoned, and trapped.
They are fair game for anyone
    and have no one to protect them,
    no one to take them back home.

²³ Who will hear these lessons from the past
    and see the ruin that awaits you in the future?
²⁴ Who allowed Israel to be robbed and hurt?
    It was the Lord, against whom we sinned,
for the people would not walk in his path,
    nor would they obey his law.
²⁵ Therefore, he poured out his fury on them
    and destroyed them in battle.
They were enveloped in flames,
    but they still refused to understand.
They were consumed by fire,
    but they did not learn their lesson.

⁵ “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
    I will gather you and your children from east and west.
⁶ I will say to the north and south,
    ‘Bring my sons and daughters back to Israel
    from the distant corners of the earth.
⁷ Bring all who claim me as their God,
    for I have made them for my glory.
    It was I who created them.’”

⁸ Bring out the people who have eyes but are blind,
    who have ears but are deaf.
⁹ Gather the nations together!
    Assemble the peoples of the world!
Which of their idols has ever foretold such things?
    Which can predict what will happen tomorrow?
Where are the witnesses of such predictions?
    Who can verify that they spoke the truth?

¹⁰ “But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord.
    “You are my servant.
You have been chosen to know me, believe in me,
    and understand that I alone am God.
There is no other God—
    there never has been, and there never will be.
¹¹ I, yes I, am the Lord,
    and there is no other Savior.
¹² First I predicted your rescue,
    then I saved you and proclaimed it to the world.
No foreign god has ever done this.
    You are witnesses that I am the only God,”
    says the Lord.
¹³ “From eternity to eternity I am God.
    No one can snatch anyone out of my hand.
    No one can undo what I have done.”

“For your sakes I will send an army against Babylon,
    forcing the Babylonians^[au] to flee in those ships they are so proud of.
¹⁵ I am the Lord, your Holy One,
    Israel’s Creator and King.
¹⁶ I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters,
    making a dry path through the sea.
¹⁷ I called forth the mighty army of Egypt
    with all its chariots and horses.
I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned,
    their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick.

¹⁸ “But forget all that—
    it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.
¹⁹ For I am about to do something new.
    See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
    I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
²⁰ The wild animals in the fields will thank me,
    the jackals and owls, too,
    for giving them water in the desert.
Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland
    so my chosen people can be refreshed.
²¹ I have made Israel for myself,
    and they will someday honor me before the whole world.

²² “But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask for my help.
    You have grown tired of me, O Israel!
²³ You have not brought me sheep or goats for burnt offerings.
    You have not honored me with sacrifices,
though I have not burdened and wearied you
    with requests for grain offerings and frankincense.
²⁴ You have not brought me fragrant calamus
    or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices.
Instead, you have burdened me with your sins
    and wearied me with your faults.

²⁵ “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake
    and will never think of them again.
²⁶ Let us review the situation together,
    and you can present your case to prove your innocence.
²⁷ From the very beginning, your first ancestor sinned against me;
    all your leaders broke my laws.
²⁸ That is why I have disgraced your priests;
    I have decreed complete destruction^[av] for Jacob
    and shame for Israel.

44 “But now, listen to me, Jacob my servant,
    Israel my chosen one.
² The Lord who made you and helps you says:
Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant,
    O dear Israel,^[aw] my chosen one.
³ For I will pour out water to quench your thirst
    and to irrigate your parched fields.
And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants,
    and my blessing on your children.
⁴ They will thrive like watered grass,
    like willows on a riverbank.
⁵ Some will proudly claim, ‘I belong to the Lord.’
    Others will say, ‘I am a descendant of Jacob.’
Some will write the Lord’s name on their hands
    and will take the name of Israel as their own.”

“I am the First and the Last;
    there is no other God.
⁷ Who is like me?
    Let him step forward and prove to you his power.
Let him do as I have done since ancient times
    when I established a people and explained its future.
⁸ Do not tremble; do not be afraid.
    Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago?
You are my witnesses—is there any other God?
    No! There is no other Rock—not one!”

⁹ How foolish are those who manufacture idols.
    These prized objects are really worthless.
The people who worship idols don’t know this,
    so they are all put to shame.
¹⁰ Who but a fool would make his own god—
    an idol that cannot help him one bit?
¹¹ All who worship idols will be disgraced
    along with all these craftsmen—mere humans—
    who claim they can make a god.
They may all stand together,
    but they will stand in terror and shame.

¹² The blacksmith stands at his forge to make a sharp tool,
    pounding and shaping it with all his might.
His work makes him hungry and weak.
    It makes him thirsty and faint.
¹³ Then the wood-carver measures a block of wood
    and draws a pattern on it.
He works with chisel and plane
    and carves it into a human figure.
He gives it human beauty
    and puts it in a little shrine.
¹⁴ He cuts down cedars;
    he selects the cypress and the oak;
he plants the pine in the forest
    to be nourished by the rain.
¹⁵ Then he uses part of the wood to make a fire.
    With it he warms himself and bakes his bread.
Then—yes, it’s true—he takes the rest of it
    and makes himself a god to worship!
He makes an idol
    and bows down in front of it!
¹⁶ He burns part of the tree to roast his meat
    and to keep himself warm.
    He says, “Ah, that fire feels good.”
¹⁷ Then he takes what’s left
    and makes his god: a carved idol!
He falls down in front of it,
    worshiping and praying to it.
“Rescue me!” he says.
    “You are my god!”

¹⁸ Such stupidity and ignorance!
    Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see.
    Their minds are shut, and they cannot think.
¹⁹ The person who made the idol never stops to reflect,
    “Why, it’s just a block of wood!
I burned half of it for heat
    and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat.
How can the rest of it be a god?
    Should I bow down to worship a piece of wood?”
²⁰ The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes.
    He trusts something that can’t help him at all.
Yet he cannot bring himself to ask,
    “Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?”

²³ Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done this wondrous thing.
    Shout for joy, O depths of the earth!
Break into song,
    O mountains and forests and every tree!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob
    and is glorified in Israel.

²⁴ This is what the Lord says—
    your Redeemer and Creator:
“I am the Lord, who made all things.
    I alone stretched out the heavens.
Who was with me
    when I made the earth?
²⁵ I expose the false prophets as liars
    and make fools of fortune-tellers.
I cause the wise to give bad advice,
    thus proving them to be fools.
²⁶ But I carry out the predictions of my prophets!
    By them I say to Jerusalem, ‘People will live here again,’
and to the towns of Judah, ‘You will be rebuilt;
    I will restore all your ruins!’
²⁷ When I speak to the rivers and say, ‘Dry up!’
    they will be dry.
²⁸ When I say of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,’
    he will certainly do as I say.
He will command, ‘Rebuild Jerusalem’;
    he will say, ‘Restore the Temple.’”

“I will go before you, Cyrus,
    and level the mountains.^[ax]
I will smash down gates of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.
³ And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—
    secret riches.
I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.

⁴ “And why have I called you for this work?
    Why did I call you by name when you did not know me?
It is for the sake of Jacob my servant,
    Israel my chosen one.
⁵ I am the Lord;
    there is no other God.
I have equipped you for battle,
    though you don’t even know me,
⁶ so all the world from east to west
    will know there is no other God.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
⁷     I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
    I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.

⁸ “Open up, O heavens,
    and pour out your righteousness.
Let the earth open wide
    so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together.
    I, the Lord, created them.

⁹ “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator.
    Does a clay pot argue with its maker?
Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying,
    ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’
Does the pot exclaim,
    ‘How clumsy can you be?’
¹⁰ How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father,
    ‘Why was I born?’
or if it said to its mother,
    ‘Why did you make me this way?’”

¹¹ This is what the Lord says—
    the Holy One of Israel and your Creator:
“Do you question what I do for my children?
    Do you give me orders about the work of my hands?
¹² I am the one who made the earth
    and created people to live on it.
With my hands I stretched out the heavens.
    All the stars are at my command.
¹³ I will raise up Cyrus to fulfill my righteous purpose,
    and I will guide his actions.
He will restore my city and free my captive people—
    without seeking a reward!
    I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”

“You will rule the Egyptians,
    the Ethiopians,^[ay] and the Sabeans.
They will come to you with all their merchandise,
    and it will all be yours.
They will follow you as prisoners in chains.
    They will fall to their knees in front of you and say,
‘God is with you, and he is the only God.
    There is no other.’”

¹⁵ Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior,
    you work in mysterious ways.
¹⁶ All craftsmen who make idols will be humiliated.
    They will all be disgraced together.
¹⁷ But the Lord will save the people of Israel
    with eternal salvation.
Throughout everlasting ages,
    they will never again be humiliated and disgraced.

¹⁸ For the Lord is God,
    and he created the heavens and earth
    and put everything in place.
He made the world to be lived in,
    not to be a place of empty chaos.
“I am the Lord,” he says,
    “and there is no other.
¹⁹ I publicly proclaim bold promises.
    I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.
I would not have told the people of Israel^[az] to seek me
    if I could not be found.
I, the Lord, speak only what is true
    and declare only what is right.

²⁰ “Gather together and come,
    you fugitives from surrounding nations.
What fools they are who carry around their wooden idols
    and pray to gods that cannot save!
²¹ Consult together, argue your case.
    Get together and decide what to say.
Who made these things known so long ago?
    What idol ever told you they would happen?
Was it not I, the Lord?
    For there is no other God but me,
a righteous God and Savior.
    There is none but me.
²² Let all the world look to me for salvation!
    For I am God; there is no other.
²³ I have sworn by my own name;
    I have spoken the truth,
    and I will never go back on my word:
Every knee will bend to me,
    and every tongue will declare allegiance to me.^[ba]”
²⁴ The people will declare,
    “The Lord is the source of all my righteousness and strength.”
And all who were angry with him
    will come to him and be ashamed.
²⁵ In the Lord all the generations of Israel will be justified,
    and in him they will boast.

³ “Listen to me, descendants of Jacob,
    all you who remain in Israel.
I have cared for you since you were born.
    Yes, I carried you before you were born.
⁴ I will be your God throughout your lifetime—
    until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.
    I will carry you along and save you.

⁵ “To whom will you compare me?
    Who is my equal?
⁶ Some people pour out their silver and gold
    and hire a craftsman to make a god from it.
    Then they bow down and worship it!
⁷ They carry it around on their shoulders,
    and when they set it down, it stays there.
    It can’t even move!
And when someone prays to it, there is no answer.
    It can’t rescue anyone from trouble.

⁸ “Do not forget this! Keep it in mind!
    Remember this, you guilty ones.
⁹ Remember the things I have done in the past.
    For I alone am God!
    I am God, and there is none like me.
¹⁰ Only I can tell you the future
    before it even happens.
Everything I plan will come to pass,
    for I do whatever I wish.
¹¹ I will call a swift bird of prey from the east—
    a leader from a distant land to come and do my bidding.
I have said what I would do,
    and I will do it.

¹² “Listen to me, you stubborn people
    who are so far from doing right.
¹³ For I am ready to set things right,
    not in the distant future, but right now!
I am ready to save Jerusalem^[bb]
    and show my glory to Israel.

⁴ Our Redeemer, whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    is the Holy One of Israel.

⁵ “O beautiful Babylon, sit now in darkness and silence.
    Never again will you be known as the queen of kingdoms.
⁶ For I was angry with my chosen people
    and punished them by letting them fall into your hands.
But you, Babylon, showed them no mercy.
    You oppressed even the elderly.
⁷ You said, ‘I will reign forever as queen of the world!’
    You did not reflect on your actions
    or think about their consequences.

⁸ “Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom,
    living at ease and feeling secure.
You say, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.
    I will never be a widow or lose my children.’
⁹ Well, both these things will come upon you in a moment:
    widowhood and the loss of your children.
Yes, these calamities will come upon you,
    despite all your witchcraft and magic.

¹⁰ “You felt secure in your wickedness.
    ‘No one sees me,’ you said.
But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray,
    and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’
¹¹ So disaster will overtake you,
    and you won’t be able to charm it away.
Calamity will fall upon you,
    and you won’t be able to buy your way out.
A catastrophe will strike you suddenly,
    one for which you are not prepared.

¹² “Now use your magical charms!
    Use the spells you have worked at all these years!
Maybe they will do you some good.
    Maybe they can make someone afraid of you.
¹³ All the advice you receive has made you tired.
    Where are all your astrologers,
those stargazers who make predictions each month?
    Let them stand up and save you from what the future holds.
¹⁴ But they are like straw burning in a fire;
    they cannot save themselves from the flame.
You will get no help from them at all;
    their hearth is no place to sit for warmth.
¹⁵ And all your friends,
    those with whom you’ve done business since childhood,
will go their own ways,
    turning a deaf ear to your cries.

⁸ “Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new,
    things you never heard of before.
For I know so well what traitors you are.
    You have been rebels from birth.
⁹ Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name,
    I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out.
¹⁰ I have refined you, but not as silver is refined.
    Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.
¹¹ I will rescue you for my sake—
    yes, for my own sake!
I will not let my reputation be tarnished,
    and I will not share my glory with idols!

¹⁴ Have any of your idols ever told you this?
    Come, all of you, and listen:
The Lord has chosen Cyrus as his ally.
    He will use him to put an end to the empire of Babylon
    and to destroy the Babylonian^[be] armies.

¹⁵ “I have said it: I am calling Cyrus!
    I will send him on this errand and will help him succeed.
¹⁶ Come closer, and listen to this.
    From the beginning I have told you plainly what would happen.”

And now the Sovereign Lord and his Spirit
    have sent me with this message.
¹⁷ This is what the Lord says—
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
    who teaches you what is good for you
    and leads you along the paths you should follow.
¹⁸ Oh, that you had listened to my commands!
    Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river
    and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.
¹⁹ Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore—
    too many to count!
There would have been no need for your destruction,
    or for cutting off your family name.”

²⁰ Yet even now, be free from your captivity!
    Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.^[bf]
Sing out this message!
    Shout it to the ends of the earth!
The Lord has redeemed his servants,
    the people of Israel.^[bg]
21 They were not thirsty
    when he led them through the desert.
He divided the rock,
    and water gushed out for them to drink.
²² “But there is no peace for the wicked,”
    says the Lord.

³ He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,
    and you will bring me glory.”

⁴ I replied, “But my work seems so useless!
    I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.
Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;
    I will trust God for my reward.”

⁵ And now the Lord speaks—
    the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant,
    who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.
The Lord has honored me,
    and my God has given me strength.
⁶ He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.
    I will make you a light to the Gentiles,
    and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

⁷ The Lord, the Redeemer
    and Holy One of Israel,
says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations,
    to the one who is the servant of rulers:
“Kings will stand at attention when you pass by.
    Princes will also bow low
because of the Lord, the faithful one,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

“At just the right time, I will respond to you.^[bh]
    On the day of salvation I will help you.
I will protect you and give you to the people
    as my covenant with them.
Through you I will reestablish the land of Israel
    and assign it to its own people again.
⁹ I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’
    and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’
They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures
    and on hills that were previously bare.
¹⁰ They will neither hunger nor thirst.
    The searing sun will not reach them anymore.
For the Lord in his mercy will lead them;
    he will lead them beside cool waters.
¹¹ And I will make my mountains into level paths for them.
    The highways will be raised above the valleys.
¹² See, my people will return from far away,
    from lands to the north and west,
    and from as far south as Egypt.^[bi]”

¹³ Sing for joy, O heavens!
    Rejoice, O earth!
    Burst into song, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted his people
    and will have compassion on them in their suffering.

¹⁴ Yet Jerusalem^[bj] says, “The Lord has deserted us;
    the Lord has forgotten us.”

¹⁵ “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
    Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that were possible,
    I would not forget you!
¹⁶ See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.
    Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.
¹⁷ Soon your descendants will come back,
    and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.
¹⁸ Look around you and see,
    for all your children will come back to you.
As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
    “they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.

¹⁹ “Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land
    will soon be crowded with your people.
Your enemies who enslaved you
    will be far away.
²⁰ The generations born in exile will return and say,
    ‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’
²¹ Then you will think to yourself,
    ‘Who has given me all these descendants?
For most of my children were killed,
    and the rest were carried away into exile.
I was left here all alone.
    Where did all these people come from?
Who bore these children?
    Who raised them for me?’”

²² This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
    “See, I will give a signal to the godless nations.
They will carry your little sons back to you in their arms;
    they will bring your daughters on their shoulders.
²³ Kings and queens will serve you
    and care for all your needs.
They will bow to the earth before you
    and lick the dust from your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.
    Those who trust in me will never be put to shame.”

²⁴ Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior?
    Who can demand that a tyrant^[bk] let his captives go?
²⁵ But the Lord says,
“The captives of warriors will be released,
    and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved.
For I will fight those who fight you,
    and I will save your children.
²⁶ I will feed your enemies with their own flesh.
    They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood.
All the world will know that I, the Lord,
    am your Savior and your Redeemer,
    the Mighty One of Israel.^[bl]”

“Was your mother sent away because I divorced her?
    Did I sell you as slaves to my creditors?
No, you were sold because of your sins.
    And your mother, too, was taken because of your sins.
² Why was no one there when I came?
    Why didn’t anyone answer when I called?
Is it because I have no power to rescue?
    No, that is not the reason!
For I can speak to the sea and make it dry up!
    I can turn rivers into deserts covered with dying fish.
³ I dress the skies in darkness,
    covering them with clothes of mourning.”

⁷ Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,
    I will not be disgraced.
Therefore, I have set my face like a stone,
    determined to do his will.
    And I know that I will not be put to shame.
⁸ He who gives me justice is near.
    Who will dare to bring charges against me now?
Where are my accusers?
    Let them appear!
⁹ See, the Sovereign Lord is on my side!
    Who will declare me guilty?
All my enemies will be destroyed
    like old clothes that have been eaten by moths!

¹⁰ Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys his servant?
If you are walking in darkness,
    without a ray of light,
trust in the Lord
    and rely on your God.
¹¹ But watch out, you who live in your own light
    and warm yourselves by your own fires.
This is the reward you will receive from me:
    You will soon fall down in great torment.

³ The Lord will comfort Israel^[bm] again
    and have pity on her ruins.
Her desert will blossom like Eden,
    her barren wilderness like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found there.
    Songs of thanksgiving will fill the air.

⁴ “Listen to me, my people.
    Hear me, Israel,
for my law will be proclaimed,
    and my justice will become a light to the nations.
⁵ My mercy and justice are coming soon.
    My salvation is on the way.
    My strong arm will bring justice to the nations.
All distant lands will look to me
    and wait in hope for my powerful arm.
⁶ Look up to the skies above,
    and gaze down on the earth below.
For the skies will disappear like smoke,
    and the earth will wear out like a piece of clothing.
The people of the earth will die like flies,
    but my salvation lasts forever.
    My righteous rule will never end!

⁷ “Listen to me, you who know right from wrong,
    you who cherish my law in your hearts.
Do not be afraid of people’s scorn,
    nor fear their insults.
⁸ For the moth will devour them as it devours clothing.
    The worm will eat at them as it eats wool.
But my righteousness will last forever.
    My salvation will continue from generation to generation.”

⁹ Wake up, wake up, O Lord! Clothe yourself with strength!
    Flex your mighty right arm!
Rouse yourself as in the days of old
    when you slew Egypt, the dragon of the Nile.^[bn]
10 Are you not the same today,
    the one who dried up the sea,
making a path of escape through the depths
    so that your people could cross over?
¹¹ Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.
    They will enter Jerusalem^[bo] singing,
    crowned with everlasting joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
    and they will be filled with joy and gladness.

¹² “I, yes I, am the one who comforts you.
    So why are you afraid of mere humans,
    who wither like the grass and disappear?
¹³ Yet you have forgotten the Lord, your Creator,
    the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy
    and laid the foundations of the earth.
Will you remain in constant dread of human oppressors?
    Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies?
Where is their fury and anger now?
    It is gone!
¹⁴ Soon all you captives will be released!
    Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate!
¹⁵ For I am the Lord your God,
    who stirs up the sea, causing its waves to roar.
    My name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
¹⁶ And I have put my words in your mouth
    and hidden you safely in my hand.
I stretched out^[bp] the sky like a canopy
    and laid the foundations of the earth.
I am the one who says to Israel,
    ‘You are my people!’”

¹⁷ Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem!
    You have drunk the cup of the Lord’s fury.
You have drunk the cup of terror,
    tipping out its last drops.
¹⁸ Not one of your children is left alive
    to take your hand and guide you.
¹⁹ These two calamities have fallen on you:
    desolation and destruction, famine and war.
And who is left to sympathize with you?
    Who is left to comfort you?^[bq]
20 For your children have fainted and lie in the streets,
    helpless as antelopes caught in a net.
The Lord has poured out his fury;
    God has rebuked them.

²¹ But now listen to this, you afflicted ones
    who sit in a drunken stupor,
    though not from drinking wine.
²² This is what the Sovereign Lord,
    your God and Defender, says:
“See, I have taken the terrible cup from your hands.
    You will drink no more of my fury.
²³ Instead, I will hand that cup to your tormentors,
    those who said, ‘We will trample you into the dust
    and walk on your backs.’”

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains
    are the feet of the messenger who brings good news,
the good news of peace and salvation,
    the news that the God of Israel^[bt] reigns!
⁸ The watchmen shout and sing with joy,
    for before their very eyes
    they see the Lord returning to Jerusalem.^[bu]
9 Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into joyful song,
    for the Lord has comforted his people.
    He has redeemed Jerusalem.
¹⁰ The Lord has demonstrated his holy power
    before the eyes of all the nations.
All the ends of the earth will see
    the victory of our God.

¹¹ Get out! Get out and leave your captivity,
    where everything you touch is unclean.
Get out of there and purify yourselves,
    you who carry home the sacred objects of the Lord.
¹² You will not leave in a hurry,
    running for your lives.
For the Lord will go ahead of you;
    yes, the God of Israel will protect you from behind.

⁴ Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
    it was our sorrows^[by] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
    a punishment for his own sins!
⁵ But he was pierced for our rebellion,
    crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
    He was whipped so we could be healed.
⁶ All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
    We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
    the sins of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and treated harshly,
    yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
    And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
    he did not open his mouth.
⁸ Unjustly condemned,
    he was led away.^[bz]
No one cared that he died without descendants,
    that his life was cut short in midstream.^[ca]
But he was struck down
    for the rebellion of my people.
⁹ He had done no wrong
    and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
    he was put in a rich man’s grave.

¹⁰ But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
    and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
    he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
    and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
¹¹ When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
    he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
    my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
    for he will bear all their sins.
¹² I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
    because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
    He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

⁴ “Fear not; you will no longer live in shame.
    Don’t be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you.
You will no longer remember the shame of your youth
    and the sorrows of widowhood.
⁵ For your Creator will be your husband;
    the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name!
He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
    the God of all the earth.
⁶ For the Lord has called you back from your grief—
    as though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband,”
    says your God.
⁷ “For a brief moment I abandoned you,
    but with great compassion I will take you back.
⁸ In a burst of anger I turned my face away for a little while.
    But with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
    says the Lord, your Redeemer.

⁹ “Just as I swore in the time of Noah
    that I would never again let a flood cover the earth,
so now I swear
    that I will never again be angry and punish you.
¹⁰ For the mountains may move
    and the hills disappear,
but even then my faithful love for you will remain.
    My covenant of blessing will never be broken,”
    says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

¹¹ “O storm-battered city,
    troubled and desolate!
I will rebuild you with precious jewels
    and make your foundations from lapis lazuli.
¹² I will make your towers of sparkling rubies,
    your gates of shining gems,
    and your walls of precious stones.
¹³ I will teach all your children,
    and they will enjoy great peace.
¹⁴ You will be secure under a government that is just and fair.
    Your enemies will stay far away.
You will live in peace,
    and terror will not come near.
¹⁵ If any nation comes to fight you,
    it is not because I sent them.
    Whoever attacks you will go down in defeat.