Isaiah 33:1-43:24
English Standard Version
O Lord, Be Gracious to Us
33 (A)Ah, you destroyer,
who yourself have not been destroyed,
you traitor,
whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.
2 O Lord, be gracious to us; (B)we wait for you.
Be our arm every morning,
our salvation in the time of trouble.
3 (C)At the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
4 and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
(D)as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
5 (E)The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
6 (F)and he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is Zion's[a] treasure.
7 Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
(G)the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 (H)The highways lie waste;
the traveler ceases.
(I)Covenants are broken;
cities[b] are despised;
there is no regard for man.
9 (J)The land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
10 (K)“Now I will arise,” says the Lord,
“now I will lift myself up;
now I will be exalted.
11 (L)You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
your breath is (M)a fire that will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
(N)like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”
13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
(O)“Who among us can dwell (P)with the consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
15 (Q)He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
(R)and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
16 he will dwell on the heights;
his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
(S)his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
17 (T)Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
(U)they will see a land that stretches afar.
18 (V)Your heart will muse on the terror:
“Where is he who counted, where is (W)he who weighed the tribute?
Where is (X)he who counted the towers?”
19 (Y)You will see no more the insolent people,
the people (Z)of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
20 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
(AA)Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
an untroubled habitation, an (AB)immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
a place of (AC)broad rivers and streams,
(AD)where no galley with oars can go,
nor majestic ship can pass.
22 For the Lord is our (AE)judge; the Lord is our (AF)lawgiver;
the Lord is our (AG)king; he will save us.
23 Your cords hang loose;
they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
or keep the sail spread out.
(AH)Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
even (AI)the lame will take the prey.
24 And no inhabitant will say, (AJ)“I am sick”;
(AK)the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
Judgment on the Nations
34 Draw near, (AL)O nations, to hear,
and give attention, O peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
the world, and all that comes from it.
2 For the Lord is enraged against all the nations,
and furious against all their host;
he has (AM)devoted them to destruction,[c] has given them over for slaughter.
3 Their slain shall be cast out,
and (AN)the stench of their corpses shall rise;
(AO)the mountains shall flow with their blood.
4 (AP)All the host of heaven shall rot away,
and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall fall,
as leaves fall from the vine,
like leaves falling from the fig tree.
5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
behold, it descends for judgment upon (AQ)Edom,
upon the people (AR)I have devoted to destruction.
6 The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood;
it is gorged with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
(AS)For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 (AT)Wild oxen shall (AU)fall with them,
and (AV)young steers with (AW)the mighty bulls.
Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
8 (AX)For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 (AY)And the streams of Edom[d] shall be turned into pitch,
and her soil into sulfur;
her land shall become burning pitch.
10 Night and day (AZ)it shall not be quenched;
(BA)its smoke shall go up forever.
(BB)From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 (BC)But the hawk and the porcupine[e] shall possess it,
the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
(BD)He shall stretch the line of (BE)confusion[f] over it,
and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 (BF)Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of (BG)jackals,
an abode for ostriches.[g]
14 (BH)And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
indeed, there the night bird[h] settles
and finds for herself a resting place.
15 There the owl nests and lays
and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
indeed, there (BI)the hawks are gathered,
each one with her mate.
16 Seek and read from the book of the Lord:
Not one of these shall be missing;
none shall be without her mate.
For the mouth of the Lord has commanded,
and his Spirit has gathered them.
17 (BJ)He has cast the lot for them;
his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
they shall possess it forever;
from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
The Ransomed Shall Return
35 (BK)The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
(BL)the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
2 it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and singing.
(BM)The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of (BN)Carmel and (BO)Sharon.
(BP)They shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.
3 (BQ)Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,
“Be strong; fear not!
(BR)Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
5 (BS)Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 (BT)then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
(BU)For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 (BV)the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of (BW)jackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 (BX)And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
(BY)the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.[i]
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 (BZ)And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
(CA)everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Sennacherib Invades Judah
36 (CB)In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, (CC)Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 (CD)And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh[j] from (CE)Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood (CF)by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. 3 And there came out to him (CG)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and (CH)Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the (CI)great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 (CJ)Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he (CK)whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse (CL)a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when (CM)you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? (CN)The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants (CO)in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: (CP)‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me[k] and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17 until (CQ)I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 (CR)Where are the gods of (CS)Hamath and (CT)Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? (CU)Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 (CV)Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 (CW)Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah's Help
37 (CX)As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet (CY)Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a (CZ)day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; (DA)children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 (DB)It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for (DC)the remnant that is left.’”
5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, (DD)I will put a spirit in him, so that (DE)he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and (DF)I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”
8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against (DG)Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left (DH)Lachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of (DI)Cush,[l] “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: (DJ)‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 (DK)Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, (DL)Gozan, (DM)Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 (DN)Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah's Prayer for Deliverance
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, (DO)enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; (DP)you have made heaven and earth. 17 (DQ)Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear (DR)all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, (DS)the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”
Sennacherib's Fall
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:
“‘She despises you, she scorns you—
(DT)the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.
23 “‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against (DU)the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, (DV)With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon,
(DW)to cut down its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses,
to come to its remotest height,
its most fruitful forest.
25 I dug wells
and drank waters,
to dry up with the sole of my foot
all (DX)the streams (DY)of Egypt.
26 (DZ)“‘Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted[m] before it is grown.
28 “‘I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
29 (EA)Because you have raged against me
and your complacency has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and (EB)I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.’
30 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah (EC)shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 (ED)For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. (EE)The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
33 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or (EF)cast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 35 (EG)For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for (EH)the sake of my servant David.”
36 (EI)And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at (EJ)Nineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of (EK)Ararat, (EL)Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Hezekiah's Sickness and Recovery
38 (EM)In those days Hezekiah became (EN)sick and was at the point of death. And (EO)Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.”[n] 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how (EP)I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add (EQ)fifteen years to your life.[o] 6 (ER)I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.
7 “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised: 8 (ES)Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.[p]
9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
10 I said, (ET)In the middle[q] of my days
I must depart;
I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
for the rest of my years.
11 I said, I shall not see the Lord,
the Lord (EU)in the land of the living;
I shall look on man no more
among the inhabitants of the world.
12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
(EV)like a shepherd's tent;
(EW)like a weaver (EX)I have rolled up my life;
(EY)he cuts me off from the loom;
(EZ)from day to night you bring me to an end;
13 (FA)I calmed myself[r] until morning;
like a lion (FB)he breaks all my bones;
from day to night you bring me to an end.
14 Like (FC)a swallow or a crane I chirp;
(FD)I moan like a dove.
(FE)My eyes are weary with looking upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed; (FF)be my pledge of safety!
15 What shall I say? For he has spoken to me,
and he himself has done it.
(FG)I walk slowly all my years
because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 (FH)O Lord, by these things men live,
and in all these is the life of my spirit.
Oh restore me to health and make me live!
17 (FI)Behold, it was for my welfare
that I had great bitterness;
(FJ)but in love you have delivered my life
from the pit of destruction,
(FK)for you have cast all my sins
behind your back.
18 (FL)For Sheol does not thank you;
death does not praise you;
those who go down to the pit do not hope
for your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living, he thanks you,
as I do this day;
(FM)the father makes known to the children
your faithfulness.
20 The Lord will save me,
and we will play my music on stringed instruments
all the days of our lives,
(FN)at the house of the Lord.
21 (FO)Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” 22 Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”
Envoys from Babylon
39 (FP)At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, (FQ)sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, (FR)the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. (FS)There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6 (FT)Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. 7 (FU)And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, (FV)“There will be peace and security in my days.”
Comfort for God's People
40 (FW)Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 (FX)Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that (FY)her warfare[s] is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.
3 (FZ)A voice cries:[t]
(GA)“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
(GB)make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 (GC)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 (GD)And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
(GE)for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
The Word of God Stands Forever
6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said,[u] “What shall I cry?”
(GF)All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty[v] is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 (GG)The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
The Greatness of God
9 Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, (GH)herald of good news;[w]
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;[x]
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10 (GI)Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
(GJ)behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 (GK)He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
(GL)he will gather the lambs in his arms;
(GM)he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
12 (GN)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 (GO)Who has measured[y] the Spirit of the Lord,
or what man shows him his counsel?
14 Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
(GP)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 (GQ)as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up (GR)the coastlands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are (GS)its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17 (GT)All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18 (GU)To whom then will you liken God,
(GV)or what likeness compare with him?
19 (GW)An idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20 (GX)He who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood[z] that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.
21 (GY)Do you not know? Do you not hear?
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 (GZ)like grasshoppers;
(HA)who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
23 (HB)who brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
(HC)and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25 (HD)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)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,
(HF)“My way is hidden from the Lord,
(HG)and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is (HH)the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
(HI)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 (HJ)they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings (HK)like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Fear Not, for I Am with You
41 (HL)Listen to me in silence, (HM)O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.
2 (HN)Who stirred up one from the east
whom victory meets at every (HO)step?[aa]
(HP)He gives up nations before him,
so that he tramples kings underfoot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
(HQ)like driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them and passes on safely,
by paths his feet have not trod.
4 (HR)Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
(HS)I, the Lord, the first,
and with the last; I am he.
5 (HT)The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
6 Everyone helps his neighbor
and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 (HU)The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
and they strengthen it with nails (HV)so that it cannot be moved.
8 But you, Israel, (HW)my servant,
Jacob, (HX)whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, (HY)my friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called (HZ)from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are (IA)my servant,
(IB)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 (IC)my righteous right hand.
11 (ID)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 (IE)You shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
(IF)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 am the one who helps you.”
14 Fear not, you (IG)worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
your (IH)Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 (II)Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh (IJ)the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
16 (IK)you shall winnow them, and (IL)the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
(IM)And you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
17 (IN)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 (IO)I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
(IP)I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19 (IQ)I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert (IR)the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20 that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that (IS)the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
The Futility of Idols
21 Set forth your case, says the Lord;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them, and (IT)tell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.
23 (IU)Tell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
(IV)do good, or do harm,
that we may be dismayed and terrified.[ab]
24 Behold, (IW)you are nothing,
and your work is less than nothing;
an abomination is he who chooses you.
25 (IX)I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
(IY)from the rising of the sun, (IZ)and he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
26 (JA)Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
27 (JB)I was the first to say[ac] to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
and (JC)I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
28 (JD)But when I look, there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
29 (JE)Behold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their metal images are empty wind.
The Lord's Chosen Servant
42 (JF)Behold (JG)my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, (JH)in whom my soul delights;
(JI)I have put my Spirit upon him;
(JJ)he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3 (JK)a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
(JL)he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged[ad]
till he has established justice in the earth;
and (JM)the coastlands wait for his law.
5 Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens (JN)and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
(JO)who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 “I am the Lord; (JP)I have called you[ae] in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you (JQ)as a covenant for the people,
(JR)a light for the nations,
7 (JS)to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
(JT)from the prison those who sit in darkness.
8 I am the Lord; that is my name;
(JU)my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
9 Behold, the former things have come to pass,
(JV)and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.”
Sing to the Lord a New Song
10 (JW)Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth,
(JX)you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
(JY)the coastlands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
the villages that (JZ)Kedar inhabits;
let the habitants of (KA)Sela sing for joy,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord,
and declare his praise in (KB)the coastlands.
13 (KC)The Lord goes out like a mighty man,
like a man of war (KD)he stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, (KE)he shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.
14 For a long time I have held my peace;
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out (KF)like a woman in labor;
I will gasp and pant.
15 (KG)I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into islands,[af]
and dry up the pools.
16 (KH)And I will lead the blind
in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
(KI)the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.
17 (KJ)They are turned back and utterly put to shame,
who trust in carved idols,
who say to metal images,
“You are our gods.”
Israel's Failure to Hear and See
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,[ag]
or blind as the servant of the Lord?
20 (KK)He sees many things, but does not observe them;
(KL)his ears are open, but he does not hear.
21 The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
22 But this is a people plundered and looted;
they are all of them trapped in holes
(KM)and hidden in prisons;
they have become plunder with none to rescue,
spoil with none to say, “Restore!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this,
will attend and listen for the time to come?
24 Who gave up Jacob to the looter,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
25 So he poured on him the heat of his anger
and the might of battle;
it set him on fire all around, (KN)but he did not understand;
it burned him up, (KO)but he did not take it to heart.
Israel's Only Savior
43 But now thus says the Lord,
(KP)he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
(KQ)“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
(KR)I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 (KS)When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
(KT)when you walk through fire (KU)you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For (KV)I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
(KW)I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and (KX)Seba in exchange for you.
4 Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.
5 (KY)Fear not, for I am with you;
(KZ)I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you.
6 I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring (LA)my sons from afar
and (LB)my daughters from the end of the earth,
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
8 Bring out (LC)the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears!
9 (LD)All the nations gather together,
and the peoples assemble.
Who among them can declare this,
and show us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,
and let them hear and say, It is true.
10 (LE)“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“and (LF)my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
(LG)Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
11 (LH)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 (LI)you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.
13 Also (LJ)henceforth I am he;
there is none who can deliver from my hand;
I work, and who can turn it back?”
14 Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
(LK)“For your sake I send to Babylon
and (LL)bring them all down as fugitives,
(LM)even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King.”
16 Thus says the Lord,
(LN)who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,
17 who (LO)brings forth chariot and horse,
army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
(LP)they are extinguished, (LQ)quenched like a wick:
18 (LR)“Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
19 (LS)Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
(LT)I will make a way in the wilderness
(LU)and rivers in the desert.
20 The wild beasts will honor me,
(LV)the jackals and the ostriches,
(LW)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
(LX)that they might declare my praise.
22 “Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;
but (LY)you have been weary of me, O Israel!
23 (LZ)You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,
or honored me with your sacrifices.
I have not burdened you with offerings,
(MA)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.
Notas al pie
- Isaiah 33:6 Hebrew his
- Isaiah 33:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll witnesses
- Isaiah 34:2 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5
- Isaiah 34:9 Hebrew her streams
- Isaiah 34:11 The identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain
- Isaiah 34:11 Hebrew formlessness
- Isaiah 34:13 Or owls
- Isaiah 34:14 Identity uncertain
- Isaiah 35:8 Or if they are fools, they shall not wander in it
- Isaiah 36:2 Rabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer
- Isaiah 36:16 Hebrew Make a blessing with me
- Isaiah 37:9 Probably Nubia
- Isaiah 37:27 Some Hebrew manuscripts and 2 Kings 19:26; most Hebrew manuscripts a field
- Isaiah 38:1 Or live; also verses 9, 21
- Isaiah 38:5 Hebrew to your days
- Isaiah 38:8 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain
- Isaiah 38:10 Or In the quiet
- Isaiah 38:13 Or (with Targum) I cried for help
- Isaiah 40:2 Or hardship
- Isaiah 40:3 Or A voice of one crying
- Isaiah 40:6 Revocalization based on Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Vulgate; Masoretic Text And someone says
- Isaiah 40:6 Or all its constancy
- Isaiah 40:9 Or O herald of good news to Zion
- Isaiah 40:9 Or O herald of good news to Jerusalem
- Isaiah 40:13 Or has directed
- Isaiah 40:20 Or He chooses valuable wood
- Isaiah 41:2 Or whom righteousness calls to follow?
- Isaiah 41:23 Or that we may both be dismayed and see
- Isaiah 41:27 Or Formerly I said
- Isaiah 42:4 Or bruised
- Isaiah 42:6 The Hebrew for you is singular; four times in this verse
- Isaiah 42:15 Or into coastlands
- Isaiah 42:19 Or as the one at peace with me
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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