Chronological
Comfort for God’s People
40 “Comfort; comfort my people,” says your God.
2 “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her,
that her compulsory labor is fulfilled, that her sin is paid for,
that she has received[a] from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins.”
3 A voice is calling in the wilderness, “Clear the way of Yahweh!
Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God!
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill shall become low,
And the rough ground shall be like a plain,
and the rugged ground like a valley-plain.
5 And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed,
and all humankind[b] together shall see it,
for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”
6 A voice is saying, “Call!”
And he said, “What shall I call?”
All humankind[c] are grass,
and all his loyalty is like the flowers of the field.
7 Grass withers; the flower withers
when the breath of Yahweh blows on it.
Surely the people are grass.
8 Grass withers; the flower withers,
but[d] the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Get yourself[e] up to a high mountain, Zion, bringer of good news!
Lift up your voice with strength, Jerusalem, bringer of good news!
Lift it up; you must not fear!
Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
10 Look! The Lord Yahweh comes with strength,[f]
and his arm rules for him.
Look! His reward is with him,
and his recompense in his presence.[g]
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arm,
and he will carry them in his bosom;
he will lead those who nurse.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
comprehended the dust of the earth in a third of a measure
and weighed out the mountains in the scales,[h] and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has measured up the spirit of Yahweh
or informed him as his counselor[i]?
14 With whom has he consulted, that[j] he enlightened him[k]
and taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and made the way of understanding known to him?
15 Look! The nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and they are counted like dust of the balances!
Look! He weighs the islands like a thin covering.
16 And Lebanon is not enough to light a fire,
and its animals[l] not enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are like nothing before him;
they are counted by him as[m] nothing and emptiness.
18 And to whom will you liken God?
And to what likeness will you compare him?
19 A craftsman pours out the idol,
and a goldsmith[n] overlays it with gold,
and he smelts chains of silver.
20 The one who is too impoverished for a gift chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks a skillful artisan for himself to set up an image that will not be knocked over.
21 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told to you from the beginning?[o]
Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth?
22 He is the one who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
the one who stretches out the heavens like a veil
and spreads them out like a tent to live in,
23 the one who brings[p] princes to nothing;
he makes rulers of the earth like nothing.
24 Indeed, hardly are they planted; indeed, hardly are they sown;
indeed, hardly has their shoot taken root in the earth
when[q] he blows on them and they wither,
and the tempest carries them like stubble.
25 “And to whom you will compare me, and am I equal?” says the holy one.
26 Lift your eyes up on high, and see! Who created these?
The one who brings out their host by number.
He calls all them by name.
Because he is great of power
and mighty of power, no man is missing.
27 Why[r] do you say, Jacob,
and you speak, Israel,
“My way is hidden from Yahweh,
and my judgment is passed over by my God?”
28 Have you not known,
or have you not heard?
Yahweh is the God of eternity,
the creator of the ends of the earth!
He is not faint, and he does not grow weary!
There is no searching his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weary,
and he increases power for the powerless.[s]
30 Even[t] young people will be faint and grow weary,
and the young will stumble, exhausted.
31 But[u] those who wait for Yahweh shall renew their strength.
They shall go up with wings[v] like eagles;
they shall run and not grow weary;
they shall walk and not be faint.
God Helps Israel
41 Listen to me in silence, coastlands,
and let nations renew their strength.
Let them approach, then let them speak;
let us draw near together for judgment.
2 Who has roused salvation from the east,
summoned[w] him to his foot,
gives nations in his presence,[x]
and subjugates kings?
He makes[y] them like the dust with his sword,
like scattered stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them and passes on in peace;
he does not enter the path with his feet.
4 Who has accomplished and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?[z]
I, Yahweh, am first;
and I am the one with the last.
5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble.
They have drawn near,
and they have come.
6 Each one helps[aa] his neighbor;
he says to his brother, “Take courage!”
7 And the artisan encourages the goldsmith,[ab]
the one who makes smooth with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good!”
And they strengthen it with nails so it cannot be knocked over.
8 But[ac] you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen,
you, the offspring[ad] of Abraham my friend,[ae]
9 you whom I grasped from the ends of the earth
and called from its remotest parts
and told, “You are my servant;
I have chosen you and I have not rejected you.”
10 You must not fear, for I am with you;
you must not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, indeed I will help you,
indeed I will take hold of you with the right hand of my salvation.
11 Look! All those who are angry with you shall be ashamed and humiliated;
your opponents[af] shall be like nothing and shall become lost.
12 You shall seek them,
but[ag] you shall not find them;
your opponents[ah] shall be like nothing,
and the men of your war like nothing.
13 For I, Yahweh your God, am grasping your right hand;
it is I who say[ai] to you,
“You must not fear;
I myself, I will help you.
14 You must not fear, O worm of Jacob;
people of Israel,
I myself, I will help you,” declares[aj] Yahweh,
“and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel.
15 Look! I will make you into a new sharp threshing sledge,
with[ak] sharp edges.
You shall thresh and crush the mountains,
and you shall make the hills like chaff.
16 You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you yourself shall rejoice in Yahweh;
you shall boast in the holy one of Israel.
17 The poor and the needy are seeking water and there is none;
their tongue is dried up with thirst.
I, Yahweh, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the barren heights
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness like a pool of water
and the land of dryness like springs of water.
19 I will put[al] the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive oil tree in the wilderness;
I will set the cypress, elm, and box tree together in the desert
20 so that they may see and know,
and take to heart and understand together
that the hand of Yahweh has done this,
and the holy one of Israel has created it.”
21 “Present your legal case,” says Yahweh.
“Bring your evidence,” says the king of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them,
and let them tell us what will happen.
Tell us what the former things are
so that[am] we may take them to our heart
and know their outcome.[an]
Declare to us the things to come;
23 tell us the things coming hereafter,[ao]
that[ap] we may know that you are gods.
Indeed, do good or[aq] do evil,
that[ar] we may be afraid and see[as] together.
24 Look! you are nothing,
and your work is something worthless;
whoever chooses you is an abomination.
25 I stirred up one from the north,
and he has come from the rising of the sun.
He shall call on my name,
and he shall come on officials as on mortar,
and as the potter[at] treads clay.
26 Who declared it from the beginning[au] so that[av] we might know,
and beforehand[aw] so that[ax] we might say, “He is right!”[ay]
Indeed, there was no one who declared it;
Indeed, there was no one who proclaimed it.
Indeed there was no one who heard your words.
27 First to Zion, look! Look at them!
And I give a herald[az] of good tidings to Jerusalem.
28 But[ba] I look and there is no man,
and I look among these and there is no counselor,
that[bb] I might ask them and they might answer a word.
29 Look! All of them are deception;
their works are nothing;
their images are wind and emptiness.
The Mission of Yahweh’s Servant
42 Look! here is my servant; I hold him,
my chosen one, in whom my soul delights.
I have put[bc] my spirit on him;
he will bring justice forth to the nations.
2 He will not cry out and lift up
and make his voice heard in the street.
3 He will not break a broken reed,
and he not will extinguish a dim wick.
He will bring justice forth in[bd] faithfulness.
4 He will not grow faint,
and he will not be broken
until he has established justice in the earth.
And the coastlands wait for his teaching.
5 Thus says the God, Yahweh,
who created the heavens
and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and its offspring,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it.
6 “I am Yahweh; I have called you in righteousness,
and I have grasped your hand and watched over you;
and I have given you as a covenant of the people,
as a light of the nations,
7 to open the blind eyes,
to bring the prisoner out from the dungeon,
those who sit in darkness from the house of imprisonment.
8 I am Yahweh; that is my name,
and I do not give my glory to another,
nor[be] my praise to the idols.
9 Look! the former things have come,
and I declare new things.
I announce[bf] them to you before they sprout up.”
A Song of Praise to Yahweh
10 Sing a new song to Yahweh;
praise him from the end of the earth,
you[bg] who go down to the sea and that which fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;
let them shout loudly from the top[bh] of the mountains.
12 Let them give[bi] glory to Yahweh
and declare his praise in the coastlands.
13 Yahweh goes forth like a mighty warrior;
he stirs up zeal like a man of war.
He raises the war cry, indeed he raises the battle shout;
he prevails against his foes.
14 I have been silent for a long time;
I have kept silent;
I have restrained myself like one giving birth;
I will moan, pant, and gasp together.
15 I will cause mountains and hills to dry up,
and I will cause all their herbage to wither;
and I will make rivers like islands,
and I will cause pools to dry up.
16 And I will lead the blind by a road they do not know;
I will cause them to tread on paths they have not known.
I will make darkness in their presence[bj] into light
and rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.
17 They shall turn back;
they shall be greatly ashamed,[bk]
those who trust in an image,
who say to a cast image, “You are our gods.”
Blind and Deaf Israel
18 Deaf people, listen!
And blind people, look to see!
19 Who is blind but my servant
or[bl] deaf like my messenger whom I sent?
Who is blind like the one who is repaid
or[bm] blind like the servant of Yahweh?
20 You see many things, but[bn] you do not observe.
His ears are open, but[bo] he does not hear.
21 Yahweh was willing for the sake of his righteousness;
he showed his teaching to be great and proved it to be glorious.
22 But[bp] this is a people plundered and looted; all of them are trapped in holes,
and they are kept hidden in houses of imprisonment.
They have become like plunder, and there is no one who saves;
like booty, and there is no one who says, “Restore!”
23 Who among you will heed this,
will listen attentively and listen, for the time to come?[bq]
24 Who gave Jacob to a plunderer[br]
and Israel to those who plunder?
Was it not Yahweh, against whom[bs] we have sinned?
And they were not willing to walk in his ways,
and they would not obey[bt] his law.
25 So[bu] he poured the wrath of his anger upon him
and the strength of war.
And it set him afire all around, but[bv] he did not understand;[bw]
and it burned him, but[bx] he did not take it to heart.
The Restorer of Israel
43 But now thus says Yahweh,
he who created you, Jacob,
and he who formed you, Israel:
“You must not fear, for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by your name; you are mine.[by]
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,
and through the rivers, they shall not flow over you.
When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not scorch[bz] you.
3 For I am Yahweh, your God,
the holy one of Israel, your savior.
I give you Egypt as ransom,
Cush and Seba in place of you.
4 Because you are precious in my eyes,
you are honored, and I myself love you,
and I give people in place of you,
and nations in place of your life.
5 You must not fear,
for I am with you.
I will bring your offspring[ca] from the east,
and I will gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give!’
and to the south, ‘You must not withhold!’
Bring my sons from far away,
and my daughters from the end of the earth—
7 everyone who is called by my name,
and whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed,
indeed whom I made.”
8 Bring out the people blind yet[cb] with eyes,
and deaf, though[cc] they have ears.
9 Let all the nations gather together,
and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them has declared this,
and declared[cd] the former things to us?
Let them bring[ce] their witnesses, that[cf] they may be in the right,
and let them hear and say, “It is true!”
10 “You are my witnesses,” declares[cg] Yahweh,
“and my servant whom I have chosen
so that you may know and believe in[ch] me
and understand that I am he.
No god was formed before me[ci],
and none shall be after me.
11 I myself am Yahweh,
and there is no savior besides me!
12 I myself declared and saved,
and I proclaimed.[cj] And there was no strange god[ck] among you.
And you are my witnesses,” declares[cl] Yahweh,
“and I am God.
13 Indeed, from this day I am the one,
and no one can deliver from my hand.
I perform,[cm] and who can cancel it?”[cn]
Yahweh Rescues His People
14 Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer,
the holy one of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon,
and I will cause all of them to fall down as fugitives,
and the Chaldeans,[co] their rejoicing on the ships.
15 I am Yahweh, your holy one,
the creator of Israel, your king.”
16 Thus says Yahweh, who makes[cp] a way in the sea
and a path in the mighty waters,
17 who brings out chariot and horse,
army and mighty one.
Together they lie down;
they cannot rise.
They are extinguished,
quenched like a wick.
18 “You must not remember the former things,
and you not must consider the former things.
19 Look! I am about to do a new thing! Now it sprouts!
Do you not perceive[cq] it?
Indeed, I will make[cr] a way in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert.
20 The animals of the field will honor me,
jackals and daughters of the ostrich,
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give a drink to my chosen people,
21 this people whom I formed for myself,
so they might make known[cs] my praise.
22 But[ct] you did not call me, Jacob;
for you have become weary of me, Israel.
23 You have not brought me your sheep for a burnt offering
nor[cu] honored me with your sacrifice.
I have not made you serve with offerings,[cv]
nor have I made you weary with frankincense.
24 You have not bought me spice reed with money
or[cw] satisfied me with the fat of sacrifices.
But you have burdened me with your sins;
you have made me weary with your iniquities.
25 I, I am the one who blots out your transgressions for my sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
26 Take me to court; let us enter into judgment together.
You, make an account[cx] so that you may be in the right.
27 Your first ancestor[cy] sinned,
and your representatives[cz] transgressed against me.
28 And I profaned the princes of the sanctuary,
and I gave Jacob to destruction, and Israel to reviling.
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