Chronological
Comfort, Proclaim Good News
40 “Comfort, comfort My people,”
says your God.
2 Speak kindly to the heart of Jerusalem
and proclaim to her
that her warfare has ended,
that her iniquity has been removed.
For she has received from Adonai’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries out in the wilderness,
“Prepare the way of Adonai,
Make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.[a]
4 Every valley will be lifted up,
every mountain and hill made low,
the rough ground will be a plain
and the rugged terrain smooth.
5 The glory of Adonai will be revealed,
and all flesh will see it together.”
For the mouth of Adonai has spoken.
6 A voice is saying, “Cry out!”
So I said, “What shall I cry out?”
“All flesh is grass,
and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades.
For the breath of Adonai blows on it.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades.
But the word of our God stands forever.”[b]
9 Get yourself up on a high mountain,
you who bring good news to Zion!
Lift up your voice with strength,
you who bring good news to Jerusalem!
Lift it up! Do not fear!
Say to the cities of Judah:
“Behold your God!”
10 Look, Adonai Elohim comes with might,
with His arm ruling for Him.
Behold, His reward is with Him,
and His recompense before Him.[c]
11 Like a shepherd, He tends His flock.[d]
He gathers the lambs in His arms
carries them in his bosom,
and gently guides nursing ewes.
Who Is Like Him?
12 Who has measured the waters in the palm of His hand,
or measured out heaven with a span,
or calculated the dust of the earth in a measure,
or weighed the mountains in scales,
or the hills in a balance?
13 Who can fathom the Ruach Adonai?
Or instruct Him as His counselor?
14 With whom did He consult,
and who instructed Him?
Who taught Him in the path of justice
or taught Him knowledge?
Who informed Him about
the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and count as a speck of dust on the scales.
Behold, the islands weigh as fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not enough to burn,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him.
By Him they are accounted null and void.
18 To whom then will you liken God?
To what likeness will you compare Him?
19 To an idol? A craftsman casts it,
a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
20 One too poor for such an offering
chooses wood that will not rot.
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to prepare him an idol that will not totter.
21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 He sits above the circle of the earth—
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers—
He stretches out the skies like a curtain,
spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
23 He reduces princes to nothing.
He makes the judges of the earth a confusion.
24 Scarcely are they planted,
scarcely are they sown,
scarcely their stem takes root in the earth,
when He blows on them and they wither,
and a storm carries them off as stubble.
25 “To whom then will you liken Me?
Or who is My equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see!
Who created these?
The One who brings out their host by number,
the One who calls them all by name.
Because of His great strength and vast power,
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from Adonai,
and the justice due me escapes
the notice of my God”?
28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Adonai is the eternal God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not grow tired or weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives strength to the weary,
and to one without vigor He adds might.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
31 but they who wait for Adonai
will renew their strength.
They will soar up with wings as eagles.
They will run, and not grow weary.
They will walk, and not be faint.
Coming Conqueror
41 “Be silent before Me, O islands!
Let peoples renew their strength.
Let them draw near, then let them speak.
Let us come together for judgment.
2 Who has stirred up one from the east?
He calls justice to His feet.
He gives nations over to him and subdues kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword, as driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them, passing on safely,
by a path his feet had not traveled.
4 Who has performed and done it?
Calling forth the generations from the beginning,
I, Adonai, am the first and the last,
I am He!”
5 The coastlands have seen and fear.
The ends of the earth tremble.
They draw near and come.
6 Each one helps his neighbor
and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 The craftsman encourages the smith,
who smooths with the hammer,
who strikes with the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It’s good!”
as he fastens it with nails so that it will not totter.
My Servant, My Friend
8 “But you, Israel, My servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
descendant of Abraham, My friend—
9 I took hold of you from the ends of the earth,
and called from its uttermost parts,
and said to you, ‘You are My servant—
I have chosen you, not rejected you.[e]
10 Fear not, for I am with you,
be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you.
Surely I will help you.
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
11 Behold, all who were angry at you
will be ashamed and disgraced.
Those who quarrel with you
will be as nothing and perish.
12 Though you will look for those who contended with you,
you will not find them.
Those who warred against you
will be as nothing at all.
13 For I am Adonai your God who upholds your right hand,
who says to you,
“Fear not, I will help you.”
14 Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I will help you.”
It is a declaration of Adonai,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Look, I will make you a threshing sledge,
new, with sharp, double-edged spikes.
You will thresh the mountains and grind them up,
and will make the hills like chaff.
16 You will winnow them,
and a wind will carry them away,
a storm-wind will scatter them.
But you will rejoice in Adonai.
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 “The poor and needy ask for water,
but there is none,
Their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, Adonai, will answer them,
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the bare hills
and springs in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water
and the dry land into fountains of water.
19 I will plant in the wilderness
the cedar and the acacia tree, the myrtle and the olive tree.
I will set in the desert the cypress tree
and the pine together with the box tree—
20 so they may see and know,
consider and understand together,
that the hand of Adonai has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.”
Challenge to Idolaters
21 “Present your case,” says Adonai.
“Bring forth your reasons,”
says the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring forth and tell us
what will happen.
The former things, what were they?
Tell us, that we may consider them
and know their outcome.
Or announce to us things to come.
23 Declare the things coming afterward,
so we may know that you are gods!
Indeed, do good or do evil,
so we may all see and be awestruck.
24 Behold, you are nothing,
and your work is null.
Whoever chooses you is loathsome.
25 “I have stirred up one from the north,
and he has come.
From the rising of the sun,
He will call upon My Name.
He will trample rulers as on mortar,
like a potter treading clay.”
26 Who told this from the beginning,
so that we may know?
Or from former times,
so we may say, “He is right”?
In fact, no one foretold it,
In fact, no one announced it.
In fact, no one heard Your words.
27 First it was to Zion:
“Behold, here they are!”
And to Jerusalem:
“I will give a herald of good news.”[f]
28 But when I look, there is no one.
There is no counselor among them.
When I ask them, they have no response.
29 Indeed, they are all a delusion.
Their works are null.
Their molten images are wind and waste.
First Servant Song: Justice
42 Behold My servant[g], whom I uphold.
My Chosen One,[h] in whom My soul delights.
I have put My Ruach on Him,[i]
He will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry out or raise His voice,
or make His voice heard in the street.
3 A bruised reed He will not break.
A smoldering wick He will not snuff out.
He will faithfully bring forth justice.[j]
4 He will not be disheartened or crushed
until He establishes justice on earth.
The islands will wait for His Torah.
5 Thus says God, Adonai,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it,
and Ruach to those who walk in it[k]—
6 “I, Adonai, called You in righteousness,
I will take hold of Your hand,
I will keep You and give You
as a covenant to the people,[l]
as a light to the nations,[m]
7 by opening blind eyes,
bringing prisoners out of the dungeon,
and those sitting in darkness out of the prison house.[n]
8 “I am Adonai—that is My Name!
My glory I will not give to another,
Or My praise to graven images.
9 Behold, the former things have come to pass,
Now I declare new things.
Before they spring forth
I announce them to you.”
10 Sing to Adonai a new song,
His praise from the end of the earth,
you who go down to the sea with all its fullness,
islands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its cities exult—
the villages that Kedar inhabits.
Let the dwellers of Sela sing for joy.
Let them shout for joy
from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory to Adonai
and declare His praise in the islands.
13 Adonai goes out as a mighty one.
He stirs up His zeal like a man of war.
He will shout, yes, raise a war cry!
He will prevail over His enemies.
14 “I have held My peace a long time,
I have been still and restrained Myself.
Now like a woman in labor I groan,
gasping and panting at once.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their vegetation.
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
16 I will bring the blind by a way they do not know.
in paths they have not known, I will guide them.
I will turn darkness before them to light
and the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.
17 They will be turned back, utterly put to shame—
those trusting in idols,
who say to molten images, ‘You are our gods.’
18 Hear, you deaf!
Look, you blind, so you may see.
19 Who is blind, but My Servant?
Or deaf as My Messenger that I send?
Who is so blind as the one in covenant with Me,
blind as Adonai’s Servant?
20 You have seen many things,
but you do not pay attention.
Though ears are open, no one hears.”[o]
21 Adonai was pleased,
for the sake of His righteousness,
to make Torah great and glorious.
22 But this is a people robbed and looted.
all of them trapped in holes,
hidden away in prisons.
They have become a prey
with no one to deliver them,
and plunder,
with none to say, “Give them back!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this?
Who will listen and heed hereafter?
24 Who gave Jacob to the looter,
Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not Adonai?
Have we not sinned against Him?
In His ways they were unwilling to walk
and His Torah they did not obey.
25 So He poured out on him the fury of His anger,
and the fierceness of battle.
it blazed all around him, yet he did not understand it.
it burned him, yet he did not take it to heart.
Love for Israel
43 But now, thus says Adonai—
the One who created you, O Jacob,
the One who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you,
I have called you by name, you are Mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you,
or through the rivers,
they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned,
nor will the flame burn you.
3 For I am Adonai your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I have given Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
4 Since you are precious in My eyes, honored,
because I love you,
I will give a man in exchange for you,
and other peoples for your life.
5 Do not fear, for I am with you.
I will bring your offspring from the east
and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring My sons from far
and My daughters from the ends of the earth.
7 Everyone who is called by My Name,
whom I created for My glory.
I formed him—yes, I made him!”
You Are My Witnesses
8 Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears.
9 All the nations are gathered together,
and the peoples are assembled.
Who among them can declare this,
and proclaim to us former things?
Let them present their witnesses
so they may be justified,
or let them hear and say, “It’s true.”
10 “You are My witnesses”
—it is a declaration of Adonai—
“and My Servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe Me,
and understand that I am He.
Before Me no God was formed,
and there will none after Me.
11 “I, I am Adonai—
and there is no savior beside Me.[p]
12 I alone declared, saved and proclaimed,
and not some foreign god among you.
So you are My witnesses”
—it is a declaration of Adonai—
“and I am God.
13 From eternity, I am He.
None can deliver from My hand.
I act, and who can reverse it?”
14 Thus says Adonai,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon
and bring down the fleeing Chaldeans, all of them,
in the ships in which they exult.
15 I am Adonai, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King.”
16 Thus says Adonai,
who makes a way in the sea
and a path in the mighty waters.
17 who drew out chariots and horses,
the army and the warrior
(they will lie down together, and not rise again;
they are extinguished—quenched like a wick):
18 “Do not remember former things,
nor consider things of the past.
19 Here I am, doing a new thing;
Now it is springing up—
do you not know about it?
I will surely make a way in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland.
20 The field animals honor Me
—the jackals and the ostriches—
because I give waters in the desert,
rivers in the wilderness,
to give drink to My chosen people,
21 the people I formed for Myself,
so they might declare My praise.
22 Yet you have not called on Me, Jacob,
for you have been weary of Me, Israel.
23 You have not brought Me sheep for your burnt offerings;
nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices.
I did not compel you to serve offerings
nor wearied you with incense.
24 You have not spent money buying Me aromatic cane,
nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices.
Rather you burdened Me with your sins,
wearied Me with your iniquities.
25 I, I am the One who blots out
your transgressions for My own sake,
and will not remember your sins.
26 Remind me, when we argue our case together—
state your case, so you may be proved right.
27 Your first father sinned,
and your mediators rebelled against Me.
28 So I profaned the Sanctuary officials,
and gave Jacob over to destruction,
and Israel to scorn.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.