Chronological

¹ Comfort my people and console them,
    says your God.
² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem
    and proclaim to her
that her time of servitude is over
    and that her guilt has been expiated.
Indeed she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double punishment for all her sins.
³     A voice cries out:
    In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
    make a straight path in the desert for our God.
⁴ Let every valley be filled in
    and every mountain and hill be made low.
Uneven ground will be made smooth
    and the rugged places will become a plain.
⁵ Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
    and all mankind will see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
⁶ A voice says, “Cry out!”
    I reply, “What shall I cry out?”
“All mortals are grass;
    they last no longer than the flowers of the field.
⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades,
    when the breath of the Lord falls upon them.
    Surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass may wither and the flower may fade,
    but the word of our God will endure forever.”
⁹ Climb to the top of a high mountain,
    O Zion, herald of good tidings.
Cry out as loudly as you can,
    O Jerusalem, herald of good news.
Lift up your voice without fear
    and proclaim to the cities of Judah,
    “Here is your God!”
¹⁰ See the Lord God approaching with power,
    he who rules with his powerful arm.
His reward is with him
    and his recompense^[d] is before him.
¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd,
    and in his arms he will gather the lambs,
carrying them in his bosom
    and gently leading the pregnant ewes to water.

¹² Who has measured the waters of the sea
    in the hollow of his hand,
or marked off the heavens
    with the breadth of his hand?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a measure
    and weighed the mountains in scales
    and the hills in a balance?
¹³ Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord?
    What counselor dared to instruct him?
¹⁴ Whom did he consult to gain enlightenment?
    Who taught him the path of justice?
Who taught him knowledge
    or showed him the way of understanding?
¹⁵ In his eyes the nations are
    like a drop in a bucket,
    like dust on the scales.
To him coasts and islands^[e]
    weigh no more than fine dust,
¹⁶ Lebanon would not supply enough wood for fuel,
    nor are its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
¹⁷ All the nations are as naught in his sight;
    he reckons them as nothing and void.
¹⁸ To whom then will you compare God?
    To what image can you liken him?
¹⁹ Perhaps an idol that a craftsman casts
    and a goldsmith overlays with gold
    and for which he fashions silver chains?
²⁰ Or should mulberry wood be chosen,
    a wood that will not rot,
and then a skilled artisan be designated
    to fashion an idol that will not fall over?
²¹ Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
Were you not told from the beginning?
    Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth?
²² God sits enthroned above the vault of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy
    and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
²³ He brings princes to naught
    and reduces the rulers of the earth to nothing.
²⁴ Scarcely have crops been planted or sown,
    scarcely have their stems taken root in the ground,
before he breathes on them and they wither,
    and storm winds carry them off like chaff.
²⁵ To whom then can you compare me,
    or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens.
    Who created these things?
He leads forth their host and numbers them,
    summoning them all by name.^[f]
Because of his mighty power and great strength,
    not one of them is missing.
²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and complain, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
    and my cause is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸ Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the eternal God,
    the Creator of the earth’s farthest boundaries.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding cannot be scrutinized.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
    and new vigor to those who are powerless.
³⁰ Even though young men faint and grow weary
    and youths stumble and fall,
³¹ those who place their hope in the Lord
    will regain their strength.
They will soar as with eagles’ wings,
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not become faint.

¹ Be silent and listen to me, O coastlands;
    let the peoples renew their strength.
Let them draw near and speak;
    let us meet together at the place of judgment.
² Who has raised up a victor from the east
    and summoned him to his service?
He delivers up nations to him
    and overthrows their kings.
With his sword he scatters them like dust,
    and with his bow he reduces them to stubble.
³ He pursues them and advances unscathed,
    scarcely touching the path with his feet.
⁴ Who has performed these deeds and accomplished this?
    Who has summoned the nations from the beginning?
I, the Lord, am the first,
    and I will be there with the last.
⁵ The coastlands have seen and become frightened;
    the ends of the earth tremble.
These things are fast approaching;
    they will come to pass.
⁶ Each worker helps another;
    they encourage each other to take heart.
⁷ The craftsman encourages the goldsmith,
    and the polisher the one who strikes the anvil;
he declares the soldering to be good,
    and he fastens the image with nails
    so that it will be secure.
⁸ But you, Israel, my servant,
    Jacob, whom I have chosen,
    the descendants of my friend Abraham,
⁹ you whom I have taken to myself
    from the ends of the earth
    and summoned from its farthest corners,
to whom I have said, “You are my servant;
    I have chosen you and will not cast you off.
¹⁰ Do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and give you help,
    I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”
¹¹ All those who rage against you
    will be put to shame and disgraced;
those who oppose you
    will be reduced to nothing and perish.
¹² You will search for those who oppose you
    but you will not find them.
Those who take up arms against you
    will be reduced to nothing.
¹³ For I, the Lord, am your God
    and I grasp your right hand.
It is I who say to you,
    Do not fear; I will help you.
¹⁴ Do not fear, you worm, Jacob,
    you maggot, Israel.
I will help you, says the Lord;
    your redeemer^[g] is the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵ Now I will make of you a threshing sledge,
    sharp, new, with numerous teeth.
You will thresh the mountains and crush them,
    and you will reduce the hills to chaff.
¹⁶ You will winnow them,
    the wind will carry them away,
    and the gale will scatter them.
Then you will rejoice in the Lord
    and 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 with thirst,
I the Lord will come to their aid;
    I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
¹⁸ I will open up rivers on the barren heights
    and fountains in the midst of valleys.
I will turn the wilderness into a lake
    and the dry land into springs of water.
¹⁹ In the wilderness I will plant cedars,
    acacias, myrtles, and olive trees;
in the wasteland I will place cypress trees
    to grow side by side with plane trees and pine trees,
²⁰ so that all may see and know,
    observe and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
    that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
²¹ Present your case, says the Lord.
    Produce your arguments, says the king of Jacob.
²² Let them bring forth their idols
    and reveal to us what is going to happen.
What happened in the past?
    Inform us so that we may reflect on it
and that we may know what the outcome will be
    or declare to us the things to come.
²³ Reveal to us what is yet to come
    so that we may know that you are gods.
Do something, whether good or bad,
    that will cause us to be alarmed and terrified.
²⁴ But you cannot do so, for you are nothing,
    and your works are truly worthless.
    To choose you is an abomination.
²⁵ I have stirred up one from the north,
    and he has come forth;
    from the east he has been summoned by name.
He will trample on rulers as if they were mud,
    like a potter treading clay.
²⁶ Who revealed this to us from the beginning
    so that we might know it,
or advised us beforehand
    so that we might say, “He is right”?
No one foretold it, no one proclaimed it,
    no one has heard you say anything in this regard.
²⁷ I was the first to declare it to Zion,
    and I sent a bearer of glad tidings to Jerusalem.
²⁸ But when I look around, I see no one;
    there is not a single one of them to offer counsel
    or to give an answer when I question them.
²⁹ No, they are a delusion.
    Nothing they do amounts to anything;
    their idols are empty wind.

¹ Here is my servant whom I uphold,
    my chosen one in whom my soul delights.
I have put my Spirit upon him;
    he will establish justice among the nations.
² He will not cry out or shout
    or make his voice heard in the street.
³ He will not break a bruised reed,
    nor will he snuff out a smoldering wick;
    faithfully he will establish justice.
⁴ He will not falter or become discouraged
    until he has established justice upon the earth;
    and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
⁵ Thus says God, the Lord,
    who created the heavens and stretched them out,
    who fashioned the earth and all that grows in it,
who gives breath to the people who dwell on it
    and spirit to those who walk upon it:
⁶ I, the Lord, have called you for a righteous purpose;
    I have taken you by the hand.
I have formed you and established you
    to be a covenant to the people
    and a light to the nations,
⁷ to open the eyes of the blind,
    and to lead captives out of prison,
and to release from the dungeon
    those who live in darkness.
⁸ I am the Lord; that is my name.
    My glory I do not grant to another,
    nor my praise to idols.
⁹ Behold, the earlier prophecies have come to pass,
    and now I will reveal new things.
Before they actually occur,
    I will announce them to you.

¹⁰ Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise from the ends of the earth.
Let the sea resound and all that fills it,
    the coastlands and all its inhabitants.
¹¹ Let the desert and its towns rejoice,
    the villages where Kedar^[i] dwells.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;
    let them shout from the top of the mountains.
¹² Let them all give glory to God
    and sing his praise in the coastlands.
¹³ The Lord marches forth like a hero;
    like a warrior he stirs up his fury.
He shouts forth his battle cry
    and triumphs against his foes.^[j]
14 For a long time I have restrained myself;
    I have maintained my silence and held my peace.
Now I will cry out like a woman in labor,
    gasping and panting.
¹⁵ I will lay waste mountains and hills
    and dry up all their vegetation.
I will convert rivers into islands
    and dry up the pools.
¹⁶ I will lead the blind^[k]
    and guide them along paths they do not know.
I will turn darkness into light before them
    and make straight their winding roads.
These are the things I will do for them,
    and I will not forsake them.
¹⁷ But those who place their trust in idols
    and who say to carved images,
“You are our gods,”
    will be turned back in bitter shame.
¹⁸ You who are deaf, listen!
    You who are blind, look and see!
¹⁹ Who is so blind as my servant,
    or so deaf as the messenger I send?
Who is so blind as the one dedicated to my service,
    or so deaf as the servant of the Lord?
²⁰ You have seen many things without comprehending them;
    your ears are open but you do not hear.
²¹ For the sake of his justice the Lord was pleased
    to make his law great and glorious.
²² But this is a people despoiled and plundered,
    all of them trapped in holes
    and hidden away in dungeons.
They have been pillaged with no one to rescue them;
    they are plundered with no one to demand their release.
²³ Who among you will pay heed to this?
    Who will pay attention and listen in the future?
²⁴ Who handed over Jacob to be plundered,
    who gave up Israel to be despoiled?
Was it not the Lord,
    against whom we have sinned?
They refused to walk in his ways,
    and they would not obey his laws.
²⁵ Therefore, he poured out upon them
    his blazing anger and the fury of battle.
It enveloped them in flames,
    but they did not understand,
it burned them,
    but they did not take it to heart.

¹ But now this is the word of the Lord,
    he who created you, O Jacob,
    and formed you, O Israel.
Have no fear, 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;
    nor will the waters engulf you.
When you walk through fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not consume you.
³ For I am the Lord, your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
    Ethiopia and Seba^[l] in exchange for you.
⁴ Because in my eyes you are precious,
    because you are honored and I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you
    and nations in return for your life.
⁵ Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
    I will bring your offspring from the east,
    and from the west I will gather you.
⁶ I will say to the north, “Give them up,”
    and to the south, “Do not hold them back.”
Bring back my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
⁷ everyone who bears my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.
⁸ Bring forth my people,
    those who have eyes yet are blind,
    those who have ears yet are deaf.
⁹ Let all the nations gather together
    and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them foretold this
    and proclaimed to us former events?
Let them produce witnesses to prove themselves right;
    let those who hear them say, “It is true!”
¹⁰ You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
    and my servants whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe in me
    and understand that it is I.
No god was formed before me,
    nor will there be any after me.
¹¹ I am the Lord,
    and there is no other savior but me.
¹² I have revealed and saved and proclaimed,
    and not some strange god among you;
    you are my witnesses to this, says the Lord.
¹³ I am God, and from eternity I am he;
    no one can deliver from my hand;
    no one can overrule or alter what I do.
¹⁴ Thus says the Lord, your redeemer,
    the Holy One of Israel:
For your sake I will send an army to Babylon
    to uproot all the prison bars,
and the triumphant shouts of the Chaldeans
    will turn to cries of lamentation.
¹⁵ I am the Lord, your Holy One,
    the Creator of Israel, your king.
¹⁶ Thus says the Lord,
    who opened a way through the sea,
    a path through raging waters,
¹⁷ who led out chariots and horsemen
    and an army of formidable strength,
until the enemy lay prostrate, unable to rise,
    extinguished and snuffed out like a wick.
¹⁸ Do not linger thinking about events of the past;
    consider not the things of old.
¹⁹ I am about to do something new.
    Now it comes to fruition;
    can you not perceive it?
I will make a path through the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.
²⁰ The wild beasts will honor me,
    the jackals and the ostriches,
because I will provide water in the desert
    and rivers in the wasteland
    where my chosen people may drink,
²¹ the people whom I formed for myself
    so that they may proclaim my praise.
²² Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;
    you grew weary of me, O Israel.
²³ You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings
    or honored me with your sacrifices.
I have not exacted grain offerings from you
    or wearied you with demands for incense.
²⁴ You have not purchased aromatic cane for me
    or sated me with the fat of your sacrifices.
Rather, you have burdened me with your sins;
    you have wearied me with your crimes.
²⁵ I, I alone, am the one
    who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
    and I will remember your sins no more.
²⁶ If you choose to review the past,
    let us go to trial;
    state your defense and prove your innocence.
²⁷ Your first ancestor sinned,
    and your spokesmen rebelled against me.
²⁸ Therefore, I expelled the leaders of the sanctuary,
    placing Jacob under the curse of destruction
    and subjecting Israel to scorn.