Chronological
40 ¶ Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2 Speak ye according to the heart of Jerusalem and cry unto her that her time is now fulfilled that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
3 ¶ The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places made plain:
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be manifested, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
6 The voice that said, Cry. And I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the mercy thereof is as the open flower of the field:
7 The grass withers, the flower fades because the spirit of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withers, the open flower fades; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
9 ¶ O Zion, that brings good tidings, go up into the high mountain; lift up thy voice with strength O bearer of good tidings of Jerusalem; lift it up, do not be afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12 ¶ Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and prepared the heavens with his palm and with three fingers measured the dust of the earth and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills with weights?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD or being his counsellor has taught him?
14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him? Who taught him in the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and showed unto him the way of intelligence?
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he causes the isles to disappear as dust.
16 And all Lebanon is not sufficient for the fire, nor all the beasts thereof sufficient for the sacrifice.
17 All the Gentiles are as nothing before him, and they are counted to him as vanity and as less than nothing.
18 ¶ To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
19 The workman prepares the graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold and casts silver chains.
20 He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks unto himself a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved.
21 Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not been taught since the land was founded?
22 He is seated upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; he stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 He brings the powerful to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as if they had never been,
24 As if they had never been planted, as if they had never been sown, as if their stock had never taken root in the earth; even blowing upon them, they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.
25 To whom then will ye liken me, or what shall ye compare me to? saith the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and behold who has created these things; he brings out his host by number; he calls them all by their names; none shall be lacking by the greatness of his might and by the strength of his power.
27 ¶ Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest thou, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28 Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the God of the age is the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth? He does not faint, nor is he weary; and there is no one that can attain to his intelligence.
29 He gives power to the faint; and to those that have no might he increases strength.
30 The young men faint and are weary; the children stumble and fall;
31 but those that wait for the LORD shall have new strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
41 ¶ Listen unto me, O islands; and let the peoples strengthen themselves; let them come near; then let them speak; let us come near together to judgment.
2 Who raised up righteousness from the east, called him that he might follow him, gave the Gentiles before him, and made him rule over kings? He gave them as the dust to his sword and as driven stubble to his bow.
3 He pursued them and passed in peace by the way that his feet had never entered.
4 Who has wrought and done it? Who calls the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and I, myself am with those who are last.
5 The isles saw it and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid; they congregated and came.
6 Each one helped his neighbour; and each one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smooths with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is well joined and he strengthened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
8 But thou, Israel, my slave, Jacob whom I have chosen, art the seed of Abraham my friend.
9 For I have taken thee from the ends of the earth and called thee from the boundaries thereof and said unto thee Thou shalt be my slave; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
10 ¶ Do not fear for I am with thee; do not be dismayed, for I am thy God, who strengthens thee; I will help thee always; I will always uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
11 Behold, all those that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing; and those that strive with thee shall perish.
12 Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find them, even those that contended with thee; those that war against thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of nought.
13 For I am the LORD thy God that holds thy right hand saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, ye dead of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I have placed thee as a threshing instrument, as a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat them small and shalt make the hills as chaff.
16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; but thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 The poor and needy seek the waters that are not; their tongue fails for thirst; I the LORD will hear them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the plains; I will turn the wilderness into pools of water and the dry land into springs of water.
19 I will bring forth in the wilderness cedars, thorns, myrtles, and olive trees; I will set in the desert the fir tree and the pine and the box tree together:
20 That they may see and know and take warning and understand together that the hand of the LORD does this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 ¶ Explain your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your foundations, saith the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring forth and declare unto us what shall happen; tell us what has happened from the beginning, and we shall consider it in our hearts; and we shall know what his end shall be, and cause us to understand that which is to come.
23 Give us news of that which is to come hereafter that we may know that ye are gods; or at least do good or do evil that we may have something to tell, and together we shall marvel.
24 Behold, ye are of nothing and your works of vanity; an abomination is he that chooses you.
25 I have raised up one from the north, and he came from the rising of the sun; he called in my name and came unto princes as upon clay and as the potter treads clay.
26 Who has declared from the beginning, that we shall know? and beforetime that we shall say, He is righteous? yea, there is no one that declares this, yea, there is no one that teaches, yea, there is no one that hears your words.
27 I am the first that has taught these things unto Zion, and unto Jerusalem I brought the news.
28 For I beheld, and there was no one; and I asked regarding these things, and there was no counsellor; I asked them, and they did not answer a word.
29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
42 ¶ Behold my slave, whom I uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he shall give judgment unto the Gentiles.
2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets.
3 He shall not break a bruised reed, nor shall he quench the smoking flax; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
4 He shall not tire nor faint until he has set judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law.
5 ¶ Thus saith God the LORD, the Creator of the heavens and he that stretches them out; he that spreads forth the earth and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath unto the people upon it and spirit to those that walk therein:
6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness and will hold thee by thine hand; I will keep thee and place thee as my covenant unto the people as light unto the Gentiles
7 that thou might open the eyes of the blind, that thou might bring out the prisoners from the prison and those that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
8 I am the LORD. This is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and I declare new things: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
10 Sing unto the LORD a new song and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea and all that is therein, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout {Heb. command} from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory unto the LORD and declare his praise in the islands.
13 ¶ The LORD shall go forth as a giant; he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; he shall cry out a battle cry; he shall prevail against his enemies.
14 I have long time held my peace; I have been still and refrained myself; now will I cry out like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
15 I will make waste mountains and hills and dry up all their grass, and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will cause them to walk in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them and not forsake them.
17 They shall be turned back; they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
18 ¶ Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
19 Who is blind, but my slave? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the slave of the LORD,
20 who sees many things and does not warn; who opens his ears and does not hear.
21 The LORD, jealous for his righteousness, will magnify the law and enlarge it.
22 Therefore this people is robbed and spoiled; all of them shall be snared in holes and hid in prison houses; they shall be for a prey, and no one delivers; for a spoil, and no one saith, Restore.
23 Who among you will give ear to this? Who will warn and consider regarding the time to come?
24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers? Did not the LORD? Because we sinned against him, and they did not desire to walk in his ways, neither did they hearken unto his law.
25 Therefore he has poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battle; he put fire round about him, yet he was careless; and it set him on fire, yet he did not lay it to heart.
43 ¶ But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Do not fear, for I have redeemed thee, I have named thee; Thou art mine.
2 When thou dost pass through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou dost walk through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Keeper; I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
4 Because thou wast precious in my sight, thou wast worthy of honour, and I have loved thee.
5 Do not fear; for I am with thee: I will bring thy generation from the east and gather thee from the west;
6 I will say to the north wind, Give up, and to the south, Do not keep back; bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth
7 even every one that is called by my name, for I have created them for my glory; I have formed them; yea, I have made them.
8 ¶ Bring forth the people that is blind that have eyes and the deaf that have ears.
9 Let all the Gentiles be gathered together as one, and let the peoples be joined; who among them can declare this and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified or let them hear and say, It is truth.
10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my slave whom I have chosen that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am he; before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
12 I have declared and have saved, and I have showed when there was no strange god among you; therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.
13 Even before the day was I existed; and there is no one that can deliver out of my hand; if I work, who shall hinder it?
14 ¶ Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon and caused fugitives to descend unto all of them and the clamour of Chaldeans in the ships.
15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.
16 Thus saith the LORD, who makes a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters;
17 when he brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall fall together, and never rise; they are extinct; they are quenched as wick.
18 Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing; it shall come to light quickly; shall ye not know it? I will again make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to my people, my chosen.
21 This people I have formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.
22 ¶ But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.
23 Thou hast not brought me the animals of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
24 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices, but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins; thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
25 I, even I, am he that uproots thy rebellions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins.
26 Cause me to remember; let us enter into judgment together; declare, thou, that it may be put to thy account.
27 Thy first father sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.
28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary and have set up Jacob as anathema, and Israel as a reproach.
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