Sermon Central
Isaiah 1:1-66:24
View Full Chapter1The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
6From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness— only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil.
7Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
8Daughter Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under siege.
10Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
14Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
15When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!
16Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.
19If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;
20but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
21See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her— but now murderers!
26I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”
30You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water.
5Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD .
The Day of the LORD 6You, LORD, have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and embrace pagan customs.
10Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from the fearful presence of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty!
14for all the towering mountains and all the high hills,
15for every lofty tower and every fortified wall,
16for every trading ship
21They will flee to caverns in the rocks and to the overhanging crags from the fearful presence of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth.
2the hero and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder,
3the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter.
6A man will seize one of his brothers in his father’s house, and say, “You have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!”
10Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.
12Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. My people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path.
15What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty. 18In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, 22the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses
25Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle.
The Branch of the LORD 2In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. 6It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.
3“Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
6I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”
7The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.
9The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing: “Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants.
14Therefore Death expands its jaws, opening wide its mouth; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers.
15So people will be brought low and everyone humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
20Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks,
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.
25Therefore the LORD ’s anger burns against his people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
26He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!
27Not one of them grows tired or stumbles, not one slumbers or sleeps; not a belt is loosened at the waist, not a sandal strap is broken.
28Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses’ hooves seem like flint, their chariot wheels like a whirlwind. 30In that day they will roar over it like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks at the land, there is only darkness and distress; even the sun will be darkened by clouds.
Isaiah’s Commission 1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
3And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
7With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
12until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
The Sign of Immanuel 1When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it. 4Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. 6“Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”
7Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “ ‘It will not take place, it will not happen,
8for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.
9The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’ ” 10Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz,
11“Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”
Assyria, the LORD’s Instrument
18In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria.
20In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria—to shave your heads and private parts, and to cut off your beards also.
23In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels,
4For before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
5The LORD spoke to me again:
8and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel
9Raise the war cry,
15Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured.”
16Bind up this testimony of warning and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.
2The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
3You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.
4For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.
10“The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”
12Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west have devoured Israel with open mouth. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
13But the people have not returned to him who struck them, nor have they sought the LORD Almighty.
15the elders and dignitaries are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail.
18Surely wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns, it sets the forest thickets ablaze, so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.
1Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees,
3What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?
4Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives or fall among the slain. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
10As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols, kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—
16Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors; under his pomp a fire will be kindled like a blazing flame.
23The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land.
24Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says: “My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians, who beat you with a rod and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.
25Very soon my anger against you will end and my wrath will be directed to their destruction.”
27In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat.
28They enter Aiath; they pass through Migron; they store supplies at Mikmash.
29They go over the pass, and say, “We will camp overnight at Geba.” Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees.
33See, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be felled, the tall ones will be brought low. 34He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax; Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.
The Branch From Jesse 1A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD —
5Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
7The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 10In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
11In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush,
12He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.
Songs of Praise 1In that day you will say: “I will praise you, LORD . Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me.
2Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense
3With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
6Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
7Because of this, all hands will go limp, every heart will melt with fear.
10The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.
11I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
12I will make people scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.
14Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, they will all return to their own people, they will flee to their native land.
16Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives violated.
18Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants, nor will they look with compassion on children.
20She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; there no nomads will pitch their tents, there no shepherds will rest their flocks.
21But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about.
5The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,
8Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon gloat over you and say, “Now that you have been laid low, no one comes to cut us down.”
12How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
16Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble,
17the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?”
18All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb.
19But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, those who descend to the stones of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot,
20you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people. Let the offspring of the wicked never be mentioned again.
25I will crush the Assyrian in my land; on my mountains I will trample him down. His yoke will be taken from my people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”
26This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations.
29Do not rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken; from the root of that snake will spring up a viper, its fruit will be a darting, venomous serpent.
3In the streets they wear sackcloth; on the roofs and in the public squares they all wail, prostrate with weeping.
7So the wealth they have acquired and stored up they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.
1Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of Daughter Zion.
2Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.
3“Make up your mind,” Moab says. “Render a decision. Make your shadow like night— at high noon. Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees.
5In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it— one from the house
7Therefore the Moabites wail, they wail together for Moab. Lament and grieve for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.
8The fields of Heshbon wither, the vines of Sibmah also. The rulers of the nations have trampled down the choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots spread out and went as far as the sea.
9So I weep, as Jazer weeps, for the vines of Sibmah. Heshbon and Elealeh, I drench you with tears! The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit and over your harvests have been stilled.
12When Moab appears at her high place, she only wears herself out; when she goes to her shrine to pray, it is to no avail. 14But now the LORD says: “Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble.”
A Prophecy Against Damascus 1A prophecy against Damascus: “See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins.
5It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain, gathering the grain in their arms— as when someone gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.
7In that day people will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles
12Woe to the many nations that rage— they rage like the raging sea! Woe to the peoples who roar— they roar like the roaring of great waters! 14In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who plunder us.
A Prophecy Against Cush
1Woe to the land of whirring wings
2which sends envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the water. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.
3All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it.
5For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, and cut down and take away the spreading branches. 7At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD Almighty from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers— the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD Almighty.
4I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
5The waters of the river will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and dry.
6The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither,
7also the plants along the Nile, at the mouth of the river. Every sown field along the Nile will become parched, will blow away and be no more.
8The fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who throw nets on the water will pine away.
9Those who work with combed flax will despair, the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.
13The officials of Zoan have become fools, the leaders of Memphis are deceived; the cornerstones of her peoples have led Egypt astray. 20It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them.
A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush 1In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it— 6In that day the people who live on this coast will say, ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?’ ”
A Prophecy Against Babylon 1A prophecy against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.
A Prophecy Against Edom
11A prophecy against Dumah
12The watchman replies, “Morning is coming, but also the night. If you would ask, then ask; and come back yet again.”
15They flee from the sword, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow and from the heat of battle. 16This is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end.
2you town so full of commotion, you city of tumult and revelry? Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle.
4Therefore I said, “Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.”
6Elam takes up the quiver, with her charioteers and horses; Kir uncovers the shield.
7Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the city gates.
9You saw that the walls of the City of David were broken through in many places; you stored up water in the Lower Pool.
13But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!”
19I will depose you from your office, and you will be ousted from your position. 21I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
24All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars. 25“In that day,” declares the LORD Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The LORD has spoken.
3On the great waters came the grain of the Shihor; the harvest of the Nile
5When word comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report from Tyre.
6Cross over to Tarshish; wail, you people of the island.
9The LORD Almighty planned it, to bring down her pride in all her splendor and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.
13Look at the land of the Babylonians,
16“Take up a harp, walk through the city, you forgotten prostitute; play the harp well, sing many a song, so that you will be remembered.”
4The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth.
5The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant.
12The city is left in ruins, its gate is battered to pieces.
13So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.
17Terror and pit and snare await you, people of the earth.
22They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished
Praise to the LORD 1LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.
5and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled.
9In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
10The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain; but Moab will be trampled in their land as straw is trampled down in the manure.
3You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
5He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.
6Feet trample it down— the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.
7The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.
9My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
10But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD .
11LORD, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.
13LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor.
15You have enlarged the nation, LORD ; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land. 21See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.
Deliverance of Israel 1In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword— his fierce, great and powerful sword— Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.
5Or else let them come to me for refuge; let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me.”
6In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.
8By warfare
Woe to the Leaders of Ephraim and Judah 1Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley— to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!
5In that day the LORD Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people.
8All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.
16So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.
18Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.
20The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.
22Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the Lord, the LORD Almighty, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land.
24When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
28Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it, but one does not use horses to grind grain. 29All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.
Woe to David’s City 1Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled! Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on.
2Yet I will besiege Ariel; she will mourn and lament, she will be to me like an altar hearth.
6the LORD Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.
9Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer.
10The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).
12Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
17In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest?
18In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
22Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob: “No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale.
3But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame, Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.
6A prophecy concerning the animals of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lions and lionesses, of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs, their treasures on the humps of camels, to that unprofitable nation,
9For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD ’s instruction.
12Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit,
14It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern.”
15This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
16You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
30The LORD will cause people to hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
31The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria; with his rod he will strike them down.
32Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing club will be to the music of timbrels and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm. 33Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
5Like birds hovering overhead, the LORD Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.” 6Return, you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted against.
7For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made. 9Their stronghold will fall because of terror; at the sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
5No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
6For fools speak folly, their hearts are bent on evil: They practice ungodliness and spread error concerning the LORD ; the hungry they leave empty and from the thirsty they withhold water.
8But the noble make noble plans, and by noble deeds they stand.
The Women of Jerusalem 9You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say!
12Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines
13and for the land of my people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers— yes, mourn for all houses of merriment and for this city of revelry.
15till the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.
17The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.
3At the uproar of your army, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.
4Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.
12The peoples will be burned to ashes; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.”
13You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge my power!
14The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?”
16they are the ones who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, and water will not fail them.
20Look on Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.
Judgment Against the Nations 1Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it!
2The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is on all their armies. He will totally destroy
3Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will stink; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
4All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
8For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause.
9Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch!
15The owl will nest there and lay eggs, she will hatch them, and care for her young under the shadow of her wings; there also the falcons will gather, each with its mate.
4say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
6Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
9No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, 2Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field, 6Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.
7But if you say to me, “We are depending on the LORD our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?
9How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen
11Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
12But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?” 16“Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, 18“Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? 3They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them.
7Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’ ”
8When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
9Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,
Hezekiah’s Prayer 14Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD . 19They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.
20Now, LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, LORD, are the only God.
24By your messengers you have ridiculed the Lord. And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its junipers. I have reached its remotest heights, the finest of its forests.
27Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched
29Because you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.
30“This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: “This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
32For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
34By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city,” declares the LORD .
35“I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”
Hezekiah’s Illness 1In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.” 2Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
3“Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:
6And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.
10I said, “In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?”
11I said, “I will not again see the LORD himself in the land of the living; no longer will I look on my fellow man, or be with those who now dwell in this world.
12Like a shepherd’s tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the loom; day and night you made an end of me.
14I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!”
15But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul.
18For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.
21Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”
3Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?” “From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came to me from Babylon.”
4The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?” “They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”
2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD ’s hand double for all her sins.
5And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
10See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.
14Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?
15Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
21Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
25“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
28Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
30Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
2“Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service
3He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before.
9I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
10So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
11“All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.
12Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.
13For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.
17“The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
19I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together,
23tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.
25“I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes— one from the rising sun who calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay.
27I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’ I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news.
2He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.
4he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”
7to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
11Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops.
12Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands.
13The LORD will march out like a champion, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies.
Israel Blind and Deaf 18“Hear, you deaf; look, you blind, and see!
19Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one in covenant with me, blind like the servant of the LORD ?
21It pleased the LORD for the sake of his righteousness to make his law great and glorious.
22But this is a people plundered and looted, all of them trapped in pits or hidden away in prisons. They have become plunder, with no one to rescue them; they have been made loot, with no one to say, “Send them back.”
23Which of you will listen to this or pay close attention in time to come?
24Who handed Jacob over to become loot, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? For they would not follow his ways; they did not obey his law. 25So he poured out on them his burning anger, the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.
3For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush
5Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.
6I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
9All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Which of their gods foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things? Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right, so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”
10“You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “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, nor will there be one after me.
17who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
21the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.
23You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense.
24You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses.
27Your first father sinned; those I sent to teach you rebelled against me.
28So I disgraced the dignitaries of your temple; I consigned Jacob to destruction
3For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
4They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.
5Some will say, ‘I belong to the LORD ’; others will call themselves by the name of Jacob; still others will write on their hand, ‘The LORD ’s,’ and will take the name Israel.
11People who do that will be put to shame; such craftsmen are only human beings. Let them all come together and take their stand; they will be brought down to terror and shame.
13The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in human form, human form in all its glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.
17From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me! You are my god!”
19No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
20Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”
25who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense, 28who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.” ’
3I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
6so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other.
9“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’?
10Woe to the one who says to a father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to a mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?’
11“This is what the LORD says— the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?
16All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced; they will go off into disgrace together.
17But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting.
19I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.
21Declare what is to be, present it— let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD ? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me.
23By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.
24They will say of me, ‘In the LORD alone are deliverance and strength.’ ” All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. 25But all the descendants of Israel will find deliverance in the LORD and will make their boast in him.
Gods of Babylon
1Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden.
3“Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born.
4Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
8“Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.
10I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’
11From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.
12Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are now far from my righteousness.
7You said, ‘I am forever— the eternal queen!’ But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.
9Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.
11Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.
12“Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.
14Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. These are not coals for warmth; this is not a fire to sit by.
9For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely.
11For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.
13My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.
16“Come near me and listen to this: “From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.” And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me, endowed with his Spirit.
17This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.
6he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
12See, they will come from afar— some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan.
14But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”
16See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.
17Your children hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.
19“Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away.
23Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD ; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”
24Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives be rescued from the fierce
25But this is what the LORD says: “Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.
4The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.
5The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away.
6I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.
2look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.
4“Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.
14The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.
16I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand— I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”
18Among all the children she bore there was none to guide her; among all the children she reared there was none to take her by the hand.
21Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine.
1Awake, awake, Zion, clothe yourself with strength! Put on your garments of splendor, Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again.
2Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, Daughter Zion, now a captive.
4For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “At first my people went down to Egypt to live; lately, Assyria has oppressed them.
6Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I.”
8Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes.
10The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.
The Suffering and Glory of the Servant
13See, my servant will act wisely
14Just as there were many who were appalled at him
5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
8By oppression
The Future Glory of Zion 1“Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD .
2“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
4“Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
7“For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
11“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
12I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
14In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you.
15If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. 17no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD .
Invitation to the Thirsty 1“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
2Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.
5Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.”
8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD .
12You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD ’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”
Salvation for Others 1This is what the LORD says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
4For this is what the LORD says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant—
6And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—
7these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
10Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep.
3“But you—come here, you children of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!
9You went to Molek
12I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you.
16I will not accuse them forever, nor will I always be angry, for then they would faint away because of me— the very people I have created.
19creating praise on their lips. Peace, peace, to those far and near,” says the LORD . “And I will heal them.” 21“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
4Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
8Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness
7Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes; acts of violence mark their ways.
8The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks along them will know peace.
9So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
13rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God, inciting revolt and oppression, uttering lies our hearts have conceived.
16He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.
17He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
18According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due.
20“The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the LORD . 21“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD . “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the LORD .
2See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
3Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
4“Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip.
8“Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their nests?
9Surely the islands look to me; in the lead are the ships of Tarshish,
13“The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the juniper, the fir and the cypress together, to adorn my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place for my feet.
14The children of your oppressors will come bowing before you; all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
18No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.
19The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
21Then all your people will be righteous and they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor.
The Year of the LORD’s Favor
1The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
3and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
4They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.
6And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.
Zion’s New Name 1For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.
2The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.
5As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
7and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.
11Then his people recalled
17Why, LORD, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance.
2As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!
4Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved?
6All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
8Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
10Your sacred cities have become a wasteland; even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.
11Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins.
Judgment and Salvation 1“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
2All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations—
9I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live.
11“But as for you who forsake the LORD and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
12I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will fall in the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.”
14My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit.
New Heavens and a New Earth 17“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
21They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
23They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.
6Hear that uproar from the city, hear that noise from the temple! It is the sound of the LORD repaying his enemies all they deserve.
7“Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son.
9Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD . “Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?” says your God.
10“Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her.
15See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16For with fire and with his sword the LORD will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the LORD .
18“And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come
21And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the LORD . 22“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure. 23From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD .