Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition

39 At that time Mer'odach-bal'adan the son of Bal'adan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezeki'ah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. ²And Hezeki'ah welcomed them; and he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. ³Then Isai'ah the prophet came to King Hezeki'ah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezeki'ah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” ⁴He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezeki'ah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

5 Then Isai'ah said to Hezeki'ah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: ⁶Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the LORD. ⁷And some of your own sons, who are born to you, shall be taken away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” ⁸Then said Hezeki'ah to Isai'ah, “The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”

God Comforts His People

40 * Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

that her warfareⁿ is ended,

that her iniquity is pardoned,

that she has received from the LORD’s hand

double for all her sins.

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

⁴Every valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

and the rough places a plain.

⁵And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together,

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

⁶A voice says, “Cry!”

And I said, “What shall I cry?”

and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

⁷The grass withers, the flower fades,

when the breath of the LORD blows upon it;

surely the people is grass.

⁸The grass withers, the flower fades;

but the word of our God will stand for ever.

⁹Get you up to a high mountain,

O Zion, herald of good tidings;^o

lift up your voice with strength,

O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,^p

lift it up, fear not;

say to the cities of Judah,

“Behold your God!”

¹⁰Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,

and his arm rules for him;

behold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd,

he will gather the lambs in his arms,

he will carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young.

¹²Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span,

enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

and weighed the mountains in scales

and the hills in a balance?

¹³Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,

or as his counselor has instructed him?

¹⁴Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,

and who taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

¹⁵Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted as the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up the isles like fine dust.

¹⁶Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

¹⁸To whom then will you liken God,

or what likeness compare with him?

¹⁹The idol! a workman casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold,

and casts for it silver chains.

²⁰He who is impoverished^q chooses for an offering

wood that will not rot;

he seeks out a skilful craftsman

to set up an image that will not move.

²¹Have you not known? Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

²²It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

²³who brings princes to nought,

and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

²⁴Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

when he blows upon them, and they wither,

and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

²⁵To whom then will you compare me,

that I should be like him?

²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see:

He who brings out their host by number,

calling them all by name;

by the greatness of his might,

and because he is strong in power

²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob,

and speak, O Israel,

“My way is hidden from the LORD,

and my right is disregarded by my God”?

²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary,

his understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

³⁰Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

³¹but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.

Israel Assured of God’s Help

41 Listen to me in silence, O islands;

let the peoples renew their strength;

let them approach, then let them speak;

let us together draw near for judgment.

²Who stirred up one from the east

whom victory meets at every step?

He gives up nations before him,

so that he tramples kings under foot;

he makes them like dust with his sword,

like driven stubble with his bow.

³He pursues them and passes on safely,

by paths his feet have not trod.

⁴Who has performed and done this,

calling the generations from the beginning?

I, the LORD, the first,

and with the last; I am He.

⁵The islands have seen and are afraid,

the ends of the earth tremble;

they have drawn near and come.

⁶Every one helps his neighbor,

and says to his brother, “Take courage!”

⁷The craftsman encourages the goldsmith,

and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,

saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

and they fasten it with nails so that it cannot be moved.

⁸But you, Israel, my servant,

Jacob, whom I have chosen,

the offspring of Abraham, my friend;

⁹you whom I took from the ends of the earth,

and called from its farthest corners,

saying to you, “You are my servant,

I have chosen you and not cast you off”;

¹⁰fear not, for I am with you,

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

¹¹Behold, all who are incensed against you

shall be put to shame and confounded;

those who strive against you

shall be as nothing and shall perish.

¹²You shall seek those who contend with you,

but you shall not find them;

those who war against you

shall be as nothing at all.

¹³For I, the LORD your God,

hold your right hand;

it is I who say to you, “Fear not,

¹⁴Fear not, you worm Jacob,

I will help you, says the LORD;

your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵Behold, I will make of you a threshing sledge,

new, sharp, and having teeth;

you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,

and you shall make the hills like chaff;

¹⁶you shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away,

and the tempest shall scatter them.

And you shall rejoice in the LORD;

in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

¹⁷When the poor and needy seek water,

and their tongue is parched with thirst,

I the LORD will answer them,

I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

¹⁸I will open rivers on the bare heights,

and fountains in the midst of the valleys;

I will make the wilderness a pool of water,

and the dry land springs of water.

¹⁹I will put in the wilderness the cedar,

the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;

I will set in the desert the cypress,

the plane and the pine together;

²⁰that men may see and know,

may consider and understand together,

that the hand of the LORD has done this,

the Holy One of Israel has created it.

²¹Set forth your case, says the LORD;

bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.

²²Let them bring them, and tell us

Tell us the former things, what they are,

that we may consider them,

that we may know their outcome;

or declare to us the things to come.

²³Tell us what is to come hereafter,

that we may know that you are gods;

do good, or do harm,

that we may be dismayed and terrified.

²⁴Behold, you are nothing,

and your work is nought;

an abomination is he who chooses you.

²⁵I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,

from the rising of the sun, and he shall call on my name;

he shall trample^r on rulers as on mortar,

as the potter treads clay.

²⁶Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,

and beforetime, that we might say, “He is right”?

There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,

none who heard your words.

²⁷I first have declared it to Zion,^s

and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good tidings.

²⁸But when I look there is no one;

among these there is no counselor

who, when I ask, gives an answer.

²⁹Behold, they are all a delusion;

their works are nothing;

their molten images are empty wind.

The Lord’s Servant; and Israel’s Disobedience

42 * Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him,

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

²He will not cry or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

³a bruised reed he will not break,

and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

⁴He will not fail^t or be discouraged^u

till he has established justice in the earth;

and the islands wait for his law.

⁵Thus says God, the LORD,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread forth the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people upon it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

⁶“I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,

I have taken you by the hand and kept you;

I have given you as a covenant to the people,

a light to the nations,

⁷ to open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

from the prison those who sit in darkness.

⁸I am the LORD, that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to graven images.

⁹Behold, the former things have come to pass,

and new things I now declare;

before they spring forth

I tell you of them.”

¹⁰Sing to the LORD a new song,

his praise from the end of the earth!

Let the sea roar^v and all that fills it,

the islands and their inhabitants.

¹¹Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,

the villages that Ke'dar inhabits;

let the inhabitants of Se'la sing for joy,

let them shout from the top of the mountains.

¹²Let them give glory to the LORD,

and declare his praise in the islands.

¹³The LORD goes forth like a mighty man,

like a man of war he stirs up his fury;

he cries out, he shouts aloud,

he shows himself mighty against his foes.

¹⁴For a long time I have held my peace,

I have kept still and restrained myself;

now I will cry out like a woman with labor pains,

I will gasp and pant.

¹⁵I will lay waste mountains and hills,

and dry up all their herbage;

I will turn the rivers into islands,

and dry up the pools.

¹⁶And I will lead the blind

in a way that they know not,

in paths that they have not known

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

the rough places into level ground.

These are the things I will do,

and I will not forsake them.

¹⁷They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame,

who trust in graven images,

who say to molten images,

“You are our gods.”

¹⁸Hear, you deaf;

and look, you blind, that you may see!

¹⁹Who is blind but my servant,

or deaf as my messenger whom I send?

Who is blind as my dedicated one,

or blind as the servant of the LORD?

²⁰He sees^w many things, but does not observe them;

his ears are open, but he does not hear.

²¹The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,

to magnify his law and make it glorious.

²²But this is a people robbed and plundered,

they are all of them trapped in holes

and hidden in prisons;

they have become a prey with none to rescue,

a spoil with none to say, “Restore!”

²³Who among you will give ear to this,

will attend and listen for the time to come?

²⁴Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler,

and Israel to the robbers?

Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned,

in whose ways they would not walk,

and whose law they would not obey?

²⁵So he poured upon him the heat of his anger

and the might of battle;

it set him on fire round about, but he did not understand;

it burned him, but he did not take it to heart.

The Lord Is Redeemer of Israel

43 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

²When you pass through the waters I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

³For I am the LORD your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I give Egypt as your ransom,

Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.

⁴Because you are precious in my eyes,

and honored, and I love you,

I give men in return for you,

peoples in exchange for your life.

⁵Fear not, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring from the east,

and from the west I will gather you;

⁶I will say to the north, Give up,

and to the south, Do not withhold;

bring my sons from afar

and my daughters from the end of the earth,

⁷every one who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.”

⁸Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes,

who are deaf, yet have ears!

⁹Let all the nations gather together,

and let the peoples assemble.

Who among them can declare this,

and show us the former things?

Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,

and let them hear and say, It is true.

¹⁰“You are my witnesses,” says the LORD,

“and my servant whom I have chosen,

that you may know and believe me

and understand that I am He.

Before me no god was formed,

nor shall there be any after me.

¹¹I, I am the LORD,

and besides me there is no savior.

¹²I declared and saved and proclaimed,

when there was no strange god among you;

and you are my witnesses,” says the LORD.

¹³“I am God, and also henceforth I am He;

there is none who can deliver from my hand;

I work and who can hinder it?”

¹⁴Thus says the LORD,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“For your sake I will send to Babylon

and break down all the bars,

and the shouting of the Chalde'ans will be turned to lamentations.^x

¹⁵I am the LORD, your Holy One,

the Creator of Israel, your King.”

¹⁶Thus says the LORD,

who makes a way in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters,

¹⁷who brings forth chariot and horse,

they lie down, they cannot rise,

they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

¹⁸“Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

¹⁹Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

²⁰The wild beasts will honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches;

for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,

²¹ the people whom I formed for myself

that they might declare my praise.

²²“Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;

but you have been weary of me, O Israel!

²³You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,

or honored me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with offerings,

or wearied you with frankincense.

²⁴You have not bought me sweet cane with money,

or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened me with your sins,

you have wearied me with your iniquities.

who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

and I will not remember your sins.

²⁶Put me in remembrance, let us argue together;

set forth your case, that you may be proved right.

²⁷Your first father sinned,

and your mediators transgressed against me.

²⁸Therefore I profaned the princes of the sanctuary,

I delivered Jacob to utter destruction

and Israel to reviling.

God’s Blessing on Israel

44 “But now hear, O Jacob my servant,

Israel whom I have chosen!

²Thus says the LORD who made you,

who formed you from the womb and will help you:

Fear not, O Jacob my servant,

Jesh'urun whom I have chosen.

³For I will pour water on the thirsty land,

and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour my Spirit upon your descendants,

and my blessing on your offspring.

⁴They shall spring up like grass amid waters,^y

like willows by flowing streams.

⁵This one will say, ‘I am the LORD’s,’

another will call himself by the name of Jacob,

and another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’

and surname himself by the name of Israel.”

⁶Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel

and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:

“I am the first and I am the last;

besides me there is no god.

⁷Who is like me? Let him proclaim it,

let him declare and set it forth before me.

Who has announced from of old the things to come?^z

Let them tell us^a what is yet to be.

⁸Fear not, nor be afraid;

have I not told you from of old and declared it?

And you are my witnesses!

Is there a God besides me?

There is no Rock; I know not any.”

The Folly of Idol Worship

9 All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. ¹⁰Who fashions a god or casts an image, that is profitable for nothing? ¹¹Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are but men; let them all assemble, let them stand forth, they shall be terrified, they shall be put to shame together.

12 The ironsmith fashions it^b and works it over the coals; he shapes it with hammers, and forges it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry and his strength fails, he drinks no water and is faint. ¹³The carpenter stretches a line, he marks it out with a pencil; he fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. ¹⁴He cuts down cedars; or he chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. ¹⁵Then it becomes fuel for a man; he takes a part of it and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread; also he makes a god and worships it, he makes it a graven image and falls down before it. ¹⁶Half of it he burns in the fire; over the half he eats flesh, he roasts meat and is satisfied; also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” ¹⁷And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol; and falls down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”

Israel Is Not Forgotten

18 They know not, nor do they discern; for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their minds, so that they cannot understand. ¹⁹No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire, I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted flesh and have eaten; and shall I make the residue of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” ²⁰He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

²¹Remember these things, O Jacob,

and Israel, for you are my servant;

I formed you, you are my servant;

O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.

²²I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud,

and your sins like mist;

return to me, for I have redeemed you.

²³Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it;

shout, O depths of the earth;

break forth into singing, O mountains,

O forest, and every tree in it!

For the LORD has redeemed Jacob,

and will be glorified in Israel.

²⁴Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer,

who formed you from the womb:

“I am the LORD, who made all things,

who stretched out the heavens alone,

who spread out the earth—Who was with me? ^c—

²⁵who frustrates the omens of liars,

and makes fools of diviners;

who turns wise men back,

and makes their knowledge foolish;

²⁶who confirms the word of his servant,

and performs the counsel of his messengers;

who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’

and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,

and I will raise up their ruins’;

²⁷who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,

I will dry up your rivers’;

²⁸who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,

and he shall fulfil all my purpose’;

saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’

and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”

Cyrus, God’s Instrument

45 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus,

whose right hand I have grasped,

to subdue nations before him

and uncover the loins of kings,

to open doors before him

that gates may not be closed:

²“I will go before you

and level the mountains,^d

I will break in pieces the doors of bronze

and cut asunder the bars of iron,

³I will give you the treasures of darkness

and the hoards in secret places,

that you may know that it is I, the LORD,

the God of Israel, who call you by your name.

⁴For the sake of my servant Jacob,

and Israel my chosen,

I call you by your name,

I surname you, though you do not know me.

⁵I am the LORD, and there is no other,

besides me there is no God;

I clothe you, though you do not know me,

⁶that men may know, from the rising of the sun

and from the west, that there is none besides me;

I am the LORD, and there is no other.

⁷I form light and create darkness,

I make well-being and create woe,

I am the LORD, who do all these things.

⁸“Shower, O heavens, from above,

and let the skies rain down righteousness;

let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth,^e

and let it cause righteousness to spring up also;

I the LORD have created it.

⁹“Woe to him who strives with his Maker,

an earthen vessel with the potter!^f

Does the clay say to him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’

or ‘Your work has no handles’?

¹⁰Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’

or to a woman, ‘With what are you suffering labor pains?’ ”

¹¹Thus says the LORD,

the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:

“Will you question me^g about my children,

or command me concerning the work of my hands?

¹²I made the earth,

and created man upon it;

it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,

and I commanded all their host.

¹³I have aroused him in righteousness,

and I will make straight all his ways;

he shall build my city

and set my exiles free,

not for price or reward,”

says the LORD of hosts.

¹⁴Thus says the LORD:

“The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia,

and the Sabe'ans, men of stature,

shall come over to you and be yours,

they shall follow you;

they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.

They will make spanlication to you, saying:

‘God is with you only, and there is no other,

no god besides him.’”

¹⁵Truly, you are a God who hide yourself,

O God of Israel, the Savior.

¹⁶All of them are put to shame and confounded,

the makers of idols go in confusion together.

¹⁷But Israel is saved by the LORD

with everlasting salvation;

you shall not be put to shame or confounded

¹⁸For thus says the LORD,

who created the heavens

who formed the earth and made it

he did not create it a chaos,

he formed it to be inhabited!):

“I am the LORD, and there is no other.

¹⁹I did not speak in secret,

in a land of darkness;

I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,

‘Seek me in chaos.’

I the LORD speak the truth,

I declare what is right.

²⁰“Assemble yourselves and come,

you survivors of the nations!

They have no knowledge

who carry about their wooden idols,

and keep on praying to a god

²¹Declare and present your case;

let them take counsel together!

Who told this long ago?

Who declared it of old?

Was it not I, the LORD?

And there is no other god besides me,

a righteous God and a Savior;

there is none besides me.

²²“Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other.

²³By myself I have sworn,

from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness

a word that shall not return:

‘To me every knee shall bow,

every tongue shall swear.’

²⁴“Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me,

are righteousness and strength;

to him shall come and be ashamed,

all who were incensed against him.

²⁵In the LORD all the offspring of Israel

shall triumph and glory.”

46 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops,

their idols are on beasts and cattle;

these things you carry are loaded

as burdens on weary beasts.

²They stoop, they bow down together,

they cannot save the burden,

but themselves go into captivity.

³“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all the remnant of the house of Israel,

who have been borne by me from your birth,

carried from the womb;

⁴even to your old age I am He,

and to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear;

I will carry and will save.

⁵“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,

and compare me, that we may be alike?

⁶Those who lavish gold from the purse,

and weigh out silver in the scales,

hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;

then they fall down and worship!

⁷They lift it upon their shoulders, they carry it,

they set it in its place, and it stands there;

it cannot move from its place.

If one cries to it, it does not answer

or save him from his trouble.

⁸“Remember this and consider,

recall it to mind, you transgressors,

⁹ remember the former things of old;

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me,

¹⁰declaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

¹¹calling a bird of prey from the east,

the man of my counsel from a far country.

I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;

I have planned, and I will do it.

¹²“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,

you who are far from deliverance:

¹³I bring near my deliverance, it is not far off,

and my salvation will not tarry;

I will put salvation in Zion,

for Israel my glory.”

The Humiliation of Babylon

47 Come down and sit in the dust,

O virgin daughter of Babylon;

sit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of the Chalde'ans!

For you shall no more be called

tender and delicate.

²Take the millstones and grind meal,

strip off your robe, uncover your legs,

pass through the rivers.

³Your nakedness shall be uncovered,

and your shame shall be seen.

I will take vengeance,

and I will spare no man.

⁴Our Redeemer—the LORD of hosts is his name—

is the Holy One of Israel.

⁵Sit in silence, and go into darkness,

O daughter of the Chalde'ans;

for you shall no more be called

the mistress of kingdoms.

⁶I was angry with my people,

I profaned my heritage;

I gave them into your hand,

you showed them no mercy;

on the aged you made your yoke

⁷You said, “I shall be mistress for ever,”

so that you did not lay these things to heart

or remember their end.

⁸Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,

who say in your heart,

“I am, and there is no one besides me;

I shall not sit as a widow

or know the loss of children”:

⁹These two things shall come to you

in a moment, in one day;

the loss of children and widowhood

shall come upon you in full measure,

in spite of your many sorceries

and the great power of your enchantments.

¹⁰You felt secure in your wickedness,

you said, “No one sees me”;

your wisdom and your knowledge

and you said in your heart,

“I am, and there is no one besides me.”

¹¹But evil shall come upon you,

for which you cannot atone;

disaster shall fall upon you,

which you will not be able to expiate;

and ruin shall come on you suddenly,

of which you know nothing.

¹²Stand fast in your enchantments

and your many sorceries,

with which you have labored from your youth;

perhaps you may be able to succeed,

perhaps you may inspire terror.

¹³You are wearied with your many counsels;

let them stand forth and save you,

those who divide the heavens,

who gaze at the stars,

who at the new moons predict

what^h shall befall you.

¹⁴Behold, they are like stubble,

the fire consumes them;

they cannot deliver themselves

from the power of the flame.

No coal for warming oneself is this,

no fire to sit before!

¹⁵Such to you are those with whom you have labored,

who have trafficked with you from your youth;

they wander about each in his own direction;

there is no one to save you.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness to God the Creator and Redeemer

48 Hear this, O house of Jacob,

who are called by the name of Israel,

and who came forth from the loinsⁱ of Judah;

who swear by the name of the LORD,

and confess the God of Israel,

but not in truth or right.

²For they call themselves after the holy city,

and stay themselves on the God of Israel;

the LORD of hosts is his name.

³“The former things I declared of old,

they went forth from my mouth and I made them known;

then suddenly I did them and they came to pass.

⁴Because I know that you are obstinate,

and your neck is an iron sinew

and your forehead brass,

⁵I declared them to you from of old,

before they came to pass I announced them to you,

lest you should say, ‘My idol did them,

my graven image and my molten image commanded them.’

⁶“You have heard; now see all this;

and will you not declare it?

From this time forth I make you hear new things,

hidden things which you have not known.

⁷They are created now, not long ago;

before today you have never heard of them,

lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’

⁸You have never heard, you have never known,

from of old your ear has not been opened.

For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,

and that from birth you were called a rebel.

⁹“For my name’s sake I defer my anger,

for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,

that I may not cut you off.

¹⁰Behold, I have refined you, but not like^j silver;

I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

¹¹For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

for how should my name^k be profaned?

My glory I will not give to another.

¹²“Listen to me, O Jacob,

and Israel, whom I called!

I am He, I am the first,

¹³My hand laid the foundation of the earth,

and my right hand spread out the heavens;

when I call to them,

they stand forth together.

¹⁴“Assemble, all of you, and hear!

Who among them has declared these things?

he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,

and his arm shall be against the Chalde'ans.

¹⁵I, even I, have spoken and called him,

I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.

¹⁶Draw near to me, hear this:

from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,

from the time it came to be I have been there.”

And now the Lord GOD has sent me and his Spirit.

¹⁷Thus says the LORD,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit,

who leads you in the way you should go.

¹⁸O that you had listened to my commandments!

Then your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;

¹⁹your offspring would have been like the sand,

and your descendants like its grains;

their name would never be cut off

or destroyed from before me.”

²⁰Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chalde'a,

declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it,

send it forth to the end of the earth;

say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

²¹They thirsted not when he led them through the deserts;

he made water flow for them from the rock;

he cleft the rock and the water gushed out.

²²“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

The Servant’s Mission

49 Listen to me, O islands,

and pay attention, you peoples from afar.

The LORD called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name.

²He made my mouth like a sharp sword,

in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow,

in his quiver he hid me away.

³And he said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

⁴But I said, “I have labored in vain,

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my right is with the LORD,

and my recompense with my God.”

⁵And now the LORD says,

who formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him,

and that Israel might be gathered to him,

for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,

and my God has become my strength—

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to restore the preserved of Israel;

I will give you as a light to the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

⁷Thus says the LORD,

the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,

the servant of rulers:

“Kings shall see and arise;

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;

because of the LORD, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

⁸Thus says the LORD:

“In a time of favor I have answered you,

in a day of salvation I have helped you;

I have kept you and given you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

to apportion the desolate heritages;

⁹saying to the prisoners, ‘Come forth,’

to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

They shall feed along the ways,

on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

¹⁰they shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,

for he who has pity on them will lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them.

¹¹And I will make all my mountains a way,

and my highways shall be raised up.

¹²Behold, these shall come from afar,

and behold, these from the north and from the west,

and these from the land of Sye'ne.” ^l

¹³Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the LORD has comforted his people,

and will have compassion on his afflicted.

¹⁴But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,

my Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her sucking child,

that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

¹⁶Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me.

¹⁷Your builders outstrip your destroyers,

and those who laid you waste go forth from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes round about and see;

they all gather, they come to you.

As I live, says the LORD,

you shall put them all on as an ornament,

you shall bind them on as a bride does.

¹⁹“Surely your waste and your desolate places

and your devastated land—

surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

²⁰The children born in the time of your bereavement

will yet say in your ears:

‘The place is too narrow for me;

make room for me to dwell in.’

²¹Then you will say in your heart:

‘Who has borne me these?

I was bereaved and barren,

exiled and put away,

but who has brought up these?

Behold, I was left alone;

from where then have these come?’”

²²Thus says the Lord GOD:

“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,

and raise my signal to the peoples;

and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,

and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

²³Kings shall be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers.

With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the LORD;

those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”

²⁴Can the prey be taken from the mighty,

or the captives of a tyrant^m be rescued?

²⁵Surely, thus says the LORD:

“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,

and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,

for I will contend with those who contend with you,

and I will save your children.

²⁶I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,

and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.

Then all flesh shall know

that I am the LORD your Savior,

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

The Sufferings of the Servant

50 Thus says the LORD:

“Where is your mother’s bill of divorce,

with which I put her away?

Or which of my creditors is it

to whom I have sold you?

Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,

and for your transgressions your mother was put away.

²Why, when I came, was there no man?

When I called, was there no one to answer?

Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?

Or have I no power to deliver?

Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,

I make the rivers a desert;

their fish stink for lack of water,

³I clothe the heavens with blackness,

and make sackcloth their covering.”

⁴The Lord GOD has given me

the tongue of those who are taught,

that I may know how to sustain with a word

Morning by morning he wakens,

to hear as those who are taught.

⁵The Lord GOD has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious,

I turned not backward.

⁶I gave my back to those who struck me,

and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;

from shame and spitting.

⁷For the Lord GOD helps me;

therefore I have not been confounded;

therefore I have set my face like a flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

⁸ he who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who is my adversary?

Let him come near to me.

⁹Behold, the Lord GOD helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;

the moth will eat them up.

¹⁰Who among you fears the LORD

and obeys the voice of his servant,

who walks in darkness

yet trusts in the name of the LORD

and relies upon his God?

¹¹Behold, all you who kindle a fire,

who set brands alight.ⁿ

Walk by the light of your fire,

and by the brands which you have kindled!

This shall you have from my hand:

you shall lie down in torment.

The Lord Will Comfort Zion

51 “Listen to me, you who pursue deliverance,

you who seek the LORD;

look to the rock from which you were hewn,

and to the quarry from which you were dug.

²Look to Abraham your father

and to Sarah who bore you;

for when he was but one I called him,

and I blessed him and made him many.

³For the LORD will comfort Zion:

he will comfort all her waste places,

and will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the garden of the LORD;

joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.

⁴“Listen to me, my people,

and give ear to me, my nation;

for a law will go forth from me,

and my justice for a light to the peoples.

⁵My deliverance draws near speedily,

my salvation has gone forth,

and my arms will rule the peoples;

the islands wait for me,

and for my arm they hope.

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

for the heavens will vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and they who dwell in it will die like gnats; o

but my salvation will be for ever,

and my deliverance will never be ended.

⁷“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

the people in whose heart is my law;

fear not the reproach of men,

and be not dismayed at their revilings.

⁸For the moth will eat them up like a garment,

and the worm will eat them like wool;

but my deliverance will be for ever,

and my salvation to all generations.”

⁹Awake, awake, put on strength,

awake, as in days of old,

the generations of long ago.

Was it not you who cut Ra'hab in pieces,

who pierced the dragon?

¹⁰Was it not you who dried up the sea,

the waters of the great deep;

who made the depths of the sea a way

for the redeemed to pass over?

¹¹And the ransomed of the LORD shall return,

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain joy and gladness,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹²“I, I am he who comforts you;

who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,

of the son of man who is made like grass,

¹³and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker,

who stretched out the heavens

and laid the foundations of the earth,

and fear continually all the day

because of the fury of the oppressor,

when he sets himself to destroy?

And where is the fury of the oppressor?

¹⁴He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;

he shall not die and go down to the Pit,

neither shall his bread fail.

¹⁵For I am the LORD your God,

who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

the LORD of hosts is his name.

¹⁶And I have put my words in your mouth,

and hid you in the shadow of my hand,

stretching out p the heavens

and laying the foundations of the earth,

and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”

¹⁷Rouse yourself, rouse yourself,

stand up, O Jerusalem,

you who have drunk at the hand of the LORD

the cup of his wrath,

who have drunk to the dregs

the bowl of staggering.

¹⁸There is none to guide her

among all the sons she has borne;

there is none to take her by the hand

among all the sons she has brought up.

¹⁹These two things have befallen you—

who will condole with you?—

devastation and destruction, famine and sword;

who will comfort you? ^q

²⁰Your sons have fainted,

they lie at the head of every street

like an antelope in a net;

they are full of the wrath of the LORD,

the rebuke of your God.

²¹Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,

who are drunk, but not with wine:

²²Thus says your Lord, the LORD,

your God who pleads the cause of his people:

“Behold, I have taken from your hand

the cup of staggering;

the bowl of my wrath

you shall drink no more;

²³and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,

who have said to you,

‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;

and you have made your back like the ground

and like the street for them to pass over.”

Awake to Good Tidings of Redemption

put on your strength, O Zion;

put on your beautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, the holy city;

for there shall no more come into you

the uncircumcised and the unclean.

²Shake yourself from the dust, arise,

O captive r Jerusalem;

loose the bonds from your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion.

3 For thus says the LORD: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. ⁴For thus says the Lord GOD: My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. ⁵Now therefore what have I here, says the LORD, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail, says the LORD, and continually all the day my name is despised. ⁶Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I.”

⁷How beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who brings good tidings,

who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good,

who publishes salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

⁸Listen, your watchmen lift up their voice,

together they sing for joy;

for eye to eye they see

the return of the LORD to Zion.

⁹Break forth together into singing,

you waste places of Jerusalem;

for the LORD has comforted his people,

he has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The LORD has bared his holy arm

before the eyes of all the nations;

and all the ends of the earth shall see

the salvation of our God.

¹¹Depart, depart, go out from there,

touch no unclean thing;

go out from the midst of her, purify yourselves,

you who bear the vessels of the LORD.

¹²For you shall not go out in haste,

and you shall not go in flight,

for the LORD will go before you,

and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

¹³Behold, my servant shall prosper,

he shall be exalted and lifted up,

and shall be very high.

¹⁴As many were astonished at him s —

his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the sons of men—

¹⁵so shall he startle t many nations;

kings shall shut their mouths because of him;

for that which has not been told them they shall see,

and that which they have not heard they shall understand.

The Lord’s Suffering Servant

53 Who has believed what we have heard?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

²For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

³He was despised and rejected u by men;

a man of sorrows,^v and acquainted with grief; w

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴Surely he has borne our griefs^x

and carried our sorrows;^y

yet we esteemed him stricken,

struck down by God, and afflicted.

⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions,

he was bruised for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,

and with his stripes we are healed.

⁶All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned every one to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.*

⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

⁸By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

⁹And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him;

he has put him to grief;^z

when he makes himself^a an offering for sin,

he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days;

the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand;

¹¹ he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous;

and he shall bear their iniquities.

¹²Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;

because he poured out his soul to death,

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

Mercy and Comfort Offered

54 “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;

break forth into singing and cry aloud,

you who have not had labor pains!

For the children of the desolate one will be more

than the children of her that is married, says the LORD.

²Enlarge the place of your tent,

and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;

hold not back, lengthen your cords

and strengthen your stakes.

³For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,

and your descendants will possess the nations

and will people the desolate cities.

⁴“Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;

be not confounded, for you will not be put to shame;

for you will forget the shame of your youth,

and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

⁵For your Maker is your husband,

the LORD of hosts is his name;

and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,

the God of the whole earth he is called.

⁶For the LORD has called you

like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,

like a wife of youth when she is cast off,

⁷For a brief moment I forsook you,

but with great compassion I will gather you.

⁸In overflowing wrath for a moment

I hid my face from you,

but with everlasting mercy I will have compassion on you,

says the LORD, your Redeemer.

⁹“For this is like the days of Noah to me:

as I swore that the waters of Noah

should no more go over the earth,

so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you

and will not rebuke you.

¹⁰For the mountains may depart

and the hills be removed,

but my mercy shall not depart from you,

and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,

says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

¹¹“O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,

behold, I will set your stones in antimony,

and lay your foundations with sapphires.^b

¹²I will make your pinnacles of agate,

your gates of carbuncles,

and all your wall of precious stones.

¹³All your sons shall be taught by the LORD,

and great shall be the prosperity of your sons.

¹⁴In righteousness you shall be established;

you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;

and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

¹⁵If any one stirs up strife,

whoever stirs up strife with you

shall fall because of you.

¹⁶Behold, I have created the smith

who blows the fire of coals,

and produces a weapon for its purpose.

I have also created the ravager to destroy;

¹⁷ no weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper,

and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.

This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD

and their vindication from me, says the LORD.”

An Invitation to Abundant Life

55 “Ho, every one who thirsts,

and he who has no money,

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without price.

²Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

and delight yourselves in rich food.

³Incline your ear, and come to me;

hear, that your soul may live;

and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,

my steadfast, merciful love for David.

⁴Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,

a leader and commander for the peoples.

⁵Behold, you shall call nations that you know not,

and nations that knew you not shall run to you,

because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,

for he has glorified you.

⁶“Seek the LORD while he may be found,

call upon him while he is near;

⁷let the wicked forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on him,

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.

⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

¹¹so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I intend,

and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

¹²“For you shall go out in joy,

and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and the hills before you

shall break forth into singing,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

¹³Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;

instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;

and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial,

for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off.”

Rewards of Righteousness

56 * Thus says the LORD:

“Keep justice, and do righteousness,

for soon my salvation will come,

and my deliverance be revealed.

²Blessed is the man who does this,

and the son of man who holds it fast,

who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it,

and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

³Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say,

“The LORD will surely separate me from his people”;

and let not the eunuch say,

“Behold, I am a dry tree.”

⁴For thus says the LORD:

“To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths,

who choose the things that please me

and hold fast my covenant,

⁵I will give in my house and within my walls

a monument and a name

better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name

which shall not be cut off.

⁶“And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,

to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD,

and to be his servants,

every one who keeps the sabbath, and does not profane it,

and holds fast my covenant—

⁷these I will bring to my holy mountain,

and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

their burnt offerings and their sacrifices

will be accepted on my altar;

for my house shall be called a house of prayer

⁸Thus says the Lord GOD,

who gathers the outcasts of Israel,

I will gather yet others to him

besides those already gathered.” ^c

⁹All you beasts of the field, come to devour—

all you beasts in the forest.

¹⁰His watchmen are blind,

they are all without knowledge;

they are all mute dogs,

dreaming, lying down,

¹¹The dogs have a mighty appetite;

they never have enough.

The shepherds also have no understanding;

they have all turned to their own way,

each to his own gain, one and all.

¹²“Come,” they say, “let us^d get wine,

let us fill ourselves with strong drink;

and tomorrow will be like this day,

great beyond measure.”

57 The righteous man perishes,

and no one lays it to heart;

devout men are taken away,

while no one understands.

For the righteous man is taken away from calamity,

² he enters into peace;

they rest in their beds

who walk in their uprightness.

³But you, draw near to here,

sons of the sorceress,

offspring of the adulterer and the harlot.

⁴Of whom are you making sport?

Against whom do you open your mouth wide

and put out your tongue?

Are you not children of transgression,

the offspring of deceit,

⁵you who burn with lust among the oaks,

under every green tree;

who slay your children in the valleys,

under the clefts of the rocks?

⁶Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion;

they, they, are your lot;

to them you have poured out a drink offering,

you have brought a cereal offering.

Shall I be appeased for these things?

⁷Upon a high and lofty mountain

you have set your bed,

and from there you went up to offer sacrifice.

⁸Behind the door and the doorpost

you have set up your symbol;

for, deserting me, you have uncovered your bed,

you have gone up to it,

you have made it wide;

and you have made a bargain for yourself with them,

you have loved their bed,

you have looked on nakedness.^e

⁹You journeyed to Mo'lech^f with oil

and multiplied your perfumes;

you sent your envoys far off,

and sent down even to Sheol.

¹⁰You were wearied with the length of your way,

but you did not say, “It is hopeless”;

you found new life for your strength,

and so you were not faint.

¹¹Whom did you dread and fear,

and did not remember me,

did not give me a thought?

Have I not held my peace, even for a long time,

and so you do not fear me?

¹²I will tell of your righteousness and your doings,

but they will not help you.

¹³When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!

The wind will carry them off,

a breath will take them away.

But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land,

and shall inherit my holy mountain.

¹⁴And it shall be said,

“Build up, build up, prepare the way,

remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”

¹⁵For thus says the high and lofty One

who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

“I dwell in the high and holy place,

and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit,

to revive the spirit of the humble,

and to revive the heart of the contrite.

¹⁶For I will not contend for ever,

nor will I always be angry;

for from me proceeds the spirit,

and I have made the breath of life.

¹⁷Because of the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry,

I struck him, I hid my face and was angry;

but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.

¹⁸I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;

I will lead him and repay him with comfort,

creating for his mourners the fruit of the lips.

¹⁹Peace, peace, to the far and to the near, says the LORD;

and I will heal him.

²⁰But the wicked are like the tossing sea;

and its waters toss up mire and dirt.

²¹There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.”

True and False Fasting and Worship

58 “Cry aloud, spare not,

lift up your voice like a trumpet;

declare to my people their transgression,

to the house of Jacob their sins.

²Yet they seek me daily,

and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that did righteousness

and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments,

they delight to draw near to God.

³‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?

Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,^g

and oppress all your workers.

⁴Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to hit with wicked fist.

Fasting like yours this day

will not make your voice to be heard on high.

⁵Is such the fast that I choose,

a day for a man to humble himself?

Is it to bow down his head like a rush,

and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?

Will you call this a fast,

and a day acceptable to the LORD?

⁶“Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo the thongs of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?

⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him,

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

⁸Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up speedily;

your righteousness shall go before you,

the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

⁹Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;

you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.

“If you take away from the midst of you the yoke,

the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

¹⁰if you pour yourself out for the hungry

and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,

then shall your light rise in the darkness

and your gloom be as the noonday.

¹¹And the LORD will guide you continually,

and satisfy your desire with good things,^h

and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water,

whose waters do not fail.

¹²And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

the restorer of streets to dwell in.

¹³“If you turn back your foot from the sabbath,

from doing your pleasureⁱ on my holy day,

and call the sabbath a delight

and the holy day of the LORD honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

or seeking your own pleasure,^j or talking idly;

¹⁴then you shall take delight in the LORD,

and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Injustice and Oppression to Be Punished

59 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,

or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;

²but your iniquities have made a separation

between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden his face from you

so that he does not hear.

³For your hands are defiled with blood

and your fingers with iniquity;

your lips have spoken lies,

your tongue mutters wickedness.

⁴No one enters suit justly,

no one goes to law honestly;

they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,

they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.

⁵They hatch adders’ eggs,

they weave the spider’s web;

he who eats their eggs dies,

and from one which is crushed a viper is hatched.

⁶Their webs will not serve as clothing;

men will not cover themselves with what they make.

Their works are works of iniquity,

and deeds of violence are in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil,

and they make haste to shed innocent blood;

their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,

desolation and destruction are in their highways.

⁸The way of peace they know not,

and there is no justice in their paths;

they have made their roads crooked,

no one who goes in them knows peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not overtake us;

we look for light, and behold, darkness,

and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

¹⁰We grope for the wall like the blind,

we grope like those who have no eyes;

we stumble at noon as in the twilight,

among those in full vigor we are like dead men.

¹¹We all growl like bears,

we moan and moan like doves;

we look for justice, but there is none;

for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before you,

and our sins testify against us;

for our transgressions are with us,

and we know our iniquities:

¹³transgressing, and denying the LORD,

and turning away from following our God,

speaking oppression and revolt,

conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

¹⁴Justice is turned back,

and righteousness stands afar off;

for truth has fallen in the public squares,

and uprightness cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is lacking,

and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

The LORD saw it, and it displeased him

that there was no justice.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man,

and wondered that there was no one to intervene;

then his own arm brought him victory,

and his righteousness upheld him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation upon his head;

he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in fury as a mantle.

¹⁸According to their deeds, so will he repay,

wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;

to the islands he will render repayment.

¹⁹So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west,

and his glory from the rising of the sun;

for he will come like a rushing stream,

which the wind of the LORD drives.

²⁰ “And he will come to Zion as Redeemer,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the LORD.

²¹ “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD: my spirit which is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your children, or out of the mouth of your children’s children, says the LORD, from this time forth and for evermore.”

The Lord Will Come as a Light and Will Gather His People

60 Arise, shine; for your light has come,

and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

²For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,

and thick darkness the peoples;

but the LORD will arise upon you,

and his glory will be seen upon you.

³And nations shall walk by your light,

and kings in the brightness of your rising.

⁴Lift up your eyes round about, and see;

they all gather together, they come to you;

your sons shall come from far,

and your daughters shall be carried in the arms.

⁵Then you shall see and be radiant,

your heart shall thrill and rejoice;^k

because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,

the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

⁶A multitude of camels shall cover you,

the young camels of Mid'ian and E'phah;

all those from Sheba shall come.

They shall bring gold and frankincense,

and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD.

⁷All the flocks of Ke'dar shall be gathered to you,

the rams of Nebai'oth shall minister to you;

they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,

and I will glorify my glorious house.

⁸Who are these that fly like a cloud,

and like doves to their windows?

⁹For the islands shall wait for me,

the ships of Tar'shish first,

to bring your sons from far,

their silver and gold with them,

for the name of the LORD your God,

and for the Holy One of Israel,

because he has glorified you.

¹⁰Foreigners shall build up your walls,

and their kings shall minister to you;

for in my wrath I struck you,

but in my favor I have had mercy on you.

¹¹Your gates shall be open continually;

day and night they shall not be shut;

that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations,

with their kings led in procession.

¹²For the nation and kingdom

that will not serve you shall perish;

those nations shall be utterly laid waste.

¹³The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,

the cypress, the plane, and the pine,

to beautify the place of my sanctuary;

and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

¹⁴The sons of those who oppressed you

shall come bending low to you;

and all who despised you

shall bow down at your feet;

they shall call you the City of the LORD,

the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,

with no one passing through,

I will make you majestic for ever,

a joy from age to age.

¹⁶You shall suck the milk of nations,

you shall suck the breast of kings;

and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

¹⁷Instead of bronze I will bring gold,

and instead of iron I will bring silver;

instead of wood, bronze,

instead of stones, iron.

I will make your overseers peace

and your taskmasters righteousness.

¹⁸Violence shall no more be heard in your land,

devastation or destruction within your borders;

you shall call your walls Salvation,

and your gates Praise.

¹⁹The sun shall no longer be

nor for brightness shall the moon

give light to you by night;^l

but the LORD will be your everlasting light,

and your God will be your glory.

²⁰Your sun shall no more go down,

nor your moon withdraw itself;

for the LORD will be your everlasting light,

and your days of mourning shall be ended.

²¹Your people shall all be righteous;

they shall possess the land for ever,

the shoot of my planting, the work of my hands,

that I might be glorified.

²²The least one shall become a clan,

and the smallest one a mighty nation;

in its time I will hasten it.

Good Tidings for the Afflicted

61 * The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,

because the LORD has anointed me

to bring good tidings to the afflicted;^m

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prisonⁿ to those who are bound;

²to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

³to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a garland instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.

⁴They shall build up the ancient ruins,

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,

the devastations of many generations.

⁵Aliens shall stand and feed your flocks,

foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;

⁶but you shall be called the priests of the LORD,

men shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;

you shall eat the wealth of the nations,

and in their riches you shall glory.

⁷Instead of your shame you shall have a double portion,

instead of dishonor you^o shall rejoice in your^p lot;

therefore in your^p land you^o shall possess a double portion;

yours^q shall be everlasting joy.

⁸For I the LORD love justice,

I hate robbery and wrong;^r

I will faithfully give them their recompense,

and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

⁹Their descendants shall be known among the nations,

and their offspring in the midst of the peoples;

all who see them shall acknowledge them,

that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.

¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,

my soul shall exult in my God;

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹¹For as the earth brings forth its shoots,

and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,

so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise

to spring forth before all the nations.

The Vindication and Salvation of Zion

62 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,

and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,

until her vindication goes forth as brightness,

and her salvation as a burning torch.

²The nations shall see your vindication,

and all the kings your glory;

and you shall be called by a new name

which the mouth of the LORD will give.

³You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,

and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

⁴You shall no more be termed Forsaken,^s

and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;^t

but you shall be called My delight is in her,^u

and your land Married;^v

for the LORD delights in you,

and your land shall be married.

⁵For as a young man marries a virgin,

so shall your sons marry you,

and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,

so shall your God rejoice over you.

⁶Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,

I have set watchmen;

all the day and all the night

they shall never be silent.

You who put the LORD in remembrance,

⁷and give him no rest

until he establishes Jerusalem

and makes it a praise in the earth.

⁸The LORD has sworn by his right hand

and by his mighty arm:

“I will not again give your grain

to be food for your enemies,

and foreigners shall not drink your wine

for which you have labored;

⁹but those who garner it shall eat it

and praise the LORD,

and those who gather it shall drink it

in the courts of my sanctuary.”

¹⁰Go through, go through the gates,

prepare the way for the people;

build up, build up the highway,

lift up an ensign over the peoples.

¹¹Behold, the LORD has proclaimed

to the end of the earth:

Say to the daughter of Zion,

“Behold, your salvation comes;

behold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.”

¹²And they shall be called The holy people,

The redeemed of the LORD;

and you shall be called Sought out,

a city not forsaken.

Vengeance on Enemies; God’s Mercy Recounted and Sought

63 Who is this that comes from E'dom,

in crimsoned garments from Bozrah,

he that is glorious in his apparel,

marching in the greatness of his strength?

“It is I, announcing vindication,

²Why is your apparel red,

and your garments like his who treads in the wine press?

³“I have trodden the wine press alone,

and from the peoples no one was with me;

I trod them in my anger

and trampled them in my wrath;

their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments,

and I have stained all my clothing.

⁴For the day of vengeance was in my heart,

and my year of redemption^w has come.

⁵I looked, but there was no one to help;

I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;

so my own arm brought me victory,

and my wrath upheld me.

⁶I trod down the peoples in my anger,

I made them drunk in my wrath,

and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

⁷I will recount the merciful love of the LORD,

the praises of the LORD,

according to all that the LORD has granted us,

and the great goodness to the house of Israel

which he has granted them according to his mercy,

according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

⁸For he said, Surely they are my people,

sons who will not deal falsely;

and he became their Savior.

⁹In all their affliction he was afflicted,^x

and the angel of his presence saved them;

in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;

he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

¹⁰But they rebelled

and grieved his holy Spirit;

therefore he turned to be their enemy,

and himself fought against them.

¹¹Then he remembered the days of old,

of Moses his servant.

Where is he who brought up out of the sea

the shepherds of his flock?

Where is he who put in the midst of them

¹²who caused his glorious arm

to go at the right hand of Moses,

who divided the waters before them

to make for himself an everlasting name,

¹³ who led them through the depths?

Like a horse in the desert,

they did not stumble.

¹⁴Like cattle that go down into the valley,

the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest.

So you led your people,

to make for yourself a glorious name.

¹⁵Look down from heaven and see,

from your holy and glorious habitation.

Where are your zeal and your might?

The yearning of your heart and your compassion

are withheld from me.

¹⁶For you are our Father,

though Abraham does not know us

and Israel does not acknowledge us;

you, O LORD, are our Father,

our Redeemer from of old is your name.

¹⁷O LORD, why do you make us err from your ways

and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?

Return for the sake of your servants,

the tribes of your heritage.

¹⁸Your holy people possessed your sanctuary a little while;

our adversaries have trodden it down.

¹⁹We have become like those over whom you have never ruled,

like those who are not called by your name.

64 O that you would tear the heavens and come down,

that the mountains might quake at your presence—

^{2 y} as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil—

to make your name known to your adversaries,

and that the nations might tremble at your presence!

³When you did terrible things which we looked not for,

you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

⁴From of old no one has heard

or perceived by the ear,

no eye has seen a God besides you,

who works for those who wait for him.

⁵You meet him that joyfully works righteousness,

those that remember you in your ways.

Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;

in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? ^z

⁶We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

⁷There is no one that calls upon your name,

that bestirs himself to take hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us,

and have delivered^a us into the hand of our iniquities.

⁸Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;

we are the clay, and you are our potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

⁹Be not exceedingly angry, O LORD,

and remember not iniquity for ever.

Behold, consider, we are all your people.

¹⁰Your holy cities have become a wilderness,

Zion has become a wilderness,

Jerusalem a desolation.

¹¹Our holy and beautiful house,

where our fathers praised you,

has been burned by fire,

and all our pleasant places have become ruins.

¹²Will you restrain yourself at these things, O LORD?

Will you keep silent, and afflict us sorely?

The Righteousness of God’s Judgment

65 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;

I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.

I said, “Here am I, here am I,”

to a nation that did not call on my name.

²I spread out my hands all the day

to a rebellious people,

who walk in a way that is not good,

following their own devices;

³a people who provoke me

to my face continually,

sacrificing in gardens

and burning incense upon bricks;

⁴who sit in tombs,

and spend the night in secret places;

who eat swine’s flesh,

and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;

⁵who say, “Keep to yourself,

do not come near me, for I am set apart from you.”

These are a smoke in my nostrils,

a fire that burns all the day.

⁶Behold, it is written before me:

“I will not keep silent, but I will repay,

yes, I will repay into their bosom

⁷ their^b iniquities and their^b fathers’ iniquities together,

because they burned incense upon the mountains

and reviled me upon the hills,

I will measure into their bosom

payment for their former doings.”

⁸Thus says the LORD:

“As the wine is found in the cluster,

and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,

for there is a blessing in it,’

so I will do for my servants’ sake,

and not destroy them all.

⁹I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,

and from Judah inheritors of my mountains;

my chosen shall inherit it,

and my servants shall dwell there.

¹⁰Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,

and the Valley of A'chor a place for herds to lie down,

for my people who have sought me.

¹¹But you who forsake the LORD,

who forget my holy mountain,

who set a table for Fortune

and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny;

¹²I will destine you to the sword,

and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter;

because, when I called, you did not answer,

when I spoke, you did not listen,

but you did what was evil in my eyes,

and chose what I did not delight in.”

¹³Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:

“Behold, my servants shall eat,

but you shall be hungry;

behold, my servants shall drink,

but you shall be thirsty;

behold, my servants shall rejoice,

but you shall be put to shame;

¹⁴behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,

but you shall cry out for pain of heart,

and shall wail for anguish of spirit.

¹⁵You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse,

and the Lord GOD will slay you;

but his servants he will call by a different name.

¹⁶So that he who blesses himself in the land

shall bless himself by the God of truth,

and he who takes an oath in the land

shall swear by the God of truth;

because the former troubles are forgotten

and are hidden from my eyes.

¹⁷“For behold, I create new heavens

and the former things shall not be remembered

¹⁸But be glad and rejoice for ever

in that which I create;

for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing,

and her people a joy.

¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem,

and be glad in my people;

no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping

and the cry of distress.

²⁰No more shall there be in it

an infant that lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not fill out his days,

for the child shall die a hundred years old,

and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.

²¹They shall build houses and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

²²They shall not build and another inhabit;

they shall not plant and another eat;

for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

²³They shall not labor in vain,

or bear children for calamity;^c

for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD,

and their children with them.

²⁴Before they call I will answer,

while they are yet speaking I will hear.

²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,

the lion shall eat straw like the ox;

and dust shall be the serpent’s food.

They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain,

66 Thus says the LORD:

and the earth is my footstool;

what is the house which you would build for me,

and what is the place of my rest?

²All these things my hand has made,

and so all these things are mine,^d

But this is the man to whom I will look,

he that is humble and contrite in spirit,

and trembles at my word.

³“He who slaughters an ox is like him who kills a man;

he who sacrifices a lamb, like him who breaks a dog’s neck;

he who presents a cereal offering, like him who offers swine’s blood;

he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like him who blesses an idol.

These have chosen their own ways,

and their soul delights in their abominations;

⁴I also will choose affliction for them,

and bring their fears upon them;

because, when I called, no one answered,

when I spoke they did not listen;

but they did what was evil in my eyes,

and chose that in which I did not delight.”

⁵Hear the word of the LORD,

you who tremble at his word:

“Your brethren who hate you

and cast you out for my name’s sake

have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified,

that we may see your joy’;

but it is they who shall be put to shame.

⁶“Listen, an uproar from the city!

A voice from the temple!

The voice of the LORD,

rendering recompense to his enemies!

⁷“Before she was in labor

before her pain came upon her

she was delivered of a son.

⁸Who has heard such a thing?

Who has seen such things?

Shall a land be born in one day?

Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment?

For as soon as Zion was in labor

she brought forth her sons.

⁹Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth?

shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?

¹⁰“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,

all you who love her;

rejoice with her in joy,

all you who mourn over her;

¹¹that you may suck and be satisfied

with her consoling breasts;

that you may drink deeply with delight

from the abundance of her glory.”

¹²For thus says the LORD:

“Behold, I will extend prosperity to her like a river,

and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream;

and you shall suck, you shall be carried upon her hip,

and fondled upon her knees.

¹³As one whom his mother comforts,

so I will comfort you;

you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

¹⁴You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;

your bones shall flourish like the grass;

and it shall be known that the hand of the LORD is with his servants,

and his indignation is against his enemies.

¹⁵“For behold, the LORD will come in fire,

and his chariots like the stormwind,

to render his anger in fury,

and his rebuke with flames of fire.

¹⁶For by fire will the LORD execute judgment,

and by his sword, upon all flesh;

and those slain by the LORD shall be many.

The New Heavens and New Earth

18 “For I know^e their works and their thoughts, and I am^f coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, ¹⁹and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tar'shish, Put,^g and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tu'bal and Ja'van, to the islands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. ²⁰And they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the sons of Israel bring their cereal offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. ²¹And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.