The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Prophecies Concerning Judah and Israel
Jerusalem: Her Present Sin and Punishment; Her Future Redemption and Glory 
 1The vision of Judah and Jerusalem, as seen by Isaiah the son of Amoz, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The Prophet's Lament over the Unfaithfulness of the People to their God
 2Hear, you heavens, and give ear, O earth,
for the Lord Himself is the Speaker. 
‟Sons have I reared and brought up,
but rebellious to Me are they grown.
 3An ox knows its owner,
and an ass its master's crib;
but Israel does not know,
my people do not consider.”

 4Ah! sinful nation,
you people laden with guilt,
you brood of evil-doers,
you children all corrupt,
that have forsaken the Lord,
and spurned the Holy One of Israel:

 5Why would you court more stripes
by straying yet further from Him?
The head is sick altogether,
the heart is all diseased.
 6From the sole of the foot to the head
there is no soundness therein:
Nought but bruises and weals
and wounds that are raw and bleeding,
all unpressed and unbandaged,
all unsoftened with oil.

 7Your land is a desolation,
your cities are burned with fire;
the fields before your eyes
are being devoured by aliens.
 8And the daughter of Zion is left
all alone like a booth in a vineyard,
a lodge in a cucumber-field,
or a turret where men keep watch.
 9Were it not that the Lord of Hosts
had left us a remnant,
our fate has been wellnigh like Sodom's,
or like to Gomorrah's.
The Futility of a Merely Ceremonial Worship 
 10Give ear to the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom;
and hear what our God has to teach you,
you folk of Gomorrah.
 11The Lord says, ‟What care I
For your multiplied sacrifices?
I am sick of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
blood of bullocks, of lambs, or goats,
is no pleasure to Me.
 12When you gather to gaze on My face,
who has asked you for these things?
Trample My courts no more,
 13Bring offerings no more.
Vain is the smoke of sacrifice,
to me 'tis abomination.
The new moon and Sabbath,
the call to assembly,
the fast and the festival
I cannot (endure).
 14They weigh Me down,
I am tired of the burden.

 15When therefore you spread out your hands,
I will hide from you Mine eyes;
when you make your many prayers,
I will not listen to you.
 16Your hands are full of blood:
Wash, and make you clean.
Banish out of My sight
the wicked things that you do.
Cease to do evil, 
 17Learn to do well.
Let justice be ever your care,
punish the man of violence,
win for the orphan his rights,
and defend the cause of the widow.”
The Great Alternatives 
 18‟Come,” says the Lord, ‟and now
let us reason together.
Your sins, though like scarlet, may yet
become white as the snow.
And though they be crimson-red,
they may yet be as wool.
 19If you be obedient and willing,
you shall taste the good of the land;
 20But if you refuse and rebel,
‟Tis the sword you shall taste:
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”
Zion's Present Shame and Future Glory
 21Alas! how the once faithful City
has turned to be harlot.
She that was once full of justice,
she wherein righteousness lodged,
is now haunted by murderers.
 22Your silver is now become dross,
and your wine mixed with water.
 23Your rulers are grown to be rebels,
the comrades of the thieves-
Every man of them fond of his bribe,
hunting ever for gifts,
caring nought for the rights of the orphan
or the cause of the widow.

 24Therefore thus says the Lord, the Lord of Hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel:
“From Mine enemies who resist Me,
I will get Me the comfort of vengeance.
 25I will turn My hand against you;
I will smelt out your dross in the furnace,
and all your alloy remove.

 26Judges, like those of old,
and counsellors as of yore, I will give you.
Thereafter shall you called
the City of Justice, the Faithful City.

 27By justice shall Zion be ransomed,
and by righteousness her people.
 28But together rebels and sinners be crushed,
and those that abandon the Lord shall perish.
The Heathen Cult and its Doom
 29For the trees you delight in shall bring you to shame,
and abashed shall you be for your gardens beloved.
 30Like a tree with withered leaves
shall you be-like a waterless garden.
 31Like tow shall the strong man become,
and the thing he has wrought like a spark;
and both shall burn together
in a flame that cannot be quenched.
Jerusalem the Centre of Blessing to the World; Arbitration, Disarmament, and International Peace  
 2The message of Isaiah the son of Amoz: his vision of Judah and Jerusalem.
 2In the after-time it shall be
that the mountain of the Lord
Shall be set at the head of the mountains,
and exalted above the hills.
All the peoples shall thither stream,
 3Many nations shall go and say,
“Come, let us go to the mount of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
That He in His ways may instruct us,
and that we in His paths may walk.
For instruction proceeds from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
 4He will judge the disputes of the peoples,
and for manifold nations so justly will arbitrate
that their swords they will beat into ploughshares,
and to pruning-hooks their spears.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
and war they shall learn no more.

 5O household of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Judgment upon the Wealth and Pride of Judah
the Lord's Judgement-Day
 6(Get you into the caves of the rocks,
and hide in the holes of the ground,
from the Lord's dread face, when in glory majestic
he rises with terror to smile the earth.) 
For He has forsaken His people,
the household of Jacob.

Filled is his land from the east with diviners,
with soothsayers like to the Philistines,
sorcerers, children of aliens.
 7Filled in his land full of silver and gold,
and his treasure is endless.
Filled in his land full of horses,
his chariots are endless.
 8Filled is his land full of idols,
he worships the work of his hands,
the things that his fingers have made.
 11So the pride of men shall be humbled,
laid low shall man's loftiness be,
and that day shall the Lord alone be exalted. 
 10Get you into the rocks,
and hide in the ground,
from the Lord's dread presence
and glory majestic. 
 12For a day of the Lord is coming
upon all that is haughty and proud,
upon all that is lofty and high-
 13Upon cedars if Lebanon all,
and oaks of Bashan all,
 14Upon all the great mountains
and all the high hills,
 15Upon all the proud towers,
all fortified walls,
 16Upon all ships of Tarshish
and all gallant craft.
 17Then the pride of men shall be humbled,
laid low shall man's loftiness be,
and that day shall the Lord alone be exalted.
 18The Idols shall all of them vanish.
 19Get you into the caves of the rocks,
and the holes of the ground
from the Lord's dread face, when in glory majestic
he rises with terror to smile the earth. 
 20That day shall men cast away
to the moles and to the bats
their idols of silver and gold,
which they made for themselves to worship;
 21And into the caves of the rocks they shall get them,
and into the rents of the cliffs,
from the Lord's dread face, when in glory majestic
he rises-with terror to smite the earth.  
 22Oh cease your trust in man, in whose nostrils is but a breath. Of what account is he?
A Reign of Anarchy 
 3Behold, the Lord the 1Lord of Hosts
take staff and stay from Jerusalem and Judah-
 2Soldiers and Warriors, judges and prophets,
 3Deviners and elders, and captains of fifty,
men of distinction, and men of sage counsel,
cunning magicians and skilful enchanters.
 4And boys I will give then for princes,
and men of caprice shall rule over them.
 5The people shall play the tyrant,
each man over his neighbour.
The young shall be rude to the aged,
the man of low rank to the high.

 6One shall take hold of his fellow, and say to him:
“Your family has a robe;
come, and do you be our ruler,
and take this ruin in hand.”
 7Then will the other protest,
“Nay, verily: I cannot heal you.
In my own house there is no bread,
nor yet is there a robe.
You shall not thrust upon me
The leadership of the people.”

 8Jerusalem is stumbling to ruin,
and Judah must surely fall;
for by word and by deed they defy the Lord,
provoking those glorious eyes of His.
 9Their respecting of persons is witness against them;
like Sodom they publish their sin undisguisedly.
Woe unto them! They have wrought their own ruin.
 10Happy righteous! For well they shall fare,
they shall reap the fruit of their doings.
 11But woe to the wicked! For ill they shall fare,
their deeds shall be recompensed unto them.

 12My people are cruelly governed,
extortions rule over them.
O My people, your leaders mislead,
and confuse the way you should go.
 13The Lord is taking His place for the trial,
He stands to judge His people.
 14The Lord summons to judgment
the elders and princes of His people.
“Yes, you have devoured the vineyard,
the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
 15What mean you by crushing My people
and grinding the faces of the poor?”
says the Lord the Lord of Hosts.
The Doom of the Haughty Women
 16Moreover the Lord said:
“Because Zion's daughters are haughty,
walking with heads held high,
and eyes for ever ogling,
with dainty little steps,
and anklets ever jingling,
 17The Lord shall smite with a scab
the head of the daughters of Zion,
and their shame shall the Lord lay bare
 18That day the Lord will remove
the finery of the anklets,
the net-bands and the moons,
 19The ear-drops and bracelets and veils,
 20The head-dresses, armlets, and sashes,
the perfume-boxes and amulets,
 21the signet-rings and the nose-rings,
 22the state-gowns, the mantles, the shawls, and the satchels,
 23the gauzes and linens, the turbans and veils.

 24Sweet scents shall give place unto stench,
and the girdle be changed for a rope.
And well-set hair shall be bald,
and for elegant robe shall be sackcloth,
for beauty the brand (of a slave).
 25Your liegemen shall fall by the sword,
and your mighty men in the battle.
 26Her gates shall lament and mourn,
as she sixtieth despoiled on the ground.
  1That day shall seven women
take hold of one man and say,
“Our own bread will we eat,
and our rainment will we wear;
but oh, let us bear your name,
and take our reproach away.”
Zion's Final Glory 
 2In that day
shall the wild vegetation be glorious and fair,
and the fruit of the tilled land majestic and comely
for Israel's sons that escape.
 3And those that remain in Zion,
and those that are left in Jerusalem,
shall be called by the name of holy-
all who stand in the book of life.
 4When the Lord shall have washed away
the filth of the daughters of Zion,
and rinsed away from her midst
the blood-stains of Jerusalem,
by means of the blast of judgment,
the blast of extermination,
 5Then will the Lord come,
and o'er the whole site of mount Zion
and over all the glory
 6Shall cover and canopy be —
A shade by day from the heat,
a refuge and shelter from storm and rain.
The Vineyard with the Wild Grapes
The Song of the Vineyard 
 5A song will I sing of my friend,
1a love-song touching his vineyard.
A vineyard belonged to my friend,
on a fertile hill-top he had set it.
 2He had dug it and cleared it of stones,
and choice vines therein he had planted.
A tower he had built in the midst,
and a winepress therein he had hewn.
Then he looked for a yield of good grapes,
but the grapes that it yielded were wild.

 3Now judge, you that dwell in Jerusalem,
and you that are freemen of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
 4What more could I do for my vineyard
that I had neglected to do?
And why, when I looked for good grapes,
did it yield only grapes that were wild?

 5So now let me give you to know
what I purpose to do my vineyard.
I will tear off its hedge, that the beasts may devour it;
I will break through its wall, that they trample it down.
 6I will make it waste, all unpruned and unweeded,
with thorns and with briars overgrown shall it be,
and the clouds I will order to withhold from it rain.

 7For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the household of Israel,
the freeman of Judah His cherished plantation.
But instead of the justice He looked for was bloodshed,
instead of the right was the cry (of the wronged).
The National Sins: Woe!
 8Woe unto you who join house unto house
and who add one field to another,
till no one has room but you,
and you settle the land by yourselves.
 9The Lord of Hosts in mine ear has whispered,
surely many a great fine house
shall be desolate and empty,
 10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but eight gallons,
and the harvest shall be but one tenth of the seed.

 11Woe unto them that rise early
to give themselves to drink,
and to those that sit late in the evening,
inflaming themselves with wine;
 12Whose banquets of wine are enlivened
with lute, harp, timbrel, and flute;
but all blind to the work of the Lord,
they see not the things He is doing.
 13Therefore all unaware shall My people
be swept into exile afar —
Their nobleman dying of hunger,
their populace parched with thirst.

 14Therefore Sheol with ravenous throat
opens wide her jaws without measure.
And down shall her splendour go,
and her noisy tumultuous rabble,
with all that in her was exultant.
 17And there shall lambs graze as at pasture,
and fatlings shall feed in her ruins.
 16Thus through judgment the Lord of Hosts is exalted,
the holy God shows Himself holy by righteousness.

 18Woe unto those that draw penalty on
by their sin, as by stout wagon-ropes drawn by oxen;
 19That say, “Let Him haste, let Him act with speed,
in order that we may see it;
let the purpose of Israel's Holy One come
so near that we recognize it.”

 20Woe unto those that call evil good,
and good evil;
to those that turn light into darkness,
and darkness to light;
to those that turn sweet into bitter,
and bitter to sweet.

 21Woe unto those that esteem themselves wise,
and that fancy themselves to be prudent.

 22Woe unto those that are valiant in wine-drinking,
warriors brave at the mingling of drink;
 23Whom a bribe will induce to acquit the guilty,
and innocent men to deprive of their rights.

 24As fire licks up the stubble,
and hay is shrivelled in flame,
so their root shall turn to rottenness,
and their blossom go up in dust;
because they rejected the Lord's instruction,
and the message of Israel's Holy One scorned.
A Foreign Army is Coming
 25So against His people His anger was kindled,
against them He stretched forth His hand and He smote them;
the mountains shook, and the dead
lay like refuse about the streets.
For all this His anger is not turned back,
but His hand is stretched out still.
 26To a far-distant nation He raises His signal,
and whistles for them from the end of the earth.
See! hastily, swiftly they come —
 27None weary, none stumbling among them,
unsleeping and slumbering never:
The band of their loins never loosed,
the thong of their shoes never torn.
 28Their arrows are sharp,
and their bows are all bent:
The hoofs of their horses are counted as flint,
and their wheels as the whirlwind.
 29Their roar is like that of a lioness,
and like the young lions they roar,
growling and seizing the prey,
and bearing it far beyond rescue.
 30That day they shall roar over him,
with a roar like the roar of the sea:
When he looks on the earth, behold! darkness,
the light has grown dark in the clouds.
The Prophet's Call 
 6In the year that King Uzi died, I had a vision of the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and 2the skirts if His robe filled the Temple. Before Him were standing seraphs, each with six wings — two for covering the face, two the loins, and two 3to fly with; and thus they kept calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts;
the whole earth is filled with His glory.”
 4At the sound of their calling the foundations of threshold shook, and the House began to fill 5with smoke. Then I said
“Woe is me, for I am undone;
for a man of unclean lips am I,
and I dwell in a nation of unclean lips;
and yet mine eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of Hosts.”
 6Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which with tongs he had taken 7from off the altar. With this he touched my mouth, and said,
“See, this has touched your lips:
Your guilt is past and your sin forgiven.”

 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord,
saying, “Whom shall I send? who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I, send me.”
 9Then He said, “Go and say to this people
'Hear ever, but understand never;
see ever, but comprehend never.'
 10Make the people's minds dull,
block their ears and cover their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes, lest they hear with their ears,
and their minds understand, and their health come again.”
 11Then I said, “Till cities lie wasted,
with not an inhabitant left;
till houses hold men no more,
and the land is left a desolation;
 12till the Lord removes men afar
and wide tracts of the land lie forsaken.
 13And should there be in it a tenth still left,
that too, in its turn, must be given to the fire,
like the stump of an oak or a terebinth felled.” 
The Crisis Created by the Menace to Judah in 735 B.C.
The Prophet's World to the Terrified King 
 7In the days Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, Rezin King of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, King of Israel, marched against Jerusalem to attack it: but they were unable to develop an actual assault upon it.
 2When news reached the Court that the Aramean army was on Ephraimite soil, the heart of Ahaz and his people shook like forest-trees before the 3wind. Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out— you and your son Shear-yashub — to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the 4Fuller's Field Road, and say to him: Be careful to keep calm: be not faint-hearted or afraid of this pair of fire-brands that are nothing but smoking stumps. Be not afraid of the fierce anger of Rezin 5and Aram and the son of Remaliah. Aram and Ephraim with the son of Remaliah have indeed 6plotted your ruin: their purpose is to invade Judah, and, after reducing her straits, to break into (Jerusalem); then, having overpowered her, they purpose to set the son of Tabeelon the throne.
 7But thus says the Lord the Lord:
'This thing shall not succeed,
it shall not come to pass.
 8For the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin; 
 9The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
Your faith must firmly hold,
if you would yourselves be held.'”
The Great Refusal and the Sign
 10One more I addressed Ahaz thus, “Ask the Lord 11your God for a sign — ask it (if you like) either from the depths of the under-world or from the heights above.” 12“No,” replied Ahaz, “I will not ask for one: that would be equivalent to submitting the Lord to a test.” 13Then I said, “Hear then, you household of David. Is not enough for you to weary mortal men that you must weary my God as well? 14You shall have a sign therefore from the Lord Himself. Behold!
A maid is with child, she shall bring forth a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel.
 15Honey and curd shall he eat,
when he knows how to choose what is good,
and to shun what is evil.
 16For ere the child shall know
how to choose what is good
and to shun what is evil,
that land shall be deserted
whose two kings you so dreaded.
Judah shall also be Ravaged 
 17The Lord shall bring upon you your people
and on your father's house
such days as have never yet been,
since Ephraim departed from Judah
 18That day it shall come to pass
that the Lord shall whistle for the flies and the bees.
 19They shall come every one, and then down they
shall settle
in the steep-walled ravines and in clefts of the rocks,
and on all thorn-hedges and places of pasture.

 20That day shall the Lord shave bare
with a razor that is hired
in the land beyond the River
both the head and hidden hair;
and the beard too shall be snipped.
 21And in that day shall a man
keep but two sheep and a cow;
 22Yet the plenteous yield of milk
shall supply him fare of curd.
For the fare of every man
that is left upon the land
shall be nought but curd and honey.
 23And in that day every spot
where were once a thousand vines,
worth a thousand silver pieces,
shall with thorns and briers be covered.
 24With bow and with arrow shall men come thither,
for all the land shall be thorns and briers.
 25Fear of thorns and briers shall hold men afar
from the hills that used to be hoed with the hoe.
There cattle shall wander and sheep shall tread.
The Fall of Damascus and Samaria 
 8The 1Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write upon it in the common script 'Speed-spoil 2Hurry-prey;' and take (two) reliable witnesses, 3Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” Then after the prophetess, through my approach to her, had conceived and borne a son, the Lord said to me, “Call his name Speed-spoil Hurry-prey.
 4For ere the child shall know
how to cry 'My farther! My mother!'
The wealth of Damascus, the spoil of Samaria,
shall be carried away to the king of Assyria.”
The Invasion of Judah
 5Once more I had a message from the Lord — it was this:
 6“Because this people has spurned
the gentle stream of Shiloah,
and melt with fear of Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,
 7Therefore, behold, the Lord
will speedily bring upon them
the waters of the River,
the great and mighty River
it shall rise above all its channels,
and overflow all its banks.
 8On it shall sweep over Judah,
an overflowing flood
that shall reach as high as the neck.”
But (the Lord's) outstretched wings
shall cover the breadth of the land;
for with us is God.
The Futility of Opposition to Judah
 9You may storm as you will, you nations,
you shall be shattered.
All you far-distant lands
of the earth, give ear.
You may gird yourselves for the fray,
but you all shall be shattered.
 10You may forge your plans as you will,
they shall all be confounded.
Be your resolves what they will,
they shall not be accomplished;
for with us is God.
None is to be Feared but the Lord
 11These were the Lord's words to me, as He grasped me with His hand and warned me not to walk in the ways of the people:
 12“Call you not all a conspiracy
that this people calls conspiracy.
Share not their fears and their dreads.
 13But the Lord of Hosts — it is He
you should count as the great Conspirator.
Let Him be your fear and your dread.
 14A stone and a rock He shall prove, whereon
both houses of Israel shall strike and stumble —
a trap and a snare to the folk of Jerusalem.
 15Many among them shall stumble and fall,
shall be broken and snared and taken.
Isaiah's Patient Hope
 16I will seal my teaching and fasten my message 17in (the heart of) my disciples. I will patiently wait for the Lord who hides His face from the 18household of Israel; I will set my hope in Him. I myself and the children the Lord has given me are in Israel as signs and symbols from the Lord of Hosts whose home is on Mount Zion.
The Awful Plight of Unbelieving Judah
 19When they tell you have recourse to ghosts and familiar spirits that chirp and mutter, ask them if a nation should not rather have recourse to its God. Why should they consult the dead on behalf 20of the living? Assuredly they shall (one day) clamour for the teaching and the message, when there is no day-break for them any more.
 21They shall range through the land sore pressed and hungry,
and hunger shall curse their king and their God.
 22They shall lift up their eyes to the heavens above,
they shall look to the earth beneath;
but nought shall they see save distress and anguish,
and thick impenetrable gloom.
The Great Deliverance and the Glorious King 
 9In the former time He brought the territory of Zebulon and Naphtali into contempt, but in the latter time has He covered with glory the ground held by the nations beyond the Jordan on the way to the sea.
 2The people that walked in darkness
have seen a glorious light:
Those that dwelt in the land of gloom —
on them the light has shone.

 3You have multiplied their gladness
and given them great joy:
The joy they made in Your presence
was like the joy of harvest;
their gladness was like the gladness
of men who divide the spoil.

 4For the yoke that pressed so heavy,
and the bar upon their shoulders,
and the rod of their taskmasters,
you have broken as on Midian's day.

 5Every boot of thundering warrior,
every war-cloak drenched with blood,
is destined for the burning,
shall be fuel for the fire.

 6For to us a child is born,
unto us a son is given,
on whose shoulder is dominion;
and this is the name he bears —

“Counsellor most wonderful,
god with the warrior might,
father everlasting,
prince of the reign of peace.”

 7Great is the dominion
and endless is the peace,
upon the throne of David,
and over all his realm:

To establish and uphold it
in the righteousness and justice
from henceforth and for ever.
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts
shall bring this thing to pass.
The Doom of Israel
 8The Lord sent a word into Jacob,
on Israel it shall alight
 9With a power all the people shall feel
in Ephraim and in Samaria.
They have stiffened their neck in pride,
in their stoutness of heart they have said:
 10“The bricks are fallen down,
but now we will build with hewn stone.
The sycamores are cut down,
but with cedars we will replace them.”
 11So against them the Lord has stirred up their foes,
he has spurred their enemies on;
 12Syrians east, and Philistines west,
have with open mouth devoured Israel.
Yet for all this His anger is not turned back,
but His hand is stretched out still. 

 13But the people turned not unto Him that smote them,
nor did they resort to the Lord of Hosts.
 14So He cut off from Israel head and tail,
palm-branch and rush in a single day.
 15The elders and men of repute are the head,
and the prophets whose teaching is false are the tail.
 16Those who should lead this people mislead them,
and those whom they ought to have led are destroyed.
 17The Lord will therefore not spare 11their youths,
on their orphans and widows He teeth no pity
for each and all are profane and wicked,
and every mouth speaks impious folly.
Yet for all this His anger is not turned back,
but His hand is stretched out still.

 18For wickedness blazed like a fire
that devours first thorns and briers,
then sets forest thickets aflame,
till they roll in columns of smoke.
 19By the breath of the Lord the land was scorched,
the people became like cannibals.
 20They carved on the right, yet were hungry,
devoured on the left, unappeased;
no man did pity his fellow,
but each ate the flesh of his neighbour —
 21Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh;
and both against Judah together.
Yet for all this His anger is not turned back,
but His hand is stretched out still.
 
 10Woe unto those that give mischievous verdicts,
1elaborate scrolls that bring sorrow,
 2By robbing the weak of their rights
and by plundering the poor of their due,
so that widows become their spoil,
and orphans fall a prey.
 3But what will you do in the Day of Assize
which will come like a crash from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your abundance,
 4That you crouch not under the prisoners
or fall among the slain?
Yet for all this His anger is not turned back,
but his hand is stretched out still.
The Doom of Assyria
The Two Plans — Assyria's and the Lord's 
 5Oh! Assyria! Rod of mine anger,
and staff of Mine indignation!
 6Against an impious people I send Him,
a nation that sore has provoked Me to wrath;
and I solemnly charge him to spoil and to plunder
and trample them down like the mire of the streets.
 7Not such, however, his fancy,
nor such the thought of his heart;
but his thought is the utter destruction
of nations not a few.

 8“Are my captains,” he says, “not all kings?
 9Is not Calno's fate like Carchemish,
and Hamath's fate like Arpad's,
and Samaria's like Damascus?
 10My hand has seized those kingdoms
with images more than Jerusalem's;
 11And shall I not do to Jerusalem
and to her images also,
as I have done to Samaria
and to her idols also?
 12When the Lord has accomplished all His work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, He will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his lofty looks. For the Lord has said,
 13By the strength of my hand have I done it,
and by my cunning discernment,
removing the bounds of the nations,
and plundering their treasures.
I have brought down cities to ashes,
to dust those that dwell therein.
 14I thrust my hand in the wealth
of the nations, as into a nest;
and all the earth have I gathered
as one gathers eggs that are left:
There was not a wing that fluttered,
none opened the mouth or chirped.”

 15Shall an axe boast over the man that wields it,
or saw treat with insolence him that handles it?
As if ever a rod could swing him that lifts it,
or staff of wood could brandish a man!
The Fate of Assyria and Judah
 16So into his fat shall the Lord
the Lord of Hosts send leanness,
and under his splendour a burning
shall burn like the burning of fire.
 17That flaming fire is the Holy One,
he that is Israel's Light;
it shall blaze and devour his thorns
and his briers in a single day.
 18His glorious forest and gardens
shall vanish, body and soul,
like a sick man pinning away;
 19And his forest trees that are left
shall be few, that a child may record them.

 20That day it shall come to pass,
that no more shall the remnant of Jacob
or those that escape of the household of Israel
lean upon him that smote them:
They shall loyally lean on the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
 21A remnant shall return,
even a remnant of Jacob,
unto the mighty God.
 22For though your people, O Israel,
be even as the sand of the sea,
but the remnant of them shall return.
Destruction is decreed,
breaking in like a flood of judgment.
For destruction, fixed and final,
the Lord of Hosts will accomplish
in the midst of all the earth.
The Consolation of Zion: Assyria will assuredly fall
 24Therefore thus says the Lord the Lord,
“You My people who dwell in Zion,
be not afraid of Assyria,
who smites you with the sword,
and lifted this staff against you
as Egypt did not old.
 25For yet a little while,
my fury will be spent,
and Mine Anger shall have an end.
 26Over him shall the Lord brandish
a scourge like that which smote
upon Median at Raven's Rock.
And that rod of His over the sea —
he will lift it up once more
as He did against Egypt of old.
 27His burden shall pass from your shoulder,
his yoke press your neck no more.
From Rimmon he has gone up
 28He has come as far as Ai,
through Migron he has passed,
he has stored his baggage at Michmash,
 29He has gone across the pass,
he has bivouacked in Geber.
Raman is all a-tremble,
gibeah of Saul is in flight.
 30You people of Gallim, shriek;
listen, O Laishah;
answer her, Anathoth;
 31Madmenah takes to flight.
The people of Gebin seek refuge.
 32This day he will halt at Nob.
He shakes his fist against
the Mount of the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.

 33But see! the Lord the Lord of Hosts
is lopping the branches with fearful crash;
and those that were lofty are now laid low.
 34He strikes with His axe the wild thickets away,
and Lebanon's glorious cedar are fallen.
The Bliss of Israel in the Latter Days
The Messianic King and Kingdom 
 11There shall come forth a shoot from the stock of Jesse,
1and out of his roots shall a branch sprout forth.
 2The Lord's own spirit shall rest upon him —
the spirit of wisdom and insight,
the spirit of counsel and might,
of the knowledge and fear of the Lord.
 3He will not judge after the sight of his eyes,
nor decide by the words that are poured in his ears;
 4But with justice shall he deal with the cause of the helpless,
the case of the poor he will settle with equity.
With the rod of his mouth he will smite the tyrant,
and slay the unjust with the breath of his lips.
 5His loins shall be girt with the girdle of justice,
his waist shall be bound with the circlet of faithfulness.

 6The wolf shall lodge with the lamb,
and the leopard lie down with the kid;
and the calf and the lion together shall graze,
and a little chid shall lead them.
 7The cow and the bear shall be friends,
and their young ones shall lie down together,
the Lion shall eat straw like the ox.
 8The suckling shall play o'er the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child trot in the lair of the viper.
 9None shall do hurt or havoc
on all My holy mountain:
For then shall the earth be filled
with the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover sea.
The Triumphant Return 
 10That day it shall come to pass,
that the Root of Jesse who stands
as ensign to the peoples —
To him shall the nations resort,
and his resting-place shall be glorious.
 11That day shall again lift His hand
to recover the rest of His folk
that are left in Assyria and Egypt,
in Pathros, in Cush, and in Elam,
in Shinar and Hamath and lands by the sea.
 12He will raise for the nations a signal,
and gather the outcast of Israel,
and Judah's dispersed shall assemble
from all the four corners of earth.

 13All envy of Ephraim shall vanish,
cut off shall be all that vex Judah.
No longer shall Ephraim be jealous of Judah,
nor Judah be hostile of Ephraim.
 14They shall swoop down the slope of the Philistines westward,
and plunder together the sons of the East;
they shall lay a stern hand upon Edom and Moab,
and bring to subjection the children of Ammon.
 15The Lord will also dry up
the tongue of the sea of Egypt;
with the fiery glow of His breath
he will swing His hand over the River,
and smite it to seven streams
such that men may go over in sandals.
 16And such of His folk as are left
shall return from Assyria on a highway
like that on which Israel trod
on the day he came up out of Egypt.
The Song of Thanksgiving  
 12In that day you shall say,
1“I give You thanks, O Lord;
for though You were angry with me,
thine anger is turned away
and you have comforted me.
 2See! God is my salvation,
I trust Him unafraid.
For my strength and my song is the Lord,
and He is become my salvation.”

 3With joy shall you draw water
from the fountains of salvation.
 4And in that day shall you say,
“Give thanks to the Lord and call on His name.
Make know to the nations what things He has done,
record that His name is exalted on high.
 5To the Lord make music, for He has wrought
proudly;
let this be made known through the length of the world.
Lift up your voices, you dwellers in Zion;
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Prophecies Concerning Foreign Nations
Prophecy Concerning Babylon 
The Doom of Babylon 
 13Oracle on Babylon: a vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz.
 2On a bare height raise the signal,
and cry aloud to them.
Wave you the hand that they enter
the gates of those lordly men.
 3I have myself commissioned
my consecrated servants
to execute Mine anger.
Yea, I have summoned My warriors,
my proudly exultant ones.
 4Hark! on the hills a tumult
as of a mighty multitude.
Hark! it's the roar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together.
The Lord of Hosts is mustering
his army for the battle.

 5They come from a distant land,
from the uttermost end of heaven —
The Lord, with His weapons of wrath,
to ruin all the earth.
 6Wail! for the day of the Lord is nigh,
like destruction from God Almighty it cometh.
 7All hands shall therefore hang helpless,
each mortal heart will melt,
 8And men will be confounded.
Taken with throes and pangs,
they shall writhe like a woman in travail.
They shall look on each other astonished,
with faces all aflame.

 9Behold! the Lord cometh,
with wrath and hot anger cruel,
to make earth a desolation
and destroy the sinners upon it.
 10The heavens and their constellations
shall not flash any light;
the sun shall be dark when it rises,
no light of moon shall shine.
 11I will punish the world for its evil,
the godless for their guilt;
I will still the conceit of the arrogant,
the tyrant's pride lay low.
 12And men shall be rarer than gold,
yea, mortals than gold of Ophir.

 13The heavens shall therefore tremble,
and the earth quake out of her place,
at the wrath of the Lord of Hosts
in the day of the heat of His anger.
 14And then, like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep that have no one to fold them,
shall each set his face to his people,
and each to his own land flee.
 15Whoso is found shall be stabbed,
by the sword shall he fall who is caught.
 16Their babes shall be dashed in pieces
before their very eyes;
their houses shall be plundered,
and ravished their wives shall be.

 17Behold! I already am stirring
the people of Media against them:
No thought have they of silver,
no pleasure take they in gold.
 18(They grasp their) bows (and spears,
fearful are they and cruel;
they shall smite) the young men (all,
and the maids) shall be dashed in pieces.
To the fruit of the womb they are ruthless,
and children they eye without pity.
 19Thus Babylon, fairest of kingdoms,
the glory and pride of Chaldea,
shall perish with doom like the doom
to which God hurled Gomorrah and Sodom.

 20For ever shall she be desolate,
tenantless age after age.
No Arab shall pitch his tent there,
no shepherd shall fold his flock there;
 21But there shall wild cats lie,
and their homes shall be crowded with jackals.
And there shall ostriches dwell,
and there shall satyrs dance,
 22Hyenas shall howl in her castles,
and wolves in her halls of delight.
Her time is wellnigh come,
her day lasts not much longer.
Song of Triumph over the Fall of Babylon's King  
 14For the 1Lord will take pity on Jacob, He will elect Israel once more and settle them on their own land: resident aliens will join them and attach themselves to the household 2of Jacob. (Alien) people will take them and bring them to their place; and the household of Israel shall employ them in the Lord's land as men-servants and maid-servants, thus reducing their erstwhile captors to captivity, and lording it over those who had been their taskmasters.
 3Then, in the day that the Lord gives you rest from your toil and turmoil and from the hard service that was 4laid upon you, you shall take up this taunt-song over the King of Babylon, and say:
How still the oppressor is grown!
How still is the insolent raging!
 5The Lord has broken the staff
of the godless, the sceptre of tyrants,
 6That smote the peoples in fury
with unremitting stroke,
that trod down the nations in anger
with unrelenting tread.
 7All earth is at rest, is quiet,
they break into happy cries.
 8Yea, the fir-trees rejoice at they fate,
and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Since you have been laid low,
no woodsman is come to destroy us.”

 9Sheol beneath is a-quiver,
awaiting your arrival;
she rousted the shades to greet the —
all that were chieftains on earth.
All the kings of the nations
she bids arise from their thrones.
 10All of them lift up their voices,
and thus they say unto you:
“So you, too, are feeble as we;
you are become like us.”
 11Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol —
the strumming of your lutes:
Beneath you the maggots are spread,
your coverlet is worms.

 12How are you fallen from heaven,
you radiant son of the morning!
How are you struck to the ground,
lying stiff, a corpse upon corpses.
 13And you, you did say in your heart,
“Into heaven I will ascend;
I will set my throne on high
above the stars of God,
and sit on the sacred Mountain
in the uttermost parts of the north.
 14I will climb above the cloud-peaks,
and rival the Most High.”
 15But down you are brought to Sheol,
to the very depths of the pit.

 16They that see you shall gaze and gaze,
they shall ask with eyes intent,
“Is this the man that startled the earth
and sent tremors through her kingdoms;
 17That made the world like a desert,
and overthrew her cities;
that left not his prisoners free,
to return each man to his home?”
 18Now in their honoured tombs
all the kings of the nations are lying;
 19But you are cast forth, tombless,
like a hateful untimely birth,
clothed upon with the slain,
whose bodies the sword has pierced,
that go down to the floor of the pit,
like a carcase trodden under foot.
 20You shall not be joined unto them
in the place where they lie buried;
because you have ruined your land,
your people you have slaughtered.
May it never be named again —
the race of this evil-doer.
 21Get ready the knife for his sons,
to atone for the guilt of their father;
lest they rise and posses the earth,
and fill the face of the world.
 22I will rise up against them, says the Lord of Hosts, cut off from Babylon record and remnant, kith and kin, says the Lord. And I will make it a possession of the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, says the Lord of Hosts.
The Lord's Invincible World-Plan 
 24The Lord of Hosts has sworn this oath:
My plan shall most surely be done,
and the thing that I purposed shall stand.
 25On the land that is Mine I will shatter Assyria,
and trample him down on My mountains.
His yoke shall oppress them no more,
and his burden shall pass from their shoulders
 26This is the purpose formed
to humble all the earth;
and this is the Hand outstretched
against the nations all.
 27For who can bring to nought
what the Lord of Hosts has purposed?
And when His is the Hand that is outstretched,
who can turn it back?
Warning to Philistia
 28In the year that King Ahaz died, came this oracle:
 29Rejoice not, you Philistines all,
that the rod that has scourged you is broken;
for an asp from the root of the root of the serpent shall issue,
its fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.

 30For the poor shall feed on My meadows,
the needy shall lie down secure;
but your seed I will kill with famine,
your remnant I will slay.

 31Wail, you gates; and shriek, you cities:
Melt with fear, you Philistines all.
For out of the north cometh smoke (of war),
in the ranks of the foe shall no straggler be found.
 32What answer shall (Judah) make
to the envoys of that nation?
That “the Lord Himself is the founder of Zion,
and there do His suffering people find refuge.”
Lament over Moab 
 15Oracle on Moab
1Alas! in a night has AR-Moab
been wasted and ruined.
Alas! in a night has Kir-Moab
been wasted and ruined.
 2Gone up is the daughter of Dibon
to weep on the heights;
on the summits of Nebo and Medeba
moab wails.
On every head there is baldness,
and beards are all shorn.
 3On her streets they have girt them with sackcloth,
on roofs is lament;
on her squares, one and all they are wailing
with torrents of tears.
 4Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
and their cry reaches Jahaz;
whereat Moab's loins fall a-quiver,
the soul of her quivers.
 5My heart cruet out for Moab,
they flee towards Zoar; They climb the ascent unto Luhith.
And weep as they go;
they raise on the way to Horonaim
a cry of destruction.
 6For ruin has clean overtaken
the waters of Nimrim;
the herbage is gone, the grass withered,
and verdure is none.

 7So they bring o'er the Brook of the Willows
their riches and stores;
 8For the cry (of despair) has gone round
all the borders of Moab;
the wail thereof reaches Eglaim,
it reaches Beer-elim.
 9For the waters of Dimon are bloody.
Yet more will I bring upon Dimon —
A lion on those that escape
and are left out of Moab.
 
 16And then at the fords of the Arnon
2the daughters of Moab
shall flutter like birds, and shall fly
as when nestlings are scattered.
 1Tribute of lambs they despatched.
To the lord of the land,
from the Sela, by way of the wilderness,
unto Mount Zion.
 3“Grant us the laid of you counsel,
and mediate (for us);
shelter us as in the noon-tide
with shade deep as night.
Bring into shelter the outcasts,
betray no the fugitives;
 4Suffer the outcasts of Moab
to dwell in your land.
Be you a shelter to them
from the face of the spoiler.”

When the ruthless are brought to an end,
and the spoiler has ceased;
when the heel of the tyrant has vanished
clean out of the land;
 5Then the throne shall be established by kindness,
and on it shall sit
in the tent of King David in faithfullness
one who will judge
with a spirit intent on the right
and on promptness of justice.
 6We have heard of the pride of Moab,
the utterly proud —
Of her haughty and insolent pride,
and her prating all baseless.
 7So Moab for Moab is wailing,
she wails altogether;
yea, utterly stricken they moan
for the cakes of Kir-heres.
 8The vine-tracts of Heshbon are withered,
the vineyards of Sabah,
whose choice red wine has laid low
many a lord of the nations.
Her cluster did stretch unto Jazer,
they strayed to the desert.
Her tendrils were spread far abroad,
they passed over the sea.

 9So I share in the weeping of Jazer
for the vineyards of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
o Heshbon and Elealeh:
For over your grapes and your vintage
the war-cry is fallen.
 10From the land of gardens is vanished
all gladness and joy;
there resounds no cry in the vineyards,
no shout any more;
no wine in the presses is trodden,
the shouting is stilled.
 11so my soul like a harp makes moaning for Moab,
and my heart for Kir-heres.
 12When Moab appears on the heights
and makes herself weary,
Prophecy Concerning Damascus and Northern Israel
The Destruction of Damascus 
 17Oracle on Damascus
1See! soon shall Damascus no more be a city,
but only ruin, forsaken for ever.
 2To the grazing of flocks shall her cities be given,
and there shall they lie, with not one to affright them.
 3The fortress shall vanish from Ephraim,
and the dynasty from Damascus.
The remnant of Aram shall perish,
their fate shall be Israel's fate,
says the Lord of Hosts.
The Doom of Israel
 4That day it shall come to pass
that the glory of Jacob shall pale,
and the fat of his flesh shall be wasted;
 5Or like gleanings it shall be,
when a reaper gathers the corn,
and his arm reaps the ears —
the ears of corn that are gleaned
in the valley of Rephaim;
 6Or the gleanings that are left
when an olive-tree has been beaten —
A berry or two on the uppermost branch,
four of five on the boughs of a fruit tree:
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel.
 7In that day men shall look to their Maker,
and turn their eyes unto Israel's Holy One;
 8Not to the work of their hands shall they look,
nor to things that their fingers have made shall they turn.
 9That day shall your cities deserted be
like the derelict cities of Hivite and Amorite.
 10Because you forgot the God who had helped you,
and did not remember the Rock of your Refuge;
though you planted Adonis' gardens,
and stocked them with alien slips;
 11Though you fence them the day they are set,
and next morn bring your seedlings to blossom:
Your harvest shall vanish away
in the day of your sickness and desperate pain.
The Speedy Doom of the Assyrians
Their Sudden Destruction 
 12Ha!
The uproar of peoples many!
They roar like the roar of the sea:
The thunder of mighty nations,
they thunder as Ocean thunders.
 13But the Lord shall rebuke them,
and far they shall flee, pursued
like chaff on the hills before wind,
or like dust in the face of the hurricane.
 14At even-tide, lo! terror:
Ere morning they are gone.
Such is the fate of those that despoil us,
the lot of those that plunder us.
Isaiah's Answer to the Ethiopian Ambassadors  
 18Ah, land of the buzzing of wings
1beyond the rivers of Cush,
 2That despatches ambassadors over the sea
in vessels of reed on the face of the waters.
‟Depart, you messengers fleet,
to your tall and bronze-skinned people,
whose land is divided by rivers —
Your nation strong and victorious,
dreaded both near and far.
 3All you that inhabit the world,
and dwell upon the earth:
When a signal is raised, beware,
and hark, when the trumpet is blown.

 4For thus says the Lord to me,
'From My place I watch untroubled,
still as shimmering heat in sunshine,
or dew-clouds in time of harvest.'
 5For before the harvest, when blossom is over,
and the berry becomes a ripening grape,
he will lop off the branches with pruning-hooks,
he will server the tendrils and cast them away.
 6They shall all be left to the beasts of the land,
to the ravenous birds that haunt the mountains;
all summer the ravenous birds shall devour them,
all winter the beasts of the land shall consume them.”
 7At that time shall a gift of homage be brought to the Lord of Hosts from that tall and bronze-skinned people, whose land is divided by rivers — that nation strong and victorious, dreaded near and far — to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of Hosts.
The Destiny of Egypt
The Disaster of Egypt
Oracle on Egypt 
 19Behold! on swift cloud riding
1the Lord is coming to Egypt:
The idols of Egypt shall quake at His presence,
the heart of Egypt shall melt within her.

 2I will spur on Egypt to fight against Egypt,
brother with brother, and neighbour with neighbour,
city with city, and kingdom with kingdom.

 3Then will Egypt be drained of the spirit within her,
and I will confound her counsels:
To idols and muttering wraiths they shall seek,
to ghosts and familiar spirits.

 4And I will deliver Egypt
into a stern lord's hands;
a king that is fierce shall rule over her,
saithe the Lord the Lord of Hosts.

 5And the sea shall be drained of its water,
the river be parched and dry;
 6Its branches shall dwindle and stink,
and the arms of the Nile shall be parched.
Reeds and rushes shall wither,
 7The sedge on its brink shall shrivel;
and all that is sown by the Nile
shall be withered and whirled into nothing.

 8The fishers mourn and lament,
that cast their hook in the Nile;
and all the spread their nets
on the face of the waters shall languish.

 9The workers in flax shall be shamed,
the combers and weavers of white stuff;
 10The weavers of cloth shall be crushed,
and the workers for hire shall be sorrowful.

 11Sheer fools are the princes of Zoan;
the wisest of Pharaoh's counsellors
prove but a witless council.
How then can you say unto Pharaoh,
‟A son of the wise am I,
a son of ancient kings”?

 12Where are your wise men, then?
Let them, pray, declare unto you,
and make known what the Lord of Hosts
has purposed to do unto Egypt.

 13Befooled are the princes of Zoan,
deceived are the princes of Memphis;
the chieftains of her tribes
have led Egypt all astray.

 14The Lord has mingled within them
the spirit of clouded judgment;
and so they led Egypt astray
in all her enterprise,
as a drunkard strays in his vomit.

 15Thus head, tail, palm-branch and rush,
shall nothing accomplish for Egypt.
The Conversion of Egypt 
 16In that day shall Egypt fear and tremble like a woman, at the Hand which the Lord of Hosts 17will swing over her. The land of Judah shall be a terror to her; the very mention of the name shall fill her with dread at the thought of the purpose which the Lord of Hosts has formed against her.
 18In that day there shall be in the land of Egypt five cities speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing allegiance to the Lord of Hosts; and one of them shall be called the City of the Sun.
 19In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the heart of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to 20the Lord at the border. It shall be a sign and a witness to the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt: for when, under oppression, they cry to the Lord to send a deliver, He will intervene and rescue 21them. And the Lord will reveal Himself to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall acknowledge the Lord on that day: they shall worship Him with sacrifice and offering, they shall make vows to the Lord and discharge them. the Lord will smite 22Egypt — smite and heal her: when they turn to the Lord, He will heal them in answer to their entreaty.
 23In that day there shall be a highway between Egypt and Assyria; Assyrians will come to Egypt, And Egyptians to Assyria: Egyptians and Assyrians shall worship (the Lord) in common. 24In that day Israel will join Egypt and Assyria in a triple alliance, and so bring blessing to the world 25around, which the Lord of Hosts has in these words blessed: ‟Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
Warning against the Folly of an Alliance with Egypt 
 20At that time Isaiah the son of Amoz received a message from the 1Lord, bidding him go and take the sackcloth from his loins and the sandals from his feet; and this he did, going about without 2mantle of shoe. Then in the year that the Tartan, who had been despatched by Sargon King of Assyria, 3came to Ashdod and took it by storm, the Lord said, ‟Just as My servant Isaiah has gone for three years without mantle of shoe for a sign and a symbol to 4Egypt and Ethiopia, so shall the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, be led away by the King of Assyria — without mantle or 5shoe, and with buttocks exposed. Then those who had looked with hope to Ethiopia and made their boast of Egypt, shall be put to shame and dismay 6And in that day the people who live in the coast-land shall say, 'If this be the fate of those to whom we had fled in expectation of help and deliverance from the King of Assyria, how can we escape?”
The Fall of Babylon
The Fall of Babylon: Its Consequences for Judah 
 21Oracle on the Wilderness
1Like the roar of the whirlwind
that sweeps through the southland,
it comes from the desert,
that land of dread.
 2A vision full stern
has been told unto me:
The robber still robs,
the spoiler still spoils.
‟Go up, O Elam;
o Media, lay siege:
All the sighs of the crushed
have I brought to an end.”

 3For this cause my loins
are filled with anguish;
with pangs am I seized
like a woman in travail.
I writhe with the message,
the vision confounds me.
 4My mind goes a-wandering,
horror appals me;
the twilight I love
has been turned into trembling.
 5The tables are ready,
the carpets are spread,
they are eating and drinking.
Arise, you princes,
spread oil on the shields.
 6For on this wise the Lord
has spoken to me:
‟Go, station a watchman
to tell what he sees.
 7If he seethe a troop,
horsemen in pairs,
a train of asses,
a train of camels,
then let him give heed
with most diligent heed.”

 8And the watchman cried,
‟On the watch-tower, O Lord,
do I stand all the day;
at my post am I stationed
the live-long night.

 9Lo! a troop I see coming,
of horsemen in pairs.”
And he uttered these words,
‟Fallen, fallen is Babylon:
Down to the ground
fall her images shattered.”

 10You my folk that were threshed
like the corn of the floor,
i have told you my message
from Israel's God,
from the Lord of Hosts.
The Fall of Babylon: Its Consequences for the Trading Tribes of the Desert!
 11Oracle of Edom
One calls to me out of Seir,
‟Watchman, how late in the night?
‟Watchman, how late in the night?”
 12The watchman made answer,
‟The morning approached,
but still it is night.
If you would enquire,
come hither again.”
 13Oracle ‟in the steppe”
In the bush, in the steppe, you must lodge for the night,
you caravans of Dedan.
 14You dwellers in Temas's land,
bring water to meet the thirsty,
and offer the fugitives bread.
 15For before the sword they are fled,
before the whetted sword,
before the bow that is bent,
before the press of battle.
 16For thus has the Lord said unto me, ‟Within a year, no more and no less, shall all the glory of 17Kadar be at an end; and few shall remain of the mighty archers of the Kedareness. the Lord the God of Israel has decreed it.”
Judah's Unpardonable Sin 
 22Oracle on the Valley of Vision
1What mean you that you are gone up,
one and all, to the house-tops,
 2O town filled with uproar and tumult,
o City exultant?
Your slain are not slain with sword,
neither fallen in battle.
 3Your chieftains are all fled together
that wielded the bow,
and your strong men are all taken prisoners,
though far they had fled.
 4‟Turn away from me,” therefore I say,
‟Bitter tears would I shed.
Urge not upon me your comfort,
my people are ruined.”

 5For a day of confusion and trampling and tumult,
doth come from the Lord, the Lord of Hosts.
They tear down the wall in the Valley of Hanno,
the war-cry ascends to the mountains.
 6Elam seized the quiver,
and Aram came riding on horses.
Kir uncovered the shield,
 7Your choicest of valleys was crowded
with chariots and horsemen,
arrayed for assault on the gate.
 8Then you looked to the arms in the House of the
forest,
 9You had eyes for the gaps in the Fortress of
davis;
 11But you looked not to Him that was doing all this,
you had no eyes for Him who had planned it of old.
 12So the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, has called you
to weeping and mourning, to baldness and sackcloth;
 13But see! there is nothing but mirth and rejoicing,
slaying of oxen and killing of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine —
Eating and drinking, ‟because” (as you say)
‟We may haply be dead men to-morrow.”
 14The Lord of Hosts has declared in mine ear,
‟This sin shall assuredly never be purged
till you die” — says the Lord, the Lord of Hosts.
Personal Threats and Promises
The Doom of Sheba
 15Against Shebna, the Governor of the Palace.
Thus says the Lord the Lord,
go, get you yonder perfect (and say),
 16‟What right have you here, and what kin have you here,
that you hew you here a sepulchre —
That here on the height you dost hew you a sepulchre,
carving a home for yourself on the rock?
 17Behold, the Lord will firmly enwrap you,
and wind you and wind you around and around:
 18He will hurl you and hurl you afar like a ball,
mighty man that you are, to a spacious land.
Thither your glorious chariots shall follow,
and there shall you die,
you disgrace of the house of your lord.
The Exaltation of Eliakim
 19I will thrust you from your office,
and tear you down from your post.
 20That day will I summon My servant,
eliakim, son of Hilkiah.
 21I will put your mantle upon him,
and give your authority into this hand.
And a father shall he be
to the folk of Jerusalem and the household of
judah.
 22I will lay upon his shoulder
they key of the house of David,
so that none may shut when he opens,
nor open when he shuts.
 23I will fasten him securely,
like a nail in a place that is firm.
Through him shall his father's house
be lifted to seats of honour.”
The Downfall of Eliakim's Family 
 24His family will hang upon him with all their weight — off-spring and off-scourings, all the meaner sort of vessels, be they bowls or be they pitchers. 25In that day, says the Lord of Hosts, shall the nail so firmly fastened be removed with a wrench, and down shall come in ruin all that had hung upon it: for the Lord of Hosts has spoken it.
The fate of Phoenicia
The Elegy  
 23Oracle on Tyre.
1Wail, you ships of Tarshish:
Your haven is ruined.
On your way from the island of Cyprus
the tale has been told you.
 2The folk of the coast-land are perished,
the merchants of Sidon,
who traversed the sea, and whose envoys
did sail many waters,
 3Whose harvest was wheat from the Nile,
and whose revenue trade with the nations.
 4O Sidon, you Mother of Cities,
you Stronghold of Ocean,
in shame take up this lament:
‟The youths that with anguish I bore and brought up
and the maidens I reared, are no more.”
 5When tidings are come unto Egypt —
the tidings of Tyre —
in sore pain shall they be.

 6Pass over to Tarshish, and wail,
you that dwell on the coast-land.
 7Is this your jubilant city,
which dates from of old,
whose feet in the olden time bore her
to settle afar?
 8Who then has purposed this doom
against Tyre, the crowned Queen,
whose merchants and traders were princes,
most honoured of earth?
 9It's the Lord of Hosts that has planned it,
to desecrate pride,
to bring to contempt all splendour,
all pomp of the earth.

 10Lament, you ships of Tarshish,
your haven is gone.
 11He has stretched out His hand o'er the sea,
he has shaken the kingdoms.
The Lord has charged touching Canaan
to ruin her fortresses.
 12Exult no more, you are ruined,
o daughter of Sidon.
Arise, and pass over to Cyprus —
there, too, you shall rest not.
 14Howl, you ships of Tarshish,
your haven is ruined.
The Revival of Tyre
 15In that day Tyre shall pass into oblivion for seventy years, covering the period of one dynasty. At the end of seventy years, Tyre shall fare like the harlot in the song:
 16With lyre in hand, walk up and down the city,
harlot, forgot by all:
Play skilfully, and sing them many ditty,
that they may you recall.
 17But at the end of seventy years the Lord shall visit Tyre (with favour). She will resume her meretricious practices, selling herself to all the kingdoms of the 18world on the face of the earth. But her gains from this traffic shall be dedicated to the Lord: they shall not be stored or hoarded, but they are to belong to those who dwell in the Lord's presence; and these are to be furnished there from with abundance of food and stately apparel.
The Great World-Judgment
The Judgment: The Rebels Punished 
 24Hark! soon will the 1Lord empty
and desolate the earth.
Her semblance He will distort,
her inhabitants He will scatter.
 2Then the priest shall fare as the plain man,
the master shall fare as the servant,
the mistress as the maid.
The seller shall fare as the buyer,
the borrower shall fare as the lender,
the creditor as the debtor.
 3The earth shall be utterly emptied,
the world shall be utterly spoiled,
for the Lord has so decreed.

 4The earth mourns and withers,
the world languishes and withers,
high heaven, like earth, languishes.
 5The earth is all polluted
beneath the people that tread it;
for law they have transgressed,
and statue overstepped,
they have broken the eternal covenant.
 6So a curse has devoured the earth,
it lights on her guilty people;
the people of earth are scorched,
and few are the men that are left.
 7aThe new wine mourns, the wine languishes,
 11bAnd Over the land is an outcry for wine;
 7bAll merry hearts are sighing,
 8bThe tumult of gladness is silent,
 8aHushed us the mirth of the timbrel,
 8cThe mirth of the lute is hushed.
 9No more is there drinking of wine with singing,
strong drink is bitter to those that drink it.
 10The City of Chaos is shattered,
 11aThe houses are bolted and barred;
 11cAll merriment is over,
 11dAnd gladness is vanished from earth.
 12Desolation is left in the city,
the gates are battered to ruins.

 13Few in the midst of the earth
shall be those that are left of the nations —
Few as the olives when beaten,
or grapes when the vintage is past.
 14Yonder they lift their voices
in ringing shouts of joy;
to the glorious the Lord
They cry from over the sea.
 15‟Now then you folk of the east,
give glory to the Lord,
and you in the isles of the sea,
to the name of Israel's God.”
 16From the uttermost parts of the earth
there float to us songs of praise:
‟Now glory has dawned for the righteous.”

‟Ah misery, misery me,” said I,
‟For the robbers are robbing and robbing still.”
 17Trap, terror, and pit are before you,
all you that dwell on the earth.
 18He that flies from the terror shall fall down the pit,
he that creeps from the pit shall be caught in the trap.
For the windows of heaven are opened,
and earth's foundations tremble.
 19The earth is breaking asunder,
the earth is splitting asunder,
the earth is shaking asunder,
 20The earth like a drunkard is reeling,
she sways to and fro like a hammock;
so heavy a guilt lies upon her —
she falls, to rise no more.

 21That day the Lord shall punish
the host of high heaven in the height,
and the kings of the earth on the earth.
 22And swept shall they be a dungeon, like prisoners,
and pent in the prison long time they shall lie,
till the day of their punishment dawns.
 23Then the moon shall veil her face,
and the sun shall hide in shame;
for the Lord of Hosts, enthroned
in Jerusalem on Mount Zion,
shall manifest His glory
in the presence of His elders.
The Banquet of the Nations on Mount Zion. 
 25On this mountain the 6Lord of Hosts
shall prepare for all the nations
a feast of pieces fat,
a feast of wine on the less —
Fat pieces full of marrow,
and wine on the lees well strained.
 7He shall rend on this mountain the veil
that enwrapped the face of all nations.
 8He will swallow up death for ever.
And then will swallow up death for ever.
And then will the Lord the Lord
Wipe tears from every face,
and remove from off the earth
the reproach that has clung to His people.
The Lord Himself has decreed it.
Israel's Security in the Great World-Judgment 
 26O people of mine, come, enter your chambers,
20and shut your doors behind you;
and hide you but for a moment,
till the wrath be overpast.
 21For the Lord, behold! cometh forth from His place,
to punish the dwellers on earth for their guilt;
and the earth shall disclose her blood,
she shall cover her slain no more. 
 27When that cometh, the 1Lord shall punish,
with His fierce and great and mighty sword,
leviathan the fleeing serpent,
and Leviathan the coiled serpent,
and the great sea-monster He will slay.
 12That day will the Lord beat out the grain
from the river Euphrates to the torrent of Egypt,
and you shall be gleaned, one by one, sons of Israel.
 13That day, at the blast of a mighty trumpet,
the men that were lost in the land of Assyria,
and those that were outcast in Egypt's land,
shall come and bow down to the Lord in worship
on the holy Mount in Jerusalem.
Song of Thanksgiving over the Destruction of Some Proud City 
 25The 1Lord, You are my God;
I exalt You, I praise Your name:
For a marvellous thing You have done,
long purposed, now come to fulfilment.
 2You have made of a city a heap,
of a fortified city a ruin;
the palace of pride is a city no more,
it shall not be rebuilt for ever.
 3For this shall fierce nations own Your glory,
the city of tyrants shall fear You.
 4For unto the weak You have proved You a stronghold,
a stronghold wast You to the poor in his straits —
A refuge from storm and a shadow from heat. 
 5You subdues the voice of the proud,
and you humblest the song of the tyrant.
Song over the Anticipated Destruction of Moab
 9That day it shall be said:
Behold! this is our God,
for whom we have waited — to save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited,
o let us rejoice and be glad — He has saved us.
 10For here upon this mountain
the hand of the Lord shall rest;
and Moab shall be trampled
in the place whereon he stands,
as straw in a dung-pit is trampled.
 11Should he spread forth his hands.
Song of Gratitude and Hope
Jerusalem Secure: The Proud City Destroyed  
 26In that say shall this song be snug in the land of Judah:
1A strong City is ours,
with bulwarks and walls
that He sets for our safety.
 2Open the gates,
that the righteous may enter
who keeps the faith.
 3The mind that is steady
you keeps in weal,
for it trusts in You.
 4Trust in the Lord
Forevermore;
for Jah the Lord
Is Rock of Ages.
 5For down He has cast
the dwellers on high,
the towering city,
abasing it even to the ground,
and laying it low in the dust.
 6The foot shall trample it —
the feet of the poor,
and the steps of the needy.
It is Well with the Righteous, Ill with the Persistently Wicked
 7The path of the upright is even,
you smoothest the way of the righteous.
 8We have looked for You, O the Lord,
to come by Your pathway of judgment;
we have yearned for a sign of Your presence,
which men may remember for ever.
 9I have yearned for You in the night,
yea, with passionate spirit have sought You.
When Your judgments come over the world,
those that dwell on the earth learn righteousness.
 10No grace shall be shown to the wicked,
who righteousness will not learn,
but even in the land of truth
persist in their evil ways,
and are altogether blind
to the majesty of the Lord.
The Utter Destruction of the Enemy 
 11The Lord, Your hand is uplifted,
but they are blind thereto;
may they see it, and be ashamed.
Let the fire, reserved for Your foes,
and Your zeal for Your people consume them.
 12O the Lord, establish our welfare;
for all that we have achieved
has been wrought for us by You.
 13O the Lord who are our God,
lords other than Thyself
have held us in their sway,
but Your name alone will we praise.
 14The dead shall not live again,
the shades shall not arise;
you have visited them with destruction,
and blotted their memory clean.
A Yet More Glorious Day
 15You have, O the Lord, increased the nation,
enlarged all the bounds of the land,
and shown Thyself most glorious.
 16In our straits, O the Lord, we sought You;
we cried, because we were crushed,
your chastisement was upon us.
 17As a woman that is with child,
when she draws nigh her time,
doth cry aloud in her pangs;
so were we, Lord, because of Your presence.
 18For we, too, writhed in pangs,
but we brought forth nothing but wind.
We achieved for the land no deliverance;
the denizens of the world
fell not (in battle) before us.
 19Your dead shall arise unto life,
they that dwell in the dust shall awake,
and utter cries of joy;
for a dew (from the regions) of light is Your dew,
and the earth (refreshed thereby)
Shall quicken the shades into life.
Song of the Vineyard 
 27In that day it shall be said:
2Vineyard delightsome,
sing you of it.

 3I am its guardian — the Lord —
i water it moment by moment;
that no leaf of it shall fail,
by day and by night I guard it.
 4I cherish no anger against it.
But had I the briers and thorns,
i would trample them down in the fray,
I would burn them up altogether.
 5Else, then, let them seek My protection,
and let them make peace with Me;
yea, peace let them make with Me.

 6That day shall Jacob take root,
israel shall blossom and bud,
and with fruit fill the face of the world.
the Lord's Mercy to Israel
 7Has (Israel) been smitten so sorely
as those that smote her have been smitten?
Or has she been slain without remnant,
as those that slew her have been slain?
 8By dismissal and exile alone
doth (the Lord) contend with her:
He has swept her away by His blast
that blows fierce in the day of sirocco.
 9On this condition therefore
shall Israel's guilt be forgiven —
When she puts away her sin
the issue thereof shall be this —
That all the stones of her altars
she shall grind, like chalk, to powder;
that sacred poles and sun-pillars
she never shall raise again.
 10For the fortified city is desolate,
a homestead forsaken, forlorn,
like a pasture: there browses the calf —
there he lies, consuming the branches;
 11And there, when the dry boughs are broken,
come women who use them for fuel.
For the people would not reflect;
and so from their Maker they win no pity,
no favour from their Creator.
Warnings and Promises to Jerusalem
Woe to Samaria 
 28Woe to the coronet proud of the drunkards of Ephraim!
1Woe to the fading flower of her glorious beauty,
which crowns the heads of the men that are prostate with wine!
 2See! the Lord has in readiness one that is mighty and strong —
like a storm of hail, or like tempest destructive,
like storm of a mighty tempestuous flood —
that will bring her with violence down to the ground.
 3The coronet proud of the drunkards of Ephraim
shall be trampled under foot;
 4And the fading flower of her glorious beauty,
which crowned the head of the fertile valley,
shall be as the first ripe fig before summer —
No sooner seen than swallowed,
the moment it is in the hand.

 5But that day will the Lord of Hosts
unto those that are left of His people
be Coronet lovely and Diadem fair —
 6A spirit of justice to him
that presides over justice,
of valour to those at the gate
that stem the tide of war.
The Scoffers of Jerusalem Threatened
Isaiah's Solemn Warning to the Drunken Priests and Prophets
 7But here also men reel with wine
and stagger under drink;
yea, with drink reel prophet and priest,
with wine they are utterly dazed.
They reel in the hour of vision,
they totter in giving of judgment;
 8All tables are full of vomit,
and filth is everywhere.

 9‟To whom does he mean to teach knowledge,
and impart his revelation?
To children weaned from the milk,
to babes just drawn from the breast —
 10With his law upon law, law upon law,
saw upon saw, saw upon saw,
here a little and there a little?”

 11(Well! thus I answer your mocking.)
Through barbarous lips and a foreign tongue
will (the Lord now) speak to this people.
 12For once had His message to you been this:
‟The true rest in this — let the weary enjoy it:
And this is repose.” But you turned a deaf ear.
 13So on this wise the Lord will speak to you now:
‟Law upon law, law upon law,
saw upon saw, saw upon saw,
here a little, and there a little” —
To the end that you trip on your way and fall backward,
shattered and snared and taken.
The Folly of the Egyptians Alliance
 14Hear therefore the word of the Lord, you scoffers,
who rule this folk in Jerusalem.
 15Because you have said, ‟We are leagued with Death,
and with Sheol we are compact;
so the flood, though it passes in whelming torrents,
shall never reach unto us;
for a lie we have made our refuge,
we have sheltered ourselves behind falsehood”:
 16Therefore thus says the Lord the Lord,
behold! I am laying in Zion a stone,
a tried and precious foundation stone,
and he that believeth shall not give way.
 17And I will make justice the measuring-line,
and righteousness the plummet.
Then the refuge of lies shall swept by hail,
and the shelter deluged by water.
 18Your league with Death shall be clean disannulled,
and your compact with Sheol shall no wise stand.
When the flood swept on, it will trample you down;
each time that it passes, 'twill bear you away.
 19It shall pass every morning — by day and by night —
and the word, grasped at last, shall bring nothing but terror.
 20For the bed is too short for a man to stretch out in,
the cover too narrow to wrap himself round.
 21For the Lord shall rise as He rose on mount Perazim,
blazing with wrath as in Gibeon's vale,
to perform His task — that task so strange,
to accomplish His work — that work so.

 22Now scoff you no more, lest your bands become tighter;
for this have I heard from the Lord of Hosts —
a decree of destruction o'er all the earth.
The Patience and Considerateness of the Divine Purpose
 23Listen, and hear you my voice;
attend and give ear to my speech.
 24Doth the ploughman keep ploughing for ever,
keep opening and harrowing his ground?
 25Doth he not, after levelling its surface,
scatter broadcast fennel and cummin,
and plant there wheat and barley,
and, for its border, spelt?
 26The Lord it is that has trained him aright,
and his God it is that has taught him.

 27Men thresh not fennel with sledges,
nor are cart-wheels rolled over cummin;
but fennel is threshed with a staff,
and cummin with a flail.
 28Do we ever crush bread-corn to pieces?
Nay, we do not keep threshing for ever;
The Character and Fate Jerusalem
The Fate of Jerusalem  
 29Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel,
1city where David encamped.
Let one or two years pass by,
a cycle of festivals more,
 2and distress I will bring upon Ariel,
moaning and lamentation,
and you shall be Ariel indeed.
 3I will camp, like David, against you,
and circle there round with entrenchments,
and set up forts against you.
 4And low from the ground shall you speak,
and your words from the dust shall rise humbly
with voice like a ghost's from the ground,
with twittering speech from the dust.
 5But the horde of your foes shall become like fine dust,
and the horde of the tyrants like flying chaff.
Then swiftly and suddenly
 6the Lord of Hosts will visit you
with thunder and with earthquake,
and with din stupendous,
with whirlwind and with tempest,
and flame of devouring fire.
 7But the horde of all the nations
that fight against Ariel,
with all their entrenchments and forts
and all the hosts that distress her,
shall be as a dream, as a vision of night.
 8Like a man that is hungry, who dreams that he eats
and wakes to find his desire unappeased;
like a man that is thirsty, who dreams that he drinks,
and wakes all faint, with his thirst unquenched:
Even so shall it be with the horde of all nations
that fight against Mount Zion.
The Spiritual Torpor and Religious Formality of the People
 9Utterly dazed shall you be,
utterly blind shall you be,
and drunken, though not with wine,
reeling, though not with strong drink.
 10For the Lord has poured upon you
a spirit of slumber deep;
the prophets, your eyes, He has sealed,
the seers, your heads, He has covered,
 11so that the sight of all this is to you
as the words on a scroll that is sealed.
If put into the hands of a scholar with the request that he read it, he will reply, ‟I cannot, it is sealed.” 12If, however, it be put into the hands of a man who is no scholar, with the request that he read it, he will reply, ‟I cannot, I am no scholar.”
 13And the Lord said:
Because these people praise me with words,
honouring Me with their lips,
while their hearts are far away —
their religion only a mockery,
formulate learned by rote —
 14I will deal with them therefore once more
in a fashion so wondrous strange
that their wise men's wisdom shall perish,
their prudent men's prudence shall vanish.
 15Woe to them who conceal
from the Lord their deep designs,
doing their deeds in the dark,
unseen, unperceived — so they think!
Doubters Rebuked by a Vision of Israel's Welfare in the Latter Days
 16O perverse that you are!
Is the potter no more than the clay?
Shall the thing that is made maintain
that it has not been made by its maker?
Shall the thing that is fashioned deny
that the potter has understanding?
 17Soon Lebanon's forests will become an orchard,
and orchards will be considered useless forest.
 18In that day even the deaf
shall hear words read from a scroll,
and out of the gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
 19And then shall the humble win
a new joy in the Lord,
and the poorest shall exult
in the Holy One of Israel.
 20For the tyrant will have vanished,
and the scoffer will have ceased;
and those that were zealous in sin
shall all have been rooted out,
 21With those that have falsely condemned,
and sought to entrap the judge,
and quibbled to injure the innocent.
 22Thus therefore says the Lord,
the God of the household of Jacob,
Abraham's redeemer:
No longer will Jacob be ashamed,
no longer will faces grow pale with embarrasment.
 23For the moment he beholds his children,
what My hands have wrought in his midst,
they shall count My name as holy;
the Holy One of Jacob
they then shall count as holy,
and in awe hold the God of Israel.
 24Those that had erred in spirit
shall then win understanding;
and those that had grumbled
will willingly learn the truth.
The Egyptian Alliance a Ruinous Policy
The Embassy to Egypt 
 30Ha! you refractory sons, says the 1Lord,
that follow a purpose I did not inspire,
and that make an alliance that I did not sanction,
thus heaping sin upon sin.
 2They start on their journey to Egypt,
without consulting Me,
to flee to the shelter of Pharaoh shall turn to your shame,
and the shadow of Egypt shall prove your confusion.
 4The princes encamp in Zoan,
the envoys arrive at Hanes,
 5All of them laden with gifts
for a people that cannot avail them,
that brings no help or profit,
but only disgrace and shame.

 6Oracle concerning the beasts of the South.
Through a land of distress and hardship,
of lioness and roaring lion,
of viper and flying dragon,
they carry their wealth on the backs of young asses,
their treasures on humps of camels,
to a people that cannot avail them,
whose help is vain and empty.
 7And therefore I name her Rahab,
the monster brought to silence.
Judah's Rebellion and Ruin
 8Now go and write it down,
and on a roll inscribe it,
that it may be for the after-time,
a testimony for ever.
 9For a rebel people are they,
sons that are utterly false,
sons that refuse to listen
to the teaching of the Lord —
 10That forbid the seers to see
and the prophets to prophesy truth.
‟Speak to us smooth things,” they say,
‟And prophesy illusions.
 11Give over your wonted ways,
and leave your well-worn tracks;
and trouble us no more
with the Holy One of Israel.”

 12This therefore is the message
of the Holy One of Israel:
‟Because you reject this word,
and trust in guile and craft,
and lean your weight thereon,
 13This guilt of yours shall be
like a rift in a lofty wall,
that bulges, ready to fall,
till suddenly and swiftly
down it comes with a crash —
 14A crash like that of a pitcher
so ruthlessly dashed in pieces,
that not a shred can be found
among the scattered fragments
wherewith to take fire from the heart,
or to draw from the cistern water.”

 15For thus says the Lord the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel,
‟In calmly resting your safety lies,
in quiet trust shall be your strength.”
 16But this you refused. You said ‟No;
but away we will speed upon horseback.”
Yes, speed indeed you shall.
‟On steeds that are swift we will ride.”
Yes, and swift shall be they that pursue you.
 17At the menace of five you shall flee,
until only a remnant be left,
like a pole on the top of a mountain,
or a signal upon a hill.
The Final Triumph and Prosperity of Jerusalem
Forgiveness and Prosperity
 18Therefore the Lord length
to show unto you His favour,
and therefore He arises
to reveal His pity upon you;
for the Lord is God of justice:
Happy all who long for Him.
 19For, O people of Zion that dwell in Jerusalem,
tears shall be yours no more.
He will show you His gracious favour;
at the (faintest) sound of your cry,
he will answer you, soon as He hears it.
 20And though the Lord may give unto you
scant measure of bread and scarceness of water,
yet your Teacher no more shall withdraw,
but your eyes shall behold your Teacher.
 21When you swerves to right of left,
you shall hear a voice behind you.
‟This is the way: walk here.”
 22And your images you shall defile —
whether carved and plated with silver,
or molten and covered with gold.
Like an unclean thing you shall scatter them,
saying to them, ‟Begone.”
 23Rain shall He give for your seed,
wherewith you sow the ground;
and the wheat that springs from the ground
shall rich and abundant be.
In that day shall your cattle
graze over pastures broad.
 24The oxen and asses that till the ground
shall feast upon salted provender,
that with shovel and fork has been winnowed.
 25On every lofty mountain,
on every hill that is high,
shall be streams of running water,
on the day of vast slaughter and falling towers.
 26And the moonlight shall be as the sunlight,
and the sun shall be sevenfold brighter than now,
in the day that the Lord upbinds
the hurt of His people,
and heals the wound that has smitten them.
The Glorious Triumph
 27Behold, the Lord comes from afar
in thick rising clouds and with anger that blazes,
with lips that are filled with rage,
and tongue like devouring fire,
 28With breadth like a rushing torrent,
that reaches even to the neck,
to sift till the nations are sifted to nothing,
to bridle their jaws and to lead them to ruin.

 29Then a song you shall sing like the song
in the night of a holy festival;
and gladness of heart shall be yours,
as is his, who, to sound of flute,
sets forth for the Mount of the Lord,
to (worship) the Rock of Israel.
 30The Lord will utter His glorious voice,
he will bring down His arm in the sight of all,
in furious indignation,
and flame of devouring fire,
in cloud-burst and rain-storm and hailstones.
 31At the thunder-voice of the Lord,
when He smiles with the rod,
shall Assyria be stricken with terror.
 32And each stroke of the rod of destiny,
that the Lord lays upon him,
shall fall to the music of timbrel and lute;
and with brandished arm shall He fight against them.
 33For already a pyre is prepared,
constructed wide and deep,
piled high with blazing wood,
and fired by the breath of the Lord,
as by a stream of brimstone.
The Folly of the Egyptian Alliance 
 31Woe to those that journey
1to the land of Egypt for help,
who rely on the throngs of her horses and chariots,
and trust in the eminent strength of her horsemen,
but never turn their eyes
to the Holy One of Israel,
and ask not the Lord for counsel.
 2Yet He too is wise, and He brings disaster;
his threats He has not recalled.
He will rise to contend with the household of miscreants,
and with those whom the wicked would summon to help them.
 3The people of Egypt are men, not God;
and their horses are flesh, not spirit.
Let therefore the Lord but stretch forth His hand,
and the helper will stumble, the holpen will fall,
and both shall perish together.
 4For thus has the Lord declared to me:
Like as a lion growls,
or a young lion over his prey,
when against him the shepherds are summoned
to come in all their strength —
At the shout he is undismayed,
at their noise he is nothing daunted —
So the Lord of Hosts shall come down
to fight against Mount Zion,
and against the hill thereof;
 5Then like fluttering birds (shall they flee).
Thus will the Lord of Hosts
throw His shield around Jerusalem;
he will shield her and deliver her,
he will spare her and bring her to safety.
The Enemy's Downfall
 6O turn, you men of Israel, to Him
whom deeply you have offended.
 7In that day each will disdain
the gold and silver idols
his guilty hands have made.
 8Assyria shall fall by no mortal sword;
a sword, but not man's, shall devour him.
From the face of that sword he shall flee,
and his youths shall be put to task-work.
 9In his fear he will flee past his rocky retreat,
and his princes shall run from the standard in panic.
Thus says the Lord whose fire is in Zion,
whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
Rulers and People in the Coming Days 
 32Behold there cometh a King
1who shall rule in a spirit of justice,
and princes who govern with equity —
 2Each like a shelter from the wind,
a refuge from storm of rain,
or like streamlets of water in dry parched places,
or shade of great rock in a weary land.

 3Then the eyes that see shall not be sealed,
and the ears that hear shall not be heedless;
 4The mind of the rash shall judge with discernment,
the stammering tongue shall be fluent and plain.
 5No more shall a fool be called ‟noble,”
No more shall a knave be named ‟princely.”

 6For the fool speaks folly for ever,
his mind evermore plots mischief;
his doings are profane,
and error he speaks of the Lord.
He leaves the hungry unsated,
and drink he withholds from the thirsty.
 7The tricks of the evil are vile,
and villainies he plans —
To ruin the humble with lies,
and the poor, though his plea may be just.
 8But the plans of the ‟noble” are noble,
by nobleness shall he endure.
Warning to the Women
 9You women that are at ease,
arise and hear my voice;
you carelessly confident daughters,
give ear to what I say.
 10In little more than a year
you shall shudder, for all your confidence;
for the vintage shall surely fail,
and the fruit shall not be garnered.
 11Tremble, you women at ease,
and you that are confident, shudder;
strip you, and make you bare,
gird (sackcloth) upon your loins,
 12And beat upon your breasts
in lament for the pleasant fields,
and for the fruitful vines,
 13And for the land of my people,
overgrown with thorns and briers.
Not a house of mirth shall be left
in all the jubilant city.
 14The palace shall be forsaken,
the thronging city deserted;
watchtower and hill shall become
an everlasting waste.
The Security and Prosperity of the Coming Days
 15But yet from the heavenly height
shall a spirit be poured upon us,
and the desert become like a garden,
and the garden be counted a forest.
 16Then justice shall dwell in the desert,
and righteousness live in the garden-land.
 17Of justice the fruit shall be peace,
and the outcome of righteousness safety
and quietness for ever.
 18My people shall dwell in the mansion of peace,
at the easeful rest in abodes secure.
 19The forest shall be felled,
and the city laid utterly low.
 20Happy are you that may sow
in a land that is all well watered,
where oxen and asses may roam.
The Present Distress and the Future Glory of Jerusalem
The Distress  
 33Woe to you, spoiler, whom none has despoiled;
1you treacherous robber, whom no one has robbed.
When your spoiling is over, you too shall be spoiled;
when your robbing is ended, you too shall be robbed.

 2O the Lord, be gracious to us,
we have waited for You;
be You our Arm every morning,
our Saviour in time of distress.

 3At the sound od the tumult the peoples are fled;
you lift Yourself, and the nations are scattered.
 4(Your folk), like the locusts, shall gather the booty,
over it swarming, as grasshoppers swarm.

 5The Lord is exalted, He dwells on high;
with justice and righteousness Zion He fills,
 6With wealth of salvation and wisdom and knowledge,
with treasure that flows the fear of the Lord.

 7The heroes of Ariel are crying without,
the envoys of peace shed bitter tears;
 8Forlorn are the highways, the wayfarer ceases.
He has broken the compact and mocked at its witnesses,
utterly reckless of human kind.
 9The earth mourns and languishes,
lebanon withers in shame:
Sharon is now like a desert,
and Bashan and Carmel are leafless.
The Deliverance
 10But thus says the Lord, ‟Now I will arise;
yea now, even now, I will lift Me on high.
 11You are pregnant with chaff, and your child shall be stubble,
my breath shall devour you like fire.

 12The nations shall sink through the burning ashes,
like a thorns cut away, that are kindled with fire.
 13The men of far countries shall hear of My doings,
and those that are near shall acknowledge My might.”

 14The sinners in Zion are filled with terror,
and shuddering seizes the souls profane.
‟O who can dwell with devouring fire?
Who cab dwell with eternal flame?”

 15Who walks in righteousness, speaks with honesty,
scorns the gain that is won by oppression;
whose hand refuses to clutch at a bribe,
who stops his ears at a tale of blood,
who closes his eyes at the sight of evil:
 16He it is that shall dwell on impregnable heights.
On a fastness of rock shall his stronghold be,
where his bread is provided, his water is sure.
 17Thine eyes shall behold the King in His beauty,
they shall look on the land that stretches afar.
 18And thus shall you muse on the (vanished) terror:
‟Where is he that once weighed, that once counted the tribute,
and he that once counted the towers (for assault)?”
 19No more shall you look on the insolent people,
the people of dark and difficult speech,
who chatter a barbarous, meaningless tongue.

 20Look on the city of Zion,
the home of our festal assemblies;
thine eyes shall behold Jerusalem,
as a home of ease, a tent unremoved,
whose pegs shall never be plucked from the ground,
and not one of whose cords shall be snapped asunder.

 21In place of broad encompassing streams
shall be there for our comfort the Lord's own river,
a river where sails no fleet with oars,
and stately galleys pass not over.

 22For the Lord Himself is our Judge,
the Lord Himself is our Marshall,
the Lord Himself is our King:
It is He, He alone, that shall save us.

 23dThen shall the blind divide spoil in abundance,
 23eAnd then shall rich plunder be seized by the lame.
 24Nevermore shall inhabitants say, ‟I am sick,”
For the sins of her people are all forgiven.
The Golden Age
The Day of Vengeance
The Destruction of the Nations  
 34Draw nigh, you nations, and hearken;
1you peoples, give attention.
Let the earth and its fullness hearken,
the world and all its offspring.

 2For the Lord is wroth with all nations,
and angry with all their host;
he has doomed them to destruction,
has given them up to slaughter.

 3Their slain shall be flung out,
and a stench shall arise from their corpses;
the mountains shall run with their blood,

 4The heavens shall roll up like a scroll,
and all their host shall fade —
As the leaves fade away from the vine,
as the foliage fades from the fig-tree.
The Destruction of Edom
 5For already drunk with His wrath
is the sword of the Lord in heaven.
See! down it descends upon Edom
in doom on that people accursed.

 6Blood-gorged is the sword of the Lord
It is smeared all over with fat
with the blood of lambs and of goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.

For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
vast slaughter in Edom's land:
 7With those shall be struck down wild oxen,
and bullocks together with steers.

Their land shall be drunken with blood,
and their dust shall be smeared with fat;
 8For the Lord has set Him a day of revenge,
and the Champion of Zion a year of requital.

 9Her streams shall be turned into pitch,
and the dust of the land into brimstone;
her land shall be turned into pitch,
that burns night and day.

 10It shall not be quenched for ever,
her smoke shall go up through the ages;
a waste she shall lie evermore,
to be crossed by no traveller for ever —

 11The haunt of the pelican and bittern,
the home of the owl and the raven:
The Lord will stretch out upon her
the measuring-line of Chaos,
and the plums of Destruction.

 12Satyrs shall dwell therein,
her nobles shall cease to be;
no kingdom shall there be proclaimed,
and her princes shall be no more.

 13Where her palaces were, shall spring thorns;
in her fortresses, nettles and thistles.
A haunt shall she be for jackals,
a place for the camping of ostriches.

 14wild cats shall join the hyenas,
and satyrs shall meet with their fellows;
there only the night-hag reposes,
and finds her place of rest.

 15There the arrow-snake nestles and lays,
there she broods and hatches her eggs;
there only the vultures gather —
not one without its mate.

 16Search in the Book of the Lord —
not one of all these is missing;
for the Lord's own lips have commanded,
and His is the breath that has gathered them.

 17He has assigned it by lot to them,
his is the hand that apportioned it,
as their everlasting possession,
their home through all the ages.
The Joy of the Redeemed 
 35Let the desert and parched land rejoice,
1let the steppe-land exult and burst forth;
let it burst into bloom like narcissus,
and ring with glad cries of rejoicing,

 2All dowered with the glory of Lebanon,
the splendour of Carmel and Sharon:
They shall witness the Lord's own glory,
the majesty of our God.

 3Strengthen the hands that hang down,
and the tottering knees make firm;
 4Tell you the wild-beating hearts
to be strong and unafraid.
Behold! your God is coming,
he will surely avenge His people;
god is coming in retribution,
he Himself is coming to save you.

 5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
the ears of the deaf unstopped;
 6Then the lame shall leap like a hart
and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.

For waters break out in the desert,
and torrents in the wilderness;
 7The parched land becomes a pool,
and the thirsty land springs of water.

In the haunts of (wild cats and of) jackals
(Your flocks and your herds) shall rest,
and the court (where the ostriches camp)
Shall be filled with reeds and rushes.

 8And there a pure highway shall rise,
to be called ‟The Holy Way”;
the unclean shall not pass over it,
fools shall not wander therein.

 9No lion shall be there,
no ravenous beast shall ascend it;
but there shall the ransomed walk,
yea, the Lord's redeemed shall come home.

 10They shall come unto Zion with singing;
and crowned with unending joy;
for at last joy and gladness have found them,
and sorrow and sighing are fled.
Historical Appendix
Isaiah Encourages Hezekiah to Resist Sennacheirb's Summons to Surrender Jerusalem
First Narrative 
 36In the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, King of Assyria, after having assaulted and captured all the fortified cities of Judah, 2despatched his Chief Officer from Lachish with a large force against King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. Near the conduit of the upper pool, where he had taken up his position on the Fuller's Field Road, 5he was visited by a deputation consisting of Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Governor of the Palace, Shebna the Secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the Recorder.
 4The Chief Officer began: ‟This is the message from the Great King, the King of Assyria: I desire 5you to deliver it to Hezekiah. 'What sort of confidence is this that you cherish? Do you imagine that in war a mere word of the lips is the equivalent of wisdom and strength? Now who is it you are 6trusting in, that you presume to rebel against me? Of course you are trusting to Egypt, that staff of broken reed, which will enter and piece the hand of the man that leans upon it: that is all that Pharaoh King of Egypt will prove to those who 7trust to him. If, however, you tell me you are trusting to your God the Lord, why, that is the very god whose sanctuaries and altars Hezekiah has abolished, commanding the people of Judah and Jerusalem to confine their worship to the altar at this 8place? Now, make a wager, if you like, with my lord the King of Assyria: I am prepared to furnish you with two thousand horses, if you on your part 9can supply them with riders. (But if you cannot), how do you propose to repel the onset of one of the least of my lord's officers? yet you trust to Egypt 10for chariots and horsemen. And now do you imagine that I have not the Lord's sanction for invading this land with a view to its destruction? Why, it is the Lord Himself who commissioned me to invade this land and destroy it.'”
 11Thereupon Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah asked the Chief Officer to be good enough not to speak to them in Hebrew, in the hearing of the people on the wall, but in Aramaic, which they assured him 12they understood. ‟Nay,” replied the Officer, ‟it is not to your lord and yourself that my lord has sent me with this message, but precisely to the men on the wall, whom your policy is likely to reduce to eating their own filth and drinking their own water. ”
 13Then the Chief Officer came forward and cried aloud in Hebrew, ‟Listen to the words of the 14Great King, the King of Assyria. Thus says the King: Do not let yourselves be imposed upon by 15Hezekiah, for he is powerless to deliver you; and do not let yourselves be induced to trust to the Lord by Hezekiah's assurances that the Lord will unquestionably save you, and that this city will not be delivered into the hands of the King of Assyria. 16Give no heed to Hezekiah; for thus says the King of Assyria to you, Make your peace with me and surrender, and then everyone shall eat of his own vine and fig-tree, and drink water from his own 17cistern, till I come and take you to a land like your own — a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and 18vineyards. Do not let Hezekiah delude you with assurances that the Lord will save you. Has the god of any nation ever rescued his land from the grasp 19of the King of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods Sepharvain? And where are the gods of the land of Samaria? Have they rescued Samaria from 20his grasp? Which of all these national gods has succeeded in rescuing his land from my grasp, that the Lord should now rescue Jerusalem from my 21grasp?” To this they answered not a word, they remained silent; for the King had expressly told 22them not to answer him. Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Governor of the Palace, and Shebna the Secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the Recorder, tore their garments, and returned to Hezekiah, telling him what the Chief Officer had said. 
 37When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and went 2into the Temple; and he despatched Eliakim, Governor of the Palace, and Shebna the Secretary, and the elders of the priests, all covered with sackcloth, 3to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, to whom they spoke as follows: ‟A message from Hezekiah! This is a day of trouble, chastisement, and disgrace: for children are come to the birth, 4and there is not strength to bear them. But it may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Chief Officer, whom the King of Assyria, his master, has sent to insult the living God, and will punish the word which the Lord your God has heard: so lift up 5,6your prayer for those that remain.” And this was the answer that Isaiah returned to the deputation of King Hezekiah's ministers: ‟Tell your master,” he said, ‟that the Lord's message to him is this: he is not to be afraid of the blasphemous words he has heard from the minions of the King of Assyria. 7' Behold,' says He, 'I will inspire him with such a spirit (of panic) that on the strength of a rumour he will return to this own land, and there, in his own land, I will cause him to fall a victim to the sword.'”
 8Then the Chief Officer returned and found the King of Assyria engaged in the siege of Libnah, for he had heard that he had moved his camp from Lachish. 9aWhen the news reached him that Tirhakah King of Ethiopia was advancing to give him battle...
So Sennacherib, King of Assyria, broke up camp and returned to Nineveh, where he settled. Subsequently, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroch his god, he was assassinated by his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer. They, however, made good their escape to Armenia, and he was succeeded by Esar-haddon his son.
Second Narrative
 9bThen he sent messengers to Hezekiah with the 10following instructions. ‟This,” said he, ‟is what you are to say to Hezekiah King of Judah, 11Do not let the god you trust in delude you with his assurance that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hands of the King of Assyria. You are well aware of the ruin the King of Assyria has brought upon all lands, and are you to escape? 12Were the nations which my father destroyed saved by their gods — Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the 13Edenites in Telassar? Where is the King of Hamath and the King of Arpad and the King of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena and Ivvah?”
 14Hezekiah received the letter at the hands of the messengers and read it; then he went up to the 15Temple and spread it before the Lord, and to 16the Lord thus he prayed: ‟O the Lord of Hosts, You God is Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim, You are God alone over all the kingdoms of the earth: You are the Creator of heaven and earth. 17Incline Thine ear, O the Lord, and hear; open Thine eyes, O the Lord, and see; and hear the message of Sennacherib which he has sent to insult 18the living God. True it is, O the Lord, that the Kings of Assyria have devoted all nations and 19their lands to destruction, and thrust their gods in the fire, for no gods were they at all, but wood and stone, fashioned by human hands and so they were 20destroyed. But now, O the Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O the Lord, are God.” 21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent this answer back to Hezekiah: ‟Thus says the Lord the God of Israel: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib, King of Assyria. 22This is the word of the Lord concerning him:
The virgin, the daughter of Zion,
contemns you and mocks you;
behind you Jerusalem's daughter
is shaking her head.
 23Against whom have you lifted your voice
in reviling and blasphemy?
Yea, your eyes you have lifted to heaven
against Israel's Holy One.
 24You have reviled, by your minions,
the Lord, and have said,
‟With my chariots I climb the high hills,
the recesses of Lebanon;
her towering cedars I fell,
and her cypresses choice;
and I pierce to her furthest retreat,
where the forest is thickest.
 25Wells, too, (in the desert) I dig,
and I drink of strange waters;
with the sole of my foot I dry up
all the Nile-streams of Egypt.”
 26Hast you not heard that all this
I prepared long ago?
From the old I had planned it, and now
I have brought it to pass:
So 'tis your to lay fortified cities
in desolate heaps.
 27Their inhabitants, impotent all,
are dismayed and confounded,
become like the grass of the field,
like the green tender grass;
they are like unto grass on the roofs
that the east wind has blasted.
 28Your sitting and rising I know,
and your going and coming;
 29Your raging and uproar against Me
are come to Mine ears.
So My ring I will put through your nose
and My bit in your lips,
and (thus led) I will make you return
by the way that you came.
 30And the sign unto you shall be this:
This year you shall eat that which grows of itself,
and the next that which springs therefrom;
but the third you shall sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat of their fruit.
 31And those that escape of the household of Judah
shall again take root downward, and upward bear fruit;
 32For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant,
and forth from Mount Zion all such as escape.
The zeal of the Lord of Hosts
shall bring this thing to pass.

 33Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the King of Assyria,
he shall not come into this city,
nor shoot an arrow there;
he shall not come before it with shield,
nor cast up a mound against it.
 34But back he shall go by the way that he came,
and into this city he shall not enter;
 35For I will protect and deliver this city,
for Mine own sake and David My servant's sake.
 36Then the angel of the Lord went forth and slew in the camp of Assyria one hundred and eighty-five thousand men: when they rose in the morning, behold! every man was a lifeless corpse.
Hezekiah's Sickness, Recovery, and Song of Thanksgiving
Hezekiah's Sickness 
 38In those days Hezekiah was seized with a mortal sickness: and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him and said, ‟the 1Lord commands you to set your household affairs in order; for you will 2not recover, you are to die.” Then, turning his face to the wall, Hezekiah offered this prayer to 3the Lord: ‟Remember, O the Lord, I beseech You, how I have lived in Your presence with a faithful and undivided heart, and done the thing that pleased You.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then 4there came to Isaiah this message from the Lord, 5‟Go and say to Hezekiah: This says the Lord, the God of David your father, 'I will add to your life fifteen 6years more. You and this city together I will rescue from the grasp of the King of Assyria, and 21this city I will protect.'” Then Isaiah said, ‟Let them take a cake of figs and press it on the boil, to 22ensure his recovery.” And Hezekiah said, ‟What is the sign that I shall yet go up to the Temple?” 7‟Take this,” he replied, ‟as a sign from the Lord 8that He will do what He has promised. Watch the shadow that the descending sun has cast on the step-clock of Ahaz: I will bring that shadow ten steps backward.” and the sun did indeed go back on the step-clock the ten steps it had gone down.
Hezekiah's Song of Thanksgiving
 9A psalm of Hezekiah King of Judah, to celebrate his recovery from the sickness which had overtaken him:
 10Me thought I was doomed to depart
when my life was at noon-tide —
Consigned to the portals of Sheol
the rest of my years.
 11I had thought to see Jah nevermore
in the land of the living,
and never again to behold
any man in this world.

 12Like the tent of a shepherd, my home
is plucked up and stripped from me;
he has rolled up my life like a web,
from the thrum He has cut me.
To pain I am doomed night and day,
 13And I cry till the morning,
while all my bones, like a lion
he crushes in pieces.

 14I scream as screams a swift,
like a dove do I moan;
mine eyes look tearfully heavenward:
O think on me, Lord, be my surety.
 15What can I utter or say,
since 'tis He has done it.
I toss all the time of my slumber —
my soul is so bitter.
 16O rest You my spirit, refresh me,
and let me recover.
 17"Tis You that have kept my soul
from the pit of destruction.
Behind Your back You have cast
mine iniquities all.

 18For Sheol can give You no thanks,
nor can Death sing Your praises;
and they that go down to the pit
cannot hope for Your love.
 19It is the living, the living, that praise You,
as I do this day.
So the father shall tell to his sons
of Your faithfulness sure.

 20Be pleased, O the Lord, to save us:
Then all the days of our life
we shall play upon instruments stringed
in front of the house of the Lord.
Hezekiah's Vanity and Isaiah's Rebuke 
 39At that time, Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, King of Babylon, having heard that Hezekiah had been ill and had recovered, despatched 2eunuchs to him with a present. Hezekiah, delighted, proceeded to display to them his treasure- house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oil, the armoury, and the whole range of his treasures: there was nothing in his place or indeed in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
 3Then came the prophet Isaiah to King Hezekiah and said, ‟Where do these men come from, and what have they said?” ‟They have come,” said Hezekiah, ‟from a distant land, from Babylon.” 4‟What have they seen in your palace?” said Isaiah; and Hezekiah answered, ‟Everything: there is none of my treasures that I have not shown them.” 5‟Listen, then,” said Isaiah, ‟to the word of the Lord 6of Hosts. Mark, the day is coming, when all that is in your palace, and all the treasures that you ancestors have hither to amassed, shall be carried to 7Babylon: nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And of the sons that may yet be born to you, some shall be taken to become eunuchs is the palace of the 8King of Babylon.” Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, ‟I accept the word of the Lord which you have spoken.” At least, thought he, there will be peace and stability in my day.
The Exiles' Book of Consolation
The Lord the Omnipotent is About to Usher in the day of Israel's Deliverance
The Lord is the Lord of Nature and History
The Glorious News — Redemption is Nigh 
 40‟Comfort you, comfort My people,”
1Declares your God.
 2‟Speak home to the heart of Jerusalem,
cry unto her
that her time of sore service is over,
her guilt is discharged;
for her sins she has doubly atoned
at the hand of the Lord.”

 3Hark! Says a voice, ‟In the wilderness
clear you a way for the Lord;
make you straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
 4Let every valley be raised,
every mountain and hill brought low;
let the steep rugged ground become level,
the rough rocky ridges a plain.
 5Then the Lord shall show forth His glory,
and all fresh shall see it together:
The mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”

 6Hark! Says a voice, ‟Proclaim.”
‟What shall I proclaim?” said I.
‟Proclaim that all flesh is grass,
all its grace as the flower of the field.
 7The grass withers, the flower fades,
when upon it the breath of the Lord has blown.
 8Yea, the grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”

 9Get you up to a mountain high,
you that tallest good tidings to Zion;
lift up your voice with strength,
you that brings good news to Jerusalem;
lift it up, be not afraid.
Say to the cities of Judah,
‟Yonder cometh your God.”

 10See! the Lord is coming in might,
with an arm that ensures His dominion.
Behold, His reward is with Him,
his recompense is before Him.
 11He feeds His flock like a shepherd,
he gathered it with His arm;
he carries the lambs in His bosom,
and those that give suck He leads.
The Sovereignty and Omnipotence of God as Seen in Nature
 12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?
Who has ruled off the heavens with a span,
comprehend the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales,
and the hills in a balance?

 13Who has directed the mind ‟ ”of the Lord?
And where is the counsellor that taught Him?
 14Whom did He ask for enlightenment?
Who taught Him the pathway of right,
or showed Him the way of true insight?

 15See! nations are nought but a drop on a bucket,
they count but as dust on a balance;
he lifted the isles like a mote.
 16Too small for the fires (of His altars) is Lebanon,
too few are its breasts for an offering.

 17All nations are nothing before Him,
he counts them but empty nothing.
 18So to whom will you liken God,
or what likeness set over against Him?
 19An imagine! A craftsman has cast it, 
41A goldsmith o'erlaid it with gold.
 6Each workman helps his fellow,
and says to his neighbour, ‟Set to.”
 7So the craftsman heartens the goldsmith,
the polisher says to the finisher,
‟Fine piece of soldering that!” 
40Then the nails down the statue securely.
 20And he would carve a wood image
makes choice of a wood that decays not;
then he seeks a craftsman of skill,
to erect for him an image,
that is warranted not to topple.

 21But know you not then of yourselves, or from hearsay?
Has this from the first not been told you?
Of this have you not been aware,
since the day that the world was founded?
 22It is He that sits throned on the vault of the earth,
so high that the dwellers thereon are like locusts;
that stretches the heavens across like a veil,
and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
 23It is He that reduces proud princes to nothing,
that turns the rulers of earth into nothing.
 24Scarce are they planted, and scarce are they sown,
and scarce has their stock then root in the earth,
when He blows upon them, and so they wither:
The whirlwind bears them away like chaff.

 25To whom will you liken Me, then?
And who is My match? says the Holy One.
 26Lift up your eyes on high;
see! who has created all those?
He who brings their host out by number,
and summons each by his name:
So great His resource and so mighty His power
that not one of them fails to answer.

 27Why say you, then, O Jacob,
and Israel, why maintain
that your lot is unknown to the Lord,
your right ignored by your God?
 28Know you not of yourself or by hearsay —
The Lord is God eternal,
creator of all the earth?

He faints not, neither is weary,
unsearchable is His wisdom;
 29He gives power to the weary,
and increase of strength to the feeble.
 30Youths may faint and grow weary,
and young men may stumble and fall;
 31But those that wait for the Lord
Shall find their strength renewed;
they shall put forth pinions like eagles.
They shall run, and not grow weary;
they shall walk, and not be faint.
The Sovereignty of God as Seen in History, and Especially in the Rise of Cyrus 
The Rise of Cyrus a Proof of the Lord's Power  
 41Hearken in silence, you coast-lands, to Me,
1and await, you nations, Mine argument:
Come hither, then state your case;
so let us approach the tribunal together.

 2Who raised up him from the east land,
whose steps are attended by victory,
sweeping the nations before him,
and laying king low at his feet?

His sword makes them like dust
and his bow like the driven stubble;
 3He pursues and passes unharmed,
nor touches the ground with his feet.

 4Who is He has wrought and accomplished this?
It is He that from the beginning
did summon the generations —
Even I, the Lord, the First,
and with Last am I.
 5The coast-lands have seen it and feared,
the ends of the earth fell a-trembling,
they came and drew nigh (to the judgment).
Israel is the Lord's Servant, Loved and Upheld by Him 
 8But you, Israel My Servant,
jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham My friend;
 9Whom I fetched from the ends of the earth,
and called from the corners thereof,
with the words, ‟My servant are you;
I have chosen, and not since rejected you.”
My victorious hand will uphold you.

 11See! all that are furious against you
shall end in shame and confusion;
the men that contended against you
shall pass into nothing and perish.
 12The men that have striven against you
you never shall find, though you seek them;
the men that are warring against you
shall wholly and utterly vanish.
The Lord says, I am your helper;
your Redeemer is Israel's Holy One.

 15A threshing-sledge, see! I will make of you,
new and well-furnished with teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains to powder,
the hills you shall make like chaff.
 16The wind, when you winnow, shall scatter them,
the whirlwind shall bear them away;
but you shall rejoice in the Lord,
and glory in Israel's Holy One.

 17The poor who seek water where water is none,
the needy whose tongue is parched with thirst —
I, the Lord, will hear their prayer,
i, who am Israel's God, will not leave them.
 18But streams on the hills I will open,
and springs in the midst of the valleys;
the will I turn into pools od water,
the land that is parched into fountains of water.

 19I will plant in the desert the cedar,
acacia, myrtle, and olive;
I will set in the wilderness fir-trees,
the plane and the cypress together:
No Heathen God Can Predict the Future 
 21Now then, says the Lord, bring forward your suit,
produce your idols, says Jacob's King.
 22Let them come and declare unto us
the things that are yet to happen;
declare how the past was foretold,
that we may give thought thereto.
Or announce what is yet to come,
that we may mark the issue;
 23Declare what shall be hereafter,
and then we shall know you are gods.
Yea, do aught that you please, good or ill,
that may strike us with awe to behold.

 24Now see, you are nothing, and nought can you do:
Hateful is he that chooses you.
No Heathen God, but the Lord Alone, Predicted the Advent of Cyrus
 25I have roused up one from the north, he is come —
even one from the sunrise who calls on My name;
he shall trample on princes like mortar,
as potter tramples the clay.

 26Bur who from the first has announced this,
that so we might recognize it?
Or who has aforetime declared it,
that now we must own to its truth?
There was none that announced or declared it,
not one heard a word from you.

 27It was I who first told it to Zion,
and gave the glad news to Jerusalem.

 28I looked all around — there was no one;
not one of the gods could give counsel
or answer, to taught that I asked them.

 29See! one and all they are nothing,
and nothing can they do:
Their idols are wind and waste.
The Servant (Israel), his Task and Destiny
The Servant's Task 
 42Behold!
1My Servant, whom I uphold;
my Chosen, the joy of My soul.
I have put My spirit upon him;
he shall publish (My) Law to the nations.

 2He shall not cry, nor shout,
nor utter his voice in the streets;
 3Not a reed that is bent shall he break,
nor a wick that burns dim shall he quench.

He shall faithfully set forth (My) Law,
 4All erect and aglow shall he be:
He shall yet set (My) Law in the earth,
and the islands shall wait for his teaching.

 5Thus says the Lord, the God
who spread out and stretched forth the heavens;
who created the earth and its fruits,
giving breath to the people upon it,
and spirit to them that tread it:
 6With full and deliberate purpose
have I the Lord called you,
and taken your hand in Mine;
I formed you as pledge and symbol
of My covenant with mankind —
A light to enlighten the nations,
 7To open the eyes of the blind,
and to bring from the dungeon the captives
who sit in the darkness of prison.

 8I am the (true) God, the Lord;
this is the name that is Mine:
And My glory I yield to no other,
my praise shall no image enjoy.
 9Behold, the predictions of old are fulfilled,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring into being,
I make them know unto you.
The New Song
 10Sing a new song to the Lord,
his praise form the end of the earth;
let the sea and its fullness roar,
the islands and those that dwell there.
 11Let the desert rejoice with her cities,
the villages Kedar inhabits;
let Sela's inhabitants sing,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.
 12Let them give to the Lord glory,
and tell forth His praise in the islands.
 13The Lord goes forth like a hero,
he stirs His rage like a warrior;
he shouts His fierce battle-cry,
he engages His foes like a hero.
The Lord at last Bestirs Himself
 14Long time have I held My peace,
and restrained Myself in silence;
but now, like a woman in travail,
I groan, I pant and gasp.
 15Mountains and hills I will waste,
I will dry up all their herbage;
the streams I will turn into sand,
and the pools I will clean dry up.
 16The blind I will lead and guide,
by ways and by paths unfamiliar;
their gloom I will turn into light,
and the ground that is rough I will level
these are the things I will do,
they shall not be left undone.
 17But those that put trust in an idol,
and call an image their god,
shall backward be driven in shame.
A Call for Repentance on Israel's Part
 18Hearken. you that are deaf;
and you blind, look up, that you see;
 19Who is blind but My Servant,
and who is deaf as My Messenger?
Who is blind as Mine Envoy,
and the deaf as the Lord's Servant?
 20Much have you seen that you marked not;
your ears, though open, were dead.
 21The Lord was pleased, for His righteousness' sake,
to make His instruction great and glorious.
 22Yet it is still a people
plundered and despoiled,
all of them snared in dungeons,
and hidden away in prisons —
A prey without prospect of rescue,
a spoil of which none says ‟Restore.”
 23Which of you now will give ear unto this,
will attend and hear for the time to come?
 24Who gave up Jacob to plunderers,
and Israel to them that despoiled him,
 25And poured His hot anger upon him,
in fury of war so intense
that it blazed round about him — he knew not why —
and it burned him, yet never heart did he lay it?
The Lord will show His Love for Israel by Gathering her Exiles Home 
 43But now — thus says the 1Lord,
your Creator, O Jacob, your Maker, O Israel —
Fear not, for I have redeemed you,
and called you by name: you are Mine.
 2When you pass through waters, then I will be with you;
no rivers shall bear you away in their flood:
When you walk through fire, you shall no wise be scorched,
and the flames shall not kindle upon you.

 3For I am the Lord your God,
your Deliverer, Israel's Holy One;
egypt I give as your ransom,
yea, Seba and Cush in your stead
 4Because in My sight you are precious,
both honoured and beloved,
those lands I will give as your ransom,
those peoples in your stead.
 5Therefore fear not, for I am with you.

I will bring your seed from the sunrise,
and gather you out of the sunset;
 6I will say to the north, ‟Give them up;”
And unto the south, ‟Withhold them not.”
Bring in My sons from afar,
and My daughters from the ends of the earth —
 7Every one that is called by My name,
whom I fashioned and made for My glory.
Israel is the Lord's Witness to the World
 8Forth! you folk that have eyes, but are blind;
and you that have ears, yet are deaf.
 9The nations are all assembled,
the peoples are gathered together.
Which of them all can declare such a thing,
or announce to us such in advance?
Let them prove themselves right by the witness they bring,
who shall say, when they hear, ‟It is true.”

 10But you are My Witnesses — thus says the Lord —
my Servants, whom I have chosen,
that they may acknowledge and trust Me,
and learn I am ever the same.
No god was formed before Me,
and after Me shall be none.
 11I, even I, am the Lord,
and Saviour beside Me is none.

 12It was I, and no strange god among you,
who announced and declared and delivered.
You are My witnesses — thus says the Lord —
and I am God from of old,
 13From henceforth ever the same.
There is none that can snatch from My hand,
and who can reverse what I do?
The Deliverance from Babylon more Wonderful than the Deliverance from Egypt
 14Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
For your sake I send unto Babylon,
and down will I bring them in flight.
I will lay the Chaldeans low,
and turn their rejoicing to mourning;
 15For I am the Lord, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King.

 16Thus says the Lord,
who of old made a way through the Sea,
and a path through the mighty waters;
 17Who chariot and horse led forth,
the warriors and war-host together —
They lay down, but they rose no more,
they were quenched and put out like a wick —
 18Think of those old things no more,
nor give heed to those deeds of the old time.
 19For see! I am doing a new thing,
already it springs to view:
Do you not recognize it?

Yea, a path I will make through the desert,
and rivers in the wilderness;
 20The wild beasts shall render Me honour,
the jackals and the ostriches.
For with water I dower the desert,
the wilderness with streams,
to yield drink to My chosen people,
 21The people I formed for Myself,
to tell abroad My praise.
Israel's Restoration is Due, not to her own Merits, but to the Lord's Free Grace
 22Yet you have not called upon Me, O Jacob,
nor wearied yourself about Me, O Israel.
 23You have not brought unto Me
burnt offerings of sheep,
nor did honour Me with your sacrifice.

I burdened you not with offerings,
nor wearied you with frankincense;
 24You brought Me no sweet cane with your money,
you sated Me not with the fat of your sacrifice.
But you by your sins have burdened Me,
and through your transgressions have wearied Me.
 25Yet I, even I, am He
that blots out your transgressions;
your sins I remember no more.
 26Call to My mind your merits,
let us urge our several pleas;
reckon up all that you canst,
to prove yourself in the right.
 27Thine ancient sire was a sinner,
your prophets were rebels against Me,
 28My Temple your princess profaned;
so Jacob I gave to destruction,
and Israel to reviling. 
 44Yet hear now, Jacob My Servant,
1and Israel, whom I have chosen;
 2Thus says the Lord your Maker,
who formed you and helped you from birth:
Fear not, Jacob My Servant;
jeshurun, whom I have chosen:
 3For water I will pour on the thirsty,
and rills on the ground that is dry,

On your sons I will pour out My spirit,
my blessing upon their offspring:
 4And then shall they grow like the grass among waters,
like willows by water-courses.
 5And one shall declare, ‟I belong to the Lord;”
Another shall call himself Jacob:
Another shall write on his hand, ‟To the Lord,”
And add to his own name the surname of Israel.
Israel's God is Sovereign and Eternal
 6Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts:
I am the First, I too am the Last,
beside Me is no god at all.
 7Who is like Me? Let him stand and proclaim
and declare it and set it in order before Me?
Who has announced from of old things to come?
Let them tell us the things that shall yet come to pass.
 8Be not disquieted, be not afraid:
Have not I from the old time proclaimed and declared it?
You are my Witnesses: is there a God
or a Rock beside Me at all?
The Folly of Idolatry
 9Makers of idols are all an illusion,
and profitless all are the idols they dote on;
no vision or insight have whose adore them,
and so in the end they shall come but to shame.
 10(The fool who believes) he has fashioned a god,
has but fashioned a profitless metal image.
 11The magical arts are all put to shame,
the words of enchantment are only human.
The worshippers all, when they stand assembled,
shall tremble and come to confusion together.

 12The smiths prepare it over the coals,
and into the shape that is fitting he hammers it,
working it up with his sturdy arm.
Then hunger comes over him — feeble he grows,
or faint, if so be that he drinks no water.
 13The carpenter stretches his measuring-line,
with s stylus he traces the shape of the image,
and carves it with tools human likeness,
a fair human likeness, to rest in a chapel.

 14Forth a man goes to cut himself timber;
from the forest he chooses a plane or an oak,
which the Lord did plant, and the rain has nourished
for men to make use of as fuel for kindling.
 15He sets it ablaze and he warms himself,
or he kindles a fire, and bakes bread;
or he makes it into a god and bows down to it,
fashions an image and falls down before it.
 16One half of the wood in the fire he burns,
then he roasts flesh on the embers therefrom;
whereafter he eats the roast to his fill,
then he warms himself, and he says, ‟Ha! ha!
Now I am warm, I feel the glow.”
 17The rest of it then he makes into a god —
to an image, and bows down prostate before it.
He prays to it, and his prayer is this:
‟Deliver you me, for you are my god.”

 18No insight has he, and no power of discernment,
his eyes are besmeared, that he cannot see,
and his mind is sealed past understanding.
 19He suffers never his thoughts to ponder,
he has not the sense or the insight to say,
‟One half thereof in the fire I have burned,
and bread I have baked on the embers therefrom;
flesh I have roasted and eaten: and then
of the rest shall I make a detestable image,
and bow myself down to a block of wood?”

 20Who takes delight in combustible idols
is led far astray by delusion of heart:
He cannot deliver himself, and confess
that his hand has been grasping an utter delusion.
Let the World Rejoice over Israel's Redemption
 21Remember these things, O Jacob;
yea, Israel, for you are My Servant.
I made you, My Servant are you;
o Israel, you must not renounce Me.
 22I blot out your sins as a mist,
as a thick dark cloud your transgressions;
return unto Me, for I have redeemed you.
 23Rejoice, O you heavens, for the Lord has wrought it;
and shout, O you depths of the earth.
Break forth into jubilant cries, you mountains;
you forest, and the trees therein.
For the Lord has now wrought redemption for Jacob,
he shows His glory in Israel.
Cyrus and the Overthrow of Babylon
The Lord Calls Cyrus and Bestows upon Him a Career of Victory, for Israel and the World's Sake
 24Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
who formed you from the womb:
I am the Lord, Creator of all things,
that stretched forth the heavens alone,
and spread out the earth by Myself;
 25That frustrates the omens of soothsayers,
making diviners like fools,
thrusting the wise to the background,
and turning their science to folly;

 26But the words that My servants have spoken I confirm,
and the purpose My messengers urge I fulfil.
For I say to Jerusalem, ‟You shall be peopled,
 28cThe Temple foundations shall yet be laid:
 26The cities of Judah shall yet be rebuilt,
and the ruins thereof I will raise again.”
 27I will say to the deep, ‟Be dry;
for all your floods I will wither.”
 28aCyrus I name as My friend,
he shall execute all My purpose.
 
 45thus says the (true) God, the 1Lord,
to Cyrus His Anointed,
whose hand I hold in Mine,
to bring down nations before him,
to open doors before him,
and gates — to be closed no more:
 2‟I will go in person before you,
and mountains I will level;
I will shiver the doors of bronze,
and cleave bars of iron in sunder.

 3I will give you the dark-hidden treasures,
in secret places hoarded,
that so you may learn that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, who called you by name.
 4For the sake of Jacob My Servant,
and Israel My Chosen,
i called you by your name:
Though you knew Me not, I rejoiced in you.
 5I am the Lord, and there is no other;
beside Me is no god at all.

 1eThe loins of kings I ungird;
 5cBut you will I gird, though you knew Me not;
 6That men from the sunrise and sunset
may know there is none beside Me.
I am the Lord, and there us no other,
 7The Maker of light, the Creator of darkness,
the Maker of weal, the Creator of woe:
It is I, the Lord, that doeth all this.”
 8You heavens, pour down your showers,
let victory rain from the skies.
Let the earth open (her womb)
And bring forth the fruit of deliverance.
Let victory blossom therein:
It is all My creation, the Lord's creation.
Murmurs against Cyrus Rebuked
 9Woe unto him that strives with his Maker —
a potsherd no better than earthen potsherd.
Doth the clay say to the potter,
‟What thing is this that you make?”
Doth the vessel he wrought exclaim,
‟What a handless person you are!”
 10Woe to the son who says,
‟Sirem what is this you beget?”
Or ‟Mother, what bring you forth?”

 11Thus says the (true) God, the Lord,
israel's Maker and Holy One:
Would you ask Me of things to come,
or command Me as touching My handiwork?
 12It was I — the Maker of earth,
the Creator of man upon it,
whose hands stretched out the heavens,
and on all their host laid charge —
 13It was I who of purpose aroused him,
and all his ways I smooth:
He it is that shall build My city,
and set Mine exiles free;
yet neither for price nor reward.
Thus says the Lord of Hosts.
The Heathen Acknowledge the Uniqueness of Israel and Her God
 14Thus says the Lord of Hosts:
The peasants of Egypt, the merchants of Cush,
and the giant men of Seba,
shall pass in procession as lieges before you,
and walk behind you in chains.
They shall bow to you prostrate, and thus they
shall pray to you:
‟God is with you alone,
there is no other god at all:
 15Yea, truly with you God hides Himself;
yea, Israel's God is a Saviour.”

 16Ashamed and confounded together
are all who have risen up against Him —
the idol-making craftsmen.
 17But Israel is saved by the Lord
With salvation everlasting:
You shall not be ashamed or confounded
for ever and evermore.
The Lord Desires the Salvation of the Whole World
 18For thus says the Lord, God indeed,
creator of the heavens,
who made the earth and fashioned it,
and also fixed it fast,
creating it not for a desert,
but fashioning it for man's home:
‟I am the Lord, and there is none other.

 19Not in secret spake I,
nor in any land of darkness;
the offspring of Jacob I asked not
to go in vain quest of Me.
I am the Lord, My words are true,
and straight are My proclamations.

 20Come, you that survive of the nations,
assemble, draw near together.
No shred of sense have they
that carry an image of wood,
and make their prayers to a god
who is impotent to save.

 21Declare and bring forward (your case),
yea, let them take counsel together:
Who has announced this old,
or declared it in days gone by?
Is it not I, the Lord?
There is no other god beside Me —
A righteous God, and a Saviour,
and none there is beside Me.

 22Look unto Me and saved,
all you ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
 23By Mine own self have I sworn
that to Me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance,
 24And own that the Lord alone
is the Giver of strength and of victory.”
All that were furious against Him
shall come unto Him with shame;
 25But all the descendants of Israel
shall triumph and boast in the Lord,
The Downfall of Babylon's Gods 
 46Bel bows down, Nebo stoops:
1Consigned are their idols to beasts —
on weary beasts lifted and laden.
 2They crouch, they are bowed down together;
unable to rescue their load,
they themselves are gone into captivity.

 3Hearken to Me, house of Jacob,
you of Israel's house that remain,
all you that from birth have been carried
and upheld since the day you were born.
 4Till old age I am ever the same;
till your hair is grey, I will carry you.
It is I that have borne the burden,
it is I that will carry it still;
it is I that will carry and save you.
 5To whom will you liken or equal Me?
Whom will you set as My peer?

 6They that freely give gold from a purse
and that weigh in a balance the silver,
hire a goldsmith to fashion a god of it;
then they fall down and worship it.
 7They carry the load on their shoulder,
and set it down on its base,
where it stands, in its place, unmoved.
It answers no man's cry,
it saves no man in his trouble.
 8Reflect, then, and own yourselves guilty;
you rebels, lay it to heart.
 9Remember the things of long ago;
for I am God, and there is none like Me.
 10From the first I declare the issue,
from ancient times things yet to be done;
I declare that My purpose shall stand,
I will execute all My pleasure.
 11I have called a wild bird from the sunrise,
the man of My purpose from a far distant land.
I will usher in what I promised,
and accomplish the thing that I planned.

 12Hearken to Me, you faint-hearted,
who deem that your triumph is far away;
 13The triumph I bring you is near, not far,
my deliverance shall not tarry.
I will set the deliverance in Zion,
and lavish My glory on Israel.
The Downfall of Babylon 
 47Come down, and sit in the dust,
1o virgin daughter of Babylon;
sit on the ground unthroned,
o daughter of the Chaldeans:
For you shall be called no more
the Tender and the Dainty.
 2Take mill-stones, and grind the meal;
and put your veil aside.
Strip off your skirt, and pass
bare-legged through the rivers.
 3Let your nakedness be uncovered,
and let your shame be seen.
For vengeance I will take,
irrevocable vengeance —
 4Thus says our Redeemer,
the Lord of Hosts is His name,
the Holy One of Israel.

 5Sit in silence and shrouded in darkness,
o daughter of the Chaldeans;
for you shall be called no more
the Mistress of Dominions.
 6True, I was wroth with My people,
my heritage I profaned;
and I gave them into your hand,
but you showed no pity upon them;
you laid upon the aged
thine exceeding heavy yoke.
 7You said, ‟I shall live for ever,
and be Mistress evermore;”
These things you did lay not heart,
nor did think how it all would end.

 8Hear this now, Lady of pleasure,
who sits so securely,
and says in your heart,
‟It is I, there is none beside me;
I shall never sit as a widow,
nor know the loss of children.”
 9These two things shall come upon you,
full swift in a single day —
The loss of your husband and children
shall suddenly come upon you,
despite your many spells,
despite your enchantments many,
 10Despite your trust in your wickedness,
and your fancy that no one can see you.

Behold your wisdom and knowledge —
'Tis they that have led you astray;
and you in your heart did say,
‟It is I, there is none beside me.”
 11So disaster shall come upon you,
which no knowledge of your can avert;
destruction shall fall upon you,
which you have no power to appease;
sudden ruin shall come upon you,
which you have no knowledge (to banish).
 12Abide, then, by your enchantments,
abide by your sorceries many,
wherein you have toiled from your youth.
Perchance you may somewhat avail,
perchance you may yet strike terror.

 13You have wearied yourself with your counsellors;
now let them stand up and save you —
Those men that divide up the heavens,
directing their gaze to the stars,
and month by month make known
what things are coming upon you.
 14But see! they are all like stubble,
the fire burns them up.
Not even themselves can they save
from the mighty power of the flame: —
It is no glowing coal to warm at,
no fire to sit before.
 15Such then have they proved unto you,
in whose cause you have toiled from your youth;
your flee staggering, each his own way —
not a man of them all to save you.
The Summons to Depart from Babylon
The New Prophecies will be Fulfilled as Surely as the Old  
 48Hear this, O household of Jacob,
1called by the name of Israel,
and sprung from the loins of Judah,
that swear by the name of the Lord,
and celebrate Israel's God —
but neither with justice or truth;
 2For they call themselves after the Holy City,
and lean on the God of Israel,
whose name is the Lord of Hosts.

 3Of old I announced predictions,
and uttered them forth from My lips:
Of a sudden I wrought, and they came.
 4But I knew that you wast stubborn,
with a neck like an iron band,
and a forehead all of brass;
 5So I told it you long ago:
Ere it came to pass, I informed you:
In case you should claim that your idol had wrought it,
thine images — molten or graven — appointed it.
 6You have heard it, now see it fulfilled;
wilt you not bear witness to it?
The Restoration of Israel and the Future Glory of Zion
The Servant Discouraged, but at last Triumphant
The Servant: His Seeming Failure and his Great Destiny  
 46Hearken, you isles, unto me,
1and you peoples from far, give attention.
The Lord has called me from birth,
from the womb of my mother He gave me my name.

 2Like a sharp sword made He my mouth,
in the shadow of His hand did He hide me;
he made me a polished shaft,
in His quiver He concealed me.

 3And He said to me, ‟You are My Servant,
in whom I will show My glory;”
 5eAnd so I had honour in the sight of the Lord,
 5fMy God became my strength.

 4But I said, ‟I have laboured in vain,
I have spent my strength on an empty nothing;
yet safe is my cause with the Lord,
and my recompense with my God.”

 5aAnd now — thus says the Lord,
who formed me from birth for His Servant,
to bring Jacob back unto Him,
and that Israel to Him might be gathered —
 6He says, ‟It is too light a thing”
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and Israel's dispersed to restore:
I will make you a light to the nations,<footnote>7</footnote
that so My salvation may reach
to the very ends of the earth.”
Israel's Happy Return and Restoration 
 7Thus says the (true) God the Lord,
israel's Holy Redeemer,
to him who of men is contemned,
abhorred of the nations, the servant of tyrants:
Kings, when they see you, shall rise,
and princes shall bow down in homage,
because of the Lord the Faithful,
and Israel's Holy One, who chose you.

 8Thus says the Lord:
Now will I favour and answer you,
now will I help and deliver you;
making you pledge and symbol
of my covenant with mankind:
Restoring the (ruined) land,
and allotting the desolate heritage;
 9Bidding the prisoners go forth,
and the inmates of darkness to show themselves.

They shall pasture wherever they go,
even on all the bare hills shall be pasture;
 10They shall neither hunger nor thirst,
neither sun nor the hot wind shall smite them.
For One that pitiesshall lead them,
and guide them to foundations of water.
 11I will make all the mountains a highway,
and roads shall be raised everywhere.
 12Lo! yonder they come from afar,
some from the north and the west,
and some from the land of Syene.

 13Sing, O you heavens, for joy;
and earth, do you exult;
let the mountains break forth into song.
For the Lord comforts His folk,
takes pity upon His affected.
The Consolation of Zion
Wasted Zion will be Rebuilt and Repeopled 
 14‟But the Lord,” says Zion, ‟has left me;”
My Lord has forgotten me clean.”
 15Can a woman forget her babe,
cease to pity the son of her womb?
Yes, such may indeed forget,
but never will I forget you.
 16I have graven you on My hands,
and your walls are for ever before Me:
 17In haste men are coming to build you;
while those that have torn you down
and laid you in ruins, shall leave you.

 18Lift up your eyes round about, and behold
how they flock to you, all of them gathered together.
Yea, thus says the Lord on oath, as I live,
you shall wear them upon you as jewels on a garment,
and bind them about you as bride binds her girdle.
 19For your desolate wastes and your ruined land
(Shall be turned to a garden and crowded with men.)
Then scarce room enough shall you have for your people,
when those that devoured you are far away.

 20The children you long wast bereft of
shall one day declare in your ears,
‟This place is too narrow for me,
give me ampler space to dwell in.”
 21And then shall you say in your heart,
‟Who can have borne me these children?
Since I am bereaved and unfruitful,
who can have reared these children?
Behold! I was left all alone:
Who then can these children be?”
Three Words of Consolation
At a Signal from the Lord, the Nations shall Bring Israel Back to Zion 
 22Thus says the Lord the Lord:
Behold I will lift up My hand to the nations,
and raise for the people My banner(as signal);
and then shall they bring your sons in their bosom,
and carry your daughters upon their shoulders.
 23Kings shall be your foster-fathers,
and queens shall be your nursing mothers;
with face to the earth they shall do you homage,
and lick the dust of your feet:
And then you shall know that I am the Lord,
who never will bring those who trust Me to shame.
the Lord is Omnipotent
 24Can prey from the mighty be wrenched,
or can captives escape from a tyrant?
 25Verily, thus says the Lord:
Yes, even from the mighty can captives be wrenched,
and the prey of a tyrant escape;
but I will defend your cause,
I will deliver your children,
 26And cause your oppressors to eat their own flesh,
and to drink themselves drunk with their blood as with wine.
And then all flesh shall know
that I am your Saviour-Redeemer,
the Lord, the Strong One of Jacob.
the Lord's Omnipotent Love 
 50Thus says the 1Lord:
Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement,
wherewith I have put her away?
Or which of My creditors is it
to whom I have ever sold you?
If sold you have been, 'tis because of your sins;
your rebellions have led to your mother's divorce.

 2Why, when I came, was there no one,
and none to respond when I called?
Is my hand too short to deliver?
And have I no power to rescue?
With a word of a rebuke did I dry up the sea,
and rivers I turned into desert;
their fish dried up for lack of water,
their monsters perished on thirsty land.
 3I clothed the heavens in mourning,
and sackcloth I made their covering.
The Servant Tried but Trusting 
 4The Lord the Lord has given me
the tongue of a true disciple,
to know how to answer the weary
with words (of consolation).

In the morning He wakens mine ear
to listen, as true disciple;
 5As for me, I have not been rebellious,
or turned me backward away.

 6I gave my back to the lash,
and my cheeks unto those that plucked them;
my face and I did not hide
from insult or from spitting.

 7For the Lord of the Lord helps me,
and so I am not confounded;
I set my face like a flint,
and I know I shall never be shamed.

 8My Vindicator is nigh,
who then dare to contend with me?
Let us both stand up together.
Who dare be mine opponent?
Let him draw nigh unto me.

 9See, the Lord the Lord is my helper;
where, then, is the man that can worst me?
They all like a garment shall crumble,
the moth shall eat them up.
 10Let that man among you that fears the Lord
Give ear to the voice of His Servant. 
Whoso walks in darkness,
with not a gleam of light,
let him trust in the name of the Lord,
and lean upon his God.

 11All you that kindle a fire,
and you that set brands aflame,
begone to the flame of your fire,
get you into the brands you have lighted.
This is your fate at My hand,
that you lie in the place of torment.
Words of Encouragement and Promise
Deliverance is Near and Sure  
 51Hearken to me, you that yearn for redress,
1that seel for the aid of the Lord;
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
to the quarry from which you were dug.
 2Look unto Abraham your father,
and Sarah-her who bore you:
For he was but one, when I called him,
yet I blessed him and increased him.

 3So the Lord has comforted Zion,
has comforted all her ruins,
her desert has made like the Lord's own garden,
like Eden itself her wilderness.
Therein shall joy and gladness be found,
giving of thanks and the sound of melody.
 4Give heed unto Me, My people,
o nation of Mine, give ear;
for from Me shall direction go forth,
even My law to enlighten the nations.
 5I will bring My deliverance swiftly;
my victory is now on the way,
mine Arms shall judge the peoples.
For Me do the islands wait,
they shall set their hope in My Arm.

 6Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look on the earth beneath;
for the heavens shall vanish like smoke,
and the earth like a garment (shall perish;
the world) shall crumble to pieces,
her people shall die like gnats:
But eternal shall be My salvation,
my triumph shall not fail.

 7Hearken to Me, you that care for the right,
you folk in whose heart is My teaching;
be not afraid of the insults of men,
let no their reviling dismay you:
 8For even as a garment the moth shall consume them,
the worm shall consume them like wool;
but eternal shall be My salvation,
my triumph from age to age.
Appeal to the Lord to Show His Ancient Power
 9Awake, O Arm of the Lord,
awake, and clothe you with might;
awake as in days of old,
as in ancient generations.
Art you not the Arm that hewed Rahab in pieces,
and pierced the dragon through?
 10Art you not the Arm that once dried up the sea,
the waters of mighty ocean,
that made the depths of the sea
a way for the ransomed to pass?

 12I, I am He comforts you:
How then should you be afraid
of frail man that shall die, or of mortal
that passes away like the grass;
 13And forgets the Lord your Maker,
who stretched forth the heavens and founded the earth;
and lives in ceaseless dread
of the fury of the oppressor?
Where is now the oppressor's fury,
who aimed at your destruction?
 14Soon shall the captive be freed,
he shall not end in death and the pit,
nor suffer for lack of bread.

 15I am the Lord your God,
who stirs the sea into roaring waves:
The Lord of Hosts is My name.
 16And I put My words in your mouth,
in the shadow of My hand did I hide you,
when I stretched forth the heavens and founded the earth,
and said unto Zion, ‟My people are you.”
Jerusalem's Affliction: Her Speedy Redemption and Glory 
 17Bestir you, bestir you; arise, O Jerusalem,
who have drunk at the hand of the Lord
The cup of His indignation,
and the bowl that bewilders have drained to the dregs.
 18Of all the sons you have borne
there is not man to guide you;
of all the sons you have reared
there is none to take your hand.
 19A twofold woe has befallen you;
who may with you condole?
Wreck and Ruin, Famine and Sword —
and who may comfort you?
 20Your sons in a swoon were lying
like an antelope in a net,
filled full with the Lord's fury
and with the rebuke of your God.
 21Therefore hear now this, you afflicted one,
drunken, but not with wine:
 22Thus says your Lord the Lord,
your God who defends His people:
‟Behold, from your hand I have taken
the cup that brings bewilderment;
the chalice of My fury
you shall never drink again.
 23I will hand it to your tormentors,
to those that afflicted you,
and commanded you to bow down
that they might pass over you:
Yea, you made your back like the ground,
like a street for men to pass over.”
 
 52Awake, awake, O Zion,
1put on your garment of strength;
put on your glorious raiment,
o Holy City, Jerusalem:
For never shall enter you more
the uncircumcised or unclean.
 2Shake yourself from the dust,
and arise, O captive Jerusalem;
loose you the bands of your neck,
o captive daughter of Zion.
 3For thus says the Lord, ‟For nought were you sold and 4without money shall you be redeemed.” For thus says the Lord the Lord, ‟My people went down at the first to Egypt to sojourn there; and Assyria oppressed them 5without cause. And now,” says the Lord, ‟wherein have I been advantaged here, in that My people have been taken away for nought? See! those who waited for Me,” says the Lord, ‟are become a byword, and My name is ever ceaselessly reviled. Therefore in that day shall My people know My name, that it is I who have promised. Behold, it is I.”
 7How fair are the feet on the mountains
of him that proclaims good tidings,
the herald of peace and good tidings,
that brings the news of deliverance,
that says unto Zion,
‟Your God reigns.”
 8Your watchmen lift up their voices
in jubilant cries together,
for eye to eye they look
on the Lord returning to Zion.
 9You ruins of wasted Jerusalem,
break into singing together:
For the Lord comforts His people,
he brings Jerusalem redemption.

 10In the sight of all nations the Lord
Has bared His holy arm;
and all the ends of the earth
shall see how our God has saved us.
 11Away, away. get you hence,
and touch no unclean thing;
get you forth from her, make yourselves pure,
you that bear the vessels of the Lord.
 12Nor need you go forth in haste,
nor depart as though you were fugitives;
for the Lord goes before you,
and Israel's God is your rear guard.
The Humiliation and Exaltation of the Servant
The servant: His Sufferings and His Great Glory 
 13See, Israel My Servant shall yet be exalted
and raised exceeding high.
 14And as many were erstwhile appalled at his fate
(And kings at his destiny shuddered),
 15so many a nation shall yet do him homage
and kings shall be silent for awe of him.

For what they had never been told shall they see,
they shall gaze upon things unheard of before. 
 53‟Who could have ever believed” (they shall say)
1‟Such a tale as that which we hear?” 
And to whom has the arm of the Lord
Been ever so revealed?
The Sorrows, Humiliation, and Death of the Servant 
 2He grew like a sapling before us,
a shoot out of ground that was dry;
no beauty had he to attract us, 
52No figure to win our regard;
 14bHe was marred beyond human semblance,
 14cHe looked like a man no more.
 
 53He was spurned and forsaken of men,
3familiar with suffering and pain;
as one from whom men hide their faces,
he was spurned and we heeded him not.

 4But ours was the pain that he bore,
and the sorrows he carried were ours;
yet by us he was counted as smitten
and tortured by God's own hand.
 5But ours was the sin that pierced him,
the guilt that crushed him was ours:
Yea, he was chastised for our welfare,
and his stripes brought healing to us.

 6We had all of us wandered like sheep,
each turning a way of his own,
while the Lord had laid upon him
The iniquity of us all.

 7Though outraged, he was submissive,
he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
or sheep that with shearers is dumb.

 8He was dragged away by injustice,
and who gave a thought to his fate?
He was torn from the land of the living,
and smitten to death for the sins that were ours.

 9His grave was appointed with rebels,
his funeral mound with the wicked;
although he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
The Servant's Ultimate Exultation and Glory
 10'Twas the will of the Lord that crushed him with pain;
but by yielding himself as an offering for sin,
he shall yet see an offspring, his days shall be long,
and the purpose of God shall through him be triumphant.

 11For He has delivered his soul from anguish,
his eyes He has filled with abundance of light.”
‟In the of the many My Servant stands justified,
theirs is the guilt that this man bears.

 12For this he shall win with the great an inheritance,
he with the strong shall divide the spoil;
because he had poured out his soul unto death,
and had suffered himself to be numbered with rebels;
though the sins that he bore were the sins of the world,
and for those very rebels he had offered his prayer.”
The Future Glory of Jerusalem 
 54Sing, you barren, that did not bear,
1you that travailed not, break forth into singing;
for more are the sons of the woman forlorn
than the sons — says the Lord — of her that is married.

 2Enlarge the space for your tent,
and stretch out your canvas unstintingly;
lengthen your cords, and your stakes fasten well,
 3For to right and to left shall you spread.
Your sons shall possess the nations,
and people the cities now desolate.

 4Fear not, for never shall you be ashamed,
nor put to the blush, therefore be not confounded.
The shame of your youth you shall clean forget,
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

 5For your husband is He that made you,
the Lord of Hosts is His name;
your Redeemer is Israel's Holy One,
the God of all the earth.

 6As a wife forsaken and grieved.
To Himself has the Lord recalled you;
can a wife wooed in youth be rejected?
Thus says the Lord your God.

 7I forsook you a little while,
but in great compassion I will gather you;
 8In a burst of wrath for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with love everlasting I pity you,
says the Lord your Redeemer.

 9Like the days of Noah are these days to Me:
As I sware that the waters of Noah
should no more pass over the earth,
so I swear I shall never again
be angry with you, or rebuke you.

 10Though the mountains should remove,
and the hills be utterly shaken,
yet from you shall My love never move,
nor My covenant of peace be shaken,
says the Lord, who pities you.

 11You that wast sore afflicted,
tossed by the storm and uncomforted,
Behold,
your base I will set in rubies,
in sapphires your foundations.
 12I will make your pinnacles jasper,
your gates of carbuncle stones,
and all your borders of jewels.
 13The Lord shall teach your builders,
and greatly prosper your children;
 14Through righteousness shall you endure.
Far shall you be from oppression,
yea, you shall have nothing to fear:
Far shall you be from destruction,
it shall not come nigh unto you.
 15If any should stir up strife,
it cometh not from Me;
who stirs up strife against you
shall fall upon you to his ruin.
 16Behold! It is I who created the smith
that blows the fire of coals,
bringing weapons forth for their work.
It is I who created Destroyer to ravage.
 17Success shall never attend
the weapon forged against you;
the tongue that is raised against you
shall be worsted evermore.
Such is the lot of the Lord's Servants,
and this will I vindicate them, says the Lord.
Invitation to Embrace the Impending Salvation
The Blessings in Store for Israel 
 55Ho! all that are thirsty, come you to the waters,
1and you that have no money, come;
buy you and eat without money,
buy wine and milk without price.
 2Why spend you silver for that which can satisfy no one?
And your money for that which can satisfy no one?
If you hearken to Me, you shall eat what is good,
and your soul shall be ravished with dainties.

 3Incline your ear and come unto Me,
hear, that your soul may revive;
for with you I will enter a bond everlasting
of kindness, once promised to David and sure.
 4For, as once to the nations I made him My Witness,
appointing him Prince and Commander of nations,
 5So now shall you summon a people you know not,
people who know you not shall run unto you,
for the sake of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
because He has girt you with glory.
The Wonderful Salvation is Near: Forth, then, from Babylon! 
 6Seek you the Lord, while He may be found,
call you upon Him, while He is near.
 7Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the sinful man hi thoughts;
let him turn unto the Lord,
and He will have pity upon him —
And unto our God, for He
will plentifully pardon.
 8For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways Mine, says the Lord:
 9But as heaven is higher than earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways,
and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.

 10For even as the rain and the snow
that descend from the heaven, return not
without having watered the earth,
and caused it to bear and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
 11Even so shall it be with the word
that has issued out of My mouth:
It shall not return to Me void,
it shall execute My pleasure,
and carry My mission to triumph.

 12For with joy shall you go forth,
and in peace shall you be led out;
the mountains and the hills
shall break into singing before you,
and all the trees of the forest
shall clap their hands together.
 13For the thorn shall come up the fir,
for the brier shall come up the myrtle;
it shall be for the Lord's renown,
for a sign everlasting that never shall perish.
Later Voices of Rebuke, Threat, and Promise
A Word of Cheer to Those who are in Danger of Being Excluded from the Church 
 56Thus says the 1Lord:
“Keep the law, and do that which is right:
For soon My deliverance cometh,
my justice will soon be revealed.”
 2Happy the man who thus doeth,
the mortal that holds it fast —
He that keeps the Sabbath unsullied,
that keeps his hand from all evil.

 3And let not the foreigner say,
who has joined himself unto the Lord,
“the Lord will separate me
most assuredly form His people.”
And let not the eunuch say,
“Behold, a dry tree am I.”

 4For thus says the Lord:
“The eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths,
make choice of the things I delight in,
and hold My covenant fast —
 5In My house and within My walls
I will give them a name and a monument
better than sons and daughter:
I will give them a name everlasting
that never shall be cut off.
 6And the foreigners joined to the Lord,
that serve Him and love His name,
and are pledged to be His servants —
All that keep the Sabbath unsullied
and hold His covenant fast —
 7I will bring to My holy Mountain;
and fill them with joy in My House of Prayer
their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices
shall be welcomed upon Mine altar.
And My House shall be known by the name,
'House of Prayer for every nation.'”

 8Thus says the Lord the Lord,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel:
“I will yet gather others to him
beside those that already are gathered.”
The Demoralization of Leaders and People
The Sensuous Leaders 
 9All you wild beasts of the field,
all you wild beasts of the forest,
come hither to devour.
 10My watchmen are blind, every one,
with no knowledge of how to give heed.
Dumb dogs they are, every one of them,
lacking the power to bark;
but there they lie a-dreaming
in the slumber that they love.

 11Yes, greedy dogs are they,
that never can have enough;
but each to his own way turns,
each on his own gain bent:
 12“Come, wine let us fetch” (they say),
“Let us fill ourselves with drink,
and to-morrow shall be as to-day,
a royal uproarious day.”
 
 57The righteous are being destroyed,
1and no man lays it to heart;
the godly are swept away,
and no man gives it a thought.
'Tis the wickedness prevailing
that sweeps the righteous away;
 2But he enters into peace,
and those whose walk has been upright
do rest at last on their biers.
The Idolatrous People
 3But you — hither approach,
you children of a sorcerers;
you offspring of whore and adulterer,
 4Whom are you making sport of?
At whom are you making wide mouths,
and putting out our tongue?
Are you not apostate children,
a very brood of falsehood,
 5That inflame yourselves at the oaks,
and under each green tree;
that in valleys slaughter children
amidst the clefts of the rocks?

 6The slippery gods of the valley —
those, those you have taken for your portion.
Yes, to them you have poured your drink-offerings
and rendered on oblation:
And shall I with such things be appeased?
 7And you did set your bed
on a high and lofty mountain,
and thither you did go
to offer up your sacrifice.

 8Behind the door and the door-posts
your symbol you did set;
inflamed, you did uncover,
didst go up and enlarge your bed.
And you did purchase you lovers,
whose wantonness you loved;
and did multiply your whoredoms,
when your eyes beheld the phallus.

 9For Melech you did anoint you
and Multiply your perfumes;
you did send your ambassadors far,
yea, down to the depths of Sheol.
 10Though weary with many journeys,
you said not, “I despair.”
But ever new strength you gained,
and therefore you did not desist.

 11Of whom wast you then in such abject terror
that you did play the traitor,
and gave no thought to Me,
nor did lay your duty to heart?
I hid Mine eyes in silence,
and Me you did not fear.
 12But I will expose your doings,
this “righteousness” of your.

 13When you cry, your hateful idols
shall profit you nothing, nor save you;
the wind shall lift them all,
and a breath shall take them away.
But who trusts in Me shall possess the land,
and inherit My holy Mountain.
Blessings in store for the Faithful
 14O raise, raise a highway, and clear you a path,
take the stumbling-blocks out of the way of My people.
 15For thus says He that is high and exalted,
whose throne is for ever, whose name is Holy:
“On high as the Holy One sit I enthroned,
and with him that is crushed, that is lowly in spirit;
to quicken the spirit of them that are lowly,
and the heart of all such as crushed to revive.

 16For not for ever will I contend,
nor cherish Mine anger evermore;
for then would the spirits faint before Me,
the souls that I Myself have made.
 17Because of his sin I was worth for a moment,
I smote him in anger and hid My face:
But he kept to the way of his rebel heart —
 18I have noted his ways,” says the Lord.

“But now will I bring to him healing and rest,
and requite him with full consolation.
 19The lips of his mourners shall blossom with praise,
when to far and to near I bring peace and prosperity.
Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”
 21So peace there is none, says my God, to the wicked.
The true and the False Worship
Fasting 
 58Cry with full throat and refrain not,
1lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to My people their sins,
and their guilt to the household of Jacob.
 2Daily indeed they consult Me,
their joy is to learn My ways,
like a nation that doeth the right
and forsaken not the law of its God.

They ask Me to guide then aright,
they delight to draw nigh unto God.
 3“Why look You not when we fast?” (they say)
“Why heed You not our self-chastening?”
But on fast-days you think of your business,
you drive all your workmen like slaves.
 4See! you fast for strife and contention,
you smite the poor with your fists.

Such fasting as yours to-day
will not carry your prayers on high.
 5Can such be the fast of My choice,
a day for self-mortification?
To bow one's head like a bulrush,
to lie upon sackcloth and ashes —
Is this what you call a fast,
a day that the Lord accepts?

 6Thus says the Lord the Lord:
Is the fast of My choice not this —
To loose the unjust fetters,
to undo the bands of the yoke,
to let those that are crushed go free,
and to snap each yoke in sunder,
 7To break your bread to the hungry,
to bring the homeless home: —
When you see the naked, to cover him,
and to hide not yourself from your kinsmen?
 8Then shall your light break forth as the dawn,
and your wounds shall be speedily healed.
In front shall your righteousness march,
with the Lord's own glory behind you.
 9Then, when you call, the Lord shall answer,
and say, when you cry for help, “Here am I.”

If from your midst you remove the yoke,
the finger of scorn and the speech that is mischievous;
 10If to the hungry you give your bread,
and the soul that is bowed you dost satisfy:
Then in the darkness your light shall arise,
and your gloom shall be as the noonday:
 11The Lord shall guide you for evermore,
and your soul in the land that is parched He will satisfy.
Your strength He will make new again,
and you like a well-watered garden shall be,
like a fountain of water, whose waters fail not.
 12The ancient ruins your sons shall rebuild,
you shall rear once again the foundations of old;
and you shall be called the Repairer of Ruins,
who makes waste places a home again.
The Sabbath
 13If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your business on My holy day,
and calls the Sabbath a sheer delight,
and the holy (day) of the Lord honourable,
and honours it by not doing your wont,
nor heeding your business, nor speaking idly:
 14Then shall you have your delight in the Lord,
and over the heights of the earth shall you ride;
I will give you the portion of Jacob your father
in full to enjoy, as the Lord has promised.
The Sinful People and the Devine Deliverance
The Sins  
 59Behold, the hands of the 1Lord
Is not too short to save,
nor His ear too dull to hear.
 2Your iniquities are the barrier
between your God and you;
your sins have hidden His face,
and therefore He will not hear you.

 3For your hands are stained with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have uttered falsehood,
your tongue mutters depravity.
 4No one sues the integrity,
no one with honesty pleads;
they trust in pretence and lies,
conceive trouble and bring forth mischief.

 5Basilisks' eggs they hatch,
and spiders' webs they weave:
Who eats their eggs shall die,
and the egg that is crushed breaks out as a viper.
 6Their webs cannot serve as a garment,
with that which they fabricate no man can clothe himself;
for evil is what they fabricate,
their hands work deeds of violence.

 7Their feet run to evil,
they haste to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of mischief,
their paths are Wreck and Ruin.
 8The ways of peace they know not,
no justice is in their tracks:
For their own selfish ends they have twisted their paths;
who treads thereon is a stranger to peace.
The Confession 
 9For this cause our right remains far,
and no victory yet overtakes us;
we look for the light, but lo! darkness —
for brightness, but walk in the gloom.
 10We grope, like the blind, by the wall,
yea, like men that are sightless we grope;
we stumble at noon as in twilight,
in darkness we dwell like the dead.
 11We all of us roar like bears,
like doves we sadly mourn;
we look — but in vain — for justice,
salvation is far away.

 12Our transgressions before You are many,
our sins do witness against us,
our transgressions are ever with us,
we know our iniquities well —
 13Rebellion, denial of the Lord,
and turning away from our God,
speaking revolt and perverseness,
and uttering lies from the heart.
 14Justice is driven back,
and righteousness stands afar;
in the market-place truth stumbles,
and rectitude cannot enter.
 15So truth is not to be found,
and insight departs from the city.
At the sight was the Lord displeased,
he was angry that justice was lacking.
The Deliverance 
 16He saw with utter amaze
not a man to interpose;
so His own arm wrought Him deliverance,
his righteous might upheld Him.
 17He put on the breastplate of righteousness,
on His head the helm of salvation;
he put on the garments of vengeance,
in the mantle of passion He clothed Him.

 18He renders recompense matching desert —
wrath to His enemies, shame to His foes:
 19So shall those in the west fear the name of the Lord,
and those at the sunrise behold His glory.
He shall come like a pent-up stream,
which the breath of the Lord drives.
 20But to Zion He comes as Redeemer,
and removes transgressors from Jacob.

 21This covenant with them I make, says the Lord —
My spirit that is upon you,
and the words I have put in your mouth —
Shall not depart form your mouth,
nor from the mouth of your children,
nor yet from the mouth of your children's children,
says the Lord, from the henceforth and evermore.
The Glory of the New Jerusalem 
 60Arise, shine, for your light is now come,
1and on you is the Lord's own glory arisen.
 2For, though darkness covers the earth,
and the nations are wrapped in gloom,
yet on you the Lord shines forth,
over you His glory appears.
 3And nations shall come to the light that you shed,
and kings to the brightness that streams from you.
 4Lift up your eyes round bout and behold
how they flock to you, all of them gathered together —
Your sons coming in from afar,
on the arms of their nurses your daughters.
 5At the sight of them you shall be radiant,
your heart shall tremble and throb;
for the wealth of the sea shall be turned unto you,
unto you shall the nations come in with their treasures.

 6A stream of camels shall cover you,
young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those of Sheba shall come,
laden with gold and frankincense,
and tell of the Lord's renown.
 7All the flocks of Kedar
shall gather unto you,
and the rams of Nebaioth shall seek you;
they shall mount with acceptance Mine altar,
and my House of Prayer shall be radiant with beauty.

 8Who are these that fly like a cloud,
or like doves to their latticed cotes?
 9For ships unto Me are gathering —
vessels of Tarshish in front —
To bring your sons from afar,
and with them their silver and gold,
to the name of the Lord your God,
to the Holy One of Israel,
because He has girt you with glory.

 10Strangers shall build your walls,
and their kings unto you shall be ministers;
for the wrath that moved Me to smite you
is turned into favour and pity.
 11Your gates shall ever be open,
not shut by day or nigh,
that the wealth of nations be brought you —
their kings at the head of the train.
 12For the nation and the kingdom
that serve you not shall perish:
Yea, utterly waste shall those nations be.

 13The glory of Lebanon shall come unto you,
the pine-tree, the plane, and the cypress together,
that the House where My holiness dwells may be fair,
that the place where I walk may be covered with glory.
 14The sons of those that afflicted and scorned you
shall come unto you, all lowly bending,
and give you the name of “the Lord's own City,
the Zion of Israel's Holy One.”

 15Whereas you have been forsaken,
unvisited, abhorred,
an eternal pride I make you,
a joy unto all generations.
 16You shall suck the milk of nations,
yea, royal breasts shall you suck;
and then shall you know that I,
the Lord, am your Saviour,
and He that redeems you
is the Mighty One of Jacob.

 17For brass I will bring in gold,
and silver instead of iron,
brass in the place of wood,
and iron in place of stones;
and Peace I will set to govern you,
and Justice to be your lord.
 18Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
nor rapine nor ruin within your borders;
but a Sure Defence you shall call your walls,
and your gates you shall name Renown.

 19The sin shall no more be your light by day,
nor yet shall the moon shed her brightness upon you;
but the Lord shall be your eternal Light,
and your God shall be your glory.
 20Your sun shall set no more,
your moon shall wane no more;
for the Lord shall be your eternal Light,
and the days if your grief shall be ended.

 21Your people shall all be righteous,
possessing the land for ever,
the shoot of the Lord's planting,
the work of His hands, for His glory.
 22The smallest shall grow to a clan,
and the least to a mighty nation.
I (who have promised), the Lord,
will hasten it in its time.
The Proclamation of Zion's Redemption 
 61The spirit of the 1Lord the Lord is upon me,
because I have been by the Lord anointed:
He has sent to me to bring glad news to the wretched,
to bind up hearts that are broken,
to proclaim release unto captives,
and freedom to men in bonds,
 2To proclaim the year of the Lord's favour,
and the day of our God's revenge,
to comfort all that mourn,
 3To give them a garland for ashes,
the oil of joy for the garment of mourning,
a song of praise for a spirit bedimmed;
and oak-trees of righteousness they shall be called,
the plants of the Lord reflecting His glory.

 4They shall build the ancient ruins,
restoring the places long desolate,
renewing the wasted cities,
that age upon age have been desolate.
 5Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
and aliens shall be your ploughmen and vine-dressers:
 6But you shall be called The Priests of the Lord,
the name you shall bear shall be Ministers of our God.
The wealth of the nations shall be yours to enjoy,
you shall deck yourselves with their splendour.

 7A twofold measure of shame has been theirs,
and theirs was a lot of contempt and insult,
so now in their own land their share shall be doubled,
and theirs shall be joy everlasting.
 8For I am the Lord, the lover of justice,
iniquitous plunder is hateful to Me;
faithfully then their reward I will give them,
and enter with them in a bond everlasting.

 9Their sons shall be famous all over the world,
and their offspring among the nations;
then those that behold them shall all acknowledge
that this is the race that the Lord has blessed.
 10For as surely as earth puts forth her shoots,
and the seed springs up that is sown in a garden,
the Lord the Lord will make victory spring,
and renown, before all the world.

 11“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my soul shall exult in my God,
who has clothed me in robes of salvation,
and decked me with mantle of victory,
like bridegroom that fixes his turban
or bride that adorns herself with her jewels.”
 
 62For Zion's sake I will not keep silence,
1for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
till her victory issue forth clear as the light,
her deliverance bright as a burning torch,
 2So that nations shall see you are victor indeed,
and kings, every one, shall behold your glory.
But you shall be called by a name that is new,
which the Lord's mouth shall determine.
 3Fair crown shall you be in the hand of the Lord,
a diadem royal in the hand of your God.

 4No more shall your name be Forsaken,
nor your land called Desolate more:
But your name shall be called My Delight,
and your land My Wedded Wife;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall indeed be wedded.
 5For even as a youth weds a maiden,
so your Builder shall wed with you;
and as bridegroom rejoices in bride,
so your God shall rejoice over you.

 6Over your walls, Jerusalem,
I have appointed watchmen;
all the day and night
they never hold their peace.
You whose task it is
to keep the Lord in mind,
 7Take to yourselves no rest,
and give no rest unto Him,
until that He establish,
until that He make Jerusalem
renowned in the earth.
 8By His right hand the Lord has sworn,
and by His mighty arm:
“Never again will I suffer
your foes to devour your corn;
never again shall strangers
drink the wine for which you have toiled.
 9Bur those that have garnered shall eat it,
with songs of praise to the Lord;
and those that have gathered shall drink it
within My holy courts.”

 10Pass you, pass through the gates,
prepare you a way for the people;
cast you, cast up the highway,
and gather out the stones,
and raise for the peoples a banner.
 11Behold, to the ends of the earth
has the Lord made proclamation:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
behold, your salvation is come.
Behold His reward is with Him,
and His recompense before Him,
 12They shall call them the Holy People,
the Redeemed of the Lord,
and you shall be called Frequented,
the City Unforsaken.
The Destruction of the Foes of Zion 
 63“Who is this that cometh from Edom,
1in bright-red garments from Bozrah,
so glorious in hi apparel,
marching in fullness of strength?”
“It is I, that have promised deliverance,
I that am mighty to save.”

 2“Why is your raiment so red,
and your garments like his that treads in the wine-press?”
 3“I have trodden the wine-trough alone,
of the nations was no man with Me;
so I trod them in Mine anger,
and trampled them down in My fury;
their life-blood besprinkled My garments,
and all Mine apparel I stained.

 4In My heart was the day of revenge,
and the year of redemption was come.
 5I looked with utter amaze —
there was none to help or uphold;
so Mine own arm, wrought Me the victory,
my fury — it upheld Me.
 6In Mine anger I trod down the peoples,
in My furry I broke them in pieces:
Their life-blood I spilt on the ground.”
Passionate Prayer for the Divine Favour
Thanksgiving for Ancient Mercies
 7The Lord's renown I would celebrate —
all His loving-kindness —
As befits the deeds that the Lord,
so rich in goodness, has wrought for us,
even for the household of Israel —
Wrought for us in His pity
and loving-kindness great.
 8“Surely My people are they,” He said,
“Sons that will not prove false.”
And so He became their Saviour
from all that did distress them.

 9No envoy was it or angel,
but His own very presence that saved them:
In His love and in His pity
he did Himself redeem them;
he took them up and carried them
all the days of old.
 10But as for them, they resisted,
and grieved His holy spirit;
so He turned to be their foe,
and Himself did fight against them.

 11Then (Israel) remembered
the days of the old time, (and said):
“Where is He that brought up from the sea
the shepherd of His flock?
And where is He that set
in their midst His holy spirit;
 12That caused His glorious arm
to go at the right hand of Moses;
that cleft the waters before them,
to make Him a name everlasting;

13a That led them through the depths
 13bWith steps that never faltered,
13c Like cattle that stray to the valley,
 14aOr horse on the open pasture?
 14bMay Your spirit, the Lord, guide us,
as once You did lead Your people,
to make You a glorious name.”
Passionate Entreaty for the Devine Forgiveness and Pity 
 15Look down from heaven, and behold
from Your holy and glorious palace.
Where are Your zeal and Your prowess,
the voice of Your yearning and pity?
 16Though Abraham knows us not,
and Israel does not regard us,
yet are You, O the Lord, our Father,
our Redeemer from of old is Your name.

 17Why dost You leave us, the Lord,
to wander away from Your paths?
And why dost You suffer our hearts
to grow hard and strange to Your fear?
O return for Your Servants' sake,
for the sake of the tribes of Your heritage.
 18Why do the wicked make light of Your holy place?
Why do our enemies tread down Your Temple?
 19We are grown like those whom You rule no more,
who have never been called by Your name.
 
 64O that the heavens You would rend and come down,
1that the mountains might quake at Your presence —
 2As fire sets brushwood ablaze,
as fire causes water to boil —
To make known Your name to Your foes
so that nations might tremble before You,
 3While terrible things you do,
surpassing our expectations,
 4Unheard-of from olden time!
No ear has ever heard,
no eye has ever seen,
the mighty deeds You wilt do
for those that wait for You.
 5O that you would meet
with those that are doers of righteousness,
those that remember Your ways!
But behold, You wast wroth with our sin,
and of broken faith were we guilty.

 6We are all like men defiled,
like a blood-stained cloth is our righteousness;
we are all like withered leaves,
swept away by the blast of our guilt.
 7There is none that calls on Your name,
or bestirs himself to lay hold of You.
For Your face You have hidden from us,
and delivered us up to our guilt.

 8But now, O the Lord, our Father are You;
we are the clay, and You are the Potter,
the work of Your hand are we all.
 9O be not, the Lord, exceeding wroth,
and do not remember our guilt for ever.
Behold, look, we beseech You,
for we are all Your people.

 10Your holy cities are now a desert,
jerusalem is accursed.
 11Our holy and beautiful House,
wherein our fathers praised You,
has been burned up with fire;
and all the places we cherished
are lying now in ruins.
 12At things like these, O the Lord,
can You restrain Yourself?
And wilt You still keep silence,
and afflict us very sore?
The Blessedness of the Faithful and the Doom of the Apostates
The Fate of the Apostates  
 65I was ready to offer an answer
1to those that consulted Me not;
and to suffer Myself to be found
of those that had sought Me not.
“Here am I, here am I,” I said
to a people that call not upon Me.

 2I spread out My hands all the day
to a rebel unruly people,
that walk in a way not good,
but after their own devices —
 3A people who even to My face
continually provoke Me,
sacrificing in gardens
and burning incense on tiles —
 4That sit among the graves,
and spend the night in caves,
that eat the flesh of swine
and unclean broth from their vessels —
 5That say, “Keep by yourself,
keep away from me, lest I infect you.”
Such men are a smoke in My nostrils,
a fire that blazes for ever.
 6Behold, it is written before Me:
I will not, says the Lord, keep silence,
 7Until I have punished their guilt
and the guilt of their fathers together,
who have burned on the mountains incense,
and dishonoured Me on the hills.
So first their reward I will measure,
then into their bosom requite it.
The Destiny of the Faithful in the Impending Judgment
 8Thus says the Lord:
As when new wine is found in the cluster,
and one says, “Destroy it not,
because it contains a blessing;”
Even so will I do for My Servants' sake,
I will not destroy the whole.
 9I will bring out of Jacob a seed
and from Judah and heir to My mountains:
The land shall be owned by My Chosen,
and there shall My Servants dwell.
 10And Sharon shall then be a pasture for flocks,
and the valley of Anchor for cattle to rest in,
for My people who have sought Me.
 11But you that forsake the Lord,
and forget My holy Mountain,
that spread forth a table for Fortune,
and pour out mixed wine unto Destiny:
 12I destine you for the sword,
you shall all bow down to the slaughter.

For you answered not when I called,
I spake, but you did not listen;
you did that which was vile in My sight,
and made choice of the things that displeased Me.
 13Therefore thus says the Lord the Lord:
Behold, My Servants shall eat,
but you shall be hungry;
behold, My Servants shall drink,
but you shall be thirsty;
behold, My Servants shall be joyful,
but you shall be ashamed.
 14Behold, My Servants shall shout
for gladness of heart;
but for sorrow of heart you shall cry,
you shall wail for vexation of spirit.
 15Behold, you shall leave your name
for My Chosen to curse by:
Behold, by a far other name
shall My Servants be called.

 16He that prays in the land for a blessing
shall appeal to the God of truth;
and he that swears in the land
shall swear by the God of truth —
When the former distress is forgotten
and hidden from Mine eyes:
 17For behold I will soon create
the heavens and the earth anew.
The Glorious Future 
The past shall not be remembered,
nor come into mind again;
 18But men shall for ever rejoice and exult
over this My (new) creation.
For behold! I will straightway create
jerusalem a rejoicing,
and her people an exultation;
 19For I will exult in Jerusalem,
and in My people rejoice.

No more shall be heard within her
the voice of weeping or crying;
 20No more shall be found therein
a babe of (a few brief) days,
or an old man who has not completed
the full tale of his days;
but he that dies the youngest
shall have lived for a hundred years,
and he that dies less than a hundred
shall be counted a man accursed.

 21They shall dwell in the homes they have built,
eat the fruit of the vines they have planted;
 22No others shall dwell in the homes your have built,
nor shall others enjoy what they planted.
For the days of My folk shall be many
as the days of the life of a tree,
and the work that their hands have achieved
shall My Chosen enjoy to the end.

 23They shall not labour in vain,
nor rear their children to perish;
for a race that is blest of the Lord are they,
and their offspring shall live by their side.
 24I will answer or ever they call,
I will hearken while still they are speaking.
 25The wolf and the lamb shall then pasture together,
and the lion eat straw like the ox:
But the serpent — its food shall be dust.
None shall do hurt, says the Lord, or havoc,
on all My holy Mountain.
Doom Pronounced upon those who Purpose to Build a Rival Temple  
 66Thus says the 1Lord:
The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool;
what manner of house would you build Me?
What manner of home would you rear?
 2For all this is the work of My hand,
and these things are all Mine, says the Lord.
But this is the man I regard —
the afflicted and broken in spirit,
who trembles at My word.

 3Oxen they kill forsooth —
but men they also slay;
and sheep they sacrifice —
but dogs they also strangle:
They offer their oblations —
but also the blood of swine;
they bring their memorial incense,
but they also bless the idol.

Such are the ways they have chosen,
foul rites are the joy of their soul;
 4So I choose that they shall be harassed,
the things that they dread I will bring on them:
Because, when I called, none responded;
they listened not, when I spoke,
but did that which was vile in My sight,
and made choice of the things that displeased Me.
The Faithful Cheered by the Prospect of Zion's Prosperity
 5Hear you the word of the Lord,
you that at His word tremble:
Your brethren, that hate you and loathe you
for My name's sake, have said:
“Let the Lord show forth His glory
that we too may look on your joy:”
But they shall put to shame.
 6Hark! from the City an uproar.
Hark! from the Temple it cometh.
Hark! 'tis the Lord Himself
dealing recompense unto His foes.

 7But she has brought forth a son
before her hour of travail;
before her pains came upon her,
of a man-child was she delivered.
 8Who has heard the like?
Who has seen aught like this?
Can it be that a single day
may see the birth of a people,
that a nation be born all at once?
For no sooner had Zion travailed
than she brought her sons to the birth.

 9Shall I not help to bring forth
what I bring to the birth, says the Lord?
Or shall I, having brought to the birth,
then close up the womb, says your God?
 10O Jerusalem, rejoice,
and exult in her, all you that love her.
Be joyful with her exceedingly,
all you that mourned over her;
 11That so you may suck to the full
from the breasts of her consolations,
and drain to your heart's delight
the milk of her rich mother-bosom.
 12For thus says the Lord: Behold,
I will set prosperity flowing
towards her, like a river in spate,
and the wealth of the world like a torrent.
Your babes shall be borne on the side
and dandled upon the knees;
 13And as one whom his mother comforts,
even so will I comfort you:
In Jerusalem you shall be comforted.
 14Your heart shall rejoice at the sight,
and your bones shall flourish like grass;
and then shall men perceive
how the Lord loves His Servants,
and how wroth He can be with His foes.
 15For behold, the Lord shall come like a fire,
with chariots like the whirlwind,
to render His anger in burning heat,
his rebuke in flames of fire.

 16For judgment the Lord will hold on all flesh,
by fire and by His sword,
and the Lord's slain shall be many.
 17Those that devote themselves
by rites of purification
to (worship in sacred) gardens,
with one in the centre to lead them —
That eat the flesh of swine,
of creatures that crawl, and mice —
 18Their works and their thoughts, says the Lord,
shall come to an end together.
The Lord's Glory Announced throughout the World: The Complete Restoration and Perpetuity of Israel 
Behold, the time is come
to gather all nations and tongues;
they shall come and behold My glory,
 19And a sign I will set among them.
And those that escape (the judgment)
I will send unto distant coasts,
such as have not heard of My fame,
nor yet have seen My glory.
They shall tell to the nations My glory;
 20And out of all the nations
they shall all your brethren bring,
unto My holy Mountain,
to Jerusalem, says the Lord,
as an offering unto the Lord,
like the offerings brought to the Temple
by Israel in vessels pure.

 21Some I will also take,
for Levitical priests, says the Lord.
 22For as surely as the heavens
and the earth I create anew
shall abide, says the Lord, before Me,
your name and your race shall continue.
The Fearful Fate of the Apostates
 23From one new moon to another,
one Sabbath to another,
shall all flesh come to worship
before Me, says the Lord.
 24And forth they shall go, and look
on the corpses of the men
that have rebelled against Me —
Whose worm never dies,
whose fire is never quenched: 
They are held by all flesh in abhorrence.