Israel Encouraged
“aCoastlands, listen to Me bin silence,
And let the peoples cgain new strength;
dLet them come forward, then let them speak;
eLet us come together for judgment.
2 “aWho has aroused one from the east
Whom He bcalls in righteousness to His feet?
He cdelivers up nations before him
And subdues kings.
He makes them like ddust with his sword,
As the wind‑driven echaff with his bow.
3 “He pursues them, passing on in safety,
By a way he had not been traversing with his feet.
4 “aWho has performed and accomplished it,
Calling forth the generations from the beginning?
‘bI, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. cI am He.’”
5 The acoastlands have seen and are afraid;
The bends of the earth tremble;
They have drawn near and have come.
6 Each one helps his neighbor
And says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 So the acraftsman encourages the bsmelter,
And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil,
Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
And he fastens it with nails,
cSo that it will not totter.
8 “But you, Israel, aMy servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
Descendant of bAbraham My cfriend,
9 You whom I have ataken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its bremotest parts
And said to you, ‘You are cMy servant,
I have dchosen you and not rejected you.
10 ‘Do not afear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely bI will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous cright hand.’
11 “Behold, aall those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
bThose who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
12 “aYou will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non‑existent.
13 “For I am the Lord your God, awho upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘bDo not fear, I will help you.’
14 “Do not fear, you aworm Jacob, you men of Israel;
I will help you,” declares the Lord, “and byour Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;
aYou will thresh the bmountains and pulverize them,
And will make the hills like chaff.
16 “You will awinnow them, and the wind will carry them away,
And the storm will scatter them;
But you will brejoice in the Lord,
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 “The afflicted and needy are seeking awater, but there is none,
And their tongue is parched with thirst;
I, the Lord, bwill answer them Myself,
As the God of Israel I cwill not forsake them.
18 “I will open arivers on the bare heights
And springs in the midst of the valleys;
I will make bthe wilderness a pool of water
And the dry land fountains of water.
19 “I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
The acacia and the amyrtle and the olive tree;
I will place the ajuniper in the desert
Together with the box tree and the cypress,
20 That athey may see and recognize,
And consider and gain insight as well,
That the bhand of the Lord has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 “Present your case,” the Lord says.
“Bring forward your strong arguments,”
The aKing of Jacob says.
22 aLet them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place;
As for the bformer events, declare what they were,
That we may consider them and know their outcome.
Or announce to us what is coming;
23 aDeclare the things that are going to come afterward,
That we may know that you are gods;
Indeed, bdo good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.
24 Behold, ayou are of no account,
And byour work amounts to nothing;
He who chooses you is an cabomination.
25 “I have aroused aone from the north, and he has come;
From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;
And he will come upon rulers as upon bmortar,
Even as the potter treads clay.”
26 Who has adeclared this from the beginning, that we might know?
Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?
Surely there was bno one who declared,
Surely there was no one who proclaimed,
Surely there was no one who heard your words.
27 “aFormerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’
And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a bmessenger of good news.’
28 “But awhen I look, there is no one,
And there is no bcounselor among them
Who, if I ask, can cgive an answer.
29 “Behold, all of them are false;
Their aworks are bworthless,
Their molten images are cwind and emptiness.
God’s Promise concerning His Servant
“aBehold, My bServant, whom I uphold;
My cchosen one in whom My dsoul delights.
I have put My eSpirit upon Him;
He will bring forth fjustice to the nations.
2 “He will not cry out or raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
3 “A bruised reed He will not break
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth ajustice.
4 “He will not be adisheartened or crushed
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the bcoastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
5 Thus says God the Lord,
Who acreated the heavens and bstretched them out,
Who spread out the cearth and its offspring,
Who dgives breath to the people on it
And spirit to those who walk in it,
6 “I am the Lord, I have acalled You in righteousness,
I will also bhold You by the hand and cwatch over You,
And I will appoint You as a dcovenant to the people,
As a elight to the nations,
7 To aopen blind eyes,
To bbring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.
8 “aI am the Lord, that is bMy name;
I will not give My cglory to another,
Nor My praise to graven images.
9 “Behold, the aformer things have come to pass,
Now I declare bnew things;
Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”
10 Sing to the Lord a anew song,
Sing His praise from the bend of the earth!
cYou who go down to the sea, and dall that is in it.
You eislands, and those who dwell on them.
11 Let the awilderness and its cities lift up their voices,
The settlements where bKedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of cSela sing aloud,
Let them shout for joy from the tops of the dmountains.
12 Let them agive glory to the Lord
And declare His praise in the bcoastlands.
13 aThe Lord will go forth like a warrior,
He will arouse His bzeal like a man of war.
He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry.
He will cprevail against His enemies.
The Blindness of the People
14 “aI have kept silent for a long time,
I have kept still and restrained Myself.
Now like a woman in labor I will groan,
I will both gasp and pant.
15 “I will alay waste the mountains and hills
And wither all their vegetation;
I will bmake the rivers into coastlands
And dry up the ponds.
16 “I will alead the blind by a way they do not know,
In paths they do not know I will guide them.
I will bmake darkness into light before them
And crugged places into plains.
These are the things I will do,
And I will dnot leave them undone.”
17 They will be turned back and be autterly put to shame,
Who trust in idols,
Who say to molten images,
“You are our gods.”
18 aHear, you deaf!
And look, you blind, that you may see.
19 Who is blind but My aservant,
Or so deaf as My bmessenger whom I send?
Who is so blind as he that is cat peace with Me,
Or so blind as the servant of the Lord?
20 aYou have seen many things, but you do not observe them;
Your ears are open, but none hears.
21 The Lord was pleased for His righteousness’ sake
To make the law agreat and glorious.
22 But this is a people plundered and despoiled;
All of them are atrapped in caves,
Or are bhidden away in prisons;
They have become a prey with none to deliver them,
And a spoil, with none to say, “Give them back!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this?
Who will give heed and listen hereafter?
24 Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,
And in whose ways they awere not willing to walk,
And whose law they did not bobey?
25 So He poured out on him the heat of His anger
And the afierceness of battle;
And it set him aflame all around,
Yet he did not recognize it;
And it burned him, but he bpaid no attention.
Israel Redeemed
But now, thus says the Lord, your aCreator, O Jacob,
And He who bformed you, O Israel,
“Do not cfear, for I have dredeemed you;
I have ecalled you by name; you are fMine!
2 “When you apass through the waters, bI will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you cwalk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flame burn you.
3 “For aI am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your bSavior;
I have given Egypt as your ransom,
cCush and Seba in your place.
4 “Since you are aprecious in My sight,
Since you are bhonored and I clove you,
I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.
5 “Do not fear, for aI am with you;
I will bring byour offspring from the east,
And cgather you from the west.
6 “I will say to the anorth, ‘Give them up!’
And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring My bsons from afar
And My daughters from the cends of the earth,
7 Everyone who is acalled by My name,
And whom I have bcreated for My cglory,
dWhom I have formed, even whom I have made.”
Israel Is God’s Witness
8 Bring out the people who are ablind, even though they have eyes,
And the deaf, even though they have ears.
9 All the nations have agathered together
So that the peoples may be assembled.
Who among them can bdeclare this
And proclaim to us the former things?
Let them present ctheir witnesses dthat they may be justified,
Or let them hear and say, “It is true.”
10 “You are aMy witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“And bMy servant whom I have chosen,
So that you may know and believe Me
And understand that cI am He.
dBefore Me there was no God formed,
And there will be none after Me.
11 “I, even I, am the Lord,
And there is no asavior bbesides Me.
12 “It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed,
And there was no astrange god among you;
So you are My witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“And I am God.
13 “Even afrom eternity bI am He,
And there is cnone who can deliver out of My hand;
dI act and who can reverse it?”
Babylon to Be Destroyed
14 Thus says the Lord your aRedeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
“For your sake I have sent to Babylon,
And will bring them all down as fugitives,
Even the bChaldeans, into the cships in which they rejoice.
15 “I am the Lord, your Holy One,
aThe Creator of Israel, your bKing.”
16 Thus says the Lord,
Who amakes a way through the sea
And a path through the mighty waters,
17 Who brings forth the achariot and the horse,
The army and the mighty man
(They will lie down together and not rise again;
They have been bquenched and extinguished like a wick):
18 “aDo not call to mind the former things,
Or ponder things of the past.
19 “Behold, I will do something anew,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even bmake a roadway in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert.
20 “The beasts of the field will glorify Me,
The ajackals and the ostriches,
Because I have bgiven waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to My chosen people.
21 “The people whom aI formed for Myself
bWill declare My praise.
The Shortcomings of Israel
22 “Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob;
But you have become aweary of Me, O Israel.
23 “You have anot brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings,
Nor have you bhonored Me with your sacrifices.
I have not cburdened you with offerings,
Nor wearied you with dincense.
24 “You have bought Me not asweet cane with money,
Nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices;
Rather you have burdened Me with your sins,
You have bwearied Me with your iniquities.
25 “I, even I, am the one who awipes out your transgressions bfor My own sake,
And I will cnot remember your sins.
26 “Put Me in remembrance, alet us argue our case together;
State your cause, bthat you may be proved right.
27 “Your afirst forefather sinned,
And your bspokesmen have transgressed against Me.
28 “So I will pollute the princes of the sanctuary,
And I will consign Jacob to the aban and Israel to brevilement.
The Blessings of Israel
“But now listen, O Jacob, My aservant,
And Israel, whom I have chosen:
2 Thus says the Lord who made you
And aformed you from the womb, who bwill help you,
‘cDo not fear, O Jacob My servant;
And you dJeshurun whom I have chosen.
3 ‘For aI will pour out water on the thirsty land
And streams on the dry ground;
I will bpour out My Spirit on your coffspring
And My blessing on your descendants;
4 And they will spring up among the grass
Like apoplars by streams of water.’
5 “This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’;
And that one will call on the name of Jacob;
And another will awrite on his hand, ‘Belonging to the Lord,’
And will name Israel’s name with honor.
6 “Thus says the Lord, the aKing of Israel and his bRedeemer, the Lord of hosts:
‘I am the cfirst and I am the last,
And there is no God dbesides Me.
7 ‘Who is like Me? aLet him proclaim and declare it;
Yes, let him recount it to Me in order,
From the time that I established the ancient nation.
And let them declare to them the things that are coming
And the events that are going to take place.
8 ‘Do not tremble and do not be afraid;
aHave I not long since announced it to you and declared it?
And byou are My witnesses.
Is there any God cbesides Me,
Or is there any other dRock?
I know of none.’”
The Folly of Idolatry
9 Those who fashion a graven image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be aput to shame. 10 Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to ano profit? 11 Behold, all his companions will be aput to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them together be put to shame.
12 The aman shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary. 13 aAnother shapes wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with red chalk. He works it with planes and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of bman, so that it may sit in a chouse. 14 Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. 15 Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread. He also amakes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and bfalls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” 17 But the rest of it he amakes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also bprays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.”
18 They do not aknow, nor do they understand, for He has bsmeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. 19 No one recalls, nor is there aknowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an babomination, I fall down before a block of wood!” 20 He afeeds on ashes; a bdeceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver himself, nor say, “cIs there not a lie in my right hand?”
God Forgives and Redeems
21 “aRemember these things, O Jacob,
And Israel, for you are bMy servant;
I have formed you, you are My servant,
O Israel, you will cnot be forgotten by Me.
22 “I have awiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud
And your sins like a heavy mist.
bReturn to Me, for I have credeemed you.”
23 aShout for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done it!
Shout joyfully, you lower parts of the earth;
bBreak forth into a shout of joy, you mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it;
For cthe Lord has redeemed Jacob
And in Israel He dshows forth His glory.
24 Thus says the Lord, your aRedeemer, and the one who bformed you from the womb,
“I, the Lord, am the maker of all things,
cStretching out the heavens by Myself
And spreading out the earth all alone,
25 aCausing the omens of boasters to fail,
Making fools out of diviners,
bCausing wise men to draw back
And turning their knowledge into foolishness,
26 aConfirming the word of His servant
And performing the purpose of His messengers.
It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited!’
And of the bcities of Judah, ‘cThey shall be built.’
And I will raise up her ruins again.
27 “It is I who says to the depth of the sea, ‘Be dried up!’
And I will make your rivers adry.
28 “It is I who says of aCyrus, ‘He is My shepherd!
And he will perform all My desire.’
And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘bShe will be built,’
And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”