World English Bible

1 Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them.

2 The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a large army. He stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool in the fuller’s field highway.

3 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder came out to him.

4 Rabshakeh said to them, “Now tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What confidence is this in which you trust?

5 I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?

6 Behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

7 But if you tell me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God,’ isn’t that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar?’”

8 Now therefore, please make a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

9 How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

10 Have I come up now without Yahweh against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, “Go up against this land, and destroy it.”’”

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and don’t speak to us in the Jews’ language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

12 But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and called out with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

14 Thus says the king, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you.

15 Don’t let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh will surely deliver us. This city won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”’

16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and each of you eat from his vine, and each one from his fig tree, and each one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;

17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.” Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria?

19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

20 Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

21 But they remained silent, and said nothing in reply, for the king’s commandment was, “Don’t answer him.”

22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/ISA/36-b6b93286a5fec18b080f678907b7164e.mp3?version_id=206—

1 When king Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into Yahweh’s house.

2 He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘Today is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to give birth.

4 It may be Yahweh your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘Yahweh says, “Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

9 He heard news concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

10 “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered?

12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?

13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?’”

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before Yahweh.

15 Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying,

16 “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

17 Turn your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and behold. Hear all of the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God.

18 Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land,

19 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.

20 Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, even you only.”

21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Yahweh, the God of Israel says, ‘Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,

22 this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

23 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

24 By your servants, have you defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field.

25 I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.”

26 Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps.

27 Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown.

28 But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me.

29 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.

30 This shall be the sign to you. You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from the same; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

31 The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

32 For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and survivors will escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.’

33 Therefore Yahweh says concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.

34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city,’ says Yahweh.

35 ‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’”

36 Yahweh’s angel went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there.

38 As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/ISA/37-3d967fb06d39f6c479294f42f220e022.mp3?version_id=206—

1 In those days was Hezekiah sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live.’”

2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh,

3 and said, “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Then Yahweh’s word came to Isaiah, saying,

5 “Go, and tell Hezekiah, ‘Yahweh says, the God of David your father, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.

6 I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.

7 This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken.

8 Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down.”’”

9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness.

10 I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol.

I am deprived of the residue of my years.”

11 I said, “I won’t see Yah,

Yah in the land of the living.

I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

12 My dwelling is removed,

and is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent.

I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life.

He will cut me off from the loom.

From day even to night you will make an end of me.

13 I waited patiently until morning.

He breaks all my bones like a lion.

From day even to night you will make an end of me.

14 I chattered like a swallow or a crane.

I moaned like a dove.

My eyes weaken looking upward.

Lord, I am oppressed.

Be my security.”

15 What will I say?

He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it.

I will walk carefully all my years because of the anguish of my soul.

16 Lord, men live by these things;

and my spirit finds life in all of them:

you restore me, and cause me to live.

17 Behold, for peace I had great anguish,

but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption;

for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

18 For Sheolcan’t praise you.

Death can’t celebrate you.

Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.

19 The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do today.

The father shall make known your truth to the children.

20 Yahweh will save me.

Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in Yahweh’s house.

21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover.”

22 Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to Yahweh’s house?”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/ISA/38-191af114496a546262b959a0673dda0e.mp3?version_id=206—

1 At that time, Merodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick, and had recovered.

2 Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah didn’t show them.

3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come from to you?”

Hezekiah said, “They have come from a country far from me, even from Babylon.”

4 Then he asked, “What have they seen in your house?”

Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yahweh of Armies:

6 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up until today, will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says Yahweh.

7 ‘They will take away your sons who will issue from you, whom you shall father, and they will be eunuchs in the king of Babylon’s palace.’”

8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “Yahweh’s word which you have spoken is good.” He said moreover, “For there will be peace and truth in my days.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/ISA/39-d7ddc21a192d95ba07e855f03618fc60.mp3?version_id=206—

1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

2 “Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.”

3 The voice of one who calls out,

“Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness!

Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

4 Every valley shall be exalted,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low.

The uneven shall be made level,

and the rough places a plain.

5 Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together;

for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”

6 The voice of one saying, “Cry!”

One said, “What shall I cry?”

“All flesh is like grass,

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

7 The grass withers,

the flower fades,

because Yahweh’s breath blows on it.

Surely the people are like grass.

8 The grass withers,

the flower fades;

but the word of our God stands forever.”

9 You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain.

You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength.

Lift it up. Don’t be afraid.

Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”

10 Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one,

and his arm will rule for him.

Behold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd.

He will gather the lambs in his arm,

and carry them in his bosom.

He will gently lead those who have their young.

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

and marked off the sky with his span,

and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket,

and weighed the mountains in scales,

and the hills in a balance?

13 Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit,

or has taught him as his counselor?

14 Who did he take counsel with,

and who instructed him,

and taught him in the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

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

and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance.

Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,

nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are like nothing before him.

They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

18 To whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare to him?

19 A workman has cast an image,

and the goldsmith overlays it with gold,

and casts silver chains for it.

20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot.

He seeks a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved.

21 Haven’t you known?

Haven’t you heard, yet?

Haven’t you been told from the beginning?

Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?

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

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;

23 who brings princes to nothing;

who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless.

24 They are planted scarcely.

They are sown scarcely.

Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground.

He merely blows on them, and they wither,

and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

25 “To whom then will you liken me?

Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high,

and see who has created these,

who brings out their army by number.

He calls them all by name.

by the greatness of his might,

and because he is strong in power,

Not one is lacking.

27 Why do you say, Jacob,

and speak, Israel,

“My way is hidden from Yahweh,

and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?”

28 Haven’t you known?

Haven’t you heard?

The everlasting God, Yahweh,

The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint.

He isn’t weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the weak.

He increases the strength of him who has no might.

30 Even the youths faint and get weary,

and the young men utterly fall;

31 But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength.

They will mount up with wings like eagles.

They will run, and not be weary.

They will walk, and not faint.

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1 “Keep silent before me, islands,

and let the peoples renew their strength.

Let them come near,

then let them speak.

Let’s meet together for judgment.

2 Who has raised up one from the east?

Who called him to his foot in righteousness?

He hands over nations to him,

and makes him rule over kings.

He gives them like the dust to his sword,

like the driven stubble to his bow.

3 He pursues them,

and passes by safely,

Even by a way that he had not gone with his feet.

4 Who has worked and done it,

calling the generations from the beginning?

I, Yahweh, the first, and with the last, I am he.”

5 The islands have seen, and fear.

The ends of the earth tremble.

They approach, and come.

6 Everyone helps his neighbor.

They say to their brothers, “Be strong!”

7 So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith.

He who smoothes with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil,

saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.

8 “But you, Israel, my servant,

Jacob whom I have chosen,

the offspringof Abraham my friend,

9 You whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth,

and called from its corners,

and said to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you away;’

10 Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you.

Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you.

Yes, I will help you.

Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

11 Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded.

Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish.

12 You will seek them, and won’t find them,

even those who contend with you.

Those who war against you will be as nothing,

as a non-existent thing.

13 For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand,

saying to you, ‘Don’t be afraid.

I will help you.’

14 Don’t be afraid, you worm Jacob,

and you men of Israel.

I will help you,” says Yahweh,

“and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

15 Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth.

You will thresh the mountains,

and beat them small,

and will make the hills like chaff.

16 You will winnow them,

and the wind will carry them away,

and the whirlwind will scatter them.

You will rejoice in Yahweh.

You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17 The poor and needy seek water, and there is none.

Their tongue fails for thirst.

I, Yahweh, will answer them.

I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

18 I will open rivers on the bare heights,

and springs in the middle of the valleys.

I will make the wilderness a pool of water,

and the dry land springs of water.

19 I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil trees in the wilderness.

I will set cypress trees, pine, and box trees together in the desert;

20 that they may see, know, consider, and understand together,

that Yahweh’s hand has done this,

and the Holy One of Israel has created it.

21 Produce your cause,” says Yahweh.

“Bring out your strong reasons,” says the King of Jacob.

22 “Let them announce, and declare to us what shall happen.

Declare the former things, what they are,

that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them;

or show us things to come.

23 Declare the things that are to come hereafter,

that we may know that you are gods.

Yes, do good, or do evil,

that we may be dismayed,

and see it together.

24 Behold, you are of nothing,

and your work is of nothing.

He who chooses you is an abomination.

25 “I have raised up one from the north, and he has come;

from the rising of the sun, one who calls on my name;

and he shall come on rulers as on mortar,

and as the potter treads clay.

26 Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know?

And before, that we may say, ‘He is right?’

Surely, there is no one who declares.

Surely, there is no one who shows.

Surely, there is no one who hears your words.

27 I am the first to say to Zion, ‘Behold, look at them;’

and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem.

28 When I look, there is no man;

even among them there is no counselor who, when I ask of them, can answer a word.

29 Behold, all of them, their deeds are vanity and nothing.

Their molten images are wind and confusion.

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1 “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold;

my chosen, in whom my soul delights—

I have put my Spirit on him.

He will bring justice to the nations.

2 He will not shout,

nor raise his voice,

nor cause it to be heard in the street.

3 He won’t break a bruised reed.

He won’t quench a dimly burning wick.

He will faithfully bring justice.

4 He will not fail nor be discouraged,

until he has set justice in the earth,

and the islands will wait for his law.”

5 Thus says God Yahweh,

he who created the heavens and stretched them out,

he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it,

he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it.

6 “I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness,

and will hold your hand,

and will keep you,

and make you a covenant for the people,

as a light for the nations;

7 to open the blind eyes,

to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon,

and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.

8 “I am Yahweh.

That is my name.

I will not give my glory to another,

nor my praise to engraved images.

9 Behold, the former things have happened,

and I declare new things.

I tell you about them before they come up.”

10 Sing to Yahweh a new song,

and his praise from the end of the earth,

you who go down to the sea,

and all that is therein,

the islands and their inhabitants.

11 Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices,

with the villages that Kedar inhabits.

Let the inhabitants of Sela sing.

Let them shout from the top of the mountains!

12 Let them give glory to Yahweh,

and declare his praise in the islands.

13 Yahweh will go out like a mighty man.

He will stir up zeal like a man of war.

He will raise a war cry.

Yes, he will shout aloud.

He will triumph over his enemies.

14 “I have been silent a long time.

I have been quiet and restrained myself.

Now I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will both gasp and pant.

15 I will destroy mountains and hills,

and dry up all their herbs.

I will make the rivers islands,

and will dry up the pools.

16 I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know.

I will lead them in paths that they don’t know.

I will make darkness light before them,

and crooked places straight.

I will do these things,

and I will not forsake them.

17 “Those who trust in engraved images,

who tell molten images,

‘You are our gods’

will be turned back.

They will be utterly disappointed.

18 “Hear, you deaf,

and look, you blind,

that you may see.

19 Who is blind, but my servant?

Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send?

Who is as blind as he who is at peace,

and as blind as Yahweh’s servant?

20 You see many things, but don’t observe.

His ears are open, but he doesn’t listen.

21 It pleased Yahweh, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law,

and make it honorable.

22 But this is a robbed and plundered people.

All of them are snared in holes,

and they are hidden in prisons.

They have become captives, and no one delivers;

and a plunder, and no one says, ‘Restore them!’

23 Who is there among you who will give ear to this?

Who will listen and hear for the time to come?

24 Who gave Jacob as plunder,

and Israel to the robbers?

Didn’t Yahweh, he against whom we have sinned?

For they would not walk in his ways,

and they disobeyed his law.

25 Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him,

and the strength of battle;

and it set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know;

and it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/ISA/42-adfbcd565287c1fc23540e75357d869e.mp3?version_id=206—

1 But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob,

and he who formed you, Israel says:

“Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you.

I have called you by your name.

You are mine.

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

and through the rivers, they will not overflow you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned,

and flame will not scorch you.

3 For I am Yahweh your God,

the Holy One of Israel,

your Savior.

I have given Egypt as your ransom,

Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

4 Since you have been precious and honored in my sight,

and I have loved you;

therefore I will give people in your place,

and nations instead of your life.

5 Don’t be afraid; for I am with you.

I will bring your offspringfrom the east,

and gather you from the west.

6 I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’

and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back!

Bring my sons from far,

and my daughters from the ends of the earth—

7 everyone who is called by my name,

and whom I have created for my glory,

whom I have formed,

yes, whom I have made.’”

8 Bring out the blind people who have eyes,

and the deaf who have ears.

9 Let all the nations be gathered together,

and let the peoples be assembled.

Who among them can declare this,

and show us former things?

Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified;

or let them hear, and say, “That is true.”

10 “You are my witnesses,” says Yahweh,

“With my servant whom I have chosen;

that you may know and believe me,

and understand that I am he.

Before me there was no God formed,

neither will there be after me.

11 I myself am Yahweh;

and besides me there is no savior.

12 I have declared, I have saved, and I have shown;

and there was no strange god among you.

Therefore you are my witnesses”,

says Yahweh, “and I am God.

13 Yes, since the day was I am he;

and there is no one who can deliver out of my hand.

I will work, and who can hinder it?”

14 Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “For your sake, I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.

15 I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”

16 Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea,

and a path in the mighty waters says:

17 who brings out the chariot and horse,

the army and the mighty man

(they lie down together, they shall not rise;

they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick):

18 “Don’t remember the former things,

and don’t consider the things of old.

19 Behold, I will do a new thing.

It springs out now.

Don’t you know it?

I will even make a way in the wilderness,

and rivers in the desert.

20 The animals of the field shall honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches;

because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my people, my chosen,

21 the people which I formed for myself,

that they might declare my praise.

22 Yet you have not called on me, Jacob;

but you have been weary of me, Israel.

23 You have not brought me of your sheep for burnt offerings;

neither have you honored me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with offerings,

nor wearied you with frankincense.

24 You have bought me no sweet cane with money,

nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices;

but you have burdened me with your sins.

You have wearied me with your iniquities.

25 I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake;

and I will not remember your sins.

26 Put me in remembrance.

Let us plead together.

Declare your case,

that you may be justified.

27 Your first father sinned,

and your teachers have transgressed against me.

28 Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;

and I will make Jacob a curse,

and Israel an insult.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/ISA/43-9363113a1f9be16facfe06c7b1613c97.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Yet listen now, Jacob my servant,

and Israel, whom I have chosen.

2 This is what Yahweh who made you,

and formed you from the womb,

who will help you says:

“Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant;

and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,

and streams on the dry ground.

I will pour my Spirit on your descendants,

and my blessing on your offspring:

4 and they will spring up among the grass,

as willows by the watercourses.

5 One will say, ‘I am Yahweh’s;’

and another will be called by the name of Jacob;

and another will write with his hand ‘to Yahweh,’

and honor the name of Israel.”

6 This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel,

and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says:

“I am the first, and I am the last;

and besides me there is no God.

7 Who is like me?

Who will call,

and will declare it,

and set it in order for me,

since I established the ancient people?

Let them declare the things that are coming,

and that will happen.

8 Don’t fear,

neither be afraid.

Haven’t I declared it to you long ago,

and shown it?

You are my witnesses.

Is there a God besides me?

Indeed, there is not.

I don’t know any other Rock.”

9 Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain.

The things that they delight in will not profit.

Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.

10 Who has fashioned a god,

or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?

11 Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed;

and the workmen are mere men.

Let them all be gathered together.

Let them stand up.

They will fear.

They will be put to shame together.

12 The blacksmith takes an ax,

works in the coals,

fashions it with hammers,

and works it with his strong arm.

He is hungry,

and his strength fails;

he drinks no water,

and is faint.

13 The carpenter stretches out a line.

He marks it out with a pencil.

He shapes it with planes.

He marks it out with compasses,

and shapes it like the figure of a man,

with the beauty of a man,

to reside in a house.

14 He cuts down cedars for himself,

and takes the cypress and the oak,

and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest.

He plants a cypress tree,

and the rain nourishes it.

15 Then it will be for a man to burn;

and he takes some of it, and warms himself.

Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread.

Yes, he makes a god, and worships it;

he makes it an engraved image, and falls down to it.

16 He burns part of it in the fire.

With part of it, he eats meat.

He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.

Yes, he warms himself,

and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.”

17 The rest of it he makes into a god,

even his engraved image.

He bows down to it and worships,

and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me; for you are my god!”

18 They don’t know, neither do they consider:

for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see;

and their hearts, that they can’t understand.

19 No one thinks,

neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say,

“I have burned part of it in the fire.

Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals.

I have roasted meat and eaten it.

Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination?

Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?”

20 He feeds on ashes.

A deceived heart has turned him aside;

and he can’t deliver his soul,

nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”

21 Remember these things, Jacob and Israel;

for you are my servant.

I have formed you.

You are my servant.

Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.

22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions,

and, as a cloud, your sins.

Return to me, for I have redeemed you.

23 Sing, you heavens, for Yahweh has done it!

Shout, you lower parts of the earth!

Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees,

for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob,

and will glorify himself in Israel.

24 Yahweh, your Redeemer,

and he who formed you from the womb says:

“I am Yahweh, who makes all things;

who alone stretches out the heavens;

who spreads out the earth by myself;

25 who frustrates the signs of the liars,

and makes diviners mad;

who turns wise men backward,

and makes their knowledge foolish;

26 who confirms the word of his servant,

and performs the counsel of his messengers;

who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited;’

and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be built,’

and ‘I will raise up its waste places;’

27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’

and ‘I will dry up your rivers;’

28 Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,’

even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built;’

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

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/ISA/44-fb563fd692ae4f5a642212b1d2446f9c.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:

2 “I will go before you,

and make the rough places smooth.

I will break the doors of brass in pieces,

and cut apart the bars of iron.

3 I will give you the treasures of darkness,

and hidden riches of secret places,

that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name,

even the God of Israel.

4 For Jacob my servant’s sake,

and Israel my chosen,

I have called you by your name.

I have given you a title,

though you have not known me.

5 I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.

Besides me, there is no God.

I will strengthenyou,

though you have not known me;

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

and from the west,

that there is no one besides me.

I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.

7 I form the light,

and create darkness.

I make peace,

and create calamity.

I am Yahweh,

who does all these things.

8 Rain, you heavens, from above,

and let the skies pour down righteousness.

Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation,

and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it.

I, Yahweh, have created it.

9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker—

a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth!

Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’

or your work, ‘He has no hands?’

10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’

or to a mother, ‘To what have you given birth?’”

11 Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel,

and his Maker says:

“You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons,

and you command me concerning the work of my hands!

12 I have made the earth, and created man on it.

I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens;

and I have commanded all their army.

13 I have raised him up in righteousness,

and I will make straight all his ways.

He shall build my city,

and he shall let my exiles go free,

not for price nor reward,” says Yahweh of Armies.

14 Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt,

and the merchandise of Ethiopia,

and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you,

and they shall be yours.

They will go after you.

They shall come over in chains;

and they will bow down to you.

They will make supplication to you:

‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else.

There is no other god.

15 Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself,

God of Israel, the Savior.’”

16 They will be disappointed,

yes, confounded, all of them.

Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.

17 Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation.

You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.

18 For Yahweh who created the heavens,

the God who formed the earth and made it,

who established it and didn’t create it a waste,

who formed it to be inhabited says:

“I am Yahweh;

and there is no other.

19 I have not spoken in secret,

in a place of the land of darkness.

I didn’t say to the offspringof Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’

I, Yahweh, speak righteousness.

I declare things that are right.

20 “Assemble yourselves and come.

Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations.

Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image,

and pray to a god that can’t save.

21 Declare and present it.

Yes, let them take counsel together.

Who has shown this from ancient time?

Who has declared it of old?

Haven’t I, Yahweh?

There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior;

There is no one besides me.

22 “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth;

for I am God, and there is no other.

23 I have sworn by myself.

The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked,

that to me every knee shall bow,

every tongue shall take an oath.

24 They will say of me,

‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.’”

Even to him shall men come;

and all those who raged against him shall be disappointed.

25 All the offspringof Israel will be justified in Yahweh,

and will rejoice!

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/ISA/45-7d80bb74b5394ccc3a4c64c6fd444ee7.mp3?version_id=206—