Isaiah 35-44
New American Standard Bible
Chapter 35
1The wilderness and the desert will rejoice, And the desert will shout for joy and blossom; Like the crocus 2It will blossom profusely And rejoice with joy and jubilation. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, The majesty of our God. 3Strengthen the exhausted, and make the feeble strong. 4Say to those with anxious heart, 'Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The retribution of God will come, But He will save you.' 5Then the eyes of those who are blind will be opened, And the ears of those who are deaf will be unstopped. 6Then those who limp will leap like a deer, And the tongue of those who cannot speak will shout for joy. For waters will burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. 7The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes. 8A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for the one who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. 9No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious animal go up on it; They will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, 10And the redeemed of the Lord will return And come to Zion with joyful shouting, And everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.Chapter 36
1Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 2And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the road to the fuller’s field. 3Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to him.
4And Rabshakeh said to them, 'Say now to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: 'What is this confidence that you have?
5I say, ‘Your plan and strength for the war are only empty words.’ Now on whom have you relied, that you have revolted against me?
6Behold, you have relied on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.
7But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not 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’?
8Now then, come make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them!
9How then can you drive back even one official of the least of my master’s servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
10And have I now come up without the Lord’S approval against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’?'?’?'
11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, 'Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in Judean so that the people who are on the wall hear you.'
12But 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, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?'
13Then Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Judean and said, 'Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
14This is what the king says: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to save you;
15and do not let Hezekiah lead you to rely on the Lord, saying, 'The Lord will certainly save us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria!'
16Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘ Surrender to me and come out to me, and eat, each one, of his vine and each of his fig tree, and each drink of the waters of his own cistern,
17until 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.
18Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, 'The Lord will save us.' Has any one of the gods of the nations saved his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they saved Samaria from my hand?
20Who among all the gods of these lands have saved their land from my hand, that the Lord would save Jerusalem from my hand?’?'
21But they were silent and did not answer him so much as a word; for the king’s command was, 'Do not answer him.'
22Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the secretary, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and reported to him the words of Rabshakeh.
Chapter 37
1Now when King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord. 2Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the household, with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3And they said to him, 'This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them. 4Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt the living God, and will avenge the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.’?'
5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6And Isaiah said to them, 'This is what you shall say to your master: ‘This is what the Lord says: 'Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
7Behold, I am going to put a spirit in him so that he will hear news and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.'?’?'
8Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.
9Now he heard them say regarding Tirhakah king of Cush, 'He has come out to fight against you,' and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10This is what you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, 'Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.'
11Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved?
12Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed save them: Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?
13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’?'
14Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.
15Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying,
16Lord of armies, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth.
17Incline Your ear, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to taunt the living God.
18Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their lands,
19and have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but only the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.
20But now Lord, our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.'
22this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: 'She has shown contempt for you and derided you, The virgin daughter of Zion; The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind you!
23Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice And haughtily raised your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!
24Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of Lebanon; And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice junipers. And I will come to its highest peak, its thickest forest.
25I dug wells and drank waters, And with the sole of my feet I dried up All the canals of Egypt.’
26Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it about That you would turn fortified cities into ruined heaps.
27Therefore their inhabitants were powerless, They were shattered and put to shame; They were like the vegetation of the field and the green grass, Like grass on the housetops that is scorched before it has grown.
28But I know your sitting down, Your going out, your coming in, And your raging against Me.
30Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what grows from the same, and in the third year sow, harvest, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
31The survivors that are left of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
32For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord of armies will perform this.'?’
33Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not come to this city nor shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, nor heap up an assault ramp against it.
34By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares the Lord.
35‘For I will protect this city to save it for My own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.’?'
36Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when the rest got up early in the morning, behold, all of the 185,000 were dead.
37So Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived in Nineveh.
38Then it came about, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.
Chapter 38
1In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, 'This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your house in order, for you are going to die and not live.’?' 2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3and said, 'Please, Lord, just remember how I have walked before You wholeheartedly and in truth, and have done what is good in Your sight.' And Hezekiah wept profusely.
4Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,
5Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David says: 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.
6And I will save you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will protect this city.'?’
7And this shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will perform this word that He has spoken:
8Behold, I will make the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, go back ten steps.' So the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.
10I said, 'In the middle of my life I am to enter the gates of Sheol; I have been deprived of the rest of my years.'
11I said, 'I will not see the Lord, The Lord in the land of the living; I will no longer look on mankind among the inhabitants of the world.
12Like a shepherd’s tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me; As a weaver I rolled up my life. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me.
13I composed my soul until morning. Like a lion—so He breaks all my bones, From day until night You make an end of me.
14Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; My eyes look wistfully to the heights; Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.
15'What shall I say? For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it; I will walk quietly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16Lord, by these things people live, And in all these is the life of my spirit; Restore me to health and let me live!
17Behold, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; But You have kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have hurled all my sins behind Your back.
18For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today; A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.
20The Lord is certain to save me; So we will play my songs on stringed instruments All the days of our life at the house of the Lord.'
21Now Isaiah had said, 'Have them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.'
22Then Hezekiah had said, 'What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the Lord?'
Chapter 39
1At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2Hezekiah was pleased, and let them see all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the balsam oil, the excellent olive oil, his entire armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his realm that Hezekiah did not let them see. 3Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, 'What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?' And Hezekiah said, 'They came to me from a far country, from Babylon.' 4Then he said, 'What have they seen in your house?' So Hezekiah answered, 'They have seen everything that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not let them see.'
5Isaiah then said to Hezekiah, 'Hear the word of the Lord of armies,
6‘Behold, the days are coming when everything that is in your house, and what your fathers have stored up to this day, will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.
7‘And some of your sons who will come from you, whom you will father, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’?'
8Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, 'The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.' For he thought, 'For there will be peace and truth in my days.'
Chapter 40
1'Comfort, comfort My people,' says your God. 2'Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her guilt has been removed, That she has received of the Lord’S hand Double for all her sins.' 3The voice of one calling out, 'Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the uneven ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; 5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.' 6A voice says, 'Call out.' Then he answered, 'What shall I call out?' All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 7The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the Lord blows upon it; The people are indeed grass! 8The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever. 9Go up on a high mountain, Zion, messenger of good news, Raise your voice forcefully, Jerusalem, messenger of good news; Raise it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, 'Here is your God!' 10Behold, the Lord God will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His compensation is with Him, And His reward before Him. 11Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in the fold of His robe; He will gently lead the nursing ewes. 12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And measured the heavens with a span, And calculated the dust of the earth with a measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales? 13Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has informed Him? 14With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge, And informed Him of the way of understanding? 15Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. 16Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its animals enough for a burnt offering. 17All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless. 18To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him? 19 As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver. 20He who is too impoverished for such an offering Selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman To prepare an idol that will not totter. 21Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to live in. 23 It is He who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. 24 Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble. 25'To whom then will you compare Me That I would be his equal?' says the Holy One. 26Raise your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who brings out their multitude by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing. 27Why do you say, Jacob, and you assert, Israel, 'My way is hidden from the Lord, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God'? 28Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is unsearchable. 29He gives strength to the weary, And to the one who lacks might He increases power. 30Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.Chapter 41
1'Listen to Me in silence, you coastlands, And let the peoples gain new strength; Let them come forward, then let them speak; Let’s come together for judgment. 2Who has stirred one from the east Whom He calls in righteousness to His feet? He turns nations over to him And subdues kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, Like the wind-driven chaff with his bow. 3He pursues them, passing on in safety, By a way he had not been traversing with his feet. 4Who has performed and accomplished it, Summoning the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He.’?' 5The coastlands have seen and are afraid; The ends of the earth tremble; They have approached and have come. 6Each one helps his neighbor And says to his brother, 'Be strong!' 7So the craftsman encourages the smelter, 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, So that it will not totter. 8'But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Descendant of Abraham My friend, 9You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth And called from its remotest parts, And said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 10Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will also help you, I will also uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ 11Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish. 12You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them, Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent. 13For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand, Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’ 14Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you people of Israel; I will help you,' declares the Lord, 'and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 15Behold, I turned you into a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges; You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them, And make the hills like chaff. 16You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, And the storm will scatter them; But you will rejoice in the Lord, You will boast in the Holy One of Israel. 17'The poor and needy are seeking water, but there is none, And their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the Lord, will answer them Myself; As the God of Israel I will not abandon them. 18I will open rivers on the bare heights, And springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, And the dry land fountains of water. 19I will put the cedar in the wilderness, The acacia, the myrtle, and the olive tree; I will place the juniper in the desert, Together with the elm tree and the cypress, 20So that they may see and recognize, And consider and gain insight as well, That the hand 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 evidence,' The King of Jacob says. 22Let them bring them forward and declare to us what is going to take place; As for the former events, declare what they were, So that we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming; 23Declare the things that are going to come afterward, So that we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may be afraid and fear together. 24Behold, you are less than nothing, And your work is less than nothing! He who chooses you is an abomination. 25'I have put one from the north into motion, and he has come; From the rising of the sun he will call on My name; And he will come upon rulers as upon mortar, As the potter treads on clay.' 26Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know? Or from former times, that we may say, 'He is right!'? There was no one at all who declared, There was no one at all who proclaimed, There was no one at all who heard your words. 27'Previously I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’ And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a messenger of good news.’ 28But when I look, there is no one, And there is no counselor among them Who, if I ask, can give an answer. 29Behold, all of them are false; Their works are nothing, Their cast metal images are wind and emptiness.Chapter 42
1'Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. 2He will not cry out nor raise His voice, Nor make His voice heard in the street. 3A bent reed He will not break off And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. 4He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice on the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.'
6'I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations,
7To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.
8I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to idols.
9Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they sprout I proclaim them to you.'
10Sing to the Lord a new song, Sing His praise from the end of the earth! You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it; You islands, and those who live on them.
11Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices, The settlements which Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud, Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains.
12Let them give glory to the Lord And declare His praise in the coastlands.
13The Lord will go out like a warrior, He will stir His zeal like a man of war. He will shout, indeed, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies.
14'I 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.
15I will lay waste the mountains and hills And wither all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into coastlands And dry up the ponds.
16I will lead those who are blind by a way they have not known, In paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them And uneven land into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.'
17They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame, Who trust in idols, Who say to cast metal images, 'You are our gods.'
18Hear, you who are deaf! And look, you who are blind, so that you may see.
19Who is blind but My servant, Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is so blind as one who is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the Lord?
20You have seen many things, but you do not retain them; Your ears are open, but no one hears.
21The Lord was pleased for His righteousness’ sake To make the Law great and glorious.
22But this is a people plundered and pillaged; All of them are trapped in caves, Or are hidden away in prisons; They have become plunder, with no one to save them, And spoils with no one to say, 'Give them back!'
23Who among you will listen to this? Who will pay attention and listen in the time to come?
24Who gave Jacob up for spoils, and Israel to plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, And in whose ways they were not willing to walk, And whose Law they did not obey?
25So He poured out on him the heat of His anger And the fierceness of battle; And it set him aflame all around, Yet he did not recognize it; And it burned him, but he paid no attention.
Chapter 43
1But now, this is what the Lord says, He who is your Creator, Jacob, And He who formed you, Israel: 'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. 3For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other people in your place and other nations in exchange for your life. 5Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. 6I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth, 7Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.' 8Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, And those who are deaf, even though they have ears. 9All the nations have gathered together So that the peoples may be assembled. Who among them can declare this And proclaim to us the former things? Let them present their witnesses so that they may be justified, Or let them hear and say, 'It is true.' 10'You are My witnesses,' declares the Lord, 'And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. 11I, only I, am the Lord, And there is no savior besides Me. 12It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses,' declares the Lord, 'And I am God. 13Even from eternity I am He, And there is no one who can rescue from My hand; I act, and who can reverse it?'
15I am the Lord, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King.'
16This is what the Lord says, He who makes a way through the sea And a path through the mighty waters,
17Who brings out the chariot and the horse, The army and the mighty man (They will lie down together and not rise again; They have been extinguished, and have gone out like a wick):
18'Do not call to mind the former things, Or consider things of the past.
19Behold, I am going to do something new, Now it will spring up; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.
20The animals of the field will glorify Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My chosen people.
21The people whom I formed for Myself Will declare My praise.
22'Yet you have not called on Me, Jacob; But you have become weary of Me, Israel.
23You have not brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings, Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, Nor wearied you with incense.
24You have not bought Me sweet cane with money, Nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices; Rather, you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your wrongdoings.
25'I, I alone, am the one who wipes out your wrongdoings for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.
26 Meet Me in court, let’s argue our case together; State your cause, so that you may be proved right.
27Your first forefather sinned, And your spokesmen have rebelled against Me.
28So I will profane the officials of the sanctuary, And I will turn Jacob over to destruction and Israel to abuse.
Chapter 44
1'But now listen, Jacob, My servant, And Israel, whom I have chosen: 2This is what the Lord says, He who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you: ‘Do not fear, Jacob My servant, And Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. 3For I will pour water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, And My blessing on your descendants; 4And they will spring up among the grass Like poplars by streams of water.’
9Those who fashion an idol are all futile, and their treasured things are of no benefit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.
10Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no benefit?
11Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them be put to shame together.
12The craftsman of iron shapes 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.
13The craftsman of wood extends a measuring line; he outlines it with a marker. He works it with carving knives and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of mankind, so that it may sit in a house.
14He will cut cedars for himself, and he takes a holm-oak or another oak and lets it grow strong for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel tree, and the rain makes it grow.
15Then it becomes something for a person to burn, so he takes one of them and gets warm; he also makes a fire and bakes bread. He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image and bows down before it.
16Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat, he roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, 'Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.'
17Yet the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image. He bows down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, 'Save me, for you are my god.'
18They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend.
19No one remembers, nor is there knowledge 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 abomination, I bow down before a block of wood!'
20He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has misled him. And he cannot save himself, nor say, 'Is there not 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.
22I have wiped out your wrongdoings like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.'
25Causing the omens of diviners to fail, Making fools of fortune-tellers; Causing wise men to turn back And making their knowledge ridiculous,
26Confirming the word of His servant And carrying out the purpose of His messengers. It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited!’ And of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built.’ And I will raise her ruins again.
27 I am the One who says to the depth of the sea, ‘Dry up!’ And I will make your rivers dry up.
28 It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘ He is My shepherd, And he will carry out all My desire.’ And he says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ And of the temple, ‘ Your foundation will be laid.’?'
King James Version
Chapter 36
1Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them. 2And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. 3Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.
4And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
5I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
6Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
7But if thou say to me, We trust in the Lord our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
8Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
9How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
10And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? the Lord said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
11Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
12But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?
13Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
14Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.
15Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
16Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;
17Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?
21But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
22Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
Chapter 37
1And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 4It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.
5So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
12Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?
13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
14And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
15And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying,
16O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
17Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.
18Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
19And 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.
20Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.
21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
22This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
29Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
30And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
31And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
32For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
35For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
36Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
38And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
Chapter 38
1In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. 2Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, 3And said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
4Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying,
5Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
6And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.
7And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he hath spoken;
8Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
9The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:
10I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
21For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.
22Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?
Chapter 39
1At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. 2And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. 3Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon. 4Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them. 5Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. 7And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. 8Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.
11He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
7So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
8But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
20That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
21Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
7To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
8I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
17They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
18Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
7Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
8Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.
13Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
14Thus saith the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
21This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
22But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.
5One shall say, I am the Lord'S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
6Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
23Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
24Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
Christian Standard Bible
Chapter 35
1The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a wildflower. 2It will blossom abundantly and will also rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. 3Strengthen the weak hands, steady the shaking knees! 4Say to the cowardly: "Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming. God’s retribution is coming; he will save you." 5Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for water will gush in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7the parched ground will become a pool, and the thirsty land springs. In the haunt of jackals, in their lairs, there will be grass, reeds, and papyrus. 8A road will be there and a way; it will be called the Holy Way. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for the one who walks the path. Fools will not wander on it. 9There will be no lion there, and no vicious beast will go up on it; they will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk on it, 10and the redeemed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.Chapter 36
1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2Then the king of Assyria sent his royal spokesman, along with a massive army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. The Assyrian stood near the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the Launderer’s Field. 3Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came out to him.
4The royal spokesman said to them, "Tell Hezekiah: The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on?
5You think mere words are strategy and strength for war. Who are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?
6Look, you are relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who grabs it and leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him.
7Suppose you say to me, ‘We rely on the Lord our God.’ Isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’?
8"Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you two thousand horses if you’re able to supply riders for them!
9How then can you drive back a single officer among the least of my master’s servants? How can you rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
10Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord’s approval? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’"
13Then the royal spokesman stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
14This is what the king says: "Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot rescue you.
15Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will certainly rescue us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’"
16Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: "Make peace with me and surrender to me. Then every one of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern
17until 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.
18Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us.’ Has any one of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?
19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my power?
20Who among all the gods of these lands ever rescued his land from my power? So will the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?"
21But they kept silent; they didn’t say anything, for the king’s command was, "Don’t answer him."
22Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the royal spokesman.
Chapter 37
1When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple. 2He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, who were wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3They said to him, "This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace. It is as if children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them. 4Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of the royal spokesman, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke him for the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’"
5So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,
6who said to them, "Tell your master, ‘The Lord says this: Don’t be afraid because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed me.
7I am about to put a spirit in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’"
8When the royal spokesman heard that the king of Assyria had pulled out of Lachish, he left and found him fighting against Libnah.
9The king had heard concerning King Tirhakah of Cush, "He has set out to fight against you." So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10"Say this to King Hezekiah of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, on whom you rely, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria.
11Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued?
12Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors destroyed rescue them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar?
13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?’"
14Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers’ hands, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.
15Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
16Lord of Armies, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you are God —you alone —of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
17Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.
18Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands.
19They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made from wood and stone by human hands. So they have destroyed them.
20Now, Lord our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God —you alone.
22this is the word the Lord has spoken against him: Virgin Daughter Zion despises you and scorns you; Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back.
23Who is it you have mocked and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
24You have mocked the Lord through your servants. You have said, "With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, its choice cypress trees. I came to its distant heights, its densest forest.
25I dug wells and drank water in foreign lands. I dried up all the streams of Egypt with the soles of my feet."
26Have you not heard? I designed it long ago; I planned it in days gone by. I have now brought it to pass, and you have crushed fortified cities into piles of rubble.
27Their inhabitants have become powerless, dismayed, and ashamed. They are plants of the field, tender grass, grass on the rooftops, blasted by the east wind.
28But I know your sitting down, your going out and your coming in, and your raging against me.
29Because your raging against me and your arrogance have reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth; I will make you go back the way you came.
30"‘This will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
32For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.’
36Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!
37So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.
2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord.
3He said, "Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly, and have done what pleases you." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah:
5"Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add fifteen years to your life.
6And I will rescue you and this city from the grasp of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city.
7This is the sign to you from the Lord that he will do what he has promised:
8I am going to make the sun’s shadow that goes down on the stairway of Ahaz go back by ten steps.’" So the sun’s shadow went back the ten steps it had descended.
10I said: In the prime of my life I must go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the rest of my years.
11I said: I will never see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living; I will not look on humanity any longer with the inhabitants of what is passing away.
12My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; he cuts me off from the loom. By nightfall you make an end of me.
13I thought until the morning: He will break all my bones like a lion. By nightfall you make an end of me.
14I chirp like a swallow or a crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed; support me.
15What can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. I walk along slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16Lord, by such things people live, and in every one of them my spirit finds life; you have restored me to health and let me live.
17Indeed, it was for my own well-being that I had such intense bitterness; but your love has delivered me from the Pit of destruction, for you have thrown all my sins behind your back.
18For Sheol cannot thank you; Death cannot praise you. Those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.
19The living, only the living can thank you, as I do today; a father will make your faithfulness known to children.
20The Lord is ready to save me; we will play stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the house of the Lord.
21Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a lump of pressed figs and apply it to his infected skin, so that he may recover."
22And Hezekiah had asked, "What is the sign that I will go up to the Lord’s temple?"
Chapter 39
1At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2Hezekiah was pleased with the letters, and he showed the envoys his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil—and all his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
5Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord of Armies:
6‘Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.
7‘Some of your descendants—who come from you, whom you father—will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’"
Chapter 40
1"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God. 2"Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of forced labor is over, her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins."
3A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
4Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places, a plain.
5And the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
6A voice was saying, "Cry out!" Another said, "What should I cry out?" "All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.
7The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of the Lord blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.
8The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever."
9Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, herald of good news, raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"
10See, the Lord God comes with strength, and his power establishes his rule. His wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him.
11He protects his flock like a shepherd; he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in the fold of his garment. He gently leads those that are nursing.
12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains on a balance and the hills on the scales?
13Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or who gave him counsel?
14Who did he consult? Who gave him understanding and taught him the paths of justice? Who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding?
15Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales; he lifts up the islands like fine dust.
16Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel, or its animals enough for a burnt offering.
17All the nations are as nothing before him; they are considered by him as empty nothingness.
18With whom will you compare God? What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?
19An idol?—something that a smelter casts and a metalworker plates with gold and makes silver chains for?
20A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not fall over.
21Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth?
22God is enthroned above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23He reduces princes to nothing and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.
24They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground when he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.
25"To whom will you compare me, or who is my equal?" asks the Holy One.
26Look up and see! Who created these? He brings out the stars by number; he calls all of them by name. Because of his great power and strength, not one of them is missing.
27Jacob, why do you say, and, Israel, why do you assert: "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my claim is ignored by my God"?
28Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding.
29He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless.
30Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall,
31but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.
Chapter 41
1"Be silent before me, coasts and islands! And let peoples renew their strength. Let them approach; let them testify; let’s come together for the trial. 2Who has stirred up someone from the east? In righteousness he calls him to serve. The Lord hands nations over to him, and he subdues kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, like wind-driven stubble with his bow. 3He pursues them, going on safely, hardly touching the path with his feet.
4Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I am the Lord, the first and with the last —I am he."
5The coasts and islands see and are afraid, the whole earth trembles. They approach and arrive.
6Each one helps the other, and says to another, "Take courage!"
7The craftsman encourages the metalworker; the one who flattens with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good." He fastens it with nails so that it will not fall over.
8But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham, my friend —
9I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you: You are my servant; I have chosen you; I haven’t rejected you.
10Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.
11Be sure that all who are enraged against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will become as nothing and will perish.
12You will look for those who contend with you, but you will not find them. Those who war against you will become absolutely nothing.
13For I am the Lord your God, who holds your right hand, who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.
14Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel. I will help you’— this is the Lord’s declaration. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15See, I will make you into a sharp threshing board, new, with many teeth. You will thresh mountains and pulverize them and make hills into chaff.
16You will winnow them and a wind will carry them away, a whirlwind will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the Lord; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.
17The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I will answer them. I am the Lord, the God of Israel. I will not abandon them.
18I will open rivers on the barren heights, and springs in the middle of the plains. I will turn the desert into a pool and dry land into springs.
19I will plant cedars, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees in the wilderness. I will put juniper trees, elms, and cypress trees together in the desert,
20so that all may see and know, consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21"Submit your case," says the Lord. "Present your arguments," says Jacob’s King.
22"Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell us the past events, so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome, or tell us the future.
23Tell us the coming events, then we will know that you are gods. Indeed, do something good or bad, then we will be in awe when we see it.
24Look, you are nothing and your work is worthless. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.
25"I have stirred up one from the north, and he has come, one from the east who invokes my name. He will march over rulers as if they were mud, like a potter who treads the clay.
26Who told about this from the beginning, so that we might know, and from times past, so that we might say, ‘He is right’? No one announced it, no one told it, no one heard your words.
27I was the first to say to Zion, ‘Look! Here they are!’ And I gave Jerusalem a herald with good news.
28When I look, there is no one; there is no counselor among them; when I ask them, they have nothing to say.
29Look, all of them are a delusion; their works are nonexistent; their images are wind and emptiness.
Chapter 42
1"This is my servant; I strengthen him, this is my chosen one; I delight in him. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the nations. 2He will not cry out or shout or make his voice heard in the streets. 3He will not break a bruised reed, and he will not put out a smoldering wick; he will faithfully bring justice.
4He will not grow weak or be discouraged until he has established justice on earth. The coasts and islands will wait for his instruction."
5This is what God, the Lord, says— who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it —
6"I am the Lord. I have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will hold you by your hand. I will watch over you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a light to the nations,
7in order to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those sitting in darkness from the prison house.
8I am the Lord. That is my name, and I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.
9The past events have indeed happened. Now I declare new events; I announce them to you before they occur."
10Sing a new song to the Lord; sing his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea with all that fills it, you coasts and islands with your inhabitants.
11Let the desert and its cities shout, the settlements where Kedar dwells cry aloud. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy; let them cry out from the mountaintops.
12Let them give glory to the Lord and declare his praise in the coasts and islands.
13The Lord advances like a warrior; he stirs up his zeal like a soldier. He shouts, he roars aloud, he prevails over his enemies.
14"I have kept silent from ages past; I have been quiet and restrained myself. But now, I will groan like a woman in labor, gasping breathlessly.
15I will lay waste mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn rivers into islands and dry up marshes.
16I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on paths they have not known. I will turn darkness to light in front of them and rough places into level ground. This is what I will do for them, and I will not abandon them.
17They will be turned back and utterly ashamed— those who trust in an idol and say to a cast image, ‘You are our gods!’
18"Listen, you deaf! Look, you blind, so that you may see.
19Who is blind but my servant, or deaf like my messenger I am sending? Who is blind like my dedicated one, or blind like the servant of the Lord?
20Though seeing many things, you pay no attention. Though his ears are open, he does not listen."
21Because of his righteousness, the Lord was pleased to magnify his instruction and make it glorious.
22But this is a people plundered and looted, all of them trapped in holes or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue them and loot, with no one saying, "Give it back!"
23Who among you will hear this? Let him listen and obey in the future.
24Who gave Jacob to the robber, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord? Have we not sinned against him? They were not willing to walk in his ways, and they would not listen to his instruction.
25So he poured out his furious anger and the power of war on Jacob. It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it; it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.
Chapter 43
1Now this is what the Lord says— the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel — "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. 2I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you. 3For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior. I have given Egypt as a ransom for you, Cush and Seba in your place. 4Because you are precious in my sight and honored, and I love you, I will give people in exchange for you and nations instead of your life. 5Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west. 6I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’ Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth —
7everyone who bears my name and is created for my glory. I have formed them; indeed, I have made them."
8Bring out a people who are blind, yet have eyes, and are deaf, yet have ears.
9All the nations are gathered together, and the peoples are assembled. Who among them can declare this, and tell us the former things? Let them present their witnesses to vindicate themselves, so that people may hear and say, "It is true."
10"You are my witnesses" — this is the Lord’s declaration— "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and there will be none after me.
11I—I am the Lord. Besides me, there is no Savior.
12I alone declared, saved, and proclaimed— and not some foreign god among you. So you are my witnesses"— this is the Lord’s declaration— "and I am God.
13Also, from today on I am he alone, and none can rescue from my power. I act, and who can reverse it?"
15I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.
16This is what the Lord says— who makes a way in the sea, and a path through raging water,
17who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty one together (they lie down, they do not rise again; they are extinguished, put out like a wick )—
18"Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old.
19Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.
20Wild animals— jackals and ostriches—will honor me, because I provide water in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people.
21The people I formed for myself will declare my praise.
22"But, Jacob, you have not called on me, because, Israel, you have become weary of me.
23You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings or wearied you with incense.
24You have not bought me aromatic cane with silver, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities.
25"I—I sweep away your transgressions for my own sake and remember your sins no more.
26Remind me. Let’s argue the case together. Recount the facts, so that you may be vindicated.
27Your first father sinned, and your mediators have rebelled against me.
28So I defiled the officers of the sanctuary, and set Jacob apart for destruction and Israel for scorn.
Chapter 44
1"And now listen, Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen. 2This is the word of the Lord your Maker, the one who formed you from the womb: He will help you. Do not fear, Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. 3For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring. 4They will sprout among the grass like poplars by flowing streams. 5This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’; another will use the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and take on the name of Israel."
6This is what the Lord, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, the Lord of Armies, says: I am the first and I am the last. There is no God but me.
7Who, like me, can announce the future? Let him say so and make a case before me, since I have established an ancient people. Let these gods declare the coming things, and what will take place.
8Do not be startled or afraid. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me? There is no other Rock; I do not know any.
9All who make idols are nothing, and what they treasure benefits no one. Their witnesses do not see or know anything, so they will be put to shame.
10Who makes a god or casts a metal image that benefits no one?
11Look, all its worshipers will be put to shame, and the craftsmen are humans. They all will assemble and stand; they all will be startled and put to shame.
12The ironworker labors over the coals, shapes the idol with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. Also he grows hungry and his strength fails; he doesn’t drink water and is faint.
13The woodworker stretches out a measuring line, he outlines it with a stylus; he shapes it with chisels and outlines it with a compass. He makes it according to a human form, like a beautiful person, to dwell in a temple.
14He cuts down cedars for his use, or he takes a cypress or an oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.
15A person can use it for fuel. He takes some of it and warms himself; also he kindles a fire and bakes bread; he even makes it into a god and worships it; he makes an idol from it and bows down to it.
16He burns half of it in a fire, and he roasts meat on that half. He eats the roast and is satisfied. He warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm, I see the blaze."
17He makes a god or his idol with the rest of it. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it, "Save me, for you are my god."
18Such people do not comprehend and cannot understand, for he has shut their eyes so they cannot see, and their minds so they cannot understand.
19No one comes to his senses; no one has the perception or insight to say, "I burned half of it in the fire, I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted meat and ate. Should I make something detestable with the rest of it? Should I bow down to a block of wood?"
20He feeds on ashes. His deceived mind has led him astray, and he cannot rescue himself, or say, "Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?"
21Remember these things, Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you, you are my servant; Israel, you will never be forgotten by me.
22I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.
23Rejoice, heavens, for the Lord has acted; shout, depths of the earth. Break out into singing, mountains, forest, and every tree in it. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and glorifies himself through Israel.
24This is what the Lord, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb, says: I am the Lord, who made everything; who stretched out the heavens by myself; who alone spread out the earth;
25who destroys the omens of the false prophets and makes fools of diviners; who confounds the wise and makes their knowledge foolishness;
26who confirms the message of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers; who says to Jerusalem, "She will be inhabited," and to the cities of Judah, "They will be rebuilt," and I will restore her ruins;
27who says to the depths of the sea, "Be dry," and I will dry up your rivers;
28who says to Cyrus, "My shepherd, he will fulfill all my pleasure" and says to Jerusalem, "She will be rebuilt," and of the temple, "Its foundation will be laid."
New Living Translation
Chapter 35
1Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. 2Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon. There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God. 3With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. 4Say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.'
5And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf.
6The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the wasteland.
7The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived.
8And a great road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-minded people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways; fools will never walk there.
9Lions will not lurk along its course, nor any other ferocious beasts. There will be no other dangers. Only the redeemed will walk on it.
10Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return. They will enter Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness.
Chapter 36
1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them. 2Then the king of Assyria sent his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.
4Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah: 'This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?
5Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me?
6On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!
8'I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them!
9With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers?
10What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the Lord’s direction? The Lord himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’'
13Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, 'Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria!
14This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you.
15Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’
16Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me — open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well.
17Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one — a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards.
18Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?
19What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power?
20What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?'
Chapter 37
1When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the Temple of the Lord. 2And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3They told him, 'This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby. 4But perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian chief of staff, sent by the king to defy the living God, and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!'
5After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered the king’s message to Isaiah,
6the prophet replied, 'Say to your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers.
7Listen! I myself will move against him, and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.’'
10'This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria.
11You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?
12Have the gods of other nations rescued them — such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My predecessors destroyed them all!
13What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?'
14After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord.
15And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord:
16O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth.
17Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.
18It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations.
19And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all — only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.
20Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God. '
23'Whom have you been defying and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look with such haughty eyes? It was the Holy One of Israel!
24By your messengers you have defied the Lord. You have said, ‘With my many chariots I have conquered the highest mountains — yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars and its finest cypress trees. I have reached its farthest heights and explored its deepest forests.
25I have dug wells in many foreign lands and refreshed myself with their water. With the sole of my foot, I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’
26'But have you not heard? I decided this long ago. Long ago I planned it, and now I am making it happen. I planned for you to crush fortified cities into heaps of rubble.
27That is why their people have so little power and are so frightened and confused. They are as weak as grass, as easily trampled as tender green shoots. They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, scorched before it can grow lush and tall.
28'But I know you well — where you stay and when you come and go. I know the way you have raged against me.
29And because of your raging against me and your arrogance, which I have heard for myself, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth. I will make you return by the same road on which you came.'
30Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, 'Here is the proof that what I say is true: 'This year you will eat only what grows up by itself, and next year you will eat what springs up from that. But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them; you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.
31And you who are left in Judah, who have escaped the ravages of the siege, will put roots down in your own soil and grow up and flourish.
32For a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem, a group of survivors from Mount Zion. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!
33And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: '‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem. They will not even shoot an arrow at it. They will not march outside its gates with their shields nor build banks of earth against its walls.
34The king will return to his own country by the same road on which he came. He will not enter this city,’ says the Lord.
35‘For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will defend this city and protect it.’'
36That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere.
37Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.
2When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,
3Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.' Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
4Then this message came to Isaiah from the Lord:
5Go back to Hezekiah and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life,
6and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. Yes, I will defend this city.
7‘And this is the sign from the Lord to prove that he will do as he promised:
8I will cause the sun’s shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!’' So the shadow on the sundial moved backward ten steps.
10I said, 'In the prime of my life, must I now enter the place of the dead? Am I to be robbed of the rest of my years?'
11I said, 'Never again will I see the Lord GOD while still in the land of the living. Never again will I see my friends or be with those who live in this world.
12My life has been blown away like a shepherd’s tent in a storm. It has been cut short, as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom. Suddenly, my life was over.
13I waited patiently all night, but I was torn apart as though by lions. Suddenly, my life was over.
14Delirious, I chattered like a swallow or a crane, and then I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for help. I am in trouble, Lord. Help me!'
15But what could I say? For he himself sent this sickness. Now I will walk humbly throughout my years because of this anguish I have felt.
16Lord, your discipline is good, for it leads to life and health. You restore my health and allow me to live!
17Yes, this anguish was good for me, for you have rescued me from death and forgiven all my sins.
18For the dead cannot praise you; they cannot raise their voices in praise. Those who go down to the grave can no longer hope in your faithfulness.
19Only the living can praise you as I do today. Each generation tells of your faithfulness to the next.
20Think of it — the Lord is ready to heal me! I will sing his praises with instruments every day of my life in the Temple of the Lord.
Chapter 39
1Soon after this, Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah his best wishes and a gift. He had heard that Hezekiah had been very sick and that he had recovered. 2Hezekiah was delighted with the Babylonian envoys and showed them everything in his treasure-houses — the silver, the gold, the spices, and the aromatic oils. He also took them to see his armory and showed them everything in his royal treasuries! There was nothing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
5Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, 'Listen to this message from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies:
6‘The time is coming when everything in your palace — all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now — will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.
7‘Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon’s king.’'
Chapter 40
1'Comfort, comfort my people,' says your God. 2'Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over for all her sins.'
3Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, 'Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!
4Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places.
5Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!'
6A voice said, 'Shout!' I asked, 'What should I shout?' 'Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field.
7The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the Lord. And so it is with people.
8The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.'
9O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops! Shout it louder, O Jerusalem. Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, 'Your God is coming!'
10Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.
11He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.
12Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?
13Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?
14Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice? Does he need instruction about what is good? Did someone teach him what is right or show him the path of justice?
15No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.
16All the wood in Lebanon’s forests and all Lebanon’s animals would not be enough to make a burnt offering worthy of our God.
17The nations of the world are worth nothing to him. In his eyes they count for less than nothing — mere emptiness and froth.
18To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him?
19Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?
20Or if people are too poor for that, they might at least choose wood that won’t decay and a skilled craftsman to carve an image that won’t fall down!
21Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand? Are you deaf to the words of God — the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant?
22God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them.
23He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing.
24They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and they wither. The wind carries them off like chaff.
26Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.
27O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
28Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.
30Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
2'Who has stirred up this king from the east, rightly calling him to God’s service? Who gives this man victory over many nations and permits him to trample their kings underfoot? With his sword, he reduces armies to dust. With his bow, he scatters them like chaff before the wind.
3He chases them away and goes on safely, though he is walking over unfamiliar ground.
4Who has done such mighty deeds, summoning each new generation from the beginning of time? It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last. I alone am he.'
5The lands beyond the sea watch in fear. Remote lands tremble and mobilize for war.
6The idol makers encourage one another, saying to each other, 'Be strong!'
7The carver encourages the goldsmith, and the molder helps at the anvil. 'Good,' they say. 'It’s coming along fine.' Carefully they join the parts together, then fasten the thing in place so it won’t fall over.
8'But as for you, Israel my servant, Jacob my chosen one, descended from Abraham my friend,
9I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away.
10Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
11'See, all your angry enemies lie there, confused and humiliated. Anyone who opposes you will die and come to nothing.
12You will look in vain for those who tried to conquer you. Those who attack you will come to nothing.
13For I hold you by your right hand — I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.
14Though you are a lowly worm, O Jacob, don’t be afraid, people of Israel, for I will help you. I am the Lord, your Redeemer. I am the Holy One of Israel.’
15You will be a new threshing instrument with many sharp teeth. You will tear your enemies apart, making chaff of mountains.
16You will toss them into the air, and the wind will blow them all away; a whirlwind will scatter them. Then you will rejoice in the Lord. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17'When the poor and needy search for water and there is none, and their tongues are parched from thirst, then I, the Lord, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them.
18I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus. I will give them fountains of water in the valleys. I will fill the desert with pools of water. Rivers fed by springs will flow across the parched ground.
19I will plant trees in the barren desert — cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine.
20I am doing this so all who see this miracle will understand what it means — that it is the Lord who has done this, the Holy One of Israel who created it.
21'Present the case for your idols,' says the Lord. 'Let them show what they can do,' says the King of Israel.
22'Let them try to tell us what happened long ago so that we may consider the evidence. Or let them tell us what the future holds, so we can know what’s going to happen.
23Yes, tell us what will occur in the days ahead. Then we will know you are gods. In fact, do anything — good or bad! Do something that will amaze and frighten us.
24But no! You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all. Those who choose you pollute themselves.
26'Who told you from the beginning that this would happen? Who predicted this, making you admit that he was right? No one said a word!
27I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look! Help is on the way!’ I will send Jerusalem a messenger with good news.
28Not one of your idols told you this. Not one gave any answer when I asked.
29See, they are all foolish, worthless things. All your idols are as empty as the wind.
Chapter 42
1'Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, who pleases me. I have put my Spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations. 2He will not shout or raise his voice in public. 3He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged. 4He will not falter or lose heart until justice prevails throughout the earth. Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction. '
5God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth. And it is he who says,
6'I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations.
7You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.
8'I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols.
9Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens.'
10Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing his praises from the ends of the earth! Sing, all you who sail the seas, all you who live in distant coastlands.
11Join in the chorus, you desert towns; let the villages of Kedar rejoice! Let the people of Sela sing for joy; shout praises from the mountaintops!
12Let the whole world glorify the Lord; let it sing his praise.
13The Lord will march forth like a mighty hero; he will come out like a warrior, full of fury. He will shout his battle cry and crush all his enemies.
14He will say, 'I have long been silent; yes, I have restrained myself. But now, like a woman in labor, I will cry and groan and pant.
15I will level the mountains and hills and blight all their greenery. I will turn the rivers into dry land and will dry up all the pools.
16I will lead blind Israel down a new path, guiding them along an unfamiliar way. I will brighten the darkness before them and smooth out the road ahead of them. Yes, I will indeed do these things; I will not forsake them.
17But those who trust in idols, who say, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned away in shame.
18'Listen, you who are deaf! Look and see, you blind!
19Who is as blind as my own people, my servant? Who is as deaf as my messenger? Who is as blind as my chosen people, the servant of the Lord?
20You see and recognize what is right but refuse to act on it. You hear with your ears, but you don’t really listen.'
21Because he is righteous, the Lord has exalted his glorious law.
22But his own people have been robbed and plundered, enslaved, imprisoned, and trapped. They are fair game for anyone and have no one to protect them, no one to take them back home.
23Who will hear these lessons from the past and see the ruin that awaits you in the future?
24Who allowed Israel to be robbed and hurt? It was the Lord, against whom we sinned, for the people would not walk in his path, nor would they obey his law.
25Therefore, he poured out his fury on them and destroyed them in battle. They were enveloped in flames, but they still refused to understand. They were consumed by fire, but they did not learn their lesson.
Chapter 43
1But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, 'Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. 2When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. 3For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place. 4Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.
5'Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will gather you and your children from east and west.
6I will say to the north and south, ‘Bring my sons and daughters back to Israel from the distant corners of the earth.
7Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.’'
8Bring out the people who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.
9Gather the nations together! Assemble the peoples of the world! Which of their idols has ever foretold such things? Which can predict what will happen tomorrow? Where are the witnesses of such predictions? Who can verify that they spoke the truth?
10'But you are my witnesses, O Israel!' says the Lord. 'You are my servant. You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God — there never has been, and there never will be.
11I, yes I, am the Lord, and there is no other Savior.
12First I predicted your rescue, then I saved you and proclaimed it to the world. No foreign god has ever done this. You are witnesses that I am the only God,' says the Lord.
13'From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.'
14This is what the Lord says — your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 'For your sakes I will send an army against Babylon, forcing the Babylonians to flee in those ships they are so proud of.
15I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator and King.
16I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea.
17I called forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses. I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick.
18'But forget all that — it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.
19For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
20The wild animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and owls, too, for giving them water in the desert. Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland so my chosen people can be refreshed.
21I have made Israel for myself, and they will someday honor me before the whole world.
22'But, dear family of Jacob, you refuse to ask for my help. You have grown tired of me, O Israel!
23You have not brought me sheep or goats for burnt offerings. You have not honored me with sacrifices, though I have not burdened and wearied you with requests for grain offerings and frankincense.
24You have not brought me fragrant calamus or pleased me with the fat from sacrifices. Instead, you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your faults.
25'I — yes, I alone — will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.
26Let us review the situation together, and you can present your case to prove your innocence.
27From the very beginning, your first ancestor sinned against me; all your leaders broke my laws.
28That is why I have disgraced your priests; I have decreed complete destruction for Jacob and shame for Israel.
Chapter 44
1'But now, listen to me, Jacob my servant, Israel my chosen one. 2The Lord who made you and helps you says: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, O dear Israel, my chosen one. 3For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children. 4They will thrive like watered grass, like willows on a riverbank. 5Some will proudly claim, ‘I belong to the Lord.’ Others will say, ‘I am a descendant of Jacob.’ Some will write the Lord’s name on their hands and will take the name of Israel as their own.'
6This is what the Lord says — Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: 'I am the First and the Last; there is no other God.
7Who is like me? Let him step forward and prove to you his power. Let him do as I have done since ancient times when I established a people and explained its future.
8Do not tremble; do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago? You are my witnesses — is there any other God? No! There is no other Rock — not one!'
9How foolish are those who manufacture idols. These prized objects are really worthless. The people who worship idols don’t know this, so they are all put to shame.
10Who but a fool would make his own god — an idol that cannot help him one bit?
11All who worship idols will be disgraced along with all these craftsmen — mere humans — who claim they can make a god. They may all stand together, but they will stand in terror and shame.
12The blacksmith stands at his forge to make a sharp tool, pounding and shaping it with all his might. His work makes him hungry and weak. It makes him thirsty and faint.
13Then the wood-carver measures a block of wood and draws a pattern on it. He works with chisel and plane and carves it into a human figure. He gives it human beauty and puts it in a little shrine.
14He cuts down cedars; he selects the cypress and the oak; he plants the pine in the forest to be nourished by the rain.
15Then he uses part of the wood to make a fire. With it he warms himself and bakes his bread. Then — yes, it’s true — he takes the rest of it and makes himself a god to worship! He makes an idol and bows down in front of it!
16He burns part of the tree to roast his meat and to keep himself warm. He says, 'Ah, that fire feels good.'
17Then he takes what’s left and makes his god: a carved idol! He falls down in front of it, worshiping and praying to it. 'Rescue me!' he says. 'You are my god!'
18Such stupidity and ignorance! Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see. Their minds are shut, and they cannot think.
19The person who made the idol never stops to reflect, 'Why, it’s just a block of wood! I burned half of it for heat and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat. How can the rest of it be a god? Should I bow down to worship a piece of wood?'
20The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes. He trusts something that can’t help him at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, 'Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?'
21'Pay attention, O Jacob, for you are my servant, O Israel. I, the Lord, made you, and I will not forget you.
22I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free.'
24This is what the Lord says — your Redeemer and Creator: 'I am the Lord, who made all things. I alone stretched out the heavens. Who was with me when I made the earth?
25I expose the false prophets as liars and make fools of fortune-tellers. I cause the wise to give bad advice, thus proving them to be fools.
26But I carry out the predictions of my prophets! By them I say to Jerusalem, ‘People will live here again,’ and to the towns of Judah, ‘You will be rebuilt; I will restore all your ruins!’
27When I speak to the rivers and say, ‘Dry up!’ they will be dry.
28When I say of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,’ he will certainly do as I say. He will command, ‘Rebuild Jerusalem’; he will say, ‘Restore the Temple.’'
English Standard Version
Chapter 35
1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; 2it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. 3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. 9No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.Chapter 36
1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer 's Field. 3And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
4And the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?
5Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me?
6Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
7But if you say to me, "We trust in the Lord our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar"?
8Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.
9How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master 's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
10Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, "Go up against this land and destroy it."’"
11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall."
12But the Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?"
13Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
14Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you.
15Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, "The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."
16Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern,
17until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, "The Lord will deliver us." Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’"
21But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king 's command was, "Do not answer him."
22Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
Chapter 37
1As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. 2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’"
5When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
6Isaiah said to them, "Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me.
7Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’"
8The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.
9Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, "He has set out to fight against you." And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10"Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered?
12Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’"
14Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
15And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
16"O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
17Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
18Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,
19and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men 's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.
20So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord."
21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: "‘She despises you, she scorns you — the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you — the daughter of Jerusalem.
23"‘Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel!
24By your servants you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon, to cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses, to come to its remotest height, its most fruitful forest.
25I dug wells and drank waters, to dry up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.
26 "‘Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins,
27while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops, blighted before it is grown.
28"‘I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me.
29 Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.’
30"And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
31And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
32For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
33"Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it.
34By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord.
35For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David."
36And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
37Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh.
38And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Chapter 38
1In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover." 2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3and said, "Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah:
5"Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, 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.
6I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.
7"This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised:
8Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps." So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.
10I said, In the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.
11I said, I shall not see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living; I shall look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd 's tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night you bring me to an end;
13 I calmed myself until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to an end.
14Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!
15What shall I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. I walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh restore me to health and make me live!
17 Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
18 For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness.
19The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.
20The Lord will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the Lord.
21Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover."
22Hezekiah also had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?"
Chapter 39
1At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?" Hezekiah said, "They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon." 4He said, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them."
5Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord of hosts:
6Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord.
7And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."
8Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days."
Chapter 40
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord 's hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." 6A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 9Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" 10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? 14Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. 20 He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. 21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. 27Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God"? 28Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.Chapter 41
1 Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us together draw near for judgment. 2 Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step? He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings underfoot; he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow. 3He pursues them and passes on safely, by paths his feet have not trod. 4 Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he. 5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble; they have drawn near and come. 6Everyone helps his neighbor and says to his brother, "Be strong!" 7 The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good"; and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved. 8But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; 9you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, "You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off"; 10fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 11 Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. 12 You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. 13For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I am the one who helps you." 14Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 15 Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff; 16 you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the Lord; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory. 17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. 18 I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. 19 I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, 20that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it. 21Set forth your case, says the Lord; bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob. 22Let them bring them, and tell us what is to happen. Tell us the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their outcome; or declare to us the things to come. 23 Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified. 24Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you. 25 I stirred up one from the north, and he has come, from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name; he shall trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay. 26 Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know, and beforehand, that we might say, "He is right"? There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed, none who heard your words. 27 I was the first to say to Zion, "Behold, here they are!" and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news. 28 But when I look, there is no one; among these there is no counselor who, when I ask, gives an answer. 29 Behold, they are all a delusion; their works are nothing; their metal images are empty wind.Chapter 42
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 2He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 4He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law. 5Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: 6"I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. 9Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them." 10 Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. 11Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands. 13 The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes. 14For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant. 15 I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools. 16 And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. 17 They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, "You are our gods." 18Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! 19Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord? 20 He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear. 21The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness ' sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious. 22But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say, "Restore!" 23Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come? 24Who gave up Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey? 25So he poured on him the heat of his anger and the might of battle; it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand; it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.Chapter 43
1But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. 5 Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. 6I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, 7everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." 8Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears! 9 All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, and let them hear and say, It is true. 10 "You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. 11 I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior. 12I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and I am God. 13Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?" 14Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice. 15I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King." 16Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, 17who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 18 "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 20The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, 21the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise. 22"Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel! 23 You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense. 24You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities. 25"I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. 26Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right. 27 Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me. 28Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, and deliver Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to reviling.Chapter 44
1"But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! 2Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. 3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. 5 This one will say, ‘I am the Lord 's,’ another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord 's,’ and name himself by the name of Israel." 6Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. 7 Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. 8Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any." 9All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. 10Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? 11Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.
12The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint.
13The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
14He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.
15Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it.
16Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, "Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!"
17And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!"
18They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.
19No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, "Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?"
20He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"
21Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
22 I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.
23 Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.
24Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: "I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
25who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,
26 who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins’;
27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry; I will dry up your rivers’;
28who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’"
New International Version
2it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.
3Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
4say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."
5Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
7The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
8And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.
9No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there,
10and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Chapter 36
1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field, 3Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him.
4The field commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah: " ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours?
5You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?
6Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.
7But if you say to me, "We are depending on the Lord our God"—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship before this altar"?
8" ‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them!
9How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen ?
10Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’ "
13Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
14This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you!
15Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
16"Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern,
17until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18"Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria?
19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
20Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?"
Chapter 37
1When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. 2He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3They told him, "This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. 4It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives."
5When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah,
6Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’ "
9Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word:
10"Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’
11Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered?
12Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar?
13Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?"
14Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.
15And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
16"Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
17Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.
18"It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands.
19They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.
20Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are the only God. "
22this is the word the Lord has spoken against him: "Virgin Daughter Zion despises and mocks you. Daughter Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee.
23Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
24By your messengers you have ridiculed the Lord. And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its junipers. I have reached its remotest heights, the finest of its forests.
25I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’
26"Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone.
27Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up.
28"But I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage against me.
29Because you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.
30"This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: "This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above.
32For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
33"Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: "He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it.
34By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city," declares the Lord.
35"I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!"
36Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!
37So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
2Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,
3"Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah:
5"Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.
6And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.
7" ‘This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised:
8I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.’ " So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.
10I said, "In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?"
11I said, "I will not again see the Lord himself in the land of the living; no longer will I look on my fellow man, or be with those who now dwell in this world.
12Like a shepherd’s tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the loom; day and night you made an end of me.
13I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion he broke all my bones; day and night you made an end of me.
14I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!"
15But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul.
16Lord, by such things people live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live.
17Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.
18For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.
19The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about your faithfulness.
20The Lord will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the Lord.
Chapter 39
1At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery. 2Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil—his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
5Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord Almighty:
6The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord.
7And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."
Chapter 40
1Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
3A voice of one calling: "In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord ; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
6A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?" "All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass.
8The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever."
9You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!"
10See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.
11He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?
13Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
14Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?
15Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
18With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken him?
19As for an idol, a metalworker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it.
20A person too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot; they look for a skilled worker to set up an idol that will not topple.
21Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
25"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
27Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God"?
28Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
29He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Chapter 41
1"Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment. 2"Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service ? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. 3He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before.
4Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord—with the first of them and with the last—I am he."
5The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward;
6they help each other and say to their companions, "Be strong!"
7The metalworker encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths with the hammer spurs on the one who strikes the anvil. One says of the welding, "It is good." The other nails down the idol so it will not topple.
8"But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend,
9I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
10So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
11"All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.
12Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.
13For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.
14Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I myself will help you," declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15"See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.
16You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17"The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.
19I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together,
20so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21"Present your case," says the Lord. "Set forth your arguments," says Jacob’s King.
22"Tell us, you idols, what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come,
23tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.
24But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; whoever chooses you is detestable.
25"I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes— one from the rising sun who calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay.
26Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know, or beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right’? No one told of this, no one foretold it, no one heard any words from you.
27I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’ I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news.
28I look but there is no one— no one among the gods to give counsel, no one to give answer when I ask them.
29See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion.
Chapter 42
1"Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. 2He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
4he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope."
5This is what God the Lord says— the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:
6"I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles,
7to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
8"I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.
9See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you."
10Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them.
11Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops.
12Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim his praise in the islands.
13The Lord will march out like a champion, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies.
14"For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant.
15I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools.
16I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.
17But those who trust in idols, who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back in utter shame.
18"Hear, you deaf; look, you blind, and see!
19Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one in covenant with me, blind like the servant of the Lord?
20You have seen many things, but you pay no attention; your ears are open, but you do not listen."
21It pleased the Lord for the sake of his righteousness to make his law great and glorious.
22But this is a people plundered and looted, all of them trapped in pits or hidden away in prisons. They have become plunder, with no one to rescue them; they have been made loot, with no one to say, "Send them back."
23Which of you will listen to this or pay close attention in time to come?
24Who handed Jacob over to become loot, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned? For they would not follow his ways; they did not obey his law.
25So he poured out on them his burning anger, the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.
Chapter 43
1But now, this is what the Lord says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. 4Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. 5Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. 6I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
7everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."
8Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.
9All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Which of their gods foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things? Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right, so that others may hear and say, "It is true."
10"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.
11I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior.
12I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "that I am God.
13Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?"
14This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I will send to Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians, in the ships in which they took pride.
15I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King."
16This is what the Lord says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters,
17who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
19See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
20The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.
22"Yet you have not called on me, Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, Israel.
23You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense.
24You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses.
25"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
26Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together; state the case for your innocence.
27Your first father sinned; those I sent to teach you rebelled against me.
28So I disgraced the dignitaries of your temple; I consigned Jacob to destruction and Israel to scorn.
Chapter 44
1"But now listen, Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. 2This is what the Lord says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. 3For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. 5Some will say, ‘I belong to the Lord’; others will call themselves by the name of Jacob; still others will write on their hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and will take the name Israel. 6"This is what the Lord says— Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. 7Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come— yes, let them foretell what will come.
8Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one."
9All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame.
10Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit nothing?
11People who do that will be put to shame; such craftsmen are only human beings. Let them all come together and take their stand; they will be brought down to terror and shame.
12The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint.
13The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in human form, human form in all its glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.
14He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.
15It is used as fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.
16Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm; I see the fire."
17From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, "Save me! You are my god!"
18They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
19No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, "Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?"
20Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?"
21"Remember these things, Jacob, for you, Israel, are my servant. I have made you, you are my servant; Israel, I will not forget you.
22I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you."
23Sing for joy, you heavens, for the Lord has done this; shout aloud, you earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.
24"This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, the Maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by myself,
25who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense,
26who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’ of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuilt,’ and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them,’
27who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your streams,’
28who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, "Let it be rebuilt," and of the temple, "Let its foundations be laid." ’
New King James Version
Chapter 35
1The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; 2 It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, Even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, The excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, The excellency of our God. 3 Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees. 4Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you.” 5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. 7The parched ground shall become a pool, And the thirsty land springs of water; In the habitation of jackals, where each lay, There shall be grass with reeds and rushes. 8A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, But it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, Shall not go astray. 9 No lion shall be there, Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, 10And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.Chapter 36
1Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. 3And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.
4Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What confidence is this in which you trust?
5I say you speak of having plans and power for war; but they are mere words. Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?
6Look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, 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 say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?” ’
8Now therefore, I urge you, give 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 put riders on them!
9How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
10Have I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”
13Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
14Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you;
15nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ’
16Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;
17until 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.
18Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
20Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”
21But they held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”
22Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
Chapter 37
1And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth. 4It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”
5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
7Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”
8Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.
9And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to make war with you.” So when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10“Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
11Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
12Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”
14And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
15Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying:
16“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
17Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
18Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,
19and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
20Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone.”
22this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him: “The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back!
23“Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
24By your servants you have reproached the Lord, And said, ‘By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the limits of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypress trees; I will enter its farthest height, To its fruitful forest.
25I have dug and drunk water, And with the soles of my feet I have dried up All the brooks of defense.’
26“Did you not hear long ago How I made it, From ancient times that I formed it? Now I have brought it to pass, That you should be For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
27Therefore their inhabitants had little power; They were dismayed and confounded; They were as the grass of the field And the green herb, As the grass on the housetops And grain blighted before it is grown.
28“But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me.
29Because your rage against Me and your tumult Have come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back By the way which you came.” ’
30“This shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, And the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and reap, Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
31And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.
32For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
33“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it.
34By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,’ Says the Lord.
35‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”
36Then the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.
37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.
38Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
2Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord,
3and said, “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,
5“Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years.
6I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.” ’
7And this is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing which He has spoken:
8“Behold, I will bring the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.” So the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down.
10I said, “In the prime of my life I shall go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the remainder of my years.”
11I said, “I shall not see YAH, The Lord in the land of the living; I shall observe man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 My life span is gone, Taken from me like a shepherd’s tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me.
13I have considered until morning— Like a lion, So He breaks all my bones; From day until night You make an end of me.
14Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered; I mourned like a dove; My eyes fail from looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; Undertake for me!
15“What shall I say? He has both spoken to me, And He Himself has done it. I shall walk carefully all my years In the bitterness of my soul.
16O Lord, by these things men live; And in all these things is the life of my spirit; So You will restore me and make me live.
17Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.
19The living, the living man, he shall praise You, As I do this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children.
20“The Lord was ready to save me; Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments All the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.”
Chapter 39
1At 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. 2And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
5Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts:
6‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord.
7‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”
