Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹“What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,” says the LORD. “You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins.

²For without consulting me, you have gone down to Egypt for help. You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection. You have tried to hide in his shade.

³But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated, and by depending on him, you will be disgraced.

⁴For though his power extends to Zoan and his officials have arrived in Hanes,

⁵all who trust in him will be ashamed. He will not help you. Instead, he will disgrace you.”

⁶This message came to me concerning the animals in the Negev: The caravan moves slowly across the terrible desert to Egypt — donkeys weighed down with riches and camels loaded with treasure — all to pay for Egypt’s protection. They travel through the wilderness, a place of lionesses and lions, a place where vipers and poisonous snakes live. All this, and Egypt will give you nothing in return.

⁷Egypt’s promises are worthless! Therefore, I call her Rahab — the Harmless Dragon.

⁸Now go and write down these words. Write them in a book. They will stand until the end of time as a witness

⁹that these people are stubborn rebels who refuse to pay attention to the LORD’s instructions.

¹⁰They tell the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” They tell the prophets, “Don’t tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies.

¹¹Forget all this gloom. Get off your narrow path. Stop telling us about your ‘Holy One of Israel.’”

¹²This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies,

¹³calamity will come upon you suddenly — like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down.

¹⁴You will be smashed like a piece of pottery — shattered so completely that there won’t be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well.”

¹⁵This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.

¹⁶You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt. They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’ But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!

¹⁷One of them will chase a thousand of you. Five of them will make all of you flee. You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.”

¹⁸So the LORD must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.

¹⁹O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.

²⁰Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes.

²¹Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.

²²Then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them, “Good riddance!”

²³Then the LORD will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock.

²⁴The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind.

²⁵In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill.

²⁶The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter — like the light of seven days in one! So it will be when the LORD begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.

²⁷Look! The LORD is coming from far away, burning with anger, surrounded by thick, rising smoke. His lips are filled with fury; his words consume like fire.

²⁸His hot breath pours out like a flood up to the neck of his enemies. He will sift out the proud nations for destruction. He will bridle them and lead them away to ruin.

²⁹But the people of God will sing a song of joy, like the songs at the holy festivals. You will be filled with joy, as when a flutist leads a group of pilgrims to Jerusalem, the mountain of the LORD — to the Rock of Israel.

³⁰And the LORD will make his majestic voice heard. He will display the strength of his mighty arm. It will descend with devouring flames, with cloudbursts, thunderstorms, and huge hailstones.

³¹At the LORD’s command, the Assyrians will be shattered. He will strike them down with his royal scepter.

³²And as the LORD strikes them with his rod of punishment, his people will celebrate with tambourines and harps. Lifting his mighty arm, he will fight the Assyrians.

³³Topheth — the place of burning — has long been ready for the Assyrian king; the pyre is piled high with wood. The breath of the LORD, like fire from a volcano, will set it ablaze.

¹What sorrow awaits those who look to Egypt for help, trusting their horses, chariots, and charioteers and depending on the strength of human armies instead of looking to the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

²In his wisdom, the LORD will send great disaster; he will not change his mind. He will rise against the wicked and against their helpers.

³For these Egyptians are mere humans, not God! Their horses are puny flesh, not mighty spirits! When the LORD raises his fist against them, those who help will stumble, and those being helped will fall. They will all fall down and die together.

⁴But this is what the LORD has told me: “When a strong young lion stands growling over a sheep it has killed, it is not frightened by the shouts and noise of a whole crowd of shepherds. In the same way, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will come down and fight on Mount Zion.

⁵The LORD of Heaven’s Armies will hover over Jerusalem and protect it like a bird protecting its nest. He will defend and save the city; he will pass over it and rescue it.”

⁶Though you are such wicked rebels, my people, come and return to the LORD.

⁷I know the glorious day will come when each of you will throw away the gold idols and silver images your sinful hands have made.

⁸“The Assyrians will be destroyed, but not by the swords of men. The sword of God will strike them, and they will panic and flee. The strong young Assyrians will be taken away as captives.

⁹Even the strongest will quake with terror, and princes will flee when they see your battle flags,” says the LORD, whose fire burns in Zion, whose flame blazes from Jerusalem.

¹Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him.

²Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.

³Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth, and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it.

⁴Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding. Those who stammer will speak out plainly.

⁵In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes. Scoundrels will not be respected.

⁶For fools speak foolishness and make evil plans. They practice ungodliness and spread false teachings about the LORD. They deprive the hungry of food and give no water to the thirsty.

⁷The smooth tricks of scoundrels are evil. They plot crooked schemes. They lie to convict the poor, even when the cause of the poor is just.

⁸But generous people plan to do what is generous, and they stand firm in their generosity.

⁹Listen, you women who lie around in ease. Listen to me, you who are so smug.

¹⁰In a short time — just a little more than a year — you careless ones will suddenly begin to care. For your fruit crops will fail, and the harvest will never take place.

¹¹Tremble, you women of ease; throw off your complacency. Strip off your pretty clothes, and put on burlap to show your grief.

¹²Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms and your fruitful grapevines.

¹³For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers. Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.

¹⁴The palace and the city will be deserted, and busy towns will be empty. Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze in the empty forts and watchtowers

¹⁵until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.

¹⁶Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field.

¹⁷And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.

¹⁸My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest.

¹⁹Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down,

²⁰the LORD will greatly bless his people. Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up. Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.

¹What sorrow awaits you Assyrians, who have destroyed others but have never been destroyed yourselves. You betray others, but you have never been betrayed. When you are done destroying, you will be destroyed. When you are done betraying, you will be betrayed.

²But LORD, be merciful to us, for we have waited for you. Be our strong arm each day and our salvation in times of trouble.

³The enemy runs at the sound of your voice. When you stand up, the nations flee!

⁴Just as caterpillars and locusts strip the fields and vines, so the fallen army of Assyria will be stripped!

⁵Though the LORD is very great and lives in heaven, he will make Jerusalem his home of justice and righteousness.

⁶In that day he will be your sure foundation, providing a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD will be your treasure.

⁷But now your brave warriors weep in public. Your ambassadors of peace cry in bitter disappointment.

⁸Your roads are deserted; no one travels them anymore. The Assyrians have broken their peace treaty and care nothing for the promises they made before witnesses. They have no respect for anyone.

⁹The land of Israel wilts in mourning. Lebanon withers with shame. The plain of Sharon is now a wilderness. Bashan and Carmel have been plundered.

¹⁰But the LORD says: “Now I will stand up. Now I will show my power and might.

¹¹You Assyrians produce nothing but dry grass and stubble. Your own breath will turn to fire and consume you.

¹²Your people will be burned up completely, like thornbushes cut down and tossed in a fire.

¹³Listen to what I have done, you nations far away! And you that are near, acknowledge my might!”

¹⁴The sinners in Jerusalem shake with fear. Terror seizes the godless. “Who can live with this devouring fire?” they cry. “Who can survive this all-consuming fire?”

¹⁵Those who are honest and fair, who refuse to profit by fraud, who stay far away from bribes, who refuse to listen to those who plot murder, who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong —

¹⁶these are the ones who will dwell on high. The rocks of the mountains will be their fortress. Food will be supplied to them, and they will have water in abundance.

¹⁷Your eyes will see the king in all his splendor, and you will see a land that stretches into the distance.

¹⁸You will think back to this time of terror, asking, “Where are the Assyrian officers who counted our towers? Where are the bookkeepers who recorded the plunder taken from our fallen city?”

¹⁹You will no longer see these fierce, violent people with their strange, unknown language.

²⁰Instead, you will see Zion as a place of holy festivals. You will see Jerusalem, a city quiet and secure. It will be like a tent whose ropes are taut and whose stakes are firmly fixed.

²¹The LORD will be our Mighty One. He will be like a wide river of protection that no enemy can cross, that no enemy ship can sail upon.

²²For the LORD is our judge, our lawgiver, and our king. He will care for us and save us.

²³The enemies’ sails hang loose on broken masts with useless tackle. Their treasure will be divided by the people of God. Even the lame will take their share!

²⁴The people of Israel will no longer say, “We are sick and helpless,” for the LORD will forgive their sins.

¹Come here and listen, O nations of the earth. Let the world and everything in it hear my words.

²For the LORD is enraged against the nations. His fury is against all their armies. He will completely destroy them, dooming them to slaughter.

³Their dead will be left unburied, and the stench of rotting bodies will fill the land. The mountains will flow with their blood.

⁴The heavens above will melt away and disappear like a rolled-up scroll. The stars will fall from the sky like withered leaves from a grapevine, or shriveled figs from a fig tree.

⁵And when my sword has finished its work in the heavens, it will fall upon Edom, the nation I have marked for destruction.

⁶The sword of the LORD is drenched with blood and covered with fat — with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of rams prepared for sacrifice. Yes, the LORD will offer a sacrifice in the city of Bozrah. He will make a mighty slaughter in Edom.

⁷Even men as strong as wild oxen will die — the young men alongside the veterans. The land will be soaked with blood and the soil enriched with fat.

⁸For it is the day of the LORD’s revenge, the year when Edom will be paid back for all it did to Israel.

⁹The streams of Edom will be filled with burning pitch, and the ground will be covered with fire.

¹⁰This judgment on Edom will never end; the smoke of its burning will rise forever. The land will lie deserted from generation to generation. No one will live there anymore.

¹¹It will be haunted by the desert owl and the screech owl, the great owl and the raven. For God will measure that land carefully; he will measure it for chaos and destruction.

¹²It will be called the Land of Nothing, and all its nobles will soon be gone.

¹³Thorns will overrun its palaces; nettles and thistles will grow in its forts. The ruins will become a haunt for jackals and a home for owls.

¹⁴Desert animals will mingle there with hyenas, their howls filling the night. Wild goats will bleat at one another among the ruins, and night creatures will come there to rest.

¹⁵There the owl will make her nest and lay her eggs. She will hatch her young and cover them with her wings. And the buzzards will come, each one with its mate.

¹⁶Search the book of the LORD, and see what he will do. Not one of these birds and animals will be missing, and none will lack a mate, for the LORD has promised this. His Spirit will make it all come true.

¹⁷He has surveyed and divided the land and deeded it over to those creatures. They will possess it forever, from generation to generation.

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.

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.

³These are the officials who went out to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian.

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!

⁷“But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the LORD our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?

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!’”

¹¹Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew, for the people on the wall will hear.”

¹²But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”

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!’

¹⁶“Don’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.

¹⁸“Don’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?”

²¹But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.”

²²Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian chief of staff had said.

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.’”

⁸Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.

⁹Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message:

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:

¹⁶“O 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.

¹⁸“It 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. ”

²¹Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria,

²²the LORD has spoken this word against him: “The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and laughs at you. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head in derision as you flee.

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!

³³“And 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.

³⁸One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.

¹About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.’”

²When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,

³“Remember, 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:

⁵“Go 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.

⁹When King Hezekiah was well again, he wrote this poem:

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.

²¹Isaiah had said to Hezekiah’s servants, “Make an ointment from figs and spread it over the boil, and Hezekiah will recover.”

²²And Hezekiah had asked, “What sign will prove that I will go to the Temple of the LORD?”

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.

³Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did those men want? Where were they from?” Hezekiah replied, “They came from the distant land of Babylon.”

⁴“What did they see in your palace?” asked Isaiah. “They saw everything,” Hezekiah replied. “I showed them everything I own — all my royal treasuries.”

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.’”

⁸Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “This message you have given me from the LORD is good.” For the king was thinking, “At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.”

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.

²⁵“To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

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.

¹“Listen in silence before me, you lands beyond the sea. Bring your strongest arguments. Come now and speak. The court is ready for your case.

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.

²⁵“But I have stirred up a leader who will approach from the north. From the east he will call on my name. I will give him victory over kings and princes. He will trample them as a potter treads on clay.

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.

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.