Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹But now, this is what the LORD, your Creator says, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you [from captivity]; 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 will not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.

³"For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt [to the Babylonians] as your ransom, Cush (ancient Ethiopia) and Seba [its province] in exchange for you.

⁴"Because you are precious in My sight, You are honored and I love you, I will give other men in return for you and other peoples in exchange for your life.

⁵"Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east [where they are scattered], And gather you from the west.

⁶"I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring My sons from far way And My daughters from the ends of the earth,

⁷Everyone who is called by My Name, 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 the deaf, even though they have ears.

⁹All the nations have gathered together So that the peoples may be assembled. Who among them (the idolaters) can predict this [that Judah would return from captivity] And proclaim to us the former events? Let them provide their witnesses so that they may be justified, Or let them hear and say [in acknowledgement], "It is the truth."

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 there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me.

¹¹"I, [only] I, am the LORD, And there is no Savior besides Me.

¹²"I have declared [the future] and saved [the nation] and proclaimed [that I am God], And there was no strange (alien) god among you; Therefore you are My witnesses [among the pagans]," declares the LORD, "That I am God.

¹³"Even from eternity I am He, And there is no one who can rescue from My hand; I act, and who can revoke or reverse it?"

¹⁴This is what the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says, "For your sake I have sent [one] to Babylon, And I will bring down all of them as fugitives, Even the Chaldeans [who reign in Babylon], into the ships over which they rejoiced.

¹⁵"I 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,

¹⁷He who brings out the chariot and the horse, The army and the mighty warrior, (They will lie down together, they will not rise again; They have been extinguished, they have been put out like a lamp's wick):

¹⁸"Do not remember the former things, Or ponder the things of the past.

¹⁹"Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even put a road in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.

²⁰"The beasts of the field will honor Me, Jackals and ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My people, My chosen.

²¹"The people whom I formed for Myself Will make known My praise.

²²"Yet you have not called on Me [in prayer and worship], O Jacob; But you have grown weary of Me, O Israel.

²³"You have not brought Me your sheep or goats for your burnt offerings, Nor honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, Nor wearied you with [demands for offerings of] incense.

²⁴"You have not bought Me sweet cane with money, Nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices; But you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your wickedness.

²⁵"I, only I, am He who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.

²⁶" Remind Me [of your merits with a thorough report], let us plead and argue our case together; State your position, that you may be proved right.

²⁷"Your first father [Jacob] sinned, And your spokesmen [the priests and the prophets—your mediators] have transgressed against Me.

²⁸"So I will profane the officials of the sanctuary, And I will consign Jacob to destruction and [I will subject] Israel to defamation and abuse.

¹"But now listen, O Jacob, My servant, And Israel, whom I have chosen:

²This is what the LORD who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you says, 'Fear not, O Jacob My servant; And Jeshurun (Israel, the upright one) whom I have chosen.

³'For I will pour out water on him who is thirsty, 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 willows by the streams of water.'

⁵"One will say, 'I am the Lord's'; And another will name himself after Jacob; And another will write on his hand, 'I am the Lord's,' And be called by the [honorable] name of Israel.

⁶"For the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts says this, 'I am the First and I am the Last; And there is no God besides Me.

⁷'Who is like Me? Let him proclaim it and declare it; Yes, let him confront Me, Since I established the people of antiquity. And let them [those supposed gods] tell those people [who foolishly follow them] the things to come And the events that are going to take place.

⁸'Do not tremble nor be afraid [of the violent upheavals to come]; Have I not long ago proclaimed it to you and declared it? And you are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? There is no other Rock; I know of none.'"

⁹All who make carved idols are nothing. Their precious objects are worthless [to them], and their own witnesses (worshipers) fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.

¹⁰Who has made a god or cast an idol which is profitable for nothing?

¹¹In fact, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble, let them stand up, let them be terrified, let them together be put to shame.

¹²The ironsmith shapes iron and uses a chisel and works it over the coals. He forms the [idol's] core with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He also becomes hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and grows tired.

¹³The carpenter stretches out a measuring line, he marks out the shape [of the idol] with red chalk; he works it with planes and outlines it with the compass; and he makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of man, that it may sit in a house.

¹⁴He cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and lets it grow strong for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain nourishes it.

¹⁵Then it becomes fuel for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also kindles a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god [from the same wood] and worships it. He makes it into a carved idol [with his own hands] and falls down and worships it!

¹⁶He burns half of the wood in the fire; over this half he [cooks and] eats meat, he roasts meat and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, "Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire."

¹⁷But from what is left of the wood he makes a god, his carved idol. He falls down before it, he worships it and prays to it and says, "Save me, for you are my god."

¹⁸They do not know, nor do they understand, for God has muddied their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts (minds) as well so that they cannot understand.

¹⁹No one remembers, nor has knowledge and understanding [enough] to say [to himself], "I have burned half of this log in the fire, and also baked bread on its coals and have roasted meat and eaten it. Then I make the rest of it into an repulsive thing [to God]; I bow down [to worship] before a block of wood!"

²⁰That kind of man (the idolater) feeds on ashes [and is satisfied with ashes]! A deceived mind has led him astray, so that he cannot save himself, or ask, "Is this thing [that I am holding] in my right hand not a lie?"

²¹"Remember [the foolishness of] 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 wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you."

²³Shout for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done it! Shout in triumph, you depths of the earth; Break forth into jubilant rejoicing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, And He shows His glory in Israel.

²⁴For the LORD, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb says this, "I am the LORD, Maker of all things, Who alone stretches out the heavens, Who spreads out the earth by Myself,

²⁵Frustrating the signs and confounding the omens of boasters (false prophets), Making fools out of fortune-tellers, Counteracting the wise And making their knowledge ridiculous,

²⁶Confirming the word of His servant And carrying out the plan of His messengers. It is I who says of Jerusalem, 'She shall [again] be inhabited!' And of the cities of Judah, 'They shall [again] be built.' And I will raise up and restore her ruins.

²⁷"It is I who says to the deep, 'Be dried up!' And I will make your rivers dry.

²⁸"It is I who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd (ruler), And he will carry out all that I desire—' Saying of Jerusalem, 'She shall [again] be built,' And of the temple, 'Your foundation shall [again] be laid.'"

¹This is what the LORD says to His anointed, to Cyrus [king of Persia], Whose right hand I have held To subdue nations before him, And I will ungird the loins of kings [disarming them]; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:

²"I will go before you and level the mountains; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.

³"I will give you the treasures of darkness [the hoarded treasures] And the hidden riches of secret places, So that you may know that it is I, The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you (Cyrus the Great) by your name.

⁴"For the sake of Jacob My servant, And of Israel My chosen, I have also called you by your name; I have given you an honorable name Though you have not known Me.

⁵"I am the LORD, and there is no one else; There is no God except Me. I will embrace and arm you, though you have not known Me,

⁶That people may know from the rising to the setting of the sun [the world over] That there is no one except Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other,

⁷The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing peace and creating disaster; I am the LORD who does all these things.

⁸"Rain down, O heavens, from above, Let the clouds pour down righteousness [all the blessings of God]; Let the earth open up, let salvation bear fruit, And righteousness spring up with it; I, the LORD, have created it.

⁹"Woe (judgment is coming) to him who quarrels with his Maker— A [worthless] piece of broken pottery among other broken pieces [equally worthless]! Shall the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' Or does the thing say, 'He has no hands'?

¹⁰"Woe (judgment is coming) to him who says to a father, 'What are you fathering?' Or to a woman, 'With what are you in labor?'"

¹¹For the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker says this, "Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, And give Me orders concerning the work of My hands.

¹²"I made the earth and created man upon it. My hands, stretched out the heavens, And I commanded all their host.

¹³"I have stirred up Cyrus and put him into action in righteousness [to accomplish My purpose] And I will make all his ways smooth; He will build My city and let My exiles go, Without any payment or reward," says the LORD of hosts.

¹⁴For this is what the LORD says, "The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush (ancient Ethiopia) And the Sabeans, men of stature, Will come over to you and they will be yours; They will walk behind you, in chains [of subjection to you] they will come over, And they will bow down before you; They will make supplication to you, [humbly and earnestly] saying, 'Most certainly God is with you, and there is no other, No other God [besides Him].'"

¹⁵Truly, You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, Savior!

¹⁶They will be put to shame and also humiliated, all of them; They who make idols will go away together in humiliation.

¹⁷Israel has been saved by the LORD With an everlasting salvation; You will not be put to shame or humiliated for all eternity.

¹⁸For the LORD, who created the heavens(He is God, who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited) says this, "I am the LORD, and there is no one else.

¹⁹"I have not spoken in secret, In a corner of a land of darkness; I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, 'Seek Me in vain [with no benefit for yourselves].' I, the LORD, speak righteousness [the truth—trustworthy, a straightforward correlation between deeds and words], Declaring things that are upright.

²⁰"Assemble yourselves and come; Come together, you survivors of the nations! They are ignorant, Who carry around their wooden idols [in religious processions or into battle] And keep on praying to a god that cannot save them.

²¹"Declare and present your defense of idols; Indeed, let them consult together. Who announced this [rise of Cyrus and his conquests] long before it happened? Who declared it long ago? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A [consistently and uncompromisingly] just and righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me.

²²"Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.

²³"I have sworn [an oath] by Myself, The word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear [allegiance].

²⁴"It shall be said of Me, 'Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength.' To Him people will come, And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.

²⁵"In the LORD all the offspring of Israel Will be justified (declared free of guilt) and will glory [in God]."

¹Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over; Their idols are on the beasts [of burden] and on the cattle. Your burdens [of idols] are loaded [on them], Burdens on the weary animals.

²They stooped over, they have bowed down together; They could not rescue the burden [of their own idols], But have themselves gone into captivity.

³"Listen to Me," [says the LORD], "O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, You who have been carried by Me from your birth And have been carried [in My arms] from the womb,

⁴Even to your old age I am He, And even to your advanced old age I will carry you! I have made you, and I will carry you; Be assured I will carry you and I will save you.

⁵"To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal and compare Me, That we may be alike?

⁶"Those who lavish gold from the bag And weigh out silver on the scales Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; They bow down, indeed they worship it.

⁷"They lift it on their shoulders [in religious processions or into battle] and carry it; They set it in its place and there it remains standing. It cannot move from its place. Even if one cries to it [for help], the idol cannot answer; It cannot save him from his distress.

⁸"Remember this, and take courage; Take it to heart, you rebellious and disloyal people.

⁹"Remember [carefully] the former things [which I did] from ages past; For I am God, and there is no one else; I am God, and there is no one like Me,

¹⁰Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, And from ancient times the things which have not [yet] been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will do all that pleases Me and fulfills My purpose,'

¹¹Calling a bird of prey from the east, From a far country, the man (Cyrus) of My purpose. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, be assured I will do it.

¹²"Listen to Me, you stiff-necked people, You who are far from righteousness (right standing with God).

¹³"I bring near My righteousness [in the salvation of Israel], it is not far away; And My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, And My glory for Israel.

¹"Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground [in abject humiliation]; there is no throne for you, O daughter of the Chaldeans, For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.

²"Take millstones [as a female slave does] and grind meal; Remove your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers [at the command of your captors].

³"Your nakedness will be uncovered, Your shame will also be exposed; I will take vengeance and will spare no man."

⁴Our Redeemer [will do all this], the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel.

⁵"Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; For you will no longer be called The queen of kingdoms.

⁶"I was angry with My people, I profaned [Judah] My inheritance And gave them into your hand [Babylon]. You showed them no mercy; You made your yoke very heavy on the aged.

⁷"And you said, 'I shall be a queen forevermore.' You did not consider these things, Nor did you [seriously] remember the [ultimate] outcome of such conduct.

⁸"Now, then, hear this, you who live a luxuriant life, You who dwell safely and securely, Who say in your heart (mind), 'I am [the queen], and there is no one besides me. I shall not sit as a widow, Nor know the loss of children.'

⁹"But these two things shall come to you abruptly, in one day: Loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in full measure In spite of your many [claims of power through your] sorceries, In spite of the great power of your enchantments.

¹⁰"For you [Babylon] have trusted and felt confident in your wickedness; you have said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and your knowledge have led you astray, And you have said in your heart (mind), 'I am, and there is no one besides me.'

¹¹"Therefore disaster will come on you; You will not know how to make it disappear [with your magic]. And disaster will fall on you For which you cannot atone [with all your offerings to your gods]; And destruction about which you do not know Will come on you suddenly.

¹²"Persist, then, [Babylon] in your enchantments And your many sorceries With which you have labored from your youth; Perhaps you will be able to profit [from them], Perhaps you may prevail and cause trembling.

¹³"You are wearied by your many counsels. Just let the astrologers, The stargazers, Those who predict by the new moons [each month] Stand up and save you from the things that will come upon you [Babylon].

¹⁴"In fact, they are like stubble; Fire burns them. They cannot save themselves from the power of the flame [much less save the nation], There is no blazing coal for warming Nor fire before which to sit!

¹⁵"This is how they have become to you, those [astrologers and sorcerers] with whom you have labored, Those who have done business with you from your youth; Each has wandered in his own way. There is no one to save you.

¹"Hear this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel And who come from the seed of Judah, You who swear [allegiance] by the name of the LORD And invoke the God of Israel, But not in truth (sincerity) nor in righteousness [with moral and spiritual integrity].

²"For they call themselves [citizens of Jerusalem] after the holy city And depend on the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is His name.

³"I have declared the former things [which happened to Israel] in times past; They went forth from My mouth and I proclaimed them; Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.

⁴"Because I know that you are obstinate, And your neck is an iron tendon And your brow is bronze [both unyielding],

⁵I have declared them to you long ago; Before they came to pass I announced them to you, So that you could not say, 'My idol has done them, And my carved image and my cast image have commanded them.'

⁶"You have heard [these things foretold]; look at all this [that has been fulfilled]. And you, will you not declare it? I proclaim to you [specific] new things from this time, Even hidden things which you have not known.

⁷"They are created now [called into being by the prophetic word] and not long ago; And before today you have not heard of them, So that you will not say, 'Oh yes! I knew them.'

⁸"You have not heard, you have not known; Even from long ago your ear has not been open. For I [the LORD] knew that you [Israel] would act very treacherously; You have been called a transgressor and a rebel from birth.

⁹"For the sake of My Name I refrain from My wrath, And for My praise I restrain Myself from you, So that I do not cut you off.

¹⁰"Indeed, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested and chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

¹¹"For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it [I refrain and do not completely destroy you]; For how can My Name be defiled and profaned [as it would if My chosen people were completely destroyed]? And I will not give My glory to another [by permitting the worshipers of idols to triumph over you].

¹²"Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called; I am He, I am the First, I am the Last.

¹³"My hand founded and established the earth, And My right hand spread out the heavens; When I call to them, they stand together [in obedience to carry out My decrees].

¹⁴"Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them [the idols and Chaldean astrologers] has declared these things? The LORD loves him (Cyrus of Persia); he will do His pleasure and purpose against Babylon, And his arm will be against the Chaldeans [who reign in Babylon].

¹⁵"I, even I, have spoken; indeed, I have called Cyrus; I have brought him, and will make his way successful.

¹⁶"Come near to Me, listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret, From the time that it happened, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His [Holy] Spirit."

¹⁷This is what the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says, "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit (benefit), Who leads you in the way that you should go.

¹⁸"Oh, that you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your peace and prosperity would have been like a [flowing] river, And your righteousness [the holiness and purity of the nation] like the [abundant] waves of the sea.

¹⁹"Your offspring would have been like the sand, And your descendants [in number] like the grains of sand; Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence."

²⁰Get out of Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans [who reign there]! Declare with a voice of jubilation, proclaim this, Send it out to the end of the earth; Say, "The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob."

²¹They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts. He made the waters flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the waters flowed.

²²"There is no peace for the wicked," says the LORD.

¹Listen to Me, O islands and coastlands, And pay attention, you peoples from far away. The LORD has called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He has named Me.

²He has made My mouth like a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand He has kept Me hidden; And He has made Me a sharpened arrow, In His quiver He has hidden Me.

³And [the LORD] said to Me, "You are My Servant, Israel, In Whom I will show My glory."

⁴Then I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity (pride, uselessness); However My justice is with the LORD, And My reward is with My God."

⁵And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him and that Israel might be gathered to Him, —For I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, And My God is My strength—

⁶He says, "It is too trivial a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will also make You a light to the nations That My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

⁷This is what the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, Israel's Holy One says, To the thoroughly despised One, To the One hated by the nation To the Servant of rulers, " Kings will see and arise, Princes shall also bow down, Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You."

⁸This is what the LORD says, "In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep watch over You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land [from its present state of ruin] and to apportion and give as inheritances the deserted hereditary lands,

⁹Saying to those who are bound and captured, 'Go forth,' And to those who are in [spiritual] darkness, 'Show yourselves [come into the light of the Savior].' They will feed along the roads [on which they travel], And their pastures will be on all the bare heights.

¹⁰"They will not hunger or thirst, Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who has compassion on them will lead them, And He will guide them to springs of water.

¹¹"And I will make all My mountains a roadway, And My highways will be raised.

¹²"In fact, these will come from far away; And, lo, these shall come from the north and from the west, And these from the land of Aswan (southern Egypt)."

¹³Shout for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth, And break forth into singing, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people And will have compassion on His afflicted.

¹⁴But Zion (Jerusalem in captivity) said, "The LORD has abandoned me, And my Lord has forgotten me."

¹⁵[The LORD answered] "Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.

¹⁶"Indeed, I have inscribed [a picture of] you on the palms of My hands; Your city walls [Zion] are continually before Me.

¹⁷"Your builders hurry; Your destroyers and devastators Will go away from you.

¹⁸"Lift up your eyes and look around [at the returning exiles]; All these gather together and they come to you [to rebuild you]. As I live," declares the LORD, "You [Zion] will indeed clothe yourself with all of them as jewels and tie them on as a bride.

¹⁹"For your ruins and desolate places and your land [once the scene] of destruction— Certainly now [in the coming years] will be too cramped for the inhabitants, And those who once engulfed you will be far away.

²⁰"The children of your bereavement [those born in captivity] will yet say in your ears, 'The place is too cramped for me'; Make room for me that I may live here.

²¹"Then [Zion], you will say in your heart, 'Who has borne me these children, Since I have been bereaved of my children And am barren, an exile and a wanderer? And who has reared these? Indeed, I was left alone; From where then did these children come?'"

²²This is what the Lord GOD says, "Listen carefully, I will lift up My hand to the [Gentile] nations And set up My banner to the peoples; And they will bring your sons in the fold of their garments, And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.

²³"Kings will be your attendants, And their princesses your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth And lick the dust of your feet; And you shall know [with an understanding based on personal experience] that I am the LORD; For they shall not be put to shame who wait and hope expectantly for Me.

²⁴"Can the spoils of war be taken from the mighty man, Or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?"

²⁵Indeed, this is what the LORD says, "Even the captives of the mighty man will be taken away, And the tyrant's spoils of war will be rescued; For I will contend with your opponent, And I will save your children.

²⁶"I will make those who oppress you consume their own flesh [in mutually destructive wars] And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; And all mankind will know [with a knowledge grounded in personal experience] that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."

¹The LORD declares this; "Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away, [O Israel]? Or to which one of My creditors did I sell you [as slaves]? In fact, You were sold for your wickedness [your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing], And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

²"Why, when I came, was there no man [to greet Me]? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is My hand really so short that it cannot redeem [My servants]? Or have I no power to rescue? Listen carefully, with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers into a desert; Their fish stink because there is no water And die of thirst.

³"I clothe the heavens with the blackness [of storm clouds] And make sackcloth [of mourning] their clothing."

⁴The Lord GOD has given Me [His Servant] the tongue of disciples [as One who is taught], That I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple [as One who is taught].

⁵The Lord GOD has opened My ear, And I have not been rebellious Nor have I turned back.

⁶I turned My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not hide My face from insults and spitting.

⁷For the Lord GOD helps Me, Therefore, I have not been ashamed or humiliated. Therefore, I have made My face like flint, And I know that I shall not be put to shame.

⁸He who declares Me in the right is near; Who will [dare to] contend with Me? Let us stand up to each other; Who is My adversary? Let him approach Me.

⁹In fact, the Lord GOD helps Me; Who is he who condemns Me [as guilty]? Indeed, they will all wear out like a garment; The moth will eat them.

¹⁰Who is among you who fears the LORD, Who obeys the voice of His Servant, Yet who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust and be confident in the name of the LORD and let him rely on his God.

¹¹Listen carefully, all you who kindle your own fire [devising your own man-made plan of salvation], Who surround yourselves with torches, Walk by the light of your [self-made] fire And among the torches that you have set ablaze. But this you will have from My hand: You will lie down in [a place of] torment.

¹"Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness (right standing with God), Who seek and inquire of the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut And to the excavation of the quarry from which you were dug.

²"Look to Abraham your father And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; For I called him when he was but one, Then I blessed him and made him many."

³For the LORD will comfort Zion [in her captivity]; He will comfort all her ruins. And He will make her wilderness like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in her, Thanksgiving and the voice of a melody.

⁴"Listen carefully to Me [says the LORD], O My people, And hear Me, O My nation; For a [divine] law will go forth from Me, And I will quickly establish My justice as a light to the peoples.

⁵"My righteousness (justice) is near, My salvation has gone forth, And My arms will judge the peoples; The islands and coastlands will wait for Me, And they will wait with hope and confident expectation for My arm.

⁶"Lift up your eyes to the heavens, Then look to the earth beneath; For the heavens will be torn to pieces and vanish like smoke, And the earth will wear out like a garment And its inhabitants will die in like manner. But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness (justice) [and faithfully fulfilled promise] will not be broken.

⁷"Listen to Me, you who know righteousness (right standing with God), The people in whose heart is My law and instruction; Do not fear the reproach and taunting of man, Nor be distressed at their reviling.

⁸"For the moth will eat them like a garment, And the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness and justice [faithfully promised] will exist forever, And My salvation to all generations."

⁹Awake, awake, put on strength and might, O arm of the LORD; Awake as in the ancient days, as in the generations of long ago. Was it not You who cut Rahab (Egypt) in pieces, Who pierced the dragon [of Egypt]?

¹⁰Was it not You who dried up the [Red] Sea, The waters of the great deep, Who made the depths of the sea a pathway For the redeemed to cross over?

¹¹So the redeemed of the LORD will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion; Everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

¹²"I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies And of a son of man who is made [as destructible] as grass,

¹³That you have forgotten the LORD your Maker, Who stretched out the heavens And laid the foundations of the earth, That you continually tremble with fear all day long because of the rage of the oppressor, As he takes aim to destroy? And where is the rage of the oppressor?

¹⁴The [captive] exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon, nor will his food be lacking.

¹⁵For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of hosts is His name.

¹⁶I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the [renewed] heavens and lay the foundations of the [renewed] earth, and to say to Zion (Jerusalem), 'You are My people.'"

¹⁷Wake yourself up! Wake yourself up! Stand up, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of His wrath, You who have drunk the cup of staggering and intoxication to the dregs [leaving only sediment].

¹⁸There is no one to guide her among all the sons she has borne, Nor is there anyone to take her by the hand among all the sons she has reared.

¹⁹These two tragedies have befallen you; Who will show sympathy for you and mourn with you? The desolation and destruction [on the land and city], famine and sword [on the inhabitants]; How shall I comfort you?

²⁰Your sons have fainted; They lie helpless at the head of every street, Like an antelope in a net, Full [from drinking] of the wrath of the LORD, The rebuke of your God.

²¹Therefore, now hear this, you who are afflicted, Who are drunk, but not with wine [but overwhelmed by the wrath of God].

²²So says your Lord, the LORD, who is also your God Who pleads the cause of His people, "Listen carefully, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering and intoxication, The cup of My wrath; You shall never drink it again.

²³"I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, Who have said to you, 'Lie down so that we may walk over you.' You have even made your back like the ground And like the street for those who walk over it."

¹Awake, awake, Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; For the uncircumcised and the unclean Will no longer come into you.

²Shake yourself from the dust, arise, O captive Jerusalem; Rid yourself of the chains around your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.

³For the LORD says this, "You were sold for nothing and you will be redeemed, but not with money."

⁴For the Lord GOD says this, "My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there; and [many years later Sennacherib] the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

⁵But now, what do I have here," declares the LORD, "seeing that My people have been taken away without reason? Those who rule over them howl [with taunting and mockery of salvation]," declares the LORD, "and My name is continually blasphemed all day long.

⁶Therefore My people shall know My Name and what it means. Therefore in that day I am the One who is speaking, 'Here I am.'"

⁷How beautiful and delightful on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace, Who brings good news of good [things], Who announces salvation, Who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

⁸Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, Together they shout for joy; For they will see face to face The return of the LORD to Zion.

⁹Break forth, shout joyfully together, You ruins of Jerusalem; For the LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The LORD has bared His holy arm (His infinite power) Before the eyes of all the nations [revealing Himself as the One by Whom Israel is redeemed from captivity], That all the ends of the earth may see The salvation of our God.

¹¹Depart, depart, go out from there (the lands of exile), Touch no unclean thing; Go out of the midst of her (Babylon), purify yourselves, You who carry the articles of the LORD [on your journey from there].

¹²For you will not go out in a hurry [as when you left Egypt], Nor will you go in flight [fleeing, as you did from the Egyptians]; For the LORD will go before you, And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

¹³Indeed, My Servant (the Messiah) will act wisely and prosper; He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.

¹⁴Just as many were astonished and appalled at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form [marred] more than the sons of men.

¹⁵So He will sprinkle many nations [with His blood, providing salvation], Kings will shut their mouths because of Him; For what they had not been told they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.

¹Who has believed [confidently trusted in, relied on, and adhered to] our message [of salvation]? And to whom [if not us] has the arm and infinite power of the LORD been revealed?

²For He [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender shoot (plant), And like a root out of dry ground; He has no stately form or majestic splendor That we would look at Him, Nor [handsome] appearance that we would be attracted to Him.

³He was despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief; And like One from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him.

⁴But [in fact] He has borne our griefs, And He has carried our sorrows and pains; Yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken, Struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him].

⁵But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]; The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him, And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.

⁶All of us like sheep have gone astray, We have turned, each one, to his own way; But the LORD has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing] To fall on Him [instead of us].

⁷He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth [to complain or defend Himself]; Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before her shearers, So He did not open His mouth.

⁸After oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation [His contemporaries], who [among them] concerned himself with the fact That He was cut off from the land of the living [by His death] For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke [of death] was due?

⁹His grave was assigned with the wicked, But He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰Yet the LORD was willing To crush Him, causing Him to suffer; If He would give Himself as a guilt offering [an atonement for sin], He shall see His [spiritual] offspring, He shall prolong His days, And the will (good pleasure) of the LORD shall succeed and prosper in His hand.

¹¹As a result of the anguish of His soul, He shall see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge [of what He has accomplished] the Righteous One, My Servant, shall justify the many [making them righteous—upright before God, in right standing with Him], For He shall bear [the responsibility for] their sins.

¹²Therefore, I will divide and give Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers], And He shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because He [willingly] poured out His life to death, And was counted among the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore and took away the sin of many, And interceded [with the Father] for the transgressors.

¹"Shout for joy, O barren one, she who has not given birth; Break forth into joyful shouting and rejoice, she who has not gone into labor [with child]! For the [spiritual] sons of the desolate one will be more numerous Than the sons of the married woman," says the LORD.

²"Enlarge the site of your tent [to make room for more children]; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare them; Lengthen your tent ropes And make your pegs (stakes) firm [in the ground].

³"For you will spread out to the right and to the left; And your descendants will take possession of nations And will inhabit deserted cities.

⁴"Do not fear, for you will not be put to shame, And do not feel humiliated or ashamed, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth, And you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood.

⁵"For your husband is your Maker, The LORD of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of the whole earth.

⁶"For the LORD has called you, Like a wife who has been abandoned, grieved in spirit, And like a wife [married] in her youth when she is [later] rejected and scorned," Says your God.

⁷"For a brief moment I abandoned you, But with great compassion and mercy I will gather you [to Myself again].

⁸"In an outburst of wrath I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you," Says the LORD your Redeemer.

⁹"For this is like the waters of Noah to Me, As I swore [an oath] that the waters of Noah Would not flood the earth again; In the same way I have sworn that I will not be angry with you Nor will I rebuke you.

¹⁰"For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, Nor will My covenant of peace be shaken," Says the LORD who has compassion on you.

¹¹"O you afflicted [city], storm-tossed, and not comforted, Listen carefully, I will set your [precious] stones in mortar, And lay your foundations with sapphires.

¹²"And I will make your battlements of rubies, And your gates of [shining] beryl stones, And all your [barrier] walls of precious stones.

¹³"And all your [spiritual] sons will be disciples [of the LORD], And great will be the well-being of your sons.

¹⁴"You will be firmly established in righteousness: You will be far from [even the thought of] oppression, for you will not fear, And from terror, for it will not come near you.

¹⁵"If anyone fiercely attacks you it will not be from Me. Whoever attacks you will fall because of you.

¹⁶"Listen carefully, I have created the smith who blows on the fire of coals And who produces a weapon for its purpose; And I have created the destroyer to inflict ruin.

¹⁷"No weapon that is formed against you will succeed; And every tongue that rises against you in judgment you will condemn. This [peace, righteousness, security, and triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And this is their vindication from Me," says the LORD.

¹"Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy grain and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost [simply accept it as a gift from God].

²"Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, And your earnings for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight in abundance.

³"Incline your ear [to listen] and come to Me; Hear, so that your soul may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies [promised and] shown to David.

⁴"Listen carefully, I have appointed him [David, representing the Messiah] to be a witness to the nations [regarding salvation], A leader and commander to the peoples.

⁵"In fact, you[Israel] will call a nation that you do not know, And a nation that does not know you will run to you, Because of the LORD your God, even the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you."

⁶Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call on Him [for salvation] while He is near.

⁷Let the wicked leave (behind) his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion (mercy) on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

⁸"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.

⁹"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts higher than your thoughts.

¹⁰"For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth, Making it bear and sprout, And providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

¹¹So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me void (useless, without result), Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

¹²"For you will go out [from exile] with joy And be led forth [by the LORD Himself] with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

¹³"Instead of the thorn bush the cypress tree will grow, And instead of the nettle the myrtle tree will grow; And it will be a memorial to the LORD, For an everlasting sign [of His mercy] which will not be cut off."