Bible in 90 Days Plan

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.

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.”

²³Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done this wondrous thing. Shout for joy, O depths of the earth! Break into song, O mountains and forests and every tree! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob and is glorified in Israel.

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.’”

¹This is what the LORD says to Cyrus, his anointed one, whose right hand he will empower. Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed with fear. Their fortress gates will be opened, never to shut again.

²This is what the LORD says: “I will go before you, Cyrus, and level the mountains. I will smash down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.

³And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness — secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.

⁴“And why have I called you for this work? Why did I call you by name when you did not know me? It is for the sake of Jacob my servant, Israel my chosen one.

⁵I am the LORD; there is no other God. I have equipped you for battle, though you don’t even know me,

⁶so all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am the LORD, and there is no other.

⁷I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times. I, the LORD, am the one who does these things.

⁸“Open up, O heavens, and pour out your righteousness. Let the earth open wide so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together. I, the LORD, created them.

⁹“What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’

¹⁰How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father, ‘Why was I born?’ or if it said to its mother, ‘Why did you make me this way?’”

¹¹This is what the LORD says — the Holy One of Israel and your Creator: “Do you question what I do for my children? Do you give me orders about the work of my hands?

¹²I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command.

¹³I will raise up Cyrus to fulfill my righteous purpose, and I will guide his actions. He will restore my city and free my captive people — without seeking a reward! I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”

¹⁴This is what the LORD says: “You will rule the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans. They will come to you with all their merchandise, and it will all be yours. They will follow you as prisoners in chains. They will fall to their knees in front of you and say, ‘God is with you, and he is the only God. There is no other.’”

¹⁵Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior, you work in mysterious ways.

¹⁶All craftsmen who make idols will be humiliated. They will all be disgraced together.

¹⁷But the LORD will save the people of Israel with eternal salvation. Throughout everlasting ages, they will never again be humiliated and disgraced.

¹⁸For the LORD is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. “I am the LORD,” he says, “and there is no other.

¹⁹I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found. I, the LORD, speak only what is true and declare only what is right.

²⁰“Gather together and come, you fugitives from surrounding nations. What fools they are who carry around their wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save!

²¹Consult together, argue your case. Get together and decide what to say. Who made these things known so long ago? What idol ever told you they would happen? Was it not I, the LORD? For there is no other God but me, a righteous God and Savior. There is none but me.

²²Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other.

²³I have sworn by my own name; I have spoken the truth, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will declare allegiance to me. ”

²⁴The people will declare, “The LORD is the source of all my righteousness and strength.” And all who were angry with him will come to him and be ashamed.

²⁵In the LORD all the generations of Israel will be justified, and in him they will boast.

¹Bel and Nebo, the gods of Babylon, bow as they are lowered to the ground. They are being hauled away on ox carts. The poor beasts stagger under the weight.

²Both the idols and their owners are bowed down. The gods cannot protect the people, and the people cannot protect the gods. They go off into captivity together.

³“Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all you who remain in Israel. I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born.

⁴I will be your God throughout your lifetime — until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.

⁵“To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?

⁶Some people pour out their silver and gold and hire a craftsman to make a god from it. Then they bow down and worship it!

⁷They carry it around on their shoulders, and when they set it down, it stays there. It can’t even move! And when someone prays to it, there is no answer. It can’t rescue anyone from trouble.

⁸“Do not forget this! Keep it in mind! Remember this, you guilty ones.

⁹Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me.

¹⁰Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.

¹¹I will call a swift bird of prey from the east — a leader from a distant land to come and do my bidding. I have said what I would do, and I will do it.

¹²“Listen to me, you stubborn people who are so far from doing right.

¹³For I am ready to set things right, not in the distant future, but right now! I am ready to save Jerusalem and show my glory to Israel.

¹“Come down, virgin daughter of Babylon, and sit in the dust. For your days of sitting on a throne have ended. O daughter of Babylonia, never again will you be the lovely princess, tender and delicate.

²Take heavy millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, and strip off your robe. Expose yourself to public view.

³You will be naked and burdened with shame. I will take vengeance against you without pity.”

⁴Our Redeemer, whose name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, is the Holy One of Israel.

⁵“O beautiful Babylon, sit now in darkness and silence. Never again will you be known as the queen of kingdoms.

⁶For I was angry with my chosen people and punished them by letting them fall into your hands. But you, Babylon, showed them no mercy. You oppressed even the elderly.

⁷You said, ‘I will reign forever as queen of the world!’ You did not reflect on your actions or think about their consequences.

⁸“Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom, living at ease and feeling secure. You say, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other. I will never be a widow or lose my children.’

⁹Well, both these things will come upon you in a moment: widowhood and the loss of your children. Yes, these calamities will come upon you, despite all your witchcraft and magic.

¹⁰“You felt secure in your wickedness. ‘No one sees me,’ you said. But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray, and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’

¹¹So disaster will overtake you, and you won’t be able to charm it away. Calamity will fall upon you, and you won’t be able to buy your way out. A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one for which you are not prepared.

¹²“Now use your magical charms! Use the spells you have worked at all these years! Maybe they will do you some good. Maybe they can make someone afraid of you.

¹³All the advice you receive has made you tired. Where are all your astrologers, those stargazers who make predictions each month? Let them stand up and save you from what the future holds.

¹⁴But they are like straw burning in a fire; they cannot save themselves from the flame. You will get no help from them at all; their hearth is no place to sit for warmth.

¹⁵And all your friends, those with whom you’ve done business since childhood, will go their own ways, turning a deaf ear to your cries.

¹“Listen to me, O family of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and born into the family of Judah. Listen, you who take oaths in the name of the LORD and call on the God of Israel. You don’t keep your promises,

²even though you call yourself the holy city and talk about depending on the God of Israel, whose name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

³Long ago I told you what was going to happen. Then suddenly I took action, and all my predictions came true.

⁴For I know how stubborn and obstinate you are. Your necks are as unbending as iron. Your heads are as hard as bronze.

⁵That is why I told you what would happen; I told you beforehand what I was going to do. Then you could never say, ‘My idols did it. My wooden image and metal god commanded it to happen!’

⁶You have heard my predictions and seen them fulfilled, but you refuse to admit it. Now I will tell you new things, secrets you have not yet heard.

⁷They are brand new, not things from the past. So you cannot say, ‘We knew that all the time!’

⁸“Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new, things you never heard of before. For I know so well what traitors you are. You have been rebels from birth.

⁹Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name, I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out.

¹⁰I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.

¹¹I will rescue you for my sake — yes, for my own sake! I will not let my reputation be tarnished, and I will not share my glory with idols!

¹²“Listen to me, O family of Jacob, Israel my chosen one! I alone am God, the First and the Last.

¹³It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth, my right hand that spread out the heavens above. When I call out the stars, they all appear in order.”

¹⁴Have any of your idols ever told you this? Come, all of you, and listen: The LORD has chosen Cyrus as his ally. He will use him to put an end to the empire of Babylon and to destroy the Babylonian armies.

¹⁵“I have said it: I am calling Cyrus! I will send him on this errand and will help him succeed.

¹⁶Come closer, and listen to this. From the beginning I have told you plainly what would happen.” And now the Sovereign LORD and his Spirit have sent me with this message.

¹⁷This is what the LORD says — your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow.

¹⁸Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.

¹⁹Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore — too many to count! There would have been no need for your destruction, or for cutting off your family name.”

²⁰Yet even now, be free from your captivity! Leave Babylon and the Babylonians. Sing out this message! Shout it to the ends of the earth! The LORD has redeemed his servants, the people of Israel.

²¹They were not thirsty when he led them through the desert. He divided the rock, and water gushed out for them to drink.

²²“But there is no peace for the wicked,” says the LORD.

¹Listen to me, all you in distant lands! Pay attention, you who are far away! The LORD called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name.

²He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.

³He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory.”

⁴I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the LORD’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.”

⁵And now the LORD speaks — the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him. The LORD has honored me, and my God has given me strength.

⁶He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

⁷The LORD, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations, to the one who is the servant of rulers: “Kings will stand at attention when you pass by. Princes will also bow low because of the LORD, the faithful one, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

⁸This is what the LORD says: “At just the right time, I will respond to you. On the day of salvation I will help you. I will protect you and give you to the people as my covenant with them. Through you I will reestablish the land of Israel and assign it to its own people again.

⁹I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’ They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures and on hills that were previously bare.

¹⁰They will neither hunger nor thirst. The searing sun will not reach them anymore. For the LORD in his mercy will lead them; he will lead them beside cool waters.

¹¹And I will make my mountains into level paths for them. The highways will be raised above the valleys.

¹²See, my people will return from far away, from lands to the north and west, and from as far south as Egypt. ”

¹³Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their suffering.

¹⁴Yet Jerusalem says, “The LORD has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.”

¹⁵“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!

¹⁶See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.

¹⁷Soon your descendants will come back, and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.

¹⁸Look around you and see, for all your children will come back to you. As surely as I live,” says the LORD, “they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.

¹⁹“Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land will soon be crowded with your people. Your enemies who enslaved you will be far away.

²⁰The generations born in exile will return and say, ‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’

²¹Then you will think to yourself, ‘Who has given me all these descendants? For most of my children were killed, and the rest were carried away into exile. I was left here all alone. Where did all these people come from? Who bore these children? Who raised them for me?’”

²²This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I will give a signal to the godless nations. They will carry your little sons back to you in their arms; they will bring your daughters on their shoulders.

²³Kings and queens will serve you and care for all your needs. They will bow to the earth before you and lick the dust from your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD. Those who trust in me will never be put to shame.”

²⁴Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior? Who can demand that a tyrant let his captives go?

²⁵But the LORD says, “The captives of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children.

²⁶I will feed your enemies with their own flesh. They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood. All the world will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel. ”

¹This is what the LORD says: “Was your mother sent away because I divorced her? Did I sell you as slaves to my creditors? No, you were sold because of your sins. And your mother, too, was taken because of your sins.

²Why was no one there when I came? Why didn’t anyone answer when I called? Is it because I have no power to rescue? No, that is not the reason! For I can speak to the sea and make it dry up! I can turn rivers into deserts covered with dying fish.

³I dress the skies in darkness, covering them with clothes of mourning.”

⁴The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will.

⁵The Sovereign LORD has spoken to me, and I have listened. I have not rebelled or turned away.

⁶I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting.

⁷Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame.

⁸He who gives me justice is near. Who will dare to bring charges against me now? Where are my accusers? Let them appear!

⁹See, the Sovereign LORD is on my side! Who will declare me guilty? All my enemies will be destroyed like old clothes that have been eaten by moths!

¹⁰Who among you fears the LORD and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the LORD and rely on your God.

¹¹But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment.

¹“Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance — all who seek the LORD! Consider the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were mined.

²Yes, think about Abraham, your ancestor, and Sarah, who gave birth to your nation. Abraham was only one man when I called him. But when I blessed him, he became a great nation.”

³The LORD will comfort Israel again and have pity on her ruins. Her desert will blossom like Eden, her barren wilderness like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found there. Songs of thanksgiving will fill the air.

⁴“Listen to me, my people. Hear me, Israel, for my law will be proclaimed, and my justice will become a light to the nations.

⁵My mercy and justice are coming soon. My salvation is on the way. My strong arm will bring justice to the nations. All distant lands will look to me and wait in hope for my powerful arm.

⁶Look up to the skies above, and gaze down on the earth below. For the skies will disappear like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a piece of clothing. The people of the earth will die like flies, but my salvation lasts forever. My righteous rule will never end!

⁷“Listen to me, you who know right from wrong, you who cherish my law in your hearts. Do not be afraid of people’s scorn, nor fear their insults.

⁸For the moth will devour them as it devours clothing. The worm will eat at them as it eats wool. But my righteousness will last forever. My salvation will continue from generation to generation.”

⁹Wake up, wake up, O LORD! Clothe yourself with strength! Flex your mighty right arm! Rouse yourself as in the days of old when you slew Egypt, the dragon of the Nile.

¹⁰Are you not the same today, the one who dried up the sea, making a path of escape through the depths so that your people could cross over?

¹¹Those 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.

¹²“I, yes I, am the one who comforts you. So why are you afraid of mere humans, who wither like the grass and disappear?

¹³Yet you have forgotten the LORD, your Creator, the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth. Will you remain in constant dread of human oppressors? Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies? Where is their fury and anger now? It is gone!

¹⁴Soon all you captives will be released! Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate!

¹⁵For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea, causing its waves to roar. My name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁶And I have put my words in your mouth and hidden you safely in my hand. I stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth. I am the one who says to Israel, ‘You are my people!’”

¹⁷Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem! You have drunk the cup of the LORD’s fury. You have drunk the cup of terror, tipping out its last drops.

¹⁸Not one of your children is left alive to take your hand and guide you.

¹⁹These two calamities have fallen on you: desolation and destruction, famine and war. And who is left to sympathize with you? Who is left to comfort you?

²⁰For your children have fainted and lie in the streets, helpless as antelopes caught in a net. The LORD has poured out his fury; God has rebuked them.

²¹But now listen to this, you afflicted ones who sit in a drunken stupor, though not from drinking wine.

²²This is what the Sovereign LORD, your God and Defender, says: “See, I have taken the terrible cup from your hands. You will drink no more of my fury.

²³Instead, I will hand that cup to your tormentors, those who said, ‘We will trample you into the dust and walk on your backs.’”

¹Wake up, wake up, O Zion! Clothe yourself with strength. Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy city of Jerusalem, for unclean and godless people will enter your gates no longer.

²Rise from the dust, O Jerusalem. Sit in a place of honor. Remove the chains of slavery from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

³For this is what the LORD says: “When I sold you into exile, I received no payment. Now I can redeem you without having to pay for you.”

⁴This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Long ago my people chose to live in Egypt. Now they are oppressed by Assyria.

⁵What is this?” asks the LORD. “Why are my people enslaved again? Those who rule them shout in exultation. My name is blasphemed all day long.

⁶But I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them.”

⁷How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!

⁸The watchmen shout and sing with joy, for before their very eyes they see the LORD returning to Jerusalem.

⁹Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into joyful song, for the LORD has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The LORD has demonstrated his holy power before the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth will see the victory of our God.

¹¹Get out! Get out and leave your captivity, where everything you touch is unclean. Get out of there and purify yourselves, you who carry home the sacred objects of the LORD.

¹²You will not leave in a hurry, running for your lives. For the LORD will go ahead of you; yes, the God of Israel will protect you from behind.

¹³See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted.

¹⁴But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.

¹⁵And he will startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not been told; they will understand what they had not heard about.

¹Who has believed our message? To whom has the LORD revealed his powerful arm?

²My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.

³He was despised and rejected — a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.

⁴Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!

⁵But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

⁶All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.

⁷He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

⁸Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people.

⁹He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.

¹⁰But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his hands.

¹¹When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.

¹²I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

¹“Sing, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into loud and joyful song, O Jerusalem, you who have never been in labor. For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband,” says the LORD.

²“Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home, and spare no expense!

³For you will soon be bursting at the seams. Your descendants will occupy other nations and resettle the ruined cities.

⁴“Fear not; you will no longer live in shame. Don’t be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you. You will no longer remember the shame of your youth and the sorrows of widowhood.

⁵For your Creator will be your husband; the LORD of Heaven’s Armies is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth.

⁶For the LORD has called you back from your grief — as though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband,” says your God.

⁷“For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will take you back.

⁸In a burst of anger I turned my face away for a little while. But with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer.

⁹“Just as I swore in the time of Noah that I would never again let a flood cover the earth, so now I swear that I will never again be angry and punish you.

¹⁰For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

¹¹“O storm-battered city, troubled and desolate! I will rebuild you with precious jewels and make your foundations from lapis lazuli.

¹²I will make your towers of sparkling rubies, your gates of shining gems, and your walls of precious stones.

¹³I will teach all your children, and they will enjoy great peace.

¹⁴You will be secure under a government that is just and fair. Your enemies will stay far away. You will live in peace, and terror will not come near.

¹⁵If any nation comes to fight you, it is not because I sent them. Whoever attacks you will go down in defeat.

¹⁶“I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals beneath the forge and makes the weapons of destruction. And I have created the armies that destroy.

¹⁷But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD; their vindication will come from me. I, the LORD, have spoken!

¹“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink — even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk — it’s all free!

²Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.

³“Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.

⁴See how I used him to display my power among the peoples. I made him a leader among the nations.

⁵You also will command nations you do not know, and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey, because I, the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.”

⁶Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.

⁷Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the LORD that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.

⁸“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

⁹For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

¹⁰“The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.

¹¹It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.

¹²You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!

¹³Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up. These events will bring great honor to the LORD’s name; they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”