Book of Isaiah 

Isaiah 1

¹ The vision of Isaiah, son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. ² Heavens, listen and you, earth, give ear, for the Lord speaks: I have nourished children and brought them up, and they have rebelled against me. ³ The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand. ⁴ Ah, sinful nation, people laden with iniquity, brood of wicked men, criminal sons. They have forsaken the Lord, they have reviled the Holy One of Israel, they have turned back. ⁵ Where else can you be struck, if you continue your revolts? The whole head is sick and the whole heart is languishing. ⁶ From the soles of his feet to the crown of his head there is nothing healthy in him: only wounds, bruises, open sores, which have not been dressed, nor bandaged, nor soothed with oil. ⁷ Your country is a desert, your cities are consumed by fire, your soil is being devoured by foreigners before your very eyes, the devastation is like the ravages of foreigners. ⁸ And the daughter of Zion remained like a hut in a vineyard, like a shelter in a cucumber field, like a watchtower. ⁹ If the Lord of hosts had not left us a small remnant, we would be like Sodom, we would resemble Gomorrah. ¹⁰ Listen to the word of the Lord, you judges of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. ¹¹ What do I care for the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord. I am full of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed animals; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, lambs, and goats. ¹² When you come to present yourself before me, who asked you to tread on my courts? ¹³ Do not continue to bring me vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me; as for new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations, I cannot see crime and solemn assembly together. ¹⁴ My soul hates your new moons and your festivals, they are a burden to me, I am weary of enduring them. ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands, I will veil my eyes from you; when you multiply your prayers, I will not listen: Your hands are full of blood. ¹⁶ Wash yourselves, purify yourselves, remove the malice of your actions from before my eyes, cease doing evil, ¹⁷ Learn to do good, seek justice, correct the oppressor, bring justice to the orphan, plead the widow's cause. ¹⁸ Come and let us discuss together: Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall become as white as snow; though they are red like purple, they shall become like wool. ¹⁹ If you obey willingly, you will eat the bounty of your country. ²⁰ But if you resist and rebel, you will be eaten by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. ²¹ How did she become a prostitute, the faithful city, full of equity, in which justice dwelt, and now murderers?. ²² Your silver has turned to dross, your wine has been diluted with water. ²³ Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves; they all love gifts and chase after rewards; they do not defend the orphan, nor does the widow's cause come before them. ²⁴ Therefore, declares the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I will take satisfaction from my adversaries and I will avenge myself on my enemies. ²⁵ I will stretch out my hand over you and melt away your dross as with potash, and I will remove all your particles of lead. ²⁶ I will give you judges like those of old and counselors like in the beginning. After that you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. ²⁷ Zion will be redeemed by righteousness, and its converts by justice. ²⁸ But the rebels and sinners will be broken together, and those who forsake the Lord will perish. ²⁹ For they will be ashamed of the sacred trees you have loved, and you will blush for the gardens in which you delight. ³⁰ For you will be like a sacred tree with withered leaves and like a garden without water. ³¹ And the strong man will be the tinder and his works, the spark; they will both burn together and no one will extinguish it.

Isaiah 2

¹ The word that Isaiah, son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. ² In the latter days the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established as the highest of the mountains and exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it., ³ And many nations will come and say, «Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.» For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. ⁴ He will be the arbiter of the peoples and the judge of many nations. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into sickles. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. ⁵ House of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. ⁶ For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they have long ago reached their limit, they practice magic like the Philistines, and they give hands to the sons of foreigners. ⁷ Their country is filled with silver and gold and their treasures are endless, their country is filled with horses and their chariots are countless. ⁸ Their country is filled with idols; they bow down before the work of their hands, before what their fingers have made. ⁹ That is why mortals will be humbled and humankind brought low: no, you will not forgive them. ¹⁰ Enter into the rock, hide in the dust, before the terror of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty. ¹¹ The haughty eyes of mortals will be humbled and the pride of men will be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day. ¹² For the Lord of hosts will one day, against all pride and all height and against all that is exalted, in order to humble it, ¹³ against all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and against all the oaks of Bashan, ¹⁴ against all the high mountains and against all the lofty hills, ¹⁵ against every magnificent tower and against every strong wall, ¹⁶ against all the ships of Tarshish and against everything that delights the eye. ¹⁷ The arrogance of mortals will be humbled and the pride of men will be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day. ¹⁸ And all the idols will disappear. ¹⁹ And they will enter the caverns of the rocks and the caverns of the earth, before the terror of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. ²⁰ On that day man will throw away his silver idols and his gold idols, which he made to worship, to the rats and the bats, ²¹ to flee into the holes in the stone and into the clefts of the rocks, before the terror of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. ²² Stop trusting in man, in whose nostrils there is only a breath, for what esteem can one have in him?

Isaiah 3

¹ For behold, the Lord, God of hosts, is about to withdraw from Jerusalem and Judah all resources and support, all supplies of bread and all supplies of water, ² hero and warrior, judge, prophet and seer, ancient, ³ Captain and notable, advisor, skilled craftsman and adept enchanter. ⁴ And I will give them young men as princes, and children will rule over them. ⁵ And the people will rush man against man, each against his neighbor, they will rush forward, the young man against the old man and the man of no account against the most illustrious. ⁶ When a man takes his brother into his father's house, saying, "You have a cloak; be our leader, and let this ruin be under your protection."« ⁷ On that day he will cry out, «I do not want to be a physician; I have neither bread nor a cloak in my house; do not make me a leader of the people.» ⁸ For Jerusalem is reeling and Judah is falling, because their words and their deeds are against the Lord, to defy the gaze of his majesty. ⁹ The look on their faces testifies against them; like Sodom, they proclaim their sin and do not hide it. Woe to them, for they are the authors of their own destruction. ¹⁰ Tell him that he is happy, for he will eat the fruit of his works. ¹¹ Woe to the wicked, evil will befall him, for what his hands have done will be repaid to him. ¹² My people are oppressed by children, and women rule them. My people, those who lead you astray and ruin the path you should follow. ¹³ The Lord has risen to render justice, and he stands to judge the peoples. ¹⁴ The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: «You have devoured the vine, the plunder of the poor is in your houses. ¹⁵ »By what right do you trample my people and crush the faces of the unfortunate?” declares the Lord, God of hosts., ¹⁶ The Lord said: Because the daughters of Zion have become proud, they walk with their heads held high, casting glances, they walk on small steps and jingle the rings on their feet, ¹⁷ The Lord will make the heads of the daughters of Zion bald, and the Lord will uncover their nakedness. ¹⁸ On that day, the Lord will remove the luxury of rings, suns, and crescents, ¹⁹ earrings, bracelets and veils, ²⁰ diadems, anklets, and belts, ²¹ perfume boxes and amulets, rings and nose rings, ²² party dresses and wide tunics, coats and bags, ²³ mirrors and muslins, turbans and mantillas. ²⁴ And instead of perfume, there will be rot; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of curly hair, a bald head; instead of a flowing robe, a sack; instead of beauty, the mark of fire. ²⁵ Your warriors will fall by the sword and your heroes in battle. ²⁶ The gates of Zion will groan and mourn, and she will sit desolate in the dust.

Isaiah 4

¹ Seven women will seize one man on that day and say, «We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes; only allow us to bear your name, and take away our disgrace.» ² On that day, the branch of the Lord will be the ornament and the glory and the fruit of the earth, will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. ³ And those who remain in Zion and those who are spared in Jerusalem will be called saints, all those whose names are written for life in Jerusalem. ⁴ When the Lord has washed away the filthiness of the daughters of Zion and cleansed Jerusalem of the blood that is in her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of destruction, ⁵ Then the Lord will create over all Mount Zion and its assemblies a cloud by day and smoke and the brightness of a blazing flame by night. For over all his glory there will be a canopy, ⁶ and there will be a tent to provide shade from the heat of the day and to serve as a refuge and shelter from the storm and rain.

Isaiah 5

¹ I will sing for my beloved the song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. ² He dug up the soil, removed the stones, and planted it with exquisite vines. He built a tower in the middle and also dug a winepress there. He expected it to bear grapes, but it produced sour grapes. ³ «And now, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and between my vineyard.”. ⁴ What more could I have done for my vineyard that I haven't already done for it? Why did I wait for it to bear grapes, and it only produced sour grapes? ⁵ «And now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will tear down its hedge and it will be grazed, I will break down its wall and it will be trampled underfoot. ⁶ I will make it a desert, and it will no longer be pruned or cultivated; briers and thorns will grow there, and I will command the clouds to no longer let rain fall on it.» ⁷ For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant he cherished; he looked for justice from them, but behold, bloodshed, righteousness, and a cry of distress. ⁸ Woe to those who add house to house, who join field to field, until there is no more space and they dwell alone in the midst of the land. ⁹ The Lord of hosts spoke this word in my ears: Yes, these many houses will be deserted, large and beautiful, they will no longer have inhabitants. ¹⁰ For ten acres of vineyards will produce only one bath, a homer of seed will produce only one ephah. ¹¹ Woe to those who run after intoxicating drinks from the morning and who, in the evening, prolong their orgy, heated by wine. ¹² The harp and the lute, the tambourine, the flute and wine, these are their feasts, but they do not regard the work of the Lord and they do not see the work of his hands. ¹³ That is why my people will go into exile without realizing it, its nobility will become a starving troop and its multitude will wither with thirst. ¹⁴ That is why Sheol expands and opens its mouth without measure; the splendor of Zion descends into it, with its noisy and joyful multitude. ¹⁵ Mortals will be humbled, men will be brought low, and the eyes of the proud will be brought low. ¹⁶ And the Lord of hosts will appear great in judgment, and the holy God will appear holy in justice. ¹⁷ Sheep will graze as if in their pasture, and strangers will devour the devastated fields of the rich. ¹⁸ Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of lies and sin as with the reins of a chariot. ¹⁹ They say, «Let him hurry, let him hasten his work, so that we may see it. Let him come near and carry out the decree of the Holy One of Israel, so that we may know.» ²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who make darkness light and light darkness, who make sweet bitter and bitter sweet. ²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and intelligent in their own minds. ²² Woe to those who are heroes for drinking wine and valiant for mixing strong liquors. ²³ To those who justify the wicked for a gift and who deprive the righteous of their rights. ²⁴ Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble and as dry grass is consumed by the flame, so their root will be like rot and their flower will be swept away like dust, because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. ²⁵ Therefore the Lord's anger burned against his people; he stretched out his hand against them and struck them. The mountains trembled, their corpses lay in the middle of the roads like refuse. Yet his anger was not turned away, and his hand remained stretched out. ²⁶ He raises a banner for the distant nations, he whistles to them from the ends of the earth. And behold, they come swift and light. ²⁷ Not one of them is weary or faltering, not one is slumbering or sleeping; the belt around their waist is not loosened, nor the strap of their sandals broken. ²⁸ Their arrows are sharp, their bows are all strung, the hooves of their horses are as hard as flint, the wheels of their chariots like a hurricane. ²⁹ Their roar is that of the lion, they roar like the lion cub: it growls and seizes its prey, it carries it off and no one can snatch it away. ³⁰ At that time, there will be a rumbling upon the people, like the rumbling of the sea. They will look upon the land and behold, darkness, anguish, and light. Then night will spread over the sky of the land.

Isaiah 6

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Seraphim stood before him, each with six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. ³ And they cried out to one another, saying, «Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.» ⁴ The foundations of the doors shook at the sound of the shouting, and the house filled with smoke. ⁵ Then I said, «Woe to me! I am lost, for I am a man of defiled lips, and I dwell among a people of defiled lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.» ⁶ But one of the Seraphim flew towards me, holding in his hand a burning coal, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. ⁷ He touched my mouth with it and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away and your sin atoned for."« ⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, «Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?» And I said, «Here I am, send me.» ⁹ He said, «Go and tell this people: ‘Hear but do not understand, see but do not perceive.’. ¹⁰ "Harden the hearts of this people, harden their ears, and close their eyes, so that they cannot see with their eyes or hear with their ears, nor turn back and be healed."» ¹¹ And I said, «How long, Lord?» He answered, «Until the cities are devastated and without inhabitants, until the houses are without people, and the land is ravaged and desolate, ¹² until the Lord has removed the men and the land is desolate. ¹³ And if even a tenth of its inhabitants remain, it too will be destroyed. But, just as the sacred tree and the oak, when they are cut down, retain their stump, so the trunk of Israel will be a holy seed.»

Isaiah 7

¹ It came to pass in the days of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin, king of Syria, with Phacaeus, son of Romélie, king of Israel, came up against Jerusalem to attack it, but they could not take it. ² The news was announced to the house of David: «Syria is encamped in Ephraim.» Then the heart of the king and the heart of his people trembled as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind. ³ And the Lord said to Isaiah, «Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jasub, your son, at the end of the canal of the upper pool, on the road to the Fuller’s Field. ⁴ And you will say to him: Beware, keep calm, do not be afraid and do not let your heart fail before these two smoking embers, because of the fury of Rasin and Syria and the son of Romélie. ⁵ Because Syria, Ephraim, and Romélie's son have plotted evil against you, saying: ⁶ «Let us go up against Judah, let us terrify it, let us invade it and install the son of Tabeel as king over it, ⁷ Thus says the Lord God: It shall not have effect, it shall not be. ⁸ For the head of Syria is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rasin, and in another sixty-five years Ephraim will have ceased to be a people. ⁹ And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Romélie. If you do not believe, you will not stand.» ¹⁰ The Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying: ¹¹ «Ask the Lord your God for a sign; ask him in the depths of Sheol or in the heights of heaven.» ¹² But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, I will not test the Lord."« ¹³ And Isaiah said: «Listen, house of David: Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, the Virgin has conceived and bears a son, and calls him Emmanuel. ¹⁵ He will eat cream and honey until he knows how to reject evil and choose good. ¹⁶ For before the child knows how to reject evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you fear will be devastated. ¹⁷ The Lord will bring upon you, upon your people, and upon your father’s house, days such as have not come since the day Ephraim separated from Judah, the king of Assyria.» ¹⁸ On that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹ They will come and settle all of them in the steep valleys and in the crevices of the rocks, on all the bushes and on all the pastures. ²⁰ On that day the Lord will shave with a razor that he will have hired beyond the River with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet, and he will also remove the beard. ²¹ On that day, a man will feed one cow and two sheep ²² and, because of the abundance of milk they will give, they will eat nothing but cream, for it is cream and honey that all those who remain in the country will eat. ²³ On that day, every place where there were a thousand vines, worth a thousand pieces of silver, will be covered with thorns and briers. ²⁴ They will enter it with arrows and with bows, for the whole land will be full of thorns and briers. ²⁵ And on all the mountains that were cultivated with the hoe, you will no longer go, for fear of brambles and thorns; they will become a pasture for cattle and a land trampled by sheep.

Isaiah 8

¹ And the Lord said to me, «Take a large tablet and write on it in characters that all can read: Hasten the plunder. Gather quickly.» ² And I took with me trustworthy witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah, son of Jebarachiah. ³ And I approached the prophetess and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me, «Name him Maher-Schalal-Chasch-Baz. ⁴ For before the child can cry out, »My father, my mother,” the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be brought before the king of Assyria.» ⁵ The Lord spoke to me again, saying: ⁶ «Because this people has despised the gently flowing waters of Siloam and rejoices over Rasin and Romélie’s son, ⁷ Because of this, the Lord is about to bring upon them the mighty, deep waters of the river, the king of Assyria and all his power. It will rise above its banks and overflow all its shores., ⁸ It will penetrate Judah, it will overflow, it will flood, it will rise up to the neck, and the spreading of its wings will cover the whole extent of your land, O Immanuel.» ⁹ Raise war cries, peoples, and you will be defeated. Listen closely, all you ends of the earth. Arm yourselves, and you will be defeated. Arm yourselves, and you will be defeated. ¹⁰ Form plans and they will be thwarted, give orders and they will remain without effect, for God is with us. ¹¹ For thus the Lord spoke to me, when his hand seized me and he warned me not to follow the way of this people, saying: ¹² «"Do not call conspiracy everything that this people calls conspiracy, do not fear what they fear, and do not be frightened.". ¹³ The Lord of hosts, it is he whom you shall sanctify, he whom you shall fear and dread. ¹⁴ And it will be a sanctuary, but also a stumbling block and a rock of offense to both houses of Israel, a snare and a trap to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵ Many of them will stumble, they will fall and be broken, they will be entangled and captured. ¹⁶ "Bind the testimony, seal the teaching in the hearts of my disciples."» ¹⁷ I hope in the Lord, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I trust in him. ¹⁸ Behold, I and my children whom God has given me are signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. ¹⁹ When they say to you, «Consult those who summon the dead and the soothsayers who whisper and murmur,» answer, «Should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead for the living?” ²⁰"To teaching and to bearing witness." If the people speak a different language, there is no dawn for them. ²¹ He will wander through the land, afflicted with misery and hunger, and when he is hungry, he will curse his king and his God in his fury. ²² He will lift up his eyes on high and lower them to the earth: and behold, distress, darkness, and gloomy anguish; he will be cast down into darkness. ²³ But there is no more darkness for the land that has been in anguish. As the first time brought shame upon the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, so the last time will bring glory to the Way of the Sea, to the land beyond the Jordan, and to the district of the nations.

Isaiah 9

¹ The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, and on those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. ² You have multiplied your people, you have made their joy great; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as people shout when dividing the spoils. ³ For the yoke that weighed upon him, the bar that struck his shoulder, the staff of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. ⁴ For every sandal of the warrior in the melee and every cloak rolled in blood are given over to the fire, the fire devours them. ⁵ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government is placed upon his shoulders, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace: ⁶ To extend the empire and to give endless peace to the throne of David and to his kingship, to establish and uphold it in justice and righteousness, now and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. ⁷ The Lord sent a word to Jacob, and it fell upon Israel., ⁸ All the people will know about it, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in their pride and in the pride of their hearts: ⁹ «"The bricks have fallen, let us build with hewn stone; the sycamores are cut down, let us replace them with cedars."» ¹⁰ The Lord raises up against them the adversaries of Rasin and he goads their enemies., ¹¹ Syria to the east, the Philistines to the west, and they will devour Israel with gusto. Despite all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand remains outstretched. ¹² For the people did not return to the One who struck them, nor did they seek the Lord of hosts. ¹³ And the Lord will cut off from Israel the head and the tail, the palm and the rush, in a single day. ¹⁴ The ancient and noble man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail. ¹⁵ Those who guide this people lead them astray, and those who are guided are lost. ¹⁶ Therefore the Lord will not be pleased with his young men, nor will he have compassion on his fatherless children and widows, for they are all ungodly and wicked, and every mouth speaks ungodliness. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand remains stretched out. ¹⁷ For malice has been kindled like a fire, it devours brambles and thorns, it sets the thickets of the forest ablaze, and the smoke rises in swirling eddies. ¹⁸ By the wrath of the Lord of hosts, the land is ablaze and the people have become prey to the flames. No one spares his brother. ¹⁹ We cut to the right and are hungry, we devour to the left and are not satisfied, each one devours the flesh of his own arm, Manasseh against Ephraim, Ephraim against Manasseh, both together against Judah. ²⁰ Despite all this, his anger did not subside and his hand remained outstretched.

Isaiah 10

¹ Woe to those who pronounce unjust judgments and to the scribes who write unjust sentences, ² excluding the weak from the court and depriving the afflicted of my people of their rights, making widows their prey and plundering orphans. ³ What will you do on the day of the visitation and in the catastrophe that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help and where will you deposit your treasures? ⁴ All that remains is to bow down among the captives, or to fall among the slain. Despite all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand remains outstretched. ⁵ Woe to Assur, instrument of my anger! The staff in his hand is the instrument of my fury!, ⁶ I send him against an ungodly nation, I give him my orders against the people of my wrath, to plunder them and take spoils and trample them underfoot like the mud of the streets. ⁷ But he does not see it that way, nor is that the thought of his heart, for he only seeks to destroy and exterminate nations, not in small numbers. ⁸ He said, "Are not all my princes kings?" ⁹ Was it not the case with Calno as with Carchemish, and with Hamath as with Arphad, and with Samaria as with Damascus? ¹⁰ Just as my hand reached the realms of the powerless gods, whose idols surpassed those of Jerusalem and Samaria, as I did to Samaria and its gods, ¹¹ "Should I not do the same to Jerusalem and its images?"» ¹² But it will happen: When the Lord has finished all his work, on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem: «I will punish the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria and the arrogance of his haughty eyes.» ¹³ For he said: «By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am understanding. I have moved the boundaries of the peoples, I have plundered their treasures, and like a mighty man I have overthrown from the throne those who sat on it.”. ¹⁴ My hand has grasped, like a nest, the riches of the peoples, and, as one gathers abandoned eggs, I have gathered all the earth, without anyone having stirred a wing, opened a beak, or uttered a cry.» ¹⁵ Does the axe boast against the hand that wields it, does the saw exalt itself against the one who moves it? As if the wooden rod could move the one who lifts it, as if the stick could lift what is not wood. ¹⁶ Therefore the Lord God of hosts will send decay upon his strong warriors, and under his magnificence a fire will ignite, like the fire of a conflagration. ¹⁷ The light of Israel will be a fire and its Holy One a flame, which will consume and devour its thorns and briers in a single day. ¹⁸ And the glory of his forest and his orchard, he will annihilate it from soul to body, it will be like a sick person dying of consumption. ¹⁹ The remaining trees in his forest could be counted; a child would write them down. ²⁰ And it will happen on that day: The remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer rely on the one who struck them, but they will rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, with faithfulness. ²¹ A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. ²² For though your people, O Israel, should be like the sand of the sea, they are but a remnant that will return; destruction is decreed, and justice will overflow. ²³ For the destruction that he has decreed, the Lord God of hosts will accomplish throughout the land. ²⁴ Therefore this is what the Lord God of hosts says: «Do not be afraid of Assyria, O my people who dwell in Zion, when he strikes you with the club and lifts up the rod against you, as Egypt did of old. ²⁵ For, in a very short time, my wrath will cease and my anger will turn against them to destroy them. ²⁶ And the Lord of hosts will raise his whip against them, as he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb and as his staff was over the sea, and he will raise it, as he did in Egypt of old. ²⁷ And it will happen on that day: The burden of Assur will be removed from your shoulder and his yoke from off your neck, and your strength will break the yoke. ²⁸ He came to Ajath, he passed through Magron, he left his luggage at Machmas. ²⁹ They passed the parade, they camped the night at Gaba, Rama is terrified, Saul's Gaba flees. ³⁰ Cry out in distress, daughter of Gallim. Listen, Laïs. Poor Anathoth. ³¹ Medmena is scattering, the inhabitants of Gabim are fleeing. ³² In one more day he will be at Nobah, he will raise his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Zion, against the hill of Jerusalem. ³³ Behold, the Lord, God of hosts, strikes down the branches of the trees with a roar; the tallest are cut down, the highest are thrown to the ground. ³⁴ The thickets of the forest are cut with iron and Lebanon falls under the blows of a Mighty One.

Isaiah 11

¹ A branch will spring from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a shoot will grow. ² The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. ³ He will find his delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, nor decide by what he hears. ⁴ He will judge the lowly with righteousness and decide with justice for the meek of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his word and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. ⁵ Justice will be girded around her sides and faithfulness will be the belt around her waist. ⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will rest with the kid, the calf, the lion, and the fattened ox will live together, and a little child will lead them. ⁷ The cow and the bear will go to the same pasture, their young will have the same shelter, and the lion will eat fodder like the ox. ⁸ The infant will frolic on the viper's hole and in the basilisk's lair the barely weaned child will put his hand. ⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the land will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. ¹⁰ And it will happen on that day: The root of Jesse, raised as a banner for the peoples, will be sought by the nations, and his dwelling place will be glorious. ¹¹ And it will happen on that day: the Lord will stretch out his hand a second time to redeem the remnant of his people, those who will remain in the lands of Assyria and Egypt, Patros, Ethiopia, Elam, Sennacherib, Hamath, and the islands of the sea. ¹² He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel, he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth. ¹³ Ephraim's jealousy will disappear and Judah's enmities will cease; Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah and Judah will no longer be Ephraim's enemy. ¹⁴ They will swoop down on the Philistines' shoulders in the West, they will plunder the sons of the East together, they will lay hands on Edom and Moab, and the sons of Ammon will be subject to them. ¹⁵ The Lord will strike the tongue of the sea of Egypt with an apostate, and he will raise his hand against the River, with the strength of his breath, and, striking it, he will divide it into seven streams, and make it a place to walk in sandals. ¹⁶ And so there will be a road for the remnant of his people, who will survive in the land of Assyria, just as there was one for Israel on the day they came up from the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 12

¹ And you will say on that day: I praise you, Lord, for you were angry, but your anger has turned away and you comfort me. ² Here is the God of my salvation; I trust and I am not afraid, for the Lord is my strength and my praise. The Lord has become my salvation. ³ You will draw water with joy from the springs of salvation, ⁴ And you will say on that day: Praise the Lord, call upon his name, publish among the peoples his great works, proclaim that his name is exalted. ⁵ Sing to the Lord, for he has done magnificent things, let it be known throughout the earth. ⁶ Shout aloud, exult, inhabitant of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel is great in your midst.

Isaiah 13

¹ The oracle concerning Babylon, revealed to Isaiah, son of Amoz. ² On a bare mountain raise a banner, call them aloud, wave your hands and let them pass through the gates of princes. ³ I have given orders to my consecrated ones, I have called my heroes to serve my wrath, those who joyfully acclaim my majesty. ⁴ A rumbling is heard on the mountains: it sounds like the noise of a great people, like the tumult of kingdoms and nations gathered together: It is the Lord of hosts reviewing his war troops. ⁵ They come from a distant land, from the ends of the earth, the Lord and the instruments of his wrath, to ravage the whole earth. ⁶ Shout, for the day of the Lord is near: it comes like a devastation from the Almighty. ⁷ That is why every hand will fail and every human heart will melt. ⁸ They will tremble, they will be seized by trances and pains, they will writhe like a woman giving birth, they will look at each other in astonishment, their faces will be like flames. ⁹ Behold, the day of the Lord has come, a cruel day of fury and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolate place and to destroy its sinners. ¹⁰ For the stars of heaven and their constellations do not give their light, the sun is darkened at its rising and the moon no longer sheds its light. ¹¹ I will punish the world for its malice and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the insolent and I will humble the arrogance of tyrants. ¹² I will make men rarer than fine gold, rarer than the gold of Ophir. ¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble and the earth shake from its place, by the fury of the Lord of hosts, on the day when his anger is kindled. ¹⁴ Then, like a gazelle that is being chased, like a flock that no one gathers, each will turn to his own people and flee to his own country. ¹⁵ All those who are found will be pierced through, all those who are seized will fall by the sword. ¹⁶ Their little children will be crushed before their eyes, their homes looted, and their wives raped. ¹⁷ Behold, I am raising up against them the Medes, who do not value silver and do not covet gold. ¹⁸ Their bows will crush the young men, they will show no mercy to the fruit of the womb, their eyes will have no pity on children. ¹⁹ And Babylon, the ornament of kingdoms, the adornment of the proud Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah, which God destroyed. ²⁰ It will never again be populated, it will never again be inhabited in the course of the ages, the Arab will not pitch his tent there and the shepherd will not pen his flocks there. ²¹ Desert animals will make their home there, owls will fill its houses, ostriches will live there, and the goat will leap there. ²² Jackals will howl in her deserted palaces and wild dogs in her pleasure houses. Her time is near and her days will not be prolonged.

Isaiah 14

¹ For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will restore them in their own land; foreigners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. ² The peoples will take them and bring them back to their homes, and the house of Israel will possess them in the land of the Lord as male and female servants; they will take captive those who had taken them captive, and they will rule over their oppressors. ³ And on the day when the Lord gives you rest from your labor, from your anxieties, and from the harsh bondage that was imposed upon you, ⁴ You will sing this satire against the king of Babylon and you will say: How did the tyrant end, how did the oppression cease? ⁵ The Lord has broken the heel of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers. ⁶ He struck the peoples with fury, with relentless blows; in his anger, he held the nations under the yoke with unceasing persecution. ⁷ The whole earth is at rest, it is quiet, it bursts forth in cries of joy. ⁸ Even the cypresses rejoice at your fall, along with the cedars of Lebanon: "Since you have lain there, no one comes up to cut us down."« ⁹ Sheol in its depths is stirred for you, to come to meet you, it awakens the shades for you, all the monarchs of the earth, it raises from their thrones all the kings of the nations. ¹⁰ They all speak up to tell you: "You too have fallen like us, and now you are like us."« ¹¹ Your splendor has descended to Sheol, with the sound of your harps; worms are spread beneath you, and vermin are your covering. ¹² How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! ¹³ You who said in your heart, «I will ascend to the heavens, above the stars of God; I will raise my throne; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the heights of the north, ¹⁴ I will ascend to the tops of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.» ¹⁵ And you have descended to Sheol, to the depths of the abyss. ¹⁶ Those who see you fix their gaze upon you, they consider you attentively: «Is this the man who troubled the earth, who shook kingdoms, ¹⁷ who turned the world into a desert, destroyed cities, and did not allow his captives to return home? ¹⁸ All the kings of the nations, all of them, rest with honor, each in his own house, ¹⁹ But you were cast out of your tomb like a despised branch, covered with slain, slaughtered by the sword, and hurled down the rocky sides of the abyss, like a corpse trampled underfoot. ²⁰ You will not be with them in the grave because you have ruined your country, you have caused the destruction of your people. The race of the wicked will never be named again. ²¹ Prepare a massacre for his sons, for the crime of their fathers. May they not rise again to conquer the land, may they not cover the face of the world with cities. ²² I will rise up against them, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will destroy from Babylon the name and the remnant, the offspring and the descendants, declares the Lord. ²³ And I will make it a nest of hedgehogs and a pond of waters, and I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction, declares the Lord of hosts. ²⁴ The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying: «Yes, the purpose which is fixed shall be accomplished and what I have decided shall be accomplished. ²⁵ I will crush Assyria in my land and trample it on my mountains. Then its yoke will be removed from them and its burden lifted from their shoulders. ²⁶ This is the plan that is determined against the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out against all nations. ²⁷ For the Lord of hosts has decided, and who can stop him? His hand is outstretched, and who can turn it back?» ²⁸ In the year of King Ahaz's death, this oracle was pronounced: ²⁹ Do not rejoice, all you Philistia, that the rod that struck you has been broken, for from the serpent’s offspring will come a basilisk, and its fruit will be a flying dragon. ³⁰ Then the poorest will find their pasture and the unfortunate will rest in safety, but I will cause your race to perish by hunger and what remains of you will be exterminated. ³¹ Howl, O gate! Cry out, O city! Swoon with fear, all of Philistia! For smoke comes from the north, and not one of his battalions deserts. ³² What will be said to the envoys of the nation? That the Lord has founded Zion and that the afflicted of his people find refuge there.

Isaiah 15

¹ Oracle concerning Moab. Yes, on the night it was sacked, Ar-Moab was ruined. On the night it was sacked, Kir-Moab was ruined. ² They go up to the temple of Chamos and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep, over Nebo and Medeba, Moab laments, every head is shaved, every beard is cut off. ³ In its streets, they cover themselves with bags, on its roofs and in its public squares, they all shout and burst into tears. ⁴ Hesebon and Elealeh raise their voices; their voices are heard as far as Jahas. Therefore the warriors of Moab wail, and his soul trembles. ⁵ My heart groans for Moab; its defenders are already at Segor, at Eglath-shelishiyah. Yes, the ascent of Luhith is climbed with weeping, and on the road to Horonaim, cries of distress are raised. ⁶ For the waters of Nimrim have dried up, the grass is withered, the turf is destroyed, there is no more greenery. ⁷ What they were able to save and their supplies, they transported beyond the Willow Torrent. ⁸ For the cries have gone around the territory of Moab, its wailings resound as far as Eglaim, its wailings as far as Beer-Elim ⁹ because the waters of Dimon are full of blood, for I will bring upon Dimon an additional calamity, a lion upon the survivors of Moab, upon what will remain in the land.

Isaiah 16

¹ «"Send the lamb of the ruler of the land, of Petra, across the desert to the mountain of the daughter of Zion."» ² Like fleeing birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon: ³ «"Advise us, be our arbiter, give us shade, as in the night, in the middle of the day, hide those who are being pursued, do not betray fugitives. ⁴ Let the fugitives of Moab dwell with you, be their refuge from the destroyer, for the invasion has ceased, the devastation has ended, the oppressors have disappeared from the land. ⁵ The throne is established by mercy, and on this throne, in the tent of David, will sit a judge who pursues justice and is zealous for righteousness.» ⁶ «We know the pride of Moab, the very proud, his pride and his arrogance, his arrogance and his lying speech.» ⁷ Let Moab wail for Moab, let all wail. Over the raisin cakes of Kir-Hareseth, groan in utter dismay. ⁸ For the fields of Hezebon are desolate, the vine of Sabamah has been destroyed by the rulers of the nations, the vines which stretched as far as Jazer, which went on to be lost in the desert, which sent out their shoots far away, which passed beyond the sea. ⁹ That is why I weep, as Jazer weeps, over the vineyard of Sabama, I water you with my tears, Hesebon, Elealeh, for on your fruits and on your harvest, the cry of the winepresser has come to melt. ¹⁰ Joy and merriment have disappeared from the orchards, in the vineyards, no more songs, no more cries of joy, the grape harvester no longer treads the wine in the vats, I have silenced the joyful cry of the presser. ¹¹ Therefore my bowels tremble like a harp concerning Moab, and my heart concerning Kir-Hares. ¹² And we will see Moab wear himself out on his high places, he will enter his sanctuary to pray, and he will obtain nothing. ¹³ This is the oracle that the Lord pronounced concerning Moab long ago. ¹⁴ And now the Lord speaks and says: «In three years, counted as the years of a hired servant, the glory of Moab with its great multitude will be debased, and what remains of it will be little, small, and weak.».

Isaiah 17

¹ The oracle concerning Damascus: Damascus is removed from the number of cities; it will become nothing but a heap of ruins. ² The towns of Aroër are abandoned, they are given over to the herds, they rest there and nobody chases them away. ³ The fortress will be taken from Ephraim and the kingdom from Damascus; the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, declares the Lord of hosts. ⁴ And it will happen on that day: Jacob’s glory will fade and his body fat will be wasted away. ⁵ It will be like when the reaper gathers the sheaves and his arm cuts the ears of grain, it will be like when the ears of grain are gathered in the valley of Raphaim. ⁶ There will be a gleaning left, as when one shakes the olive tree, two or three olives at the top of the tree, four or five on the branches of the tree, declares the Lord, the God of Israel. ⁷ On that day, man will look to his Maker and his eyes will behold the Holy One of Israel. ⁸ He will no longer look towards the altars, the work of his hands, he will no longer contemplate what his fingers have fashioned, the sacred poles and the pillars of the Sun. ⁹ On that day, its fortified cities will be like the abandoned cities in the woods and mountains, which were abandoned before the children of Israel; it will be a desert. ¹⁰ For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, you have not remembered the Rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant crops and put in them foreign vines. ¹¹ The day you plant them, you surround them with a fence, and the next morning you make your seeds flower, and the harvest escapes you on the day of sickness and mortal pain. ¹² Oh. Murmur of many peoples. They roar like the roar of the seas. Rumble of nations. They roar like the roar of mighty waters. ¹³ The nations roar like the roaring of great waters. But he rebukes them: they flee far away, they are scattered, like straw on the heights before the wind, like a whirlwind of dust before the hurricane. ¹⁴ In the evening comes consternation, before morning they are no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us and the fate of those who rob us.

Isaiah 18

¹ Oh, land where the rustling of wings resounds, beyond the rivers of Cush, ² You who send messengers across the sea, in papyrus boats, across the face of the waters. Go, swift messengers, to the nation of great stature, of shaven skin, to the people feared far away, an imperious and crushing nation whose land is crisscrossed by rivers. ³ All you inhabitants of the world, inhabitants of the earth, when the banner is raised on the mountains, look, when the trumpet sounds, listen. ⁴ For thus the Lord said to me: «I will sit at rest and watch, as I sit in my dwelling, like the warmth of a bright sun, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.» ⁵ For before the harvest, when the flowering is over and the flower has become a soon-to-be-ripe cluster, then he will cut the shoots with a sickle, he will remove the shoots, he will detach them. ⁶ They will all be given over together to the mountain vultures and to the beasts of the earth; the vultures will make prey of them during the summer and the beasts of the earth during the winter. ⁷ At that time an offering will be brought to the Lord of hosts from the tall, shaven-skinned people, from the people feared far away, an imperious and crushing nation whose land is crisscrossed with rivers, to the dwelling place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion.

Isaiah 19

¹ The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord, borne on a light cloud, enters Egypt; the idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the heart of Egypt melts within her. ² I will push Egypt against Egypt, and they will fight brother against brother, friend against friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. ³ The spirit of Egypt will vanish within her and I will destroy her council; they will consult the idols and the enchanters, the necromancers and the soothsayers. ⁴ I will deliver Egypt into the hands of a harsh master, and a fearsome king will rule over them, declares the Lord, God of hosts. ⁵ The waters of the sea will dry up, the river will run dry and run dry. ⁶ The rivers will become foul, the canals of Egypt will lower and dry up, the rushes and reeds will wither. ⁷ The meadows along the Nile, on the banks of the Nile, all the sown fields along the Nile, will dry up, vanish, and there will be none left. ⁸ The fishermen will groan and wail, all who cast their hooks into the river, those who spread their nets across the face of the waters, will be desolate. ⁹ Those who work with combed flax and those who weave cotton will be dismayed. ¹⁰ The pillars of Egypt will be broken, all the craftsmen will be in despair. ¹¹ The princes of Tanis are nothing but fools, the wise advisors of Pharaoh whose counsel is foolish. How dare you say to Pharaoh, "I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?"« ¹² Where are your wise men? Let them tell you, let them discover what the Lord of hosts has decreed against Egypt. ¹³ The princes of Tanis have lost their way, the princes of Memphis are deluded, they are leading Egypt astray, they, the cornerstone of its castes. ¹⁴ The Lord has poured out a spirit of confusion in the midst of her, and they make Egypt wander in all that she does, as a drunken man wanders in his vomit. ¹⁵ And there will be no work that will benefit Egypt, from whatever the head or the tail, the palm or the rush, may do. ¹⁶ On that day, Egypt will be like the women; she will tremble and be terrified when she sees the hand of the Lord of hosts raised against her. ¹⁷ And the land of Judah will be a source of terror for Egypt, whenever it is brought to her attention, she will tremble because of the decree of the Lord of hosts, which he has pronounced against her. ¹⁸ On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that will speak the language of Canaan and will pledge allegiance to the Lord of hosts; one of them will be called City of the Sun. ¹⁹ On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the middle of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the Lord near the border. ²⁰ And this will be a signal and a testimony to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt, when they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors; he will send them a savior and a champion to deliver them. ²¹ The Lord will make himself known to Egypt, and Egypt will know the Lord. On that day they will offer sacrifices and offerings, and they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them. ²² The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing. They will turn to the Lord, and he will be moved by their pleas and heal them. ²³ On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, the Assyrian will come to Egypt and the Egyptian will go to Assyria, and Egypt will serve the Lord with Assyria. ²⁴ On that day Israel will be united, the third, with Egypt and Assyria, to be a blessing in the midst of the earth. ²⁵ The Lord of hosts will bless them, saying: «Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.»

Isaiah 20

¹ The year that Thartan came to Azoth, sent by Sargon, king of Assyria, besieged Azoth and captured it, ² At that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah, son of Amos, saying, «Go, take off the sackcloth that covers your hips and remove the sandals from your feet.» And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. ³ And the Lord said, «Just as my servant Isaiah walked naked and barefoot for three years, being a sign and a portent to Egypt and to Ethiopia, ⁴ Thus the king of Assyria will take the captives of Egypt and the deportees of Ethiopia, young men and old men, naked and barefoot and with their buttocks exposed, to the shame of Egypt. ⁵ Then they will be dismayed and confused, because of Ethiopia, which was their hope, and Egypt, which was their source of glory. ⁶ And the inhabitant of that shore will say on that day: "This is what has become of him in whom we hoped, him to whom we wanted to flee for help, to be delivered from the hands of the king of Assyria. How then shall we escape?"»

Isaiah 21

¹ Oracle concerning the desert of the sea. As hurricanes pass through the south, this comes from the desert, from a fearsome land. ² A terrible vision was shown to me: the plunderer plunders and the ravager ravages. Go up, Elam. Besiege, Mede. I put an end to all the groaning. ³ That is why my loins are filled with anguish, pains seize me, like the pains of a woman in childbirth. I writhe at the hearing, I am terrified at the sight, ⁴ My heart wanders, terror seizes me, the night I desired has been turned into a time of terrors for me. ⁵ The table is set, the sentry stands watch, we eat, we drink. "Stand up, captains. Anoint the shield."« ⁶ For thus the Lord spoke to me: «Go, set up a watchman, and let him report what he sees.⁷ And she will see riders, two by two, on horses, riders on donkeys, riders on camels. And she will watch them attentively, very attentively.» ⁸ And she cried out like a lion: «On the watchtower, Lord, I stand, continually all day long, and at my post I stand every night. ⁹ "Here comes the cavalry, riders two by two." And she continued, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the statues of her gods; he has shattered them to the ground."» ¹⁰ O my wheat that is trodden, grain of my threshing floor, what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I proclaim to you. ¹¹ Oracle on Duma. They call to me from Seir: "Watchman, where is the night? Watchman, where is the night?"« ¹² The sentry replied: "Morning comes, and so does night. If you wish to question me, question me; come back another time."« ¹³ Oracle in Arabia. You will spend the night in the steppes of Arabia, caravans of Dedan. ¹⁴ To those who are thirsty, bring water. The inhabitants of the land of Thema offer bread to fugitives. ¹⁵ For they fled from the sword, from the drawn sword, from the drawn bow, from the terrible battle. ¹⁶ For this is what the Lord said to me: “In one more year, like the years of a hired servant, all the glory of Cedar will be gone.” ¹⁷ And of the many bows of the valiant sons of Cedar, little will remain, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.

Isaiah 22

¹ Oracle of the Valley of Vision. What is it that you have gone up entirely onto the rooftops?, ² Noisy city, full of tumult, joyous city? Your dead did not perish by the sword, nor did they fall in battle. ³ Your leaders all fled together; they were captured without a bow being fired; all your citizens were captured together as they fled far away. ⁴ That is why I said, «Turn your eyes away from me, lest I weep bitterly. Do not hasten to console me over the ruin of the daughter of my people.» ⁵ For it is a day of confusion, of crushing, of perplexity, sent by the Lord God of hosts, in the valley of visions, the wall is demolished, cries are heard towards the mountain. ⁶ Elam took the quiver, he comes with chariots and horsemen, and Kir drew the shield from its covering. ⁷ Your most beautiful valleys are filled with chariots and horsemen are stationed before your gates; Judah is being veiled. ⁸ And on that day you look towards the arsenal of the forest palace, ⁹ And the breaches in the city of David, you see that they are many. And you have gathered the waters of the lower pool, ¹⁰ You counted the houses of Jerusalem and you demolished the houses to repair the walls. ¹¹ You made a reservoir between the two walls for the waters of the old pond. But you did not look to the One who made it, nor did you see the One who prepared it from afar. ¹² The Lord God of hosts called you on that day to weep and to mourn, to shave your heads and to put on sackcloth. ¹³ And here is the feast, the rejoicing, they slaughter oxen, they kill sheep, they gorge themselves on meat and drink wine, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."« ¹⁴ The Lord of hosts has revealed it in my ears: This sin will not be forgiven you until you die, says the Lord, God of hosts. ¹⁵ Thus spoke the Lord God of hosts: Go to this steward, Sobna, the prefect of the palace, and tell him: ¹⁶ «"What are you doing here and who are you here, that you are digging yourself a tomb here, you who are digging yourself a tomb on a high place, who are hewing yourself a dwelling in the rock? ¹⁷ Behold, the Lord is about to hurl you down with a mighty arm, ¹⁸ He will make you spin, he will make you roll with force, roll like a ball, across a vast plain. There you will die, there will be your magnificent chariots, O reproach to your master's house. ¹⁹ I will drive you from your post; the Lord will uproot you from your place.» ²⁰ And it will happen on that day: I will call my servant Eliacim, son of Helkiah, ²¹ I will clothe him with your tunic and gird him with your sash, I will place your authority in his hands, and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ²² I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; he will open it and no one will shut it, he will shut it and no one will open it. ²³ I will drive it like a nail into a firm place, and it will become a throne of glory for his father's house. ²⁴ To him will hang all the glory of his father's house, the sons and the grandsons, all the smallest vessels, from the cup to the jars. ²⁵ On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, the nail driven into a firm place will be pulled out, it will be pulled up and fall, and the burden it carried will be destroyed, for the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 23

¹ Oracle concerning Tyre. Howl, ships of Tarshish, for it is destroyed. No more houses, no more entrance. It is from the land of Cetim that they receive the news. ² Be astonished, inhabitants of the coast, that the merchants of Sidon, traveling the sea, were filled. ³ Across the great waters, the wheat of the Nile, the harvests of the river were its income, it was the market of the nations. ⁴ Be ashamed, Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the citadel of the sea, saying: «I have not been in labor, I have not given birth, I have not nourished young men, nor have I brought up virgins. ⁵ When Egypt learns the news, it will be seized with terror at the news of the fall of Tyre. ⁶ Go to Tarshish and howl, inhabitants of the coast. ⁷ Is this your joyous city, whose origins dated back to ancient times and which his feet carried far away to dwell in? ⁸ Who decided this against Tyre, who bestowed crowns, whose merchants were princes and traders the great men of the earth? ⁹ It is the Lord of hosts who has decided this, to put to shame the pride of all that glitters, to humble all the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰ Spread out in your land, like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish, for you no longer have a girdle. ¹¹ The Lord stretched out his hand over the sea, he made the kingdoms tremble, he decreed against Canaan the ruin of its fortresses. ¹² And he said: «You will no longer rejoice, dishonored virgin, daughter of Sidon. Arise, go to Cetim, there will be no more rest for you. ¹³ »Look at the land of the Chaldeans, this people who did not exist, who gave Assyria over to the beasts of the desert; they raised their towers, destroyed its palaces, and made it a heap of ruins.” ¹⁴ Howl, ships of Tarsis, for your fortress is destroyed. ¹⁵ On that day, Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the length of a king's reign. And at the end of seventy years, Tyre will be as in the courtesan's song: ¹⁶ «"Take your harp, wander around the city, forgotten courtesan, play with artistry, multiply your songs, so that you may be remembered."» ¹⁷ And it will happen, after seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre and she will again receive her wages and she will prostitute herself to all the kingdoms of the earth, on the face of the world. ¹⁸ And his gain and his wages shall be dedicated to the Lord; they shall not be hoarded or stored up, for his gain shall belong to those who dwell before the Lord, that they may eat and be satisfied and adorn themselves magnificently.

Isaiah 24

¹ Behold, the Lord is about to devastate the whole earth and depopulate it; he will distort its face and scatter its inhabitants. ² And it will be the same for the priest as for the people, for the master as for his servant, for the mistress as for her maid, for the seller as for the buyer, for the borrower as for the lender, for the debtor as for the creditor. ³ The land will be devastated and given over to plunder, for the Lord has spoken this word. ⁴ The earth is in mourning, exhausted, the world is languishing and exhausted, the elite of the earth's inhabitants are languishing. ⁵ The earth was desecrated under its inhabitants because they transgressed the laws, violated the commandment, and broke the everlasting covenant. ⁶ That is why the curse devours the earth and its inhabitants bear their punishment. That is why the inhabitants of the earth are consumed and what remains of mortals is few in number. ⁷ The juice of the vine mourns, the vine languishes, all those who had joy in their hearts groan. ⁸ The joyful sound of the tambourines has ceased, the noisy celebrations have ended, the joyful sound of the harp has ceased. ⁹ We no longer drink wine to the sound of songs; the intoxicating liquor is bitter to the drinker. ¹⁰ It is overturned, the city is in confusion, every house is closed, no one can enter. ¹¹ There are shouts in the streets, for lack of wine, all merriment has disappeared, joy is banished from the earth. ¹² Nothing remains of the city but rubble and the broken gates are in ruins. ¹³ For it will be in the midst of the earth, among the peoples, as when olives are cut down, as when gleanings are gathered after the grape harvest. ¹⁴ These are the ones who raise their voices, they sing, they acclaim from the sea the majesty of the Lord: ¹⁵ «Praise the Lord in the dawn regions, the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the setting sun.» ¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we hear songs: "Glory to the righteous." But I said, "I am lost. I am lost, woe is me." The plunderers plunder, the plunderers plunder without measure. ¹⁷ Terror, a pit, and a snare are upon you, inhabitant of the earth. ¹⁸ He who flees from the cry of terror will fall into the pit, and he who comes up from the midst of the pit will be caught in the net. For the floodgates above are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. ¹⁹ The earth breaks violently, the earth bursts with a crash, the earth shakes forcefully. ²⁰ The earth staggers like a drunken man, it sways like a hammock, its iniquity weighs upon it, it collapses never to rise again. ²¹ On that day, the Lord will visit the host on high and the kings of the earth on the earth.²² And they will be gathered captive in the abyss and imprisoned in the dungeon; after many days they will be visited. ²³ And the moon will turn red and the sun pale, because the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and glory will be displayed before his elders.

Isaiah 25

¹ Lord, you are my God, I will exalt you, I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, your plans formed long ago are faithful and firm. ² For you have made the city a heap of stones and the fortified city a ruin; the citadel of the barbarians is no longer a city, it will never be rebuilt. ³ Therefore a mighty people will glorify you, the city of terrible nations will revere you. ⁴ You have been a fortress for the weak, a fortress for the poor in their distress, a shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat of the sun. For the breath of the tyrants is like a hurricane that beats against a wall. ⁵ Like the sun's heat on arid land, you cut down the insolence of barbarians; like the sun's heat, the oppressors' song of triumph is stifled by the shadow of a cloud. ⁶ And the Lord of hosts will prepare for all the peoples on this mountain a feast of rich meats, a feast of fine wines, of meats full of marrow, of good and clarified wines. ⁷ And he will tear down on this mountain the veil that veiled all peoples and the covering that covered all nations, ⁸ He will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the reproach of his people from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. ⁹ On that day it will be said: "This is our God, in whom we have hoped for salvation; this is the Lord, in whom we have hoped; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.". ¹⁰ For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain, but Moab will be trampled down on the spot, as straw is trampled down in the dung heap. ¹¹ In this mire, he will stretch out his hands, as a swimmer stretches them out to swim, but the Lord will humble his pride, despite all the effort of his hands., ¹² "He will bring down your high walls, he will overthrow them, he will throw them to the ground, into the dust."»

Isaiah 26

¹ On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city. He makes his salvation its wall and its fortress., ² Open the gates, let in the just nation, which upholds the truth. ³ With a steady heart you ensure peace, peace, because he trusts in you. ⁴ Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is the rock of ages. ⁵ He humbled those who lived on the heights, he brought down the proud city, he brought it down to the ground and made it touch the dust. ⁶ It is trampled underfoot, beneath the feet of the humble, the steps of the unfortunate. ⁷ The path of the righteous is level, and straight is the way that you make straight. ⁸ Yes, on the path of your judgments, we awaited you, O Lord; your name and your memory were the desire of our souls. ⁹ My soul longed for you during the night and within me my spirit sought you, for when your judgments are exercised on the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn justice. ¹⁰ If grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness, they act perversely and do not see the majesty of the Lord. ¹¹ Lord, your hand is raised, but they do not see it. They will see your zeal for your people and be ashamed; the fire made for your adversaries will consume them. ¹² Lord, you will grant us peace, for all our work, you have done it for us. ¹³ Lord, our God, other masters besides you have ruled over us, but through you alone we can celebrate your name. ¹⁴ The dead will live no more, the shades will not rise again. You have visited them and exterminated them, and you have annihilated all memory of them. ¹⁵ You have increased the nation, Lord, you have increased the nation and manifested your glory, you have extended the borders of the land. ¹⁶ Lord, in their distress they sought you; they cried out in anguish when you struck them. ¹⁷ Like a pregnant woman, about to give birth, writhing and crying out in her pains, so we were before your face, Lord. ¹⁸ We conceived in pain and gave birth to wind, we did not give salvation to the earth and no inhabitants of the world were born. ¹⁹ Your dead will live, my corpses will rise again, wake up and sing, you who lie in the dust, for your dew, Lord, is a dew of light and the earth will give back to the day the departed. ²⁰ Go, my people, enter your chambers and shut your doors behind you, hide yourselves for a little while, until the wrath has passed. ²¹ For behold, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth, and the earth will uncover the blood it has drunk and will no longer hide its slain.

Isaiah 27

¹ On that day the Lord will visit with his hard, great and strong sword Leviathan, the swift serpent, Leviathan, the twisting serpent, and he will slay the monster that is in the sea. ² On that day we will say: "A vine with generous wine, sing its praises. ³ I, the Lord, am the one who guards it; I water it at all times, lest anyone enter it; night and day I guard it; I am no longer angry. ⁴ Who will give me thorns and briers to fight against? I will march against them, I will burn them all. ⁵ Or, let them cling to my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me. ⁶ In the days to come, Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout, and the face of the world will be filled with its fruits. ⁷ Did he strike him as he struck those who struck him? Did he kill him as those he had killed were killed? ⁸ With restraint, you punished him by exile. He drove him out with an imperious breath, on a day of eastern wind. ⁹ Thus therefore the iniquity of Jacob will be atoned for, and this is all the fruit of the forgiveness of his sin: When he has ground the altar stones to powder, like limestone, the sacred poles and the images of the Sun will not stand again. ¹⁰ For the fortified city has become a solitude, a desolate and abandoned dwelling, like the desert, where calves graze, lie down and browse on branches. ¹¹ When the branches are dry, they are broken off, and women come and burn them. For this is not a wise people, therefore their Maker will have no pity on them, and their Creator will show them no mercy. ¹² And it will come to pass on that day, that the Lord will thresh the grain from the course of the river to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel. ¹³ And it will come to pass, on that day, that the great trumpet will sound, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were banished in the land of Egypt will return and worship before the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 28

¹ Woe to the proud diadem of the drinkers of Ephraim, to the fleeting flower that makes the brilliance of their adornment, on the peaks of the fertile valley of men drunk with wine. ² Behold, a strong and mighty enemy is coming from the Lord, like a hailstorm, a destructive hurricane, like a flood of overflowing waters, he will throw him down with violence. ³ The proud diadem of the drinkers of Ephraim will be trampled underfoot, ⁴ And it will be with the ephemeral flower that makes the brilliance of their adornment, at the top of the fertile valley, as with a fig ripened before summer, he who sees it, barely has it in his hand, before he swallows it. ⁵On that day, the Lord will be a shining diadem and a crown of glory for the remnant of his people, ⁶ a spirit of justice for him who sits for justice, a strength for those who repel the assault at the gate. ⁷ They too are troubled by wine, led astray by strong drink; priest and prophet are led astray by strong drink, they are overwhelmed by wine, led astray by strong drink, they are troubled when prophesying, they reel when judging, ⁸ All the tables are covered in disgusting vomit, there is no more room. ⁹ «"To whom does he want to teach wisdom and to whom does he want to make the lesson understood? To children barely weaned, barely detached from their mother's breast?" ¹⁰ Because it's order upon order, order upon order, rule upon rule, rule upon rule, sometimes this, sometimes that.» ¹¹ Well, it is through people who stutter and in a foreign tongue that the Lord will speak to this people. ¹² He had said, "This is the place of rest; let the weary rest, and here is the place of relief," but they would not listen. ¹³ The word of the Lord will therefore be for them command upon command, command upon command, rule upon rule, rule upon rule, sometimes this, sometimes that, so that they may go and fall backward, be broken, be caught in the net. ¹⁴ Therefore, listen to the word of the Lord, you mockers, you leaders of this people who are in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ You say: «We have made a pact with death, we have made an agreement with Sheol. The overwhelming scourge will pass through and not reach us, for we have made lies our refuge and fraud our shelter.» ¹⁶ Therefore this is what the Lord God says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: whoever trusts in it will never be shaken away.”. ¹⁷ I will take right as the rule and justice as the standard. And hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will carry away your shelter. ¹⁸ Your pact with death will be shattered and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes, it will crush you., ¹⁹ As often as it passes, it will seize you. For it will pass tomorrow and tomorrow, day and night, terror alone will teach you a lesson. ²⁰ Because "the bed is too short to lie on and the blanket too narrow to wrap oneself in"« ²¹ for the Lord will rise up as at the mountain of Pharasim, he will tremble with indignation as in the valley of Gibeon, to accomplish his work, a singular work, to execute his task, a strange task. ²² And now stop mocking, lest your bonds be tightened, for a destruction is decreed, I have heard from the Lord of hosts against all the earth. ²³ Listen closely and hear my voice; pay attention and hear my words. ²⁴ Does the plowman, in order to sow, always have to plow, open up and harrow his land? ²⁵ Won't he, when he has leveled the surface, scatter the nigella, sow the cumin, put the wheat in rows, the barley in its place and the spelt along the edge? ²⁶ It is his God who teaches him these rules and instructs him. ²⁷ Because it is not with a sledge that one treads the nigella and the wheel of the cart does not pass over the cumin, but one beats the nigella with the stick and the cumin with the wand. ²⁸ The wheat is trodden, but care is taken not to beat it all the time; the cart wheel and the horses are pushed over it, but without crushing it. ²⁹ This too comes from the Lord of hosts; he is admirable in his counsels and rich in his resources.

Isaiah 29

¹ Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, to the city where David pitched his tent. Add year upon year, as the solemnities run their cycle, ² And I will hold Ariel close, and there will be nothing but complaints and moans. But she will be to me like Ariel. ³ I will encamp all around you, I will surround you with armed posts and I will establish entrenchments against you. ⁴ You will be humbled, your voice will rise from the earth and your muffled accents will be heard from the dust, your voice will come out of the earth like that of a ghost and your speech will rise from the dust like a whisper. ⁵ And the multitude of your enemies will be like fine dust, and the multitude of warriors like chaff that blows away. ⁶ And it will come to pass that suddenly, in an instant, you will be visited by the Lord of hosts with a crash, thunder and great noise, whirlwind, tempest and devouring flame of fire. ⁷ And it will be like a dream, a vision of the night, of the multitude of all the nations that will fight against Ariel and of all those who will fight against her and her fortress and besiege her closely. ⁸ As a hungry man dreams that he eats and, upon waking, his soul is empty, and as a thirsty man dreams that he drinks and, upon waking, is exhausted and always thirsty, so it will be with the multitude of all the nations, who march against Mount Zion. ⁹ Be astonished and amazed. Be blinded and blinded. They are drunk, but not on wine; they stagger, but not on strong liquors. ¹⁰ For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of lethargy; he has closed your eyes, the prophets, and he has put a veil over your heads, the seers. ¹¹ And every vision has become to you like the words of a sealed book. It is handed to a man who can read, saying, «Read this,» and he says, «I cannot, for this book is sealed.» ¹² It is presented to a man who cannot read, and he is told, "Read this," and he says, "I cannot read."« ¹³ The Lord said: Because this people draws near with words and honors me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship is based on a commandment learned from men, ¹⁴ Because of this, I will continue to perform wonders with this people, strange wonders. And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their teachers will be darkened. ¹⁵ Woe to those who hide their plans from the Lord, whose work is done in darkness, and who say, «Who sees us? Who knows us?» ¹⁶ What madness! Will the potter then be valued as if he were clay, so that the work says of the craftsman, "He did not make me," and the vessel says of the potter, "He knows nothing about it?"« ¹⁷ Won't Lebanon soon be transformed into an orchard, and won't the orchard be considered a forest? ¹⁸ On that day the deaf will hear the words of the book, and out of darkness and gloom the blind will see. ¹⁹ The humble will rejoice more and more in the Lord, and the poorest will exult in the Holy One of Israel. ²⁰ For the oppressor will have disappeared and the mocker will have perished, and all who plot iniquity will be exterminated., ²¹ those who condemn a man for a word, who lay traps for the one who confounds them at the gate, and who destroy the righteous with their lies. ²² Therefore this is what the Lord says to the house of Jacob, he who redeemed Abraham: Jacob will no longer be put to shame, and his brow will no longer grow pale. ²³ For when he and his children see the work of my hands in their midst, they will sanctify my name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will revere the God of Israel. ²⁴ Those who were foolish in mind will learn wisdom, and those who murmured will receive instruction.

Isaiah 30

¹ Woe to the rebellious children, declares the Lord, who make plans, but not me, who enter into agreements, but not my spirit, heaping sin upon sin. ² They go down the road to Egypt, without having consulted my mouth, to take refuge under the protection of Pharaoh and to shelter in the shade of Egypt. ³ The protection of Pharaoh will be a shame for you, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, a confusion. ⁴ The princes of Judah are already at Tanis, and his envoys have advanced as far as Hanes., ⁵ They are all confused because of a people who are of no use to them, who give them neither help nor assistance, but only confusion and ignominy. ⁶ Oracle of the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of distress and anguish, from which come the lion and the lioness, the viper and the flying dragon, they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who are of no use. ⁷ Egypt's help will be vanity and nothingness; therefore I call her: "The proud one who sits still."« ⁸ Now go, engrave this on a tablet in their presence and write it in a book, so that it may be a testimony for all time. ⁹ For they are a rebellious people, they are faithless children, children who refuse to listen to the law of the Lord. ¹⁰ They say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us the truth; tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.". ¹¹ "Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, remove the Holy One of Israel from before our eyes."» ¹² Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: Because you despise this word and trust in violence and deceit, and rely on them, ¹³ Because of this, this iniquity will be to you like a crack that threatens to ruin and juts out on a high wall, which suddenly, in an instant, collapses. ¹⁴ It breaks like a clay pot, which is smashed without pity, without finding in its fragments a piece to take fire from the brazier, or to draw water from the cistern. ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: Through repentance and quiet expectation you would be saved; in rest and trust would be your strength. But you were unwilling. ¹⁶ And you said, "No, but we will flee on horses." Well, you will flee. "We will fly on steeds." Well, those who pursue you will be faster. ¹⁷ A thousand at the threat of one and at the threat of five you will flee, until you are but a remnant, like a mast on the mountaintop, like a signal on the hill. ¹⁸ Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you mercy, for the Lord is a just God. Blessed are all who hope in him. ¹⁹ For, O people who dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. At your first cry, he will be gracious to you; as soon as he hears you, he will answer you. ²⁰ The Lord will give you the bread of anguish and the water of distress, and your teachers will no longer hide themselves, and your eyes will see your teachers., ²¹ and your ears will hear behind you a voice saying, «This is the way, follow it,» when you turn to the right or to the left. ²² You shall treat as unclean the silver that covers your idols and the gold that adorns your statues, you shall reject them as something unclean: «Get out of here!» you shall tell them. ²³ The Lord will send showers upon the seed you have sown in the earth, and the bread that the earth yields will be rich and plentiful; your flocks in that day will graze in broad pastures., ²⁴ and the oxen and donkeys, which work the land, will eat tasty fodder winnowed with the shovel and the winnowing fan. ²⁵ And on every high mountain and on every high hill there will be streams, rivers of water, on the day of the great slaughter when the towers fall. ²⁶ The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times greater, like the light of seven days, on the day when the Lord binds up the wound of his people and heals the sores with which he struck them. ²⁷ Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, his anger burns and his ardor is overwhelming, his lips breathe fury and his tongue is like a devouring fire. ²⁸ His breath is like an overflowing torrent, rising up to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction and to put a bridle of straying in the jaws of the peoples. ²⁹ Then you will sing songs as on the night when a feast is celebrated, and your heart will be joyful, like one who goes up to the sound of the flute, to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the rock of Israel. ³⁰ The Lord will make his majestic voice resound and will show his bowing arm, in the heat of his anger and the flame of a devouring fire, in the storm, the downpour, and the hailstones. ³¹ And Assyria will tremble at the voice of the Lord; he will strike with his staff, ³² and, each time the fatal staff passes over him, which the Lord will lower upon him, the tambourines and harps will be sounded and he will fight against it with redoubled blows. ³³ For Topheth has long been prepared, he too is ready for the king, the Lord has made him wide and deep, there is on his pyre fire and wood in abundance, the breath of the Lord, like a torrent of sulfur, sets him ablaze.

Isaiah 31

¹ Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or seek the Lord. ² However, he is wise; he brings disaster; he does not revoke his words; he will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the help of those who commit iniquity. ³ The Egyptian is a man and not a God, his horses are flesh and not spirit; the Lord will stretch out his hand, the one who helps will stumble and the one helped will fall, and they will all perish together. ⁴ For thus the Lord spoke to me: as the lion roars, as the young lion, over its prey, when the multitude of shepherds gathers against it, and is not frightened by their cries, nor disturbed by their numbers: so the Lord of hosts will come down to fight, on Mount Zion and on its hill. ⁵ Like birds spreading their wings over their nest, so the Lord of hosts will cover Jerusalem; he will cover, he will save, he will pass through, he will deliver. ⁶ Return, then, to the one from whom you have strayed so far, children of Israel. ⁷ For on that day everyone will reject their silver idols and their gold idols, which you made with your own hands to sin. ⁸ And Assyria will fall by a sword not of man, a sword not of mortal will devour him; he will flee before the sword, and his young men will be subject to tribute. ⁹ His rock will flee in terror and his trembling princes will desert the banner, oracle of the Lord, who has his fire in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 32

¹ Behold, a king shall reign according to justice, and princes shall rule with righteousness. ² And each of them will be a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shade of a great rock in a desolate country. ³ The eyes of those who see will no longer be blinded, and the ears of those who hear will be attentive. ⁴ The hearts of frivolous men will be adept at understanding, and the tongues of stutterers at speaking clearly. ⁵ The fool will no longer be called noble, and the deceitful will no longer be called magnanimous. ⁶ For the fool speaks foolishly, and his heart is set on iniquity, to do ungodly things and to utter false words against the Lord, to leave the soul of the hungry hungry hungry and to deprive the thirsty of drink. ⁷ The weapons of the deceitful are disloyal; he plots schemes to destroy the humble with lies and the poor even as he speaks of justice. ⁸ But the nobleman has noble designs and he will rise up for noble deeds. ⁹ Carefree women, rise up, listen to my voice. Carefree girls, lend an ear to my words. ¹⁰ In a year and a few days you will tremble, carefree, because there will be no grape harvest, the fruit harvest will not take place. ¹¹ Be filled with dread, you nonchalant ones. Tremble, you careless ones. Take off your rich clothes, strip yourselves bare, gird your loins with sacks. ¹² We lament, beating our breasts, over the beautiful countryside, over the fruitful vineyards. ¹³ On the land of my people grow thorns and briers, even on all the pleasure houses of the joyous city. ¹⁴ For the palace is abandoned, the noisy city has become a solitude, Ophel and the Watchtower serve forever as dens, places of frolicking for wild asses and pasture for flocks. ¹⁵ Until a spirit from on high is poured out upon us, and the desert becomes an orchard, and the orchard is called a forest. ¹⁶ Then righteousness will dwell in the desert, and justice will be established in the orchard. ¹⁷ And the product of justice will be peace, and the fruit of justice will be rest and security forever. ¹⁸ My people will dwell in a peaceful abode, in secure dwellings, in tranquil homes. ¹⁹ But the forest will have fallen under the hail and the city deeply sunk. ²⁰ Blessed are you who sow everywhere near the waters and who let the ox and the donkey roam free.

Isaiah 33

¹ Woe to you, destroyer who is not destroyed, plunderer who has not yet been plundered. When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; when you have finished plundering, you will be plundered. ² Lord, have mercy on us. It is in you that we hope; be their arm each morning and our deliverance in times of distress. ³ At the sound of your thunder, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter. ⁴ Your loot is gathered like a grasshopper gathers, it is rushed upon like a swarm of grasshoppers. ⁵ The Lord is exalted because he dwells on high; he fills Zion with equity and justice. ⁶ Your days are secure, and you will have abundant salvation, wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is your treasure. ⁷ Now their heroes are shouting in the streets, and the messengers of peace are weeping bitterly. ⁸ The roads are deserted, there are no more passers-by on the paths. He has broken the treaty and scorned the cities; he does not respect men. ⁹ The country mourns and languishes, Lebanon is confused and withered. Sharon has become like the Arabah, Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves. ¹⁰ Now I will arise, says the Lord, now I will stand up, now I will be exalted. ¹¹ You have conceived straw and you will give birth to stubble; your breath is the fire that will consume you. ¹² And the peoples will be like lime kilns, like cut thorns that burn in the fire. ¹³ You who are far away, listen to what I have done, and you who are near, know my power. ¹⁴ The sinners in Zion trembled, and terror seized the wicked: «Who among us will dwell in the consuming fire? Who among us will dwell in the eternal flames?» ¹⁵ He who walks in righteousness and speaks uprightly, who rejects extorted gains, who shakes his hands so as not to accept a bribe, who closes his ears to bloodshed and veils his eyes so as not to see evil: ¹⁶ He will dwell in high places, the fortress built on the rock will be his refuge, his bread will be given him and his waters will never run dry. ¹⁷ Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty, they will see an open land in the distance. ¹⁸ Your heart will remember its terrors: "Where is the scribe? Where is the tax collector who held the scales? Where is the officer who counted the laps?"« ¹⁹ The insolent people, you will no longer see them, the people with obscure and incomprehensible language, who stammer an unintelligible tongue. ²⁰ Look upon Zion, the city of our feasts, let your eyes see Jerusalem, a happy dwelling place, a tent that will not be moved, whose stakes will never be pulled out, and whose cords will never be taken away. ²¹ There truly the Lord in his majesty dwells for us; there are rivers and broad canals, where no rowboat will venture, where no mighty ship will ever enter. ²² For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, he is the one who will save us. ²³ Your rigging is loose; it no longer holds the mast to its base or supports the unfurled flag. So the spoils of a rich haul are divided, even the lame take part in the pillaging. ²⁴ No inhabitant says, "I am sick." The people who dwell in Zion have received forgiveness for their iniquity.

Isaiah 34

¹ Come near, you nations, to hear; listen, you peoples. Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world and all that it produces. ² For the Lord is angry with all nations and furious with all their armies; he has devoted them to slaughter. ³ Their dead will be thrown away without burial, their corpses will exhale infection, and the mountains will melt in their blood. ⁴ All the host of heaven shall be reduced to dust, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, and all their host shall fall, as the leaf of the vine falls, as the leaf of the fig tree falls. ⁵ «For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, and behold, it descends upon Edom, upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction, to judge them.”. ⁶ The Lord's sword is filled with blood, dripping with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of rams' kidneys. For the Lord offers a sacrifice at Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. ⁷ With them fall the buffaloes and the oxen with the bulls. Their land is drunk with blood and their dust runs with fat. ⁸ For it is a day of vengeance for the Lord, a year of revenge for the cause of Zion. ⁹ Its streams will be turned into pitch, its dust into sulfur, and its land will become burning pitch., ¹⁰ which will not be extinguished by night or day, whose smoke will rise eternally. From age to age it will remain desolate, forever no one will pass through it. ¹¹ The pelican and the hedgehog will possess it, the owl and the raven will dwell there. And he will spread over it the line of chaos and the level of the void. ¹² There will no longer be any nobles to proclaim a king, and all his princes will be annihilated. ¹³ Thorns will grow in its palaces, brambles and thistles in its fortresses. It will be a den of jackals and a park for ostriches. ¹⁴ Wild cats and dogs will meet there, and satyrs will call to one another. There too, the specter of the night will make its home and find its resting place. ¹⁵ There the snake will make its nest and lay its eggs, incubate them, and gather its young under its shade. There too, all the vultures will gather. ¹⁶ Search in the book of the Lord and read: Not one of them is missing, not one is lacking. For it is the mouth of the Lord that commanded it and his breath that gathered them together. ¹⁷ It is he who cast the lot for them and his hand that divided the land between them by a ruler; they shall possess it forever, from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.

Isaiah 35

¹ The desert and the arid land will rejoice, the steppe will be filled with gladness and will blossom like the narcissus, ² It will blossom and rejoice, it will shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, with the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. ³ Strengthen weak hands and fortify shaky knees. ⁴ Tell those whose hearts are troubled: «Take courage, do not fear, here is your God, vengeance is coming, divine retribution, he himself is coming and will save you.» ⁵ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, then the ears of the deaf will be opened. ⁶ The lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will burst forth in the desert and streams in the steppe. ⁷ The scorched ground will turn into a lake and the weathered earth into springs of water; the den where the jackals lay will become a park of reeds and rushes. ⁸ There will be a road there, a way, which will be called the holy way; no impure person will pass on it; it is only for them; those who follow it, the simple ones themselves, will not go astray. ⁹ There will be no lion there, no ferocious beast will set foot there, nor will it be found there. The liberated will walk there, ¹⁰ And the redeemed of the Lord will return, they will come to Zion with shouts of joy, eternal gladness will crown their heads, joy and gladness will fill them, sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Isaiah 36

¹ In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ² And the king of Assyria sent from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, his chief cupbearer with a large force; the chief cupbearer stopped at the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the way to the Fuller's Field. ³ Eliacim, son of Helkiah, head of the king's household, went to him, with Shebna the secretary and Joah, son of Asaph, the recorder. ⁴ The chief cupbearer said to them, «Tell Hezekiah: This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is this confidence you are relying on? I said: This advice and this strength for war are empty words. ⁵ And now, who do you trust to rebel against me? ⁶ Behold, you rely on the support of this broken reed, Egypt which penetrates and pierces the hand of whoever leans on it: such is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him. ⁷ Perhaps you will say to me: We trust in the Lord our God. But is this not the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar? ⁸ Now, make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you can provide riders to ride them. ⁹ How could you repel even one of the least of my master's servants? Therefore you put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horses. ¹⁰ Now, was it against the Lord's will that I went up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, "Go up against this land and destroy it."» ¹¹ Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief cupbearer, «Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it, and do not speak to us in the Hebrew language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.» ¹² The chief cupbearer replied, "Did my master send me to speak these words to you and your master? Was it not to these men sitting on the wall, to eat their excrement and drink their urine with you?"« ¹³ Then the chief cupbearer stepped forward and shouted aloud in the Hebrew language, saying: «Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria: ¹⁴ Thus said the king: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵ and do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord, saying, "The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.". ¹⁶ Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: Make peace with me and surrender to me, and let each of you eat from his own vine and each of you from his own fig tree, and let each of you drink water from his own well, ¹⁷ until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of wheat and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸ Do not let Hezekiah deceive you by saying, "The Lord will deliver us." Have the gods of the nations each delivered their own land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Emath and Arphad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? ²⁰ Which of the gods of all these lands have delivered their lands from my hand, so that the Lord may deliver Jerusalem from my hand?» ²¹ They remained silent and did not answer a word, for the king had given this order: "You shall not answer him."« ²² And Eliacim, son of Helkiah, head of the king's household, Shebna the secretary, and Joah, son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the chief cupbearer.

Isaiah 37

¹ When King Hezekiah heard this report, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ² He sent Eliacim, the head of his household, Shebna, the secretary, and the elders of the priests, covered in sackcloth, to Isaiah, the son of Amos, the prophet. ³ They told him, "This is what Hezekiah said: This day is a day of distress, punishment, and disgrace, because the children are about to come out of the womb, and there is no strength to give birth. ⁴ Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of the chief cupbearer, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to insult the living God, and will punish him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, pray for the remnant that is left. ⁵ King Hezekiah's servants went to Isaiah, ⁶ And Isaiah said to them, «This is what you are to say to your master: Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, by which the servants of the king of Assyria have insulted me. ⁷ »I am putting a spirit in him so that, upon hearing a rumor, he will return to his own country, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own country.” ⁸ The chief cupbearer returned and found the king of Assyria attacking Lobna, for he had learned that his master had left Lachis. ⁹ Now the king of Assyria received a report concerning Tharaca, king of Ethiopia, who was told, «He has set out to wage war against you.» Hearing this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying: ¹⁰ «Say this to Hezekiah, king of Judah: Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’”. ¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria did to all the countries, subjecting them to anathema. And you would be delivered. ¹² Did their gods deliver them, those nations that my fathers destroyed: Gozan, Haram, Reseph, and the sons of Eden, who were in Telasar? ¹³ Where are the king of Emath, the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Anah, and of Ava?» ¹⁴ Hezekiah, having received the letter from the messengers, read it, then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, saying: ¹⁶ «"Lord of hosts, God of Israel, seated upon the Cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth, you who made the heavens and the earth. ¹⁷ Lord, incline your ear and hear. Lord, open your eyes and see. Hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent insults against the living God. ¹⁸ It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria destroyed all the nations and devastated their territories, ¹⁹ and that they threw their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but works of human hands, wood and stone, and they destroyed them. ²⁰ Now, Lord our God, save us from the hand of Sennacherib, and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that you alone are the Lord.» ²¹ And Isaiah, son of Amos, sent word to Hezekiah: «Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: The prayer that you have addressed to me concerning Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard. ²² This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: She despises you, she mocks you, the virgin daughter of Zion; she shakes her head behind you, the daughter of Jerusalem. ²³ Whom have you insulted and outraged? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel. ²⁴ Through your servants you have insulted the Lord and you have said: With my many chariots I have ascended the mountain peaks, the farthest reaches of Lebanon, I will cut down its tallest cedars, its finest cypresses, and I will reach its highest summit and its forest like an orchard. ²⁵ I dug and got water to drink; with the soles of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt. ²⁶ Have you not heard that I did these things long ago and that I formed them from ancient times? Now I am bringing them to pass, so that you may reduce the fortified cities to heaps of ruins. ²⁷ Their inhabitants are powerless, in terror and confusion; they are like the grass of the fields and the tender greenery like the turf of the roofs, like wheat that dries up before it is ripe. ²⁸ But I know when you sit down, when you go out and when you come in, I know your fury against me. ²⁹ Because you are furious with me and your arrogance has reached my ears, I will put my ring in your nostril and my bit in your lips and I will make you return by the way you came. ³⁰ And this will be a sign for you: This year you will eat what grows of itself, in the second year you will eat what springs from itself, but in the third year you will sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ³¹ What has been saved from the house of Judah, what remains, will still put forth roots underneath and bear fruit above. ³² For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go forth, and out of Mount Zion survivors. This is what the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish. ³³ Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow at it, nor will he present shields to it, nor will he build siege works against it. ³⁴ He will return by the way he came and will not enter this city, declares the Lord. ³⁵ I will protect this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of David, my servant.» ³⁶ And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp, and when they arose in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies. ³⁷ And Sennacherib, king of Assyria, having broken camp, departed and returned and remained in Nineveh. ³⁸ As he was worshiping in the house of Nesroch, his god, Adramelech and Sarasar, his sons, struck him with the sword and fled to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his place.

Isaiah 38

¹ At that time, Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amos, came to him and said, «This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.» ² Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying: ³ «Remember, O Lord, that I have walked before you faithfully and with integrity, and have done what is good in your eyes.» And Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying: ⁵ «Go and tell Hezekiah: «This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. ⁶ I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will protect this city. ⁷ And this is the sign to you from the Lord, by which you will know that the Lord will fulfill this word that he has spoken: ⁸ Now I will make the shadow go back the same distance it has gone down on the sundials of Ahaz, ten degrees. And the sun went back ten degrees on the distance it had gone down. ⁹ Written by Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he was sick and recovered from his illness: ¹⁰ I said: In the peace of my days I go to the gates of Sheol, I am deprived of the rest of my years. ¹¹ I said: I will no longer see God, the Lord, in the land of the living; I will no longer see men among the inhabitants of the silent abode. ¹² My home is taken away, swept from me like a shepherd's tent. Like a weaver, I was weaving my life, but he cuts me off from the loom. From day to night you will be done with me. ¹³ I remained silent until morning, like a lion, he broke all my bones, from day to night you will be finished with me. ¹⁴ Like the swallow, like the crane, I cry out, I moan like the dove, my eyes have grown weary of looking upwards: "Lord, I am being violated, be my guarantor."« ¹⁵ What can I say? He told me, he did it. I will walk humbly through all my years, remembering the bitterness in my soul. ¹⁶ Lord, this is life, in all this is the life of my spirit. You heal me, you give me life: ¹⁷ Behold, my deepest bitterness has turned to peace. You have rescued my soul from the pit of perdition; you have cast all my sins behind your back. ¹⁸ For Sheol does not celebrate you, death does not sing your praises, those who go down to the pit no longer hope in your faithfulness. ¹⁹ The living one, the living one, it is he who celebrates you, as I do today, father will make known to his children your faithfulness. ²⁰ The Lord was quick to save me; we will make the strings of my harp resound, all the days of our lives, before the house of the Lord. ²¹ Isaiah said, «Let a lump of figs be brought and applied to the boil, and let the king be healed.» And Hezekiah said, «What will be the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?»

Isaiah 39

¹ At that time, Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent a letter and gifts to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered. ² Hezekiah rejoiced at the arrival of the envoys and he showed them his treasury house, the silver and gold, the spices and precious oil, all his armory and everything that was in his treasuries; there was nothing that Hezekiah did not show them in his house and in all his domains. ³ But Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, «What did these people say, and where did they come from?» Hezekiah replied, «They came to me from a distant land, from Babylon.» ⁴ Isaiah said, «What did they see in your house?» And Hezekiah answered, «They saw everything in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.» ⁵ And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, «Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: ⁶ “The days will come when everything in your house and everything your ancestors have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,” says the Lord. ⁷ And some of your sons, who will come from you, whom you will have fathered, will be taken to become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.» ⁸ Hezekiah answered Isaiah, «The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.» And he added, «For there will be peace and stability in my lifetime.».

Isaiah 40

¹ Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. ² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry out to her: That her servitude is over, that her iniquity is expiated, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for her sins. ³ A voice cries out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴ Let every valley be raised up, and every mountain and hill made low; let the high become a plain and the steep rocks a valley. ⁵ Then the glory of the Lord will appear, and all flesh without exception will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. ⁶ A voice says, "Cry out," and the response is, "What shall I cry out?" "All flesh is like grass, and all its grace like the flower of the field: ⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord passes over it. Yes, man is like grass. ⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God endures forever.» ⁹ Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion; lift up your voice with strength; you who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the cities of Judah, «Here is your God.» ¹⁰ Behold, the Lord God comes with power, his arm exercises dominion. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense is before him. ¹¹ Like a shepherd, he will tend his flock, he will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom, he will gently lead those that are nursing. ¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or estimated the expanse of the heavens with his outstretched fingers, or gauged all the dust of the earth with a bushel, or weighed the mountains in a scale and the hills in a balance? ¹³ Who directed the mind of the Lord, and who was his counselor to instruct him? ¹⁴ With whom did he consult, to enlighten him, to teach him the path of justice, to teach him wisdom and show him the way of understanding? ¹⁵ Behold, the nations are like a drop suspended from a bucket, they are considered like the dust in the balance, behold, the islands are the fine powder that blows away. ¹⁶ Lebanon is not enough for the fire and its animals are not enough for the holocaust. ¹⁷ All nations are as nothing before him; he considers them as nothing and vanity. ¹⁸ To whom then will you compare God, and what image will you prepare for him? ¹⁹ When the craftsman casts an idol, the goldsmith covers it with gold and melts silver chains onto it. ²⁰ The poor man, who cannot offer much, chooses a wood that will not rot and goes to find a skilled craftsman to make an idol that will not waver. ²¹ Do you not know? Have you not heard? Have you not been told from the beginning? Have you not learned who laid the foundations of the earth? ²² He reigns above the vault of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; he stretches out the heavens like a veil and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. ²³ He delivers the powerful to nothing and reduces the judges of the earth to nothing. ²⁴ They are scarcely planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their trunk taken root in the earth, when the wind blows on them and they wither and the hurricane carries them away like stubble. ²⁵ "To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him?" said the Saint. ²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these things? He who brings out their army in order and calls them all by name; and because of the greatness of his power and the energy of his strength, not one is missing. ²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak thus, O Israel: «My way is hidden from the Lord, and my justice is disregarded by my God?» ²⁸ Do you not know, have you not heard? The Lord is an eternal God, who created the ends of the earth, who does not tire or grow weary, and whose wisdom is unsearchable. ²⁹ It gives strength to the weary and increases the vigor of the weak. ³⁰ Young people grow tired and weary, and young people falter, ³¹ But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 41

¹ Islands, be silent to listen to me, and let the peoples renew their strength, let them approach, and then let them speak. Let us go together to judgment. ² Who has raised up from the East him whose steps are met by justice? Who has given nations into his hand and subdued kings before him? He makes their swords fly to dust, he renders their bows like chaff before the wind. ³ He pursues them and passes peacefully, along a path his foot had never trod before. ⁴ Who did this? Who accomplished it? He who calls the generations from the beginning, I, the Lord, who am the first and who will also be with the last. ⁵ The islands see it and are seized with fear, the ends of the earth tremble, they approach and come. ⁶ Each one helps his companion and one says to the other: Take courage. ⁷ The blacksmith encourages the founder, the polisher with the hammer, the one who strikes on the anvil, saying of the welding: "It is good" then he fixes the god with nails, so that it does not move. ⁸ But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham my friend, ⁹ You whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its distant regions, you to whom I said, «You are my servant, I have chosen you and have not rejected you.» ¹⁰ Do not be afraid, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I have taken hold of you and I help you and uphold you with my righteous right hand. ¹¹ Behold, all who are inflamed against you shall be confounded and put to shame; they shall be like nothing, they shall perish, those who contend against you. ¹² You will seek them but you will not find them, those who quarrel with you; they will be like nothing, reduced to nothing, those who wage war against you. ¹³ For I, the Lord your God, take you by the right hand, and say to you, «Do not be afraid, I am the one who comes to your aid.» ¹⁴ Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, you few remnant of Israel, I will come to your aid, declares the Lord, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵ Behold, I will make you a sharp, new, double-edged sledge; you will trample the mountains and crush them, and make the hills like chaff. ¹⁶ You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the hurricane will scatter them. And you will rejoice greatly in the Lord, you will glory in the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁷ The unfortunate and the poor, who seek water and find none, and whose tongue is parched with thirst, I, the Lord, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. ¹⁸ I will make rivers gush forth on the bare peaks and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will turn the desert into a pool and the parched land into fountains of water. ¹⁹ I will plant in the desert the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive tree; I will plant in the steppe both the cypress, the plane tree, and the box tree, ²⁰ So that they may see, know, observe and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done these things and that the Holy One of Israel has created them. ²¹ Present your case, says the Lord, produce your reasons, says the King of Jacob. ²² Let them produce them and tell us what is to come. Tell us what the former things were, and we will apply our hearts to them, to know their outcome; or else let us hear of things to come. ²³ Announce the things that will happen later and we will know that you are gods. Do good or do evil, let us see and admire together. ²⁴ There you are, you are nothing and your work is nothing: abominable is he who chooses you. ²⁵ I have stirred him up from the north and he comes, from the rising sun, he calls upon my name, he treads on the satraps as on mud, as the potter treads clay. ²⁶ Who made it known from the beginning, so that we would have known it long beforehand, so that we could say, "Is it true?" No. No one announced it. No. No one made it heard. No. No one heard your words. ²⁷ First I said to Zion, «Here they are,» and I am sending a messenger of good news to Jerusalem. ²⁸ I look around and there is no one among them, not a single advisor, whom I can question and who will answer me. ²⁹ Behold, they are all vanity, their works are worthless, their idols, a vain breath.

Isaiah 42

¹ Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit on him, and he will spread justice among the nations. ² He will not shout, he will not speak loudly, he will not make his voice heard in the streets. ³ He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoldering wick. He will bring forth justice in truth, ⁴ He will not falter or be discouraged until he has established justice on earth, and the islands will wait for his law. ⁵ Thus says the Lord God, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its produce, who gives breath to the people who dwell on it and life to those who walk on it: ⁶ I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness and have taken you by the hand; I will keep you and make you a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, ⁷ to open the eyes of the blind, to bring captives out of prison, and those who sit in darkness out of the dungeon. ⁸ I am the Lord, that is my name, and I will not give my glory to another, nor my honor to idols, ⁹ The first things have already happened, and I announce new things; before they blossom, I let you hear them. ¹⁰ Sing to the Lord a new song, sing his praise from the ends of the earth, you who sail on the sea and who dwell in it, you islands and your inhabitants. ¹¹ Let the desert and its cities raise their voices, the encampments inhabited by Cedar. Let the inhabitants of Sela exult with gladness, let them shout from the mountaintops. ¹² Let them give glory to the Lord, let them proclaim his praise in the islands. ¹³ For the Lord goes forth like a hero, like a warrior, he stirs up his zeal, he raises the battle cry, a resounding cry, he displays his strength against his enemies. ¹⁴ For a long time I remained silent, I kept quiet, I restrained myself, like a woman giving birth, I moan, I sigh and I am panting. ¹⁵ I will devastate the mountains and hills and dry up all their greenery, I will turn the rivers into islands and I will dry up the lakes. ¹⁶ I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, I will guide them along paths they have not known; I will turn darkness into light before them and the rough places into level ground. These are the words I will fulfill; I will not fail. ¹⁷ They will be thrown back and put to shame, those who trust in idols, who say to molten images, "You are our gods."« ¹⁸ Deaf people, hear; blind people, open your eyes to see. ¹⁹ Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like my messenger whom I send? Who is blind like the one I befriended, blind like the servant of the Lord? ²⁰ You saw many things and retained nothing; he had his ears open and heard nothing. ²¹ The Lord, because of his justice, has deigned to give a great and magnificent law. ²² And so this people is plundered and stripped bare. They have all been chained in caves, locked in dungeons, they are being pillaged and no one is freeing them, stripped bare and no one is saying, "Give back."« ²³ Who among you will lend an ear to these things, pay attention, and listen from now on? ²⁴ Who gave Jacob up to plunder and Israel to plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, whose ways they would not follow and whose law they would not obey? ²⁵ He poured out upon them the fire of his wrath and the furies of war; it ignited all around him and he did not understand, it consumed him and he did not notice.

Isaiah 43

¹ And now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. ² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not sweep you away; when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flame will not set you ablaze. ³ For I, the Lord, am your God, the Holy One of Israel is your Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. ⁴ Because you are precious in my eyes, honorable, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in exchange for your life. ⁵ Do not be afraid, for I am with you; from the east I will bring your descendants back, and from the west I will gather you. ⁶ I will say to the north, «Give them up,» and to the south, «Do not hold them back. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth, ⁷ all those who bear my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and whom I made. ⁸ "Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf people who have ears."» ⁹ Let all the nations gather together and let the peoples assemble. Which of them has foretold these things and declared to us the ancient prophecies? Let them bring forth their witnesses and prove themselves, so that they may be heard and it may be said, «It is true.» ¹⁰ You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may acknowledge and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. ¹¹ I am the Lord, and there is no savior besides me. ¹² It is I who announced, who saved, who foretold; it is not a foreign god among you, and you are my witnesses, declares the Lord. I am God., ¹³ From now on I am also under his control, and there is no one who can deliver me from my hand; I will act, and who can stop it? ¹⁴ Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: Because of you, I have sent against Babylon and I am making them all go down as fugitives, the Chaldeans, on the ships of which they are so proud. ¹⁵ I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your king. ¹⁶ Thus says the Lord, who opened a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, ¹⁷ who put chariots and horses into the field, army and valiant warriors, all together they lay down never to rise again, they were smothered, they were extinguished like a wick. ¹⁸ Forget about past events and stop dwelling on things of the past. ¹⁹ Behold, I am about to do a marvelous new thing; it is about to spring forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert land. ²⁰ The beasts of the field will glorify me, the jackals and the ostriches. For I will provide water in the desert and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen ones, ²¹ the people I have formed for myself, who will proclaim my praise. ²² However, you did not call upon me, O Jacob, nor did you concern yourself with me, O Israel. ²³ You have not offered me the sheep of your burnt offerings, nor have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor have I wearied you with incense. ²⁴ You did not buy me sweet cane with money, nor did you satisfy me with the fat of your victims, but you yourself have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities. ²⁵ It is I, it is I who erase your faults for love of me, and I will remember your sins no more. ²⁶ Awaken my memories, let us plead together, speak for yourself to justify yourself. ²⁷ Your first father sinned, and those who interpreted my law to you were faithless to me. ²⁸ That is why I have degraded the princes of the sanctuary, I have given Jacob over to destruction and Israel to insults.

Isaiah 44

¹ And now listen, Jacob, my servant, and you, Israel, whom I have chosen. ² Thus says the Lord, who made you, who formed you from the womb and helped you: Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. ³ For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants. ⁴ And they will grow among the greenery, like willows by flowing streams. ⁵ One will say, "I belong to the Lord," another will call himself Jacob, and yet another will write on his hand, "The Lord's," and take the name Israel. ⁶ Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last and there is no God besides me. ⁷ Who is like me, let him speak, let him declare, let him show me, since I founded humanity in ancient times? Let them announce the future and what is to come. ⁸ Do not be afraid or discouraged. Have I not long ago told you and announced it to you? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? There is no other Rock; I know of none. ⁹ The idol makers are all nothing but nothing and their masterpieces are useless; their witnesses, to their shame, see nothing and understand nothing. ¹⁰ Who created a god, who cast an idol, only to derive no benefit from it? ¹¹ Behold, all his worshipers will be put to shame, and the workers are but men. Let them all assemble, let them come forward. They will tremble and be put to shame together. ¹² The ironworker works with the chisel, he passes his work through the burning coals, he shapes it with the hammer, he works it with a strong arm. However, he is hungry and thus weak, he drinks no water and thus exhausted. ¹³ The woodworker stretches the string, he traces the shape with the pencil, shapes it with the chisel, measures it with the compass, he makes a figure of a man, the beautiful human figure, so that it may fit into a house. ¹⁴ A man goes to cut down cedars, he takes sessile oaks and oaks, he makes a choice among the trees of the forest, or he plants cedars and the rain makes them grow. ¹⁵ Man uses this wood for burning, he takes it to heat himself, he also lights it to bake his bread, he also makes a god of it and worships it, he makes an idol of it and he prostrates himself before it. ¹⁶ He burned half of it in the fire, and with the other half, he prepared his meat, cooked his roast, and ate his fill. He also warmed himself and said, "Ah, ah, I'm getting warm, I can feel the flame."» ¹⁷ From what remains, he makes his god, his idol, which he worships, prostrating himself before it, and praying, saying, "Deliver me, for you are my God."« ¹⁸ They do not know, they do not hear, because their eyes are covered so they cannot see and their hearts so they cannot understand. ¹⁹ And he doesn't look inward; he lacks the intelligence and common sense to say to himself: "I burned half of it in the fire, I also baked bread on the coals, I roasted meat and ate it, and with the rest I would commit an abomination, I would bow down before a tree trunk."« ²⁰ He feeds on ashes; his deluded heart leads him astray. He will not save his soul, nor will he say, "Is not what is in my hand a lie?"« ²¹ Remember these things, O Jacob, O Israel, for you are my servant, I have formed you for my servant, O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. ²² I have wiped away your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like a mist: return to me, for I have redeemed you. ²³ Sing for joy, you heavens, for the Lord has done this. Resound, you depths of the earth. Burst into joy, you mountains and forests, with all your trees, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob and revealed his glory in Israel. ²⁴ Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, who formed you from the womb: I am the Lord, who made all things, I alone stretched out the heavens, and established the earth: who was with me? ²⁵ I thwart the predictions of false prophets and make soothsayers rumble; I make the wise retreat and turn their knowledge into folly. ²⁶ I fulfill the word of my servant and carry out the counsel of my messengers; I say of Jerusalem, «Let it be inhabited,» and of the cities of Judah, «Let them be rebuilt; I will raise up their ruins.» ²⁷ I say to the abyss, «Dry up, I will dry up your rivers.» ²⁸ I say of Cyrus, «He is my shepherd; he will accomplish all my will, saying to Jerusalem, »Be rebuilt,’ and to the temple, ‘Be founded.’”

Isaiah 45

¹ Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him so that entrances may not be shut: ² I will go before you, I will make the rough paths straight, I will break down the gates of bronze and I will cut through the bars of iron. ³ I will give you the hidden treasures and the buried riches, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who has called you by your name. ⁴ For the sake of Jacob my servant and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name, I have designated you when you did not know me. ⁵ I am the Lord and there is no other; besides me there is no God. I armed you when you did not know me, ⁶ so that from the rising of the sun to its setting people may know that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other., ⁷ I form the light and create darkness, I bring peace and create disaster: I, the Lord, do all these things. ⁸ Heavens, pour down your dew from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness. Let the earth open up and bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up with it. I, the Lord, create these things. ⁹ Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, a vessel among earthen vessels. Will the clay say to him who fashions it, «What are you making?» Will your work say, «He has no hands?» ¹⁰ Woe to him who says to a father, "Why do you beget?" and to a woman, "Why do you give birth?"« ¹¹ Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel and the one who formed him: «Will you dare to question me about the future, to command me concerning my children and the work of my hands? ¹² It is I who made the earth and created man on it, it is I whose hands stretched out the heavens, I who command all their army. ¹³ It is I who have raised him up in my righteousness and I make all his ways straight. He is the one who will rebuild my city and set my captives free, without ransom or reward, says the Lord of hosts. ¹⁴ Thus says the Lord: The gains of Egypt and the profits of Ethiopia and the Sabeans of great stature shall come to you and be yours; they shall follow you, they shall pass by in chains and bow down before you, they shall say to you in supplication: «There is no God except with you and there is no other, no other God whatsoever.» ¹⁵ In truth, you are a hidden God, God of Israel, O Savior. ¹⁶ They are all ashamed and confused, they go away confused, the idol makers. ¹⁷ Israel is saved by the Lord with an eternal salvation; you will have neither shame nor confusion in the ages to come. ¹⁸ For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, he, the God who fashioned the earth, who perfected and established it, who did not make it a wasteland, but fashioned it to be inhabited: I am the Lord and there is no other. ¹⁹ I have not spoken in secret, in some dark place of the earth. I have not said to the descendants of Jacob, «Seek me in vain.» I, the Lord, speak what is right; I declare the truth. ²⁰ Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together, you survivors of the nations. They know nothing, those who carry their wooden idols and invoke a god who does not save. ²¹ Call them, bring them near, and let them consult together. Who has proclaimed these things from the beginning and declared them long ago? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no God besides me, I, the righteous God, and there is no savior besides me. ²² Turn to me and you will be saved, all you inhabitants of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. ²³ I have sworn by myself, from my mouth comes the truth, a word which shall not be revoked: Every knee shall bow before me and every tongue shall swear allegiance to me. ²⁴ «In the Lord alone,» they will say of me, “do justice and strength reside.” They will come to him, but all those who were incensed against him will be put to shame. ²⁵ In the Lord all the race of Israel will be justified and glorified.

Isaiah 46

¹ Bel collapses, Nebo sinks, their images are placed on animals, beasts of burden; these idols that you carried are loaded, like a heavy burden, onto weary beasts. ² They sag, they collapse together, they cannot save the burden, they themselves go into captivity. ³ Listen to me, house of Jacob and all of you, remnant of the house of Israel, whom I have borne since your birth, whom I carried from your mother's womb. ⁴ Even to your old age I will be the same, even to your gray hairs I will sustain you. I have already done so and I will carry you again, I will sustain you, I will deliver you. ⁵ To whom will you compare me, and to whom will you make me equal? To whom will you assimilate me, that we may be alike? ⁶ They take gold from their purse and weigh silver on the scales, they hire a refiner to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship. ⁷ They carry it on their shoulder, they support it, and they place it where it is, and it stays there without moving. Even when they shout to it, it does not answer; it does not save anyone from distress. ⁸ Think about this and show yourselves men, rebels, take it to heart., ⁹ Remember the things of olden days. Yes, I am God and there is no other., ¹⁰ I am God, and there is none like me: I who from the beginning announce the end, and from ancient times things which are not yet, who say: «My purpose shall stand, and I will do all my will,» ¹¹ He who calls the eagle from the East, the man of my purpose from a distant land. I have spoken, I will accomplish; I have resolved, I will execute. ¹² Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted men, who are far from justice. ¹³ I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will give salvation to Zion, my glory to Israel.

Isaiah 47

¹ Come down, sit in the dust, virgin, daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground, without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans, for you will no longer be called delicate, voluptuous. ² Take the millstone and grind flour, remove your veil, lift up the folds of your robe, bare your legs, to cross the rivers. ³ Let your nakedness be exposed, let your shame be seen. I want revenge, I will spare no one. ⁴ Our Redeemer is called the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel.  ⁵ Sit in silence, enter into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans, for you will no longer be called the sovereign of kingdoms. ⁶ I was angry with my people, I let my inheritance be desecrated and I delivered them into your hands. You showed them no mercy, you laid your yoke heavily upon the old man. ⁷ You said, "I am sovereign forever." So you did not heed these things, you did not consider the end of all this. ⁸ And now listen to this, you voluptuary, seated in safety, you who said in your heart: "I and only I. I will never be a widow, nor bereft of my children."« ⁹ These two things will happen to you suddenly, in the same day: the loss of your children and widowhood; they will come upon you in their fullness, despite the multitude of your spells, despite the power of your enchantments. ¹⁰ You confided in your malice, saying, "No one sees me." Your wisdom and knowledge seduced you, while you said in your heart, "I am, and there is no one but me."« ¹¹ And misfortune will come upon you without you being able to avert it, calamity will fall upon you without you being able to turn it away, and ruin will come upon you suddenly without you suspecting it. ¹² So remain with your enchantments and the multitude of spells you have practiced since your youth. Perhaps you can profit from them, perhaps you will inspire terror. ¹³ You have grown weary with consultations, let them come forward and save you, those who measure the heavens, who observe the stars, who reveal at each new moon what is to befall you. ¹⁴ Behold, they have become like stubble: the fire will consume them; they will not save their lives from the power of the flame; it is not an ember to warm oneself by, nor a fire to sit before. ¹⁵ These are the ones for whom you toiled, those with whom you traded from your youth: they flee each in their own direction, there is no one to save you.

Isaiah 48

¹ Listen to this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and who came out of the spring of Judah, you who swear by the name of the Lord and who praise the God of Israel, but without sincerity or uprightness. ² For they take their name from the holy city and they rely on the God of Israel, whose name is the Lord of hosts. ³ From a long time ago, I announced the first things, they came out of my mouth, I proclaimed them, suddenly I acted and they came to pass. ⁴ Since I knew you were tough, that your neck was like an iron bar and your forehead like brass, ⁵ I told you these things long ago; I declared them to you before they happened, lest you should say, "My idol made them, my god of wood or cast iron commanded them."« ⁶ You have heard it, see, it has all been accomplished, but will you not declare it? Now I am telling you new and hidden things that you do not know. ⁷ They are created now, and not before; until this day you had not heard of them, lest you should say, «Behold, I knew it.» ⁸ You heard nothing of it, you knew nothing of it, your ear never perceived anything of it, because I knew that you are completely unfaithful, that your name is Prevaricator from your mother's womb. ⁹ For the sake of my name, I restrain my anger, and for the sake of my glory, I am patient with you, so as not to destroy you. ¹⁰ Behold, I have melted you down, but without obtaining silver, I have tested you in the crucible of affliction. ¹¹ It is for my own love, for my own love that I do it, for how could my name be profaned? I will not give my glory to another. ¹² Listen to me, Jacob, and you, Israel, whom I have called, it is I, I who am the first, I also who am the last. ¹³ It is also my hand that laid the foundation of the earth and my right hand that stretched out the heavens; it is I who call them and immediately they appear. ¹⁴ Assemble all of you and listen: who among them has announced these things? He whom the Lord loves will accomplish his will in Babel, and his arm will be against the Chaldeans. ¹⁵ I, I have spoken and I have called him, I have brought him here, and his way will be prosperous. ¹⁶ Come near to me, hear this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret, since these things have happened, I am here, and now the Lord God sends me with his Spirit. ¹⁷ Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I, the Lord your God, teach you for your good, I lead you in the way you should walk. ¹⁸ Oh, pay attention to my commandments and your peace will be like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea, ¹⁹ Your offspring will be like the sand, and the fruit of your womb like the grains of sand; his name will not be cut off or blotted out before me. ²⁰ Go out from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans with shouts of joy. Publish it, proclaim it, make it known to the ends of the earth. Say: «The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.”. ²¹ They were not thirsty in the desert where he led them; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed out.» ²² There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord.

Isaiah 49

¹ Islands, hear me, distant peoples, pay attention. The Lord called me from the womb, from my mother's womb he proclaimed my name. ² He made my mouth like a sharp sword, he sheltered me in the shadow of his hand, he made me a pointed arrow, he hid me in his quiver. ³ And he said to me, «You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.» ⁴ And I said, «In vain I have labored, uselessly, for nothing; I have spent my strength, but my right is with the Lord and my reward with my God.» ⁵ And now the Lord speaks, he who formed me from my mother's womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and to gather Israel to him. And I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is my strength. ⁶ He said, «It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will also make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.» ⁷ Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer and the Holy One of Israel, to him who is despised, abominable to the people, to the slave of tyrants: Kings shall see you and rise up, princes and they shall bow down, because of the Lord who is faithful and the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you. ⁸ Thus says the Lord: In the time of favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I have kept you and established a covenant for the people, to rebuild the land, to divide the devastated inheritances, ⁹ to say to the captives, «Come out!» and to those in darkness, «Come to the light!» They will graze along the roads, and on every hill will be their pastures., ¹⁰ They will not be hungry, they will not be thirsty, nor will the burning sand or the sun reach them. For he who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them to springs of water. ¹¹ I will make all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. ¹² Here are some who come from afar, here are some from the north and the west, and these are from the land of Sinim. ¹³ Heavens, shout for joy! Earth, tremble! Mountains, burst into song! For the Lord has comforted his people and has compassion on his afflicted. ¹⁴ Zion said, «The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.» ¹⁵ Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child she has borne? Even if mothers should forget, I will not forget you. ¹⁶ Look, I have engraved you on the palm of my hands, your walls are always before my eyes. ¹⁷ Your sons are rushing to you, those who had destroyed and devastated you are turning away from you. ¹⁸ Lift up your eyes around you and see: they are all gathering together, they are coming to you. As surely as I live, declares the Lord, you will clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and you will gird yourself with them as with a bride's sash. ¹⁹ For your ruins, your deserts, your desolate land, all this will now be too small for your inhabitants, and those who devoured you have departed. ²⁰ Then they will say in your ears, your sons, whom you were deprived of: "The space is too small for me, make room for me so that I may live there."« ²¹ And you will say in your heart: «Who bore me these? I was childless, barren, banished and rejected, and these, who raised them? Behold, I was left all alone; where were these?» ²² Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will raise my hand to the nations, and set my banner to the peoples, and they shall bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders. ²³ Kings will be your foster fathers and their princesses your nurses; they will bow down before you with their faces to the ground and lick the dust of your feet, and you will know that I am the Lord and that those who hope in me will not be put to shame. ²⁴ But will the powerful be able to wrest their prey from them, and will the righteous who have been taken captive escape? ²⁵ Thus says the Lord: Even the prey of the mighty will be snatched from him, and the prey of the violent will escape him. Your adversaries, I will fight against them, your children, I will save them. ²⁶ I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, they will be drunk with their own blood as with new wine, and all flesh will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and that your redeemer is the Mighty One of Jacob.

Isaiah 50

¹ Thus says the Lord: Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce, by which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors did I sell you to? It was because of your iniquities that you were sold, because of your sins that your mother was sent away. ² I came: why was there no one? I called: why did no one answer? Is my hand too short to deliver, or do I lack the strength to save? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn the rivers into a desert; their fish rot for lack of water and perish from thirst. ³ I clothe the heavens with darkness and cover them with sackcloth. ⁴ The Lord God has given me the tongue of a disciple, so that I may know how to strengthen the weary with a word. He awakens me morning by morning, he awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. ⁵ The Lord God opened my ear and I did not resist, I did not turn back. ⁶ I offered my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who tore out my beard, I did not hide my face from insults and spitting. ⁷ The Lord God came to my aid, therefore insult did not overcome me, therefore I set my face like a flint and I knew that I would not be put to shame. ⁸ He who vindicates me is near: who will contend against me? Let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. ⁹ The Lord God has come to my aid: who would condemn me? Ah, they will all fall to pieces like a garment, the moth will devour them. ¹⁰ Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his Servant? Whoever walks in darkness, without light, let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. ¹¹ But all of you who kindle a fire and arm yourselves with flaming arrows, go into the flames of your fire and into the midst of the arrows you have kindled. It is by my hand that these things will happen to you; you will lie down in pain.

Isaiah 51

¹ Hear me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord, consider the rock from which you were hewn and the quarry from which you were taken. ² Consider Abraham, your father, and Sarah who bore you; for I called him when he was only one, and I blessed him and multiplied him. ³ For the Lord has comforted Zion and all her ruins. He has made her wilderness an Eden and her desolate place a garden of the Lord, where joy and gladness will be found, thanksgiving and the sound of singing. ⁴ Pay attention to my voice, O my people, O my nation, give ear to me, for the law will go forth from me, and I will establish my commandment to be a light to the peoples. ⁵ My justice is near, my salvation will appear, and my arm will judge the peoples; the islands hope in me and trust in my arm. ⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look down to the earth, for the heavens will vanish like smoke and the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will perish likewise. But my salvation will last forever, and my righteousness will never fail. ⁷ Hear me, you who know justice, O people who have my law in your heart: Do not fear the insults of men and do not be dismayed by their insults. ⁸ For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the moth will tear them apart like wool. But my righteousness will endure forever, and my salvation to all ages. ⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the Lord. Awake as in days of old, as in ages of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced the monster? ¹⁰ Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a way out of the depths of the sea, to bring the redeemed through? ¹¹ So the redeemed of the Lord will return, they will come to Zion with shouts of joy, eternal gladness will crown their heads, joy and gladness will fill them, sorrow and sighing will flee away. ¹² It is I, it is I who comfort you. Who are you to fear a mortal man, a son of man who passes away like grass?, ¹³ To forget the Lord, your Creator, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and to tremble perpetually, all day long, before the fury of the tyrant, when he prepares to destroy you? And where is the fury of the tyrant? ¹⁴ Soon the one who is bent will be freed; he will not die in the pit, nor will he lack his bread. ¹⁵ I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar; the Lord of hosts is his name. ¹⁶ I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand, to plant heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and to say to Zion, «You are my people.» ¹⁷ Awake, awake, rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, you who have drunk, you have emptied the chalice of staggering. ¹⁸ Not one of the sons she bore guided her. Not one of the sons she raised took her hand. ¹⁹ These two misfortunes have struck you: who will speak words of pity to you? Devastation and ruin, famine and the sword—how can I comfort you? ²⁰ Your sons, exhausted from strength, lie at the corner of every street, like an antelope in the hunter's net, drunk with the fury of the Lord, with the threat of your God. ²¹ Therefore, hear this, you unhappy woman, intoxicated, but not with wine. ²² Thus says your Lord God, your God, who defends his people: Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, the chalice of my anger; you shall drink them no more. ²³ I will put them in the hand of your persecutors, those who said to you, "Bow down, let us pass by." And you made your back like the ground, like a street for passersby.

Isaiah 52

¹ Awake, awake, put on your strength, Zion. Put on your festive garments, Jerusalem, holy city. For the uncircumcised and the impure will no longer enter you. ² Shake off your dust, rise up, sit down, Jerusalem, loose the chains from your neck, captive, daughter of Zion. ³ For thus says the Lord: You were sold for nothing and without money you shall be redeemed. ⁴ For thus says the Lord God: My people once went down to Egypt to sojourn there, and then Assyria oppressed them without cause. ⁵ And now what have I to do here? Oracle of the Lord, since my people have been taken away without right? Their tyrants howl, oracle of the Lord, and continually, all day long, my name is insulted. ⁶ Therefore my people will know my name; yes, they will know on that day that it is I who say, «Here I am.» ⁷ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news of peace, who proclaims happiness, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, «Your God reigns!» ⁸ The voice of your watchmen. They raise their voices, they shout together for joy, for they see with their eyes the return of the Lord to Zion. ⁹ Break forth together in shouts of joy, ruins of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. ¹⁰ The Lord has bared his holy arm, in the sight of all nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. ¹¹ Depart, depart, go out from there, touch nothing unclean. Go out from the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. ¹² For you shall not go out in haste, nor shall you flee away, for the Lord goes before you, and the God of Israel is your rearguard. ¹³ Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall increase, he shall be exalted, and highly exalted. ¹⁴ Just as many were astonished to see him, so disfigured was he, his appearance no longer that of a man, nor his face that of the children of men, ¹⁵ Thus he will cause many nations to tremble. Before him kings will shut their mouths, for they will see what they had not been told, and they will understand what they had not heard.

Isaiah 53

¹ Who has believed what we have heard, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? ² He grew up before him like a frail sapling, like a shoot out of dry ground; he had no form or beauty to attract us to him, no appearance to excite our love. ³ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with pain, like an object from which one veils one's face, held in contempt, we did not value him. ⁴ Truly, it was our illnesses he bore and our pains he took upon himself, and we looked upon him as one punished, struck down by God and humiliated. ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. ⁶ We were all like sheep going astray, each of us following our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. ⁷ He was mistreated, yet he submitted and did not open his mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter, and like a sheep before its shearers is silent, he did not open his mouth. ⁸ He was taken away by oppression and judgment, and among his contemporaries, who thought that he was cut off from the land of the living, that the plague struck him because of the sins of my people? ⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and in his death he was with the rich, although he had done no wrong and there was no deceit in his mouth. ¹⁰ It pleased the Lord to crush him with suffering, but when his soul has offered the atoning sacrifice, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the Lord's purpose will prosper in his hands. ¹¹ Because of the sufferings of his soul, he will see and be satisfied. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify many, and he himself will bear their iniquities. ¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong. Because he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors, and he himself bore the iniquity of many, and he will intercede for sinners.

Isaiah 54

¹ Shout for joy, barren woman, who did not bear children; burst into joy and gladness, you who were not in labor, for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than the children of her who had a husband, says the Lord. ² Enlarge the space of the tent, let the curtains of your dwelling be spread out, do not restrain them, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. ³ For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will take possession of the nations and populate the desolate cities. ⁴ Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be ashamed, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth and you will no longer remember the reproach of your widowhood. ⁵ For your husband is your Creator, the Lord of hosts is his name, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, he is called the God of all the earth. ⁶ For like a wife forsaken and grieved, the Lord calls you back like a wife from one's youth who has been rejected, says your God. ⁷ For a moment, I abandoned you, but with great mercy I gather you together again. ⁸ In a fit of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting love I have compassion on you, says your Redeemer, the Lord. ⁹ It will be for me like the waters of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth: so I swore that I would not be angry with you anymore, nor would I threaten you. ¹⁰ Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. ¹¹ Unhappy, storm-battered, without consolation, behold, I will lay your stones in antimony and I will found you on sapphires, ¹² I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of carbuncles, and your entire enclosure of precious stones. ¹³ All your sons will be disciples of the Lord, your sons will enjoy great peace. ¹⁴ You will be established in justice, and anguish will be far from you, for you have nothing to fear; terror will not come near you. ¹⁵ If a league is formed, it will not originate with me; who has conspired against you? He will fall before you. ¹⁶ Behold, I created the blacksmith, who blows on the burning coals and takes from them the weapon he must work on, and it is I who created the destroyer to destroy it. ¹⁷ No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that rises to contend with you. This is the heritage of the children of the Lord, and this is their righteousness from me, declares the Lord.

Isaiah 55

¹ O all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; you who have no money, come, buy grain and eat; come, buy wine and milk without money and without giving anything in exchange. ² Why spend money on what is not bread, your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to me then, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight in succulent fare. ³ Give ear and come to me, listen and let your soul live, and I will make an eternal covenant with you, granting you the sure graces of David. ⁴ Behold, I have appointed him as a witness to the peoples, a prince and ruler of the peoples. ⁵ Behold, you will call the nation you did not know, and the nations that did not know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. ⁶ Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake their ways and the criminal their thoughts; let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, to our God, for he freely pardons. ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. ⁹ As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰ Just as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, without watering the earth and making it sprout, without giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, ¹¹ So it is with my word that goes out from my mouth: it does not return to me empty, but it accomplishes what I intended and achieves the purpose for which I sent it. ¹² For you will go out full of joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst forth with joy at your sight, and all the trees of the field will applaud. ¹³ Instead of the thornbush, the cypress will rise, and instead of the brier, the myrtle will grow; this will be for the Lord an honor, an everlasting monument that will not be destroyed.

Isaiah 56

¹ Thus says the Lord: Observe justice and practice what is right, for my salvation is near and my righteousness will soon be revealed. ² Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who follows it, keeping the Sabbath without profaning it, and keeping his hand from doing any harm. ³ Let not the foreigner's son, who is devoted to the Lord, say, "The Lord will surely exclude me from his people," and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree."« ⁴ For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: To those who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what is pleasing to me, and who hold fast to my covenant, ⁵ I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name, better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, which will not perish. ⁶ And the foreigners, who have joined themselves to the Lord, to serve him and to love his name, to be his servants, all those who keep the Sabbath, without profaning it, and who hold fast to my covenant, ⁷ I will bring them to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all your peoples., ⁸ the oracle of the Lord God, who gathers the exiles of Israel. I will gather still others to him, along with those already gathered. ⁹ All you animals of the fields, come and devour, and all you beasts of the forest too. ¹⁰ Israel's guardians are all blind, they know nothing, they are all mute dogs, who cannot bark, they dream, they lie down, they love to sleep. ¹¹ They are ravenous dogs, they never know when to stop eating. And they are shepherds, they understand nothing. They all follow their own path, each according to their own gain, from the first to the last. ¹² «"Come, I'll get some wine and we'll fill ourselves with strong liquor, and tomorrow will be like today, a great, very great day of joy."»

Isaiah 57

¹ However, the righteous disappear and no one takes it to heart; the pious are taken away and no one notices that the righteous have been removed from misfortune. ² and that he enters into peace. Those who have followed the right path rest in their beds. ³ But you, come here, son of the sorceress, offspring of adulterers and prostitutes. ⁴ Who are you mocking? Against whom do you open your mouth and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of corruption, a race of lies? ⁵ You warm yourselves near sacred trees, under every green tree. You slaughter children in the valleys, under the caves in the rocks? ⁶ Your portion is among the smooth stones of the brook; there, there is your lot. You have even poured libations for them, presented them with offerings. Can I be satisfied with that? ⁷ On a high and lofty mountain you have made your bed. And it is there that you go up to make sacrifices. ⁸ Behind the door and the posts, you have placed your memorial, for, far from me, you uncover your bed, you climb onto it, you widen your bed and you set your wages for them, you love their embraces, you defile your gaze. ⁹ You present yourself before the king with oil, you multiply your perfumes, you send messengers far away, you humble yourself to Sheol. ¹⁰ Through your efforts, you tire yourself out, but you don't say, "It's in vain." You still find strength in your hand, which is why you don't feel sick. ¹¹ And whom do you fear? Who are you afraid of, that you will be unfaithful to me, that you will no longer remember me, that you will not care about me? Have I not been silent for a long time, while you did not fear me? ¹² I will proclaim your righteousness and your works which do you no good. ¹³ When you cry out, let them deliver you, your many gods. The wind will carry them all away, a breath will sweep them off. But he who trusts in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain. ¹⁴ And they will say: Clear the way, clear the path, make it straight. Remove every obstacle from the way of my people. ¹⁵ For thus says the Most High, who dwells in an eternal dwelling and is called the Holy One: I dwell in a high and holy place and at the same time with the contrite and humble man, to give life to the spirit of the humble, to give life to the contrite hearts. ¹⁶ For I do not want to contend forever, nor hold eternal anger, for before me would fall the mind and the souls that I have made. ¹⁷ Because of his sinful lust, I became angry and, remaining hidden, I struck him in my wrath, and he, rebellious, followed the way of his own heart. ¹⁸ I have seen his ways and I will heal him; I will be his guide and I will give him comfort, and his afflicted. ¹⁹ He who creates praise on the lips says: «Peace, peace, to those who are far and to those who are near, says the Lord, and I will heal them.» ²⁰ But the wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot calm down and whose waves roll with mud and silt. ²¹ There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.

Isaiah 58

¹ Cry out with all your might, do not hold back, raise your voice like a trumpet and denounce to my people their sin, to the house of Jacob their iniquities. ² They seek me daily and want to know my ways, like a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the commandment of its God. They ask me for just judgments; they want God to draw near. ³ «What good is it for us to fast, if you do not see it, or to humble ourselves, if you do not take heed?» On the day of your fast, you conduct your business and urge all your employees to work. ⁴ Behold, it is in quarreling and fighting that you fast, even to the point of striking your fists wickedly. You do not fast today, so that you may make your voice heard on high. ⁵ Is this the kind of fasting I desire? Is this a day for a man to humble himself? To bow one's head like a reed, to lie in sackcloth and ashes: is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? ⁶ Is not this the fast I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice, to untie the knots of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, to break every kind of yoke? ⁷ Is it not about breaking your bread with the hungry, taking in the homeless poor, and covering the naked when you see them, and not turning away from your own flesh? ⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly spring up; your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rearguard. ⁹ Then you will call and the Lord will answer; you will cry out and he will say, «Here I am.» If you remove from your midst the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and slanderous speech, ¹⁰ If you give your food to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, your light will rise in the darkness and your gloom will shine like midday. ¹¹ And the Lord will guide you forever; he will satisfy your soul in parched places. He will give strength to your bones; you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring of living water that never fails. ¹² Your children will rebuild your ancient ruins, you will raise up foundations laid in the ages of old, you will be called the repairer of breaches, the restorer of roads, to make the land habitable. ¹³ If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath underfoot, by attending to your own affairs on my holy day, and if you call the Sabbath a delight, venerable is the holy day of the Lord, and honor it by not pursuing your own ways, by not engaging in your own affairs or in idle talk, ¹⁴ Then you will find your delight in the Lord, and I will carry you off as in triumph to the heights of the land, and I will make you enjoy the inheritance of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 59

¹ Behold, the hand of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. ² But your iniquities have put a separation between you and your God; your sins have made him hide his face from you, so that he does not hear you. ³ For your hands are stained with blood and your fingers with iniquity, your lips speak lies, your tongue utters perverse speech. ⁴ No one brings a just complaint, no one pleads according to the truth; falsehoods are relied upon and lies are invoked, evil is conceived and crime is born. ⁵ They incubate basilisk eggs and weave spider webs; whoever eats their eggs will die, and if one is crushed, a viper will emerge. ⁶ Their fabrics cannot be used as clothing and one cannot cover oneself with their work; their works are criminal works, a work of violence is in their hands. ⁷ Their feet run towards evil and hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of crime; devastation and ruin are in their path. ⁸ They do not know the path of peace, and there is no straightness in their ways; they make crooked paths for themselves: whoever walks in them does not know peace. ⁹ That is why judgment has departed from us and justice has not come to us; we look for light, but behold, darkness; for the brightness of day, but we walk in darkness. ¹⁰ We grope like blind people along a wall, we grope like people without eyes, we stumble at midday as at dusk, in the midst of vigorous men, we are like the dead. ¹¹ We all growl like bears, like doves, we never stop moaning, we await judgment and it does not come, salvation and it remains far from us. ¹² For our transgressions are many before you, and our sins testify against us; yes, our transgressions are clearly evident to us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: ¹³ To be unfaithful and to deny the Lord, to withdraw from our God, to utter violence and rebellion, to conceive and utter false words from our hearts. ¹⁴ And justice has withdrawn and righteousness stands far from us, for truth stumbles in the public square and righteousness cannot enter it., ¹⁵ Truth has vanished, and whoever turns away from evil is plundered. The Lord has seen it, and it displeases him that there is no more righteousness. ¹⁶ He saw that there was no one there and was astonished that no one intervened. So his arm came to his aid and his justice was his support. ¹⁷ He put on justice as a breastplate and the helmet of salvation on his head; he took on vengeance as his garment and wrapped himself in jealousy as in a cloak. ¹⁸ As the deeds, so the retribution: fury against his adversaries, reprisals against his enemies, he will use reprisals against the islands. ¹⁹ And they will fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun, for he will come like a narrowed river, rushed by the breath of the Lord. ²⁰ He will come as Redeemer for Zion, for those in Jacob who will repent of their iniquities, declares the Lord. ²¹ And I, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord: My spirit which is upon you and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not cease to be in your mouth and in the mouth of your children and in the mouth of your children's children, says the Lord, from now on and forever.

Isaiah 60

¹ Arise and shine, for your light has appeared and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. ² For darkness covers the earth and thick darkness the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears upon you. ³ Nations walk towards your light, and kings towards the brightness of your dawn. ⁴ Lift up your eyes around you and see: They all gather together, they come to you, your sons come from afar and your daughters are carried on their arms. ⁵ Then you will see it and you will be radiant, your heart will thrill and swell with joy, for the riches of the sea will come to you, the treasures of the nations will come to you. ⁶ Multitudes of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all those from Sheba will come, they will bring gold and frankincense and proclaim the praises of the Lord. ⁷ All the flocks of Cedar will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you, they will come up on my altar as a pleasing offering, and I will glorify the house of my glory. ⁸ Who are these that fly like clouds, like doves to their dovecote? ⁹ For the islands will wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar, with their silver and gold, to honor the name of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you. ¹⁰ Foreigners will rebuild your walls and their kings will be your servants, for I struck you in my anger, but in my favor I had compassion on you. ¹¹ Your gates will always be open, day and night; they will never be shut, so that the treasures of the nations and their kings may be brought into you in triumphal procession. ¹² For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve you will perish; those nations will be utterly destroyed. ¹³ The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the cypress, the plane tree and the box tree all together, to adorn the place of my sanctuary, and I will glorify the place where my feet rest. ¹⁴ The sons of your oppressors will come to you with bowed heads, and all who despised you will prostrate themselves at your feet, and you will be called the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵ Instead of you being neglected, hated and lonely, I will make you the pride of the ages, the joy of all generations. ¹⁶ You will suckle the milk of nations, you will gorge yourself on the riches of kings, and you will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and that the Mighty One of Jacob is your Redeemer. ¹⁷ Instead of bronze, I will bring gold, and instead of iron, I will bring silver, and instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron; and I will give you peace as rulers, and justice as magistrates. ¹⁸ Violence will no longer be heard in your land, nor devastation or ruin within your borders; you will call your walls: Salvation and your gates: Praise. ¹⁹ The sun will no longer be your light by day, nor will the moonlight shine on you, but the Lord will be your eternal light, and your God will be your glory. ²⁰ Your sun will never set again, and your moon will never wane, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning will be over. ²¹ In your people, all will be righteous and they will possess the land forever, they, the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, created for my glory. ²² The smallest will become a thousand, and the least a mighty nation. I, the Lord, will hasten these things in their time.

Isaiah 61

¹ The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, ² to proclaim a year of favor to the Lord and a day of vengeance to our God, to comfort all who mourn, ³ to bring to the afflicted of Zion and to clothe them with a diadem instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a garment of celebration instead of a faint spirit; they shall be called holy trees of righteousness, plantings of the Lord for his glory. ⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins, they will raise up the rubble of the past, they will restore the destroyed cities, the ruins of ages gone by. ⁵ Foreigners will be there to tend your flocks, and foreigners will be your farmers and vinedressers. ⁶ But you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named «ministers of our God.» You will eat the wealth of the nations and adorn yourselves with their splendor. ⁷ Instead of your shame, you will have a double portion, and instead of disgrace, they will rejoice in their inheritance; they will possess a double portion in their land, and there will be eternal joy for them. ⁸ For I, the Lord, love justice, I hate plunder done by treachery; I will faithfully pay them their reward and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. ⁹ Their descendants will be renowned among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them will acknowledge that they are a race blessed by the Lord. ¹⁰I will be filled with gladness in the Lord and my heart will rejoice in my God, because he has clothed me with the garments of salvation and covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head with a diadem, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. ¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its shoots and as a garden causes its seeds to sprout, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all nations.

Isaiah 62

¹ For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness breaks forth like the dawn and her salvation shines like a torch. ² The nations will see your righteousness and all kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will choose. ³ You will be a crown of honor in the hand of the Lord, a royal tiara in the hand of our God. ⁴ You will no longer be called Forsaken, nor will your land be called Desolate. But you will be called My-Delight-in-Her and your land Married, for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will have a husband. ⁵ As a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bridegroom, so your God will rejoice over you. ⁶ On your walls, Jerusalem, I have placed watchmen; they will never be silent, day or night. O you who remember the Lord, do not rest, ⁷ and give him no rest until he restores Jerusalem and makes it the praise of the earth. ⁸ The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: I will no longer give your wheat as food to your enemies, and foreigners will no longer drink your wine, the fruit of your labors. ⁹ But those who have reaped the harvest will eat it and praise the Lord, and those who have gathered the vintage will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary. ¹⁰ Go through, go through the gates, make straight the way for the people. Clear, clear the road, remove the stones, raise a banner over the peoples. ¹¹ This is what the Lord has proclaimed to the ends of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, «Behold, your Savior is coming; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense precedes him.» ¹² And they will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord, and you will be called Sought After, the City Not Forsaken.

Isaiah 63

¹ Who is this who comes from Edom, from Bozrah, in scarlet robes? He is magnificent in his clothing, he strides forward in the greatness of his strength. It is I, who speak in righteousness and am mighty to save. ² Why is there red on your garment and are your clothes like those of the presser? ³ I trod the winepress alone, and among the peoples no one was with me. And I trampled them in my anger, trampled them in my fury; their juice splashed on my garments, and I soiled all my clothing. ⁴ For a day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption had come. ⁵ I looked around and there was no one to help me, I was astonished and there was no one to support me. So my arm saved me and my fury sustained me. ⁶ I crushed the peoples in my anger, I intoxicated them with my fury, and I made their blood flow on the ground.» ⁷ I will celebrate the mercies of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has done for us, and his great goodness to the house of Israel, which he has shown them in his compassion and his immense mercy. ⁸ He said, "Yes, they are my people, sons who will not be unfaithful," and he became their savior. ⁹ In all their distress he was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and compassion he redeemed them; he sustained and carried them all the days of old. ¹⁰ But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit, so he turned himself into an enemy to them and waged war against them. ¹¹ Then his people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is he who brought up the shepherd of his flock from the sea? Where is he who placed his Holy Spirit among them?, ¹² who led his glorious arm to the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them, to make for himself an everlasting name, ¹³ which made them walk through the abyss, without stumbling, like a horse in the steppe, ¹⁴ like cattle going down into the valley? The Spirit of the Lord led them to rest: this is how you guided your people, to make a glorious name for yourselves. ¹⁵ Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and magnificent dwelling: Where are your zeal and your power, the yearning of your heart and your compassion? For me, they have ceased. ¹⁶ For you are our father, for Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, the Lord, are our father, our Redeemer: this is your name from of old. ¹⁷ Why, O Lord, would you make us wander from your ways, would you harden our hearts against your fear? Return, for the sake of your servants and the tribes of your inheritance. ¹⁸ Your holy people possessed the land for a very short time; our enemies trampled your sanctuary underfoot. ¹⁹ We have long been like a people you do not rule, over whom your name is not invoked. Oh, if you would rend the heavens, if you would come down, the mountains would tremble before you.

Isaiah 64

¹ like a fire that kindles dry wood, like a fire that makes water boil, to reveal your name to your adversaries, so that the nations tremble before you, ² By doing terrible, unexpected things, you would descend, the mountains would tremble before you. ³ of which no one had ever heard. No one has ever heard, no eye has seen a God other than you act thus for those who hope in him. ⁴ You come to meet those who joyfully do what is right, those who walk in your ways and remember you. Behold, you were angry and we were guilty, and this has been so for a long time: shall we be saved? ⁵ We were all like an unclean man, and all our righteous acts were like filthy rags. We all faded like a leaf, and our iniquities swept us away like the wind. ⁶ There was no one who called on your name, who awoke to cling to you. For you had hidden your face from us and you let us perish in our iniquities. ⁷ And now, O Lord, you are our father, we are the clay and you are the one who formed us, we are all the work of your hand. ⁸ Do not be extremely angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Look then: we are all your people. ⁹ Your holy cities have become a desert, Zion has become a desert, Jerusalem a desolate place. ¹⁰ Our holy and glorious house, where our fathers celebrated your praises, has become prey to the flames and all that was dear to us has been devastated. ¹¹ In the face of these evils, will you restrain yourself, O Lord? Will you remain silent and afflict us excessively?

Isaiah 65

¹ I let myself be sought by those who did not ask for me, I let myself be found by those who did not seek me, I said: "Here I am, here I am." to a nation that did not bear my name. ² All day long I stretched out my hands toward a rebellious people, toward those who walk in the evil way, according to their own thoughts, ³ towards a people who provoked me, facing me, constantly, sacrificing in the gardens, burning incense on bricks, ⁴ staying in tombs and spending the night in hiding places, eating pork and unclean foods in their dishes, ⁵ saying, «Get away. Do not come near me, for I am holy to you.» Those are like smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns continually. ⁶ Behold, it is written before me: I will not remain silent until I have repaid, repaid within their midst ⁷ your iniquities, with the iniquities of your fathers, says the Lord, who burned incense on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure out to them in their bosom the wages of their former conduct. ⁸ Thus says the Lord: Just as, finding juice in a bunch of grapes, one says, «Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,» so shall I act for the sake of my servants, so that I will not destroy everything. ⁹ I will bring forth offspring from Jacob and from Judah an heir of my mountains; my chosen ones will possess them, and my servants will dwell there. ¹⁰ And Sharon will serve as a sheepfold and the valley of Achor as a pasture for cattle, for my people who have sought me. ¹¹ But you who have forsaken the Lord, forgotten my holy mountain, who set a table for Gad and fill a bowl for Meni, ¹² I destine you for the sword, and you will all bow down to be slaughtered. For I called, and you did not answer; I spoke, and you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my sight and chose what I did not want. ¹³ Therefore this is what the Lord God says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you will be ashamed.”, ¹⁴ Behold, my servants will sing with joy in their hearts, and you will cry out in the pain of your hearts and howl in the anguish of your spirits., ¹⁵ And you will leave your name as a curse to my chosen ones, and the Lord God will cause you to perish, but he will call his servants by another name. ¹⁶ Whoever wishes to be blessed on earth will wish to be blessed by the God of truth, and whoever swears an oath on earth will swear by the God of truth. For the previous anxieties will be forgotten and will have vanished from my sight. ¹⁷ For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered, nor shall they come to mind. ¹⁸ Rather, rejoice and be ever glad in what I am creating: for behold, I am creating Jerusalem for joy and its people for gladness. ¹⁹ And I will rejoice over Jerusalem and be glad over my people. And the sound of weeping and the cry of anguish will no longer be heard in it. ²⁰ There will no longer be any child born for a few days, nor any old man who does not fulfill the number of his days, for to die a hundred years old will be to die young, and it is at a hundred years that the curse will reach the sinner. ²¹ They will build houses and live in them, they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ²² They will not build for another to inhabit, nor will they plant for another to eat. For the days of my people will be like the days of the trees, and my chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. ²³ They will no longer labor in vain, nor will they bear children for sudden death, for they will be a race blessed by the Lord, and with them their offspring. ²⁴ Before they call, I will answer; they will speak again, and I will grant their wish. ²⁵ The wolf and the lamb will graze together, the serpent will feed on dust, the lion will eat straw like the ox, and the serpent will feed on dirt. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

Isaiah 66

¹ Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool: what kind of house would you build for me, and what would be the place of my rest? ² All these things my hand made, and all these things came into being, declares the Lord. This is the one I look upon: the humble, the brokenhearted, and he trembles at my word. ³ He who slaughters an ox kills a man, he who sacrifices a sheep slaughters a dog, he who presents a grain offering offers pig's blood, he who burns incense blesses an idol. They choose their ways and their souls delight in their abominations, ⁴ I too will choose their misfortune and bring upon them what they fear, because I called and no one answered, I spoke and they did not listen, they did what was evil in my sight and they chose what displeased me. ⁵ Listen to the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word: Your brothers who hate you and reject you because of my name have said, «Let the Lord show his glory, so that we may see your joy.» But they will be put to shame. ⁶ A crash, a tumult rises from the city, a shout from the temple. It is the voice of the Lord, who repays his enemies what they deserve. ⁷ Before she went into labor, she gave birth; before the pains came to her, she brought forth a male child. ⁸ Who has ever heard of such a thing, who has ever seen anything like it? Is a country born in a day, is a nation brought forth in a single moment, that Zion, scarcely in labor, has given birth to her children? ⁹ Shall I open the womb and not bring forth? says the Lord, or shall I, who bring forth, close the womb? says your God. ¹⁰ Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourned over her, ¹¹ so that you may be nursed and filled with his comforts, so that you may enjoy with delight the fullness of his glory. ¹² For thus says the Lord: I will cause peace to flow over her like a river and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall be nursed, carried on the breast, and caressed on the knees. ¹³ As a man whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ You will see it, and your heart will rejoice, and your bones will flourish like grass. And the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, and his wrath to his enemies. ¹⁵ For behold, the Lord is coming in fire, and his chariot is like a hurricane, to pour out his wrath in blazing flames and his threats in flames of fire. ¹⁶ For the Lord executes judgment by fire and by his sword against all flesh, and many will be those whom the Lord will pierce. ¹⁷ Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following the one who stands in the middle, those who eat pork, abominable foods, and mice, will all perish together, declares the Lord., ¹⁸ I know their works and their thoughts. The time has come to gather all nations and all languages. They will come and see my glory, ¹⁹ and I will perform a wonder among them. And I will send some of their survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, to Phul and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the distant islands, who have never heard of me or seen my glory, and they will proclaim my glory among the nations. ²⁰ And they shall bring all your brothers from among all the nations, as an offering to the Lord, on horses, on chariots, in litters, on mules and camels, to my holy mountain, to Jerusalem, says the Lord, as the children of Israel bring the offering in a pure vessel to the house of the Lord. ²¹ And I will even take some of them as priests and Levites, says the Lord. ²² For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I am going to create, will remain before me, declares the Lord, so will your offspring and your name remain. ²³ From new moon to new moon and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to bow down before me, says the Lord. ²⁴ And when they go out, they will see the corpses of the men who rebelled against me, for their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched, and they will be an abomination to all flesh.