But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men who are sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will certainly deliver us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’”

Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the power of the king of Assyria?

But they kept silent; they didn’t say anything, for the king’s command was, “Don’t answer him.”

They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands—wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.

Have you not heard?
I designed it long ago;
I planned it in days gone by.
I have now brought it to pass,
and you have crushed fortified cities
into piles of rubble.

“Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow there
or come before it with a shield
or build up an assault ramp against it.

He will go back
the way he came,
and he will not enter this city.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your affairs in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”

I said: I will never see the Lord,
the Lord in the land of the living;
I will not look on humanity any longer
with the inhabitants of what is passing away.

My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
like a shepherd’s tent.
I have rolled up my life like a weaver;
He cuts me off from the loom.
You make an end of me from day until night.

I thought until the morning:
He will break all my bones like a lion;
You make an end of me day and night.

Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil—and all his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.

Zion, herald of good news,
go up on a high mountain.
Jerusalem, herald of good news,
raise your voice loudly.
Raise it, do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”

Lebanon is not enough for fuel,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.

To one who shapes a pedestal,
choosing wood that does not rot?
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not fall over.

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not considered
the foundations of the earth?

Look up and see:
who created these?
He brings out the starry host by number;
He calls all of them by name.
Because of His great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Yahweh is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never grows faint or weary;
there is no limit to His understanding.

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 faint.

The craftsman encourages the metalworker;
the one who flattens with the hammer
supports the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good.”
He fastens it with nails so that it will not fall over.

I brought you from the ends of the earth
and called you from its farthest corners.
I said to you: You are My servant;
I have chosen you and not rejected you.

Do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you; I will help you;
I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.

You will look for those who contend with you,
but you will not find them.
Those who war against you
will become absolutely nothing.

For I, Yahweh your God,
hold your right hand
and say to you: Do not fear,
I will help you.

Do not fear, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel:
I will help you—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, Yahweh, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

He will not cry out or shout
or make His voice heard in the streets.

He will not break a bruised reed,
and He will not put out a smoldering wick;
He will faithfully bring justice.

He will not grow weak or be discouraged
until He has established justice on earth.
The islands will wait for His instruction.”

I am Yahweh, that is My name;
I will not give My glory to another
or My praise to idols.

I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;
I will guide them on paths they have not known.
I will turn darkness to light in front of them
and rough places into level ground.
This is what I will do for them,
and I will not forsake them.

Though seeing many things, you do not obey.
Though his ears are open, he does not listen.”

Who gave Jacob to the robber,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord?
Have we not sinned against Him?
They were not willing to walk in His ways,
and they would not listen to His instruction.

So He poured out on Jacob His furious anger
and the power of war.
It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it;
it burned him, but he paid no attention.

Now this is what the Lord says—
the One who created you, Jacob,
and the One who formed you, Israel—
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; you are Mine.

I will be with you
when you pass through the waters,
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not overwhelm you.
You will not be scorched
when you walk through the fire,
and the flame will not burn you.

Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
and gather you from the west.

I will say to the north: Give them up!
and to the south: Do not hold them back!
Bring My sons from far away,
and My daughters from the ends of the earth—

I alone declared, saved, and proclaimed—
and not some foreign god among you.
So you are My witnesses”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“and I am God.

who brings out the chariot and horse,
the army and the mighty one together
(they lie down, they do not rise again;
they are extinguished, quenched like a wick)—

“Do not remember the past events,
pay no attention to things of old.

Look, I am about to do something new;
even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert.

“But Jacob, you have not called on Me,
because, Israel, you have become weary of Me.

You have not brought Me your sheep for burnt offerings
or honored Me with your sacrifices.
I have not burdened you with offerings
or wearied you with incense.

You have not bought Me aromatic cane with silver,
or satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices.
But you have burdened Me with your sins;
you have wearied Me with your iniquities.

This is the word of the Lord
your Maker who formed you from the womb;
He will help you:
Do not fear; Jacob is My servant;
I have chosen Jeshurun.

Do not be startled or afraid.
Have I not told you and declared it long ago?
You are my witnesses!
Is there any God but Me?
There is no other Rock; I do not know any.

All who make idols are nothing,
and what they treasure does not profit.
Their witnesses do not see or know anything,
so they will be put to shame.

Such people do not comprehend
and cannot understand,
for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see,
and their minds so they cannot understand.

The Lord says this to Cyrus, His anointed,
whose right hand I have grasped
to subdue nations before him,
to disarm kings,
to open the doors before him
and the gates will not be shut:

I call you by your name,
because of Jacob My servant
and Israel My chosen one.
I give a name to you,
though you do not know Me.

I am Yahweh, and there is no other;
there is no God but Me.
I will strengthen you,
though you do not know Me,

I have raised him up in righteousness,
and will level all roads for him.
He will rebuild My city,
and set My exiles free,
not for a price or a bribe,”
says the Lord of Hosts.

Israel will be saved by the Lord
with an everlasting salvation;
you will not be put to shame or humiliated
for all eternity.

For this is what the Lord says—
God is the Creator of the heavens.
He formed the earth and made it.
He established it;
He did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
“I am Yahweh,
and there is no other.

I have not spoken in secret,
somewhere in a land of darkness.
I did not say to the descendants of Jacob:
Seek Me in a wasteland.
I, Yahweh, speak truthfully;
I say what is right.

Speak up and present your case—
yes, let them take counsel together.
Who predicted this long ago?
Who announced it from ancient times?
Was it not I, Yahweh?
There is no other God but Me,
a righteous God and Savior;
there is no one except Me.

By Myself I have sworn;
Truth has gone from My mouth,
a word that will not be revoked:
Every knee will bow to Me,
every tongue will swear allegiance.

The gods cower; they crouch together;
they are not able to rescue the burden,
but they themselves go into captivity.

They lift it to their shoulder and bear it along;
they set it in its place, and there it stands;
it does not budge from its place.
They cry out to it but it doesn’t answer;
it saves no one from his trouble.

I declare the end from the beginning,
and from long ago what is not yet done,
saying: My plan will take place,
and I will do all My will.

I am bringing My justice near;
it is not far away,
and My salvation will not delay.
I will put salvation in Zion,
My splendor in Israel.

You said, ‘I will be the mistress forever.’
You did not take these things to heart
or think about their outcome.

But disaster will happen to you;
you will not know how to avert it.
And it will fall on you,
but you will be unable to ward it off.
Devastation will happen to you suddenly
and unexpectedly.

Look, they are like stubble;
fire burns them up.
They cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
This is not a coal for warming themselves,
or a fire to sit beside!

“Listen to this, house of Jacob—
those who are called by the name Israel
and have descended from Judah,
who swear by the name of Yahweh
and declare the God of Israel,
but not in truth or righteousness.

therefore I declared to you long ago.
I announced it to you before it occurred,
so you could not claim, ‘My idol caused them;
my carved image and cast idol control them.’

You have heard it. Observe it all.
Will you not acknowledge it?
From now on I will announce new things to you,
hidden things that you have not known.

They have been created now, and not long ago;
you have not heard of them before today,
so you could not claim, ‘I already knew them!’

You have never heard; you have never known;
For a long time your ears have not been open.
For I knew that you were very treacherous,
and were known as a rebel from birth.

I will delay My anger for the honor of My name,
and I will restrain Myself for your benefit and for My praise,
so that you will not be destroyed.

Look, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

I will act for My own sake, indeed, My own,
for how can I be defiled?
I will not give My glory to another.

Approach Me and listen to this.
From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;
from the time anything existed, I was there.”
And now the Lord God
has sent me and His Spirit.

Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand,
and the offspring of your body like its grains;
their name would not be cut off
or eliminated from My presence.

They did not thirst
when He led them through the deserts;
He made water flow for them from the rock;
He split the rock, and water gushed out.

He says,
“It is not enough for you to be My Servant
raising up the tribes of Jacob
and restoring the protected ones of Israel.
I will also make you a light for the nations,
to be My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

They will not hunger or thirst,
the scorching heat or sun will not strike them;
for their compassionate One will guide them,
and lead them to springs of water.

“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or lack compassion for the child of her womb?
Even if these forget,
yet I will not forget you.

Kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
They will bow down to you
with their faces to the ground,
and lick the dust at your feet.
Then you will know that I am Yahweh;
those who put their hope in Me
will not be put to shame.

The Lord God has opened My ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I did not turn back.

I gave My back to those who beat Me,
and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard.
I did not hide My face from scorn and spitting.

The Lord God will help Me;
therefore I have not been humiliated;
therefore I have set My face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.

Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
the people in whose heart is My instruction:
do not fear disgrace by men,
and do not be shattered by their taunts.

The prisoner is soon to be set free;
he will not die and go to the Pit,
and his food will not be lacking.

Your children have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street
like an antelope in a net.
They are full of the Lord’s fury,
the rebuke of your God.

So listen to this, afflicted
and drunken one—but not with wine.

Leave, leave, go out from there!
Do not touch anything unclean;
go out from her, purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the Lord.

For you will not leave in a hurry,
and you will not have to take flight;
because the Lord is going before you,
and the God of Israel is your rear guard.

Just as many were appalled at You—
His appearance was so disfigured
that He did not look like a man,
and His form did not resemble a human being—

so He will sprinkle many nations.
Kings will shut their mouths because of Him,
For they will see what had not been told them,
and they will understand what they had not heard.

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He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet He did not open His mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter
and like a sheep silent before her shearers,
He did not open His mouth.

They made His grave with the wicked
and with a rich man at His death,
although He had done no violence
and had not spoken deceitfully.

“Rejoice, childless one, who did not give birth;
burst into song and shout,
you who have not been in labor!
For the children of the forsaken one will be more
than the children of the married woman,”
says the Lord.

“Enlarge the site of your tent,
and let your tent curtains be stretched out;
do not hold back;
lengthen your ropes,
and drive your pegs deep.

“Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame;
don’t be humiliated, for you will not be disgraced.
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
and you will no longer remember
the disgrace of your widowhood.

“For this is like the days of Noah to Me:
when I swore that the waters of Noah
would never flood the earth again,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you
or rebuke you.

Though the mountains move
and the hills shake,
My love will not be removed from you
and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,”
says your compassionate Lord.

“Poor Jerusalem, storm-tossed, and not comforted,
I will set your stones in black mortar,
and lay your foundations in sapphires.