Loosed are thy ropes, - They cannot strengthen the socket of their mast They have not unfurled a sail Now, can be apportioned spoil, in abundance, The lame, have captured prey!

And no inhabitant [of Zion] will say, “I am sick”;
The people who dwell there will be forgiven their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing].

He says, "Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. Look, it now descends on Edom, on the people I will annihilate in judgment."

Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall be in ruins; forever and ever there will be no one who passes through her.

Its nobles—there is no one there
Whom they may proclaim king—
And all its princes will be nothing.

Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.

She shall flourish pleasantly, and be joyful, and ever be giving thanks more and more. For the glory of Lebanon, the beauty of Carmel and Sharon shall be given her. These shall know the honour of the LORD, and the majesty of our God.

There shall be foot paths and common streets: this shall be called the holy way. No unclean person shall go through it, for the LORD himself shall go with them that way, and the ignorant shall not err.

No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:

Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.

And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?

Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

Seeing now that thou canst not resist the power of the smallest prince that my LORD hath, how darest thou trust in the chariots and horsemen of Egypt?

And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

And Rabshakeh stood stiff, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' tongue, and said, "Now take heed, how the great king of the Assyrians giveth you warning!

This is what the king says: Do not be tricked by Hezekiah, for there is no salvation for you in him.

until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Give no attention to Hezekiah when he says to you, The Lord will keep us safe. Has any one of the gods of the nations kept his land from falling into the hands of the king of Assyria?

But they kept quiet and gave him no answer: for the king's order was, Give him no answer.

Then Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph's son Joah, the recorder, approached Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and let him know what the field commander had said.

They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says, ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke and disgrace; for children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

The LORD thy God, no doubt, hath well considered the words of Rabshakeh, whom his lord the king of the Assyrians hath sent, to defy and blaspheme the living God: with such words as the LORD thy God hath heard right well. And therefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that yet are left.'"

Now when Rabshakeh returned, he found the king of Assyria laying siege to Libnah; for he had understood that he was departed from Lachish.

Now he heard concerning Tirhakah the king of Cush, saying, "He has set out to fight against you." When he heard [it], he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

No doubt the story has come to your ears of what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, putting them to the curse: and will you be kept safe from their fate?

Now when Hezekiah had received the letter of the messengers, and read it; he went up into the house of the LORD, and opened the letter before the LORD.

And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.

If there be no water, I will grave and drink. And as for waters of defense, I shall dry them up with the feet of mine Host.

Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.

This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field, or a green plant; like the grass on the house-tops, which a cold wind makes waste.

But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

“This shall be the sign [of these things] to you [Hezekiah]: you are to eat this year what grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from the same, and in the third year you are to sow and harvest, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

Therefore thus sayeth the LORD, concerning the king of the Assyrians, 'He shall not come into the city, and shall shoot no arrow into it, there shall no shield hurt it, neither shall they grave about it.

And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

Behold, I will return the shadow of Ahaz's dial, that now is laid out with the Sun, and bring it ten degrees backward.'" So the Sun turned ten degrees backward, the which he was desended afore.

I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

"My Lord is against them, yet they live, and among all of them who live is his spirit. Now you have restored me to health, so let me live!

For the underworld is not able to give you praise, death gives you no honour: for those who go down into the underworld there is no hope in your mercy.

Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.

The same voice spake, "Now cry." And I said, "What shall I cry?" Then spake it, "That all flesh is grass, and that all the beauty thereof, is as the flower of the field.

Who measured the spirit of Jehovah? and will a man of his counsel make him to know?

With whom consulted He, That he causeth Him to understand? And teacheth Him in the path of judgment, And teacheth Him knowledge? And the way of understanding causeth Him to know?

All the nations are as nothing before him; even less than nothing, a thing of no value.

He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

do ye not know? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood the foundation of the earth?

He makes rulers come to nothing; the judges of the earth are of no value.

They have only now been planted, and their seed put into the earth, and they have only now taken root, when he sends out his breath over them and they become dry, and the storm-wind takes them away like dry grass.

'To whom now will ye liken me, and whom shall I be like?' sayeth the holy one.

Lift your eyes up [on] high, and see! Who created these? The one who brings out their host by number. He calls all them by name. Because [he is] great of power and mighty of power, no man is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, such words as these, O Israel, The Lord's eyes are not on my way, and my God gives no attention to my cause?

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness.

Keep silent towards Me, O isles, And the peoples pass on to power, They come nigh, then they speak, 'Together -- to judgment we draw near.'

And who pursues them and moves on unscathed by a path that his feet don't know?

The Isles saw and did fear, and ye ends of the earth were abashed, drew nigh, and came hither.

So the metal-worker put heart into the gold-worker, and he who was hammering the metal smooth said kind words to the iron-worker, saying of the plate, It is ready: and he put it together with nails, so that there might be no slipping.

Have no fear, for I am with you; do not be looking about in trouble, for I am your God; I will give you strength, yes, I will be your helper; yes, my true right hand will be your support.

Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them; the man of thy contention, the men of thy war, shall be as nothing and as no more.

For I, the Lord your God, have taken your right hand in mine, saying to you, Have no fear; I will be your helper.

Have no fear, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will be your helper, says the Lord, even he who takes up your cause, the Holy One of Israel.

Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

The poor and crushed are looking for water where no water is, and their tongue is dry for need of it: I the Lord will give ear to their prayer, I the God of Israel will not give them up.

That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

Bring near your cause, saith Jehovah, Bring nigh your mighty ones, saith the king of Jacob.

Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.

Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

But you are nothing, and your work is of no value: foolish is he who takes you for his gods.

Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.

For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counseller, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.

Truly they are all nothing, their works are nothing and of no value: their metal images are of no more use than wind.

Behold now therefore, this is my servant whom I will keep to myself: mine elect; In whom my soul shall be pacified. I will give him my spirit, that he may show forth judgment and equity among the Gentiles.

He will make no cry, his voice will not be loud: his words will not come to men's ears in the streets.

Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.

I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.

And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

Seeing much, but keeping nothing in mind; his ears are open, but there is no hearing.

And this is a people seized and spoiled, Snared in holes -- all of them, And in houses of restraint they were hidden, They have been for a prey, And there is no deliverer, A spoil, and none is saying, 'Restore.'

Who suffered Jacob to be trodden under foot, and Israel to be spoiled? Did not the LORD? Now have we sinned against him, and have had no delight to walk in his ways, neither been obedient unto his law.

Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

When you go through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not go over you: when you go through the fire, you will not be burned; and the flame will have no power over you.

Have no fear, for I am with you: I will take your seed from the east, and get you together from the west;

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.

Even from the day I am He, And there is no deliverer from My hand, I work, and who doth turn it back?

This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I will send to Babylon, and bring them all down as fugitives. Now as for the Babylonians, their ringing cry will become lamentation.

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

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

The beast of the field shall know me, the sea monster and the daughters of the ostrich: for I gave waters in the desert, rivers in the waste to give drink to my people, my chosen.

But you have made no prayer to me, O Jacob: and you have given no thought to me, O Israel.

Thou gavest me not thy young beasts for burnt offerings, neither didst honour me with thy sacrifices. Though boughtest me no dear spice with thy money, neither pourest the fat of thy sacrifices upon me. Howbeit, I have not been chargeable unto thee in offerings, neither grievous in incense.

Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.

“It is I who sweep away your transgressions
for My own sake
and remember your sins no more.

Put me now in remembrance, for we will reason together, and show what thou hast for thee, to make thee righteous.