Truly, they have become like dry stems, they have been burned in the fire; they are not able to keep themselves safe from the power of the flame: it is not a coal for warming them, or a fire by which a man may be seated.

So are to you [those with] whom you have labored, your traders from your youth. They wander, each to his side; there is no one who can save you.

Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.

For from the Holy City they have been called, And on the God of Israel been supported, Jehovah of Hosts is His name.

I have declared the former things long ago; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I caused them to be heard: I wrought suddenly, and they came to pass.

so I have long ago declared them to thee; before they came to pass I caused thee to hear them; lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, or my molten image hath commanded them.

You have heard; see it all. And will you not declare [it]? I {announce} new things to you from this time and hidden things that you have not known.

Now they are created, and not from {of old}, and before today, and you have not heard them so that you could not say, "Look! I knew them."

Neither have you heard, nor have you known, nor from {of old} has your ear been opened. For I knew you would deal treacherously, very treacherously, and you [are] called a rebel from [the] womb.

Nevertheless, for my name's sake, I have withdrawn my wrath, and for mine honour's sake I have overseen thee, so that I have not rooted thee out.

Look! I have refined you, but not like silver; I have chosen you in [the] furnace of misery.

Hearken unto me O Jacob, and Israel whom I have called. I am even he that is, I am the first and the last.

I, I myself, I have spoken! Indeed, I have called him. I have brought him, and he will be successful [in] his way.

Draw near to me; hear this! I have not spoken in secrecy from [the] {beginning}; from [the] time {it came to be}, there I [have been]; And now the Lord Yahweh has sent me and his Spirit."

O that you had listened attentively to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

And your offspring would have been like the sand, and the descendants of your {body} like its grains. It would not be cut off, and its name would not be destroyed from my presence."

And they have not thirsted in waste places, He hath caused them to go on, Waters from a rock he hath caused to flow to them, Yea, he cleaveth a rock, and flow do waters.

As for the ungodly, they have no peace, sayeth the LORD.

Give ear, O sea-lands, to me; and take note, you peoples from far: I have been marked out by the Lord from the first; when I was still in my mother's body, he had my name in mind:

But I myself said, "I have labored in vain; I have used up my strength for nothing and vanity! Nevertheless, my justice [is] with Yahweh, and my reward [is] with my God."

Now, therefore, said Yahweh - Fashioning me from birth To be Servant to him, To restore Jacob unto him, And that, Israel, unto him, might be gathered And I be honourable in the eyes of Yahweh, And, my God, be proved to have been my strength,

and he saith, It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I have even given thee for a light of the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

Thus said Jehovah, Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, To the despised in soul, To the abominated of a nation, To the servant of rulers: 'Kings see, and have risen, princes, and worship, For the sake of Jehovah, who is faithful, The Holy of Israel, and He chooseth thee.'

Thus says Yahweh: "I have answered you in a time of favor, and helped you on a day of salvation, and watched over you, and given you as a covenant of [the] people, to raise up [the] land, to give [the] desolate hereditary property as an inheritance,

Saying to those who are in chains, Go free; to those who are in the dark, Come out into the light. They will get food by the way wherever they go, and have grass-lands on all the dry mountain-tops.

And I have made all My mountains for a way, And My highways are lifted up.

Shout, ye heavens; and be joyful, thou earth; and break forth into singing, ye mountains: for Jehovah hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted ones.

But Zion said, The Lord has given me up, I have gone from his memory.

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Even these forget, but I will not forget thee.

Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of [my] hands; your walls [are] continually before me.

Hastened have those building thee, Those destroying thee, and laying thee waste, go out from thee.

Lift up round about thine eyes and see, All of them have been gathered, They have come to thee. I live, an affirmation of Jehovah! Surely all of them as an ornament thou puttest on, And thou bindest them on like a bride.

For though the waste places of your land have been given to destruction, now you will not be wide enough for your people, and those who made you waste will be far away.

The children which you shall have, after you have lost the other, shall say again in your ears, The place is too narrow for me: give a place to me that I may dwell.

Then you will say in your heart, "Who has borne me these?" And, "I [was] bereaved and barren, exiled and thrust away; so who raised these? Look at me! I was left alone; {where have these come from}?"

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: 'Lo, I lift up unto nations My hand, And unto peoples I raise up Mine ensign, And they have brought thy sons in the bosom, And thy daughters on the shoulder are carried.

And kings have been thy nursing fathers, And their princesses thy nursing mothers; Face to the earth -- they bow down to thee, And the dust of thy feet they lick up, And thou hast known that I am Jehovah, That those expecting Me are not ashamed.

But this is what the LORD says: "He will seize even the warriors' plunder, and the captives of tyrants will be rescued. I myself will quarrel with those who have a quarrel with you, and I myself will save your children.

And I have caused thine oppressors to eat their own flesh, And as new wine they drink their own blood, And known have all flesh that I, Jehovah, Thy saviour, and thy redeemer, Am the Mighty One of Jacob!'

Thus saith Jehovah: Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, through your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

Wherefore did I come, and there was no man? I called, and there was none to answer? Is my hand at all shortened that I cannot redeem, or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and die for thirst.

And I have not put myself against him, or let my heart be turned back from him.

My back I have given to those smiting, And my cheeks to those plucking out, My face I hid not from shame and spitting.

And the Lord Yahweh helps me, therefore I have not been put to shame; therefore I have set my face like flint. And I know that I shall not be ashamed;

Look! All of you [are] kindlers of fire, who gird yourselves with flaming arrows. Walk in the light of your fire, and among [the] flaming arrows you have kindled! You shall have this from my hand: you shall lie down in a place of torment.

Hearken unto Me, ye pursuing righteousness, Seeking Jehovah, Look attentively unto the rock -- ye have been hewn, And unto the hole of the pit -- ye have been digged.

Look attentively unto Abraham your father, And unto Sarah -- she bringeth you forth, For -- one -- I have called him, And I bless him, and multiply him.

For the LORD will have compassion on Zion, have compassion on all her ruins. He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her deserts like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving, and the sound of singing. Sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Lift ye up to the heavens your eyes, And look attentively unto the earth beneath, For the heavens as smoke have vanished, And the earth as a garment weareth out, And its inhabitants as gnats do die, And My salvation is to the age, And My righteousness is not broken.

Listen to me, you who know righteousness, people [who have] my teaching in their heart; you must not fear [the] reproach of men, or be terrified because of their abuse.

And the ransomed of Jehovah turn back, And they have come to Zion with singing, And joy age-during is on their head, Gladness and joy they attain, Fled away have sorrow and sighing,

"I yes, I am the one who comforts you. Who are you, that you are so afraid of humans who will die, descendants of mere men, who have been made like grass?

And you have forgotten Yahweh, your maker, who stretched out [the] heavens, and founded [the] earth. And you tremble continually, all day, because of the wrath of the oppressor when he {takes aim} to destroy. But where [is] the wrath of the oppressor?

And I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand, to plant [the] heavens and to found [the] earth, saying to Zion, 'You [are] my people.'"

Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Stand up, Jerusalem, who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath; you have drunk the goblet, the cup of staggering; you have drained [it] out.

Two [things] here [have] happened to you--who will {show sympathy} for you?-- devastation and destruction, famine and sword--who will comfort you?

Your children have fainted; they lie at [the] head of all [the] streets, like an antelope in a snare, those who are full [of] the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.

Thus says your Lord, Yahweh, and your God pleads the cause [of] his people: "Look! I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering. You shall not {continue} to drink the goblet, the cup of my wrath, any longer.

And I will put it in the hand of your tormenters, who have said to {you}, 'Bow down that we may {pass} over [you]!' And you have {made} your back like the ground, and like the street for those who {pass} over [you]."

Shake thyself from dust, arise, sit, O Jerusalem, Bands of thy neck have loosed themselves, O captive, daughter of Zion.

For thus saith Jehovah: Ye have sold yourselves for nought, and ye shall be redeemed without money.

And now what do I have here?"{declares} Yahweh, "for my people is taken without cause. Its rulers howl," {declares} Yahweh--"and my name [is] reviled continually, all day.

How comely on the mountains, Have been the feet of one proclaiming tidings, Sounding peace, proclaiming good tidings, Sounding salvation, Saying to Zion, 'Reigned hath thy God.'

The voice of thy watchmen! They have lifted up the voice, together they cry aloud, Because eye to eye they see, in Jehovah's turning back to Zion.

Jehovah hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

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.

As astonished at thee have been many, (So marred by man his appearance, And his form by sons of men.)

so he shall sprinkle many nations; because of him, kings shall shut their mouths. For they shall see what has not been told them, and they shall consider with full attention what they have not heard.

Who would have had faith in the word which has come to our ears, and to whom had the arm of the Lord been unveiled?

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

Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains -- he hath carried them, And we -- we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted.

But it was for our sins he was wounded, and for our evil doings he was crushed: he took the punishment by which we have peace, and by his wounds we are made well.

All of us have wandered about like sheep; we each have turned to his own way; and Yahweh let fall on him the iniquity of us all.

For this cause he will have a heritage with the great, and he will have a part in the goods of war with the strong, because he gave up his life, and was numbered with the evil-doers; taking on himself the sins of the people, and making prayer for the wrongdoers.

“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.

for thou shalt be multiplied on the right side and on the left, and thy seed shall have the Gentiles in possession, and dwell in the desolate cities.

Have no fear; for you will not be shamed or without hope: you will not be put to shame, for the shame of your earlier days will go out of your memory, and you will no longer keep in mind the sorrows of your widowed years.

For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.

I hid my face from you [for] a moment, in the flowing of anger, but I will have compassion on you with everlasting faithfulness" says your redeemer, Yahweh.

For this is as the waters of Noah unto me, since I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth: so have I sworn that I will no more be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.

O afflicted, storm-tossed, not comforted, Lo, I am laying with cement thy stones, And have founded thee with sapphires,

And have made of agate thy pinnacles, And thy gates of carbuncle stones, And all thy border of stones of delight,

All your rights will be made certain to you: have no fear of evil, and destruction will not come near you.

Look! I myself have created [the] craftsman who blows [the] fire [of] coals, and who produces a weapon for his work; also I myself have created [the] destroyer to destroy.

but all the weapons that are made against thee, shall not prosper. And as for all tongues that shall resist thee in judgment, thou shalt overcome them, and condemn them. This is the heritage of the LORD's servants, and the righteousness that they shall have of me, sayeth the LORD.

"Hey, all who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come! Buy and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk without money and without cost!

Why do you give your money for what is not bread, and the fruit of your work for what will not give you pleasure? Give ear to me, so that your food may be good, and you may have the best in full measure.

Give ear, and come to me, take note with care, so that your souls may have life: and I will make an eternal agreement with you, even the certain mercies of David.

Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a prince and commander to the peoples.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For high have the heavens been above the earth, So high have been My ways above your ways, And My thoughts above your thoughts.

For just as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and they do not return there except they have watered the earth thoroughly and cause it to bring forth and sprout, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

So will my word be which goes out of my mouth: it will not come back to me with nothing done, but it will give effect to my purpose, and do that for which I have sent it.

For thus said Jehovah of the eunuchs, Who do keep My sabbaths, And have fixed on that which I desired, And are keeping hold on My covenant:

I have given to them in My house, And within My walls a station and a name, Better than sons and than daughters, A name age-during I give to him That is not cut off.

And, as for the sons of the foreigner - Who have joined themselves unto Yahweh To wait upon him, and To love the name of Yahweh, To become his for servants, - Every one who keepeth the sabbath, lest he profane it. And who, layeth firm hold on my covenant,

I have brought them unto My holy mountain, And caused them to rejoice in My house of prayer, Their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices Are for a pleasing thing on Mine altar, For My house, 'A house of prayer,' Is called for all the peoples.

The Lord God, who gets together the wandering ones of Israel, says, I will get together others in addition to those of Israel who have come back.

Blind are his watchmen -- all of them, They have not known, All of them are dumb dogs, they are not able to bark, Dozing, lying down, loving to slumber.

And the dogs {have a greedy appetite}; they {are never satisfied}. And they are [the] shepherds! They do not have understanding. They all turn to their [own] way, each one for his [own] gain, {every one of them}.