No one reflects,
no one has the perception or insight to say,
“I burned half of it in the fire,
I also baked bread on its coals,
I roasted meat and ate.
I will make something detestable with the rest of it,
and I will bow down to a block of wood.”

"Remember these things, Jacob, and Israel, for you [are] my servant: I formed you; you [are] my servant; Israel, you will not be forgotten by me!

As for thine offenses, I drive them away like the clouds, and thy sins as the mist. Turn ye again unto me, and I will deliver thee.

Sing for joy, heavens, for Yahweh has done [it]! Shout, depths of [the] earth! Break forth, mountains, [in] rejoicing, forest and every tree in it, for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob, and he will show his glory in Israel!

Bringing to naught the signs at vain boasters, and he will make those divining, foolish; turning back the wise backward, and he will frustrate their knowledge.

who keeps the word of his servant and carries out the plan of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, 'It shall be inhabited,' and of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be rebuilt, and I will restore its ruins';

who says to the deep, 'Dry up! And I will cause your rivers to dry up';

Who says of Cyrus, He will take care of my sheep, and will do all my pleasure: who says of Jerusalem, I will give the word for your building; and of the Temple, Your bases will be put in place.

Thus saith Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him and I will loose the loins of kings; to open before him the two-leaved doors, and the gates shall not be shut:

"I myself will go before you, and I will level [the] {mountains}. I will break [the] doors of bronze and cut through[the] bars of iron.

And I will give you [the] treasures of darkness and treasures of secret places so that you may know that I [am] Yahweh, the one who calls [you] by your name, the God of Israel,

For sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, and I will call to thee by thy name:.and I will address thee, and thou knewest me not

I am Jehovah, and there is none else; besides me there is no God. I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me;

I do this so people will recognize from east to west that there is no God but me; I am the Lord, I have no peer.

Cursed is he who has an argument with his Maker, the pot which has an argument with the Potter! Will the wet earth say to him who is working with it, What are you doing, that your work has nothing by which it may be gripped?

Wo to him saying to the father, What wilt thou beget? and to the woman, What wilt thou bring forth?

The Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, says, Will you put a question to me about the things which are to come, or will you give me orders about my sons, and the work of my hands?

I myself have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his paths smooth. He himself shall build my city, and he shall set my exiles free, not for price or a gift," says Yahweh of hosts.

Thus says Yahweh: "The acquisition of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush and the Sabeans, tall men, shall pass over to you; they shall be yours, and they shall walk behind you. They shall pass over in chains, and they shall bow down to you; they will pray to you: 'Surely God [is] with you, and there is no [other]. Besides [him] [there is] no God.'"

All those who have gone against him will be put to shame; the makers of images will be made low.

But the Lord will make Israel free with an eternal salvation: you will not be put to shame or made low for ever and ever.

Assemble ye together and come; draw ye near together, the escaped of the nations: they knew not lifting up the wood of their carved image, and praying to God he will not save.

By myself have I taken an oath, a true word has gone from my mouth, and will not be changed, that to me every knee will be bent, and every tongue will give honour.

Only in the Lord will Jacob overcome and be strong: together all those who were angry with him will be put to shame and come to destruction.

In the Lord will all the seed of Israel get their rights, and they will give glory to him.

Even to [your] old age I [am] he; even to [your] advanced age I myself will support [you]. I myself have made [you], and I myself will carry [you], and I myself will support [you], and I will save [you].

To whom will you liken me, and count as equal, and compare with me, as though we were alike?

Squandering gold out of the bag and they will weigh silver in the balance, they will hire a founder, and he will make it a god: they will fall down, they will also worship

They will lift him up upon the shoulder, they will carry him, they will set him down in his place and he will stand; from his place he shall not depart: also he will cry out to him and he will not answer; he will not save him from his straits

who from [the] beginning declares [the] end, and from before, [things] that have not been done, who says, 'My plan shall stand,' and, 'I will accomplish all my wishes,'

who calls a bird of prey from [the] east, the man of his plan from a country from afar. Indeed I have spoken; indeed I will bring it [to being]. I have formed [it]; indeed I will do it.

I bring my righteousness near; [it is] not far. And my salvation will not delay; and I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory."

Come and take your seat in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; come down from your seat of power, and take your place on the earth, O daughter of the Chaldaeans: for you will never again seem soft and delicate.

Your nakedness shall be exposed; indeed, your shame shall become visible. I will take vengeance and I will not {spare} a person.

Be seated in the dark without a word, O daughter of the Chaldaeans: for you will no longer be named, The Queen of Kingdoms.

I was angry against my people; I defiled my inheritances, and I will give them into thine hand, and thou didst not set mercy to them; upon the old thou didst make heavy thy yoke greatly.

And you said, I will be a queen for ever: you did not give attention to these things, and did not keep in mind what would come after.

So now take note of this, you who are given up to pleasure, living without fear of evil, saying in your heart, I am, and there is no one like me; I will never be a widow, or have my children taken from me.

But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day, the loss of children and of husband: in full measure they will come on you, for all your secret arts, and all your wonders.

And thou wilt trust in thy wickedness: thou saidst, None saw me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge it caused thee to turn away; and thou wilt say in thy heart, I, and none yet besides me.

And evil shall come upon you, you will not know; it will be on the lookout for her. And disaster shall fall upon you; you will not be able to {avert} it. And ruin shall come on you suddenly; you do not know.

Go on now with your secret arts, and all your wonder-working, to which you have given yourself up from your earliest days; it may be that they will be of profit to you, or by them you may put fear into your attackers.

You are worn out with your many consultations.
So let them stand and save you—
the astrologers, who observe the stars,
who predict monthly
what will happen to you.

“Behold, they have become like stubble,
Fire burns them;
They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame;
There will be no coal to warm by
Nor a fire to sit before!

Such, have they become to thee, with whom thou hast wearied thyself, - Thy merchants - from thy youth, will every man stagger straight onwards - There is none to save thee.

I will announce to thee from then; before it shall come I caused thee to hear, lest thou shalt say, My image did them; and my carved image, and my Molten image 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.

“They are created now and not long ago;
And before today you have not heard them,
So that you will not say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’

Also thou heardest not; also thou knewest not; also from then thine ear was not opened: for I knew, acting deceitfully, thou wilt act deceitfully, and it was called to thee transgressing from the womb.

For my name's sake I will defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain as to thee, that I cut thee not off.

For my own sake, for my own sake I do [it]; for why should it be defiled? And I will not give my glory to another."

Also my hand will found the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens: -I call to them, they shall stand together.

All you, assemble yourselves, and hear; who among them has declared these things? The LORD has loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

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

If thou wilt now regard my commandment, thy wealthiness shall be as the water stream: and thy righteousness as the waves flowing in the sea.

And they thirsted not causing them to go in dry places: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: and he will cleave asunder the rock, and the waters will flow out

There will be no prosperity for the wicked," says the Lord.

And he set my mouth as a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me, and he will set me for a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me.

And he said to me, "You [are] my servant, Israel, in whom I will show my glory."

And I said, I have undergone weariness for nothing, I have given my strength for no purpose or profit: but still the Lord will take up my cause, and my God will give me my reward.

So now the Lord says, the one who formed me from birth to be his servant -- he did this to restore Jacob to himself, so that Israel might be gathered to him; and I will be honored in the Lord's sight, for my God is my source of strength --

And he says, "It is trivial {for you to be} a servant for me, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will give you as a light [to the] nations, to be my salvation to the end of the earth."

The Lord who takes up Israel's cause, even his Holy One, says to him whom men make sport of, who is hated by the nations, a servant of rulers: Kings will see and get up from their places, and chiefs will give worship: because of the Lord who keeps faith; even the Holy One of Israel who has taken you for himself.

Thus saith Jehovah: In a time of acceptance have I answered thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the land, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

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.

They shall not be hungry or thirsty, and heat and sun shall not strike them, for he who takes pity on them will lead them, and he will guide them to springs of water.

And I will {make} all my mountains like a road, and my highways shall lead up.

See, these will come from far away,
from the north and from the west,
and from the land of Sinim.

Sing for joy, heavens, and rejoice, earth! Mountains must break forth [in] rejoicing! For Yahweh has comforted his people, and he will take pity on his afflicted ones.

And Zion will say, Jehovah forsook me, and the Lord forgot me.

Can a woman forget her suckling, [refrain] from having compassion on the child of her womb? Indeed, these may forget, but I, I will not forget you!

Your builders are coming quickly; your haters and those who made you waste will go out of you.

Let your eyes be lifted up round about, and see: they are all coming together to you. By my life, says the Lord, truly you will put them all on you as an ornament, and be clothed with them like a bride.

Surely your sites of ruins and desolate [places] and land of ruins, surely now you will be {too cramped for your} inhabitants, and those who engulfed you will be far away.

Yet the children {born when you were bereaved} will say in your {hearing}, "The place is [too] cramped for me; {make room} for me so that I can 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 says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I will lift my hand up to [the] nations, and I will raise my signal to [the] peoples, and they shall bring your sons in [their] bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on [their] shoulders.

And kings shall be your {guardians}, and their queens your nurses. They shall bow down, {faces} [to the] ground, to you, and they will lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I [am] Yahweh; those who await me shall not be ashamed.

Will the goods of war be taken from the strong man, or the prisoners of the cruel one be let go?

But thus says Yahweh: "Indeed a captive of [the] mighty shall be taken, and [the] war-booty [of] [the] tyrant shall be rescued, for I myself will dispute [with] your opponent, and I myself will save your children.

And I will feed your oppressors their [own] flesh, and they shall be drunk [with] their blood as [with] wine. Then all flesh shall know that I [am] Yahweh, your savior and redeemer, the strong [one] of Jacob."

Wherefore, I came, and no man? I called and none answered. Being short, was my hand shortened from redeeming? and if not power in me to deliver behold, in my rebuke I will dry up the sea; I will set the rivers a desert: their fish shall stink from no water, and they shall die with thirst

I will put darkness upon the heavens, and I will put sackcloth their covering.

The Lord Jehovah gave to me the tongue of the expert to know to help the weary with a word: he will rouse up in the morning by morning, he will rouse up to me the ear to hear as the expert

But the Lord Jehovah will help me: therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

he who obtains rights for me [is] near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who [is] the master of my judgment? Let him approach me.

Look! The Lord Yahweh helps me. Who is the one who will declare me guilty? Look! All of them will be worn out like a garment; [the] moth will eat them.

See, all you who make a fire, arming yourselves with burning branches: go in the flame of your fire, and among the branches you have put a light to. This will you have from my hand, you will make your bed in sorrow.

look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah bringing you forth: for one I called him, and I will bless him, and I will increase him.

For Yahweh will comfort Zion; he will comfort all its sites of ruins. And he will {make} its wilderness like Eden, and its desert like the garden of Yahweh. Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and [the] {sound} of song.

"Listen attentively to me, my people, and my nation, listen to me! For a teaching will go out from me, and I will cause my justice to rest for a light to [the] peoples.

My righteousness [is] near; my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge [the] peoples. [The] coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they wait.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look to the earth beneath, for [the] heavens will be torn to pieces like smoke, and the earth will be worn out like garment, and those who inhabit her will die like gnats. But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be broken to pieces.

For a moth will eat them like garments; a moth will devour them like wool, but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation for {generation after generation}."

Those whom the Lord has made free will come back with songs to Zion; and on their heads will be eternal joy: delight and joy will be theirs, and sorrow and sounds of grief will be gone for ever.

I, even I, am your comforter: are you so poor in heart as to be in fear of man who will come to an end, and of the son of man who will be like grass?

And shalt thou forget Jehovah making thee, stretching out the heavens and founding the earth? and thou wilt tremble continually all the day from the face of the anger of him pressing as being prepared to destroy: and where the wrath of him pressing?

The prisoner, bent under his chain, will quickly be made free, and will not go down into the underworld, and his bread will not come to an end.

And I will put my word in thy mouth, and in the shadow of my hand I covered thee, to plant the heavens and to found the earth, and to say to Zion, Thou my people.

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