Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz." And then the shadow went back ten steps.

Look, I have decreed: I will not keep silent, but will pay them back; I will pay them back exactly what they deserve,

you whom I am bringing back from the earth's extremities, and have summoned from the remote regions -- I told you, "You are my servant." I have chosen you and not rejected you.

"I have been inactive for a long time; I kept quiet and held back. Like a woman in labor I groan; I pant and gasp.

Those who trust in idols will turn back and be utterly humiliated, those who say to metal images, 'You are our gods.'"

But these people are looted and plundered; all of them are trapped in pits and held captive in prisons. They were carried away as loot with no one to rescue them; they were carried away as plunder, and no one says, "Bring that back!"

I will say to the north, 'Hand them over!' and to the south, 'Don't hold any back!' Bring my sons from distant lands, and my daughters from the remote regions of the earth,

I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud, the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. Come back to me, for I protect you."

For the sake of my reputation I hold back my anger; for the sake of my prestige I restrain myself from destroying you.

Your children hurry back, while those who destroyed and devastated you depart.

The sovereign Lord has spoken to me clearly; I have not rebelled, I have not turned back.

I offered my back to those who attacked, my jaws to those who tore out my beard; I did not hide my face from insults and spitting.

I will put it into the hand of your tormentors who said to you, 'Lie down, so we can walk over you.' You made your back like the ground, and like the street for those who walked over you."

"Indeed, the Lord will call you back like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression, like a young wife when she has been rejected," says your God.

I want you to share your food with the hungry and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. When you see someone naked, clothe him! Don't turn your back on your own flesh and blood!

We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord; we turned back from following our God. We stir up oppression and rebellion; we tell lies we concocted in our minds.

Justice is driven back; godliness stands far off. Indeed, honesty stumbles in the city square and morality is not even able to enter.