Learn to do good.
Seek justice,
Rebuke the ruthless,
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the [rights of the] widow [in court].

“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be like wool.

How the faithful city has become a prostitute [idolatrous, despicable],
She who was full of justice!
Right standing with God once lodged in her,
But now murderers.

Zion will be redeemed with justice
And her repentant ones with righteousness.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house (nation) of Israel
And the men of Judah are His delightful planting [which He loves].
So He looked for justice, but in fact, [He saw] bloodshed and lawlessness;
[He looked] for righteousness, but in fact, [He heard] a cry of distress and oppression.

Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble [from straw]
And the dry grass collapses into the flame,
So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away like fine dust;
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
And despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Then the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet [for public display] and write on it in ordinary characters: Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

For You will break the yoke of Israel’s burden and the staff (goad) on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.

They slice off [in discord] what is on the right hand but are still hungry,
And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied;
Each eats the flesh of his own arm.

Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger [against Israel],
The staff in whose hand is My indignation and fury [against Israel’s disobedience]!

Is the axe able to lift itself over the one who chops with it?
Is the saw able to magnify itself over the one who wields it?
That would be like a club moving those who lift it,
Or like a staff raising him who is not [made of] wood [like itself]!

Therefore, the Lord God of hosts says this, “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian who strikes you with a rod and lifts up his staff against you, as [the king of] Egypt did.

The Lord of hosts will brandish a whip against them like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the [Red] Sea and He will lift it up the way He did in [the flight from] Egypt.

The Assyrian has come against Aiath [in Judah],
He has passed through Migron [with his army];
At Michmash he stored his equipment.

But with righteousness and justice He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the downtrodden of the earth;
And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.

Then in that day
The nations will make supplications to the Root of Jesse
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples;
And His resting place will be glorious.

And the Lord will utterly destroy
The tongue of the Sea of Egypt;
And with His scorching wind
He will wave His hand over the River;
He will strike and divide it into seven channels
And make [it possible for] people [to] walk over in sandals.

“Do not rejoice, O Philistia, any of you,
Because the rod [of Judah] that struck you is broken;
For out of the serpent’s root will come a viper [King Hezekiah of Judah],
And its offspring will be a flying serpent.

“The firstborn of the helpless [of Judah] will feed [on My meadows],
And the needy will lie down in safety;
But I will kill your root with famine,
And your survivors will be put to death.

My heart cries out for Moab;
His fugitives are [fleeing] as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah.
For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping;
For on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress over their destruction.

The canals will become foul-smelling,
The streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up,
The reeds and the rushes will rot away.

‘What business do you have here?
And whom do you have here,
That you have hewn out a tomb here for yourself,
You who hew a sepulcher on the height,
You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?

In the night my soul longs for You [O Lord],
Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently;
For [only] when Your judgments are experienced on the earth
Will the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

In the generations to come Jacob will take root;
Israel will blossom and sprout,
And they will fill the surface of the world with fruit.

For dill is not threshed with a sharp threshing sledge,
Nor is a cartwheel rolled over cumin;
But dill is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.

The entire vision [of all these things] will be to you like the words of a scroll that is sealed, which they give to one who can read, saying, “Read this, please,” he shall say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”

Then the book will be given to the one who cannot read, saying, “Read this, please.” And he will say, “I cannot read.”

Now, go, write it on a tablet before them
And inscribe it on a scroll,
So that it may serve in the time to come
As a witness [against them] forevermore.

Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions from God”;
And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right!
Speak to us pleasant things and smooth words,
Prophesy [deceitful] illusions [that we will enjoy].

And you said, “No! We will flee on horses!”
Therefore you will flee [from your enemies]!
And [you said], “We will ride on swift horses!”
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.

Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

For at the voice of the Lord the Assyrians will be terrified,
When He strikes [them] with the rod.

As for the rogue, his weapons are evil;
He conceives wicked plans
To ruin the poor with lies,
Even when the plea of the needy one is just and right.

Seek from the book of the Lord, and read:

Not one of these [creatures] will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.

And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh [his military commander] from Lachish [the Judean fortress commanding the road from Egypt] to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a large army. And he stood by the canal of the Upper Pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field.

Listen carefully, you rely on the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.

Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.

The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

He who is too impoverished for such an offering [to give to his god]
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman
To [carve and] set up an idol that will not totter.

Scarcely have they been planted,
Scarcely have they been sown,
Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,
But He merely blows on them, and they wither,
And a strong wind carries them away like stubble.

Why, O Jacob, do you say, and declare, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?

‘Do not fear [anything], for I am with you;
Do not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, be assured I will help you;
I will certainly take hold of you with My righteous right hand [a hand of justice, of power, of victory, of salvation].’

“For I the Lord your God keep hold of your right hand; [I am the Lord],
Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’

Who [among the idols] has declared this from the beginning, so that we could know?
Or from earlier times, so that we could say, “He is [unquestionably] right!”?
In fact, there was no one who declared it,
Indeed, there was no one who proclaimed it;
There was no one at all who heard you speak [for you pagan gods are speechless].

“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My Chosen One in whom My soul delights.
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.

“A broken reed He will not break [off]
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish [He will not harm those who are weak and suffering];
He will faithfully bring forth justice.

“Remind Me [of your merits with a thorough report], let us plead and argue our case together;
State your position, that you may be proved right.

“One will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’;
And another will name himself after Jacob;
And another will write on his hand, ‘I am the Lord’s,’
And be called by the [honorable] name of Israel.

The carpenter stretches out a measuring line, he marks out the shape [of the idol] with red chalk; he works it with planes and outlines it with the compass; and he makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of man, that it may sit in a house.

That kind of man (the idolater) feeds on ashes [and is satisfied with ashes]! A deceived mind has led him astray, so that he cannot save himself, or ask, “Is this thing [that I am holding] in my right hand not a lie?”

This is what the Lord says to His anointed, to Cyrus [king of Persia],
Whose right hand I have held
To subdue nations before him,
And I will ungird the loins of kings [disarming them];
To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:

“I have stirred up Cyrus and put him into action in righteousness [to accomplish My purpose]
And I will make all his ways smooth;
He will build My city and let My exiles go,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of hosts.

“I have not spoken in secret,
In a corner of a land of darkness;
I did not say to the descendants of Jacob,
‘Seek Me in vain [with no benefit for yourselves].’
I, the Lord, speak righteousness [the truth—trustworthy, a straightforward correlation between deeds and words],
Declaring things that are upright.

“Listen to Me, you stiff-necked people,
You who are far from righteousness (right standing with God).

“My hand founded and established the earth,
And My right hand spread out the heavens;
When I call to them, they stand together [in obedience to carry out My decrees].

Then I said, “I have labored in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity (pride, uselessness);
However My justice is with the Lord,
And My reward is with My God.”

He who declares Me in the right is near;
Who will [dare to] contend with Me?
Let us stand up to each other;
Who is My adversary?
Let him approach Me.

“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness (right standing with God),
Who seek and inquire of the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
And to the excavation of the quarry from which you were dug.

“Listen to Me, you who know righteousness (right standing with God),
The people in whose heart is My law and instruction;
Do not fear the reproach and taunting of man,
Nor be distressed at their reviling.

Was it not You who dried up the [Red] Sea,
The waters of the great deep,
Who made the depths of the sea a pathway
For the redeemed to cross over?

“I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,
Who have said to you, ‘Lie down so that we may walk over you.’
You have even made your back like the ground
And like the street for those who walk over it.”

For He [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender shoot (plant),
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has no stately form or majestic splendor
That we would look at Him,
Nor [handsome] appearance that we would be attracted to Him.

As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He shall see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge [of what He has accomplished] the Righteous One,
My Servant, shall justify the many [making them righteous—upright before God, in right standing with Him],
For He shall bear [the responsibility for] their sins.

“For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
And your descendants will take possession of nations
And will inhabit deserted cities.

Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call on Him [for salvation] while He is near.

“Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your healing (restoration, new life) will quickly spring forth;
Your righteousness will go before you [leading you to peace and prosperity],
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will take pleasure in the Lord,
And I will make you ride on the high places of the earth,
And I will feed you with the [promised] heritage of Jacob your father;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

They do not know the way of peace,
And there is no justice in their tracks.
They have made them into crooked paths;
Whoever walks on them does not know peace.

Therefore justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not overtake us.
We [expectantly] hope for light, but only see darkness;
We hope for gleam of light, but we walk in darkness and gloom.

Justice is pushed back,
And righteous behavior stands far away;
For truth has fallen in the city square,
And integrity cannot enter.

He saw that there was no man,
And was amazed that there was no one to intercede [on behalf of truth and right];
Therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His own righteousness sustained Him.

To grant to those who mourn in Zion the following:
To give them a turban instead of dust [on their heads, a sign of mourning],
The oil of joy instead of mourning,
The garment [expressive] of praise instead of a disheartened spirit.
So they will be called the trees of righteousness [strong and magnificent, distinguished for integrity, justice, and right standing with God],
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

The Lord has sworn [an oath] by His right hand and by His mighty arm,
“I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies,
Nor will [the invading] foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored.”

Why is Your apparel red,
And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?

“I looked, but there was no one to help,
And I was amazed and appalled that there was no one to uphold [truth and right].
So My own arm brought salvation to Me,
And My wrath sustained Me.

Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses [and they said],
Where is He who brought our fathers up out of the [Red] Sea, with the shepherds of His flock [Moses and Aaron]?
Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in their midst,

Who caused His glorious arm and infinite power to go at the right hand of Moses,
Dividing the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name,

“And [the plain of] Sharon will be a place for flocks to graze,
And the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds,
For My people who seek Me [who long for Me and require My presence in their lives].