Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can't bear with evil assemblies.

Come, let's consider your options," says the Lord. "Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool.

many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the Lord's mountain, to the temple of the God of Jacob, so he can teach us his requirements, and we can follow his standards." For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem.

so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs and the openings under the rocky overhangs, trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth.

Stop regarding man, whose breath [of life] is in his nostrils [for so little time];
For why should he be esteemed?

What more can I do for my vineyard beyond what I have already done? When I waited for it to produce edible grapes, why did it produce sour ones instead?

Woe be unto you that join one house to another, and bring one land so nigh unto another, that the poor can get no more ground. Will ye dwell upon the earth alone?

to those who say:
“Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly
so that we can see it!
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place
so that we can know it!”

Their roaring is like a lion’s;
they roar like young lions;
they growl and seize their prey
and carry it off,
and no one can rescue it.

‘Let us go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel’s son as king in it.’”

"Ask for a confirming sign from the Lord your God. You can even ask for something miraculous."

But all the hills which, with the hoe, can be weeded, - there shall not come thither, the fear of briars anti thorns, - but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the tread of lesser cattle.

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.

And the people also of Ephraim, and they that dwell in Samaria, can say with pride and high stomachs, on this manner:

to keep the poor from getting a fair trial
and to deprive the afflicted among my people of justice,
so that widows can be their spoil
and they can plunder the fatherless.

They can but crouch under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

And the rest of the trees of his forest will be a small number, and a boy can write them [down].

The Lord of Hosts Himself has planned it;
therefore, who can stand in its way?
It is His hand that is outstretched,
so who can turn it back?

Indeed, the cries of distress echo throughout Moabite territory; their wailing can be heard in Eglaim and Beer Elim.

The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow; the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout. Yet the harvest will disappear in the day of disease and incurable pain.

The princes of Zoan are complete fools;
Pharaoh’s wisest advisers give stupid advice!
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the wise,
a student of eastern kings”?

I am come of the old regal Progeny"? Where are they? Where are now thy wise men? Let them tell thee, if they can, what the LORD of Hosts hath taken in hand against Egypt.

And Egypt shall have nothing which can be don Which head or tail palm-top or rush, can do!

At that time those who live on this coast will say, 'Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?'"

Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have taken hold on me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can't hear. I so am dismayed that I can't see.

I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.

The oracle of Tyre: Wail, ships of Tarshish, for {the house is destroyed so that no one can enter}; it is announced to them from the land of Cyprus.

[The] city of emptiness is broken; every house is shut {so that no one can enter};

Open the gates
so a righteous nation can come in—
one that remains faithful.

I, the Lord, protect it; I water it regularly. I guard it night and day, so no one can harm it.

In the past he said to them, "This is where security can be found. Provide security for the one who is exhausted! This is where rest can be found." But they refused to listen.

For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

As for the wheat, he grindeth it to make bread thereof; Inasmuch as he cannot bring it to pass with treading out. For neither the bruising that the cart wheels make, nor his beasts, can grind it.

And the whole vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which they give to one that can read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed.

And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read.”

Alas! for them who would fain have been too deep for Yahweh by giving secret counsel, - and therefore in the dark, have been their doings, and they have said Who can see us? and - Who can understand us?

You have turned things around,
as if the potter were the same as the clay.
How can what is made say about its maker,
“He didn’t make me”?
How can what is formed
say about the one who formed it,
“He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?

everyone will be ashamed
because of a people who can’t help.
They are of no benefit, they are no help;
they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.

It shatters in pieces like a clay jar, so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough to scoop a hot coal from a fire or to skim off water from a cistern."

"Nevertheless, the LORD will wait so he can be gracious to you; and thus he will rise up to show you mercy. For the LORD is a God of justice. How blessed are all those who wait for him."

Yet he is also wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words, but will rise up against the house of those who practice evil and against anyone who assists people who work iniquity.

Then the eyes of those who can see won't turn away, and the ears of those who can hear will listen.

Sinners are afraid in Zion; trembling has seized [the] godless: "Who of us can {live} [with] devouring fire? Who of us can {live} [with] everlasting consuming hearths?"

You shall not see a fierce people, a people of a more obscure speech than you can perceive; of a stammering tongue, that you can not understand.

But there the LORD in majesty will be for us our source of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, where no stately ship can sail.

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!

Then shall the glowing sand, become a lake, And thirsty ground - springs of water, - In the home of the wild dog - its lair, Shall he an enclosure for cane and paper - reed.

"Tell Hezekiah, king of Judah, "This is what the mighty king, the king of Assyria, has to say: What is this "guarantee" that makes you yourself rely on it? Do you really think that guarantees alone can withstand strategy and military strength? On whom are you now depending, that you're rebelling against me?

Lo! thou dost trust on the support of this bruised cane, on Egypt, whereon if a man lean it will enter his hand and lay it open, - So, is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust upon him.

Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses if you’re able to supply riders for them!

But how can you drive back {one governor among the least of my master's servants}, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

And Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we can understand [it], and you must not speak to us in Judean in the {hearing} of the people who [are] on the wall."

Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?'"

What can I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done [it]. I will walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.

O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life; may years of life be restored to me. Restore my health and preserve my life.'

For the grave cannot praise you, death can not celebrate you: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for your truth.

The living, only the living can thank You,
as I do today;
a father will make Your faithfulness known to children.

Lo! nations, Are us a drop on a bucket, And as fine dust on a balance, are accounted, - Lo! islands, like an atom, can he hoist;

Unto whom then can ye liken GOD? Or, what likeness, can ye compare unto him?

Unto whom then, can ye liken me, or can I be equal? Saith the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high, and consider who hath made those things, which come out by so great heaps; and he can call them all by their names. For there is nothing hid unto the greatness of his power, strength, and might.

Who hath told in advance, that we might know, And beforetime, that we might say Right! Nay, there is none who can tell. Nay, there is none who can let us hear, Nay, there is none who can understand what ye utter.

He who is First, can say , To Zion, Lo! there they are! And to Jerusalem, A herald of good-tidings, do I give.

And when I look, there is no man: even among them there is no counsellor, that, when I ask of them, can answer a word.

Cane that is crushed, will he not break, And wick that is fading, will he not quench, - Faithfully, will he bring forth justice:

Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth.

Indeed, from [this] day I [am] the one, and no one can deliver from my hand. I perform, and who can {cancel it}?"

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 toil with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.

Who, like Me, can announce the future?
Let him say so and make a case before Me,
since I have established an ancient people.
Let these gods declare the coming things,
and what will take place.

yea, and that without any fear or stop. For have not I ever told you hitherto, and warned you? Ye can bear me record yourselves. Is there any God except me? Or any maker, that I should not know him?

All carvers of Images are but vain, and the carved images that they love can do no good. They must bear record themselves, that seeing they can neither see nor understand they shall be confounded.

In fact, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble, let them stand up, let them be terrified, let them together be put to shame.

Half the wood he burns in the fire, and over that half he places meat so he can eat. He sits by its coals, warms himself, and says, "Ah! I am warm in front of the fire."

They don't know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can't see; and their hearts, that they can't understand.

He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can't deliver his soul, nor say, "Isn't there a lie in my right hand?"

"Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can't save.

Turn to me so you can be delivered, all you who live in the earth's remote regions! For I am God, and I have no peer.

To whom can ye liken me or make me equal? Or compare me, and we be like?

They bear it upon the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it standeth, from its place shall it not remove: yea, one may cry unto it, yet can it not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.

Remember this, so you can be brave! Think about it, you rebels!

So now, listen to this, O one who lives so lavishly, who lives securely, who says to herself, 'I am unique! No one can compare to me! I will never have to live as a widow; I will never lose my children.'

You were complacent in your evil deeds; you thought, 'No one sees me.' Your self-professed wisdom and knowledge lead you astray, when you say, 'I am unique! No one can compare to me!'

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.

"You have heard now look at them all! How can you not admit them? From now on, I'll make you hear new things, hidden things that you have not known.

I will act for My own sake, indeed, My own,
for how can I be defiled?
I will not give My glory to another.

he says, "Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant, to reestablish the tribes of Jacob, and restore the remnant of Israel? I will make you a light to the nations, so you can bring my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth."

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!

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."

Can war-booty be taken from [the] mighty? or can a captive of a righteous [person] be rescued?

Why, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can't redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.

I can clothe the sky in darkness; I can cover it with sackcloth."

The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, so that I know how to help the weary. He wakes me up every morning; he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do.

The LORD God hath opened mine ear; therefore can I not say nay, nor withdraw myself.

At hand, is one who can justify me. Who will contend with me? let, us stand forth together, - Who can accuse me? let him draw near to me!

Behold, the LORD God standeth by me: what is he that can condemn me? Lo, they shall be all like as an old cloth, which the moths shall eat up.

These two things have happened to you:
devastation and destruction,
famine and sword.
Who will grieve for you?
How can I comfort you?

I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,
who said to you:
Lie down, so we can walk over you.
You made your back like the ground,
and like a street for those who walk on it.

>

For the Lord God says this, “My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there; and [many years later Sennacherib] the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

By the reason of the affliction, he was not esteemed: and yet his generation who can number? When he is taken from the earth of living men: for my people's transgression he was plagued.

Pay attention and come to me! Listen, so you can live! Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David.