For at that time, everyone will throw away their idols of silver and their idols of gold that your hands have sinfully made for yourselves.

"As for you ladies of leisure Get up and listen to my voice! You daughters who feel so complacent hear what I have to say!

"How terrible it will be for you, destroyer, you who have not been destroyed yourself! And how terrible it will be for you, traitor, one whom people have not betrayed! When you have sunk so low in destroying others, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you."

Your plunder is gathered as when grasshoppers gather; just like locusts pounce, people have pounced on it.

The highways are deserted; travelers have quit the road. The enemy has broken treaties; he despises their witnesses, and respects no one.

"Those who are far away have heard what I've done; and those that are near have acknowledged my power.

And no one living there will say, "I am ill.' The people living there will have their sins forgiven."

For my sword will be seen in the heavens. Look! It descends in judgment on Edom, on the people I have doomed to destruction.

One other thing: have I really marched against this country to destroy it apart from the LORD's direction? The LORD himself ordered me, "March against this country to destroy it.'"

But the field commander asked, "Was it only to all of you and to your master that my master sent me to speak these things? Wasn't it also to the men sitting on the wall who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?"

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar-vaim? Have they saved Samaria from me?

"Here is what to tell your master," Isaiah told them. "This is what the LORD says: "Don't be afraid of the words you've heard those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have insulted me.

Watch this! I'm going to place an attitude within him, so that when he hears a certain report, he'll return to his own country. Then I'll have him cut down by the sword in his own land."

Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all countries, dooming them to destruction. So do you think you will be saved?

It is true, LORD, that Assyrian kings have devastated all these countries,

and have thrown their gods into the fire but they are not gods, but rather the products of human hands, mere wood and stone. So the Assyrians destroyed them.

Whom have you insulted and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!

By your messengers you have insulted the LORD, and you have said, "With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines; I reached its remotest heights, the most verdant of its forests.

Then the ones belonging to the house of Judah who have escaped will gather, and those who are found will take root downward and bear fruit upward.

"Please, LORD," he said, "Remember how I have walked before you faithfully and with a true heart, and I have done what pleases you." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

"My Lord is against them, yet they live, and among all of them who live is his spirit. Now you have restored me to health, so let me live!

Yes, it was for my own good that I suffered extreme anguish. But in love you have held back my life from the Pit in which it has been confined; you have tossed all my sins behind your back.

Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did these men have to say? And from where did they come to you?" Hezekiah replied, "From a distant land they came to me from Babylon."

"The days are surely coming when everything in your palace and all that your ancestors have stored up to this day will be carried off to Babylon. They will come in, and nothing will be left,' says the LORD.

"The message from the LORD that you have spoken is good," Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, since he was thinking, ""at least there will be peace and security in my lifetime."

"You know, don't you? You have heard, haven't you? Hasn't it been told you from the beginning? Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth?

No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the earth, than he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest sweeps them away like stubble.

Don't you know? Haven't you heard? The LORD is the eternal God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not grow tired or weary; and his understanding cannot be fathomed.

"The coastlands have looked and are afraid; the ends of the earth have drawn near together and come forward.

you whom I encouraged from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, and told you, "You're my servant, I've chosen you and haven't cast you aside.'

See, the former things have taken place, and I'm announcing the new things before they spring into being I'm telling you about them."

"I have certainly stayed silent for a long time; I've kept still and held myself back. Now, like a woman giving birth, I'll cry out. All of a sudden I'll gasp and pant.

But this is a people who have been robbed and plundered, all of them trapped in pits or hidden away in prisons. They have become prey, with no one to rescue them; they have been made loot, with no one to say, "Send them back!'

"Who handed Jacob over to looters, and Israel to robbers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? After all, they weren't willing to walk in his ways, and they wouldn't obey his instruction,

"Bring out the people who are blind, yet still have eyes, who are deaf, yet still have ears!

"You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and trust me and understand that I am the One. Before me no God was formed, nor will there be one after me.

You haven't brought me your sheep for a burnt offering, nor have you honored me with your sacrifices, nor have you made meal offerings for me yet I have not tired you about incense!

You haven't bought me sweet cane with money, nor have you satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. You have only burdened me with your sins and made me tired with your iniquities.

"But now listen, Jacob my servant and Israel whom I have chosen:

This what the LORD says, the one who made you, formed you from the womb, and who will help you: "Don't be afraid, Jacob my servant, and Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

One will say, "I belong to the LORD,' and another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will have written on his hand, "the LORD's,' and will adopt the name of Israel."

"Remember these things, Jacob, Israel, for you are my servant. I have formed you; you are a servant to me. Israel, you must not mislead me.

This is what the LORD says to his anointed, Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, as I strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him and gates that cannot keep closed:

For the sake of Jacob my servant, Israel my chosen, I've called you, and he has established you with a name, although you have not acknowledged me.

I am the LORD, and there is no other besides me: and there are no gods. I'm strengthening you, although you have not acknowledged me,

"I have aroused him in righteousness, and I'll make all his pathways smooth. It is he who will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price nor reward, " says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

By myself I have sworn from my mouth has gone out integrity, a promise that won't be revoked: "To me every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear.'

"Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all you remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld from before your birth, and who have been carried from the womb.

Even until your old age, I am the one, and I'll carry you even until your gray hairs come. It is I who have created, and I who will carry, and it is I who will bear and save.

I declare from the beginning things to follow, and from ancient times things that have not yet been done; saying, "My purpose will stand, and he will accomplish everything that I please.'

"You trusted in your own knowledge. You said, "No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge have misled you. You said in your heart, "I am the one, and there will be none besides me.'

"But stand up now with your spells and your many incantations, at which you have labored from your childhood until today,

"Listen to this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and who have come forth from Judah's loins; you who swear oaths in the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel but not in truth, nor in good faith.

"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.

Look, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have purified you in the furnace of affliction.

"Listen to these things, Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called. I am the One: I am the first, I am even the last.

I Yes, I! have spoken; indeed, I've called and I've brought him, and he will make his path successful.

Draw near to me, and listen to this: "From the beginning I haven't spoken in secret; at the time it happened, I was there.' And now the LORD God, and his Spirit, has sent me.

Now if only you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your success like the waves of the sea.

Your descendants would've been like the sand, and your offspring like its numberless grains. Their name wouldn't have been cut off or annihilated out of my reach.

he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Israel and bring back those of Jacob I have preserved. I'll also make you as a light to the nations, to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

"This what the LORD says: "I'll answer you in a time of favor, and on a day of salvation I'll help you. I have watched over you, and given you as a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to reassign the inheritances that have been devastated;

Shout with joy, you heavens, and rock with glee, you earth! Break out in song, you mountains! The LORD is comforting his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

"Can a woman forget her nursing child, or have no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these mothers may forget; But as for me, I'll never forget you!

Lift up your eyes and look around they have all gathered together and are coming to you. "As surely as I live," says the LORD, "you will clothe yourself with all of them like ornaments, and tie them on like a bride.

"The children who are grieving at present will yet say in your hearing, "This place is too crowded for me; make room for me, so I may have a place to live.'

Then you'll ask in your heart, "Who bore these children for me, although I was childless and barren, and an exile and cast aside? Who brought these up? Look! For my part I was left all alone; but as for these, where have they come from?'

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.

Look! All those who light a fire, who surround yourselves with flaming torches walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have set ablaze! This is what you will receive from my hand: you will lie down in torment.

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.

Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people who have my instruction in their hearts. Don't fear the insults of mortals, and don't be dismayed at their hateful words.

"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?

As a result, you have forgotten the LORD who made you, who stretched out the heavens and laid the earth's foundations, and you live in constant fear every day because of the oppressor's fury, since he's ready to destroy. Now where is the oppressor's fury?

I have put my words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of my hand, so that I could plant the heavens and lay the earth's foundations, to say to Zion, "You are my people.'

"Awake, Awake! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the LORD's hand from the cup that is his anger. You have drunk to the dregs the cup that makes you stagger, and have drained it.

"These twin things have come upon you (who can feel sorry for you?): ruin and destruction, famine and the sword who can console you?

Your children have fainted. They lie at the head of every street, like antelope caught in a trap, filled with the anger of the LORD and the rebuke of your God.

This is what your Lord, the LORD, says, your God, who defends his people's cause: "See, I have taken from your hand the cup that made you stagger. And you will never again drink to the dregs the cup that is my anger.

All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, each of us, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

I hid my face from you for a moment in a surge of anger, but I will have compassion on you with my everlasting gracious love," says the LORD your Redeemer.

"For this is like the waters of Noah to me, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again spread over the earth; so have I sworn that I won't be angry with you again and that I won't rebuke you.

Look! It is I who have created the blacksmith who fans coals in the fire, and produces a weapon for his purpose. It is I who have created the ravager to wreak havoc;

"Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters! Also, you that have no money, come, buy, and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk without money and without price.

"Look! I have made him a witness to the nations, a leader and commander of the nations.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous person his thoughts. Let him return to the LORD, So he'll have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he'll pardon abundantly.

Meanwhile, the dogs have a mighty appetite they can never get enough. And as for them, they are the shepherds who lack understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, each and every one.

""Come!' they say, "let's have some wine, and let's fill ourselves with strong drink! Then, tomorrow will be like today, or even much better!'"

"Among the smooth stones of the ravines is your portion there they are as your lot. To them you have poured out drink offerings; you have brought grain offerings. Should I be lenient over such things?

"You have made your bed on a high and lofty mountain, and you went up to offer sacrifice there.

Behind the doors and the doorposts you have set up your pagan sign." For in deserting me you have uncovered your bed you have climbed up into it and have opened it wide. And you have made a pact for yourself with them; you have loved their bed, you have looked on their private parts.

"Whom did you so dread and while you feared me that you lied, and you did not remember me, and did not lay to heart these things? Haven't I remained silent for a long time, and still you don't fear me?"

For I won't accuse forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the human spirit would grow faint before me even the souls that I have created.

"Why have we fasted,' they ask, "but you do not see? "Why have we humbled ourselves,' they ask, "but you take no notice?'" "Look! On your fast day you serve your own interest and oppress all your workers.

"Look! You fast only for quarreling, and for fighting, and for hitting with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice heard on high.

"Is this the kind of fast that I have chosen, merely a day for a person to humble himself? Is it merely for bowing down one's head like a bulrush, for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, an acceptable day to the LORD?

Isn't this the fast that I have been choosing: to loose the bonds of injustice, and to untie the cords of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

Instead, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have concealed his face from you so that he won't listen.

No one brings a lawsuit fairly, and no one goes to law honestly; they have relied on empty arguments and they tell lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.

The pathway of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their courses. They have made their roads crooked; no one who walks in them will know peace."

Let's grope along the wall like the blind; let us grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as if it were twilight, in desolate places like dead people.