Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten by me.

I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins: return to me; for I have redeemed thee.

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

For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel my elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me:

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.

I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I have not said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that have escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray to a god that cannot save.

Tell ye, and bring them near; yes, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else besides me; a just God and a Savior; there is none besides me.

I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.

They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves have gone into captivity.

And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoary hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yes, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also perform it.

I was wroth with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and given them into thy hand: thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.

Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.

I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth from my mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I showed it thee: lest thou shouldst say, My idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have showed ye new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.

Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

I, even I, have spoken, yes, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

Come ye near to me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like its gravel; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain; yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages:

Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yes, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee.

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thy ears, The place is too narrow for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

Then shalt thou say in thy heart, Who hath begotten these for me, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where have they been?

Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

Why, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot 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 becometh putrid, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.

For the Lord GOD 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.

Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that encompass yourselves with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of my hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.

And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shade of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, Thou art my people.

These two things have come to thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?

Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.

Thus saith thy Lord Jehovah, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:

But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; who have said to thy soul, Prostrate thyself, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money.

Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for naught? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.

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

For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.

In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

For this is as the waters of Noah to me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more overflow the earth; so have I sworn that I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.

Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Yes, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not?

For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit would fail before me, and the souls which I have made.

I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.

Why have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? why have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors.

Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath uttered perverseness.

The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister to thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favor have I had mercy on thee.

For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be to them.

I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,

But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have collected it shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.

I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in my anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

Thou meetest him that rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;

Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, who have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.

For all these things hath my hand made, and all these things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.

And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.

And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh.

Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

For behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against her princes, against her priests, and against the people of the land.

Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and have become vain?

Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.

For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head.

For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back to me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

Why will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.

In vain have I smitten your children; they have received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? why say my people, We are lords; we will come no more to thee?

Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.

Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger will turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.

Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there hath been no latter rain? and thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

Only acknowledge thy iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together from the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.

Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.

A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.

We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.