The destroyer is as good as dead, you who have not been destroyed! The deceitful one is as good as dead, the one whom others have not deceived! When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed; when you finish deceiving, others will deceive you!

He is your constant source of stability; he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom; he gives all this to those who fear him.

You who are far away, listen to what I have done! You who are close by, recognize my strength!"

Sinners are afraid in Zion; panic grips the godless. They say, 'Who among us can coexist with destructive fire? Who among us can coexist with unquenchable fire?'

The one who lives uprightly and speaks honestly; the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures and rejects a bribe; the one who does not plot violent crimes and does not seek to harm others --

This is the person who will live in a secure place; he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds; he will have food and a constant supply of water.

Your mind will recall the terror you experienced, and you will ask yourselves, "Where is the scribe? Where is the one who weighs the money? Where is the one who counts the towers?"

No resident of Zion will say, "I am ill"; the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.

Tell those who panic, "Be strong! Do not fear! Look, your God comes to avenge! With divine retribution he comes to deliver you."

those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. They will enter Zion with a happy shout. Unending joy will crown them, happiness and joy will overwhelm them; grief and suffering will disappear.

Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me?

Look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If someone leans on it for support, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him!

Perhaps you will tell me, 'We are trusting in the Lord our God.' But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship at this altar.'

Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, "Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don't speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

But the chief adviser said, "My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you!"

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?'"

Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. So pray for this remnant that remains.'"

"Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: 'Don't let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, "Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria."

Were the nations whom my predecessors destroyed -- the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar -- rescued by their gods?

"O Lord who commands armies, O God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky and the earth.

Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at? At whom have you shouted and looked so arrogantly? At the Holy One of Israel!

Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.

"For a remnant will leave Jerusalem; survivors will come out of Mount Zion. The intense devotion of the Lord who commands armies will accomplish this.

Indeed Sheol does not give you thanks; death does not praise you. Those who descend into the pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.

Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Listen to the word of the Lord who commands armies:

Some of your very own descendants whom you father will be taken away and will be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"

Who has measured out the waters in the hollow of his hand, or carefully measured the sky, or carefully weighed the soil of the earth, or weighed the mountains in a balance, or the hills on scales?

Who comprehends the mind of the Lord, or gives him instruction as his counselor?

From whom does he receive directions? Who teaches him the correct way to do things, or imparts knowledge to him, or instructs him in skillful design?

To whom can you compare God? To what image can you liken him?

He is the one who sits on the earth's horizon; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, and spreads it out like a pitched tent.

He is the one who reduces rulers to nothing; he makes the earth's leaders insignificant.

"To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?" says the Holy One.

Look up at the sky! Who created all these heavenly lights? He is the one who leads out their ranks; he calls them all by name. Because of his absolute power and awesome strength, not one of them is missing.

He gives strength to those who are tired; to the ones who lack power, he gives renewed energy.

But those who wait for the Lord's help find renewed strength; they rise up as if they had eagles' wings, they run without growing weary, they walk without getting tired.

Who stirs up this one from the east? Who officially commissions him for service? He hands nations over to him, and enables him to subdue kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, like windblown straw with his bow.

Who acts and carries out decrees? Who summons the successive generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, am present at the very beginning, and at the very end -- I am the one.

The craftsman encourages the metalsmith, the one who wields the hammer encourages the one who pounds on the anvil. He approves the quality of the welding, and nails it down so it won't fall over."

"You, my servant Israel, Jacob whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham my friend,

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.

Look, all who were angry at you will be ashamed and humiliated; your adversaries will be reduced to nothing and perish.

For I am the Lord your God, the one who takes hold of your right hand, who says to you, 'Don't be afraid, I am helping you.'

Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent; the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting.

I have stirred up one out of the north and he advances, one from the eastern horizon who prays in my name. He steps on rulers as if they were clay, like a potter treading the clay.

Who decreed this from the beginning, so we could know? Who announced it ahead of time, so we could say, 'He's correct'? Indeed, none of them decreed it! Indeed, none of them announced it! Indeed, no one heard you say anything!

I look, but there is no one, among them there is no one who serves as an adviser, that I might ask questions and receive answers.

"Here is my servant whom I support, my chosen one in whom I take pleasure. I have placed my spirit on him; he will make just decrees for the nations.

This is what the true God, the Lord, says -- the one who created the sky and stretched it out, the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, the one who gives breath to the people on it, and life to those who live on it:

to open blind eyes, to release prisoners from dungeons, those who live in darkness from prisons.

Sing to the Lord a brand new song! Praise him from the horizon of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and everything that lives in it, you coastlands and those who live there!

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

Who among you will pay attention to this? Who will listen attentively in the future?

Who handed Jacob over to the robber? Who handed Israel over to the looters? Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned? They refused to follow his commands; they disobeyed his law.

Now, this is what the Lord says, the one who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel: "Don't be afraid, for I will protect you. I call you by name, you are mine.

everyone who belongs to me, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed -- yes, whom I made!

Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, those who are deaf, even though they have ears!

All nations gather together, the peoples assemble. Who among them announced this? Who predicted earlier events for us? Let them produce their witnesses to testify they were right; let them listen and affirm, 'It is true.'

You are my witnesses," says the Lord, "my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe in me, and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and none will outlive me.

From this day forward I am he; no one can deliver from my power; I will act, and who can prevent it?"

I am the Lord, your Holy One, the one who created Israel, your king."

This is what the Lord says, the one who made a road through the sea, a pathway through the surging waters,

the one who led chariots and horses to destruction, together with a mighty army. They fell down, never to rise again; they were extinguished, put out like a burning wick:

the people whom I formed for myself, so they might praise me."

I, I am the one who blots out your rebellious deeds for my sake; your sins I do not remember.

"Now, listen, Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen!"

This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says -- the one who formed you in the womb and helps you: "Don't be afraid, my servant Jacob, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen!

This is what the Lord, Israel's king, says, their protector, the Lord who commands armies: "I am the first and I am the last, there is no God but me.

Who is like me? Let him make his claim! Let him announce it and explain it to me -- since I established an ancient people -- let them announce future events!

All who form idols are nothing; the things in which they delight are worthless. Their witnesses cannot see; they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

Who forms a god and casts an idol that will prove worthless?

This is what the Lord, your protector, says, the one who formed you in the womb: "I am the Lord, who made everything, who alone stretched out the sky, who fashioned the earth all by myself,

who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers and humiliates the omen readers, who overturns the counsel of the wise men and makes their advice seem foolish,

who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants and brings to pass the announcements of his messengers, who says about Jerusalem, 'She will be inhabited,' and about the towns of Judah, 'They will be rebuilt, her ruins I will raise up,'

who says to the deep sea, 'Be dry! I will dry up your sea currents,'

who commissions Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd to carry out all my wishes and to decree concerning Jerusalem, 'She will be rebuilt,' and concerning the temple, 'It will be reconstructed.'"

I will give you hidden treasures, riches stashed away in secret places, so you may recognize that I am the Lord, the one who calls you by name, the God of Israel.

I am the one who forms light and creates darkness; the one who brings about peace and creates calamity. I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.

One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, one who is like a mere shard among the other shards on the ground! The clay should not say to the potter, "What in the world are you doing? Your work lacks skill!"

Danger awaits one who says to his father, "What in the world are you fathering?" and to his mother, "What in the world are you bringing forth?"

This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel, the one who formed him, concerning things to come: "How dare you question me about my children! How dare you tell me what to do with the work of my own hands!

I made the earth, I created the people who live on it. It was me -- my hands stretched out the sky, I give orders to all the heavenly lights.

It is me -- I stir him up and commission him; I will make all his ways level. He will rebuild my city; he will send my exiled people home, but not for a price or a bribe," says the Lord who commands armies.

Yes, you are a God who keeps hidden, O God of Israel, deliverer!

They will all be ashamed and embarrassed; those who fashion idols will all be humiliated.

For this is what the Lord says, the one who created the sky -- he is the true God, the one who formed the earth and made it; he established it, he did not create it without order, he formed it to be inhabited -- "I am the Lord, I have no peer.

I have not spoken in secret, in some hidden place. I did not tell Jacob's descendants, 'Seek me in vain!' I am the Lord, the one who speaks honestly, who makes reliable announcements.

Gather together and come! Approach together, you refugees from the nations! Those who carry wooden idols know nothing, those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.

Tell me! Present the evidence! Let them consult with one another! Who predicted this in the past? Who announced it beforehand? Was it not I, the Lord? I have no peer, there is no God but me, a God who vindicates and delivers; there is none but me.

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.

they will say about me, "Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer."'" All who are angry at him will cower before him.

"Listen to me, O family of Jacob, all you who are left from the family of Israel, you who have been carried from birth, you who have been supported from the time you left the womb.

To whom can you compare and liken me? Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!

Those who empty out gold from a purse and weigh out silver on the scale hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god. They then bow down and worship it.

who announces the end from the beginning and reveals beforehand what has not yet occurred, who says, 'My plan will be realized, I will accomplish what I desire,'

who summons an eagle from the east, from a distant land, one who carries out my plan. Yes, I have decreed, yes, I will bring it to pass; I have formulated a plan, yes, I will carry it out.

Listen to me, you stubborn people, you who distance yourself from doing what is right.

says our protector -- the Lord who commands armies is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

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 are tired out from listening to so much advice. Let them take their stand -- the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make monthly predictions -- let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you!