To the impoverished person? He prepares an offering wood that won't rot Or to the one who chooses a skilled craftsman and seeks to erect an idol that won't topple?"

He's the one who sits above the disk of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He's the one who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in,

who brings princes to nothing, and makes void the rulers of the earth.

"To whom, then, will you compare me, and to whom should I be equal?" asks the Holy One.

"Lift your eyes up to heaven and see who created all these the one who leads out their vast array of stars by number, calling them all by name because of his great might and his powerful strength and not one is missing."

He's the one who gives might to the faint, renewing strength for the powerless.

but those who keep waiting for the LORD will renew their strength. Then they'll soar on wings like eagles; they'll run and not grow weary; they'll walk and not grow tired."

Who has aroused victory from the east, and has summoned it to his service, and has handed over nations to him? Who brings down kings, and turns them into dust with his sword, into windblown stubble with his bow?

And who pursues them and moves on unscathed by a path that his feet don't know?

Who has performed and carried this out, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD the first and will be with the last I am the One!"

The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and the hammersmith encourages the one who strikes the anvil. He says about the welding, "It's good!' and he reinforces it with nails so that it won't topple."

"But as for you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I've chosen, the offspring of my friend Abraham

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.'

"Look! All who are enraged at you will be put to shame and disgraced; those who contend with you will all die.

Those who quarrel with you will be as nothing; those who fight you like nothing at all!"

"For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand, who says to you, "Don't be afraid. I'll help you.

Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know, or beforehand, so we could ask, "Is it right?' Indeed, no one told of this, no one made an announcement, and no one heard your words:

"Here is my servant, whom I support, my chosen one, in whom I delight. I've placed my Spirit upon him; and he'll deliver his justice throughout the world.

This is what God says the God who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its produce, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:

to open blind eyes and to bring out those who are bound from their cells, and those sitting in darkness from prison.

Sing to the LORD a new song, and his praise from the ends of the earth, you who sail down the sea and by everything in it, you coastlands and their inhabitants.

Let the desert cry out, its towns and the villages where Kedar lives; and let those who live in Sela sing for joy. Let them shout aloud from the mountaintops.

Those who trust in carved idols will turn back and be completely disappointed, along with those who say to metal images, "You are our gods.'"

Who is blind except my servant, or deaf like my messenger I am sending? Who is blind like the one committed to me, or blind like the LORD's servant?

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 among you will listen, and pay attention, and listen for the time to come?"

"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,

But now this is what the LORD says, the one who created you, Jacob, the one who formed you, Israel: "Do not be afraid, because I've redeemed you. I've called you by name; you are mine.

everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

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

Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the nations be assembled. "Who is there among them who can declare this, or announce the former things? Let them produce their witnesses to prove them right, and let them proclaim so people will say, "It's true.'

"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.

"I am God; also from ancient days I am the one. And there is no one who can deliver out of my hand; when I act, who can reverse it?"

This is what the LORD says who makes a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters,

who brings out chariots and horsemen, and armies and warriors at the same time. They lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a candle:

the people whom I formed for myself and so that they may speak my praise."

"I, I am the one who blots out your transgression for my own sake, and I'll remember your sins no more.

"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.

Who is like me? Let him proclaim and declare it, and lay it out for himself since he made an ancient people. And let him speak future events; let them tell him what will happen.

Who would shape a god or cast an image that profits nothing?

To be sure, all who associate with it will be put to shame; and as for the craftsmen, they are only human. Let them all gather together and take their stand. Then let them be terrified they will be humiliated together.

"This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer and the one who formed you in the womb: "I am the LORD, who has made everything, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth Who was with me at that time?

who frustrates the omens of idle talkers, and drives diviners mad, who turns back the wise, and makes their knowledge foolish;

who carries out the words of his servants, and fulfills the predictions of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, "It will be inhabited," and of Judah's cities, "They will be rebuilt," and of her ruins, "I'll raise them up";

who says to the watery deep, "Be dry I will dry up your rivers;"

who says about Cyrus, "He's my shepherd, and he'll carry out everything that I please: He'll say of Jerusalem, "Let it be rebuilt,' and of my Temple, "Let its foundations be laid again.'"'"

I'll give you concealed treasures and riches hidden in secret places, so that you'll know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name.

"I form light and create darkness, I make goodness and create disaster. I am the LORD, who does all these things.

"Shout, you skies above, and you clouds, and let righteousness stream down. I am the one who says to the earth, "Let salvation blossom, and let righteousness sprout forth.'

"Woe to the one who quarrels with his makers, a mere potsherd with the potsherds of the earth! Woe to the one who says to the one forming him, "What are you making?' or "Your work has no human hands?'!

Woe to the one who says to his father, "What are you begetting?' or to a woman, "To what are you giving birth?'!"

"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.

"Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.

For this is what the LORD says, who created the heavens he is God, and the one who formed the earth and made it, and he is the one who established it; he didn't create itfor chaos, but formed it to be inhabited "I am the LORD and there is no other.

"Gather together and come; draw near and enter, your fugitives from the nations. Those who carry around their wooden idols know nothing, nor do those who keep praying to a god that cannot save.

Explain and present a case! Yes, let them take counsel together. Who announced this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides me, a righteous God and Savior; and there is none besides me.

One will say of me, "Only in the LORD are victories and might.' All who raged against him will come to him and will be put to shame.

"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.

"To whom will you compare me, count me equal, or liken me, so that I may be compared?

Those who pour out gold in a purse, weigh silver in a balance, hire a goldsmith in order to make a god, and then they bow down and even worship it.

"Listen to me, you hard-hearted, you who are far removed from righteousness:

according to your multiple schemes. Let them stand up now those who conjure the heavens and gaze at the stars, predicting at the new moons and save you from what is about to happen to them.

So will they be to you those with whom you toiled and did business since your childhood they wander about, each in his own direction; there is not one who can save you.

"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.

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

Let all of them come together and listen: Who is there among them that could declare these things? "The LORD loves me, and he will accomplish my purpose against Babylon; his arm will be against the Chaldeans.

"This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who directs you in the path by which you should go.

He said to me: "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will glorify myself.'

"And now, says the LORD, who formed you from the womb as his servant to bring Jacob back to him so that Israel might be gathered to him and I am honored in the LORD's sight and my God has been my help

"This is what my Lord says the LORD your Redeemer, O Israel, and his Holy One to one despised by people, to those abhorred as a nation, to the servant of rulers: "Kings see and arise, and princes will bow down, because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, the one who has chosen you."

saying to captives, "Come out!' and to those who are in darkness, "Be free!' "They will feed on all the mountains, and their pasture will be on all the barren hills.

They won't hunger or thirst, nor will the desert heat or sun beat upon them; for the one who has compassion on them will drive them and guide them alongside springs of water.

Your builders are working faster than your destroyers, and those who devastated you go away from you.

Indeed, your ruins, your desolate places, and your devastated land will now be too crowded for your inhabitants, while those who swallowed you up will be far away.

"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?'

"Oh, yes! Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens will be your nursing mothers. They will bow to you with their faces to the ground, and lick the dust from your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.

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.

"I'll make those who mistreat you eat their own flesh, and they will get drunk on their own blood, as with new wine. "Then all mankind will know that I am the LORD your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."

"The Lord GOD has given me a learned tongue, so that I may know how to sustain the weary with words. And morning after morning he wakens, and he wakens my ear to listen like those who are being taught.

I gave my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not turn away my face from insults and spitting.

The one who vindicates me is near. Who, then, will bring a charge against me? Let's face each other! Who has a case against me? Let him confront me!

See! It is the Lord GOD who will help me. Who is it that will declare me guilty? See! They will all wear out like a garment; moths will eat them up.

Who among you fears the LORD, obeying the voice of his servant, who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD, and rely upon his God.

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.

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD! Look to the rock from which you were cut, to the quarry from which you were hewn.

Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. For when he was only one person I called him, but I made him fruitful and made him many.

"Lift up your eyes, you heavens and look to the earth beneath; and see who created these. Its inhabitants will die just like this; but my salvation will be forever, and my deliverance will never fail.

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.

"Awake! Awake! Clothe yourself with strength, you arm of the LORD! Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of long ago. Was it not you who split apart Rehob, who pierced that sea monster through?

Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed could cross over?"

"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?

"For I am the LORD your God, who churns up the sea, so that its waves roar, "The LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name.'

"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?

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.

But I will put it into the hands of those who tormented and oppressed you, those who said to you, "Lie down, so we can step over you,' so that you had to make your back like the ground, and like a street for them to walk over."