who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked my advice; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt.

For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore have I called her Rahab who sits still.

For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the LORD;

who tell the seers, "Do not see." and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits.

but you said, "No, for we will flee on horses;" therefore you will flee; and, "We will ride on the swift;" therefore those who pursue you will be swift.

Therefore the LORD will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you, for the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, and they do not seek the LORD.

Yet he also is wise, and will bring disaster, and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of those who work iniquity.

Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble, and he who is helped shall fall, and they all shall be consumed together.

Return to him from whom you have deeply revolted, children of Israel.

The eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen.

Rise up, you women who are at ease. Hear my voice. You careless daughters, give ear to my speech.

Tremble, you women who are at ease. Be troubled, you careless ones. Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked, and put sackcloth on your waist.

Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who set free the foot of the ox and the donkey.

Woe to you who destroy, but you weren't destroyed; and who betray, but nobody betrayed you. When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have made an end of betrayal, you will be betrayed.

Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge my might."

The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?

He who walks righteously, and speaks blamelessly; He who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil?

Your heart will meditate on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted the towers?

The inhabitant won't say, "I am sick." The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity.

Tell those who have a fearful heart, "Be strong. Do not be afraid. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God's retribution. He will come and save you.

And a highway will be there, and a way, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.

Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder came out to him.

I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?

Behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in the Jews' language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

But Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me only to your master and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?"

Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"

Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

It may be the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.'"

"Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem won't be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."

Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?

"LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

Turn your ear, LORD, and hear. Open your eyes, LORD, and behold. Hear all of the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God.

Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

For Sheol can't praise you. Death can't celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can't hope for your truth.

'They will take away your sons who will issue from you, whom you shall father, and they will be eunuchs in the king of Babylon's palace.'"

The voice of one who calls out, "Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness. Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Do not be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold, your God."

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

Who has known the mind of the LORD, or has taught him as his counselor?

Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?

He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved.

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;

who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless.

"To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking.

He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.

But those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.

Who has raised up one from the east? Whom he called to his foot in righteousness? He hands over nations to him, and makes him rule over kings. He gives them like the dust to his sword, like the driven stubble to his bow.

Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last, I am he."

So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smoothes with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good;" and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.

"But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend,

You whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from its corners, and said to you, 'You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you away;'

Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish.

You will seek them, and won't find them, even those who contend with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as a non-existent thing.

Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.

"I have raised up one from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun, one who calls on my name; and he shall come on rulers as on mortar, and as the potter treads clay.

Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know? And before, that we may say, 'He is right?' Surely, there is no one who declares. Surely, there is no one who shows. Surely, there is no one who hears your words.

I am the first to say to Zion, 'Behold, look at them;' and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem.

When I look, there is no man; even among them there is no counselor who, when I ask of them, can answer a word.

"Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.

Thus says God the LORD, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it.

to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.

Sing to the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the islands and their inhabitants.

"Those who trust in engraved images, who tell molten images, 'You are our gods' will be turned back. They will be utterly disappointed.

Who is blind, but my servant? Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is as blind as he who is at peace, and as blind as the LORD's servant?

Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come?

Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they disobeyed his law.

But now thus says the LORD who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel: "Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.

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

Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.

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, "That is true."

"You are my witnesses," says the LORD, "With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me.

Yes, since the day was I am he; and there is no one who can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?"

Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;

who brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick):

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

Yet listen now, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen.

This is what the LORD who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: "Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

Who is like me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare the things that are coming, and that will happen.

Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses do not see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.

Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?

Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;

who foils the omens of the empty talkers, and makes fools of diviners; who turns wise men back, and makes their knowledge foolish;

who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; who says of Jerusalem, 'She will be inhabited;' and of the cities of Judah, 'They will be built,' and 'I will raise up its waste places;'

who says to the deep, 'Be dry,' and 'I will dry up your rivers;'

Who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,' even saying of Jerusalem, 'She will be built;' and of the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid.'"

I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel.

I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create calamity. I am the LORD, who does all these things.

Woe to him who strives with his Maker, a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth. Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, 'What are you making?' or your work, 'He has no hands?'

Woe to him who says to a father, 'What have you become the father of?' or to a mother, 'To what have you given birth?'"

Most certainly you are a God who hid yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.'"

They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.

For thus says the LORD who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and did not create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other.

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.

Declare and bring it forth. Yes, let them take counsel together: who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven't I, the LORD? and there is no God else besides me, a just God and a Savior; there is no one besides me.