“For Sheol cannot praise or thank You,
Death cannot praise You and rejoice in You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

[The] living, [the] living one praises you like me today; a father will make your faithfulness known to children.

And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver and the gold, and the spices and the fine oil, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found amongst his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not shew them.

Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did these men say? From where have they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a far country, from Babylon.”

And he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah said in answer, They saw everything in my house: there is nothing among my stores which I did not let them see.

The grass becomes dry, the flower is dead; because the breath of the Lord goes over it: truly the people is grass.

The grass is dry, the flower is dead; but the word of our God is eternal.

With whom did He consult and who enlightened Him?
Who taught Him the path of justice and taught Him knowledge
And informed Him of the way of understanding?

Will ye not know? will ye not hear? was it not announced to you from the beginning? did ye not understand from the foundations of the earth?

Who made and did, calling the generations from the beginning? I Jehovah, the first, and with the last; I am he.

The Isles saw and did fear, and ye ends of the earth were abashed, drew nigh, and came hither.

So that they shall see and know and attend, and consider together that the hand of Jehovah did this, and the Holy One of Israel created it

They shall draw near and announce to us what shall happen: shewed they the former things, what they were, and we will set our heart, and we shall know their latter state; or did we hear things coming?

I, Jehovah, did call thee in righteousness, And I lay hold on thy hand, and keep thee, And I give thee for a covenant of a people, And a light of nations.

I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;
I will guide them on paths they have not known.
I will turn darkness to light in front of them
and rough places into level ground.
This is what I will do for them,
and I will not forsake them.

Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.

Therefore He poured out on Israel the heat of His anger
And the fierceness of battle;
And engulfed him in fire,
Yet he did not recognize [the lesson of repentance which the Assyrian conquest was intended to teach];
It burned him, but he did not take it to heart.

Also, from today on I am He alone,
and none can deliver from My hand.
I act, and who can reverse it?”

But you did not call me, Jacob; for you have become weary of me, Israel.

You have not made me burned offerings of sheep, or given me honour with your offerings of beasts; I did not make you servants to give me an offering, and I did not make you tired with requests for perfumes.

You did not buy me aromatic reeds; you did not present to me the fat of your sacrifices. Yet you burdened me with your sins; you made me weary with your evil deeds.

Therefore I either suspended, or slew the chiefest princes: I did curse Jacob, and gave Israel into reproof."

“One will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’;
And another will name himself after Jacob;
And another will write on his hand, ‘I am the Lord’s,’
And be called by the [honorable] name of Israel.

Don't panic! Don't be afraid! Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me? There is no other sheltering rock; I know of none.

As for him whose food is the dust of a dead fire, he has been turned from the way by a twisted mind, so that he is unable to keep himself safe by saying, What I have here in my hand is false.

Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb: I am Jehovah, the maker of all things; who alone stretched out the heavens, who did spread forth the earth by myself;

For thus saith Jehovah who created the heavens, God himself who formed the earth and made it, he who established it, not as waste did he create it: he formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah, and there is none else.

“I have not spoken in secret,
In a corner of a land of darkness;
I did not say to the descendants of Jacob,
‘Seek Me in vain [with no benefit for yourselves].’
I, the Lord, speak righteousness [the truth—trustworthy, a straightforward correlation between deeds and words],
Declaring things that are upright.

Give the word, put forward your cause, let us have a discussion together: who has given news of this in the past? who made it clear in early times? did not I, the Lord? and there is no God but me; a true God and a saviour; there is no other.

“Remember [carefully] the former things [which I did] from ages past;
For I am God, and there is no one else;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,

I was angry with my people; I profaned my inheritance, and I gave them into your hand. You did not {give} them mercy; on [the] aged you made your yoke very heavy.

“And you said, ‘I shall be a queen forevermore.’
You did not consider these things,
Nor did you [seriously] remember the [ultimate] outcome of such conduct.

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

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.

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

I did this because I know how stubborn you are. Your neck muscles are like iron and your forehead like bronze.

And I declare to thee from that time, Before it cometh I have caused thee to hear, Lest thou say, 'Mine idol hath done them, And my graven image, And my molten image did command them.

You have heard, now see all this; and will you not declare it? I have showed you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them.

“They are created now [called into being by the prophetic word] and not long ago;
And before today you have not heard of them,
So that you will not say, ‘Oh yes! I knew them.’

Yes, you didn't hear; yes, you didn't know; yes, from of old your ear was not opened: for I knew that you did deal very treacherously, and was called a transgressor from the womb.

Be gathered all of you, and hear, Who among them did declare these things? Jehovah hath loved him, He doth His pleasure on Babylon, And His arm is on the Chaldeans.

Come near to me, and give ear to this; from the start I did not keep it secret; from the time of its coming into existence I was there: and now the Lord God has sent me, and given me his spirit.

They did not thirst
when He led them through the deserts;
He made water flow for them from the rock;
He split the rock, and water gushed out.

So now the Lord says, the one who formed me from birth to be his servant -- he did this to restore Jacob to himself, so that Israel might be gathered to him; and I will be honored in the Lord's sight, for my God is my source of strength --

“Then [Zion], you will say in your heart,
‘Who has borne me these children,
Since I have been bereaved of my children
And am barren, an exile and a wanderer?
And who has reared these?
Indeed, I was left alone;
From where then did these children come?’”

Thus says Yahweh: "Where [is] this divorce document of your mother's divorce, [with] which I dismissed her? or to whom of my creditors did I sell you? Look! you were sold because of your sin, and your mother was dismissed because of your transgressions.

Wherefore did I come, and there was no man? I called, and there was none to answer? Is my hand at all shortened that I cannot redeem, or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and die for thirst.

The Lord Yahweh has opened an ear for me, and I, I was not rebellious. I did not turn backwards;

I gave my back to those who struck [me], and my cheeks to those who pulled out my {beard}; I did not hide my face from insults and spittle.

Because, My Lord, Yahweh, would help me, Therefore was I not deterred by insult, - Therefore did I set my face like flint, And I knew that I should not be put to shame.

Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity! Did you not smash the Proud One? Did you not wound the sea monster?

Did you not make the sea dry, the waters of the great deep? did you not make the deep waters of the sea a way for the Lord's people to go through?

That you have forgotten the Lord your Maker,
Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth,
That you continually tremble with fear all day long because of the rage of the oppressor,
As he takes aim to destroy?
And where is the rage of the oppressor?

For thus hath the LORD said: My people went down aforetime into Egypt, there to be strangers. Afterward did the king of the Assyrians oppress them for naught.

Just as many were appalled at You—
His appearance was so disfigured
that He did not look like a man,
and His form did not resemble a human being—

He was despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief;
And like One from whom men hide their faces
He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was brought like lamb to [the] slaughter, and like a sheep is dumb before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth.

By constraint and by sentence, was he taken away, And of his age, who considered That he was cut off out of the land of the living, For my peoples transgression, did the stroke fall on him?

He put his sepulchre with the wicked, and with the rich in his death: because he did none iniquity, neither was guile found in his mouth.

Yet the Lord was willing
To crush Him, causing Him to suffer;
If He would give Himself as a guilt offering [an atonement for sin],
He shall see His [spiritual] offspring,
He shall prolong His days,
And the will (good pleasure) of the Lord shall succeed and prosper in His hand.

“Shout for joy, O barren one, she who has not given birth;
Break forth into joyful shouting and rejoice, she who has not gone into labor [with child]!
For the [spiritual] sons of the desolate one will be more numerous
Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.

Look, you will summon nations you did not previously know; nations that did not previously know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he bestows honor on you.

And the dogs are strong of desire, They have not known sufficiency, And they are shepherds! They have not known understanding, All of them to their own way they did turn, Each to his dishonest gain from his quarter:

"Come, let me take wine, and let us carouse [with] intoxicating drink, and tomorrow will be like today, {very great indeed}."

You went to the king with oil, and did increase your perfumes, and did send your ambassadors far off, and debased yourself even to Sheol.

“You were wearied by the length of your road,
Yet you did not say, ‘It is no use.’
You found renewed strength,
Therefore you did not grow weak.

“About whom were you worried and fearful
That you lied and did not remember Me,
Nor give Me a thought?
Was I not silent even for a long time
And [as a result] you do not fear Me?

“For I will not contend forever,
Nor will I always be angry;
For [if I did stay angry] the spirit [of man] would grow weak before Me,
And the breath of those whom I have created.

Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

For what did we fast, and thou sawest not? we humbled our soul and thou wilt not know? Behold, in the day of your fasting ye will find desire, and ye will exact all your labors.

“The facts are that you fast only for strife and brawling and to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You do not fast as you do today to make your voice heard on high.

Is not, this, the fast that I must ever choose - To unbind the tight cords of lawlessness, To unloose the bands of the yoke, - and To let the crushed go free, and That every yoke, ye tear off?

Their webs become not a garment, Nor do they cover themselves with their works, Their works are works of iniquity, And a deed of violence is in their hands.

They did not know the way of peace, and there is no judgment in their paths. They have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them shall not know peace.

We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.

According to deeds -- so He repayeth. Fury to His adversaries, their deed to His enemies, To the isles their deed He repayeth.

“Then you will see and be radiant,
And your heart will tremble [with joy] and rejoice
Because the abundant wealth of the seas will be brought to you,
The wealth of the nations will come to you.

The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on me, Because Jehovah did anoint me To proclaim tidings to the humble, He sent me to bind the broken of heart, To proclaim to captives liberty, And to bound ones an opening of bands.

And I saw that there was no helper, and I was wondering that no one gave them support: so my arm did the work of salvation, and my wrath was my support.

I will tell of the faithful acts of the Lord, of the Lord's praiseworthy deeds. I will tell about all the Lord did for us, the many good things he did for the family of Israel, because of his compassion and great faithfulness.

Who led them through the depths [of the Red Sea],
Like a horse in the wilderness, [so that] they did not stumble?

Like the cattle that go down into the valley [to find better pasture and rest],
The Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.
So You led Your people [O Lord]
To make for Yourself a beautiful and glorious name [preparing the way for the acknowledgment of Your name by all nations].

Look down from heaven and see from Your lofty dwelling place, holy and glorious.
Where are Your zeal and Your mighty acts [Your miracles which you did for Your people]?
The stirring of Your heart and Your compassion are restrained and withheld from me.

For a little while did Thy holy people possess, Our adversaries have trodden down Thy sanctuary.

We have been since antiquity; you did not rule them; {they were not called by your name}.

Didst Thou not rend the heavens? Thou didst come down, From thy presence did mountains flow,

In Thy doing fearful things -- we expect not, Thou didst come down, From Thy presence did mountains flow.

Although from age-past times It was never heard, It was not perceived by the ear, - Neither did, the eye, ever see - That, a god besides thee, could work for the man who waited for him,

For we have all become like an unclean person, and all our good acts are like a dirty robe: and we have all become old like a dead leaf, and our sins, like the wind, take us away.

Our holy and our beautiful house, Where praise Thee did our fathers, Hath become burnt with fire, And all our desirable things have become a waste.

"I let myself be sought by [those who] did not ask; I let myself be found by [those who] did not seek me. I said, 'Here I am; here I am!' to a nation [that] did not call on my name;

I spread out my hands all day long to my rebellious people, who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable, and who did what they desired.

Who sit among the graves [trying to conjure up evil spirits] and spend the night in the secret places [where spirits are thought to dwell];
Who eat swine’s flesh,
And their pots hold the broth of unclean meat;

Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.

I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

Shall I cause to break and not cause to bring forth? will Jehovah say: If I cause to bring forth and did I shut up? said thy God.

And they shall go forth, and look upon the dead bodies 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 unto all flesh.

"Before I fashioned thee in thy mother's womb, I did know thee: And before thou wast born, I sanctified thee and ordained thee, to be a Prophet unto the people."

See, I have appointed you today
over nations and kingdoms
to uproot and tear down,
to destroy and demolish,
to build and plant.