One will say, 'I belong to the Lord,' and another will use the name 'Jacob.' One will write on his hand, 'The Lord's,' and use the name 'Israel.'"

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

Look, all his associates will be put to shame; the craftsmen are mere humans. Let them all assemble and take their stand! They will panic and be put to shame.

Remember these things, O Jacob, O Israel, for you are my servant. I formed you to be my servant; O Israel, I will not forget you!

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 go before you and level mountains. Bronze doors I will shatter and iron bars I will hack through.

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 do this so people will recognize from east to west that there is no God but me; I am the Lord, I have no peer.

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.

This is what the Lord says: "The profit of Egypt and the revenue of Ethiopia, along with the Sabeans, those tall men, will be brought to you and become yours. They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. They will bow down to you and pray to you: 'Truly God is with you; he has no peer; there is no other God!'"

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

Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; you will never again be ashamed or humiliated.

I solemnly make this oath -- what I say is true and reliable: 'Surely every knee will bow to me, every tongue will solemnly affirm;

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

All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord and will boast in him.

Even when you are old, I will take care of you, even when you have gray hair, I will carry you. I made you and I will support you; I will carry you and rescue you.

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.

I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away; I am bringing my salvation near, it does not wait. I will save Zion; I will adorn Israel with my splendor."

"Fall down! Sit in the dirt, O virgin daughter Babylon! Sit on the ground, not on a throne, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.

Let your private parts be exposed! Your genitals will be on display! I will get revenge; I will not have pity on anyone,"

"Sit silently! Go to a hiding place, O daughter of the Babylonians! Indeed, you will no longer be called 'Queen of kingdoms.'

You said, 'I will rule forever as permanent queen!' You did not think about these things; you did not consider how it would turn out.

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.'

Both of these will come upon you suddenly, in one day! You will lose your children and be widowed. You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, despite your many incantations and your numerous amulets.

Disaster will overtake you; you will not know how to charm it away. Destruction will fall on you; you will not be able to appease it. Calamity will strike you suddenly, before you recognize it.

Persist in trusting your amulets and your many incantations, which you have faithfully recited since your youth! Maybe you will be successful -- maybe you will scare away disaster.

They will disappoint you, those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. Each strays off in his own direction, leaving no one to rescue you."

You have heard; now look at all the evidence! Will you not admit that what I say is true? From this point on I am announcing to you new events that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about.

For my sake alone I will act, for how can I allow my name to be defiled? I will not share my glory with anyone else!

All of you, gather together and listen! Who among them announced these things? The Lord's ally will carry out his desire against Babylon; he will exert his power against the Babylonians.

I, I have spoken -- yes, I have summoned him; I lead him and he will succeed.

There will be no prosperity for the wicked," says the Lord.

He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor."

But I thought, "I have worked in vain; I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing." But the Lord will vindicate me; my God will reward me.

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 --

he says, "Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant, to reestablish the tribes of Jacob, and restore the remnant of Israel? I will make you a light to the nations, so you can bring my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth."

This is what the Lord, the protector of Israel, their Holy One, says to the one who is despised and rejected by nations, a servant of rulers: "Kings will see and rise in respect, princes will bow down, because of the faithful Lord, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you."

This is what the Lord says: "At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you; in the day of deliverance I will help you; I will protect you and make you a covenant mediator for people, to rebuild the land and to reassign the desolate property.

You will say to the prisoners, 'Come out,' and to those who are in dark dungeons, 'Emerge.' They will graze beside the roads; on all the slopes they will find pasture.

They will not be hungry or thirsty; the sun's oppressive heat will not beat down on them, for one who has compassion on them will guide them; he will lead them to springs of water.

I will make all my mountains into a road; I will construct my roadways."

Look all around you! All of them gather to you. As surely as I live," says the Lord, "you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry; you will put them on as if you were a bride.

Yes, your land lies in ruins; it is desolate and devastated. But now you will be too small to hold your residents, and those who devoured you will be far away.

Yet the children born during your time of bereavement will say within your hearing, 'This place is too cramped for us, make room for us so we can live here.'

Then you will think to yourself, 'Who bore these children for me? I was bereaved and barren, dismissed and divorced. Who raised these children? Look, I was left all alone; where did these children come from?'"

This is what the sovereign Lord says: "Look I will raise my hand to the nations; I will raise my signal flag to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

Kings will be your children's guardians; their princesses will nurse your children. With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you and they will lick the dirt on your feet. Then you will recognize that I am the Lord; those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

Indeed," says the Lord, "captives will be taken from a warrior; spoils will be rescued from a conqueror. I will oppose your adversary and I will rescue your children.

I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. Then all humankind will recognize that I am the Lord, your deliverer, your protector, the powerful ruler of Jacob."

But the sovereign Lord helps me, so I am not humiliated. For that reason I am steadfastly resolved; I know I will not be put to shame.

Look, the sovereign Lord helps me. Who dares to condemn me? Look, all of them will wear out like clothes; a moth will eat away at them.

Look, all of you who start a fire and who equip yourselves with flaming arrows, walk in the light of the fire you started and among the flaming arrows you ignited! This is what you will receive from me: you will lie down in a place of pain.

Certainly the Lord will console Zion; he will console all her ruins. He will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the Garden of the Lord. Happiness and joy will be restored to her, thanksgiving and the sound of music.

Pay attention to me, my people! Listen to me, my people! For I will issue a decree, I will make my justice a light to the nations.

I am ready to vindicate, I am ready to deliver, I will establish justice among the nations. The coastlands wait patiently for me; they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power.

Look up at the sky! Look at the earth below! For the sky will dissipate like smoke, and the earth will wear out like clothes; its residents will die like gnats. But the deliverance I give is permanent; the vindication I provide will not disappear.

For a moth will eat away at them like clothes; a clothes moth will devour them like wool. But the vindication I provide will be permanent; the deliverance I give will last."

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

The one who suffers will soon be released; he will not die in prison, he will not go hungry.

This is what your sovereign master, the Lord your God, says: "Look, I have removed from your hand the cup of intoxicating wine, the goblet full of my anger. You will no longer have to drink it.

I will put it into the hand of your tormentors who said to you, 'Lie down, so we can walk over you.' You made your back like the ground, and like the street for those who walked over you."

Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your beautiful clothes, O Jerusalem, holy city! For uncircumcised and unclean pagans will no longer invade you.

For this is what the Lord says: "You were sold for nothing, and you will not be redeemed for money."

For this reason my people will know my name, for this reason they will know at that time that I am the one who says, 'Here I am.'"

"Look, my servant will succeed! He will be elevated, lifted high, and greatly exalted --

his form was so marred he no longer looked human -- so now he will startle many nations. Kings will be shocked by his exaltation, for they will witness something unannounced to them, and they will understand something they had not heard about.

Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill, once restitution is made, he will see descendants and enjoy long life, and the Lord's purpose will be accomplished through him.

Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done. "My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins.

So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels."

For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your children will conquer nations and will resettle desolate cities.

Don't be afraid, for you will not be put to shame! Don't be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated! You will forget about the shame you experienced in your youth; you will no longer remember the disgrace of your abandonment.

"Indeed, the Lord will call you back like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression, like a young wife when she has been rejected," says your God.

"For a short time I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you.

In a burst of anger I rejected you momentarily, but with lasting devotion I will have compassion on you," says your protector, the Lord.

"As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah's time, when I vowed that the waters of Noah's flood would never again cover the earth. In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.

Even if the mountains are removed and the hills displaced, my devotion will not be removed from you, nor will my covenant of friendship be displaced," says the Lord, the one who has compassion on you.

I will make your pinnacles out of gems, your gates out of beryl, and your outer wall out of beautiful stones.

All your children will be followers of the Lord, and your children will enjoy great prosperity.

You will be reestablished when I vindicate you. You will not experience oppression; indeed, you will not be afraid. You will not be terrified, for nothing frightening will come near you.

If anyone dares to challenge you, it will not be my doing! Whoever tries to challenge you will be defeated.

No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed; you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. This is what the Lord will do for his servants -- I will vindicate them," says the Lord.

Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? Why spend your hard-earned money on something that will not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is nourishing! Enjoy fine food!

Pay attention and come to me! Listen, so you can live! Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David.

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.

The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.

Indeed you will go out with joy; you will be led along in peace; the mountains and hills will give a joyful shout before you, and all the trees in the field will clap their hands.

Evergreens will grow in place of thorn bushes, firs will grow in place of nettles; they will be a monument to the Lord, a permanent reminder that will remain.

The people who do this will be blessed, the people who commit themselves to obedience, who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it, who refrain from doing anything that is wrong.

No foreigner who becomes a follower of the Lord should say, 'The Lord will certainly exclude me from his people.' The eunuch should not say, 'Look, I am like a dried-up tree.'"

I will set up within my temple and my walls a monument that will be better than sons and daughters. I will set up a permanent monument for them that will remain.

I will bring them to my holy mountain; I will make them happy in the temple where people pray to me. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my temple will be known as a temple where all nations may pray."

The sovereign Lord says this, the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel: "I will still gather them up."

All you wild animals in the fields, come and devour, all you wild animals in the forest!

Each one says, 'Come on, I'll get some wine! Let's guzzle some beer! Tomorrow will be just like today! We'll have everything we want!'

Among the smooth stones of the stream are the idols you love; they, they are the object of your devotion. You pour out liquid offerings to them, you make an offering. Because of these things I will seek vengeance.

I will denounce your so-called righteousness and your deeds, but they will not help you.

When you cry out for help, let your idols help you! The wind blows them all away, a breeze carries them away. But the one who looks to me for help will inherit the land and will have access to my holy mountain."