For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring out and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

So says Jehovah, Keep judgment and do justice; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.

Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; keeping the sabbath, from defiling it; and keeping his hand from doing any evil.

They say, come, Let us take wine, and let us gulp strong drink; and tomorrow shall be like today, and much more abundant.

The righteous one perishes, and no one lays it to heart, and merciful men are taken away; no one cares that the righteous is taken away from the face of evil.

Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion; they, even they, are your lot; even to them you have poured a drink offering, you have offered a food offering. Should I be consoled over these?

For so says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity; whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, even with the contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.

Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and one who did not forget the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in drawing near to God.

Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness; you shall not fast as you do today, to make your voice to be heard on high.

Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a day pleasing to Jehovah?

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed ones go free, and that you break every yoke?

Is it not to break your bread to the hungry, and that you should bring home the wandering poor? When will you see the naked and cover him; and you will not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then shall your light break out as the dawn, and your health shall spring out quickly; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Jehovah shall gather you.

and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.

And Jehovah shall always guide you and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones fat; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.

Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened so that it cannot save, nor is His ear heavy so that it cannot hear.

They hatch adders' eggs and weave the spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.

Their webs shall not become clothing, nor shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act 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.

Therefore judgment is far from us; nor does justice overtake us. We wait for light, but behold, dimness; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

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 deserted places like dead men.

We all roar like bears, and mourn grievously like doves; we look for judgment, but none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;

And justice is driven back, and justice stands afar off; for truth has fallen in the street, and right cannot enter.

As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says Jehovah; My Spirit that is on you, and My Words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed's seed, says Jehovah, from now on and forever.

Who are these who fly like a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?

The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on Me; because Jehovah has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

For as the earth comes out with its bud, and as the garden causes that which is sown to grow; so the Lord Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to grow before all the nations.

For Zion's sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until its righteousness goes out as brightness, and her salvation as a burning lamp.

You will no more be called Forsaken; nor will your land any more be called Desolate; but you will be called My Delight is in her, and your land, Married; for Jehovah delights in you, and your land is married.

For as a young man marries a virgin, so will your sons marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

Behold, Jehovah has sent a message to the end of the earth, Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.

Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this One adorned in His clothing, bending down in His great power? I who speak in righteousness, great to save.

Why is Your clothing red, and Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?

For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come.

I will mention the loving-kindnesses of Jehovah, the praises of Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah has benefited for us, and the great good to the house of Israel by which He benefited them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses.

Then He remembered the days of old, Moses and His people, saying, Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit within him;

As a beast goes down into the valley, the Spirit of Jehovah caused him to rest. So You led Your people, to make Yourself a glorious name.

Look down from Heaven, and look down from the place of Your holiness and of Your glory; where is Your zeal and Your strength, the multitude of Your tender affections and of Your mercies toward me? Are they withheld?

For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer; Your name is from everlasting.

O Jehovah, why have You made us wander from Your ways. You harden our heart from Your fear? For Your servants' sake, return the tribes of Your inheritance.

as the brushwood fire burns, the fire causes water to boil, to make Your name known to Your foes, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!

You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned. In them is eternity, and we will be saved.

But we are all as the unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as a menstruation cloth. And we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us, and have melted us away because of our iniquities.

Do not be grievously angry, O Jehovah, nor remember iniquity forever. Behold! Look, please; all of us are Your people.

Your holy cities are a wilderness; Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem is a ruin.

Will You restrain Yourself over these things, O Jehovah? Will You be silent and sorely afflict us?

Behold, it is written before Me; I will not be silent, except I will repay; yea, I will repay into their bosom

So says Jehovah, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it; so I will do to My servants, that I may not destroy them all.

There will not be an infant, nor an old man that has not filled his days. For the child will die a hundred years old; but the sinner who is a hundred years old will be despised.

So says Jehovah, Heaven is My throne, and earth My footstool. Where, then, is the house that you build for Me? And where is the place of My rest?

He who kills an ox is is as if he killed a man; he who sacrifices a lamb is as if he broke a dog's neck; he who offers an offering is as if he offered swine's blood; he who burns incense is as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.

As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.

And they will bring all your brothers for an offering to Jehovah out of all nations on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says Jehovah, as the sons of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of Jehovah.

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make stand before Me, says Jehovah, so will your seed and your name stand.

And the Word of Jehovah came to me the second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling pot; and its face is from the face of the north.

Nor did they say, Where is Jehovah who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of dry places, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man lived?

The priests did not say, Where is Jehovah? And they who handle the Law did not know Me; the shepherds also rebelled against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things not profitable.

For pass over the coasts of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and carefully consider, and see if there is such a thing.

Is Israel a servant? Or is he a servant of the house? Why has he become a prey?

And now what is for you toward the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? Or what for you toward Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?

Your own evil shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you, therefore know and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken Jehovah your God, and that My fear is not in you, says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.

For though you wash yourself with potash, and multiply soap for yourself, yet your iniquity is marked before Me, says the Lord Jehovah.

a wild ass used to the wilderness; in the desire of her passion she snuffs at the wind; in her time who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not tire themselves; in her month they will find her.

Withhold your foot from being bare, and your throat from thirst. But you said, There is no hope; no; for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.

As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their rulers, and their priests, and their prophets;

saying to a tree, You are my father; and to a stone, You gave me birth. For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us!

Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents; I did not find them by breaking in, but on all these.

Why do you go about so much to change your way? You also shall be ashamed of Egypt, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says Jehovah.

Truly, for delusion comes from the high hills, tumult on the mountains. Truly, in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.

We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.

Declare in Judah, and let it be heard in Jerusalem; and say, Blow the trumpet in the land; cry, gather together, and say, Gather yourselves and let us go into the fortified cities.

Put on sackcloth for this, wail and howl; for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us.

Behold, he shall come up like clouds, and his chariots like a tempest. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered!

Your way and your doings have brought these things on you; this is your evil, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart.

My bowels, my bowels! I convulse in pain. O walls of my heart! My heart is restless within me; I cannot be silent because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the ram's horn, the alarm of war.

Ruin on ruin is cried; for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are laid waste, my curtains in a moment.

For My people are foolish; they have not known Me; they are stupid sons, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

Every city shall flee from the sound of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up among the rocks. All the city is abandoned, and not a man shall live in them.

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as one bearing her first child, the voice of Zion's daughter, gasping and spreading her hands, saying, Woe to me now! For my soul faints because of murderers.

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her open places, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon her.

And though they say, As Jehovah lives; surely they swear falsely.

Shall I not judge for these things? says Jehovah. And shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

They have lied against Jehovah and said, It is not He; neither shall evil come on us; nor shall we see sword nor famine.

And the prophets shall become wind, and the Word is not in them; so it shall be done to them.

Lo, I will bring a nation on you from afar, O house of Israel, says Jehovah. It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor understand what they say.

Their quiver is as an open grave; they are all mighty men.

And it will be, when you shall say, Why does Jehovah our God do all these things to us? Then You shall answer them, Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

And they do not say in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, who gives both the former and the latter rain in its season; He reserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

For among My people are found wicked ones; they lie in wait, as one who sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

Shall I not visit for these things? says Jehovah. Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Prepare war against her; arise and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

For so has Jehovah of Hosts said, Cut down trees and cast a mound against Jerusalem! She is the city to be visited; there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

As a fountain keeps fresh her waters, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and spoil is heard in her; always before Me are grief and wounds.

So says Jehovah of Hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine; turn back your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.

To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are not circumcised, and they cannot listen. Behold, the Word of Jehovah is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.