He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.

Then it will be used to make a fire, so that a man may get warm; he has the oven heated with it and makes bread: he makes a god with it, to which he gives worship: he makes a pictured image out of it, and goes down on his face before it.

For thus sayeth the LORD thy redeemer, even he that fashioned thee from thy mother's womb: I am the LORD, which do all things myself alone. I only have spread out the heavens, and I only have laid the foundation of the earth.

Frustrating the signs and confounding the omens of boasters (false prophets),
Making fools out of fortune-tellers,
Counteracting the wise
And making their knowledge ridiculous,

And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

Cursed is he who has an argument with his Maker, the pot which has an argument with the Potter! Will the wet earth say to him who is working with it, What are you doing, that your work has nothing by which it may be gripped?

The Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, says, Will you put a question to me about the things which are to come, or will you give me orders about my sons, and the work of my hands?

“I have stirred up Cyrus and put him into action in righteousness [to accomplish My purpose]
And I will make all his ways smooth;
He will build My city and let My exiles go,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of hosts.

But Israel shall be saved in the LORD, which is the everlasting salvation: They shall not come to shame nor confusion, world without end.

I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek me in vain: I am Jehovah, speaking righteousness, declaring things which are right.

Bel is bent down, Nebo is falling; their images are on the beasts and on the cattle: the things which you took about have become a weight to the tired beast.

Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:

I, I which shall bear you unto your last age, I have made you; I will also nourish you, bear you and save you.

They put him on their backs, and take him up, and put him in his fixed place, from which he may not be moved; if a man gives a cry for help to him, he is unable to give an answer, or get him out of his trouble.

“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,

Declaring from the beginning the latter end, And from of old that which hath not been done, Saying, 'My counsel doth stand, And all My delight I do.'

sayeth our redeemer, which is called the LORD of Hosts, the holy one of Israel.

Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

Stand, I pray thee, in thy charms, And in the multitude of thy sorceries, In which thou hast laboured from thy youth, It may be thou art able to profit, It may be thou dost terrify!

Thou hast worn thyself out with the mass of thy consultations, - Let them take their stand I pray thee that they may save thee - The dividers of the heavens - The gazers at the stars, They who make known by new moons, Somewhat of the things which shall come upon thee.

“In fact, they are like stubble;
Fire burns them.
They cannot save themselves from the power of the flame [much less save the nation],
There is no blazing coal for warming
Nor fire before which to sit!

Thus shall the things be to you in which you have labored: those who have trafficked with you from your youth shall wander everyone to his quarter; there shall be none to save you.

Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.

Which are called free men of the holy city, as they that look for comfort in the God of Israel, whose name is the LORD of Hosts.

“I have declared the former things [which happened to Israel] in times past;
They went forth from My mouth and I proclaimed them;
Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.

Thou hast heard it; behold all this; and ye, will ye not declare it? I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, which thou hast not known.

“For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it [I refrain and do not completely destroy you];
For how can My Name be defiled and profaned [as it would if My chosen people were completely destroyed]?
And I will not give My glory to another [by permitting the worshipers of idols to triumph over you].

All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

"Behold, I have made thee a light, that thou shouldest be salvation, even unto the end of the world. Kings shall see, and rulers shall stand up and shall worship, because of the LORD, which is faithful; and the holy of Israel hath chosen thee.

Moreover, thus sayeth the LORD the avenger and holy one of Israel, because of the abhorring and despising among the Gentiles, concerning the servant of all them that bear rule: Kings and Princes shall see, and arise and worship, because of the LORD that he is faithful: and because of the holy one of Israel, which hath chosen thee.

This is the word of the Lord: I have given ear to you at a good time, and I have been your helper in a day of salvation: and I will keep you safe, and will make you a glory for the people, putting the land in order, and giving them the heritages which now are waste;

Saying to those who are bound and captured, ‘Go forth,’
And to those who are in [spiritual] darkness, ‘Show yourselves [come into the light of the Savior].’
They will feed along the roads [on which they travel],
And their pastures will be on all the bare heights.

"Watch! They'll come from far away some from the north and from the west, and others from the region of China."

The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

"For this what the LORD says, "Watch! I'll lift up my hand to the nations and raise my banner to the nations. They will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.'

Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

The LORD God hath given me a well learned tongue, so that I can comfort them which are troubled; yea, and that in due season. He waked mine ear up betimes in the morning, as schoolmasters do; that I might hark.

Behold, the LORD God standeth by me: what is he that can condemn me? Lo, they shall be all like as an old cloth, which the moths shall eat up.

Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who are surrounded with sparks; walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks which you have kindled. This you shall have of My hand; you shall lie down in sorrow.

“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness (right standing with God),
Who seek and inquire of the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
And to the excavation of the quarry from which you were dug.

Let your eyes be lifted up to the heavens, and turned to the earth which is under them: for the heavens will go in flight like smoke, and the earth will become old like a coat, and its people will come to destruction like insects: but my salvation will be for ever, and my righteousness will not come to an end.

Awake, awake put on strength, O arm of Yahweh, Awake, As in days of old, The generations of bygone ages: Art not thou that which - Hewed down Rahab, Piercing the Crocodile?

Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

That the redeemed of the LORD, which turned again, might come with joy unto Zion, there to endure forever? That mirth and gladness might be with them? That sorrow and woe might flee from them?

I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;

and forgettest the LORD that made thee, that spread out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth? But thou art ever afraid for the sight of thine oppressor, which is ready to do harm: Where is the wrath of the oppressor?

Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

This is the word of the Lord your master, even your God who takes up the cause of his people: See, I have taken out of your hand the cup which overcomes, even the cup of my wrath; it will not again be given to you:

But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

For this cause I will make my name clear to my people; in that day they will be certain that it is my word which comes to them; see, here am I.

But ye shall not go out with sedition nor make haste as they that flee away: for the LORD shall go before you, and the God of Israel shall keep the watch.

So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

Who hath given credence to that which we heard? And the arm of Jehovah, On whom hath it been revealed?

But it was for our sins he was wounded, and for our evil doings he was crushed: he took the punishment by which we have peace, and by his wounds we are made well.

As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He shall see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge [of what He has accomplished] the Righteous One,
My Servant, shall justify the many [making them righteous—upright before God, in right standing with Him],
For He shall bear [the responsibility for] their sins.

For this I will divide to him with many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; for which his soul was poured out to death, and he was numbered with transgressors; and he lifted up the sin of many, and he will supplicate for transgressors.

For, the waters of Noah, is this unto me, - As to which I sware that the waters of Noah should not again pass over the earth, So have I sworn Not to be vexed with thee Nor to rebuke thee.

In righteousness shalt thou be grounded, and be far from oppression: for the which thou needest not be afraid, neither for hindrance, for it shall not come nigh thee.

Watch! If anyone does attack you, it will not be from me; whoever may attack you will fall because of you.

No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness which is of me, saith Jehovah.

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

See, you will send for a nation of which you had no knowledge, and those who had no knowledge of you will come running to you, because of the Lord your God, and because of the Holy One of Israel, for he has given you glory.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

“Instead of the thorn bush the cypress tree will grow,
And instead of the nettle the myrtle tree will grow;
And it will be a memorial to the Lord,
For an everlasting sign [of His mercy] which will not be cut off.”

This is what the Lord says,
“Maintain justice and do righteousness,
For My salvation is soon to come,
And My righteousness and justice is soon to be revealed.

Blessed is the man that doth this, and the man's child which keepeth the same. He that taketh heed, that he unhallow not the Sabbath; that is, he that keepeth himself that he do no evil.

Then shall not the stranger, which cleaveth to the LORD, say, "Alas the LORD hath shut me clean out from his people." Neither shall the gelded man say, "Lo, I am a dried tree."

For thus said Jehovah of the eunuchs, Who do keep My sabbaths, And have fixed on that which I desired, And are keeping hold on My covenant:

I will give to them in my house, and inside my walls, a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name which will not be cut off.

Again, he sayeth unto the strangers that are disposed to stick to the LORD, to serve him, and to Love his name: That they shall be no bondman. And all they, which keep themselves, that they unhallow not the Sabbath - namely, that they fulfill my covenant -

I will make them come to my holy mountain, and will give them joy in my house of prayer; I will take pleasure in the burned offerings which they make on my altar: for my house will be named a house of prayer for all peoples.

The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.

Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.

But the wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, and whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

Though they make prayer to me every day, and take pleasure in the knowledge of my ways: like a nation which has done righteousness, and has not given up the rules of their God, they make requests to me for the right orders, it is their delight to come near to God.

“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?

Is not this the fast which I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, and to send forth free the crushed, and that ye break every yoke?

And if you offer yourself to [assist] the hungry
And satisfy the need of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.

And Jehovah led thee continually, and he satisfied thy soul in dry places, and he will make thy bones strong: and thou wed as a watered garden, and as a spring of water which its waters shall not deceive.

“Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

Yea, if thou turn thy feet from the Sabbath, so that thou do not the thing which pleaseth thyself in my holy day: then shalt thou be called unto the pleasant, holy, and glorious Sabbath of the LORD, where thou shalt be in honor - so that thou do not after thine own imagination, neither seek thine own will, nor speak thine own words.

Then shalt thou have thy pleasure in the LORD, which shall carry thee high above the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the LORD's own mouth hath so promised.

They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

They have no knowledge of the way of peace, and there is no sense of what is right in their behaviour: they have made for themselves ways which are not straight; whoever goes in them has no knowledge of peace.

He saw also, that there was no man which had pity thereof, or was grieved at it. And he held him by his own power, and cleaved to his own righteousness.

So shall they fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Jehovah driveth.

As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

“Arise [from spiritual depression to a new life], shine [be radiant with the glory and brilliance of the Lord]; for your light has come,
And the glory and brilliance of the Lord has risen upon you.

All the cattle of Cedar shall be gathered unto thee, the rams Nebaioth shall serve thee, to be offered upon mine altar, which I have chosen, and in the house of my glory which I have garnished.

For the nation or kingdom which will not be your servant will come to destruction; such nations will be completely waste.

And they will be building again the old broken walls, and will make new the old waste places, and will put up again the towns which have been waste for long generations.

For I the LORD, which love right and hate robbery, though it were offered me, shall make their works full of faithfulness, and make an everlasting covenant with them.

And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.

For as the earth puts out buds, and as the garden gives growth to the seeds which are planted in it, so the Lord will make righteousness and praise to be flowering before all the nations.

And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.

I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,

The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured:

What is he, this that cometh from Edom, with stained red clothes of Bozrah, which is so costly cloth, and cometh in so nimbly with all his strength? "I am he that teacheth righteousness, and am of power to help."