Woe unto him that says unto his father, What do you beget? or to the woman, What have you brought forth?

Thus, saith, Yahweh, The Holy One of Israel And his Fashioner, As to things to come, they have asked me, Concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands, they would command me!

It is I that have made the earth, and created man upon it; it is I, my hands, that have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

I myself have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his paths smooth. He himself shall build my city, and he shall set my exiles free, not for price or a gift," says Yahweh of hosts.

Truly, you have a secret God, the God of Israel is a Saviour!

All those who have gone against him will be put to shame; the makers of images will be made low.

For this is what the Lord says, the one who created the sky -- he is the true God, the one who formed the earth and made it; he established it, he did not create it without order, he formed it to be inhabited -- "I am the Lord, I have no peer.

I have spoken not in secrecy, in a place, a land, of darkness, I have not said to the descendants of Jacob, 'Seek me {in vain}!' I, Yahweh, [am] speaking righteousness, declaring uprightness.

Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

Declare ye, and bring it forth; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath showed this from ancient time? who hath declared it of old? have not I, Jehovah? and there is no God else besides me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none besides me.

Let your hearts be turned to me, so that you may have salvation, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no other.

I have sworn by myself; a word that shall not return has gone forth from my mouth [in] righteousness: 'Every knee shall kneel down to me; every tongue shall swear.'

Only in Jehovah, shall one say, have I righteousness and strength. To him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.

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.

They are bent down, they are falling together: they were not able to keep their images safe, but they themselves have been taken prisoner.

"Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel who have been carried from [the] belly, who have been carried from [the] womb:

Even to [your] old age I [am] he; even to [your] advanced age I myself will support [you]. I myself have made [you], and I myself will carry [you], and I myself will support [you], and I will save [you].

Remember what I accomplished in antiquity! Truly I am God, I have no peer; I am God, and there is none like me,

who from [the] beginning declares [the] end, and from before, [things] that have not been done, who says, 'My plan shall stand,' and, 'I will accomplish all my wishes,'

who calls a bird of prey from [the] east, the man of his plan from a country from afar. Indeed I have spoken; indeed I will bring it [to being]. I have formed [it]; indeed I will do it.

Give ear to me, you feeble-hearted, who have no faith in my righteousness:

I have brought near My righteousness, It is not far off, And My salvation -- it doth not tarry, And I have given in Zion salvation, To Israel My glory!

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

I was angry with my people, I have profaned my inheritance, and given them into your hand: you did show them no mercy; upon the aged have you very heavily laid your yoke.

So now take note of this, you who are given up to pleasure, living without fear of evil, saying in your heart, I am, and there is no one like me; I will never be a widow, or have my children taken from me.

And come in to thee do these two things, In a moment, in one day, childlessness and widowhood, According to their perfection they have come upon thee, In the multitude of thy sorceries, In the exceeding might of thy charms.

For you have trusted in your wickedness: you have said, None sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you; and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is none else besides me.

Stand, now, in your enchantments, and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth. Perhaps you may be able to benefit; perhaps you may {scare away}.

Truly, they have become like dry stems, they have been burned in the fire; they are not able to keep themselves safe from the power of the flame: it is not a coal for warming them, or a fire by which a man may be seated.

So are to you [those with] whom you have labored, your traders from your youth. They wander, each to his side; there is no one who can save you.

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

For from the Holy City they have been called, And on the God of Israel been supported, Jehovah of Hosts is His name.

I have declared the former things long ago; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I caused them to be heard: I wrought suddenly, and they came to pass.

so I have long ago declared them to thee; before they came to pass I caused thee to hear them; lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, or my molten image hath commanded them.

You have heard; see it all. And will you not declare [it]? I {announce} new things to you from this time and hidden things that you have not known.

Now they are created, and not from {of old}, and before today, and you have not heard them so that you could not say, "Look! I knew them."

Neither have you heard, nor have you known, nor from {of old} has your ear been opened. For I knew you would deal treacherously, very treacherously, and you [are] called a rebel from [the] womb.

Nevertheless, for my name's sake, I have withdrawn my wrath, and for mine honour's sake I have overseen thee, so that I have not rooted thee out.

Look! I have refined you, but not like silver; I have chosen you in [the] furnace of misery.

Hearken unto me O Jacob, and Israel whom I have called. I am even he that is, I am the first and the last.

I, I myself, I have spoken! Indeed, I have called him. I have brought him, and he will be successful [in] his way.

Draw near to me; hear this! I have not spoken in secrecy from [the] {beginning}; from [the] time {it came to be}, there I [have been]; And now the Lord Yahweh has sent me and his Spirit."

O that you had listened attentively to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

And your offspring would have been like the sand, and the descendants of your {body} like its grains. It would not be cut off, and its name would not be destroyed from my presence."

And they have not thirsted in waste places, He hath caused them to go on, Waters from a rock he hath caused to flow to them, Yea, he cleaveth a rock, and flow do waters.

As for the ungodly, they have no peace, sayeth the LORD.

Give ear, O sea-lands, to me; and take note, you peoples from far: I have been marked out by the Lord from the first; when I was still in my mother's body, he had my name in mind:

But I myself said, "I have labored in vain; I have used up my strength for nothing and vanity! Nevertheless, my justice [is] with Yahweh, and my reward [is] with my God."

Now, therefore, said Yahweh - Fashioning me from birth To be Servant to him, To restore Jacob unto him, And that, Israel, unto him, might be gathered And I be honourable in the eyes of Yahweh, And, my God, be proved to have been my strength,

and he saith, It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I have even given thee for a light of the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

Thus said Jehovah, Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, To the despised in soul, To the abominated of a nation, To the servant of rulers: 'Kings see, and have risen, princes, and worship, For the sake of Jehovah, who is faithful, The Holy of Israel, and He chooseth thee.'

Thus says Yahweh: "I have answered you in a time of favor, and helped you on a day of salvation, and watched over you, and given you as a covenant of [the] people, to raise up [the] land, to give [the] desolate hereditary property as an inheritance,

Saying to those who are in chains, Go free; to those who are in the dark, Come out into the light. They will get food by the way wherever they go, and have grass-lands on all the dry mountain-tops.

And I have made all My mountains for a way, And My highways are lifted up.

Shout, ye heavens; and be joyful, thou earth; and break forth into singing, ye mountains: for Jehovah hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted ones.

But Zion said, The Lord has given me up, I have gone from his memory.

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Even these forget, but I will not forget thee.

Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of [my] hands; your walls [are] continually before me.

Hastened have those building thee, Those destroying thee, and laying thee waste, go out from thee.

Lift up round about thine eyes and see, All of them have been gathered, They have come to thee. I live, an affirmation of Jehovah! Surely all of them as an ornament thou puttest on, And thou bindest them on like a bride.

For though the waste places of your land have been given to destruction, now you will not be wide enough for your people, and those who made you waste will be far away.

The children which you shall have, after you have lost the other, shall say again in your ears, The place is too narrow for me: give a place to me that I may dwell.

Then you will say in your heart, "Who has borne me these?" And, "I [was] bereaved and barren, exiled and thrust away; so who raised these? Look at me! I was left alone; {where have these come from}?"

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: 'Lo, I lift up unto nations My hand, And unto peoples I raise up Mine ensign, And they have brought thy sons in the bosom, And thy daughters on the shoulder are carried.

And kings have been thy nursing fathers, And their princesses thy nursing mothers; Face to the earth -- they bow down to thee, And the dust of thy feet they lick up, And thou hast known that I am Jehovah, That those expecting Me are not ashamed.

But this is what the LORD says: "He will seize even the warriors' plunder, and the captives of tyrants will be rescued. I myself will quarrel with those who have a quarrel with you, and I myself will save your children.

And I have caused thine oppressors to eat their own flesh, And as new wine they drink their own blood, And known have all flesh that I, Jehovah, Thy saviour, and thy redeemer, Am the Mighty One of Jacob!'

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

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.

And I have not put myself against him, or let my heart be turned back from him.

My back I have given to those smiting, And my cheeks to those plucking out, My face I hid not from shame and spitting.

And the Lord Yahweh helps me, therefore I have not been put to shame; therefore I have set my face like flint. And I know that I shall not be ashamed;

Look! All of you [are] kindlers of fire, who gird yourselves with flaming arrows. Walk in the light of your fire, and among [the] flaming arrows you have kindled! You shall have this from my hand: you shall lie down in a place of torment.

Hearken unto Me, ye pursuing righteousness, Seeking Jehovah, Look attentively unto the rock -- ye have been hewn, And unto the hole of the pit -- ye have been digged.

Look attentively unto Abraham your father, And unto Sarah -- she bringeth you forth, For -- one -- I have called him, And I bless him, and multiply him.

For the LORD will have compassion on Zion, have compassion on all her ruins. He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her deserts like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving, and the sound of singing. Sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Lift ye up to the heavens your eyes, And look attentively unto the earth beneath, For the heavens as smoke have vanished, And the earth as a garment weareth out, And its inhabitants as gnats do die, And My salvation is to the age, And My righteousness is not broken.

Listen to me, you who know righteousness, people [who have] my teaching in their heart; you must not fear [the] reproach of men, or be terrified because of their abuse.

And the ransomed of Jehovah turn back, And they have come to Zion with singing, And joy age-during is on their head, Gladness and joy they attain, Fled away have sorrow and sighing,

"I yes, I am the one who comforts you. Who are you, that you are so afraid of humans who will die, descendants of mere men, who have been made like grass?

And you have forgotten Yahweh, your maker, who stretched out [the] heavens, and founded [the] earth. And you tremble continually, all day, because of the wrath of the oppressor when he {takes aim} to destroy. But where [is] the wrath of the oppressor?

And I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand, to plant [the] heavens and to found [the] earth, saying to Zion, 'You [are] my people.'"

Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Stand up, Jerusalem, who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath; you have drunk the goblet, the cup of staggering; you have drained [it] out.

Two [things] here [have] happened to you--who will {show sympathy} for you?-- devastation and destruction, famine and sword--who will comfort you?

Your children have fainted; they lie at [the] head of all [the] streets, like an antelope in a snare, those who are full [of] the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.

Thus says your Lord, Yahweh, and your God pleads the cause [of] his people: "Look! I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering. You shall not {continue} to drink the goblet, the cup of my wrath, any longer.

And I will put it in the hand of your tormenters, who have said to {you}, 'Bow down that we may {pass} over [you]!' And you have {made} your back like the ground, and like the street for those who {pass} over [you]."

Shake thyself from dust, arise, sit, O Jerusalem, Bands of thy neck have loosed themselves, O captive, daughter of Zion.

For thus saith Jehovah: Ye have sold yourselves for nought, and ye shall be redeemed without money.

And now what do I have here?"{declares} Yahweh, "for my people is taken without cause. Its rulers howl," {declares} Yahweh--"and my name [is] reviled continually, all day.

How comely on the mountains, Have been the feet of one proclaiming tidings, Sounding peace, proclaiming good tidings, Sounding salvation, Saying to Zion, 'Reigned hath thy God.'

The voice of thy watchmen! They have lifted up the voice, together they cry aloud, Because eye to eye they see, in Jehovah's turning back to Zion.

Jehovah hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

For you will not leave in a hurry,
and you will not have to take flight;
because the Lord is going before you,
and the God of Israel is your rear guard.

As astonished at thee have been many, (So marred by man his appearance, And his form by sons of men.)

so he shall sprinkle many nations; because of him, kings shall shut their mouths. For they shall see what has not been told them, and they shall consider with full attention what they have not heard.

Who would have had faith in the word which has come to our ears, and to whom had the arm of the Lord been unveiled?

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 our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains -- he hath carried them, And we -- we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted.

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.