14 The LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “For your sake, I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. 15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”
16 The LORD, who makes a way in the sea,
and a path in the mighty waters,
17 who brings out the chariot and horse,
the army and the mighty man
(they lie down together, they shall not rise;
they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick) says:
18 “Don’t remember the former things,
and don’t consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing.
It springs out now.
Don’t you know it?
I will even make a way in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert.
20 The animals of the field, the jackals and the ostriches, shall honour me,
because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people which I formed for myself,
that they might declare my praise.
22 Yet you have not called on me, Jacob;
but you have been weary of me, Israel.
23 You have not brought me any of your sheep for burnt offerings,
neither have you honoured me with your sacrifices.
I have not burdened you with offerings,
nor wearied you with frankincense.
24 You have bought me no sweet cane with money,
nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices,
but you have burdened me with your sins.
You have wearied me with your iniquities.
25 I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake;
and I will not remember your sins.
26 Put me in remembrance.
Let us plead together.
Declare your case,
that you may be justified.
27 Your first father sinned,
and your teachers have transgressed against me.
28 Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;
and I will make Jacob a curse,
and Israel an insult.”
44
1 Yet listen now, Jacob my servant,
and Israel, whom I have chosen.
2 This is what the LORD who made you,
and formed you from the womb,
who will help you says:
“Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant;
and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,
and streams on the dry ground.
I will pour my Spirit on your descendants,
and my blessing on your offspring;
4 and they will spring up amongst the grass,
as willows by the watercourses.
5 One will say, ‘I am the LORD’s.’
Another will be called by the name of Jacob;
and another will write with his hand ‘to the LORD,’
and honour the name of Israel.”
6 This is what the LORD, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the LORD of Armies, says:
“I am the first, and I am the last;
and besides me there is no God.
7 Who is like me?
Who will call,
and will declare it,
and set it in order for me,
since I established the ancient people?
Let them declare the things that are coming,
and that will happen.
8 Don’t fear,
neither be afraid.
Haven’t I declared it to you long ago,
and shown it?
You are my witnesses.
Is there a God besides me?
Indeed, there is not.
I don’t know any other Rock.”
9 Everyone who makes a carved image is vain.
The things that they delight in will not profit.
Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.
10 Who has fashioned a god,
or moulds an image that is profitable for nothing?
11 Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed;
and the workmen are mere men.
Let them all be gathered together.
Let them stand up.
They will fear.
They will be put to shame together.
12 The blacksmith takes an axe,
works in the coals,
fashions it with hammers,
and works it with his strong arm.
He is hungry,
and his strength fails;
he drinks no water,
and is faint.
13 The carpenter stretches out a line.
He marks it out with a pencil.
He shapes it with planes.
He marks it out with compasses,
and shapes it like the figure of a man,
with the beauty of a man,
to reside in a house.
14 He cuts down cedars for himself,
and takes the cypress and the oak,
and strengthens for himself one amongst the trees of the forest.
He plants a cypress tree,
and the rain nourishes it.
15 Then it will be for a man to burn;
and he takes some of it and warms himself.
Yes, he burns it and bakes bread.
Yes, he makes a god and worships it;
he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.
16 He burns part of it in the fire.
With part of it, he eats meat.
He roasts a roast and is satisfied.
Yes, he warms himself
and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.”
17 The rest of it he makes into a god,
even his engraved image.
He bows down to it and worships,
and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”
18 They don’t know, neither do they consider,
for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see,
and their hearts, that they can’t understand.
19 No one thinks,
neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say,
“I have burnt part of it in the fire.
Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals.
I have roasted meat and eaten it.
Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination?
Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?”
20 He feeds on ashes.
A deceived heart has turned him aside;
and he can’t deliver his soul,
nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”
21 Remember these things, Jacob and Israel,
for you are my servant.
I have formed you.
You are my servant.
Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions,
and, as a cloud, your sins.
Return to me, for I have redeemed you.
23 Sing, you heavens, for the LORD has done it!
Shout, you lower parts of the earth!
Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees,
for the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
and will glorify himself in Israel.
24 The LORD, your Redeemer,
and he who formed you from the womb says:
“I am the LORD, who makes all things;
who alone stretches out the heavens;
who spreads out the earth by myself;
25 who frustrates the signs of the liars,
and makes diviners mad;
who turns wise men backward,
and makes their knowledge foolish;
26 who confirms the word of his servant,
and performs the counsel of his messengers;
who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited;’
and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be built,’
and ‘I will raise up its waste places;’
27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’
and ‘I will dry up your rivers,’
28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,’
even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built;’
and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’ ”
45
1 The LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their armour, to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
2 “I will go before you
and make the rough places smooth.
I will break the doors of bronze in pieces
and cut apart the bars of iron.
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
and hidden riches of secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the LORD, who calls you by your name,
even the God of Israel.
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake,
and Israel my chosen,
I have called you by your name.
I have given you a title,
though you have not known me.
5 I am the LORD, and there is no one else.
Besides me, there is no God.
I will strengthen† you,
though you have not known me,
6 that they may know from the rising of the sun,
and from the west,
that there is no one besides me.
I am the LORD, and there is no one else.
7 I form the light
and create darkness.
I make peace
and create calamity.
I am the LORD,
who does all these things.
8 Rain, you heavens, from above,
and let the skies pour down righteousness.
Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation,
and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it.
I, the LORD, have created it.
9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker—
a clay pot amongst the clay pots of the earth!
Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’
or your work, ‘He has no hands’?
10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’
or to a mother, ‘What have you given birth to?’ ”
11 The LORD, the Holy One of Israel
and his Maker says:
“You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons,
and you command me concerning the work of my hands!
12 I have made the earth, and created man on it.
I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens.
I have commanded all their army.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness,
and I will make all his ways straight.
He shall build my city,
and he shall let my exiles go free,
not for price nor reward,” says the LORD of Armies.
14 The LORD says: “The labour of Egypt,
and the merchandise of Ethiopia,
and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you,
and they will be yours.
They will go after you.
They shall come over in chains.
They will bow down to you.
They will make supplication to you:
‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else.
There is no other god.
15 Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself,
God of Israel, the Saviour.’ ”
16 They will be disappointed,
yes, confounded, all of them.
Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.
17 Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation.
You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.
18 For the LORD who created the heavens,
the God who formed the earth and made it,
who established it and didn’t create it a waste,
who formed it to be inhabited says:
“I am the LORD.
There is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
in a place of the
