Isaiah

The Vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, For the LORD hath spoken: Children I have reared, and brought up, And they have rebelled against Me. The ox knoweth his owner, And the ass his master’s crib; But Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A seed of evil-doers, Children that deal corruptly; They have forsaken the LORD, They have contemned the Holy One of Israel, They are turned away backward. On what part will ye yet be stricken, Seeing ye stray away more and more? The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faint; From the sole of the foot even unto the head There is no soundness in it; But wounds, and bruises, and festering sores: They have not been pressed, neither bound up, Neither mollified with oil. Your country is desolate; Your cities are burned with fire; Your land, strangers devour it in your presence, And it is desolate, as overthrown by floods. And the daughter of Zion is left As a booth in a vineyard, As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, As a besieged city. Except the LORD of hosts Had left unto us a very small remnant, We should have been as Sodom, We should have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, Ye rulers of Sodom; Give ear unto the law of our God, Ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? Saith the LORD; I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, And the fat of fed beasts; And I delight not in the blood Of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before Me, Who hath required this at your hand, To trample My courts? Bring no more vain oblations; It is an offering of abomination unto Me; New moon and sabbath, the holding of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity along with the solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed seasons My soul hateth; They are a burden unto Me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you; Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean, Put away the evil of your doings From before Mine eyes, Cease to do evil; Learn to do well; Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, Saith the LORD; Though your sins be as scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they be red like crimson, They shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, Ye shall eat the good of the land; But if ye refuse and rebel, Ye shall be devoured with the sword; For the mouth of the LORD hath spoken. How is the faithful city Become a harlot! She that was full of justice, Righteousness lodged in her, But now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, Thy wine mixed with water. Thy princes are rebellious, And companions of thieves; Every one loveth bribes, And followeth after rewards; They judge not the fatherless, Neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, The Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, And avenge Me of Mine enemies; And I will turn My hand upon thee, And purge away thy dross as with lye, And will take away all thine alloy; And I will restore thy judges as at the first, And thy counsellors as at the beginning; Afterward thou shalt be called The city of righteousness, The faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with justice, And they that return of her with righteousness. But the destruction of the transgressors and the sinners shall be together, And they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the terebinths which ye have desired, And ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. For ye shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fadeth, And as a garden that hath no water. And the strong shall be as tow, And his work as a spark; And they shall both burn together, And none shall quench them.

And many peoples shall go and say: ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; And He will teach us of His ways, And we will walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between the nations, And shall decide for many peoples; And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruninghooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more.

Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, Neither shall He have compassion on their fatherless and widows; For every one is ungodly and an evil-doer, And every mouth speaketh wantonness. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. For wickedness burneth as the fire; It devoureth the briers and thorns; Yea, it kindleth in the thickets of the forest, And they roll upward in thick clouds of smoke. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land burnt up; The people also are as the fuel of fire; No man spareth his brother. And one snatcheth on the right hand, and is hungry; And he eateth on the left hand, and is not satisfied; They eat every man the flesh of his own arm:

For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall be accomplished, and Mine anger shall be to their [the Assyrians'] destruction.

And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, And a twig shall grow forth out of his roots. And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD; And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, Neither decide after the hearing of his ears; But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the land; And he shall smite the land with the rod of his mouth, And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, And faithfulness the girdle of his reins. And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, And the leopard shall lie down with the kid; And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear feed; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, And the weaned child shall put his hand on the basilisk’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy In all My holy mountain; For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea. And it shall come to pass in that day, That the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples, Unto him shall the nations seek; And his resting-place shall be glorious.

In the year that Tartan came into Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it; at that time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying: ‘Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put thy shoe from off thy foot.’ And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the LORD said: ‘Like as My servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot to be for three years a sign and a wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. And they shall be dismayed and ashamed, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. And the inhabitant of this coast-land shall say in that day: Behold, such is our expectation, whither we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and how shall we escape?’

Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, Saith your God.

I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, And have taken hold of thy hand, And kept thee, and set thee for a covenant of the people, For a light of the nations;

Listen, O isles, unto me, And hearken, ye peoples, from far: The LORD hath called me from the womb, From the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name; And He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand hath He hid me; And He hath made me a polished shaft, In His quiver hath He concealed me; And He said unto me: ‘Thou art My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ But I said: ‘I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and vanity; Yet surely my right is with the LORD, And my recompense with my God.’ And now saith the LORD That formed me from the womb to be His servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, And that Israel be gathered unto Him— For I am honourable in the eyes of the LORD, And my God is become my strength— Yea, He saith: ‘It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be My servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the offspring of Israel; I will also give thee for a light of the nations, That My salvation may be unto the end of the earth.’ Thus saith the LORD, The Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, To him who is despised of men, To him who is abhorred of nations, To a servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise, Princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; Because of the LORD that is faithful, Even the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee.

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear, Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail; For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. Enlarge the place of thy tent, And let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations, spare not; Lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt spread abroad on the right hand and on the left; And thy seed shall possess the nations, And make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed. Neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame; For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, And the reproach of thy widowhood shalt thou remember no more. For thy Maker is thy husband, The LORD of hosts is His name; And the Holy One of Israel is thy Redeemer, The God of the whole earth shall He be called. For the LORD hath called thee As a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit; And a wife of youth, can she be rejected? Saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; But with great compassion will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment; But with everlasting kindness will I have compassion on thee, Saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

Cry aloud, spare not, Lift up they voice like a horn, And declare unto My people their transgression, And to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways; As a nation that did righteousness, And forsook not the ordinance of their God, They ask of Me righteous ordinances, They delight to draw near unto God. ’Wherefore have we fasted, and Thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge?’— Behold, in the day of your fast ye pursue your business, And exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, And to smite with the fist of wickedness; Ye fast not this day So as to make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I have chosen? The day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, And to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the fetters of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, And that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, And thy healing shall spring forth speedily; And thy righteousness shall go before thee, The glory of the LORD shall be thy rearward. Then shalt thou call, and the LORD will answer; Thou shalt cry, and He will say: ‘Here I am.’ If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, The putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedness; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, And satisfy the afflicted soul; Then shall thy light rise in darkness, And thy gloom be as the noon-day; And the LORD will guide thee continually, And satisfy thy soul in drought, And make strong thy bones; And thou shalt be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places, Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; And thou shalt be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot because of the sabbath, From pursuing thy business on My holy day; And call the sabbath a delight, And the holy of the LORD honourable; And shalt honour it, not doing thy wonted ways, Nor pursuing thy business, nor speaking thereof; Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD, And I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, And I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; For the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Behold, My servant shall prosper, He shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. According as many were appalled at thee— So marred was his visage unlike that of a man, And his form unlike that of the sons of men— So shall he startle many nations, Kings shall shut their mouths because of him; From that which had not been told them shall they see, And that which they had not heard shall they perceive.

'Who would have believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he shot up right forth as a sapling, And as a root out of a dry ground; He had no form nor comeliness, that we should look upon him, Nor beauty that we should delight in him. He was despised, and forsaken of men, A man of pains, and acquainted with disease, And as one from whom men hide their face: He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely our diseases he did bear, and our pains he carried; Whereas we did esteem him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded because of our transgressions, He was crushed because of our iniquities: The chastisement of our welfare was upon him, And with his stripes we were healed. All we like sheep did go astray, We turned every one to his own way; And the LORD hath made to light on him The iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, though he humbled himself And opened not his mouth; As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, And as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb; Yea, he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away, And with his generation who did reason? For he was cut off out of the land of the living, For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due. And they made his grave with the wicked, And with the rich his tomb; Although he had done no violence, Neither was any deceit in his mouth.’ Yet it pleased the LORD to crush him by disease; To see if his soul would offer itself in restitution, That he might see his seed, prolong his days, And that the purpose of the LORD might prosper by his hand: Of the travail of his soul he shall see to the full, even My servant, Who by his knowledge did justify the Righteous One to the many, And their iniquities he did bear. Therefore will I divide him a portion among the great, And he shall divide the spoil with the mighty; Because he bared his soul unto death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet he bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

Thus saith the LORD: The heaven is My throne, And the earth is My footstool; Where is the house that ye may build unto Me? And where is the place that may be My resting-place? For all these things hath My hand made, And so all these things came to be, Saith the LORD; But on this man will I look, Even on him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, And trembleth at My word. He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; He that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he broke a dog’s neck; He that offereth a meal-offering, as if he offered swine’s blood; He that maketh a memorial-offering of frankincense, as if he blessed an idol; According as they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delighteth in their abominations; Even so I will choose their mockings, And will bring their fears upon them; Because when I called, none did answer; When I spoke, they did not hear, But they did that which was evil in Mine eyes, And chose that in which I delighted not. Hear the word of the LORD, Ye that tremble at His word: Your brethren that hate you, that cast you out for My name’s sake, have said: ‘Let the LORD be glorified, That we may gaze upon your joy’, But they shall be ashamed. Hark! an uproar from the city, Hark! it cometh from the temple, Hark! the LORD rendereth recompense to His enemies. Before she travailed, she brought forth; Before her pain came, She was delivered of a man-child. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Is a land born in one day? Is a nation brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, She brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? Saith the LORD; Shall I that cause to bring forth shut the womb? Saith thy God. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, And be glad with her, all ye that love her; Rejoice for joy with her, All ye that mourn for her; That ye may suck, and be satisfied With the breast of her consolations; That ye may drink deeply with delight Of the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river. And the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream, And ye shall suck thereof: Ye shall be borne upon the side, And shall be dandled upon the knees. As one whom his mother comforteth, So will I comfort you; And ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, And your bones shall flourish like young grass; And the hand of the LORD shall be known toward His servants, And He will have indignation against His enemies. For, behold, the LORD will come in fire, And His chariots shall be like the whirlwind; To render His anger with fury, And His rebuke with flames of fire. . For by fire will the LORD contend, And by His sword with all flesh; And the slain of the LORD shall be many. They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves To go unto the gardens, Behind one in the midst, Eating swine’s flesh, and the detestable thing, and the mouse, Shall be consumed together, saith the LORD. For I [know] their works and their thoughts; [the time] cometh, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and shall see My glory. And I will work a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the nations. And they shall bring all your brethren out of all the nations for an offering unto the LORD, upon horses, and in chariots, and in fitters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. And of them also will I take for the priests and for the Levites, saith the LORD. For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, That from one new moon to another, And from one sabbath to another, Shall all flesh come to worship before Me, Saith the LORD. And they shall go forth, and look Upon the carcasses of the men that have rebelled against Me; For their worm shall not die, Neither shall their fire be quenched; And they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. And it shall come to pass, That from one new moon to another, And from one sabbath to another, Shall all flesh come to worship before Me, Saith the Lord.