Category: Isaiah

1 Listen to me, you who follow what is just and who seek the Lord. Pay attention to the rock from which you have been hewn, and to the walls of the pit from which you have been dug.

2 Pay attention to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who bore you. For I called him alone, and I blessed him, and I multiplied him.

3 Therefore, the Lord will console Zion, and he will console all its ruins. And he will turn her desert into a place of delights, and her wilderness into a garden of the Lord. Gladness and rejoicing will be found in her, thanksgiving and a voice of praise.

4 Pay attention to me, my people, and listen to me, my tribes. For a law will go forth from me, and my judgment will rest as a light for the nations.

5 My just one is near. My savior has gone forth. And my arms will judge the people. The islands will hope in me, and they will patiently wait for my arm.

6 Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look down to the earth below. For the heavens will vanish like smoke, and the earth will be worn away like a garment, and its inhabitants will pass away in like manner. But my salvation will be forever, and my justice will not fail.

7 Listen to me, you who know what is just, my people who have my law in their heart. Do not be afraid of disgrace among men, and do not dread their blasphemies.

8 For the worm will consume them like a garment, and the moth will devour them like wool. But my salvation will be forever, and my justice will be from generation to generation.

9 Rise up, Rise up! Clothe yourself in strength, O arm of the Lord! Rise up as in the days of antiquity, as in generations long past. Have you not struck the arrogant one and wounded the dragon?

10 Have not you dried up the sea, the waters of the great abyss, and turned the depths of the sea into a road, so that the delivered could cross over it?

11 And now, those who have been redeemed by the Lord will return. And they will arrive in Zion, praising. And everlasting rejoicing will be upon their heads. They will take hold of gladness and rejoicing. Anguish and mourning will flee away.

12 It is I, I myself, who will console you. Who are you that you would be afraid of a mortal man, and of a son of man, who will wither like the grass?

13 And have you forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who extended the heavens, and who founded the earth? And have you been in constant dread, all day long, at the face of his fury, of the one who afflicted you and who had prepared to destroy you? Where is the fury of the oppressor now?

14 Advancing quickly, he will arrive to be revealed, and he will not kill unto utter destruction, nor will his bread fail.

15 But I am the Lord, your God, who stirs up the sea, and who makes the waves swell. The Lord of hosts is my name.

16 I have placed my words in your mouth, and I have protected you in the shadow of my hand, so that you might plant the heavens, and found the earth, and so that you might say to Zion, “You are my people.”

17 Lift up, Lift up! Arise, O Jerusalem! You drank, from the hand of the Lord, the cup of his wrath. You drank, even to the bottom of the cup of deep sleep. And you were given to drink, all the way to the dregs.

18 There is no one who can uphold her, out of all the sons whom she has conceived. And there is no one who would take her by the hand, out of all the sons whom she has raised.

19 There are two things which have happened to you. Who will be saddened over you? There is devastation and destruction, and famine and sword. Who will console you?

20 Your sons have been cast out. They have slept at the head of all the roads, and they have been ensnared like a gazelle. They have been filled by the indignation of the Lord, by the rebuke of your God.

21 Therefore, listen to this, O poor little ones, and you who have been inebriated, but not by wine.

22 Thus says your Sovereign, the Lord, and your God, who will fight on behalf of his people: Behold, I have taken the cup of deep sleep from your hand. You shall no longer drink from the bottom of the cup of my indignation.

23 And I will set it in the hand of those who have humiliated you, and who have said to your soul: “Bow down, so that we pass over.” And you placed your body on the ground, as a path for them to pass over.

1 Rise up, Rise up! Clothe yourself in strength, O Zion! Put on the garments of your glory, O Jerusalem, the city of the Holy One! For the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer pass through you.

2 Shake yourself from the dust! Arise and sit up, O Jerusalem! Loose the chains from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!

3 For thus says the Lord: You were sold for nothing, and you will be redeemed without money.

4 For thus says the Lord God: My people descended into Egypt, in the beginning, in order to sojourn there. But the Assyrian oppressed them, without any cause at all.

5 And now, what is left for me here, says the Lord? For my people have been taken away without cause. Their lords treat them unjustly, says the Lord. And my name is being continually blasphemed all day long.

6 Because of this, my people will know my name, in that day. For it is I myself who is speaking. Behold, I am here.

7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger and the preacher of peace! Announcing good and preaching peace, they are saying to Zion, “Your God will reign!”

8 It is the voice of your watchmen. They have lifted up their voice. They will praise together. For they will see eye to eye, when the Lord converts Zion.

9 Be glad and rejoice together, O deserts of Jerusalem! For the Lord has consoled his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.

10 The Lord has prepared his holy arm, in the sight of all the Gentiles. And all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

11 Depart, depart, get out of here! Do not be willing to touch what is polluted. Go out from her midst! Be cleansed, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.

12 For you will not go out in a tumult, nor will you take flight in a hurry. For the Lord will precede you, and the God of Israel will gather you.

13 Behold, my servant will understand; he will be exalted and lifted up, and he will be very sublime.

14 Just as they were stupefied over you, so will his countenance be without glory among men, and his appearance, among the sons of men.

15 He will sprinkle many nations; kings will close their mouth because of him. And those to whom he was not described, have seen. And those who have not heard, have considered.

1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 And he will rise up like a tender plant in his sight, and like a root from the thirsty ground. There is no beautiful or stately appearance in him. For we looked upon him, and there was no aspect, such that we would desire him.

3 He is despised and the least among men, a man of sorrows who knows infirmity. And his countenance was hidden and despised. Because of this, we did not esteem him.

4 Truly, he has taken away our weaknesses, and he himself has carried our sorrows. And we thought of him as if he were a leper, or as if he had been struck by God and humiliated.

5 But he himself was wounded because of our iniquities. He was bruised because of our wickedness. The discipline of our peace was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed.

6 We have all gone astray like sheep; each one has turned aside to his own way. And the Lord has placed all our iniquity upon him.

7 He was offered up, because it was his own will. And he did not open his mouth. He will be led like a sheep to the slaughter. And he will be mute like a lamb before his shearer. For he will not open his mouth.

8 He was lifted up from anguish and judgment. Who will describe his life? For he has been cut off from the land of the living. Because of the wickedness of my people, I have struck him down.

9 And he will be given a place with the impious for his burial, and with the rich for his death, though he has done no iniquity, nor was deceit in his mouth.

10 But it was the will of the Lord to crush him with infirmity. If he lays down his life because of sin, he will see offspring with long lives, and the will of the Lord will be directed by his hand.

11 Because his soul has labored, he will see and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my just servant will himself justify many, and he himself will carry their iniquities.

12 Therefore, I will allot to him a great number. And he will divide the spoils of the strong. For he has handed over his life to death, and he was reputed among criminals. And he has taken away the sins of many, and he has prayed for the transgressors.

1 Give praise, you who are barren and unable to conceive. Sing praise and make a joyful noise, you who have not given birth. For many are the children of the desolate, more so than of her who has a husband, says the Lord.

2 Enlarge the place of your tent and extend the skins of your tabernacles, unsparingly. Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.

3 For you shall extend to the right and to the left. And your offspring shall inherit the nations, and you shall inhabit the desolate cities.

4 Do not be afraid! For you will not be confounded, and you will not blush. And you will not be put to shame, because you shall forget the confusion of your youth, and you shall no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood.

5 For the One who made you will rule over you. The Lord of hosts is his name. And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, will be called the God of all the earth.

6 For the Lord has called you, like a woman forsaken and mourning in spirit, and like a wife rejected in her youth, said your God.

7 For a brief moment, I have forsaken you, and with great pities, I will gather you.

8 In a moment of indignation, I have hidden my face from you, for a little while. But with everlasting mercy, I have taken pity on you, said your Redeemer, the Lord.

9 For me, it is just as in the days of Noah, to whom I swore that I would no longer bring in the waters of Noah over the earth. Thus have I sworn not to be angry with you, and not to rebuke you.

10 For the mountains will be moved, and the hills will tremble. But my mercy will not depart from you, and the covenant of my peace will not be shaken, said the Lord, who has compassion on you.

11 O poor little ones, convulsed by the tempest, away from any consolation! Behold, I will set your stones in order, and I will lay your foundation with sapphires,

12 and I will make your ramparts out of jasper, and your gates out of sculpted stones, and all your borders out of desirable stones.

13 All your children will be taught by the Lord. And great will be the peace of your children.

14 And you will be founded in justice. Depart far from oppression, for you will not be afraid. And depart from terror, for it will not approach you.

15 Behold, a settler will arrive, who was not with me, a certain new arrival will be joined to you.

16 Behold, I created the smith who fans the coals of the fire and produces an object by his work, and I have created the slayer who destroys.

17 No object which has been formed to use against you will succeed. And every tongue that resists you in judgment, you shall judge. This is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and this is their justice with me, says the Lord.

1 All you who thirst, come to the waters. And you who have no money: hurry, buy and eat. Approach, buy wine and milk, without money and without barter.

2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and expend your labor for what does not satisfy? Listen very closely to me, and eat what is good, and then your soul will be delighted by a full measure.

3 Incline your ear and draw near to me. Listen, and your soul will live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, by the faithful mercies of David.

4 Behold, I have presented him as a witness to the people, as a commander and instructor to the nations.

5 Behold, you will call to a nation that you did not know. And nations that did not know you will rush to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel. For he has glorified you.

6 Seek the Lord, while he is able to be found. Call upon him, while he is near.

7 Let the impious one abandon his way, and the iniquitous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will take pity on him, and to our God, for he is great in forgiveness.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways, says the Lord.

9 For just as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so also are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.

10 And in the same manner as rain and snow descend from heaven, and no longer return there, but soak the earth, and water it, and cause it to bloom and to provide seed to the sower and bread to the hungry,

11 so also will my word be, which will go forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish whatever I will, and it will prosper in the tasks for which I sent it.

12 For you will go forth rejoicing, and you will be led forward in peace. The mountains and the hills will sing praise before you, and all the trees of the countryside will clap their hands.

13 In place of the shrub, the pine tree will arise, and in place of the nettle, the myrtle tree will grow. And the Lord will be named with an eternal sign, which will not be taken away.

1 Thus says the Lord: Preserve judgment, and accomplish justice. For my salvation is close to its arrival, and my justice is close to being revealed.

2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds to this, keeping the Sabbath and not profaning it, guarding his hands and not doing any evil.

3 And let not the son of the new arrival, who adheres to the Lord, speak, saying, “The Lord will divide and separate me from his people.” And let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

4 For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: They will keep my Sabbaths, and they will choose the things that I will, and they will hold to my covenant.

5 I will give them a place in my house, within my walls, and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name, which will never perish.

6 And the sons of the new arrival, who adhere to the Lord so as to worship him and to love his name, shall be his servants: all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it, and who hold to my covenant.

7 I will lead them to my holy mountain, and I will gladden them in my house of prayer. Their holocausts and their victims will be pleasing to me upon my altar. For my house will be called the house of prayer for all peoples.

8 The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, says: Even now, I will gather his congregation to him.

9 All beasts of the field, all the beasts of the forest: approach and devour!

10 His watchmen are all blind. They are all ignorant. They are mute dogs without the ability to bark, seeing empty things, sleeping and loving dreams.

11 And these very imprudent dogs have never known satisfaction. The shepherds themselves do not know understanding. All have turned aside in their own way, each one to his own avarice, from the highest even to the least:

12 “Come, let us take wine, and be filled by inebriation. And as it is today, so shall it be tomorrow and for a long time.”

1 The just man perishes, and there is no one who acknowledges it in his heart; and men of mercy are taken away, for there is no one who understands. For the just man has been taken away before the face of malice.

2 Let peace arrive. Let he who has walked in his righteousness find rest on his bed.

3 But come here, you sons of the prophetess, you offspring of an adulterous man and a fornicating woman.

4 Whom are you mocking? Against whom have you opened your mouth wide and wagged your tongue? Are you not sons of wickedness, a lying offspring,

5 who are being consoled by idols under every leafy tree, immolating little children at the torrents, under the high rocks?

6 Your portion is in the currents of the torrent; this is your lot! And you yourselves have poured out libations to them; you have offered sacrifice. Should I not be angry over these things?

7 Upon a high and lofty mountain, you have placed your bed, and you have ascended to that place to immolate victims.

8 And behind the door, and beyond the post, you have set up your memorial. For you uncovered yourself next to me, and you received an adulterer. You widened your bed, and you formed a pact with them. You loved their bed with an open hand.

9 And you have adorned yourself for the king with ointments, and you have increased your cosmetics. You have sent your representatives to distant places, and you have debased yourself all the way to Hell.

10 You have been wearied by the multitude of your own ways. Yet you did not say, “I will cease.” You have found life by your own hand; because of this, you have not prayed.

11 For whose sake have you been anxiously afraid, so that you would lie and not be mindful of me, nor consider me in your heart? For I am silent, and I am like someone who does not see, and so you have forgotten me.

12 I will announce your justice, and your works will not benefit you.

13 When you cry out, let your followers free you. But the wind will carry them all away; a breeze will take them up. But he who has faith in me will inherit the earth and will possess my holy mountain.

14 And I will say: “Make way! Grant passage! Move to the side of the path! Take the obstacles out of the way of my people!”

15 For this is said by the Most High, the Sublime One, who dwells in eternity. And his name is Holy, for he dwells in the exalted and holy place, and he acts with a restrained and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

16 For I will not contend unceasingly, and I will not be angry to the end. For I will exhale my breath, and the Spirit will go forth from my face.

17 Because of the iniquity of his avarice, I was angry, and I struck him down. I concealed my face from you, and I was angry. And he went astray by wandering in his heart.

18 I saw his ways, and I healed him, and I led him back again, and I restored consolations to him and to those who mourn for him.

19 I created the fruit of the lips: peace, peace to him who is far away, and peace to him who is near, said the Lord, and I healed him.

20 But the impious are like the raging sea, which is not able to be quieted, and its waves stir up dirt and mud.

21 There is no peace for the impious, says the Lord God.

1 Cry out! Cease not! Exalt your voice like a trumpet, and announce to my people their wicked acts, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 For they also seek me, from day to day, and they are willing to know my ways, like a nation which has done justice and has not abandoned the judgment of their God. They petition me for judgments of justice. They are willing to draw near to God.

3 “Why have we fasted, and you have not taken notice? Why have we humbled our souls, and you have not acknowledged it?” Behold, in the day of your fasting, your own will is found, and you petition for payment from all your debtors.

4 Behold, you fast with strife and contention, and you strike with the fist impiously. Do not choose to fast as you have done even to this day. Then your outcry will be heard on high.

5 Is this a fast such as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a day, to contort his head in a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? Should you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 Is not this, instead, the kind of fast that I have chosen? Release the constraints of impiety; relieve the burdens that oppress; freely forgive those who are broken; and break apart every burden.

7 Break your bread with the hungry, and lead the destitute and the homeless into your house. When you see someone naked, cover him, and do not despise your own flesh.

8 Then your light will break forth like the morning, and your health will improve quickly, and your justice will go before your face, and the glory of the Lord will gather you up.

9 Then you will call, and the Lord will heed; you will cry out, and he will say, “Here I am,” if you take away the chains from your midst, and cease to point your finger and to speak what is not beneficial.

10 When you pour out your life for the hungry, and you satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise up in darkness, and your darkness will be like the midday.

11 And the Lord will give you rest continually, and he will fill your soul with splendor, and he will free your bones, and you will be like a watered garden and like a fountain of water whose waters will not fail.

12 And places that have been desolate for ages will be built up by you. You will raise a foundation for generation after generation. And you will be called the repairer of hedges, who turns the roadways into quiet places.

13 If you restrain your foot on the Sabbath, from doing your own will on my holy day, and if you call the Sabbath delightful, and the Holy of the Lord glorious, and if you glorify him, while you do not act according to your own ways, and your own will is not found, not even to speak a word,

14 then you will find delight in the Lord, and I will take you up, above the heights of the earth, and I will nourish you with the inheritance of Jacob, your father. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

1 Behold, the hand of the Lord has not been shortened, so that it cannot save, and his ear has not been blocked, so that it cannot hear.

2 But your iniquities have made a division between you and your God, and your sins have concealed his face from you, so that he would not hear.

3 For your hands have been polluted by blood, and your fingers by iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue utters iniquity.

4 There is no one who calls for justice, and there is no one who judges truly. For they trust in nothing, and they speak emptiness. They have conceived hardship, and they have given birth to iniquity.

5 They have ruptured the eggs of asps, and they have woven the webs of spiders. Whoever will eat of their eggs will die. For what has been incubated will hatch into a king snake.

6 Their weavings will not be for clothing, nor will they cover themselves with their handiwork. Their works are useless things, and the work of iniquity is in their hands.

7 Their feet run to evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are useless thoughts; devastation and destruction are in their ways.

8 They have not known the way of peace, and there is no judgment in their steps. Their paths have become crooked for them. Anyone who treads in them knows no peace.

9 Because of this, judgment is far from us, and justice will not take hold of us. We waited for light, and behold, darkness; we waited for brightness, and we walked in darkness.

10 We groped for the wall, like one who is blind, and we felt our way, like one without eyes. We stumbled at midday, as if in darkness; and in darkness, as if in death.

11 We will all roar like bears, and we will sigh like despondent doves. We hoped for judgment, and there is none; for salvation, and it is far from us.

12 For our iniquities have been multiplied in your sight, and our sins have answered us. For our wickedness is with us, and we have acknowledged our iniquities:

13 sinning and lying against the Lord. And we have turned away, not so as to go after our God, and so that we were speaking calumny and transgression. We have conceived, and spoken from the heart, words of falsehood.

14 And judgment has been turned backwards, and justice has stood far away. For truth has fallen down in the street, and fairness was not able to enter.

15 And the truth has gone into oblivion. And he who withdraws from evil endures plunder. And the Lord saw this, and it seemed evil in his eyes. For there is no judgment.

16 And he saw that there was no good man. And he was astonished that there was no one to meet him. And his own arm brought salvation to him, and his own justice strengthened him.

17 He clothed himself with justice as with a breastplate, and with a helmet of salvation upon his head. He put on the vestments of vengeance, and he was covered with zeal as with a cloak.

18 This was for vindication, as a repayment of indignation to his adversaries, and as a sudden reversal for his enemies. He will repay the islands in their turn.

19 And those from the west will fear the name of the Lord, and those from the rising of the sun will fear his glory, when he arrives like a violent river, which the Spirit of the Lord urges on.

20 And the Redeemer will arrive in Zion, and to those who return from the iniquity within Jacob, says the Lord.

21 This is my pact with them, says the Lord. My Spirit is within you, and my words, which I have put in your mouth, will not withdraw from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring, says the Lord, from this moment, and even forever.

1 Rise up to be illuminated, O Jerusalem! For your light has arrived, and the glory of the Lord has risen over you.

2 For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness will cover the peoples. Then the Lord will rise above you, and his glory will be seen in you.

3 And the nations will walk in your light, and the kings will walk by the splendor of your rising.

4 Lift up your eyes all around and see! All these have been gathered together; they have arrived before you. Your sons will arrive from far away, and your daughters will rise up from your side.

5 Then you will see, and you will overflow, and your heart will be amazed and expanded. When the multitude of the sea will have been converted to you, the strength of the nations will approach you.

6 A multitude of camels will inundate you: the dromedaries from Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba will arrive, carrying gold and frankincense, and announcing praise to the Lord.

7 All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together before you; the rams of Nebaioth will minister to you. They will be offered upon my pleasing altar, and I will glorify the house of my majesty.

8 Who are these ones, who fly like the clouds and like doves to their windows?

9 For the islands await me, and the ships of the sea in the beginning, so that I may lead your sons from far away, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord your God and to the Holy One of Israel. For he has glorified you.

10 And the sons of sojourners will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you. For in my wrath, I have struck you. And in my reconciliation, I have taken pity on you.

11 And your gates will be open continually. They will not be closed day or night, so that the strength of the nations may be brought before you, and their kings may be lead in.

12 For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve you will perish. And the Gentiles will be devastated by solitude.

13 The glory of Lebanon will arrive before you, the fir tree and the box tree and the pine tree together, to adorn the place of my sanctification. And I will glorify the place of my feet.

14 And the sons of those who humiliate you will approach and will bow down before you. And all who detract you will reverence the path of your feet. And they will call you the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

15 For though you were forsaken, and held in hatred, and there was no one who would pass near you, I will establish you as an everlasting glory, as a gladness from generation to generation.

16 And you will drink the milk of the Gentiles, and you will be nursed at the breasts of kings, and you will know that I am the Lord, your Saviour and your Redeemer, the Strong One of Jacob.

17 In exchange for brass, I will bring gold; and in exchange for iron, I will bring silver; and for wood, brass; and for stones, iron. And I will make your visitation into peace, and your leaders into justice.

18 Iniquity will no longer be heard in your land, nor devastation and destruction in your borders. And salvation will occupy your walls, and praise will occupy your gates.

19 The sun will no longer be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon illuminate you. Instead, the Lord will be an everlasting light for you, and your God will be your glory.

20 Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not diminish. For the Lord will be an everlasting light for you, and the days of your mourning will be completed.

21 And your people will all be just. They will inherit the earth in perpetuity, the seedling of my planting, the work of my hand, so as to glorify me.

22 The least will become a thousand, and a little one will become a very strong nation. I, the Lord, will accomplish this, suddenly, in its time.