Comfort, the Servant, and the Lord Above Idols

40:2“Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.”

40:3The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

40:4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.

40:5The LORD’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.”

40:6The voice of one saying, “Cry out!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.

40:7The grass withers, the flower fades, because the LORD’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.

40:8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”

40:9You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Don’t be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”

40:10Behold, the Lord GOD will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

40:11He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

40:12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

40:13Who has directed the LORD’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?

40:14Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

40:15Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

40:16Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.

40:17All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

40:18To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?

40:19A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.

40:20He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.

40:21Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?

40:22It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,

40:23who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

40:24They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

40:25“To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

40:26Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.

40:27Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God”?

40:28Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

40:29He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.

40:30Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;

40:31but those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.

41:2Who has raised up one from the east? Who called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands over nations to him and makes him rule over kings. He gives them like the dust to his sword, like the driven stubble to his bow.

41:3He pursues them and passes by safely, even by a way that he had not gone with his feet.

41:4Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last, I am he.”

41:5The islands have seen, and fear. The ends of the earth tremble. They approach, and come.

41:6Everyone helps his neighbor. They say to their brothers, “Be strong!”

41:7So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smooths with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good;” and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.

41:8“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend,

41:9you whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from its corners, and said to you, ‘You are my servant. I have chosen you and have not cast you away.’

41:10Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

41:11Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish.

41:12You will seek them, and won’t find them, even those who contend with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing.

41:13For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I will help you.’

41:14Don’t be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help you,” says the LORD. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

41:15Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make the hills like chaff.

41:16You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them. You will rejoice in the LORD. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

41:17The poor and needy seek water, and there is none. Their tongue fails for thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

41:18I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the middle of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

41:19I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil trees in the wilderness. I will set cypress trees, pine, and box trees together in the desert;

41:20that they may see, know, consider, and understand together, that the LORD’s hand has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.

41:21Produce your cause,” says the LORD. “Bring out your strong reasons!” says the King of Jacob.

41:22“Let them announce and declare to us what will happen! Declare the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come.

41:23Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and see it together.

41:24Behold, you are nothing, and your work is nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.

41:25“I have raised up one from the north, and he has come, from the rising of the sun, one who calls on my name, and he shall come on rulers as on mortar, and as the potter treads clay.

41:26Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and before, that we may say, ‘He is right’? Surely, there is no one who declares. Surely, there is no one who shows. Surely, there is no one who hears your words.

41:27I am the first to say to Zion, ‘Behold, look at them;’ and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem.

41:28When I look, there is no man, even among them there is no counselor who, when I ask, can answer a word.

41:29Behold, all of their deeds are vanity and nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion.

42:2He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street.

42:3He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice.

42:4He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice in the earth, and the islands wait for his law.”

42:5God the LORD, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it, says:

42:6“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness. I will hold your hand. I will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations,

42:7to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.

42:8“I am the LORD. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images.

42:9Behold, the former things have happened and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up.”

42:10Sing to the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the islands and their inhabitants.

42:11Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices, with the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains!

42:12Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.

42:13The LORD will go out like a mighty man. He will stir up zeal like a man of war. He will raise a war cry. Yes, he will shout aloud. He will triumph over his enemies.

42:14“I have been silent a long time. I have been quiet and restrained myself. Now I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will both gasp and pant.

42:15I will destroy mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.

42:16I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know. I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them.

42:17“Those who trust in engraved images, who tell molten images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back. They will be utterly disappointed.

42:18“Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see.

42:19Who is blind, but my servant? Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is as blind as he who is at peace, and as blind as the LORD’s servant?

42:20You see many things, but don’t observe. His ears are open, but he doesn’t listen.

42:21It pleased the LORD, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law and make it honorable.

42:22But this is a robbed and plundered people. All of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prisons. They have become captives, and no one delivers, and a plunder, and no one says, ‘Restore them!’

42:23Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come?

42:24Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Didn’t the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they disobeyed his law.

42:25Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle. It set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know. It burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”

43:2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.

43:3For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

43:4Since you have been precious and honored in my sight, and I have loved you, therefore I will give people in your place, and nations instead of your life.

43:5Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west.

43:6I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’ and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back! Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth—

43:7everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.’”

43:8Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.

43:9Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled. Who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified, or let them hear, and say, “That is true.”

43:10“You are my witnesses,” says the LORD, “With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me.

43:11I myself am the LORD. Besides me, there is no savior.

43:12I have declared, I have saved, and I have shown, and there was no strange god among you. Therefore you are my witnesses”, says the LORD, “and I am God.

43:13Yes, since the day was, I am he. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?”

43:14The 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.

43:15I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”

43:16The LORD, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters,

43:17who 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:

43:18“Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old.

43:19Behold, 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.

43:20The animals of the field, the jackals and the ostriches, shall honor me, because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen,

43:21the people which I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.

43:22Yet you have not called on me, Jacob; but you have been weary of me, Israel.

43:23You have not brought me any of your sheep for burnt offerings, neither have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense.

43:24You 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.

43:25I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

43:26Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare your case, that you may be justified.

43:27Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me.

43:28Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel an insult.”

44:2This 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.

44:3For 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;

44:4and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.

44:5One 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 honor the name of Israel.”

44:6This 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.

44:7Who 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.

44:8Don’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.”

44:9Everyone 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.

44:10Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?

44:11Behold, 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.

44:12The blacksmith takes an ax, 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.

44:13The 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.

44:14He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a cypress tree, and the rain nourishes it.

44:15Then 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.

44:16He 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.”

44:17The 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!”

44:18They 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.

44:19No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned 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?”

44:20He 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?”

44:21Remember 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.

44:22I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.

44:23Sing, 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.

44:24The 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;

44:25who frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;

44:26who 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;’

44:27who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’ and ‘I will dry up your rivers,’

44:28who 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.’”

45:2“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.

45:3I 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.

45:4For 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.

45:5I 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,

45:6that 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.

45:7I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I am the LORD, who does all these things.

45:8Rain, 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.

45:9Woe to him who strives with his Maker— a clay pot among 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’?

45:10Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’ or to a mother, ‘What have you given birth to?’”

45:11The 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!

45:12I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens. I have commanded all their army.

45:13I 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.

45:14The LORD says: “The labor 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.

45:15Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.’”

45:16They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.

45:17Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.

45:18For 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.

45:19I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the LORD, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.

45:20“Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can’t save.

45:21Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, the LORD? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior. There is no one besides me.

45:22“Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

45:23I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.

45:24They will say of me, ‘There is righteousness and strength only in the LORD.’” Even to him will men come. All those who raged against him will be disappointed.

45:25All the offspring of Israel will be justified in the LORD, and will rejoice!

46:2They stoop and they bow down together. They could not deliver the burden, but they have gone into captivity.

46:3“Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been carried from their birth, that have been carried from the womb.

46:4Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.

46:5“To whom will you compare me, and consider my equal, and compare me, as if we were the same?

46:6Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down— yes, they worship.

46:7They bear it on their shoulder. They carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands there. It cannot move from its place. Yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer. It cannot save him out of his trouble.

46:8“Remember this, and show yourselves men. Bring it to mind again, you transgressors.

46:9Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me.

46:10I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please.

46:11I call a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. Yes, I have spoken. I will also bring it to pass. I have planned. I will also do it.

46:12Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness!

46:13I bring my righteousness near. It is not far off, and my salvation will not wait. I will grant salvation to Zion, my glory to Israel.

47:2Take the millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs, and wade through the rivers.

47:3Your nakedness will be uncovered. Yes, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance, and will spare no one.”

47:4Our Redeemer, the LORD of Armies is his name, is the Holy One of Israel.

47:5“Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms.

47:6I was angry with my people. I profaned my inheritance and gave them into your hand. You showed them no mercy. You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged.

47:7You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’ so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the results.

47:8“Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me. I won’t sit as a widow, neither will I know the loss of children.’

47:9But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day: the loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in their full measure, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments.

47:10For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’

47:11Therefore disaster will come on you. You won’t know when it dawns. Mischief will fall on you. You won’t be able to put it away. Desolation will come on you suddenly, which you don’t understand.

47:12“Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, as if you might profit, as if you might prevail.

47:13You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from the things that will happen to you.

47:14Behold, they are like stubble. The fire will burn them. They won’t deliver themselves from the power of the flame. It won’t be a coal to warm at or a fire to sit by.

47:15The things that you labored in will be like this: those who have trafficked with you from your youth will each wander in his own way. There will be no one to save you.

48:2for they call themselves citizens of the holy city, and rely on the God of Israel; the LORD of Armies is his name.

48:3I have declared the former things from of old. Yes, they went out of my mouth, and I revealed them. I did them suddenly, and they happened.

48:4Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze;

48:5therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them. My engraved image and my molten image has commanded them.’

48:6You have heard it. Now see all this. And you, won’t you declare it? “I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known.

48:7They are created now, and not from of old. Before today, you didn’t hear them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’

48:8Yes, you didn’t hear. Yes, you didn’t know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened, for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.

48:9For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger, and for my praise, I hold it back for you so that I don’t cut you off.

48:10Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

48:11For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it; for how would my name be profaned? I will not give my glory to another.

48:12“Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he. I am the first. I am also the last.

48:13Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens. when I call to them, they stand up together.

48:14“Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? He whom the LORD loves will do what he likes to Babylon, and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.

48:15I, even I, have spoken. Yes, I have called him. I have brought him and he shall make his way prosperous.

48:16“Come near to me and hear this: “From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it happened, I was there.” Now the Lord GOD has sent me with his Spirit.

48:17The LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go.

48:18Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

48:19Your offspring also would have been as the sand and the descendants of your body like its grains. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.”

48:20Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With the sound of joyful shouting announce this, tell it even to the end of the earth; say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

48:21They didn’t thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He also split the rock and the waters gushed out.

48:22“There is no peace”, says the LORD, “for the wicked.”