“Come, let us discuss this,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they will be as white as snow;
though they are as red as crimson,
they will be like wool.

and many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us about His ways
so that we may walk in His paths.”
For instruction will go out of Zion
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Why do you crush My people
and grind the faces of the poor?”
This is the declaration
of the Lord God of Hosts.

The Lord also says:

Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
walking with heads held high
and seductive eyes,
going along with prancing steps,
jingling their ankle bracelets,

to those who say:
“Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly
so that we can see it!
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place
so that we can know it!”

And He replied:

Go! Say to these people:
Keep listening, but do not understand;
keep looking, but do not perceive.

Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don’t be afraid or cowardly because of these two smoldering stubs of firebrands, the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah.

For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say,

This is what the Lord God says:

It will not happen; it will not occur.

Do not call everything an alliance
these people say is an alliance.
Do not fear what they fear;
do not be terrified.

When they say to you, “Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

All the people—
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—will know it.
They will say with pride and arrogance:

For he says,
“Aren’t all my commanders kings?

But when the Lord finishes all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes.”

Therefore, the Lord God of Hosts says this: “My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though he strikes you with a rod and raises his staff over you as the Egyptians did.

On that day you will say:
“I will praise You, Lord,
although You were angry with me.
Your anger has turned away,
and You have had compassion on me.

and on that day you will say:
“Give thanks to Yahweh; proclaim His name!
Celebrate His works among the peoples.
Declare that His name is exalted.

you will sing this song of contempt about the king of Babylon and say:

How the oppressor has quieted down,
and how the raging has become quiet!

And now the Lord says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts years, Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak.”

The princes of Zoan are complete fools;
Pharaoh’s wisest advisers give stupid advice!
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the wise,
a student of eastern kings”?

And the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day, ‘Look, this is what has happened to those we relied on and fled to for help to rescue us from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape?’”

The Lord God of Hosts said: “Go to Shebna, that steward who is in charge of the palace, and say to him:

On that day Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years—the life span of one king. At the end of 70 years, what the song says about the prostitute will happen to Tyre:

For he says: “Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there.”

Listen and hear my voice.
Pay attention and hear what I say.

For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read it, because it is sealed.”

And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read.”

Woe to those who go to great lengths
to hide their plans from the Lord.
They do their works in darkness,
and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”

You have turned things around,
as if the potter were the same as the clay.
How can what is made say about its maker,
“He didn’t make me”?
How can what is formed
say about the one who formed it,
“He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?

Therefore, the Lord who redeemed Abraham says this about the house of Jacob:

Jacob will no longer be ashamed
and his face will no longer be pale.

They say to the seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets,
“Do not prophesy the truth to us.
Tell us flattering things.
Prophesy illusions.

Therefore the Holy One of Israel says:
“Because you have rejected this message
and have trusted in oppression and deceit,
and have depended on them,

You say, “No!
We will escape on horses”—
therefore you will escape!—
and, “We will ride on fast horses”—
but those who pursue you will be faster.

But He also is wise and brings disaster.
He does not go back on what He says;
He will rise up against the house of wicked men
and against the allies of evildoers.

Stand up, you complacent women;
listen to me.
Pay attention to what I say,
you overconfident daughters.

“Now I will rise up,” says the Lord.
“Now I will lift Myself up.
Now I will be exalted.

and none there will say, “I am sick.”
The people who dwell there
will be forgiven their iniquity.

Say to the cowardly:
“Be strong; do not fear!
Here is your God; vengeance is coming.
God’s retribution is coming; He will save you.”

The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on?

I say that your strategy and military preparedness are mere words. What are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?

Suppose you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God.’ Isn’t He the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’?

This is what the king says: “Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you.

Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make peace with me and surrender to me. Then every one of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern

They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

who said to them, “Tell your master this, ‘The Lord says: Don’t be afraid because of the words you have heard, which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed Me with.

“Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, whom you trust, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria.

Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,

“Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow there
or come before it with a shield
or build up an assault ramp against it.

In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your affairs in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”

“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add 15 years to your life.

What can I say?
He has spoken to me,
and He Himself has done it.
I walk along slowly all my years
because of the bitterness of my soul,

Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?”

Hezekiah replied, “They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon.”

‘The time will certainly come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.

“Comfort, comfort My people,”
says your God.

Zion, herald of good news,
go up on a high mountain.
Jerusalem, herald of good news,
raise your voice loudly.
Raise it, do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”

Jacob, why do you say,
and Israel, why do you assert:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my claim is ignored by my God”?

Each one helps the other,
and says to another, “Take courage!”

For I, Yahweh your God,
hold your right hand
and say to you: Do not fear,
I will help you.

“Submit your case,” says the Lord.
“Present your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.

Who told about this from the beginning,
so that we might know,
and from times past,
so that we might say: He is right?
No one announced it,
no one told it,
no one heard your words.

I was the first to say to Zion:
Look! Here they are!
And I gave a herald of good news to Jerusalem.

When I look, there is no one;
there is no counselor among them;
when I ask them, they have nothing to say.

This is what God, Yahweh, says—
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and life to those who walk on it—

They will be turned back and utterly ashamed—
those who trust in idols
and say to metal-plated images:
You are our gods!

Now this is what the Lord says—
the One who created you, Jacob,
and the One who formed you, Israel—
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; you are Mine.

I will say to the north: Give them up!
and to the south: Do not hold them back!
Bring My sons from far away,
and My daughters from the ends of the earth—

All the nations are gathered together,
and the peoples are assembled.
Who among them can declare this,
and tell us the former things?
Let them present their witnesses
to vindicate themselves,
so that people may hear and say, “It is true.”

This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says:

Because of you, I will send to Babylon
and bring all of them as fugitives,
even the Chaldeans in the ships in which they rejoice.

This is what the Lord says—
who makes a way in the sea,
and a path through surging waters,

This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’;
another will call himself by the name of Jacob;
still another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
and name himself by the name of Israel.”

This is what the Lord, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, says:

I am the first and I am the last.
There is no God but Me.

Who, like Me, can announce the future?
Let him say so and make a case before Me,
since I have established an ancient people.
Let these gods declare the coming things,
and what will take place.

He burns half of it in a fire,
and he roasts meat on that half.
He eats the roast and is satisfied.
He warms himself and says, “Ah!
I am warm, I see the blaze.”

No one reflects,
no one has the perception or insight to say,
“I burned half of it in the fire,
I also baked bread on its coals,
I roasted meat and ate.
I will make something detestable with the rest of it,
and I will bow down to a block of wood.”

He feeds on ashes.
His deceived mind has led him astray,
and he cannot deliver himself,
or say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”

This is what the Lord, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb, says:

I am Yahweh, who made everything;
who stretched out the heavens by Myself;
who alone spread out the earth;

who confirms the message of His servant
and fulfills the counsel of His messengers;
who says to Jerusalem, “She will be inhabited,”
and to the cities of Judah, “They will be rebuilt,”
and I will restore her ruins;

who says to the depths of the sea, “Be dry,”
and I will dry up your rivers;

who says to Cyrus, “My shepherd,
he will fulfill all My pleasure”
and says to Jerusalem, “She will be rebuilt,”
and of the temple, “Its foundation will be laid.”

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The Lord says this to Cyrus, His anointed,
whose right hand I have grasped
to subdue nations before him,
to disarm kings,
to open the doors before him
and the gates will not be shut:

“Woe to the one who argues with his Maker—
one clay pot among many.
Does clay say to the one forming it,
‘What are you making?’
Or does your work say,
‘He has no hands’?

How absurd is the one who says to his father,
‘What are you fathering?’
or to his mother,
‘What are you giving birth to?’”

This is what the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel and its Maker, says:
“Ask Me what is to happen to My sons,
and instruct Me about the work of My hands.

I have raised him up in righteousness,
and will level all roads for him.
He will rebuild My city,
and set My exiles free,
not for a price or a bribe,”
says the Lord of Hosts.

This is what the Lord says:

The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush
and the Sabeans, men of stature,
will come over to you
and will be yours;
they will follow you,
they will come over in chains
and bow down to you.
They will confess to you:
God is indeed with you, and there is no other;
there is no other God.

For this is what the Lord says—
God is the Creator of the heavens.
He formed the earth and made it.
He established it;
He did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
“I am Yahweh,
and there is no other.

I have not spoken in secret,
somewhere in a land of darkness.
I did not say to the descendants of Jacob:
Seek Me in a wasteland.
I, Yahweh, speak truthfully;
I say what is right.

“So now hear this, lover of luxury,
who sits securely,
who says to herself,
‘I exist, and there is no one else.
I will never be a widow
or know the loss of children.’

This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says:

I am Yahweh your God,
who teaches you for your benefit,
who leads you in the way you should go.

“There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.

And now, says the Lord,
who formed me from the womb to be His Servant,
to bring Jacob back to Him
so that Israel might be gathered to Him;
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
and my God is my strength—

He says,
“It is not enough for you to be My Servant
raising up the tribes of Jacob
and restoring the protected ones of Israel.
I will also make you a light for the nations,
to be My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

This is what the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, says
to one who is despised,
to one abhorred by people,
to a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and stand up,
and princes will bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel—and He has chosen you.”

This is what the Lord says:

I will answer you in a time of favor,
and I will help you in the day of salvation.
I will keep you, and I will appoint you
to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land,
to make them possess the desolate inheritances,

Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me;
The Lord has forgotten me!”

Yet as you listen, the children
that you have been deprived of will say,
‘This place is too small for me;
make room for me so that I may settle.’

Then you will say within yourself,
‘Who fathered these for me?
I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive,
exiled and wandering—
but who brought them up?
See, I was left by myself—
but these, where did they come from?’”

This is what the Lord God says:

Look, I will lift up My hand to the nations,
and raise My banner to the peoples.
They will bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.

For this is what the Lord says:
“Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken,
and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered;
I will contend with the one who contends with you,
and I will save your children.

This is what the Lord says:

Where is your mother’s divorce certificate
that I used to send her away?
Or who were My creditors that I sold you to?
Look, you were sold for your iniquities,
and your mother was put away
because of your transgressions.