Chapter 44

The Blessings of Israel

1 “But now listen, O Jacob, My aservant,

And Israel, whom I have chosen:

2 Thus says the Lord who made you

And aformed you from the womb, who bwill help you,

‘cDo not fear, O Jacob My servant;

And you dJeshurun whom I have chosen.

3 ‘For aI will pour out water on 1the thirsty land

And streams on the dry ground;

I will bpour out My Spirit on your coffspring

And My blessing on your descendants;

4 And they will spring up 1among the grass

Like apoplars by streams of water.’

5 “This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’;

And that one 1will call on the name of Jacob;

And another will awrite 2on his hand, ‘Belonging to the Lord,’

And will name Israel’s name with honor.

6 “Thus says the Lord, the aKing of Israel and his bRedeemer, the Lord of hosts:

‘I am the cfirst and I am the last,

And there is no God dbesides Me.

7 ‘Who is like Me? aLet him proclaim and declare it;

Yes, let him recount it to Me in order,

1From the time that I established the ancient 2nation.

And let them declare to them the things that are coming

And the events that are going to take place.

8 ‘Do not tremble and do not be afraid;

aHave I not long since announced it to you and declared it?

And byou are My witnesses.

Is there any God cbesides Me,

Or is there any other dRock?

I know of none.’ ”

The Folly of Idolatry

9 Those who fashion 1a graven image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be aput to shame.

10 Who has fashioned a god or cast 1an idol to ano profit?

11 Behold, all his companions will be aput to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them together be put to shame.

12 The aman shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, 1fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and 2his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary.

13 aAnother shapes wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with red chalk. He works it with planes and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of bman, so that it may sit in a chouse.

14 Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a 1cypress or an oak and 2raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow.

15 Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread. He also amakes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and bfalls down before it.

16 Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.”

17 But the rest of it he amakes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also bprays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.”

18 They do not aknow, nor do they understand, for He has bsmeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend.

19 No one 1recalls, nor is there aknowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then 2I make the rest of it into an babomination, 3I fall down…

Chapter 28

Ephraim’s Captivity Predicted

1 Woe to the proud crown of the adrunkards of bEphraim,

And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

Which is at the head of the 1fertile valley

Of those who are 2overcome with wine!

2 Behold, the Lord has a strong and amighty agent;

As a storm of bhail, a tempest of destruction,

Like a storm of cmighty overflowing waters,

He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.

3 The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is atrodden under foot.

4 And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

Which is at the head of the 1fertile valley,

Will be like the afirst-ripe fig prior to summer,

Which 2one sees,

And 3as soon as it is in his 4hand,

He swallows it.

5 In that day the aLord of hosts will become a beautiful bcrown

And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;

6 A aspirit of justice for him who sits in judgment,

A bstrength to those who repel the 1onslaught at the gate.

7 And these also areel with wine and stagger from strong drink:

bThe priest and cthe prophet reel with strong drink,

They are confused by wine, they stagger from dstrong drink;

They reel while 1having evisions,

They totter when rendering judgment.

8 For all the tables are full of filthy avomit, without a single clean place.

9 “To awhom would He teach knowledge,

And to whom would He interpret the message?

Those just bweaned from milk?

Those just taken from the breast?

10 “For He says,

‘1aOrder on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there.’ ”

11 Indeed, He will speak to this people

Through astammering lips and a foreign tongue,

12 He who said to them, “Here is arest, give rest to the weary,”

And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.

13 So the word of the Lord to them will be,

“1Order on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there,”

That they may go and astumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.

Judah Is Warned

14 Therefore, ahear the word of the Lord, O bscoffers,

Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

15 Because you have said, “We have made a acovenant with death,

And with 1Sheol we have made a 2pact.

bThe overwhelming 3scourge will not reach us when it passes by,

For we have made cfalsehood our refuge and we have dconcealed ourselves with deception.”

16 Therefore thus says the Lord 1God,

“aBehold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested bstone,

A costly cornerstone for the foundation, 2firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be 3disturbed.

17 “I will make ajustice the measuring line

And righteousness the level;

Then bhail will sweep away the refuge of lies

And the waters will overflow the secret place.

18 “Your acovenant with death will be 1bcanceled,

And your pact with Sheol will not stand;

When the aoverwhelming scourge passes through,

Then you become its ctrampling place.

19 “As aoften as it passes through, it will 1seize you;

For bmorning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,

And it will be 2sheer cterror to understand 3what it means.”

20 The bed is too short on which to stretch out,

And the ablanket is too 1small to wrap oneself in.

21 For the Lord will rise up as at Mount aPerazim,

He will be stirred up as in the valley of bGibeon,

To do His ctask, His 1dunusual task,

And to work His work, His 2extraordinary work.

22 And now do not carry on as a…

Chapter 4

A Remnant Prepared

1 For seven women will take hold of aone man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; btake away our reproach!”

2 In that day the aBranch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the bfruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the csurvivors of Israel.

3 It will come about that he who is aleft in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called bholy—everyone who is crecorded for life in Jerusalem.

4 When the Lord has washed away the filth of the adaughters of Zion and 1purged the bbloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the cspirit of judgment and the dspirit of burning,

5 then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies aa cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the bglory will be a canopy.

6 There will be a ashelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and 1protection from the storm and the rain.