Envoys from Babylon

39 sAt that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, tsent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, uthe silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. vThere was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6 wBehold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. 7 xAnd some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, y“There will be peace and security in my days.”

Comfort for God’s People

40 zComfort, comfort my people, says your God.

2  aSpeak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and cry to her

that bher warfare1 is ended,

that her iniquity is pardoned,

that she has received from the Lord’s hand

double for all her sins.

3  cA voice cries:2

d“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;

emake straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4  fEvery valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

and the rough places a plain.

5  gAnd the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together,

hfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The Word of God Stands Forever

6  A voice says, “Cry!”

And I said,3 “What shall I cry?”

iAll flesh is grass,

and all its beauty4 is like the flower of the field.

7  The grass withers, the flower fades

when the breath of the Lord blows on it;

surely the people are grass.

8  jThe grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever.

The Greatness of God

9  Go on up to a high mountain,

O Zion, kherald of good news;5

lift up your voice with strength,

O Jerusalem, herald of good news;6

lift it up, fear not;

say to the cities of Judah,

“Behold your God!”

10  lBehold, the Lord God comes with might,

and his arm rules for him;

mbehold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

11  nHe will tend his flock like a shepherd;

ohe will gather the lambs in his arms;

phe will carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young.

12  qWho has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span,

enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

and weighed the mountains in scales

and the hills in a balance?

13  rWho has measured7 the Spirit of the Lord,

or what man shows him his counsel?

14  Whom did he consult,

and who made him understand?

sWho taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

15  Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted tas the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up uthe coastlands like fine dust.

16  Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

nor are vits beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17  wAll the nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18  xTo whom then will you liken God,

yor what likeness compare with him?

19  yAn idol! A craftsman casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and casts for it silver chains.

20  zHe who is too impoverished for an offering

chooses wood8 that will not rot;

he seeks out a skillful craftsman

to set up an idol that will not move.

21  aDo you not know? Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22  It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are blike grasshoppers;

cwho stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

23  dwho brings princes to nothing,

and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

24  Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

when he blows on them, and they wither,

eand the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25  fTo whom then will you compare me,

that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

26  Lift up your eyes on high and see:

who created these?

gHe who brings out their host by number,

calling them all by name;

by the greatness of his might

and because he is strong in power,

not one is missing.

27  Why do you say, O Jacob,

and speak, O Israel,

h“My way is hidden from the Lord,

iand my right is disregarded by my God”?

28  Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is jthe everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

khis understanding is unsearchable.

29  He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30  Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

31  but lthey who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings mlike eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

Fear Not, for I Am with You

41 nListen to me in silence, oO coastlands;

let the peoples renew their strength;

let them approach, then let them speak;

let us together draw near for judgment.

2  pWho stirred up one from the east

whom victory meets at every qstep?1

rHe gives up nations before him,

so that he tramples kings underfoot;

he makes them like dust with his sword,

slike driven stubble with his bow.

3  He pursues them and passes on safely,

by paths his feet have not trod.

4  tWho has performed and done this,

calling the generations from the beginning?

uI, the Lord, the first,

and with the last; I am he.

5  vThe coastlands have seen and are afraid;

the ends of the earth tremble;

they have drawn near and come.

6  Everyone helps his neighbor

and says to his brother, “Be strong!”

7  wThe craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,

and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,

saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

and they strengthen it with nails xso that it cannot be moved.

8  But you, Israel, ymy servant,

Jacob, zwhom I have chosen,

the offspring of Abraham, amy friend;

9  you whom I took from the ends of the earth,

and called bfrom its farthest corners,

saying to you, “You are ymy servant,

zI have chosen you and not cast you off”;

10  fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with cmy righteous right hand.

11  dBehold, all who are incensed against you

shall be put to shame and confounded;

those who strive against you

shall be as nothing and shall perish.

12  eYou shall seek those who contend with you,

but you shall not find them;

fthose who war against you

shall be as nothing at all.

13  For I, the Lord your God,

hold your right hand;

it is I who say to you, “Fear not,

I am the one who helps you.”

14  Fear not, you gworm Jacob,

you men of Israel!

I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;

your hRedeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

15  iBehold, I make of you a threshing sledge,

new, sharp, and having teeth;

you shall thresh jthe mountains and crush them,

and you shall make the hills like chaff;

16  kyou shall winnow them, and lthe wind shall carry them away,

and the tempest shall scatter them.

mAnd you shall rejoice in the Lord;

in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

17  nWhen the poor and needy seek water,

and there is none,

and their tongue is parched with thirst,

I the Lord will answer them;

I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

18  oI will open rivers on the bare heights,

and fountains in the midst of the valleys.

pI will make the wilderness a pool of water,

and the dry land springs of water.

19  qI will put in the wilderness the cedar,

the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.

I will set in the desert rthe cypress,

the plane and the pine together,

20  that they may see and know,

may consider and understand together,

that sthe hand of the Lord has done this,

the Holy One of Israel has created it.

The Futility of Idols

21  Set forth your case, says the Lord;

bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.

22  Let them bring them, and ttell us

what is to happen.

Tell us the former things, what they are,

that we may consider them,

that we may know their outcome;

or declare to us the things to come.

23  tTell us what is to come hereafter,

that we may know that you are gods;

udo good, or do harm,

that we may be dismayed and terrified.2

24  Behold, vyou are nothing,

and your work is less than nothing;

an abomination is he who chooses you.

25  wI stirred up one from the north, and he has come,

xfrom the rising of the sun, yand he shall call upon my name;

he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,

as the potter treads clay.

26  zWho declared it from the beginning, that we might know,

and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?

There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,

none who heard your words.

27  aI was the first to say3 to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”

and bI give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.

28  cBut when I look, there is no one;

among these there is no counselor

who, when I ask, gives an answer.

29  dBehold, they are all a delusion;

their works are nothing;

their metal images are empty wind.

The Lord’s Chosen Servant

42 eBehold fmy servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, gin whom my soul delights;

hI have put my Spirit upon him;

ihe will bring forth justice to the nations.

2  He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

3  ja bruised reed he will