This book is the account of Isaiah foretelling about God punishing Israel and then sending his chosen one and saving them

Isaiah

1

1I am Isaiah, the son of Amoz. Yahweh showed me visions about Jerusalem and all the other places in Judah. He showed me these visions during the years that Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah.

A message about the rebellious nation of Judah

2This is what Yahweh says:

“All you angels in [APO] heaven and all you people on [APO] earth, listen to me!

The people that I caused to exist and took care of [DOU]

have rebelled against me.

3Oxen know their owners,

and donkeys know who provides food for them,

but my Israeli people do not know me;

they do not realize that I am the one who takes care of them.”

4Terrible things will happen to that sinful nation,

to those people who are guilty of sinning greatly.

They are a group of very evil people,

who act very unjustly.

They have abandoned Yahweh,

the holy one of Israel;

they have ◄abandoned/turned away from► him.

5Why do you [RHQ] continue to do things for which you should be punished?

Why do you continue to rebel against Yahweh?

You are like [MET] someone whose head is badly injured

and whose mind is sick/corrupt.

6It is as though [MET] from the soles/bottoms of your feet to the tops of your heads

nothing is healthy;

there are only open wounds and cuts and sores

that have not been cleaned or bandaged,

and no olive oil has been put on them to heal them.

7It is as though your country is ruined/desolate;

your towns have been burned.

Foreigners plunder/steal the crops in your fields while you watch;

they destroy everything that they see.

8The city of Jerusalem has already been abandoned,

it is like [SIM] a shelter in a vineyard that has been abandoned by the watchmen;

it is like [SIM] a watchman’s hut in a field of melons that has been deserted.

It is a city surrounded by its enemies who are waiting to attack it.

9If the Commander of the armies of angels had not allowed a few of us his people to ◄survive/remain alive►,

we would have all been destroyed,

like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.

10You leaders of Judah are as wicked as the rulers of Sodom were,

and you other people in Jerusalem areas are as wicked as the people in Gomorrah were.

Listen to this message from Yahweh, all of you!

11He says, “You continue to bring many sacrifices to me,

but I do not [RHQ] want them because you do not worship me sincerely!

You bring me many offerings to be completely burned on the altar,

but I ◄am tired/do not want anymore► of your burning all those offerings,

the burning rams and the fat from fat cattle.

I am not pleased with the blood of bulls and lambs and goats

that the priest pours against the altar.

12When you come to my temple to worship me,

no one [RHQ] told you to trample on my courtyard while you perform all those rituals.

13Stop bringing to me those offerings, because they are useless to me;

I am disgusted with the incense that the priests burn.

And your feasts to celebrate the new moon each month and your ◄Sabbath days/days of rest► and your other festivals—

I detest them because of the wicked things that you do.

14I [SYN] hate all your celebrations of each new moon and the other festivals that you celebrate each year.

They are like [MET] a heavy burden that I am tired of carrying.

15So, when you lift up your hands when you pray to me,

I will not even look at you.

Even if you pray to me very frequently,

I will not listen to you,

because it is as though your hands are covered with the blood of people whom you have killed.

16Cleanse your inner beings, and become spiritually clean!

Stop your evil behavior!

Stop doing things that are wrong!

17Learn to do things that are good!

Try to cause people to do what is just.

Help people who are ◄oppressed/treated cruelly►.

Defend orphans and widows when people take them to court.”

18Yahweh says, “You need to think about the results of what you do.

Even though the guilt of your sins be as evident and as difficult to get rid of as [SIM] red stains on a white garment [DOU],

I will get rid of them completely

like someone who can make that stained garment become as white as snow or wool [DOU].

19If you are willing to obey me,

I will enable you to have plenty to eat.

20But, if you turn away from me and rebel against me,

you will be killed by your enemies’ swords.

That will surely happen, because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

Yahweh condemned Jerusalem

21“You people of Jerusalem previously faithfully worshiped only me,

but now you have become like [MET] prostitutes who are not faithful to any husband.

Previously, people there always acted justly/fairly and righteously,

but now your city is full of murderers.

22Previously, you were like [MET] pure silver,

but now you have become like [MET] the scum that is left when silver is purified.

Previously you were like pure wine,

but you have become like [MET] wine that has a lot of water mixed with it.

23Your leaders are rebels;

they spend time with thieves.

They all want to get bribes

and force others to give them gifts in order that they do good things for them.

They do not defend orphans in court,

and they do not do all they can to enable widows to get what they should receive.

24Therefore I, the Commander of the armies of angels, the mighty God of Israel, say to my enemies,

’I will get revenge on you;

you will not cause me any more trouble.

And I will pay you back for the evil things that you did.

25I will raise my fist to strike you.

I will punish you severely [MET],

as though [MET] you were silver and I needed to heat you very greatly to melt you and get rid of the impurities.

26After that happens, I will give you good judges like you had previously;

you will have wise counselors like you had long ago.

Then people will call your city ‘a city where people act righteously,’

a city where people are loyal to me.’ ”

27Because the people of Jerusalem will do what is fair/just,

their city will be restored;

those who repent will be saved

because of their acting righteously.

28But rebels and sinners will be crushed by Yahweh,

and those who forsake him will disappear.

29You will be ashamed because you worshiped idols under the oak trees that you considered to be sacred;

you will be disgraced because you worshiped idols in the gardens where you chose to worship them.

30You will be like [SIM] a very large tree which has withered leaves,

like [SIM] a garden that is dried up because it has no water.

31Those among you who are very strong will become like [MET] dry wood,

and the work they do will be like [MET] a spark;

both they and the evil things that they do will burn up completely,

and no one will be able to put out the fire.

2

A message about future peace in Judah

1This is the message that Yahweh showed me in a vision, concerning Jerusalem and the rest of Judea:

2I saw that in the future, the hill on which Yahweh’s temple is built

will be the most important place on the earth;

it will be as though it is the highest mountain,

as though it has been raised up above all other hills;

and people from all over the world will come there.

3People from many people-groups will say to each other,

“Come, let’s go up to the hill,

to the temple of Yahweh,

to worship the God whom Jacob worshiped.

There Yahweh will teach us what he desires us to know,

in order that our behavior will please him.

His teaching will be given to us in Jerusalem,

and we will take his message from Jerusalem to other places/nations.

4Yahweh will listen to the disputes between nations

and he will settle their arguments.

Then, instead of fighting against each other, they will hammer their swords into plow blades,

and they will hammer their spears into pruning knives.

The armies of nations will no longer fight against each other,

and they will not even train men to fight in battles/wars.”

5You Israeli people,

let’s walk in the light [MET] that comes from Yahweh!

A warning about the coming judgment

6Yahweh, you have abandoned us your people

who are descendants of Jacob,

because everywhere your people practice the customs of people who live east of Israel.

Your people also perform rituals to find out what will happen in the future, like the people in Philistia do.

They make agreements/treaties with ◄pagans/people who do not know you►.

7Israel is full of silver and gold;

there are very many ◄treasures/valuable things► here.

The land is full of war horses

and war chariots.

8But the land is also full of idols;

the people worship things that they have made with their own hands.

9So now they will be humbled

and they will be caused to become disgraced—

Yahweh, do not forgive them!

10All you people should crawl into the caves in the rock cliffs!

You should hide in pits/holes in the ground

because of being afraid of Yahweh

and of his glorious and awesome power.

11Yahweh will cause you people to no longer be arrogant,

and he will stop you from being proud.

Only Yahweh will be praised/honored on that day.

12The Commander of the armies of angels has chosen a day

when he will judge those who are proud, every one of them [DOU],

and he will humble them.

13He will get rid of all those who think they should be admired like [MET] the tall cedar trees in Lebanon,

and like all the great oak trees in the Bashan region.

14He will get rid of all those who think they are as great as [MET] all the high hills

and even the high mountains.

15He will get rid of all those who think that they are high towers

and high strong walls inside of or behind which they will be safe.

16He will destroy all those who are rich because they own big ships that carry goods to other countries

and they own other beautiful ships.

17He will cause people to no longer be arrogant

and he will cause them to stop being proud.

Only Yahweh will be praised/honored on that day.

18All idols will ◄disappear/be destroyed►.

19When Yahweh comes to shake/terrify the people on the earth,

they will run to hide in caves in rock cliffs

and in holes/pits in the ground,

because of being afraid of Yahweh

and of his glorious and awesome power.

20On that day, people will get rid of all their gold and silver idols

that they made to worship,

and they will throw them to the bats and rats.

21Then they will crawl into caves

and hide in the crags in the cliffs.

They will do that to escape from the dreadful punishments that Yahweh will cauae them to endure,

from what he will do because he is glorious and awesome,

when he comes to shake/terrify the people on the earth.

22So, do not trust that people will save you,

because people are as powerless as [MET] their own breath.

People certainly cannot help you [RHQ]!

3

A warning that God will punish Judah

1The Commander of the armies of angels is about to take away from Jerusalem and other places in Judea

everything that you depend on—

all your food and water.

2He will take away your heroes and your other soldiers,

your judges and your prophets,

people who do rituals to find out what will happen in the future and the elders,

3army officers and other officials,

advisors and skilled craftsmen and those who perform rituals to predict the future.

4He will appoint boys to be your leaders;

your children will rule you.

5People will treat each other cruelly:

people will fight against their neighbors.

Young people will insult older people,

and vulgar/dishonorable people will sneer at people who should be honored.

6At that time, someone will grab one of his brothers in his father’s house and say to him,

“You have a coat, which shows that you are respected.

So you be our leader!

You rule this city, which is now a pile of ruins!”

7But his brother will reply,

“No, I cannot help you,

because I do not have any extra food or clothes in this house.

So do not appoint me to be your leader!”

8Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah will be destroyed,

because everything that the people do and say there opposes Yahweh,

who is powerful and glorious,

and they refuse to obey him.

They rebel against him.

9They even show on their faces that they oppose Yahweh.

They are proud of their sins,

like the people of Sodom were long ago;

they do not try to hide their sins.

Because of their sins, terrible things will happen to them,

but they will bring those disasters on themselves.

10Yahweh told me to tell the righteous people that good things will happen to them;

they will enjoy the blessings that they will receive for their good deeds.

11But terrible things will happen to wicked people;

they will be ◄paid back/punished► for the evil things that [MTY] they have done.

12Now, youths who have become leaders treat my people cruelly,

and women rule over my people.

My people, your leaders are misleading you;

they are causing you to go down the wrong road [MET].

13It is as though Yahweh has sat in his place in a courtroom

and is ready to judge his people.

14He will stand up to declare why the elders and rulers of his people should be punished:

he says, “The people of Israel are like [MET] a vineyard that I planted,

but you have ruined it!

Your houses are full of things that you have stolen from poor people.

15You should stop [RHQ] crushing my people!

It is as though you are pushing the faces of poor people into the dirt!”

That is what the Commander of the armies of angels says.

A warning to the women of Jerusalem

16Yahweh says this:

“The women of Jerusalem are haughty/proud;

they walk around sticking their chins out,

and flirting with men with their eyes.

They walk with tiny steps

with bracelets on their ankles that jingle.

17So I, Yahweh, will cause sores to be on their heads,

and I will cause those beautiful women in Jerusalem to become bald.”

18At the time that Yahweh does that, he will strip away everything that the women of Jerusalem wear to make themselves beautiful—the ornaments on their ankles and their headbands, their crescent necklaces, 19their earrings and bracelets and veils, 20their scarves and ankle bracelets and sashes, their perfumes and ◄charms/little things that they wear thinking that those things will protect them from evil►, 21their signet rings and nose rings, 22their nice robes and capes and cloaks and purses, 23their mirrors and nice linen clothes and shawls.

24Instead of their having a nice smell from perfume, they will stink;

instead of nice sashes, they will have ropes around their waists because they will be captives.

Instead of having fancy hairdos, they will be bald.

Instead of fancy/beautiful robes, they will wear rough sackcloth,

and instead of being beautiful, they will be branded.

25Their husbands will be killed by their enemies’ swords,

and their soldiers will also die in battles.

26People [PRS] will mourn and cry at the gates of the city.

The city will be like [MET] a woman who sits on the ground because everything that she owned is gone.

4

1When that happens, there will be very few unmarried men still alive .

As a result, seven unmarried women will grab one man, and say,

“Allow us all to marry you [IDM]!

We will provide our own food and clothing.

All that we want is to no longer be disgraced because of not being married.”

A promise that some day Jerusalem will be restored

2But some day, Israel [MTY] will be very beautiful and great/glorious.

The people of Israel who will still be there will be very proud of the wonderful fruit that grows in their land.

3All the people who will remain in Jerusalem, who were not killed when Jerusalem was destroyed,

whose names are listed among those who live there, will be called holy.

4That will happen when Yahweh washes away the guilt of the women of Jerusalem,

and when he stops the violence [MET] on the streets of Jerusalem by punishing the people of Jerusalem.

When he does that, it will be like a fire to burn up all the impure things.

5Then Yahweh will send a cloud of smoke every day and a flaming fire every night

to cover Jerusalem and all those who gather there;

it will be like a glorious canopy over the city

6that will shelter the people from the sun during the daytime

and protect them when there are windstorms and rain.

5

A song about the people who were like Yahweh’s vineyard

1Now I will sing a song about my dear friend,

and about his vineyard.

The vineyard was on a very fertile hillside.

2My friend plowed the ground and cleared away the stones.

Then he planted very good grapevines on that ground.

In the middle of the vineyard, he built a watchtower,

and he dug a ◄winepress/pit for squeezing the grapes►.

Then he waited each year to harvest some good grapes,

but the vines produced only sour grapes.

3Now this is what Yahweh says:

“You people of Jerusalem and other places in Judah,

I am like the friend, and you are like my vineyard;

so you judge which of us has done what is right.

4What more could I have done for you

than what I have already done?

I expected you to be doing good deeds [MET],

so it is disgusting that [RHQ] you were doing only evil things

like the vineyard that produced only sour grapes!

5So, I will now tell you what I will do to Judah, the place that is like my vineyard.

I will cut down the hedges,

and they will be destroyed.

I will tear down the walls of the cities

and allow wild animals to trample the land.

6I will cause it to become a wasteland

where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed.

It will be a place where briers and thorns [DOU] grow.

And I will command that no rain will fall on it.”

7The nation of Israel is like [MET] the vineyard of the Commander of the armies of angels.

The people of Judah are like the garden that was pleasing to him.

He expected you to be doing what is just/fair,

but instead, what he saw was people murdering [MTY] others.

He expected that you would be doing righteous deeds,

but instead, he heard cries from people who were being attacked violently.

Yahweh promises to punish Judah

8Terrible things will happen to you who continually illegally acquire houses and fields.

You force one family after another to leave their homes

until you are the only ones [HYP] still living in the land.

9But I heard the Commander of the armies of angels solemnly declare this:

“Some day, many of those huge houses will be empty/deserted;

no one will be living in those beautiful mansions.

10The vines on ten acres of land will not produce enough grapes to make ◄six gallons/22 liters► of juice/wine,

and ten baskets of seed will produce only one basket of grain.”

11Terrible things will happen to those who get up early each morning

to begin drinking alcoholic drinks,

and who stay awake until late at night drinking a lot of wine

until they are completely drunk.

12They have big parties and provide lots of wine.

At their parties, there are people playing harps and lyres and tambourines and flutes,

but they never think about what Yahweh does

or appreciate what he has created.

13So, my people will be ◄exiled/taken to other countries► far away

because they do not know about me.

Those who are now very important and honored will starve,

and the other people will die from thirst.

14It is as though [PRS] the place where the dead people are is eagerly looking for more Israeli people,

opening its mouth to swallow them,

and a huge number of people will be thrown into that place,

including their leaders as well as a noisy crowd of people who enjoy living in Jerusalem.

15Yahweh will get rid of a huge number of people;

and he will humble many more people who now are proud/arrogant.

16But the Commander of the armies of angels will be exalted/praised because of his acting justly.

God will show that he is holy by doing righteous/just deeds.

17Then lambs and fat sheep will be able to find good grass to eat,

even among the ruins of the houses of rich people.

18Some people constantly tell lies,

and it is as though they are dragging behind them the wrong things that they have done.

Terrible things will happen to them!

19They make fun of God and say to him,

“Go ahead, do something to punish us!

We want to see what you will do.

You, the Holy One of Israel, should do what you are planning to do,

because we want to know what it is.”

20Terrible things will happen to those who say

that evil is good, and that good is evil,

that darkness is light and that light is darkness,

that what is bitter is sweet and what is sweet is bitter.

21Terrible things will happen to those who think that they are wise

and that they ◄are very clever/know everything►.

22Terrible things will happen to those who think that [IRO] they are great/heroes

because they are able to drink lots of wine,

and boast about being able to mix good alcoholic drinks.

23If people offer them bribes in order that they will enable wicked people not to be punished,

they accept those bribes,

and they cause people who are innocent to be punished.

24Therefore, just like [SIM] fires burn up stubble

and dry grass shrivels up and quickly burns in flames,

it will be as though those people have roots that will rot

and have flowers that will wither.

That will happen because they rejected the laws of the Commander of the armies of angels;

they have despised the messages of the Holy One of Israel.

25That is why Yahweh is extremely angry with his people;

it is as though his hand is raised and he is ready to smash them.

When he does that, the mountains will shake,

and the corpses of people will be scattered in the streets like [SIM] manure.

But even when that happens, Yahweh will still be very angry;

he will be ready to punish his people [MET] again.

26Yahweh will send a signal to summon armies of nations far away;

it is as though he will whistle to summon those soldiers who are in very remote places on the earth.

They will come very swiftly [DOU] to Jerusalem.

27They will not get tired or stumble.

They will not stop to rest or to sleep.

None of their belts will be loose,

and none of them will have sandals with broken straps,

so they will all be ready to fight in battles.

28Their arrows will be sharp,

and their bows will be ready to shoot those arrows in a battle.

Because their horses pull the chariots fast, sparks will shoot out from their hooves,

and the wheels of the chariots will spin like a whirlwind.

29They will roar like very strong lions [DOU]

that growl and then pounce on the animals they want to kill

and carry them off,

and no one is able to rescue them.

30Similarly, your enemies will roar when they see the people they are about to kill,

like [SIM] the sea roars.

On that day, if someone looks across the land,

he will see only people who are in darkness and distressed;

it will be as though even the sunlight is hidden by dark clouds.

6

God appointed Isaiah to be a prophet

1During the year that King Uzziah died, Yahweh showed me a vision. In the vision, I saw Yahweh sitting on a throne, high above everyone. He was wearing a very long robe that covered the floor of the temple. 2Above him were standing several winged creatures. Each of them had six wings. They covered their faces with two of their wings, they covered their feet with two of their wings, and they flew using two of their wings. 3They were calling to each other, saying,

“The Commander of the armies of angels is holy;

he is completely holy!

The entire earth is filled with his glory.”

4When they spoke, it caused the doorposts of the temple to shake, and the temple was filled with smoke.

5Then I said, “Terrible things will happen to me, because everything that I say [MTY] is sinful, and I live among people who constantly say [MTY] sinful things. I will be destroyed because I have seen the Commander of the armies of angels!”

6Then one of the winged creatures took a hot coal from the altar, using a pair of tongs. He flew to me 7and touched my lips with the coal. Then he said, “Look at what I have done. I have touched your lips with this coal. Now your guilt is ended, and your sins are forgiven [DOU].”

8Then I heard Yahweh asking, “Whom shall I send to be a messenger to my people? Who will go and speak for us?” I replied, “I will. Send me!”

9Then he said,

“Okay, go, and say to the Israeli people,

‘You will listen carefully to what I say, but you will not understand it.

You will look very carefully at the things that I am doing,

but you will not understand them.’

10What you(sg) say will cause these people to become stubborn [IDM];

it will cause them to not be able to hear what I say and see what I do.

As a result, they will not see what I want them to see or hear what I want them to hear,

and they will not understand it,

and they will not turn to me

and be saved from being punished.”

11Then I said, “How long do you want me to continue to do that?”

He replied, “Do it until their cities are ruined by their enemies,

until no one is living in their houses,

do it until all the crops are stolen from their fields

and the fields are ruined.

12Do it until I have ◄exiled everyone/forced everyone to go to their enemies’ lands► far away,

and the whole land of Israel is deserted.

13If even one tenth of the people survive and stay there,

their enemies will invade the land again and burn everything.

But, just like [MET] when an oak tree is cut down, a stump is left from which new shoots will grow,

the people who remain in this land will be a group that will become arge again and be ◄set apart for/dedicated to► me.”

7

A message of encouragement for King Ahaz

1Ahaz was the son of Jotham and grandson of Uzziah. During the time that Ahaz was the king of Judah, King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel marched with their armies to attack Jerusalem. But they could not conquer it.

2But before they attacked, everyone in the palace heard a report that the armies of Syria and Israel were now ◄allies/joined to attack Jerusalem►. So Ahaz and the people over whom he ruled were extremely afraid; they were shaking from fear like trees shake in a windstorm.

3Then Yahweh said to me, “Take your son Shear-Jashub, and go to talk with King Ahaz. He is at the end of the ◄aqueduct/water channel► that brings water into the upper reservoir, near the road to the place where women wash clothes. 4Tell Ahaz to stop worrying [DOU]. Tell him that he does not need to be afraid of those two kings, Rezin and Pekah. They are very angry with Judah, but they are unable to harm his country any more than completely burned-out coals can harm him. 5Yes, they are planning to attack this land and saying, 6‘We will attack Judah and conquer it. Then we will appoint Tabeel’s son to be the king of Judah.’ 7But this is what Yahweh, the Lord, says:

‘It will not happen;

they will not conquer Jerusalem!

8The capital of Syria is Damascus,

but Damascus is ruled only by its unimportant/insignificant king king Rezin.

And as for Israel, within 65 years it will be conquered and completely destroyed.

9Israel’s capital is Samaria, and Samaria is ruled only by its insignificant/unimportant king king Pekah.

So you do not need to be afraid of those two countries!

But you must trust me, because if you do not trust me fully,

you will be defeated.’ ”

A promise of a son named Immanuel

10Later, Yahweh gave me another message to tell to King Ahaz. 11He said to tell him, “Request me, Yahweh your God, to do something that will enable you to be sure that I will help/protect you. What you request can be from a place that is as high as the sky or as low as the place where the dead people are.”

12But when I told that to the king, he refused. He said, “No, I will not request Yahweh to do something to prove that he will help/protect us!”

13Then I said to him, “You people who are descendants of King David, listen! You are causing me to be tired of being patient. Are you also going to cause my God to stop being patient with you [RHQ]? 14Yahweh himself will do something for you to prove that he will help/protect you. Listen to this: A young woman will become pregnant and give birth to a son. She will name him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’. 15And by the time that child is old enough to eat curds/yogurt and honey, he will be able to reject what is evil and choose what is good. 16And before that child is old enough to do that, the lands of the two kings that you(sg) are very ◄afraid of/worried about► will be deserted. 17But then Yahweh will cause you and your family and your entire nation to experience terrible disasters. Those disasters will be worse than any disasters that have occurred since the country of Israel separated from Judah. Yahweh will cause the army of the king of Assyria to attack you!”

18At that time, it will be as though Yahweh will whistle to summon the army from the south of Egypt as well as the army of Assyria. They will come and surround your country like [MET] flies and bees. 19They will all come and settle/live everywhere —in the narrow valleys and caves in the rock cliffs, on land where there are thornbushes as well as on the fertile land. 20At that time Yahweh will hire the king of Assyria to come with his army from east of the Euphrates River. They will get rid of everything in your land—the crops and the people. They will destroy everything thoroughly; it will be like [MET] a barber shaving not only a man’s hair but his beard and the hair on his legs. 21When that happens, a farmer will be able to have only one cow and two goats/sheep. 22However, those animals will give plenty of milk, with the result that the farmer will have curds/yogurt to eat. And because there will not be many people left in the land, all the people who remain there will have plenty of milk and honey. 23Now there are many areas where there are vineyards that are worth 1,000 pieces of silver, but at that time there will be only briers and thorns [DOU] in those fields. 24There will be only briers and thorns in the entire land, and wild animals, with the result that men will take their bows and arrows and go there to hunt and kill animals. 25No one will go to where there previously were gardens on fertile hillsides, because briers and thorns will cover those hillsides. They will be areas where only a few cattle and sheep and goats wander around searching for something to eat.

8

A warning about the Assyrian attack

1Then Yahweh said to me, “Make a large signboard. And write clearly on it, ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz’ which means ‘quickly ◄plunder/take by force► and steal everything’.” 2So I requested Uriah the Supreme Priest and Jeberekiah’s son Zechariah, men who were both honest/trustworthy witnesses, to watch me as I was doing that.

3Then I had sex with [EUP] my wife, who was a prophetess, and she became pregnant and then gave birth to a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Give him the name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (which means ’suddenly attacked, quickly conquered), 4because before he is old enough to say ‘papa’ or ‘mama’, the King of Assyria will come with his army and quickly take away all the valuable things in Damascus and in Samaria.”

5Yahweh spoke to me again and said, “Tell the people of Judah,

6’ I have taken good care of you people,

but you have rejected that, thinking that my help was very little,

like [MET] the little canal through which water flows from the Gihon Spring into Jerusalem.

Instead, you have been happy to request help from King Rezin and King Pekah.

7Therefore, I will cause the people of Judah to be attacked by the powerful army of the King of Assyria, which will be like a great flood from the Euphrates River.

Their soldiers will be everywhere in your country, like a river that overflows all its banks.

8Those soldiers will go all over Judah -

like a river whose water [MET] rises as high as a person’s neck.

Their army will spread over the land quickly, like an eagle,

and they will cover your entire land!

But I will be with you!’ ”

9Listen, all you people in distant countries!

You can prepare to attack Judah.

You can prepare for battle, and shout your war-cries,

but your armies will be crushed/shattered!

10You can prepare for what you will do to attack Judah,

but what you plan to do will not happen!

You will not succeed,

because God is with us!

Isaiah is urged to revere Yahweh

11Yahweh strongly warned me [MTY] not to act like the other people in Judah did. He said to me,

12“Do not say that everything that people do is conspiring/rebelling against the government,

like other people say,

and do not ◄be afraid of/worry about► the things that other people are afraid of.

13I, the Commander of the armies of angels, am the one you should consider to be holy.

And I am the one you should fear,

the one you should revere.

14I will protect you(sg).

But as for the other people [MTY] in Israel and Judah,

I will be like [MET] a stone that causes people to stumble,

a rock that causes them to fall down.

And as for the people of Jerusalem,

I will be like [MET] a trap or a snare [DOU].

15Many people will stumble and fall down

and never get up again.

They will experience great troubles;

they will be captured by their enemies.”

16So, I say to you who are my disciples, seal up this scroll

on which I have written the messages that God has given to me,

and give his instructions to others who have accompanied me.

17I will wait to see what Yahweh will do.

He has rejected the descendants [MTY] of Jacob,

but I will confidently expect him to help me.

18I and the children that Yahweh has given to me are like signs to warn the people of Israel;

we are warnings from the Commander of the armies of angels

the one who lives in his temple on Zion Hill in Jerusalem.

19Some people may urge you(pl) to ◄consult/go and talk with► those who talk with the spirits of dead people or with those who say that they receive messages from those spirits. They whisper and mutter about what we should do in the future. But God is [RHQ] the one whom we should ask to guide us! It is ridiculous [RHQ] for people who are alive to request spirits of dead people to tell us what we should do! 20Pay attention to God’s instructions and teaching! If people do not say things that agree with what God teaches us, what they say is worthless. It is as though those people are in darkness. 21They will wander through the land, worried/discouraged and hungry. And when they become very hungry, they will become very angry. They will look up toward heaven and curse God and will also curse their king. 22They will look around the land and see only trouble/distress and darkness and things that cause them to despair. And then they will be thrown into the very black darkness of hell.

9

The promise of the future king

1However, those in Judah who have been distressed/worried will not continue to suffer. Previously, Yahweh humbled the people in the land where the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali live. But in the future he will honor the people who live in that Galilee region, along the road between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, where many foreigners live.

2Some day, it will be as though [MET] the people who walked in darkness will see a great light.

A great light will shine on those who live in a land where they have great troubles/distress.

3Yahweh, you will cause us people in Israel to rejoice;

we will become very happy.

We will rejoice about what you have done

like [SIM] people rejoice when they harvest their crops,

or like soldiers rejoice

when they divide up among themselves the things that they have captured in a battle.

4You will cause us to no longer be slaves [MET] of those who captured us;

you will lift the heavy burdens from our shoulders.

It will be as though you will break the rods of those who oppressed us,

like you did when you destroyed the army of the Midian people-group.

5The boots that the enemy soldiers have worn

and their clothing which has stains of blood on them

will all be burned up;

they will only be fuel for a big fire.

6Another reason that we will rejoice is that a special child will be born for us;

a woman will give birth to a son,

who will be our ruler.

And his names will be ‘Wonderful Counselor’, ‘Mighty/Powerful God’, ‘Our Everlasting Father’, and ‘Prince/Ruler who enables us to have Peace’.

7His rule, and the peace that he brings/causes, will never end.

He will rule [MTY] fairly and justly [DOU],

like his ancestor King David did.

This will happen because the Commander of the armies of angels greatly desires that it happen.

God will punish Israel

8The Lord has warned the peopleof Israel, the descendants of Jacob;

he has said that he will punish them.

9-10And all the people in Samaria and other places in Israel know that,

but they are very proud and arrogant [DOU].

They say, “Our city has been destroyed,

but we will take away the broken bricks from the ruins

and replace them with carefully cut stones.

Our sycamore-fig trees have been cut down by our enemies,

but we will plant cedar trees in their place.”

11But Yahweh brought the armies of Assyria, the enemies of King Rezin of Syria, to fight against Israel

and incited other nations to attack Israel.

12The army of Syria came from the east,

and the army of Philistia came from the west, and they destroyed Israel

like a wild animal tears another animal apart and [MET] devours it.

But even after that happened, Yahweh was still very angry with them.

He was ready to strike them with his fist again.

13But even though Yahweh punished his people like that,

they still did not return to him and worship him.

They still did not request the Commander of the armies of angels to assist them.

14Therefore, in one day Yahweh will get rid of those who are like Israel’s head and those who are like its tail;

the ones who are like the top of the palm tree and the ones who are like the bottom.

15The leaders [DOU] of Israel are the head,

and the prophets who tell lies are the tail.

16The leaders of the people have misled them;

they have caused the people that they are ruling to be confused.

17For that reason, Yahweh is not pleased with the young men of Israel,

and he does not even act mercifully toward the widows and orphans,

because they are all ungodly and wicked,

and they all say things that are foolish.

But Yahweh still is angry with them;

he is ready to strike them with his fist again.

18When people do wicked things,

it is like [SIM] a brushfire that spreads rapidly.

It burns up not only briers and thorns;

it starts a big fire in the forests

from which clouds of smoke will rise.

19It is as though the whole land is burned black

because the Commander of the armies of angels is extremely angry with the Israeli people.

They will become like [SIM] fuel for that great fire,

and no one will try to rescue even his own brother from that fire.

20Israeli people will attack their neighbors on the right to get food from them,

but they will still be hungry.

They will kill those who live in houses on the left and eat their flesh,

but their stomachs will still not be full.

21People of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim will attack each other,

and then they will both attack the people of Judah.

But even after that happens, Yahweh will still be very angry with them.

He will be ready to strike them with his fist again.

10

A warning to unjust judges

1Terrible things will happen to you judges who are unjust

and who make unfair laws.

2You refuse to help poor people,

and you do not allow them to get the things that they should get.

You allow people to steal things from widows

and do unfair things to orphans.

3When I punish you

by sending people from distant lands to cause you to experience disasters,

◄to whom will you run to get help?/there will be no one who can help you.► [RHQ]

Your valuable possessions will certainly not be safe [RHQ] anywhere.

4You will be able only to stumble along as you are taken away with other prisoners,

or else your corpses will lie on the ground with others who have been killed.

But even after that happens,

Yahweh will still be very angry with you.

He will still be ready to strike you again with his fist.

A warning to Assyria

5Yahweh says, “Terrible things will happen to Assyria.

It is true that their army is like a rod/club [DOU] with which I punish other nations

because I am very angry with those nations [DOU].

6Sometimes I send the armies of Assyria to attack a godless nation,

to fight against other people who have caused me to be angry.

I send them to capture people and to seize and take away their possessions,

and to trample them like [SIM] people walk on mud in the streets.

7But the king of Assyria does not understand,

he does not realize that he is only like a weapon in my hand.

He wants only to destroy people,

to get rid of many nations.

8He says, ‘All of my army commanders will soon be kings of these nations that I conquer!

9We destroyed Calno city like we destroyed Carchemish city,

We destroyed Hamath city like we destroyed Arpad city;

we destroyed Samaria just like we destroyed Damascus.

10We were able to destroy all those kingdoms that were full of idols,

kingdoms whose idols were greater than the idols in Jerusalem and Samaria.

11So we will defeat Jerusalem and destroy the idols that are there,

just like we destroyed Samaria and the idols that were there!’

12But, I, Yahweh, say that after I have used Assyria to finish what I want to do to punish the people in Jerusalem [DOU], I will punish the king of Assyria because he has been very proud and arrogant/boastful [DOU].

13He says, ‘By my own great power [MTY] I have done these things.

I have been able to do them because I am very wise and very intelligent.

My army removed the barriers at the borders of nations

and carried away all their valuable things.

My army has knocked down their kings like [SIM] a ferocious bull would.

14Like [MET] a farmer reaches into a bird’s nest to take away the eggs,

we have taken away the treasures of other countries [DOU].

The people were not like birds that would flap their wings or chirp loudly to protest about their eggs being stolen;

the people did not object at all to their treasures being stolen.’

15But I, Yahweh, say that an axe certainly cannot [RHQ] boast about being stronger than the person who uses it,

and a saw is not greater than the person who uses it.

A rod cannot control the one who holds it [RHQ],

and a wooden club cannot lift up a person [RHQ].

So the king of Assyria should not boast that he has done these things with his own wisdom and strength.

16And I, the Commander of the armies of angels, will send a plague among the proud soldiers of Assyria;

it will be like [MET] a fire that will kill them and get rid of their glory/wealth.

17I, Yahweh, who am like [MET] a light for the people of Israel, will be the fire;

I, the Holy One, will be like a flame.

The soldiers of Assyria are like [MET] thorns and briers,

and I will burn them up in one night.

18There are glorious forests and fertile farmlands in Assyria, but I will completely destroy them;

they will be like [SIM] a very sick person who shrivels up and then dies.

19There will be very few trees left in those forests;

even a child will be able to count them.”

A promise of future blessings for Israel

20In the future there will be only a few people left in Israel;

not many descendants of Jacob will still be alive.

But they will no longer rely on the king of Assyria,

the king of the nation that tried to destroy them.

Instead, they will faithfully/sincerely trust in Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.

21Those Israelis will return to their mighty God.

22Now, the people of Israel are as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore,

but only a few of them will return from the countries to which they were exiled.

Yahweh has decided to destroy most of the Israelis

and that is what he must do because he is completely just/righteous.

23Yes, the Commander of the armies of angels has already decided to destroy the entire land of Israel.

24This is what the Commander of the armies of angels says:

“My people in Jerusalem, do not be afraid of the army of Assyria when they beat you with rods and clubs,

like the men of Egypt did to your ancestors long ago.

25Soon I will no longer be angry with you,

and then I will be angry with the people of Assyria and destroy them!”

26The Commander of the armies of angels will whip them.

He will do to them like he did when he helped Gideon and his 300 soldiers to defeat the army of the Midian people-group,

and like he did when he showed his mighty power [MTY] by causing the army of Egypt to drown in the Red Sea.

27Some day, Yahweh will cause the army of Assyria to stop oppressing you, his people;

he will end your suffering and your being slaves of the people of Assyria [MET];

he will take away the load that you people of Judah have been carrying,

and cause things to go well for you.

The Assyrians will invade Judah

28The army of Assyria will enter northern Judah near Aiath town,

they will go through Migron town

and store their supplies at Micmash town north of Jerusalem.

29They will cross through a mountain pass

and set up their tents at Geba town.

People in Ramah town will tremble because of being afraid.

The people of Gibeah town, where King Saul was born, will all run away.

30You people of Gallim town will cry out for help.

You will shout to the people of Laish city near Jerusalem to warn them!

The people of Anathoth town will suffer a lot.

31The people of Madmenah town north of Jerusalem will all be running away,

and the people of Gebim town close to Jerusalem will be trying to hide.

32The soldiers of Assyria will stop at Nob city outside Jerusalem.

They will shake their fists

as they threaten the people on Zion Hill in Jerusalem.

33But listen to this! The Commander of the armies of angels

with his great power will destroy [MET] the mighty army of Assyria.

It is as though they are a huge tree [MET] that he will cut down.

34He will destroy the soldiers of Assyria

like men use big axes to cut down the tall trees in the forests of Lebanon.

11

David’s descendant will bring peace

1Like [MET] a new shoot often grows from the stump of a tree,

there will be a descendant of King David who will be a new king.

2The Spirit of Yahweh will always be with him.

The Spirit will enable him to be wise and to understand much about many things.

The Spirit will enable him to decide what is good to do, and will enable him to be very powerful.

The Spirit will enable him to know Yahweh and to revere him.

3He will be glad to obey Yahweh.

He will not decide whether someone is righteous or not only by seeing what that person looks like,

or by listening to what others say about that person.

4He will judge the cases of needy people fairly;

and he will act justly toward poor people.

He will punish evil people as a result of what he decides [MTY];

he will get rid of wicked people because of [MTY] their behavior.

5He will always act righteously;

his doing that will accompany him like [MET] a belt around his waist.

He will always speak what is true;

his doing that will accompany him like [MET] a sash around his waist.

6When he becomes king, wolves and lambs will live together peacefully;

leopards, instead of killing baby goats,

will lie down with them.

Similarly, calves and lions will eat food together;

and a young child will take care of them.

7Cows and bears will eat together;

bear cubs and calves will lie down together.

Lions will not eat other animals;

instead, they will eat hay like cows do.

8Babies will play safely near the holes where cobra snakes live;

small children will even put their hands into nests of poisonous snakes,

and the snakes will not harm them.

9No creatures will harm or kill other creatures on Zion Hill, my holy hill;

and the earth will be filled with people who know Yahweh

like [SIM] the seas are full of water.

10At that time, a descendant of King David will hold up a flag

to signal to the people of all people-groups that they should gather around him;

they will come to him to get his advice,

and the place where he lives will be glorious.

11At that time, Yahweh will ◄reach out his hand/use his power► as he did long ago;

he will enable those who had been ◄exiled from/forced to leave► Israel to return home,

from Assyria, from northern Egypt, from southern Egypt,

from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath, and from all the distant countries near the sea.

12Yahweh will raise his flag among all the people-groups,

and he will gather together the people of Israel who had been exiled long ago.

He will gather from very distant places [IDM] on the earth

the people of Judah who ◄had been scattered to/are living in► those places.

13Then, the people of Israel and the people of Judah will not be jealous of each other any longer,

and they will no longer be enemies of each other.

14Their armies will join together to attack the people of Philistia to the west.

And together they will attack nations to the east;

they will defeat those nations and take away all their valuable possessions.

They will capture the areas of Edom and Moab,

and the people of the Ammon people-group will be controlled/ruled by the people of Israel and Judah.

15Yahweh will make a dry road through the sea near Egypt.

And it will be as though he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River

and send a strong wind to cause it to divide into seven streams,

with the result that people will be able to walk across those streams.

16And because he will make a highway for his people who are living in Assyria,

they will be able to return to their own land,

just like long ago he made a path for the people of Israel

so that they could go through the water

when they left Egypt.

12

Songs that people will sing to praise Yahweh

1At that time, you people of Jerusalem will sing this song:

“Yahweh, we praise you!

Previously, you were angry with us,

but you are not angry now

and you have comforted us.

2Amazingly, you have come to save us,

so we will trust in you and not be afraid.

Yahweh our God, you enable us to be strong;

you are the one about whom we sing;

you have rescued us from our enemies.”

3You(pl), his people, will greatly enjoy being saved

like [MET] you enjoy drinking water from a fountain.

4At that time you all will say,

“We should thank Yahweh! We should praise him [MTY]!

We should tell the people of all the people-groups what he has done;

we should enable them to know that he [MTY] is very great!

5We should sing to Yahweh, because he has done wonderful things.

We should enable everyone in the world to know it!

6You people of Jerusalem, shout joyfully to praise Yahweh,

because he is the great Holy One whom we Israeli people worship,

and he lives among us!”

13

Yahweh will punish Babylon

1I, Isaiah, the son of Amoz, received from Yahweh this message about Babylon city:

2Lift up a flag on the bare top of a hill,

to signal that an army should come to attack Babylon.

Shout to them and wave your hand to signal to them

that they should march through the city gates into the palaces of the proud rulers of Babylon!

3Yahweh says, “I have commanded those soldiers to do that;

I have summoned the warriors whom I have chosen to punish the people of Babylon because of my being very angry with them,

and those soldiers will be very proud when they do that.”

4Listen to the noise on the mountains,

which is the noise of a huge army marching!

It is the noise made by people of many people-groups shouting.

The Commander of the armies of angels has summoned this army to gather together.

5They come from countries that are far away,

from the most remote places [IDM] on the earth.

They are like [SIM] weapons that Yahweh will use to punish the people with whom he is very angry,

and to destroy the entire country of Babylonia.

6You people of Babylon will scream because you will be terrified,

because it will be the time that Yahweh has determined/chosen,

the time for the all-powerful God to destroy your city.

7All of your people will be very afraid [DOU],

with the result that they will be unable even to lift their arms.

8All of you will be terrified.

You will have [PRS] severe pains

like [SIM] a woman has when she is giving birth to a baby.

You will look at each other helplessly,

and it will show on your faces that you feel horror.

9Listen to this: The day that Yahweh has appointed/chosen is near,

the day that he will furiously and fiercely punish you because he is very angry with you.

He will cause your land of Babylonia to be desolate/barren,

and he will destroy all the sinners in it.

10When that happens, none of the stars will shine.

When the sun rises, it will be dark,

and there will be no light from the moon at night.

11Yahweh says, “I will punish everyone in the world for the evil things that they do;

I will punish the wicked people for the sins that they have committed.

I will stop arrogant/proud people from being proud,

and I will stop ruthless people from acting cruelly.

12And because I will cause most people to die,

people will be harder to find than gold,

harder to find than fine gold from Ophir in Arabia.

13I will shake the sky,

and the earth will also move out of its place.

That will happen when I, the Commander of the armies of angels, punish wicked people,

when I show them that I am extremely angry with them.

14And all the foreigners in Babylon will run around like [SIM] deer that are being hunted,

like sheep that do not have a shepherd.

They will try to find other people from their countries,

and then they will escape from Babylon and return to their own countries.

15Anyone who is captured in Babylon

will be killed by their enemies’ swords [DOU].

16Their little children will be dashed to pieces on the rocks while their parents watch;

their enemies will steal everything valuable from their houses and will rape their wives.

17Look! I am going to incite the people of Media to attack Babylon.

The army of Media will attack Babylon, even if they are offered [DOU] silver or gold if they promise to not attack it.

18With their arrows, the soldiers of Media will shoot the young men of Babylon;

they will not even act mercifully [DOU] toward infants or children!”

19Babylon has been a very beautiful [MTY] city;

all the people of Babylonia have been very proud of Babylon, their capital city;

but God will destroy Babylon,

like [SIM] he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

20No one will ever live in Babylon again.

It will be deserted forever.

◄Nomads/People who travel from place to place to live► will refuse to set up their tents there;

shepherds will not bring their flocks of sheep to rest there.

21Instead, animals that live in the desert will be there;

jackals/wolves will live in the ruins of the houses.

Owls (OR, Ostriches) will live in the ruins,

and wild goats will romp/jump around there.

22Hyenas will howl in the ruined towers,

and jackals/wolves will make their dens in the ruins of the palaces that were previously very beautiful.

The time when Babylon will be destroyed is very near;

Babylon will not exist much longer.

14

God’s people will return to Judah

1But Yahweh will act mercifully toward the Israeli people;

he will choose the people of Israel to be his people again,

and he will allow them to return here and live in their own land again.

Then people from many other countries will come here

and unite with the Israeli people.

2People of other nations will help them to return to their own land,

and those who come from other countries will ◄work for/become the servants of► the Israeli people.

Those who captured people of Israel will be captured by Israeli soldiers,

and the people of Israel will rule over the people who previously oppressed them.

The king of Babylon will be killed

3Some day Yahweh will free you Israeli people from suffering and trouble and from being afraid, and from being cruelly treated as slaves [MTY]. 4When that happens, you will make fun of the King of Babylon by saying this:

“You treated us cruelly, but that has ended!

Your insolently causing others to suffer is finished!

5You evil ruler, Yahweh will get rid of your power,

and you will oppress people no longer!

6You attacked people many times

because you were very angry with them,

and you subdued/conquered other nations

by causing them to suffer endlessly.

7But soon everything will be quiet and peaceful on the earth.

Everyone [PRS] will sing again!

8It will be as though even the trees in the forests will joyfully sing this song,

the cyprus/pine trees and the cedar trees in Lebanon will sing it:

‘You ◄have been overthrown/are no longer a ruler►,

and now no one comes to get rid of us [MET].’

9The dead people are [PRS] are eagerly waiting for you to come to the place where they are.

The spirits of the world leaders

will be delighted to welcome you;

those who were kings of many nations before they died

will stand up to welcome you.

10They will all shout to you together,

‘Now you are as weak as we are!’

11You were very proud and powerful,

but all that ended when you died,

along with the sounds of harps being played in your palace.

Now in your grave maggots will be under you like a sheet [MET],

and worms will cover you like a blanket [MET].

12You have disappeared from the earth like [MET] a star which has fallen from the sky;

you were very well-known

like [MET] the morning star which is seen by everyone;

you destroyed many nations,

but now you have been destroyed.

13You proudly said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven, to my throne above God’s stars.

I will rule on the mountain where the gods gather together, far in the north.

14I will ascend above the clouds and become like the highest/greatest god!’

15But you were not able to do that;

instead, you were carried down to your grave,

and you went to the place where the dead people are.

16The other dead people there stare at you;

they wonder what happened to you.

They say, ‘Is this the man who caused the earth to shake

and caused the people in many kingdoms to tremble?

17Is this the man who tried to cause the world to become a desert,

who conquered its cities and did not allow the people whom he captured to return to their homes?’

18All the kings of the earth who have died were greatly honored when they were buried,

19but your corpse will not be buried;

it will be thrown away like [SIM] a worthless branch of a tree.

Your corpse will be under a heap of other corpses of soldiers that were killed by their enemies’ swords,

and their corpses were not buried;

you will be with those who have gone down to the stony ground in a big pit.

20Your corpse will not be buried

because you have destroyed your nation

and have caused your people to be killed.

The descendants of wicked people like you will never be honored again.

21People will say, ‘Slaughter this man’s children

because of the sins that their ancestors committed!

Do not allow them to become rulers and conquer all the nations in the world,

and fill the world with the cities that they rule!’ ”

22This is what the Commander of the armies of angels says:

“I myself will cause Babylon to be conquered.

I will get rid of Babylon and its people and their descendants.

23I will cause Babylon to be a place where owls live,

a place full of swamps;

I will get rid of it completely

as though [MET] I were sweeping it with a broom.

That is what I, the Commander of the armies of angels, say.”

Yahweh will punish Assyria

24The Commander of the armies of angels has also solemnly promised this:

“The things that I have planned will surely happen [DOU].

25When the army of Assyria is in my land of Israel,

I will crush them.

It will be as though I will trample them on my mountains.

My people will no longer be the slaves [MET] of the people of Assyria;

it will be as though [MET] I will take away the burdens that are on their shoulders.

26I have a plan for everyone on the earth,

a plan to show my power [MTY] to punish all the nations.

27I, the Commander of the armies of angels, have spoken,

and no one can [RHQ] change my mind.

When I raise my fist to strike Assyria,

no one [RHQ] will be able to stop me from doing that.”

Yahweh will punish Philistia

28I received this message from Yahweh during the year that King Ahaz died:

29You people of Philistia, do not rejoice that the enemy army [MET] that attacked you has been defeated

and that their king is dead.

He was as dangerous as [MET] a snake,

but there will be another king,

who will be more dangerous than a cobra;

he will be like [MET] a quick-moving poisonous snake.

30Those of my people who are very poor will take care of their flocks of sheep,

and the needy people will lie down safely,

but I will cause you people of Philistia who are still alive [DOU]

to die from famine.

31So, you people of Philistia, wail at the gates of your cities!

You should be extremely afraid,

because a very powerful army will come from the north to attack you;

their chariots will stir up the dust like [MET] a cloud of smoke.

Each of their soldiers is ready to fight.

32If messengers from Philistia come to us Israeli people,

this is what we must [RHQ] tell them:

“Yahweh has established Jerusalem, not Philistia,

and his people who are oppressed will be safe inside the walls of Jerusalem.”

15

Yahweh will destroy Moab

1I received this message from Yahweh about the Moab people-group:

In one night two of your important cities, Ar and Kir, will be destroyed.

2The people of Dibon, your capital city, will go to their temple to mourn/weep;

they will go to their shrines on the hilltops to weep.

They will wail because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba towns in the south;

they will all shave the hair of their heads, and the men will cut off their beards to show that they are grieving.

3In the streets people will wear rough sackcloth,

and on their flat rooftops and in the city plazas everyone will wail,

with tears streaming down their faces.

4The people of Heshbon city and Elealeh towns in the north of Moab will cry out;

people as far away as Jahaz town in the south will hear them wailing.

Therefore the soldiers of Moab will tremble and cry out

and they will be very afraid [IDM].

5I feel very sorry for the people of Moab;

they will flee to Zoar and Eglath-Shelishiyah towns in the far south.

They will cry as they walk up to Luhith town.

All along the road to Horonaim town people will mourn

because their country has been destroyed.

6The water in Nimrim Valley will have dried up.

The grass there will be withered;

the green plants will all be gone,

and there will be nothing left that is green.

7The people will pick up their possessions

and carry them across Willows Brook.

8Throughout the country of Moab, people will be crying;

people as far away as Eglaim in the south and Beer-Elim in the north will hear them wailing.

9The stream near Dimon will become red from the blood of people who have been killed,

but I will cause the people of Moab to experience even more trouble:

Lions will attack those who are trying to escape from Moab

and will also attack the people who remain in that country.

16

1The rulers of Moab will say to each other,

“We must send some lambs from Sela city as a gift to the ruler of Judah to persuade him to not allow his army to attack us anymore.

We should send them through the desert to the king.

2The women of Moab will be left alone at the ◄fords of/places where people can walk across► the Arnon River;

they will be like [SIM] birds that have been pushed out of their nests.

3They will cry out, ‘Help us!

Tell us what we should do!

Protect us completely [MET],

we who are running away from our enemies,

and do not ◄betray us/tell our enemies where we are►.

4Allow those of us who are fleeing from Moab to stay with you;

hide/protect us from our enemies who want to destroy us!’

Some day there will be no one to oppress us,

and our enemies will stop destroying our land.

5Then Yahweh will appoint someone to be king

who will be a descendant of King David.

As he rules [MTY], he will be merciful and truthful.

He will always do what is fair/just

and quickly do what is righteous.”

6We people of Judah have heard about the people of Moab;

we have heard that they are very proud and conceited [DOU];

they are insolent,

but what they proudly say about themselves is not true.

7Some day all the people in Moab will weep.

They will all mourn,

because there will be no more raisin cakes in Kir-Hareseth city.

8The crops in the fields at Heshbon city will wither,

and the vineyards at Sibmah town will wither also.

The armies of other nations will destroy Moab,

which is like [MET] a beautiful grapevine

whose branches spread north to Jazer town

and east to the desert.

Its branches spread very far west,

to the west side of the Dead Sea.

9So I will weep for Jazer

and for the grapevines of Sibmah.

I will shed tears for all of you.

I will cry because people will no longer shout joyfully, like they usually do

when they gather the fruit that ripens in the ◄summer/hot season► and the other crops that they harvest.

10People will no longer be glad at harvest time.

No one will sing in the vineyards,

no one will shout joyfully.

No one will tread on grapes to get grape juice for wine;

there will be nothing to shout about joyfully.

11I cry iinwardly for Moab;

my groaning is like [SIM] a sad song played on a harp.

I am sad about Kir-Hareseth.

12The people of Moab will go and pray at their sacred shrines,

but that will not help them.

They will cry out to their gods in their temples,

but none of them will be able to rescue the people.

13Yahweh has already spoken those things about Moab. 14But now he says that exactly three years from now, he will destroy all the things that the people of Moab have been proud of. Even though they have a huge number of people in Moab now, only a few people will remain alive, and they will be weak/helpless.

17

Yahweh will punish Syria

1I received this message from Yahweh about Damascus the capital of Syria:

“Listen carefully! Damascus will no longer be a city;

it will be only a heap of ruins!

2The towns near Aroer city will be abandoned.

Flocks of sheep will eat grass in the streets and lie down there,

and there will be no one to chase them away.

3The cities in Israel will not have walls around them to protect them.

The power of the kingdom of Damascus will be ended,

and the few people who will remain in Damascus will be disgraced like the people in Israel were disgraced.”

That is what the Commander of the armies of angels says.

The destruction of Israel

4“At that time, Israel will become insignificant.

It will be like [MET] a fat person who has become very thin.

5The entire land will be like [SIM] a field where the harvesters have cut all the grain;

there will be nothing left,

like [SIM] the fields in the Rephaim Valley after all the crops have been harvested.

6Only a few of the Israeli people will remain [MET],

like [SIM] the few olives that remain on the top of a tree after the workers have caused all the other olives to fall to the ground.

There will be only two or three olives in the top branches,

or four or five olives on the other branches.”

That is what the Commander of the armies of angels says.

7Then, at that time, you people of Israel will ◄turn for help to/look up to► God, your creator,

the Holy One of Israel.

8You will no longer seek to get help from your idols

or worship the idols that you have made with your own hands [DOU].

You will never again bow down in front of the poles where you worship the goddess Asherah.

You will never again worship at the shrines that you have built for burning incense.

9The largest cities in Israel will be abandoned, like the land that the Hiv and Amor people-groups abandoned (OR, like the forests that the Canaan people-group abandoned) when the Israelis attacked them long ago.

No one will live there.

10That will happen because you have stopped worshiping God

who is like [MET] a huge rock under which you can be safe.

You have forgotten that he is the one who can hide/protect you.

So, now you plant very nice grapevines

and even plant very expensive ones that come from other countries.

11But even if they sprout leaves on the day that you plant them,

and even if they produce blossoms on that same morning,

at harvest time, there will not be any grapes for you to pick.

All that you will get is a lot of agony/misery.

12Listen! The armies of many nations will roar like the sea roars.

It will sound like the noise of crashing waves.

13But even though their loud roaring will be like the sound of crashing waves,

when Yahweh rebukes them, they will run far away.

They will flee like [SIM] chaff on the hills scatters when the wind blows,

like tumbleweeds scatter when a windstorm blows.

14And, even though you people of Israel will be terrified,

in the morning your enemies will all be gone/dead.

That is what will happen to those who invade our land and then steal our possessions.

18

The destruction of Ethiopia

1Terrible things will happen to you people of Ethiopia!

In your land there are many sailboats at the upper part of the Nile River.

2Your rulers send ambassadors that sail quickly down the river in papyrus boats.

You messengers to Ethiopia, go quickly!

Go up the river to people who are tall and who have smooth skin.

People everywhere are afraid of those people,

because they conquer and destroy other nations;

they live in a land that is divided by branches of one large river.

3You messengers must tell people everywhere,

to people everywhere,

“Look when I lift up my battle flag on top of the mountain,

and listen when I blow the ram’s horn

to signal that the battle is about to begin.”

4Listen because Yahweh has told me this:

“I will watch quietly from where I live.

I will watch as quietly as [SIM] the heat waves shimmer as they rises on a hot summer day,

as quietly as the dew forms on the ground during harvest time.”

5But even before the army of Ethiopia starts to attack,

while their plans are slowly forming like [SIM] grapes that are ripening,

Yahweh will get rid of them like a farmer who [MET] cuts off the new shoots of the grapevines with his shears,

and prunes the branches that have become very long.

6All the soldiers in the army of Ethiopia will be killed,

and their corpses will lie in the fields for vultures to eat their flesh in the ◄summer/hot season►.

Then wild animals will chew on their bones all during the ◄winter/cold season►.

7At that time, the people of that land that is divided by the branches of that one big river will take gifts to Yahweh in Jerusalem.

Those tall people who have smooth/dark skin, whom people everywhere are afraid of,

because they conquer and destroy many countries,

will take gifts to Jerusalem, the city where the Commander of the armies of angels lives.

19

A prophecy about the destruction of Egypt

1I received this message from Yahweh about Egypt:

Listen to this! I, Yahweh, am coming to Egypt,

riding on a fast-moving cloud.

The idols in Egypt will tremble when I appear,

and the people of Egypt will be extremely afraid [IDM].

2I will cause the people of Egypt to fight against each other:

men will fight against their brothers,

neighbors will fight against each other,

people of one city will fight against the people of another city,

people of one province will fight against the people of another province.

3The people of Egypt will become very discouraged,

and I will cause their plans to not be successful.

They will plead with idols and sorcerers and those who talk with spirits of dead people

to tell them what they should do.

4Then I will enable someone who will treat them very cruelly to become their king [DOU].

That is what I, the Commander of the armies of angels, say.

5Some day the water in the Nile River will dry up,

and the riverbed will become very dry [DOU].

6The branches of the river will all dry up [DOU]

The canals along the river will stink

because of the rotting reeds and ◄bulrushes/tall grass►.

7All the plants along the river and all the crops will dry up;

then they will blow away and disappear.

8The fishermen will throw into the river lines with hooks on them and nets,

and then they will groan and be very discouraged;

they will be sad, because there will be no fish in the river.

9Those who weave cloth from flax will not know what to do,

because there will be no thread for them to weave.

10They will all despair

and be very discouraged.

11The officials in Zoan city in northern Egypt are foolish.

The advice that they gave to the king was worthless.

Why do they continue to tell the king that they are wise,

that they are descendants of wise kings who lived long ago [RHQ]?

12King, ◄where are your wise counselors now?/You have no wise counselors now!► [RHQ]

If you had any wise counselors, they could tell you what the Commander of the armies of angels has planned to do to Egypt [SAR]!

13Yes, the officials of Zoan have become foolish,

and the leaders in Memphis city in northern Egypt have deceived themselves.

All the leaders of the people have ◄caused their people to do wrong things/led their people astray►.

14Yahweh has caused them to be very foolish,

with the result that in everything that they do, it is as though the people of Egypt stagger

like [SIM] a drunken person staggers and slips in his own vomit.

15There is no one in Egypt, rich or poor, important or unimportant, who will be able to help them.

16At that time, the people of Egypt will be as helpless as [SIM] women. They will tremble, being terrified because they know that the Commander of the armies of angels has raised his fist, ready to strike/punish them. 17The people of Egypt will be afraid of the people of Judah, and anyone who mentions Judah to them will cause them to be terrified, because that will remind them of what Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of angels, is planning to do to them.

18At that time, people in five cities in Egypt will solemnly declare that they will serve Yahweh. They will learn to speak the Hebrew language. One of those cities will be called ‘City of the Sun’.

19At that time, there will be an altar for worshiping Yahweh in the center of Egypt, and there will be a ◄pillar/large rock► to honor Yahweh at the border between Egypt and Israel. 20That will be a sign to indicate that the Commander of the armies of angels is worshiped in the land of Egypt. And when the people cry out to Yahweh to help them because others are ◄oppressing them/causing them to suffer►, he will send to them someone who will defend and rescue them. 21Yahweh will enable the people of Egypt to know who he is, and at that time they will have a close relationship with Yahweh and worship him and bring to him offerings of grain and other sacrifices. They will solemnly promise to do things for Yahweh, and they will do what they promise. 22After Yahweh has punished Egypt, he will cause their troubles to end. The people of Egypt will turn to Yahweh, and he will listen when they plead to him for help, and he will cause their troubles to cease.

23At that time, there will be a highway between Egypt and Assyria. As a result, the people of Egypt will be able to travel easily to Assyria, and the people of Assyria will be able to travel easily to Egypt. And the people of both countries will worship Yahweh. 24And Israel will be their ally. All three nations will be friendly to each other, and the people of Israel will be a blessing to the people of the entire world. 25The Commander of the armies of angels will bless them, saying, “You people of Egypt are now my people. You people of Assyria, I have established your country. You people of Israel are the people whom I have chosen to belong to me.”

20

A message about Egypt and Ethiopia

1One year King Sargon of Assyria sent the chief commander of his army to take his soldiers to capture Ashdod city in Philistia. 2At that time, Yahweh told me, “Take off the rough sackcloth that you have been wearing and take off your sandals.” So I did what he told me to do, and then I walked around naked and barefoot for three years.

3Then Yahweh said this to the people of Judah: “My servant Isaiah has been walking around naked and barefoot for the past three years. That is to show the terrible disasters that I will cause the people of Egypt and Ethiopia to experience. 4What will happen is that the army of the King of Assyria will invade those countries and capture many of the people and take them away as their prisoners. They will force all them, including both the young ones and the old ones, to walk naked and barefoot. They will also force them to have no clothes around their buttocks, which will cause the people of Egypt to be ashamed. 5Then the people of other countries who trusted that the armies of Egypt and Ethiopia would be able to help them will be very dismayed/confused and afraid/disappointed. 6They will say, ‘We trusted that the armies of Egypt and Ethiopia would help us and defend us, but they have been destroyed, so there is no way [RHQ] that we can escape from being destroyed by the army of the King of Assyria!’”

21

A message about the destruction of Babylon

1I received this message from Yahweh about Babylonia, a land that is near the Persian Gulf but which will soon be a desert.

An army will soon come from the desert to invade that land;

it is an army that causes its enemies to be terrified,

an army that will come like a whirlwind from the south.

2Yahweh showed me a terrifying vision.

In the vision I saw an army

that will betray/deceive people and steal their possessions after they conquer them.

Yahweh said, “You armies from Elam and Media, surround Babylon and prepare to attack it!

I will cause the groaning and suffering that Babylon caused to cease!”

3Because of that, my body is full of pain;

my pain is like the pain that women who are giving birth experience.

When I hear about and see what God is planning to do,

I am shocked.

4I cannot think straight/correctly, and I tremble.

I was eager for it to be nighttime,

but now it is night, and I am horrified.

5In the vision I saw that the leaders of Babylonia were preparing a great feast.

They had spread rugs for people to sit on;

everyone was eating and drinking.

But they should get up and prepare their shields,

because they are about to be attacked!

6Then Yahweh said to me,

“Put a watchman on the wall of Jerusalem,

and tell him to shout/proclaim what he sees.

7Tell him to watch for chariots pulled by pairs of horses,

and men riding camels and donkeys, coming from Babylon.

Tell the watchman to watch and listen carefully!”

8So I did that, and one day the watchman called out,

“Day after day I have stood on this watchtower,

and I have continued to watch during the day and during the night.

9Now, I saw a man riding in a chariot pulled by two horses.

I called out to him, and he answered/shouted,

‘Babylon has been destroyed!

All the idols in Babylon lie in pieces on the ground!’”

10My people in Judah, the army of Babylon has caused you to suffer greatly

as though [MET] you were grain that was threshed and ◄winnowed/thrown up into the air for the wind to blow away the chaff►.

But now I have told you what the Commander of the armies of angels the God whom we Israelis worship, told me about Babylon.

A message about Edom

11I received this message from Yahweh about Edom:

Someone from Edom has been calling/shouting to me saying,

“Watchman, how long will it be before the night is ended? [DOU]”

12I, the watchman, replied,

“It will soon be morning, but after that, it will soon be night again.

If you want to inquire again about what will happen in our country,

come back and inquire again.”

A message about Arabia

13I received this message about Arabia:

Give this message to people traveling in caravans from Dedan town in northwest Arabia, who camp in the scrub there.

Tell them to bring water for those who are thirsty.

14And you people who live in Tema city in northwest Arabia,

must bring food for the ◄refugees/people who are fleeing from their enemies►.

15They are fleeing in order not to be killed by their enemies’ swords

and not to be shot in battles by arrows.

16Yahweh said to me,

“Exactly one year from now,

all the greatness of the Kedar area in Arabia will end.

17Only a few of their soldiers who know well how to shoot arrows will remain alive.

That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

22

A message about Jerusalem

1I received this message from Yahweh about Jerusalem, about the valley where Yahweh showed me this vision.

Why is everyone foolishly running up to their flat rooftops?

2Everyone in the city seems to be shouting.

There are a lot of corpses in the city,

but they were not killed by their enemies’ swords.

They did not die in battles;

instead, they died from diseases and hunger.

3All the leaders of the city fled.

But then they were captured because they did not have bows and arrows to defend themselves.

Your soldiers tried to flee while the enemy army was still far away,

but they also were captured.

4That is why I said, “Allow me to cry alone;

do not try to comfort me about my people being slaughtered.”

5The Commander of the armies of angels has chosen a time when there will be a great uproar, soldiers marching, and people being terrified

in the valley where I received this vision.

It will be a time when our city walls will be battered down

and the people’s cries for help will be heard in the mountains.

6The armies from Elam and Kir in Media will attack,

driving chariots and carrying shields.

7Our beautiful valleys will be filled with our enemies’ chariots

and the men who drive the chariots will stand outside our city gates.

8The walls that protect the cities in Judah will fall down.

You people of Jerusalem will run to get the weapons that are stored in the building called ‘the Hall of the Forest’.

9You will see that there are many breaks/holes in the walls of Jerusalem.

You will store water in the lower pool in the city.

10You will inspect the houses in Jerusalem,

and some of them you will tear down to use the stones to repair the city wall.

11Between the walls of the city you will build a reservoir to store water from the old pool.

But you will never request help from the one who made the city;

you have never depended on Yahweh, who planned this city long ago.

12The Commander of the armies of angels told you to weep and mourn;

he told you to shave your heads and to wear rough sackcloth

to show that you were sorry for the sins that you had committed.

13But instead of doing that, you were happy and celebrating;

you slaughtered cattle and sheep,

in order to cook their meat and eat it and drink wine.

You said, “Let’s eat and drink all that we want to,

because it is possible that we will die tomorrow!”

14So the Commander of the armies of angels revealed this to me: “I will never forgive my people for sinning like this!”

A message for Shebna

15The Commander of the armies of angels said this to me: “Go to Shebna, the official who supervises the workers in the palace, and give this message to him:

16Who do you think you are?

Who gave you the authority to build a beautiful tomb where you will be buried,

chiseling it out of the rocky cliff high above this valley?

17You think that you are [IRO] a great man, but Yahweh is about to hurl you away.

It will be as though he will seize you,

18and roll/crumple you into a ball

and throw you away into a large distant land.

You will die and be buried there,

and your beautiful chariots will stay there in the hands of your enemies.

And because of what happens to you, your master, the king, will be very ashamed/disgraced.

19Yahweh will force you to quit working in the palace;

you will be demoted from your important position.

20Then I will summon Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who has served serve me well, to replace you. 21I will allow him to wear your robe, and to fasten your sash around him, and I will give to him the authority that you had. He will be like [MET] a father to the people of Jerusalem and all the other towns in Judah. 22I will give to him authority [MTY] over what happens in the palace where King David lived; when he decides something [MET], no one will be able to oppose it; when he refuses to do something, no one will be able to force him to do it. 23I will cause his family to be greatly respected, because I will put him firmly in his position as supervisor of the workers in the palace, like [SIM] a nail that is firmly hammered into a wall. 24Others will enable him to have much responsibility, with the result that all the members of his family, even the most insignificant ones, will be honored.”

25But the Commander of the armies of angels also says, “Shebna is like [MET] a peg that is firmly fastened to the wall. But there will be a time when I will remove him from his position; he will lose his power/influence, and everything that he promoted [MET] will fail. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

23

A message about Tyre’s punishment

1I received this message from Yahweh about Tyre city:

You sailors on [APO] ships from Tarshish,

weep, because the harbor of Tyre and all the houses in the city have been destroyed.

The reports that you heard in Cyprus island about Tyre are true.

2You people who live along the coast near Tyre, and merchants of Sidon city, mourn silently.

Your sailors went across the seas to many places like Tyre.

3They sailed across deep seas

to buy grain in Egypt

and other crops that are grown along the Nile River.

Tyre became the city where people from all nations bought and sold goods.

4But now you people in Sidon should be ashamed,

because you trusted in Tyre, which has been a strong fortress on an island in the sea.

Tyre is like a woman who is saying,

“Now it is as though I have not given birth to any children,

or raised any sons or daughters.”

5When the people of Egypt hear what has happened to Tyre,

they will grieve very much.

6Sail to Tarshish and tell them what happened;

weep, you people who live along the coast.

7The people in the very old city of Tyre were [RHQ] previously joyful.

Traders [PRS] from Tyre established colonies in many distant nations.

8People from Tyre appointed kings over other places;

their traders were wealthy;

they were as powerful and wealthy as [MET] kings.

So, who [RHQ] caused the people of Tyre to experience this disaster?

9It was the Commander of the armies of angels who did it;

he did it in order to cause you people in Tyre to not be proud anymore,

to humiliate you men who are honored all over the world.

10You people of Tarshish, you must grow crops in your land instead of trading;

spread out over your land like [SIM] the Nile River spreads over the land of Egypt when it floods,

because there is no harbor in Tyre for your ships now.

11It is as though Yahweh stretched out his hand over the sea

and shook the kingdoms of the earth.

He commanded that in Phoenicia/Canaan

all its fortresses must be destroyed.

12He said to the people of Sidon,

“You will never rejoice again, because you will be crushed;

even if you flee to Cyprus island,

you will not escape destruction.”

13Think about what happened in Babylonia:

the people who were in that land have disappeared.

The armies of Assyria have caused that land to become a place where wild animals from the desert live.

The Assyrians built dirt ramps to the top of the walls of the city of Babylon;

then they entered the city and tore down the palaces

and caused the city to become a heap of rubble.

14So wail, you sailors on the ships of Tarshish,

because the harbor in Tyre where your ships stop is destroyed!

15For seventy years, which is as long as kings usually live, people will forget about Tyre. But then it will be rebuilt. What will happen there will be like what happened to a prostitute in this song:

16You harlot, whom people had forgotten,

play your harp well,

and sing many songs,

in order that people will remember you again.

17It is true that after seventy years Yahweh will restore Tyre. Their merchants will again earn a lot of money by buying things from and selling things to many other nations [HYP].

18But their profits will be given to Yahweh.

The merchants will not hoard their money;

instead, they will give it to Yahweh’s priests

in order that they can buy food and nice clothes.

24

The destruction of everything on the earth

1Some day, Yahweh is going to destroy everything on the earth.

He will devastate it and cause it to become a desert

and scatter its people.

2He will scatter everyone—

priests and common people,

servants and their masters,

maids and their mistresses,

buyers and sellers,

lenders and borrowers,

people who owe money and people who are owed money.

3Nothing that is worth anything will be left on earth;

everything valuable will be destroyed.

That will surely happen because Yahweh has said it.

4Everything on the earth will dry up and die [DOU];

its important people will become weak and unimportant.

5The earth has become unacceptable to Yahweh because the people who live on it have disobeyed his laws;

they have rejected the agreement that he intended to last forever.

6Therefore, Yahweh will curse the earth;

the people who live on it must be punished because of the sins that they have committed.

They will be destroyed by fire,

and only a few people will remain alive.

7The grapevines will wither,

and there will be no grapes to make wine.

All the people who were previously happy will then groan and mourn.

8People will no longer play cheerful songs with tambourines,

people will no longer play joyfully on their harps,

and people will no longer shout noisily during their celebrations.

9People will no longer sing while they drink wine,

and all their alcoholic drinks will taste bitter.

10Towns and cities will be desolate;

every house will be locked to prevent thieves from entering.

11Mobs will gather in the streets, wanting wine;

no one on the earth will be happy [DOU] anymore.

12Cities will be ruined

and all their gates will be battered/broken into pieces.

13It will be like that all over the earth:

there will only be a few people still alive,

like what happens when workers beat all the olives off a tree and there are only a few left,

or when they harvest the grapes and there are only a few left on the vines.

14But those who are left alive will sing joyfully;

people in nations to the west of Israel will declare that Yahweh is very great;

15people in nations to the east of Israel will also praise Yahweh [MTY];

in countries across the sea, people will praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis worship.

16We will hear people in the most distant places on the earth singing praise to Yahweh, the truly righteous one.

But now, I am [SYN] very sad.

Weep for me, because I have become thin and weak.

Terrible things are happening!

Treacherous people still betray/deceive others everywhere [DOU].

17You people all over the earth,

you will be terrified,

and you will fall into deep pits and traps/snares.

18Those who try to flee because they are terrified

will fall into deep pits,

and those who climb out of the pits

will be caught by traps/snares.

The sky will split open and torrents [SIM] of rain will fall;

the foundations of the earth will shake.

19The earth will split apart and be shattered;

it will shake violently.

20It will be as though the earth will stagger like [SIM] a drunk;

it will shake like [SIM] a hut shakes in a windstorm.

It will collapse and not be able to rise again,

because the guilt of the people who rebel against Yahweh is very great.

21At that time, Yahweh will punish the wicked powerful beings in the skies

and the wicked kings on the earth.

22They will all be gathered together and thrown into a dungeon/pit.

They will be shut/locked in that dungeon/pit,

and later they will be punished.

23At that time the light of the moon and the sun will be lessened;

it will be as though they are ashamed in the presence of Yahweh,

because he, the Commander of the armies of angels, will rule gloriously ◄on Zion Hill/in Jerusalem►,

in the presence of the leaders of his people.

25

Isaiah praises God for having good judgment and providing salvation

1Yahweh, you are my God;

I will honor you and praise you [MTY].

You do wonderful things;

you said long ago that you would do those things,

and now you have done them like you said that you would.

2Sometimes you have caused cities to become heaps of rubble,

cities that had strong walls around them.

You have caused palaces in foreign countries to disappear;

they will never be rebuilt.

3Therefore, people in powerful nations will declare that you are very great,

and people in nations whose leaders are ruthless/cruel will revere you.

4Yahweh, you are like [SIM] a strong tower where poor people can ◄find refuge/be safe►,

a place where needy people can go when they are distressed.

You are like [MET] a place where people can find refuge in a storm

and where they can be shaded from the hot sun.

Ruthless/Cruel people oppress us;

they are like [SIM] a storm beating against a wall,

5and like [SIM] the intense heat in the desert.

But you cause the roaring of people in foreign nations to cease.

Like the air cools when a cloud comes overhead,

you stop ruthless/cruel people from singing songs boasting about their being very great.

6Here in Jerusalem, the Commander of the armies of angels will prepare a wonderful feast for all the people of the world.

It will be a banquet with plenty of good meat and fine well-aged [DOU] wine.

7People here are sad;

their being sad is like a dark cloud that hangs over them,

like they experience when someone dies.

But Yahweh will enable them to quit being sad.

8He will get rid of death forever!

Yahweh our God will cause people to no longer mourn because someone has died.

And he will stop other people insulting and making fun of his land and us his people.

That will surely happen because Yahweh has said it!

9At that time, people will proclaim,

“Yahweh is our God!

We trusted in him, and he rescued us!

Yahweh, in whom we trusted, has done it;

we should rejoice because of his saving/rescuing us!”

10Yahweh [MTY] will protect and bless Jerusalem.

But he will crush the people in the land of Moab;

they will be like [SIM] straw that is trampled in the manure and left to rot.

11Yahweh will push down the people of Moab

like [SIM] a swimmer pushes the water with his hands.

He will cause them to cease being proud,

and he will show that all the things that they have done are worthless.

12The high walls around the cities in Moab will be torn down;

they will be demolished and fall into the dust/dirt.

26

A song to praise Yahweh

1Some day, people in Judah will sing this song:

Our city of Jerusalem is strong!

Yahweh protects our city;

He is like [MET] a wall that surrounds it.

2Open the gates of the city for people who are righteous;

allow people who faithfully obey Yahweh to enter the city.

3Yahweh, those who trust in you,

those who firmly resolve to never doubt you,

you will enable them to feel perfectly peaceful.

4So always trust in Yahweh,

because Yahweh, our God, is forever like [MET] a huge rock under which we are sheltered/protected/safe.

5He humbles proud people

and destroys cities whose people are arrogant.

He causes those cities to collapse into the dust/dirt.

6When that happens, poor and oppressed people will trample on the ruins.

7But as for righteous people,

Yahweh, you do what is right;

it is as though you cause the paths where they walk to be level and smooth.

8Yahweh, by obeying your laws

we show that we trust you to help us;

and what we desire is that you will be honored/praised/exalted.

9All through the night I [SYN] desire to know you better,

and each morning I still want to be with you.

Only when you come to judge and punish people who live on the earth

will they learn to do what is right.

10But your acting kindly toward wicked people does not cause them to do what is good.

Even in places where people do what is right, the wicked people continue to do what is evil,

and they do not realize that you, Yahweh, are great.

11Yahweh, it is as though your fist is raised up ready to strike them,

but they do not realize that.

Show them that you are very eager to help your people.

If your enemies would realize that, they would be ashamed;

allow your fire to burn them up because they are your enemies.

12Yahweh, we desire that you will allow things to go well for us;

everything that we have done is what you have enabled us to do.

13Yahweh, our God, others have ruled over us,

but you [MTY] are the only one whom we honor.

14Those who ruled us are now gone; they are dead;

their spirits have left this earth, and they will not become alive again.

You punished those rulers and got rid of them,

and people do not even remember them anymore.

15Yahweh, you have enabled our nation to become great;

we are more in number now, and we have more land,

so we thank/praise you.

16Yahweh, when we were distressed, we asked you to help us;

when you disciplined/punished us, we were able only to whisper when we prayed to you.

17Like pregnant women writhe and cry out

when they are giving birth,

we suffered very much, too.

18We had severe pain,

but nothing good resulted [MET] from it.

We have not rescued our people from being conquered by our enemies,

and we have not given birth to children who will rule the world correctly (OR, not defeated the armies that have attacked other nations.

God’s punishment for Israel

19But Yahweh’s people who have died will become alive again,

their corpses will become alive!

Those whose bodies lie in graves will rise and shout joyfully!

His light will be like dew that falls on his people who have died,

who are now in the place where the dead people are,

and will cause them to become alive again.

20But now, my people/fellow-citizens, go home

and lock your doors!

Hide for a short time,

until Yahweh is no longer angry.

21Listen to this: Yahweh will come from heaven

to punish all the people on the earth for the sins that they have committed.

People will be able to see [PRS] the ◄blood of those/the people► who have been murdered;

their murderers will no longer be able to hide.

27

God’s future blessings on Israel

1At that time, Yahweh will punish Leviathan,

the swift-moving monster/dragon,

that coiling serpent that lives in the sea.

Yahweh will kill it with his sharp, huge, and powerful sword.

2At that time, Yahweh will say,

“You Israeli people, who are like [MET] a fruitful vineyard, must sing!

3I will protect you

like a farmer [MET] waters his crops carefully in order that they will grow well.

I will guard you day and night, in order that no one harms you.

4I am no longer angry with my people;

if any of your enemies try to injure you like briers and thorns injure people [MET],

I will attack them in battles;

I will get rid of them completely,

5unless they request me to protect them;

I strongly invite them to make peace with me [DOU]!”

6There will be a time when the ◄descendants of Jacob/Israeli people► will prosper like a plant that has good roots;

they will be like [MET] trees that bud and blossom and bear a lot of fruit;

what they do will bless all the people in the world.

7But now I ask, has Yahweh punished us Israelis

like he punished our enemies?

Has he punished us as much as he punished them?

8No, he has not done that,

but he punished us Israeli people and ◄exiled us/forced us to leave our country►;

we were taken away from our land

as though [SIM] we were struck by a windstorm from the east.

9Yahweh did that in order to punish us for our sins,

and remove our guilt.

As a result of our being exiled, all the altars to other gods in Israel will be demolished,

and we will be forgiven for the sins that we have committed.

There will be no more poles for worshiping the goddess Asherah, or altars for burning incense to other gods;

they will all be torn down.

10The cities that have strong walls around them will be empty;

like the desert, they will have no one living in them.

The houses will be abandoned,

and the streets will be full of weeds.

Calves will eat grass there and lie down there;

they will chew up all the leaves on the trees.

11The Israeli people are like [MET] dry branches on a tree;

women break them off and use them to make fires under their cooking pots.

Our Israeli people do not have any sense;

so Yahweh, who created them, will not act mercifully toward them

or be kind to them.

12However, there will be a time when Yahweh will gather them together again; he will separate them from the people who have conquered them, like people separate wheat from chaff. He will bring them back to Israel, one by one, from the land between the Euphrates River in the northeast and the brook at the border of Egypt in the southwest. 13At that time, a trumpet will be blown very loudly. And those who were exiled to Assyria and Egypt and who almost died there will return to Jerusalem, to worship Yahweh on Zion, his holy hill.

28

Warnings to Israel

1Terrible things will happen to Samaria city, the capital of Israel!

It is on a hill above a fertile valley;

the people who live there, who get drunk by drinking too much wine, are very proud;

it is a beautiful and glorious city,

but some day that beauty will disappear like [MET] a flower that wilts and dries up.

2Listen to this: Yahweh will cause a great army to attack Samaria.

Their soldiers will be like [SIM] a huge hailstorm or a very strong wind;

they will be everywhere, like the water of a huge flood,

and they will smash to the ground the buildings in Samaria.

3The people of Samaria are proud,

but everything that the drunks who live there think is wonderful/glorious will be trampled on by their enemies.

4Yes, Samaria is beautiful, set on a hill above a fertile valley, but that beauty will disappear

like [MET] a flower that wilts and dries up.

Whenever someone sees a good fig at the beginning of the season when figs become ripe, he quickly picks and eats it;

similarly, when the enemies of Israel see all the beautiful things in Samaria,

they will quickly conquer the city and take away all those things.

5At that time, the Commander of the armies of angels will be like a glorious wreath of flowers for us Israeli people

who are still alive after being exiled.

6He will cause our judges to want to do what is fair/just

when they decide people’s cases.

He will enable the soldiers who stand at the city gates

to strongly defend the city when our enemies attack it.

7But now, our leaders stagger/stumble

because they have drunk a lot of wine and other alcoholic drinks.

The priests and prophets also stagger

because of drinking a lot of wine and other alcoholic drinks.

They are not able to think right;

they see visions but they cannot understand what they mean;

they are unable to decide things correctly.

8All their tables are covered with their vomit;

filth is everywhere.

9They ridicule Yahweh saying, “Who does he think that he is teaching?

Why is he talking to us like this?

Does he think that we are little children

who have recently been weaned?

10He continually tells us, ‘Do this, do that;’

first he tells us one rule, then another rule,

he tells us only one line at a time.”

11So now, Yahweh will need to force them to listen to Assyrians

speaking to them in a language that they do not understand.

12Yahweh told his people long ago,

“This is a place where you can rest;

you are exhausted from all your travels through the desert,

but you will be able to rest in this land.”

But they refused to pay attention to what he said.

13So Yahweh continues to tell the people of Samaria,

one line at a time, “Do this, do that,”

first one rule and then another rule.

But because of their ignoring what God said, they will be attacked and defeated;

they will be wounded and snared and captured.

Warnings to Judah

14Because of what will happen in Samaria,

you rulers in Jerusalem who make fun of me,

listen to this message from Yahweh:

15You boast saying,

“We have made an alliance with the leaders of Egypt,

so we will not be killed in battles;

we will never go to the place where the dead people are.

When the army of Assyria attacks us, they will never defeat us,

because we have made an agreement with Egypt to protect us!”

But that agreement consists of a lot of lies [DOU].

16Therefore, Yahweh our Lord says this:

“Listen to this! I am going to place in Jerusalem someone who is like [MET] a foundation stone,

he is like a stone that has been tested to determine if it is solid.

He will be like a valuable cornerstone around which it will be safe to build a house;

and whoever trusts in him will never be disappointed.

17I will test you people of Jerusalem to find out if you will act justly and righteously

like [MET] someone uses a plumb line to determine if a wall is straight and vertical.

But because your agreement with Egypt to protect you was made by leaders lying to each other and deceiving each other,

you will be defeated and taken away from your country

by an army that will come against you like [MET] a flood.

18I will annul/destroy the agreement that you made with the leaders of Egypt.

You thought that because of that agreement you would not be killed, and you would not go to the place where the dead are.

But when the vast army of Assyria overwhelms you like a flood,

they will trample you into the ground.

19Their soldiers will come during the morning, at noontime, and at night,

and they will carry you all away.”

And when you understand this message,

you will be terrified.

20You have heard people say, “Your bed is very short, you will not be able to sleep in it;

your blankets are very narrow; they will not cover you!”

That means for you that your agreement with Egypt is not going to save you.

21Yahweh will come and cause you to be defeated;

he will do to you like he did to the army of Philistia at Perizim Mountain

and like he did to the Amor people-group at Gibeon Valley.

What he will do will be very strange and unusual [DOU].

22The Commander of the armies of angels has told me that he is going to destroy the entire land.

So do not ridicule what I say anymore,

because if you do that

he will punish you even more severely.

23Listen [IDM] to what I say;

pay attention carefully.

24When a farmer plows some ground, does he never plant seeds [RHQ]?

Does he continue to plow it and never plant anything [RHQ]?

25No, he makes the ground very level,

and then he plants seeds—

dill and cumin and wheat and barley.

He plants each kind of seed in the correct manner.

26He does that because God has taught him the correct way to do it.

27Farmers never thresh caraway/dill with a heavy sledge/club;

instead, they beat it only with a stick.

Farmers never thresh cumin by driving a cart over it;

instead, they hit it only with a rod.

28And grain for baking bread is crushed easily,

so the farmers do not continue to pound it for a long time.

They sometimes cause their horses to pull a cart over it to thresh it,

but doing that does not grind the grain.

29The Commander of the armies of angels

gives us wonderful advice about how to do things; he causes us to be vey wise.

So what the farmers do is very smart/wise, but what your leaders are doing is very stupid.

29

Warnings for Jerusalem

1This is a message from Yahweh:

Terrible things will happen to Jerusalem, the city where King David lived.

You people continue to celebrate your festivals each year.

2But I will cause you to experience a great disaster,

and when that happens,

people will weep and lament very much.

Your city will become like [MET] an altar to me

where people are burned as sacrifices.

3I will cause your enemies to come to your city;

they will surround it by building towers

and putting in place other things with which to attack you.

4Then you will talk as though you were buried deep in the ground [DOU];

it will sound like someone whispering from under the ground,

like [SIM] a ghost speaking from a grave.

5But, suddenly your enemies will be blown away like dust;

their armies will disappear

like [SIM] chaff that is blown away by the wind.

It will happen very suddenly.

6The Commander of the armies of angels will come to help you

with thunder and an earthquake and a very loud noise,

with a strong wind and a big storm and a fire that will burn up everything.

7Then the armies of all the nations that will be attacking Jerusalem will quickly disappear like a dream in the night [DOU].

Those who will be attacking Jerusalem will suddenly vanish/disappear.

8People who are asleep dream about eating food,

but when they wake up, they are still hungry.

People who are thirsty dream about drinking something,

but when they wake up they are still thirsty.

It will be like that when your enemies come to attack Zion Hill;

they will dream about conquering you, but when they wake up,

they will realize that they have not succeeded.

9You people of Jerusalem, be amazed and surprised about this [IRO]!

Do not believe what I have said [SAR]!

And continue to be blind [IRO] about what Yahweh is doing.

You are stupid, but it is not because you have drunk a lot of wine.

You stagger, but not from drinking alcoholic drinks.

10Because Yahweh has prevented the prophets [DOU] from understanding and telling you his messages,

it is as though he has caused you to be fast/deeply asleep.

11Yahweh gave me this vision; but for you, it is only words on a scroll that is sealed shut. If you give it to those who can read and request that they read it, they will say, “We cannot read it because the scroll is sealed.” 12When you give it to others who cannot read, they will say, “We cannot read it because we do not know how to read.”

13So the Lord says, “These people say that they belong to me.

They honor me by what they say [MTY],

but they do not think [IDM] about what I desire.

When they worship me,

all they do is recite rules that people have made and that they have memorized.

14Therefore, again I will do something to amaze these people;

I will perform many miracles.

And I will show that the people who tell others that they are wise are not really wise,

and I will show that the people who tell others that they are intelligent are not really intelligent.

15Terrible things will happen to those who try to conceal from me, Yahweh,

the evil things that they plan to do;

they do those things in the darkness

and they think, ‘Yahweh certainly cannot [RHQ] see us;

he cannot [RHQ] know what we are doing!’

16They are extremely foolish!

They act as though they were the potters and I was the clay!

Something that was created should certainly never [RHQ] say to the one who made it,

‘You did not make me!’

A jar should never say,

‘The potter who made me did not know what he was doing!’”

17Soon the forests in Lebanon will become fertile fields,

and abundant crops will grow in those fields,

and that will happen very soon.

18At that time, deaf people will be able to hear;

they will be able to hear when someone reads from a book;

and blind people will be able to see;

they will be able to see things when it is gloomy and even when it is dark.

19Yahweh will enable humble people to be very joyful again.

Poor people will rejoice about what the Holy One of Israel has done.

20There will be no more people who ridicule others

and no more arrogant people.

And those who plan to do evil things will be executed.

21Those who testify falsely in order to persuade judges to punish innocent people will vanish/disappear.

Similar things will happen to those who by lying in court persuade judges to make unjust decisions.

22That is why Yahweh, who rescued Abraham, says about the people of Israel,

“My people will no longer be ashamed;

no longer will they show on their faces that they are ashamed.

23When they see that I have blessed them by giving them many children and doing many other things for them,

they will realize that I am the Holy One of Israel,

and they will revere me, the God to whom they, the descendants of Jacob, belong.

24When that happens, those who have not been able to think well will think clearly,

and those who complain about what I am doing will accept what I am teaching them.”

30

Judah’s worthless treaty with Egypt

1Yahweh says, “Terrible things will happen to you, my people who rebel against me.

You make plans, but what you plan is not what I want.

You have made an alliance with the rulers of Egypt,

but you did not ask my Spirit if that was what you should do.

By doing that, you have increased the number of your sins.

2You went to Egypt to ask their rulers for help,

without asking for my advice.

You have trusted in the army of the king of Egypt to protect you;

you have trusted in them

like people sit in the shade to protect themselves from the sun [MET].

3But the result of your trusting in the king of Egypt is that you will be disappointed and disgraced;

because of trusting in him, you will be humiliated.

4Officials/ambassadors from Judah have gone to Zoan and Hanes cities in Egypt to make treaties,

5but all those who trust in the King of Egypt will be humiliated,

because that nation will not be able to help you;

the treaty that you have made requesting help from them will be useless;

instead, the result will be that you will be humiliated and disgraced [DOU].”

6I received from Yahweh this message about the animals in the southern part of Judah:

That area is one where people experience a lot of troubles and difficulties,

an area where there are male and female lions

and various kinds of poisonous snakes.

Caravans go through that area

taking donkeys and camels loaded with valuable goods.

They are taking them to Egypt to seek for protection by the army of Egypt,

but it will be useless.

7The promises made by the king of Egypt are worthless;

therefore I call Egypt ‘the sea monster/dragon that does nothing’.

A warning for Judah

8Yahweh told me to write on a scroll a message,

in order that it would be a witness to the people of Judah

that would endure forever.

9It would remind them that that they are deceitful and always rebelling against Yahweh;

they refuse to pay attention to what he tells/teaches them.

10They tell the people who see/receive visions from Yahweh,

“Stop seeing visions!”

They tell the prophets,

“Do not reveal to us what is right!

Tell us pleasant things;

do not tell us visions about things that are true!

11Stop doing what you have been doing [DOU];

stop telling us what the Holy One of Israel says to us!”

12Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“You have rejected my message,

and you are relying on those who oppress and deceive others.

13Therefore, the result of your sin of rejecting me will be that you will suddenly experience disasters;

what will happen to you will be like [SIM] a cracked wall that suddenly collapses [DOU].

14You will be smashed like a clay jar is smashed when it is dropped,

and it shatters completely, with the result that there is not one piece big enough

to carry some coals from a stove

or to carry a little bit of water from a well.”

15Yahweh, our God, the Holy One of Israel, also says this:

“You will be rescued from your enemies only if you repent and trust in what I will do for you;

you will be strong only if you quit worrying and trust in me.

But you do not want to do that.

16You said, ‘No, we will escape on horses that the army of Egypt will give us!’

So, you will try to flee.

You said, ‘We will escape from the army of Assyria by riding on swift horses!’

But those who pursue you will also ride swiftly.

17As a result, 1,000 of you will flee when only one of them pursues you!

When only five of their soldiers threaten to kill you,

all of you will flee.

Only a few of you will be left, like [SIM] a single flagpole on top of a mountain

with one signal flag on the pole.”

18But Yahweh wants to be kind to you;

he desires to show you that he is merciful.

Do not forget that Yahweh is a God who acts justly;

he is pleased with those who patiently trust in him.

Yahweh will help his people

19You people who live in Jerusalem [DOU], some day you will not cry anymore. Yahweh will be kind to you when you call out to him for help. He will answer/help you as soon as he hears you call. 20Although now Yahweh has caused you to daily experience [MET] great troubles and suffer much, he, your teacher, will not hide himself from you. He [SYN] will teach you many things clearly. 21And you will hear him speak to you to guide you. Right behind you he will say, “This is the road on which you should walk; walk on this road!” 22When that happens, you will destroy all your idols that are covered with silver or gold. You will throw them away like you throw away a filthy rag, and you will say to them, “We do not need you anymore!”

23If you do that, Yahweh will bless you by giving you good rain at the time that you plant your crops. You will have good harvests, and plenty of pasture with grass for your cattle to eat. 24After the wind blows away the chaff, the oxen and donkeys that pull the plow to plow your ground will have good grain to eat. 25At that time, when your enemies have been slaughtered and their towers have ◄collapsed/been destroyed►, there will be streams flowing down every hill and mountain in Judah. 26The moon will seem to shine as brightly as the sun, and the sun will seem to shine seven times as brightly as previously. That is what it will be like when Yahweh causes the suffering of his people to cease; it will be as though [MET] he will be putting bandages on their wounds and healing them.

27It is as though we see Yahweh coming from far away;

he is extremely angry,

and there are thick clouds of smoke around him.

By what he says [MTY] he shows that he is angry;

what he says is like [SIM] a devastating/destructive fire.

28His breath is like [SIM] a flood that covers his enemies up to their necks.

He will separate [MET] the nations in order to destroy some of them;

it is as though he will put hooks in their mouths and take them away.

29But his people will sing joyfully

like they sing during the nights when they celebrate a holy festival.

They will be very joyful,

like [SIM] a large group of his people are joyful when they go up to Zion Hill in Jerusalem,

along with men playing flutes

when they are all going there to worship Yahweh.

He is like [MET] a huge rock under which we Israeli people are safe.

30And Yahweh will enable us to hear him speaking powerfully/majestically.

He will show us that he [SYN] is very powerful.

We will see him [SYN] smash his enemies.

Being very angry, he will descend with a big rainstorm and thunder and hail to punish them.

31The soldiers of Assyria will be terrified when they hear the voice of Yahweh

and when he strikes them with his rod.

32And while Yahweh strikes them to punish them,

his people will celebrate by playing tambourines and harps.

It will be as though Yahweh will lift up his powerful hand/arm and defeat the Assyrian army in battle.

33The valley of Topheth outside Jerusalem has been prepared for a long time;

it is ready for the king of Assyria;

the ◄funeral pyre/pile of wood► for burning his body is wide and high,

and it will be as though Yahweh will light the fire with his breath,

which will come out like a stream of burning sulfur.

31

A warning about relying on Egypt

1Terrible things will happen to those who reply on Egypt to help them,

trusting in their soldiers’ horses and their many chariots and their strong chariot-drivers,

instead of trusting that Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, will help them.

2Yahweh is very wise,

but he also causes people to experience disaster!

And when he decides to do that,

he does not change his mind!

He will strike/punish the wicked people

and all those who help them.

3The soldiers of Egypt that you people of Judah are relying on are humans, not God!

And their horses are only horses; they are not powerful spirits!

So when Yahweh raises his fist

to strike/punish the soldiers of Egypt whom you thought would help you,

he will also strike you who thought that you would be helped,

and you and they will stumble and fall down;

all of you will die together.

4But this is what Yahweh said to me:

“When a huge lion stands over the body of a sheep that he has killed and growls,

even if a large group of shepherds comes to chase/shoo away the lion,

even if they shout loudly,

the lion will not be afraid and will not leave.

Similarly, I, the Commander of the armies of angels, will come down

to fight my enemies on Zion Hill,

and nothing will hinder me.

5I, the Commander of the armies of angels, will protect Jerusalem

like [SIM] a mother bird protects the baby birds in her nest:

I will defend the city

and rescue it from its enemies.”

6My people, even though you have greatly rebelled against Yahweh, return to him. 7When you do that, each of you will throw away the idols that you [SYN] have sinned by making, idols that are covered with silver and gold.

8Many of the Assyrian soldiers will be killed,

but not by swords that men use.

They will be destroyed by the sword of God;

and those who are not killed will ◄panic/be very afraid► and flee.

And some of them will be captured and forced to become slaves.

9Even their very strong soldiers [MTY] will be terrified;

they will abandon their battle flags and run away!

Yahweh will cause his enemies who attack Jerusalem to be destroyed.

Yahweh’s presence on Zion Hill is like a fire,

like a furnace that blazes in Jerusalem;

and that is what Yahweh says about what will happen to the Assyrian army!

32

What will happen when the great king comes

1Listen to this! Some day there will be a righteous king,

and his officials will help him to rule justly/fairly.

2Each of them will be like [MET] a shelter from the wind

and a ◄refuge/place to be protected► from the storm.

They will be like [SIM] streams of water in the desert,

like the shade under a huge rock in a very hot and dry land.

3When that happens, those leaders will enable people who have not understood [MET] God’s truth to understand it,

and they will enable those who have not paid attention to [MET] God’s truth to pay attention to it.

4Even those who act very hastily will have good sense,

and those who cannot speak well will speak fluently and clearly.

5At that time, people who are foolish/unwise will no longer be ◄admired/looked up to►,

and scoundrels will no longer be respected.

6Foolish people say things that are foolish,

and they plan to do evil things.

Their behavior is disgraceful,

and they say things about Yahweh that are false.

They do not give food to those who are hungry,

and they do not give water to those who are thirsty.

7Scoundrels do things that are evil and that deceive people;

they plan to do evil things;

by telling lies in court they cause poor people to ◄have trouble/be convicted►,

even when what the poor people are requesting is fair/just.

8But honorable people plan to do honorable/good things,

and they do the honorable/good things that they plan to do.

A message for the women of Jerusalem

9You women of Jerusalem who think that you are very secure/safe

and think that everything is going well,

listen to [IDM] what I say!

10One year from now, you who now ◄are not worried about anything/think that everything is going well► will tremble,

because there will be no grapes for you to harvest

and no other crops to harvest.

11So tremble now, you women who are not worried about anything!

Take off your fancy clothes and put rough sackcloth around your waists.

12Beat/Hit your breasts to show that you are grieving about what will happen in your fertile fields and to your fruitful grapevines,

13because only thorns and thistles will grow in your soil.

Your houses where you had joyful parties and your city where you have been happy will be gone.

14The king’s palace will be empty;

there will be no people in the city that now is very noisy.

Wild donkeys will walk around and flocks of sheep will eat grass

in the empty forts and watchtowers.

15It will be like that until God pours his Spirit out on us from heaven.

When that happens, the deserts will become fertile fields,

and abundant crops will grow in those fertile fields.

16People [PRS] will act/rule justly/fairly in those desert areas,

and people will act/rule righteously in those fertile fields.

17And the result of their acting righteously will be that there will be peace,

the land will be tranquil/quiet, and people will be secure/safe forever.

18My people will live in their homes peacefully, and safely, and calmly,

in places of rest.

19Even if a severe hailstorm knocks down the trees in the forest,

and all the buildings in the city are blown down,

20Yahweh will greatly bless you;

you will plant seeds in fields alongside the streams

and there will be abundant crops.

Your donkeys and cattle will easily find grass to eat.

33

Warnings to Assyria and promises to God’s people

1Terrible things will happen to you people of Assyria!

You have destroyed others,

but you have not been destroyed yet.

You have betrayed/deceived others,

but you have not been betrayed/deceived yet.

When you stop destroying others 33:1 ,

others will destroy you.

When you stop betraying/deceiving others,

others will betray you.

2Yahweh, be kind to us,

because we have patiently waited for you to help us.

Enable us to be strong every day,

and rescue us when we have troubles.

3Our enemies run away when they hear your voice.

When you stand up and show that you are powerful [IDM], the people of all nations flee.

4And after our enemies have been defeated,

we, your people, will take away all our enemies’ possessions

like [SIM] caterpillars and locusts strip off all the leaves of plants.

5Yahweh is greater than anyone else, and he lives in heaven,

and he will rule justly and righteously in Jerusalem.

6When that happens, he will enable you to live securely/safely;

he will fully protect your possessions,

he will enable you to be wise and to know all that you need to know;

and revering Yahweh will be like [MET] a valuable treasure for you.

7But now, look, our brave men are crying out in the streets;

our ambassadors have gone to other countries to make peace treaties,

but they will cry bitterly because they will not succeed.

8No one travels on our roads [DOU].

The leaders of Assyria have broken/disregarded their peace treaty with us;

they despise the people who made those treaties,

and they do not respect anyone.

9The land of Judah is dry and barren.

The cedar trees in Lebanon are drying up and decaying.

The Sharon Plain along the coast is now a desert.

There are no more leaves on the trees in the Bashan and Carmel areas.

10Yahweh says, “Now I will begin to show that I am very powerful [DOU].

11You people of Assyria make plans that are as useless as [MET] chaff and straw.

Your breath will become a fire that will burn you up.

12Your people will be burned until only ashes remain [MET]

like [SIM] thornbushes are cut down and burned up in a fire.

13You people who live far away and you people who live nearby,

pay attention to what I have done and realize that I am very powerful.”

14The sinners in Jerusalem will tremble because of being very afraid;

godless people will be terrified.

They say, “None of us can [RHQ] remain alive because this fire is burning everything;

it is like the fire on Yahweh’s altar that will burn forever!”

15Those who act honestly and say what is right,

those who do not try to become rich by ◄extortion/forcing people to give them money►,

those who do not try to get bribes,

those who refuse to listen to people who are planning to murder someone,

those who do not join others who urge them to do what is wrong,

16they are the people who will live safely [MTY];

they will find places to be safe in the caves in the mountains.

They will have plenty of food

and water.

17You [SYN] people of Judah will see the king wearing all his beautiful robes,

and you will see that he rules a land that extends far away.

18When you see that, you will think about when you were previously terrified,

and you will say, “The officers of Assyria who counted the tax money that we were forced to pay to them have disappeared [RHQ]!

Those men who counted our towers are gone [RHQ]!

19Those arrogant people who spoke a language that we could not understand are no longer here!”

20At that time, you will see Zion Hill, the place where we celebrate our festivals;

you will see that Jerusalem has become a place that is calm and safe.

It will be secure,

like [SIM] a tent that cannot be moved because its ropes are tight

and its stakes are firmly in the ground.

21Yahweh will be our mighty God;

he will be like [SIM] a mighty river that will protect us

because our enemies will not be able to cross it;

no one will be able to row across it

and no ships will be able to sail across it.

22Yahweh is our judge;

he is the one who gives us laws,

and he is our king.

He will rescue us.

23The ropes on our enemies’ boats will hang loose,

their masts will not be fastened firmly,

and their sails will not be spread out.

The treasures that they have seized will be divided among us, God’s people,

and even lame people among us will get some.

24And the people in Jerusalem will no longer say, “We are sick,”

because Yahweh will forgive the sins that have been committed by the people who live there.

34

God will punish all his enemies

1You people of all nations, come near and listen

and pay careful attention.

I want the world and everything that is in it to hear what I say.

2Yahweh is angry with the people of all nations;

he is ◄furious/very angry► with all their armies.

He has decided that they must be destroyed,

and he will slaughter them.

3Their corpses will not be buried,

and as a result their corpses will stink,

and their blood will fill the streams that flow down the mountains.

4The sky will disappear like [SIM] a scroll that is rolled up and thrown away.

Stars will fall from the sky

like [SIM] withered leaves fall from grapevines,

or like [SIM] shriveled figs fall from fig trees.

5When Yahweh has finished his work of destroying objects in the sky,

he will punish the people of Edom,

that people-group that he has said must be destroyed/exterminated.

6It is as though Yahweh has a sword that is covered with blood and fat—

the blood of lambs and goats

and the fat of the kidneys of rams to be sacrificed.

It is as though Yahweh will offer a sacrifice in the city of Bozrah

and kill many people in other cities in Edom.

7Even wild oxen will be killed,

as well as young calves and big bulls.

The ground will be soaked with blood,

and the dirt will be covered with the fat of those animals.

8That will be the time when Yahweh gets revenge

for what those people did to the people of Judah.

9The streams in Edom will be full of burning pitch/tar,

and the ground will be covered with burning sulfur.

10Yahweh will never finish punishing Edom with fire;

the smoke will rise forever.

No one will ever live in that land,

and no one will even travel through it.

11Ravens and various kinds of owls and small animals will live there.

Yahweh will measure that land carefully:

He will measure it to to decide where to cause chaos and destruction.

12There will be no princes;

the people who have authority will have no kingdom to rule.

13The deserted palaces and fortified buildings will be full of thorns and thistles.

The ruins will be a place for jackals/wolves and owls to live.

14Animals that live in the desert and hyenas/wolves will be there,

and wild goats will bleat/call to each other.

There will also be creatures/animals that roam around at night.

15Owls will make their nests there and lay their eggs in the nests;

and when the eggs hatch, the mother birds will cover them with their wings.

There will also be falcons/hawks there,

each with its mate.

16If you read what is written in the book that contains messages from Yahweh, you will find out what he will do in Edom.

All of those animals and birds will be there,

and each one will have a mate,

because that is what Yahweh has promised,

and his Spirit will cause them all to gather there.

17He has decided what parts of the land of Edom each will live in,

and those are the places where each bird or animal will live.

Their descendants will possess those areas forever,

throughout all generations.

35

The promise of restoration

1Some day, it will be as though the desert and other very dry areas are glad [DOU];

the desert will rejoice and flowers will blossom.

Like crocuses/daffodils,

2the desert will produce flowers abundantly;

it will be as though everything is rejoicing and singing!

The deserts will become as beautiful as [SIM] the trees in Lebanon,

as fertile [SIM] as the plains of the Sharon and Carmel areas.

There people will see the glory of Yahweh;

they will see that he is magnificent.

3So, encourage those who are tired and weak.

4Say to those who are afraid,

“Be strong and do not be afraid,

because our God is going to come to get revenge on his enemies;

he will ◄pay them back/punish them► for what they have done,

and he will rescue you.”

5When he does that, he will enable blind people to see

and enable deaf people to hear.

6Lame people will leap like deer,

and those who have been unable to speak will sing joyfully.

Water will gush out from springs in the desert;

streams will flow in the desert.

7The very dry ground will become a pool of water,

and springs will provide water for the dry land.

Grass and reeds and papyrus will grow in places where the jackals/wolves lived previously.

8And there will be a highway through that land;

it will be called ‘the Holy Highway’.

People who are not acceptable to God will not walk on that road;

it will be only for those who conduct their lives as God wants them to;

foolish people will become lost while walking on that road.

9There will not be any lions there

or any other dangerous animals along that road.

Only those who have been freed from being slaves in Babylonia will walk on it.

10Those whom Yahweh has freed will return to Jerusalem;

they will sing as they enter the city;

they will be extremely joyful [MET, PRS] forever.

No longer will they be sad or mourn;

they will be completely joyful [DOU].

36

The army of Assyria invaded Judah

1When King Hezekiah had been ruling Judah for almost 14 years, King Sennacherib of Assyria came with his army to attack the cities in Judah that had walls around them. They did not conquer Jerusalem, but they conquered all the other cities. 2Then the king of Assyria sent a large army with some of his important officials from Lachish city to persuade King Hezekiah to surrender. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they stood in their positions alongside the aqueduct/channel in which water flows into the upper pool into Jerusalem, near the road to the field where the women wash clothes. 3The Israeli officials who went out of the city to talk with them were Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, the ◄palace administrator/man who supervised the workers in the palace►, Shebna the king’s secretary, and Asaph’s son Joah, who wrote down the government decisions.

4Then one of Sennacherib’s important officials told them to take this message to Hezekiah:

This is what the King of Assyria, the great king, says: “What are you trusting in to rescue you? 5You say that you have weapons to fight us and some country’s promises to help you, and that will enable you to defeat us, but that is only talk [RHQ]. Who do you think will help you to rebel against my soldiers from Assyria? 6Listen to me! You are relying on the army of Egypt. But that will be like [MET] using a broken reed for a walking stick on which you could lean. But it would pierce the hand of anyone who would lean on it! That is what the King of Egypt would be like for anyone who relied on him for help. 7But perhaps you will say to me, ‘No, we are relying on Yahweh our God to help us.’ I would reply, ‘Is he not the one whom you insulted by tearing down his shrines and altars and forcing everyone in Jerusalem and other places in Judah to worship only in front of the altar in Jerusalem?’

8So I suggest that you make a deal with my master/boss, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses, but I do not think that you can find 2,000 of your men who can ride on them! 9You are expecting the king of Egypt to send chariots and men riding horses to assist you. But they certainly would not [RHQ] be able to resist/defeat even the most insignificant/unimportant official in the army of Assyria! 10Furthermore, do not think that [RHQ] we have come here to attack and destroy this land without Yahweh’s orders! It is Yahweh himself who told us to come here and destroy this land!”

11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the official from Assyria, “Please speak to us in your Aramaic language, because we understand it. Do not speak to us in our Hebrew language, because the people who are standing on the wall will understand it and become frightened.”

12But the official replied, “Do you think that my master sent me to say these things only to you, and not to the people standing on the wall [RHQ]? If you reject this message, the people in this city will soon need to eat their own dung and drink their own urine, just like you will, because there will be nothing more for you to eat or drink.”

13Then the official stood up and shouted in the Hebrew language to the people sitting on the wall. He said, “Listen to this message from the great king, the King of Assyria! 14He says, ‘Do not allow Hezekiah to deceive you! He will not be able to rescue you! 15Do not allow him to persuade you to trust in Yahweh, saying that Yahweh will rescue you, and that the army of the King of Assyria will never capture this city!’

16Do not pay attention to what Hezekiah says! This is what the king of Assyria says: ’Come out of the city and surrender to me. If you do that, I will arrange for each of you to drink the juice from your own grapevines and to eat figs from your own trees, and to drink water from your own well. 17You will be able to do that until we come and take you to a land that is like your land—a land where there is grain to make bread and vineyards to produce grapes for making new wine and, and where we make lots of bread.’

18Do not allow Hezekiah to mislead you by saying, “Yahweh will rescue us.” The gods that people of other nations worship have never [RHQ] rescued any of them from the power [MTY] of the King of Assyria! 19Why were the gods of Hamath and Arpad cities, and the gods of Sepharvaim unable to rescue Samaria from my power [MTY]? 20No, no god [RHQ] of any nation has been able to rescue their people from me. So why do you think that Yahweh will rescue you people of Jerusalem from my power [MTY]?’”

21But the people who were listening were silent. No one said anything, because King Hezekiah had commanded, “When the official from Assyria talks to you, do not answer him.”

22Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah returned to Hezekiah with their clothes torn because they were extremely distressed. They told him what the official from Assyria had said.

37

Hezekiah asked Isaiah for advice

1When King Hezekiah heard what they reported, he tore his clothes and put on clothes made of rough sackcloth because he was very distressed. Then he went into the temple of Yahweh and prayed. 2Then he sent Eliakim, Shebna, and the ◄older/most important► priests, who were also wearing clothes made of rough sackcloth, to talk to me. 3He said to them, “Tell this to Isaiah: ‘King Hezekiah says that this is a day when we are greatly distressed. Other nations are causing us to be insulted and disgraced. We are like [SIM] a woman who is about to give birth to a baby, but she does not have the strength that she needs to do it. 4But perhaps Yahweh our God has heard what the official from Assyria said. Perhaps he knows that his boss, the King of Assyria, sent him to insult the all-powerful God, and that Yahweh will punish the King of Assyria for what he said. And the king requests that you pray for the few of us who are still alive here in Jerusalem.’”

5After those men gave me that message, 6I replied, “Tell the King, ‘This is what Yahweh says: “Those messengers from the King of Assyria have said evil things about me. But do not be disturbed by what they said. 7Listen to this: I will cause Sennacherib to hear a rumor that the armies of Babylon are about to attack his country, and that will worry him. So he will return to his own country, and there I will cause him to be assassinated by men using swords.” ’ ”

8The official from Assyria found out that the King of Assyria and his army had captured Lachish city and that they were attacking Libnah, which is a nearby city. So the official left Jerusalem and went to Libnah to report to the king what had happened in Jerusalem.

9Soon after that, King Sennacherib received a report that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading his army to attack them. So before King Sennacherib left Libnah with his army to fight against the army from Ethiopia, he sent other messengers to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with a letter. In the letter he wrote this to Hezekiah:

10“Do not allow your god, on whom you are relying, to deceive you by promising you that Jerusalem will not be captured by my army. 11You have certainly heard what the armies of the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries; our armies have destroyed them completely. So, ◄do you think that you will escape?/do not think that your god will save you!► [RHQ] 12Did the gods of the nations that were about to be destroyed by the armies of the previous kings of Assyria rescue them? Did those gods rescue Gozan region, and Haran and Rezeph cities in northern Syria, and the people of Eden region who were forced to go to Tel-Assar city? 13What happened to the King of Hamath and the King of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah cities? Did their gods rescue them [RHQ]?”

Hezekiah’s prayer

14Hezekiah received the letter that the messengers gave him, and he read it. Then he went up to the temple and spread out the letter in front of Yahweh. 15And then Hezekiah prayed this: 16“O Yahweh, Commander of the armies of angels, the God to whom we Israelis belong, you are seated on your throne above the statues of the creatures with wings, above the Sacred Chest. Only you are truly God. You rule all the kingdoms on this earth. You are the one who created everything on the earth and in the sky. 17So, Yahweh, please listen to what I am saying, and look at what is happening! And listen to what Sennacherib has said to insult you, the all-powerful God!

18Yahweh, it is true that the armies of the kings of Assyria have completely destroyed many nations and ruined their land. 19And they have thrown all the idols of those nations into fires and burned them. But they were not really gods. They were only idols made of wood and stone, and that is why they were destroyed easily. 20So now, Yahweh our God, please rescue us from the power [MTY] of the King of Assyria, in order that the people in all the kingdoms of the world will know that you, Yahweh, are the only one who is truly God.”

Isaiah predicted that the Assyrians would not conquer Jerusalem

21Then I sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelis belong, says: Because you prayed about what King Sennacherib of Assyria said, 22this is what I say to him:

‘The people of Jerusalem despise you and make fun of you.

They will wag/shake their heads to mock you while you flee from here.

23Whom do you think you have been despising and ridiculing?

Whom do you think you were shouting at?

Whom do you think you were looking at very proudly/arrogantly?

It was I, the Holy One whom the Israelis worship!

24The messengers whom you sent made fun of me.

You said, “With my many chariots I have gone to the highest mountains,

even to the highest mountains in Lebanon.

We have cut down its tallest cedar trees

and its nicest pine/cypress trees.

We have been to the most distant/remote peaks

and to its densest forests.

25We have dug wells in many countries and drunk water from them.

And by marching through [MTY] the streams of Egypt,

we dried them all up [HYP]!”

26But I, Yahweh, reply, “Have you never heard that long ago I determined those things;

I planned them long ago,

and now I have been causing those things to occur.

I planned that your army would destroy cities

and cause them to become piles of rubble.

27The people in those cities have no power,

and as a result they are dismayed and discouraged.

They are as frail as [MET] grass and plants in the fields,

as frail as grass that grows on the roofs of houses

and is scorched by the hot east wind.

28But I know everything about you;

I know when you are in your house and when you go outside;

I also know that you are ◄raging/speaking very angrily► against me.

29So, because you have raged against me

and because I have heard you speak very proudly/arrogantly,

it will be as though I will put a hook in your nose

and I will put an iron ◄bit/metal bar► in your mouth in order that I can lead you where I want you to go,

and I will force you to return to your own country,

on the same road on which you came here, without conquering Jerusalem.”’

30Then I said to Hezekiah, ‘This will prove to you that what I said will happen:

“This year, you(pl) will eat only the crops that grow by themselves,

and next year the same thing will happen.

But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them;

you will take care of your vineyards and eat the grapes.

31And you people who are still here in Judah,

will be strong and prosper again [MET].

32A small number of my people will survive,

and they will spread out from Jerusalem [DOU].”

That will happen because I, the Commander of the armies of angels, am desiring very much to accomplish it.’

33And this is what I, Yahweh, say about the King of Assyria:

‘His armies will not enter Jerusalem;

they will not even shoot arrows into it.

His soldiers will not march outside the city gates holding their shields,

and they will not build high mounds of dirt against the walls of the city

to enable them to attack the city.

34And their king will return to his own country

on the same road on which he came here.

He will not enter this city!’

That will happen because I, Yahweh, have said it!

35For the sake of my own reputation and because of what I promised King David, who served me well,

I will defend this city and prevent it from being destroyed.”

36That night, an angel from Yahweh went out to where the army of Assyria had set up their tents and killed 185,000 of their soldiers. When the rest of the soldiers woke up the next morning, they saw that there were corpses everywhere. 37Then King Sennacherib left and returned home to Nineveh in Assyria, and stayed there.

38One day, when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his two sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. Then they escaped and went to the Ararat region northwest of Nineveh. And another of Sennacherib’s sons, Esarhaddon, became the King of Assyria.

38

Hezekiah’s sickness and his recovery

1About that time, Hezekiah became very ill and was close to dying. So I went to see him. And I gave him this message: “This is what Yahweh says: ‘You should tell the people in your palace what you want them to do after you die, because you will not recover from this illness. You are going to die’ ”

2Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed this: 3“Yahweh, do not forget that I have always served you very faithfully, and I have done things that pleased you!” Then Hezekiah started to cry loudly.

4I left his room, but Yahweh gave me this message: 5“Go back to Hezekiah and tell him that this is what I, the God to whom your ancestor King David belonged, say: ‘I have heard what you prayed, and I have seen you crying. So listen: I will enable you to live 15 years more. 6And, I will rescue you and this city from the power [MTY] of the King of Assyria. I will defend this city.

7And this is what I will do to prove that I will do what I have just now promised. I will cause the shadow of the sun to move ten steps backward on the sundial that was built by King Ahaz.’” 8So the shadow of the sun on the sundial moved backward ten steps.

9When King Hezekiah was almost well again, he wrote this:

10I thought to myself, “Is it necessary for me to die and go to the place where the dead people are

during this time of my life when I am still strong?

Is Yahweh going to rob me of the remaining years that I should live?”

11I said, “I will not see Yahweh again

in this world where people are alive.

I will not see my friends again,

or be with others who now are alive in this world.

12It is as if my life has been taken away

like [SIM] a tent whose pegs have been pulled up by a shepherd and taken away.

My time to live has been cut short,

like a piece of cloth that a weaver cuts and rolls up after he has finished weaving a cloth.”

Suddenly, it seemed that my life was ending.

13I waited patiently all during the night,

but my pain was as though [MET] I was being torn apart by lions.

It seemed that my life was finished.

14I was delirious, and I chirped like a swift or a swallow,

and moaned like a dove.

My eyes became tired looking up toward heaven for help.

I cried out, Lord, help me, because I am distressed!’

15But there was really nothing [RHQ] that I could say and ask him to reply to me,

because it was Yahweh who sent this illness.

So now I will live humbly during my remaining years

because I am very anguished.

16Yahweh, the sufferings (OR, the promises) that you give are good,

because what you do and what you say bring new life and health to us.

And you restore/heal me

and allow me to continue to live!

17Truly, my suffering was good for me;

you loved me,

and as a result you have rescued me from dying

and have also forgiven all my sins.

18Dead people [MTY] cannot praise you;

they cannot sing to praise you.

Those who have descended to their graves

cannot confidently expect you to faithfully do things for them.

19Only people who are still alive, like I am, can praise you.

Fathers tell their children how you are faithful,

and if I remain alive, I will do the same thing.

20I know that Yahweh will fully heal me,

so I will sing to praise him

while others praise him playing musical instruments;

I will do that every day of my life, in the temple of Yahweh.”

21I had previously said to Hezekiah’s servants, “Prepare an ointment from mashed figs, and spread it on his boil, and then he will recover.” So they did that, and Hezekiah recovered.

22And Hezekiah had previously asked, “What will Yahweh do to prove that I will recover and be able to go to his temple?”

39

The messengers from Babylon

1Soon after that, Baladan’s son Merodach-Baladan, the King of Babylon, heard a report that Hezekiah had been very sick but that he had recovered. So he wrote some notes and gave them to some messengers to take to Hezekiah, along with a gift. 2When the messengers arrived, Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. Then he showed them everything that was in his ◄treasure houses/places where very valuable things were kept►—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the nice-smelling olive oil. He also took them to see the place where they kept their soldiers’ weapons, and he showed them the other valuable things that were in the storehouses. Hezekiah showed them everything [LIT] that was in the palace or in other places [HYP].

3Then I went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “Where did those men come from, and what did they want?”

He replied, “They came from the far away land of Babylon.”

4I asked him, “What did they see in your palace?”

Hezekiah replied, “They saw everything. I showed them absolutely everything that I own—all my valuable things.”

5Then I said to Hezekiah, “Listen to this message from the Commander of the armies of angels: 6There will be a time when everything in your palace, all the valuable things that your ancestors stored there up until the present time, will be carried away to Babylon. Yahweh says that there will be nothing left. 7Furthermore, some of your sons will be forced to go to Babylon. They will be castrated in order that they can become servants in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

8Then Hezekiah replied to me, “That message from Yahweh that you have given to me is good.” He said that because he was thinking, “Even if that happens, there will be peace, and people in this country will be safe during the time that I am alive.”

40

Encouragement for God’s people

1Our God says, “Encourage my people!

Encourage them!

2Speak kindly to the people of Jerusalem;

tell them that their suffering is ended,

and that I have forgiven them for the sins that they have committed;

I [SYN] have fully punished them for their sins.”

3I hear someone who is shouting,

“Prepare in the desert a way for Yahweh to come to you;

make a smooth road for our God (OR, Prepare yourselves to receive Yahweh when he comes, like people make a straight road for an important official [MET]).

4Fill in the valleys;

flatten every hill and every mountain.

Make the uneven ground smooth,

and make the rough places smooth.

5If you do that, it will become known that Yahweh is glorious/great,

and all people will realize it at the same time.

Those things will surely happen because it is Yahweh who has said [MTY] it.”

6Someone said to me, “Shout!”

I replied, “What should I shout?”

He replied, “Shout that people are like [SIM] grass;

their influence fades as quickly as flowers in the field.

7Grass withers and flowers dry up

when Yahweh causes a hot wind from the desert to blow on them.

And people are [MET] like that.

8The grass withers and the flowers dry up,

but what our God promises will last forever.”

9You people of Jerusalem, you have good news to tell to people,

so, shout it from the top of a high mountain!

Shout it loudly, and do not be afraid!

Tell the people in the towns of Judah,

“Your God is coming here!”

10Yahweh your God will be coming with power;

he will rule powerfully [MTY].

And when he comes, he will bring with him the people whom he has freed [MET] from being slaves in Babylonia.

11He will take care of his people

like [SIM] a shepherd takes care of his sheep,

and carries the young lambs in his arms.

He carries them close to his chest

and he gently leads the female sheep

that are nursing their young lambs.

12There is no one like Yahweh!

◄Who else has measured the water in the oceans in the palm of his hand?/No one else has measured the water in the oceans in the palm of his hand!► [RHQ]

◄Who else has measured the sky with his fingers?/No one else has measured the sky with his fingers!► [RHQ]

◄Who else knows how much the earth weighs?/No one else knows how much the earth weighs!► [RHQ]

◄Who else has weighed the mountains and hills on scales?/No one else has weighed the mountains and hills on scales!► [RHQ]

13And ◄who else can advise Yahweh’s Spirit?/No one else can advise Yahweh’s Spirit!► [RHQ]

◄Who can teach him or advise/tell him what he should do?/No one can teach him or advise/tell him what he should do!► [RHQ]

14◄Has Yahweh consulted anyone else to get advice?/Yahweh has certainly not consulted anyone else to get advice!► [RHQ]

◄Does he need someone to tell him what is right to do and how to act justly?/He certainly does not need someone to tell him what is right to do and how to act justly!► [RHQ]

15Yahweh considers that the nations are as insignificant as [MET] one drop from a bucket full of water.

They are as insignificant as dust on scales.

He is able to weigh islands

as though they weighed no more than grains of sand.

16There would be not enough wood from all the trees in Lebanon

to make a suitable fire for sacrificing animals to him,

and there are not enough animals in Lebanon to offer as sacrifices to him.

17The nations of the world are completely insignificant/unimportant to him;

he considers that they are worthless and less than nothing [HYP, DOU].

18So, to whom can you compare God?

What image resembles him?

19Can you compare him to an idol that is made in a mold,

and then is covered with a thin sheet of gold

and decorated with silver chains?

20A man who is poor cannot buy silver or gold for his idol;

so he selects a piece of wood that will not rot,

and he gives it to a craftsman

to carve an idol that will not fall down!

21Have you(pl) not heard this?

Do you not understand it?

Are you unable to hear what God said long ago—

messages that he gave before he created the earth?

22God sits on his throne above the earth,

and the people on the earth below seem to be as small as [SIM] grasshoppers.

He spreads out the sky like a curtain;

it is like [SIM] a tent for him to live in.

23He causes kings to have no more power,

and he causes the rulers to be worth nothing.

24They start to rule, like small plants start to grow and form roots;

but then he gets rid of them

as though [MET] they withered when he blew on them,

like [SIM] chaff that is blown away by the wind.

25The Holy One asks,

“To whom will you compare me?

Is anyone equal to me?”

26Look up toward the sky:

Consider who [RHQ] created all the stars.

Yahweh created them, and at night he causes them to appear;

he calls each one by its name.

Because he is extremely powerful [DOU],

all of the stars are there [LIT] when he calls out their names.

27You people of Israel [DOU], why do you complain that Yahweh does not see the troubles that you are experiencing?

Why do you say that he does not act fairly toward you?

28Have you never heard

and have you never understood

that Yahweh is the everlasting God;

he is the one who created the earth, even the most distant places on the earth.

He never becomes weak or weary,

and no one can find out how much he understands.

29He strengthens [DOU] those who feel weak and tired.

30Even youths become faint and weary,

and young men will fall when they are exhausted.

31But those who trust in Yahweh will become strong again;

it will be as though they will soar/fly high like [SIM] eagles do.

They will run for a long time and not become weary;

they will walk long distances and not faint.

41

Yahweh will help Israel

1Yahweh says, “You people who live on [APO] islands in the ocean,

be silent in front of me while I ask you some questions!

Then you can be courageous and talk to me.

We will meet together and decide which one of us is right.

2Who has urged this king to come from the east?

Who has enabled his army to righteously defeat many nations

and to trample their kings under their feet?

With their swords they cut their enemies into tiny pieces [HYP];

with their arrows they cause their enemies to scatter like [SIM] the wind scatters chaff.

3Even though they march through areas where they have not gone previously,

they pursue their enemies and continue to march, and nothing stops them.

4Who has enabled rulers to do [DOU] mighty things like that?

Who has done that throughout all generations?

It is I, Yahweh;

I was the first one to do things like that, and I will be the last one to do them.”

Idols are useless

5People who live on [PRS] islands in the ocean are afraid while they watch.

People in remote areas tremble and gather together.

6They encourage each other and say to each other,

“Be strong!”

7The craftsmen encourage those who make things from gold,

and the men who flatten metal encourage those who hammer metal ◄on an anvil/into shape►.

They all say, “The idol has been well made!”

And then they carefully nail down the idol in order that it will not topple over!

Yahweh chose Israel

8Yahweh says, “You people of Israel are like my servants;

you are descendants of Jacob, whom I chose;

you are descendants of Abraham, who I said is my friend.

9I summoned you from very distant places [DOU] on the earth,

and I said ‘I want you to serve me;

I have chosen you,

and I will not reject you.’

10Do not be afraid,

because I will ◄be with/help► you.

Do not be discouraged, because I am your God.

I will enable you to be strong, and I will help you;

I will hold you up with my powerful arm by which you will be rescued.

11It is certain that all those who are angry with you Israeli people will be disgraced [DOU].

Those who oppose you will be wiped out;

they will all die.

12If you search for those who tried to conquer you,

you will not find them,

because they will all have disappeared.

Those who attacked you

will not exist anymore.

13It will be as though I will hold you up by your right hand.

I am Yahweh, your God,

and I say to you, ‘Do not be afraid,

because I will help you.’

14Although you people of Israel [DOU] think that you are as insignificant as worms,

do not be afraid of your enemies,

because I will help you.

I am Yahweh, the one who rescues you;

I am the Holy One of Israel.

15I will cause you to be like [MET] a ◄threshing sledge/big piece of metal that has sharp teeth for separating grain from chaff►.

You will tear your enemies to bits,

causing them to be like bits of chaff on the mountains.

16You will toss them up into the air,

and a strong wind will blow them away [DOU].

When that happens, you will rejoice about what I have done for you;

you will praise me, the Holy One of Israel.

17When poor and needy people need water and they have no water,

and their tongues are very dry because they are very thirsty,

I, Yahweh, will come and help them.

I, the God to whom you Israeli people belong, will never abandon them.

18I will cause rivers to flow for them on the barren hills.

I will give them fountains in the valleys.

I will fill [HYP] the desert with pools of water.

Water from springs will flow into rivers,

and the rivers will flow across the dry ground.

19I will plant trees in the desert—

cedar trees, acacia trees, myrtle trees, olive trees, cypress trees, fir trees, and pine trees.

20I will do that in order that people who see it will think about it, and they will know and understand [DOU]

that it is I, Yahweh, who have done it;

it is what I, the Holy One of Israel, have done.”

Yahweh mocks the idols

21I, Yahweh, the true king of Israel say to you nations,

“Tell what your idols can do for you!

22Bring them here to tell us what is going to happen!

Ask them to tell us what things happened long ago,

in order that we may think about those things,

and learn if those things that they predicted really happened.

Or, ask them to tell us about the future,

in order that we can know what will happen.

23Yes, those idols should tell us what will happen in the future.

If they do that, we will know that they are really gods.

Tell them to do something—either something good or something bad!

Tell them to do something that will cause us to be amazed and afraid!

24But that is impossible, because idols are absolutely worthless [HYP];

they can do nothing,

and I detest those who decide to worship idols.”

A prediction about Cyrus

25“But I have incited/urged a ruler who will come with his army from the north.

I have summoned him to come from his country, which is east of Israel,

and I have given him my authority [MTY].

I will enable his army to conquer other rulers;

they will trample those leaders like [SIM] a man who makes clay pots first tramples the clay.

26◄Who told you people long ago that this would happen?/No one told you people long ago that this would happen!► [RHQ]

◄Who predicted it, with the result that we can say, ‘What he predicted was correct!’?/No one predicted it, with the result that we can say, ‘What he predicted was correct!’► [RHQ]

No one else said that it would happen.

27I was the first one to tell the people of Jerusalem,

‘Listen to this! I have appointed a messenger to tell good news to you!’

28None of your idols told you that [DOU].

And when I asked them questions, none of them was able to give me any answers.

29Think about it: Those idols are all useless, worthless [DOU] things.

They are as meaningless as [MET] the wind.”

42

Yahweh’s special servant

1Yahweh says, “I want you people to know about my servant, whom I encourage.

I have chosen him, and I am pleased with him.

I have given him my Spirit,

and he will make certain that all the people-groups do what is right/just.

2He will not show his power by shouting [DOU]

or by talking very loudly.

3He will not get rid of anyone who is weak like [MET] a smashed reed,

and he will not end the life of anyone who is helpless like [MET] someone would extinguish a dimly burning wick of an oil lamp.

He will faithfully/continually make sure that judges decide cases justly.

4He will not become exhausted or discouraged all during the time that he is causing things to be done justly throughout the earth.

Even people living on the islands in [MTY] the oceans will confidently wait for him to teach them his laws.”

5Yahweh our God created the sky

and spread it out.

He also created the earth and everything on it.

He gives breath to all the people on the earth; he causes them to live [DOU].

And he is the one who says to his special servant,

6“I, Yahweh, have chosen you

to show people that I always act righteously/fairly.

I will grasp your hand and protect you,

and I will present you to my Israeli people

to be the one who will put into effect my agreement with them.

You will be like a light to the other nations.

7You will enable blind [IDM] people to see,

you will free those who are in prison (OR, who are bound by the guilt of their sins) [MET]

and release those who are in dark dungeons.

8I am Yahweh; that is my name.

I will not allow anyone else to receive the honor that only I deserve.

And I will not allow idols to be praised like only I should be praised.

9Everything that I have prophesied has happened,

and now I will tell about other things that will happen.

I will tell you things that will happen before they happen.”

A song of praise to Yahweh

10Sing a new song to Yahweh!

Sing to praise him throughout the world!

All you people who sail across the oceans, and all you creatures that live in the oceans,

and all you people who live on islands far away, sing!

11You people who live in towns in the desert, sing loudly!

You people who live in the Kedar area in the north of Arabia, you rejoice also!

You people in Sela city in Edom, you also should sing joyfully;

shout to praise him from the tops of your mountains!

12Even people who live on distant islands should honor Yahweh

and sing to praise him.

13It will be as though Yahweh will march out like [SIM] a mighty soldier;

he will show that he is very angry.

He will shout a battle-cry,

and then he will defeat all his enemies.

14He will say, “I have remained silent [DOU] for a long time;

I have restrained myself from doing what I need to do.

But now, like [SIM] a woman who is giving birth to a baby, I will cry out and gasp and pant.

15I will level off the hills and mountains,

and I will cause all the plants and trees to dry up.

I will cause the rivers to become small streams, and little islands will appear in them,

and I will cause all the pools to become dry.

16My people who have been taken to Babylonia are like [MET] blind people,

but I will lead them along a road on which they have not walked before,

on a road that they have not seen before.

They have felt very helpless, as though they were walking in the darkness,

but I will take away that darkness

and I will make smooth the road that is in front of them.

Those are the things that I will do for them;

I will not abandon them.

17But those who trust in carved idols,

and say to images, ‘You are our gods,’

will be completely humiliated/disgraced.”

The people of Israel refused to heed Yahweh

18You Israeli people who have acted toward God like deaf people, listen to what Yahweh says!

“You who have been like [MET] blind people, look!

19No people are [RHQ] as blind as my people, who should have been serving me.

No people are [RHQ] as much like [MET] deaf people as the Israelis, who should have been my messengers.

No people are [RHQ] as much like [MET] blind people as those whom I chose to serve me.

20You see and know what are the right things to do, but you do not do them.

You hear what I say to you, but you do not pay attention.”

21Because Yahweh is righteous,

he has honored his glorious laws.

22But the armies of Babylon have destroyed Jerusalem and have completely ◄plundered/taken away► [DOU] all the valuable things,

and they have captured Yahweh’s people

and taken them away and put them in prison.

They have been captured easily,

because there was no one to protect them;

there was no one to say that they should be allowed to return home.

23Who among you will listen carefully to these things?

Who will pay attention from now on?

24Who allowed the valuable possessions of the people of Israel to be stolen [RHQ, DOU]?

It was Yahweh, because he is he one against whom we had sinned;

we did not conduct our lives like he wanted us to,

and we did not obey his laws.

25Therefore, he was extremely angry with us,

and he caused our soldiers to be destroyed in battles.

It was as though [MET] he lit a fire around us,

but we did not understand what he was trying to tell us.

His being angry with us was like a fire that would burn us up,

but we did not pay attention [IDM].

43

Israel’s only Savior

1But now, you people of Israel, listen to Yahweh, the one who established your nation.

The one who caused you to become a nation [DOU] says this:

“Do not be afraid,

because I previously rescued you.

I enabled you to have a personal relationship with me [MTY], and you belong to me.

2When you experience dangerous situations,

and you feel like [MET] you are crossing deep rivers,

I will be with you.

When you have very big troubles/difficulties,

you will [LIT] be able to endure them.

When people try to kill you like they tried to kill Daniel’s three friends by throwing them in a fire,

you will not die, just like Daniel’s three friends were not burned up,

3because I am Yahweh, your God,

the Holy One of Israel, the one who rescues you.

I will enable the army of the emperor of Persia to conquer Egypt instead of conquering you;

similarly I will enable them to conquer Ethiopia, and Seba in Arabia, in order that you can be saved.

4I will cause other countries to be conquered, instead of your country;

I will trade them for you,

in order that you will not be killed,

because you are very precious [DOU] to me

and because I love you.

5Do not be afraid, because I am with you.

Some day I will gather your descendants from the east and from the west.

6I will command the rulers of the nations to the north and to the south,

‘Allow all the people of Israel to return to their country,

from the most distant places on the earth.

7Allow all those who belong to me [MTY] to return,

because I have caused them to become a nation in order that they would honor me;

I am the one who has done that [DOU].’

8Summon the people who have eyes but it is as though they are blind;

summon those who have ears but because they do not listen to me, it is as though they are deaf.

9Gather people of all nations together,

ones from all people-groups,

and ask them this: ‘Has any of their idols foretold the things that are happening now?

And can any of them predict what will happen in the future?’

Then bring people who will testify and say ‘I heard them predict things,

and what they predicted was what happened,’

but they will be lying.”

10But Yahweh says, “You people of Israel ◄are my witnesses/know what I have done►,

and you are the ones who serve me.

I chose you in order that you would know me, believe in me,

and understand that I am the only one who is truly God.

There is no other true God.

There was no other true God previously,

and there will never be another true God.

11I, only I, am Yahweh,

and there is no other one who can save you.

12I said that I would rescue your ancestors,

and then I rescued them, and I proclaimed that I had done it.

No foreign god among you did that!

And you are witnesses that only I, Yahweh, am God.

13I am God, the one who has existed forever and who will exist forever;

no one can snatch people from my hand,

and no one can alter/change what I have done.”

God promises to rescue his people from Babylon

14Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, is the one who rescues you; and this is what he says:

“For your sake, I will send an army to attack Babylon.

They will force the people of that city to flee in ships which they have been proud of.

15I am Yahweh, your Holy One,

the one who caused Israel to become a nation, and the one who is really your king.

16I am Yahweh, the one who opened a path through the water,

making a road through the Red Sea.

17Then I summoned the great army of Egypt

to come with all their chariots and horses.

But when they tried to pursue my people,

I caused the waves to flow over them and they drowned;

their lives ended like the light of a candle ends when someone [MET] snuffs out the wick.

18But do not think only about what happened in the past, long ago [DOU].

19Instead, consider the new thing that I am going to do.

I have already started to do it;

can you see it?

I am going to make a road through the desert.

And I will cause there to be streams in the wasteland/desert.

20The jackals/wolves and owls and other wild creatures will thank me

for giving them water in the desert.

I will cause streams to appear in the dry desert

in order that my people, the ones whom I have chosen, will have water;

21I will do that for the people whom I have created and chosen to belong to me,

and some day they will cause many others to praise me.

God’s grievances concerning Israel

22But now, you descendants of Jacob, you refuse to request my help.

It seems that you people of Israel have become tired of worshiping me.

23You have not brought to me sheep or goats for offerings that will be completely burned on the altar;

you have not honored me by bringing to me any sacrifices,

even though the offerings of grain and incense that I asked you to bring to me were not a burden to you.

24You have bought for me fragrant reeds,

and you have brought me the fat from your sacrifices.

But these have not pleased me,

because you have burdened me by all the sins that you have committed,

and made me weary because of all ◄your iniquities/the wrong things that you have done►.

25I am the one who is able to forgive you for all your sins;

I am the only one who can do that,

with the result that I will never think about them again.

26Tell me what I have done that you do not like.

Do you think that when you state your case, you will prove that you ◄are innocent/have done nothing wrong► [IRO]?

27No, what has happened is that the first ancestor of you Israelis’ sinned against me,

and since then, all your leaders have rebelled against me.

28That is why I have caused your priests to be disgraced;

and I have allowed others to destroy you people of Israel

and caused you to be despised.”

44

Yahweh promised to bless Israel

1But now, you people of Israel whom Yahweh has chosen to serve him, listen to me.

2Yahweh, the one who created you and helps you, says this:

“You dear people of Israel whom I have chosen,

you who serve me,

do not be afraid.

3I will pour water on your dry land

and cause streams to flow.

And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants

and greatly bless them.

4They will grow up like [SIM] grass grows along the water,

like [SIM] willow/poplar trees grow well along a riverbank.

5Some of them will say, ‘I belong to Yahweh,’

and others will say, ‘We are descendants of Jacob,’

and others will write on their hands, ‘We belong to Yahweh,’

and others will say, ‘We are Israelis.’”

Foolish worship of idols

6Yahweh, the King of Israel, the one who saves us, the Commander of the armies of angels, says this:

“I am the one who begins everything and who ends everything;

there is no other God.

7If there is anyone like me [RHQ],

he should proclaim it!

He should speak and tell me now!

He should tell what has happened since I caused my people of Israel to become a nation long ago,

and he should also tell what things will happen;

he should predict what will happen in the future.

8My people, do not be afraid.

Long ago I told you things that would happen [RHQ];

I predicted them, and you can testify that I did that.

There certainly is not [RHQ] any other God.

There is no other God who is able to protect you [MET];

I know that there is no other God!”

9All those who make idols are foolish,

and the idols that they ◄think highly of/greatly respect► are worthless.

And the people who worship those idols— it is as though they are blind,

and they will be ashamed for having worshiped those idols.

10Only foolish people [RHQ] would make idols in a mold,

idols that would never help them at all.

11Those who make idols and those who worship them will be ashamed.

Those who make idols are only human beings,

but they claim that they are making gods!

They should stand in front of God in a court,

and when they hear what he says, they will be terrified,

and they will all be disgraced.

12Metalworkers stand in front of hot coals

in order to make idols.

They pound them strongly with hammers, and shape them.

Because they work very hard, they become hungry and weak;

they become very thirsty and feel exhausted.

13Then a woodcarver takes a big block/piece of wood and he measures it;

then he marks it to show where he will cut it.

He uses a chisel and other tools

to carve it to resemble a human.

He causes it to become a very beautiful idol,

and then he puts it in a shrine.

14Before he carves an idol from that block of wood, he has cut down a cedar tree,

or he has selected a cypress tree or an oak tree

and allowed it to grow tall in the forest.

Or, he has planted a pine/evergreen tree

and the rain has watered it and caused it to grow tall.

15And after he uses part of the tree to make an idol,

he uses the other part of the tree to make a fire,

either to warm himself or to bake bread.

But he uses part of the same tree to make for himself an idol to worship!

He makes an idol and then he bows down to worship it.

16He burns part of the wood of the tree to cook his meat and eats the meat and his stomach becomes full,

and he burns part of the wood to warm his body,

and he says, “I feel warm while I am watching the flames in the fire.”

17Then he takes the rest of the wood

and makes an idol which is his god.

He bows down to it and worships it,

and prays to it and says,

“You are my god, so save me!”

18Those people are very stupid and ignorant [SAR].

It is as though they are blind and cannot see,

and their minds are closed and they cannot think well.

19They do not think about what they are doing,

that they are taking a block of wood

and burning half of it to warm themselves

and using some of the rest to bake bread and roast some meat!

They do not say to themselves,

“It is stupid [RHQ] to take the rest of the wood to make a detestable idol!

It does not make sense to bow down to a block of wood!”

20They are very stupid to worship something that if you burn it, it becomes ashes!

They trust in something that cannot save them;

they do not admit, “In my hand I hold something that is not really a god! [RHQ]”

A plea to the Israelis

21Yahweh says, “You descendants of [MTY] Jacob,

you people of Israel who should be serving me,

I created you,

and I will not forget you.

22I have gotten rid of your sins

like [SIM] the wind blows away a cloud.

It is as though your transgressions were a morning mist

[SIM] that I have blown away.

Return to me

because I have rescued you.”

23The sun and moon and stars in the sky should sing,

and all the things that are beneath the ground should shout joyfully!

All the mountains and forests, and all you trees,

should sing loudly,

because Yahweh has rescued the descendants of [MTY] Jacob;

the people of Israel will praise/honor him.

Jerusalem will be rebuilt and inhabited again

24Yahweh, who saved you and created you, says this:

“I am Yahweh, the one who created everything.

I am the only one who stretched out the sky.

There was [RHQ] no one who ◄was with/helped► me

when I created the earth.

25I show that the false prophets are liars,

and I show that those who perform rituals to predict the future are fools.

Some people who falsely think that they are [IRO] wise say that they know a lot,

but I show that they are foolish.

26But I always cause to happen what my prophets predict [DOU].

I tell them to say to the people of [MTY] Jerusalem, ‘Some day people will live here again.’

And I tell them to say to the people in other towns in Judah that Yahweh says,

‘Your towns will be rebuilt;

I will cause the places that are only ruins to be rebuilt.’

27When I say to the rivers, ‘Dry up!’,

they will become dry.

28When I say about King Cyrus, ‘He will take care of my people like [MET] a shepherd takes care of his sheep,

he will do what I want him to do,’

he will say about Jerusalem,

‘We must rebuild it!’,

and he will also say, ‘We must rebuild the temple!’”

45

Yahweh chose Cyrus to free the Israelis

1Cyrus is the one whom Yahweh has appointed to be the emperor of Persia

and to whom he will give great power [IDM];

Yahweh will enable him to defeat other nations

and to take away the power of their kings.

He will cause gates of cities to be opened,

and no one will ever be able to shut them.

2This is what Yahweh says to him:

“Cyrus, I will go ahead of you

and level the mountains.

I will smash down bronze gates

and cut through iron bars.

3I will give you treasures that people have hidden in dark secret places [DOU].

I will do that in order that you will know that I am Yahweh,

the God to whom the Israelis belong,

the God who calls you by your name.

4I have summoned you, calling out your name,

for the sake of the people of Israel [DOU] whom I have chosen, who serve me.

Even though you do not know me,

I will give you a title which has great honor.

5I am Yahweh, and there is no other God [DOU].

Even though you do not know me,

I will give you power

6in order that everyone in the world, from the east to the west, will know that there is no other God.

I am Yahweh, and there is no other God.

7I created the light and the darkness.

I cause there to be peace and I cause there to be disasters.

I, Yahweh, do all those things.”

8And Yahweh also says, “I want my rescue of my people [MET] to fall from the sky like rain.

Just like the earth opens wide to accept rain,

I will rescue/save my people and cause them to be treated justly.

I, Yahweh, am the one who will cause both of those things to happen.

9Terrible things will happen to those who argue with me, the one who created them.

They are like [MET] a clay pot and I am like the one who made it;

so they certainly cannot [RHQ] criticize me.

A lump of clay certainly cannot [RHQ] argue with the one who shapes it to form a pot, saying,

‘Why are you making me like this?’

The pot cannot say ‘You have no skill, because what you made has no handles!’

10And it would be terrible if an unborn baby would say to its father,

‘Why are you [RHQ] causing me to be born?’

or if it said to its mother,

‘The result of your labor pains will be useless?’”

11Yahweh, the Holy One of the Israeli people, the one who created Israel, says this to them:

“◄Why do you ask questions about what I do for you, my children?/You should not ask questions about what I do for you, my children.► [RHQ]

◄Why do you tell me about the work that I should do?/You should not tell me about the work that I should do.► [RHQ]

12I am the one who created the earth

and created people to live on it.

I stretched out the sky with my hands,

and I put the stars in their places.

13And I will appoint Cyrus to do things that are right/just,

and I will enable him to do all those things easily [MET].

His workers will rebuild my city,

and he will free my people who have been ◄exiled/forced to leave their country►.

And he will do it without my rewarding/paying him!

Those things will surely happen because I, the Commander of the armies of angels, have said it.

14And this is also what I, Yahweh, say to you, my people:

‘You will rule the people of Egypt and Ethiopia,

and the tall people of Seba in Arabia will become your slaves.

They will come to you bringing all the things that they sell,

and it will all be yours.

As prisoners, they will have chains on their arms as they follow you.

They will prostrate themselves in front of you and say,

“God is with/helping you

and he is the only God;

there is no other God.” ’”

15God, although we cannot see you,

you are the one to whom we Israeli people belong, the one who saves us.

16All those who make idols will be humiliated.

They will all be disgraced together.

17But you, Yahweh, will rescue us, your Israeli people,

and we will be free forever.

Never again will we again be humiliated and disgraced.

18Yahweh is God;

he is the one who created the sky

and created and formed the earth.

He did not want it to remain with nothing living on it;

he wanted people to live on it.

He says, “I am Yahweh;

there is no other God.

19What I proclaimed, I did not speak secretly

or hide what I was saying by speaking in a dark place.

When I spoke to the descendants of Jacob,

I did not tell them

‘It will be useless for you to ◄seek for/pray to► me!’

I, Yahweh, speak only what is true and what is right.

20You people who are still alive after experiencing great disasters,

should come and gather together and listen to this:

The people who carry around their wooden idols

and pray to them are foolish, because those idols cannot rescue them!

21Talk among yourselves, and decide what you will say to prove that your praying to idols is good.

And when you do that, I will ask you,

‘Who predicted long ago what has now happened?

Did any idol tell you that those things would happen [RHQ]?’

No, it was [RHQ] only I, Yahweh, who told you,

because I am the only God; there is no other God.

I am a God who acts righteously and saves people;

there is no other one who does these things.

22Everyone in the world should ask me to save them,

because I am the only God who can do that;

there is no other one.

23I have solemnly declared, using my own name;

I [SYN] have spoken what is true,

and I will never change what I have said:

Some day, everyone [SYN] will bow in front of me,

and they will all solemnly promise to be loyal to me.

24They will declare,

‘Yahweh is the one who enables us to live righteously and to be strong.’ ”

And all those who have been angry at him will come to him,

and they will be ashamed for having been angry with him.

25Yahweh is the only one who will enable us Israeli people in the future to defeat our enemies,

and then we will boast about what he has done for us.

46

The gods of Babylonia are useless

1It is as though Bel and Nebo, the statues of the gods of Babylonia,

are bowing down as those statues are put on animals and carried away!

The statues are heavy burdens and will cause the animals to become tired [SAR]!

2It seems like both gods are bowing down;

not only can they not save themselves,

but they themselves are being ◄exiled/taken to another country►!

3Yahweh says, “You descendants of Jacob who were exiled,

I am not like the gods of Babylonia that must be carried;

instead, it is as though I have carried you

since you first became a nation [MET].

I carried you even before you became a nation.

4I will be your God, and I will carry you for many years,

until it is as though [MET] your nation is an old man with gray hair.

I caused you to become a nation,

and I will sustain you and rescue you.

5There is certainly [RHQ] no one to whom I can be compared.

There is [RHQ] no one who is equal to me [DOU].

6So it is stupid/ridiculous that some people pour out gold and silver from their bags

and weigh it on a scale.

Then they hire a man who makes things from gold to make an idol from it.

After he makes an idol, they bow down and worship it!

7They lift it up and carry it on their shoulders.

They put it in a special place,

and it stays there.

It cannot move!

And when someone prays to it, it does not answer.

So obviously it cannot rescue anyone from his troubles!

8You people of Judah, do not forget this;

keep thinking about it, you sinful people!

9Think about the things that I did long ago.

Only I am God; I am God, and there is no one like me.

10Only I can tell what will happen in the future before it occurs;

I tell it long before it happens.

I will accomplish everything that I plan to accomplish,

and I will do everything that I want to do.

11So I will summon someone to come from the east like a swift and powerful eagle;

he will come from a distant country.

He will accomplish what I want him to.

He is the one who will do what I have said that I want him to do,

what I have planned.

12You stubborn people of Israel,

you think that it will be a long time before you are allowed to return to your own country.

13But I will rescue you,

and it will not be a long time before that happens.

I will do it soon.

I will rescue Jerusalem

and show to you Israeli people that I am glorious.”

47

Prediction of the destruction of Babylon

1Yahweh also says, “You people of Babylon,

you should go and sit in the dust/dirt to show that you are mourning,

because your time to rule [MTY] other countries is almost ended.

People will never again say that Babylonia is beautiful

like a very attractive/beautiful young woman.

2You will be slaves, so take heavy stones

and grind grain like slave women do.

Take off your beautiful veils

and take off your robes as you prepare to cross streams to go where you will be forced to go.

3You will be naked and very ashamed.

I will get vengeance on you and not pity you.”

4The one who frees us people of Judah, whom we call ‘the Commander of the armies of angels’,

is the Holy One of Israel.

5Yahweh says, “You people of Babylon,

sit silently in the darkness,

because people will never again say that your city is like [MET] a queen that rules many kingdoms.

6I was angry with the people whom I chose to belong to me,

and I punished them.

I allowed you people of Babylon to conquer them.

But when you conquered them, you did not have mercy on them.

You ◄oppressed/treated cruelly► [MET] even the old people.

7You said, ‘We will rule other nations forever;

it is as though our city will be the queen of the world forever!’

But you did not think about the things that you were doing,

or think about what would result.

8You people of Babylon who enjoy pleasure and sex,

listen to this:

You enjoy a luxurious life and you feel secure.

You say, ‘We are like gods,

and there are no others like us.

Our women will never become widows,

and our children will never be killed in wars.’

9But both of those things will happen to you suddenly:

Many of your women will become widows

and many of your children will die,

even though you perform much sorcery and many kinds of magic to prevent bad things from happening to you.

10You felt protected even though you were doing many wicked things,

and you said, ‘No one will see what we are doing!’

You thought that you were very wise and knew many things,

and you said, ‘We are gods, and there are no others like us,’

but you deceived yourselves.

11So you will experience terrible things,

and you will not be able to prevent them by working magic.

You will experience disasters,

and you will not be able to pay anyone to prevent those things from happening.

◄A catastrophe/Something terrible► will happen to you suddenly,

something that you will not realize is about to happen.

12So you can continue to perform all your magic spells [IRO]!

You can perform the many kinds of sorcery that you have practiced for many years!

Perhaps doing those things will enable you to be successful;

perhaps you will be able to cause your enemies to be afraid of you!

13But all that has resulted from your doing all the things that the magicians have told you to do is that you have become tired!

The men who look at the stars every month and predict what will happen

should come forward and rescue you from the disasters that you are about to experience.

14But they cannot do that, because they are like [SIM] straw that is burning in a fire;

they cannot save themselves from being burned up in the flames.

Those men are unable to help you [MET];

they are as useless as stubble that burns quickly and produces no heat for you.

15The people whom you have associated with and worked with since you were young

will not help you,

because they will just continue doing their own foolish things,

and they will not pay any attention to you

when you cry out for help.”

48

The people of Israel are stubborn

1Yahweh says, “You descendants [MTY] of Jacob,

who are also descendants of Judah and are now called the people of Israel,

Listen to me!

You make solemn promises using my name, Yahweh,

and you request that I, the God to whom you Israeli people belong, will hear you,

but you do not do it sincerely.

2You say that you live in the holy city of Jerusalem,

and you insincerely say that you are relying on me, the God to whom you people of Israel belong,

the one who is the Commander of the armies of angels.

3Long ago I [MTY] predicted what would happen [DOU].

And then suddenly, I caused those things to happen.

4I knew that you people are very stubborn;

I knew that your heads are [MET] as hard as iron or brass [DOU].

5That is why I told you those things long ago.

Long before they occurred, I announced that they would occur,

in order that when they happened you could not say

‘Our idols did it;

our statue made of wood and our idol made of metal caused them to happen.’

6You have heard those things that I predicted

and now you have seen that they have all occurred,

so why do you not admit it [RHQ]?

Now I will tell you new things,

things that you have not known previously.

7I am causing them to happen now;

they are not things I did long ago.

So you cannot say, ‘We already knew about those things.’

8I will tell you about things that you have never heard about or understood before.

Even long ago you did not pay attention to me [IDM].

I know that you act very deceitfully/treacherously;

you have rebelled against me since you first became a nation [MTY].

9But, for my own sake, in order that I will be honored,

I will not punish [MTY] you immediately

and I will not completely get rid of you.

10I have purified you, but not the way people refine silver.

Instead, I have caused you to suffer very much to get rid of your impure behavior,

like [MET] people put metal in a very hot furnace to get rid of the impurities.

11But for my [MTY] own sake I will delay punishing you more;

I will do it for my own sake

in order that my reputation will not be damaged [RHQ].

I will not allow any person or any idol to be honored as I deserve to be honored.”

The people of Israel should leave Babylon because that city will be destroyed

12“You descendants [MTY] of Jacob, you people of Israel whom I have chosen,

listen to me!

Only I am God;

I am the one who begins everything and who causes everything to end.

13I [SYN] am the one who laid the foundation of the earth.

I stretched out the sky with my hand.

And when I tell the stars to appear,

they all do what I tell them.

14All of you, gather together and listen to me.

None of your idols has [RHQ] told this to you:

I, Yahweh, have chosen Cyrus to assist me,

and he will do to Babylon what I want him to do,

and his army will get rid of the army of Babylonia.

15I have said it;

I have summoned Cyrus.

I have appointed him,

and he will accomplish everything that he attempts to do.

16Come close to me and listen to what I say.

Long ago [MTY] I told you plainly/clearly [LIT] what would happen,

and when those things occurred, I was causing them to happen.”

And now Yahweh the Lord and his Spirit have sent me to give you a message.

17This is what Yahweh, the one who saves you, the Holy God of us Israelis, says:

“I am Yahweh, your God;

I teach you what is important for you to know;

I direct you and lead you to the roads that you should walk on [MET].

18I wish that you had paid attention to my commands!

If you had done that, things would have gone well for you

like [SIM] a river that flows gently;

you would have been successful again and again,

like [SIM] waves that come without ceasing.

19Your descendants would have been as many as [MET] the grains of sand on the seashore

which no one can count.

I would not have needed to get rid of you;

the country of [MTY] Israel would not have been destroyed.”

20However, now I tell you,

leave Babylon!

Flee from being slaves of the people of Babylonia!

Proclaim this message joyfully;

send it to the most remote/distant places on the earth:

Yahweh freed the people of Israel from being slaves in Egypt.

21They were not thirsty when he led them through the desert,

because he split open the rock

and caused water to gush/flow out for them to drink.

22“But things will not go well like that for wicked people,” says Yahweh.

49

Yahweh appointed his special servant

1All you people who live on islands in the ocean and in other distant areas,

pay attention [DOU] to what I will say!

Yahweh called/chose me before was born;

he chose/appointed me when I was still in my mother’s womb.

2When I grew up, he caused my messages to be like [SIM] a sharp sword.

He has protected me with his hand [SYN].

He protects me [MET] like someone protects sharp arrows in a quiver.

3He said to me, “You will serve my Israeli people,

and you will cause people to honor me.”

4I replied, “My work has been useless;

I have used my strength, but I have accomplished nothing worthwhile;

everything that I have done has been ◄in vain/useless►.

However, Yahweh can honor me as he pleases;

my God is the one who will reward me as I deserve.”

5Yahweh formed me when I was in my mother’s womb in order that I would serve him;

he appointed me to bring the people of Israel back to himself [DOU].

Yahweh has honored me,

and he is the one who has caused me to be strong.

6He says to me,

“It is not enough for you to serve me

by bringing the descendants of Jacob back to worship me again [DOU];

I also want you to be like [MET] a light for the non-Jews;

I want you to take my my message about how to be saved to people all over the world.”

7Yahweh, the one who saves us,

the Holy God of us Israeli people,

says to the one who was despised and rejected by the people of many nations,

the one who is the slave of rulers,

“Some day kings will stand up to respect you when they see you,

and princes will bow down before you

because you serve me, Yahweh, the one who faithfully does what I promise.

I am the Holy God to whom you Israelis belong, the one who has chosen you.”

The promise to restore Israel

8This is also what Yahweh says:

“At a time when it pleases me, I will answer your prayers.

On the day when you will be rescued from your oppressors, I will help you.

I will protect you and enable you to establish an agreement with other nations.

And by what you do, I will re-establish your nation of Israel

and allow you to live/settle again in your land that was abandoned.

9I will say to those who were captured and ◄exiled/taken to Babylonia►,

‘Leave Babylonia and return to your own country!’

And I will say to those who are in dark prisons,

‘Come out into the light!’

When that happens, they will again be like [MET] sheep

that eat grass in green pastures,

on hills where previously there was no grass.

10They will not be hungry or thirsty anymore;

the hot sun will not beat upon them again [DOU].

I, Yahweh, will act mercifully toward them and lead them;

I will lead them to where there are springs of cool water.

11And I will cause the mountains to become as though they were level roads,

and I will prepare good highways for my people to travel on, to return to Jerusalem.

12My people will return from far away;

some will come from the north, some from the west,

some from southern Egypt.”

13Because of what Yahweh has promised to do,

everything should shout joyfully—

the sky and the earth and the mountains should sing,

because Yahweh comforts his people,

and he will pity those who are suffering.

14The people of Jerusalem say,

“Yahweh has abandoned us;

he has forgotten about us.”

15But Yahweh replies,

“That is not true! ◄Can a woman forget the infant that she is nursing?/A woman certainly cannot forget the infant that she is nursing!► [RHQ]

◄Can she stop being kind to the child to whom she has given birth?/She certainly cannot stop being kind to the child to whom she has given birth!► [RHQ]

But even if a woman would do that,

I will not forget you!

16Note that I have written your names on the palms of my hands;

in my mind I can always see the walls of your city.

17Soon your children will be returning there (OR, Those who rebuild your city will work more quickly than those who destroyed it),

and all those who destroyed your city will leave.

18You will look around and see

all of your children coming back to you.

As surely as I live,

they will be around you for you to show to people

like [SIM] a bride shows her wedding ornaments!

19Your land has been ruined and caused to become desolate/abandoned [DOU],

but some day it will be filled with people,

and those who conquered you will be far away.

20The children who were born while you were ◄exiled/in Babylonia► [MET] will return to Jerusalem and say,

‘This city is too small for us;

We need more space to live in!’

21Then you will think to yourselves [MTY],

‘It is amazing that we have [RHQ] all these children!

Most of our children were dead,

and the rest were exiled.

We were left here alone;

so we do not know [RHQ] where all these children have come from!

Who raised them?”

22This is what Yahweh our God says:

“Watch! It is as though I will lift up my hand to signal to those who are not Israelis.

And they will carry your little sons and daughters on their shoulders

and bring them back to you.

23Kings will serve you and will tutor/teach your children,

and their queens will take care of your young children.

They will prostrate themselves in front of you

and humble themselves by licking the dust off your feet.

When that happens, you will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do;

and those who trust in me will never be disappointed.”

24There is no one [RHQ] who can snatch valuable things from a soldier who has captured those things in a war;

there is no one [RHQ] who can force a ◄tyrant/cruel man► to free the people whom he has captured.

25But Yahweh says this:

“Some day, those who have been captured will be freed,

and the valuable things that ◄tyrants/cruel men► have snatched from others will be returned,

because I will fight against those who fight against you,

and I will rescue your children.

26And I will cause your enemies to destroy themselves [MET]

instead of murdering others.

When that happens, everyone in the world will know that I, Yahweh, am the one who saves you,

the one who rescues you from your enemies;

everyone will know that I am the mighty God to whom you descendants of [MTY] Jacob belong.”

50

Yahweh’s power

1This is also what Yahweh says:

“You Israeli children, do not think [RHQ] that I forced your parents to be exiled/taken to Babylonia [MET]

like some men send away their wives

after giving them a paper

on which they state that they were divorcing them!

I certainly did not [RHQ] get rid of you like a man who sells his children to get money to pay what he owes.

No, the reason that I forced you to be exiled

was to punish you because of the sins that you have committed [DOU].

2When I came to you to rescue you,

why did no one answer when I called out to you [RHQ]?

Was there no one there [RHQ]?

Or, did you think that I do not have the power [MTY] to rescue you [DOU]?

Think about this:

I can speak to a sea and cause it to become dry!

I can cause rivers to become deserts,

with the result that the fish in the rivers die from thirst and they rot.

3I cause the sky to become dark,

as though [MET] it was wearing black clothes because it was mourning because someone had died.”

4Yahweh our God has given me his wise message [MTY]

in order that I may encourage those who are weary.

Each morning he awakens me,

in order that I [SYN] may listen to what he teaches [SIM] me.

5Yahweh our God has spoken to me [IDM],

and I have not rejected what he told me;

I have accepted [LIT] it.

6I allowed people to beat me on my back

and to pull out the whiskers in my beard because they hated me.

I did not turn away [MTY] from them

when they made fun of me and spat on me.

7But, because the Lord our God helps me,

I will never be humiliated.

Therefore, I am strongly determined [IDM] to face/endure difficulties,

and I know that nothing will cause me to be ashamed.

8God, the one who vindicates me, is near to me;

so if anyone [RHQ] stands in front of me and accuses me in a court,

he will not be able to show that I have done anything that is wrong.

9The Lord our God defends me in court,

so no one [RHQ] will be able to ◄condemn me/declare that I am guilty►.

All those who accuse me will disappear

like [SIM] old clothes that have been eaten by ◄larvae of moths/cockroaches►.

10If you revere Yahweh

and do what his servant tells you to do,

even if you are ◄walking in darkness/enduring suffering►, and it seems that [MET] there is no light,

trust in Yahweh your God [DOU] to help you.

11But you people who oppose me,

who would like to throw me into a blazing fire,

walk in your own fires

and burn yourselves with your own torches!

This is what Yahweh will cause to happen to you:

You will be enduring great torment when you die [EUP]!

51

Yahweh will bless the descendants of Abraham

1Yahweh says, “You people who desire to act righteously/justly,

who want to do what I want you to do,

listen to me!

Think about Abraham!

It is as though [MET] he was a huge rock cliff;

and when you people of Israel became a nation,

it was as though [MET] you were cut from that rock [DOU].

2Think about your ancestor Abraham and his wife Sarah, of whom all of you are descendants.

When I first spoke to Abraham,

he had no children.

But after I blessed him, he had a huge number of descendants.

3Some day I, Yahweh, will encourage his descendants again,

and I will comfort all the people who live in the ruins of Jerusalem.

The desert in that area will become like Eden,

like the garden that I, Yahweh, made/planted.

All the people there will be joyful and happy;

they will thank me and sing.

4My people of Judah, listen carefully [DOU] to me,

because I want you to proclaim my laws;

the just/right things that I do will be like [MET] a light for the people of the nations.

5I will soon/quickly rescue you [DOU];

by my power [MTY] I will bring you back from being exiled in Babylonia [DOU].

The people who live on islands in the ocean will wait for me to help them,

confidently expecting for me to use my power [MTY].

6Look up at the sky,

and look at the earth,

and see what they are like now,

because some day the sky will disappear like [SIM] smoke,

and the earth will wear out like [SIM] old clothes wear out,

and people on the earth will die like gnats/flies.

But I will rescue/save you, and you will remain free forever,

and I will rule you righteously/fairly forever.

7You people who know what things are right to do,

and who know in your inner beings what is written in my laws,

listen to me!

Do not be afraid of people who taunt/insult you;

do not be disturbed/upset when people revile you,

8because some day they will be destroyed

like [MET] clothing that is eaten by ◄larvae of moths/cockroaches►,

like wool garments that have been eaten by worms.

I will save you people, and you will be saved forever.”

A prayer for God’s help

9Yahweh, wake up and do something for us!

Show your power!

Do mighty things

like you did long ago,

when you stabbed [RHQ] that sea monster/dragon Rahab and cut it into pieces.

10Surely you are [RHQ] the one who caused the Red Sea to become dry

and made a path through that deep water

in order that your people could cross it!

11And those whom Yahweh will rescue from being exiled in Babylonia

will similarly return to Jerusalem, singing.

Their being joyful forever will be like [MET] a crown on their heads.

They will not be sad or mourn anymore;

they will be completely joyful and happy.

12Yahweh says,

“I am the one who encourages you.

So ◄why are you/you should not be► [RHQ] afraid of humans

who will wither and disappear like [MET] grass.

13◄Why have you/You should not have► [RHQ] forgotten me, Yahweh, the one who created your nation,

the one who stretched out the sky

and laid the foundations of the earth.

◄Why are you/You should not be► [RHQ] continually afraid of those who are angry with you and ◄oppress you/treat you cruelly►

and want to get rid of you.

You should not be afraid of them now,

because those angry people have now disappeared!

14Soon you people who have been caused to be slaves in Babylonia will be freed!

You will not remain in prison, and you will not die of hunger,

15because I am Yahweh, your God,

the one who stirs up the sea and causes the waves to roar;

I am the Commander of the armies of angels!

16I have given you my message [MTY] to proclaim,

and I have protected you with my hand [MTY].

I stretched out the sky

and laid the foundation of the earth.

And I am the one who says to you Israeli people,

‘You are my people!’”

A warning to the people of Jerusalem

17You people of [APO] Jerusalem, wake up [DOU]!

You have experienced Yahweh severely punishing [MTY] you.

Yahweh has caused you to suffer much,

all that he wanted you to suffer,

like [MET] someone who causes another person to suffer

by forcing him to drink every drop of [MTY] a cupful of bitter liquid.

18Now you do not have any children who are alive [DOU]

and able to take your hand and guide you.

19You have experienced several disasters:

Your country has become desolate/deserted;

your cities have been destroyed;

many people have died from hunger;

many people have been killed by your enemies’ swords.

Now, there is no one [RHQ] left to console/comfort you and sympathize with you.

20Your children have fainted and lie in the streets;

they are as helpless as [SIM] an antelope that has been caught in a net.

What has happened to them is because Yahweh has been very angry with them;

he has rebuked them severely.

21So now, you people who have suffered much,

you act as though you are drunk,

but it is not because you have drunk a lot of wine.

22Yahweh, your Lord and your God,

the one who argues/pleads your case, says this:

“Note this: It is as though [MET] I have taken that cup of bitter liquid from your hands;

I will not be angry with you and cause you to suffer anymore.

23Instead, I will cause those who have tormented you to suffer;

I will severely punish those who said to you,

‘Prostrate yourselves in order that we may walk on you;

lie down on your stomachs

in order that your backs will be like [SIM] streets that we can walk on.’ ”

52

Jerusalem’s suffering will end

1You people who live in the holy city of Jerusalem [APO], wake up!

Be strong again!

Show that [MTY] your city is beautiful and glorious;

foreigners who do not believe in God will not enter your city again to attack you.

2People of Jerusalem, get up from humbly sitting in the dust

and sit in places where people are honored!

You people who have returned from being exiled,

take off from your neck the chains which were fastened around you as slaves in Babylonia,

3because this is what Yahweh says:

“When you were taken to Babylonia,

no one paid me for doing that.

So now I will bring you back

without being required to pay for you!”

4Yahweh our Lord also says this:

“Long ago, my people went to Egypt to live there.

Later they were being ◄oppressed/treated cruelly► by the soldiers of Assyria.

5But now think about what is happening:

My people are being forced to be slaves again, this time by the people of Babylonia.

And those who have conquered them this time have also paid me nothing,

and they despise me [MTY] continually [DOU].

6But my people will then have a close relationship with [MTY] me,

and when that happens, they will know that I am the one who predicted/promised that it would happen.

It is I, Yahweh, who will do it.”

A message of encouragement for Jerusalem

7It is a wonderful thing when messengers [MTY] arrive on the mountains/hills,

bringing good news,

the news about God giving us peace and saving us,

the news that the God to whom we Israeli people belong is now ruling/king!

8The watchmen who are guarding the city will shout and sing joyfully,

because while they are watching

they will see Yahweh returning to Jerusalem.

9Jerusalem has been ruined,

but the people who are there now should start to sing joyfully,

because Yahweh will encourage his people;

he will set his people free and bring them back to Jerusalem.

10Yahweh will show all the nations that he is holy and powerful.

People in the most remote/distant places on earth will know

that he has rescued his people.

11So, leave the places where you were taken to when you were captured,

where everything is unacceptable to God.

You men who carry the items used for the worship of Yahweh,

leave there and return to Jerusalem,

and purify yourselves in order to be acceptable to worship God.

12But it will not be necessary for you to leave suddenly,

to flee in panic,

because Yahweh will ◄go in front of/lead► you;

and he will also protect you from being attacked at the rear while you travel.

God’s suffering servant

13Yahweh says, “Listen carefully!

My servant will act wisely (OR, do the right things to accomplish what he wants to),

and I will highly exalt him.”

14But many people will be appalled when they see what has happened to him.

Because of his being beaten very badly, his appearance will be changed;

people will hardly recognize that he is a human.

15But he will cause people of many nations to be surprised;

even kings will be silent when they stand in front of him,

because they will see someone that no one had told them about previously,

and they will understand things that they had not heard about before.

53

1◄Who will believe what we will tell them about God’s servant?/Hardly anyone will believe what we will tell them about God’s servant. ► [RHQ]

◄Who will see what Yahweh does by his great power?/Very few people will see what Yahweh does by his great power.► [MTY, RHQ]

2While God watches, his servant will grow up appearing/seeming to be very insignificant/unimportant,

like a weak young plant that shoots up from a root of a tree that is growing in dry ground.

There will be nothing beautiful or majestic about him,

nothing that would cause us to want to be with him.

3People will despise and reject him. {He will be despised and rejected.}

He will endure much pain, and he will suffer much.

Because his face will be very disfigured, people will not want to look at him;

people will despise him and think that he is not worth paying any attention to.

4But he will be punished for the sicknesses of our souls;

he will endure great pain for us.

But we will think that he is being punished by God,

afflicted/punished for his own sins.

5But his body will be bruised because of the evil things that we did,

wounded because of our sins.

He will be beaten in order that things will go well for our souls;

and because he will be whipped, our souls can be healed.

6All of us have gone away from God like [SIM] sheep who have strayed away from their shepherd.

We have turned away from doing the things that God wants in order to do the things that we wanted [MET].

We deserve to be punished, but Yahweh will punish him instead of punishing us for all of our sins.

7He will be abused and caused to suffer,

but he will not say anything to complain.

They will lead him to where they will execute him,

like they lead a lamb to where it will be slaughtered.

And like a sheep does not ◄bleat/make any noise► when the shearer cuts off its wool,

he will not say anything [MTY] to defend himself when he is killed.

8After he is arrested and put on trial,

he will be taken away and executed.

And no one [RHQ] will be able to talk about his descendants,

because he will die [EUP] without being married and having children.

He will be ◄afflicted/caused to suffer► for the wrong things that we have done.

9Although he will never have done any wrong or deceived [MTY] anyone,

people will plan to bury his corpse where wicked people are buried,

but instead, a rich man will bury him after he dies.

10But it will be Yahweh’s will that he be afflicted and caused to suffer.

And when he dies, Yahweh will cause him to be an offering to remove the guilt of sinners.

But later he will have many spiritual children,

and he will live ◄a long time/forever► after he dies and becomes alive again,

and he [MTY] will accomplish everything that Yahweh has planned.

11When he sees all that he will accomplish because of his suffering,

he will be satisfied.

And because of what will have happened to him,

Yahweh’s righteous servant will cause the guilt of many people to be ended,

because he will remove the guilt for their sins.

12So Yahweh will consider him to be one of the truly great people;

he will be like a king who divides up among his soldiers the ◄spoils/things they took from their enemies after defeating them► [MET],

because he will sacrifice himself and die.

Even though people will consider him to be a sinner,

he will remove the guilt of many people,

and he will intercede/pray that those who have done things that are wrong will be forgiven.

54

Yahweh promised that his people would return to Jerusalem

1Yahweh says, “You people of Jerusalem [MET], start to sing!

You who are like [MET] women who have never given birth to children, sing loudly and shout joyfully,

because you, who are like [MET] childless women who have been abandoned by their husbands, will soon have more children

than women who have never had any children.

2Make your tents larger;

make them wider,

and fasten them firmly with tent pegs.

3You will need to make your city much larger

because soon you and your descendants will spread all over the land.

They will force the people of other nations who now live in your cities to leave,

and you will live again in those cities that were previously abandoned.

4Do not be afraid; you will no longer be ashamed.

Previously you were ashamed because your enemies conquered you

and caused many of your women to become widows,

but soon you will not even remember that.

5I, the Commander of the armies of angels, the Holy one of Israel, who rules over the whole earth,

the one who created you,

will be like [MET] a husband to you.

6You were like a woman whose husband left her,

and caused you to be very sad;

you were like a young woman who got married when she was very young,

and then her husband abandoned her.

7I abandoned you people of Jerusalem for a while,

but now I am saying, ‘I will take you back.’

8I was very angry with you for a while,

and I turned away from you.

But I will act mercifully toward you

and I will faithfully love you forever.

That is what I, Yahweh, your protector, say to you.

9During the time that Noah lived,

I solemnly promised that I would never again allow a flood to cover the earth.

So now I solemnly promise that I will not be angry with you again and ◄rebuke you/threaten to punish you►.

10Even if the mountains and hills shake and collapse,

I will not stop faithfully loving you,

and I will not cancel my agreement

to cause things to go well for you.

That is what I, Yahweh, who act mercifully, say.

11You people of Jerusalem [APO],, your enemies acted very violently toward you;

it was as though your city was battered by a severe storm,

and no one helped you.

But now I will cause your city to be rebuilt with stones made of ◄turquoise/valuable stones►,

and I will cause the foundations of the city to be made of ◄sapphires/valuable blue stones►.

12I will cause the towers on the city wall to be made of ◄rubies/valuable red stones►,

and all the gates of the city will be made of other very valuable stones.

13I will be the one who will teach you people

and cause things to go well with you.

14Your government will be strong because of acting justly/fairly;

no one will ◄oppress you/cause you to suffer►;

you will not be afraid,

because there will be nothing [PRS] that will ◄terrorize you/cause you to become extremely afraid►.

15If any army attacks you,

it will not be because I have incited them to do that,

and you will defeat any group that attacks you.

16Think about this:

◄Blacksmiths/Men who make things from metal► fan the coals to make a very hot flame

in order to produce weapons that can be used in battles,

but I am the one who has produced blacksmiths!

And I am also the one who created people who destroy other people and cities.

17But I am promising you that I will not allow you to be defeated/injured by soldiers using weapons

that have been made to attack you,

and when others try to accuse you, you will ◄refute them/show that they are wrong►.

That is the reward that I will give to the people who serve me;

I will defend them;

that is what I, Yahweh, promise.”

55

The future glory of Jerusalem

1“All you people who are in exile,

listen to me!

It is as though [MET] you are thirsty,

so come and get water from me!

It is as though you have no money,

but you can come and get things from me that are like wine and milk!

You can get what you need from me,

and you will not need to give me any money for them!

2What you really need is to have a close relationship with me,

so ◄why do you spend money to buy things that do not supply what you really need?/you should not spend money to buy things that do not supply what you really need.► [RHQ]

◄Why do you work hard to get money to buy things that do not ‘satisfy your inner beings/cause you to be happy’?► [RHQ]

Pay attention to what I say

and acquire what is really good [MET]!

If you do that, then you will truly be happy [MET].

3Listen to me and come to me;

pay attention to me, and if you do that, you will have new life in your souls.

I will make an agreement with you that will last forever

to faithfully love you like I loved King David.

4By what he did, I showed my power to many people-groups;

I caused him to be a leader and commander [DOU] over the people of many nations.

5And similarly, you will summon people of other nations to come to you,

nations that previously you have not heard about,

and they had not heard about you;

and they will come to you quickly

because they will have heard that I, Yahweh, your God, the Holy One of Israel, have honored you.

6Seek to know me while it is still possible for you to do that;

call to me while I am near!

7Wicked people should abandon their wicked behavior,

and evil people should stop thinking what is evil.

They should turn to me,

and if they do that, I will act mercifully toward them;

they should turn to me, their God,

because I will fully pardon them for all the wicked things that they have done.

8I, Yahweh, declare that what I think is not the same as what you think,

and what I do is very different from what you do.

9Just as the sky is far above the earth,

what I do is far greater than what you do,

and what I think is much greater than what you think.

10Rain and snow come down from the sky,

and they cause the ground to be moist before the moisture returns to the sky and produces more clouds.

When the ground becomes moist, it causes plants to sprout and grow,

with the result that the soil produces seed for the farmer to plant and grain to produce flour to make bread for people to eat.

11And similarly the things that I promise to do, I will always cause to happen;

my promises will always be fulfilled [LIT].

They will accomplish the things that I gave them to accomplish [DOU].

12You will leave Babylon joyfully,

you will have peace as I lead you out.

It will be as though the hills and mountains will sing joyfully,

and the trees in the fields will clap their hands.

13Instead of thornbushes and briers,

pine/cypress trees and myrtle trees will grow in your land.

As a result of that, people will honor me much more;

and what I do will remind everyone that I do what I have promised.”

56

God will bless all the nations

1Yahweh says to all the people of Judah,

“Do the things that are fair and just,

because I will soon come to rescue [DOU] you.

2I will bless those who faithfully obey my laws about the Sabbath/rest days.

I will bless those who ◄keep sacred/honor► my Sabbath/rest days,

and who do not do any work on those days,

and who refrain from [MTY] doing anything that is evil.

3And foreigners who have believed in me should not say,

‘Yahweh will surely not allow me to belong to his people.’

And eunuchs should not say,

‘Because I am unable to have children, I cannot belong to Yahweh;

I am like [MET] a tree that has completely withered.’

4They should not say that, because I, Yahweh, say this to the eunuchs

who obey my laws about the Sabbath,

and who choose to do the things that please me,

and who obey all the other laws of the agreement that I made with the Israeli people:

5I will cause to be put inside the walls of my temple a monument [DOU] to them;

because of that monument, they will be honored more than they would have if they had children;

they will be honored forever.

6I will also bless those who are not Israelis,

who ◄join themselves to/believe in► me,

and who serve me and worship and love me,

and who obey my laws about the Sabbath,

and who faithfully obey all the other laws of the agreement that I made with the Israeli people.

7I will bring them to my sacred hill in Jerusalem,

I will cause them to be very joyful in my temple where people pray to me,

and I will accept the sacrifices that they completely burn on my altar and other sacrifices that they offer.

I will do those things for them because I want my temple to be a building where people of all nations pray to me.

8I, Yahweh, the Lord, the one who will bring back the people of Israel who have been ◄forced to go/exiled► to other countries, say this:

I will bring from other countries many more people to join those Israelis whom I have brought back.”

God promised to punish the Israeli leaders

9“You surrounding nations have armies that are like [MET] animals in the forest;

come and attack/destroy Israel!

10The Israeli leaders should be like watchdogs to protect the people,

but it is as though they are blind.

They are stupid.

They are all like [MET] dogs that cannot bark.

Good watchdogs bark when strangers approach,

but the Israeli leaders do not warn the people that their enemies are coming.

Instead, they just want to lie down and sleep and dream.

11And they are like greedy dogs;

they never get all that they want.

They are supposed to lead the people, like good shepherds lead their flocks,

but they are ignorant,

and they each do whatever they want to do.

12They say to each other, ‘Come, let’s go and get some wine and other alcoholic/strong drinks,

and let’s become drunk!

And tomorrow we will enjoy drinking even more!’ ”

57

Israel’s idolatry condemned

1Righteous people sometimes die when they are still young,

and no one is concerned about it.

Godly people sometimes die because of disasters,

and no one understands why.

They are taken away in order that they will not endure more calamities,

2and now they have peace.

They continually lived righteously,

and now they rest peacefully in their graves.

3Yahweh says, “But you who practice sorcery, come here!

You who worship idols [MET],

listen to me!

4Do you realize [RHQ] whom you are ridiculing,

and whom you are insulting?

Do you realize [RHQ] to whom you are sticking out your tongues?

You are insulting me, Yahweh!

You are [RHQ] always rebelling against me and always lying.

5You are eager to have sex under every big green tree where you worship your gods.

You kill your children as sacrifices to your idols in the dry riverbeds,

and also offer them as sacrifices to your idols in the rocky caves.

6You take big smooth stones from the riverbeds

and worship them as your gods.

You pour out wine to be an offering to them,

and you bring grain to burn for an offering to them.

Do you think that I should not punish you for doing all those things?

7You have sex [EUP] with cult prostitutes on every hill and mountain,

and you go there to offer sacrifices to your gods.

8You have put ◄fetishes/pagan symbols► behind your doors and doorposts,

and you have deserted me.

You have taken off your clothes [EUP]

and climbed into your bed

and invited more of your lovers to come to bed with you.

You have paid them to have sex with you,

and you have fondled their sexual organs.

9You have given fragrant oil and lots of perfume to your god Molech,

and you sent messengers to distant countries to find other gods to worship;

you even tried to send messengers to the place of the dead to search for new gods.

10You became weary because of doing all those things,

but you never said, ‘It is useless for us to do that.’

You found new strength for worshiping idols,

so you continued to do that [LIT].

11Was it because you were afraid of those idols more than you were afraid of me that you lied about what you were doing,

and you do not even think about [DOU, RHQ] me?

Was it because I did not punish you for a long time that you are not afraid of me [RHQ]?

12You think that [IRO] the things that you have done are right,

but I will tell the truth.

It will not help you to do any of those things.

13When you cry out for help to your collection of idols,

they will not rescue you.

The wind will blow them away [DOU].

But those who trust in me will live in the land of Israel,

and they will worship me on Zion, my sacred hill.”

Yahweh will rescue his people.

14Yahweh will say, “Prepare yourselves to receive me,

like [MET] people build and prepare a road for a king to come on.

Get rid of the things that are causing you to sin

like [MET] people remove from a road ◄obstacles/things that cause people to stumble►.

15Because this is what I, Yahweh, who am holy and greatly honored and who live forever, say:

I live in the highest heaven, where everything is holy,

but I also am with those who are humble and who are sorry for the sinful things that they have done.

I will greatly encourage [DOU] those who have repented.

16I will not accuse people forever;

I will not always be angry with them,

because if I did that, people would become weak/discouraged;

all the people whom I created and caused to live would die.

17I was angry with my people because they sinned by wanting the things that others had.

So because I was angry, I punished them and turned away from them,

but they continued sinning.

18I have seen the evil things that they continually do,

but I will restore them and lead them.

I will encourage/comfort them.

And to those who are mourning,

19I will enable them to sing songs to praise me.

I will restore all my people, those who live near Jerusalem and those who live far away,

and I will cause things to go well for them.

20Wicked people do not have peace in their inner beings;

they are like [SIM] a sea whose waves are always churning up mud,

21and I, Yahweh, say that things will never ◄go well/be peaceful► for those who are evil.”

58

True worship

1Yahweh said to me,

“Shout loudly!

Shout like [SIM] a loud trumpet!

Shout to warn my Israeli people about their sins [DOU]!

2They worship me every day;

they come to my temple because they say that they are eager to know what I want them to do.

They act as though they are a nation that does things that are righteous,

who would never abandon their God.

They request me to decide matters justly,

and they delight to come to worship me.

3They say, ‘We have ◄fasted/abstained from eating food► to please you,

but you did not [RHQ] notice our doing that.

We humbled ourselves,

but you did not [RHQ] pay any attention!’

I will tell you why I did not pay attention.

It is because when you fast,

you do it only to please yourselves,

and you act cruelly toward all your workers.

4You fast, but you also quarrel and fight with each other with your fists.

Doing things like that while you fast will certainly not cause me to hear your prayers where I am, high in heaven.

5You act as though [IRO] you humble yourselves [RHQ] by bowing your heads

like [SIM] the tops of reeds bend when the wind blows,

and you wear [RHQ] rough clothes and cover your heads with ashes like people do when they are grieving.

That is what you do when you are fasting,

but do you really think [RHQ] that will please me?

6No, that is not the kind of fasting that I desire.

What I really want [RHQ] is for you to free those who have been unjustly put in prison [DOU],

and to encourage those who are ◄treated cruelly/oppressed►;

I want you to free those who have been oppressed in any way.

7I want you to [RHQ] share your food with those who are hungry

and to allow those who have no houses to stay in your houses.

Give clothes to those who do not have clothes,

and do not hide from your relatives who need help from you.

8If you do those things,

what you do for others will be like [SIM] a light that shines when it dawns.

The troubles that have been caused by your sins will end quickly.

Others will know about your righteous behavior,

and with my glorious presence I will protect you from behind

like I protected the Israeli people when they left Egypt.

9Then you will call out to me,

and I will quickly answer and say that I will help you.’

Stop ◄oppressing people/treating people cruelly►;

stop falsely accusing people;

and stop saying evil things about people.

10Give food to those who are hungry,

and give to people who are afflicted/suffering the things that they need.

Your doing that will be like [MET] a light that shines in the darkness;

instead of doing evil to people [MET], the good things that you do for them will be like [SIM] sunshine at noontime.

11I, Yahweh, will guide you continually,

and I will give you good things to satisfy you.

I will enable you to remain strong and healthy.

You will be like [SIM] a garden that is well watered,

like [SIM] a spring that never dries up.

12Your people will rebuild the cities that were destroyed long ago;

they will build houses on top of the old foundations.

People will say that you are the ones who are repairing the holes in the city walls,

and who are repairing the streets where people live.

13Do not travel [MTY] long distances on Sabbath/rest days,

and on Sabbath days do not do only the things that you delight to do.

Enjoy the Sabbath days, and consider them to be delightful.

The Sabbath days are my holy days.

Honor me, Yahweh, in everything that you do on the Sabbath days.

Do not talk about and do things only to please yourselves.

If you do all the things that I have just now told you to do,

14I will enable you to be joyful.

I will greatly honor you;

I will honor you everywhere!

I will give to you the blessings that I gave to your ancestor Jacob.

Those things will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

59

Yahweh will rescue the people of Judah in spite of the evil things they have done

1Listen to this! Yahweh’s power [MTY] is not ended/gone, with the result that he cannot save you.

He has not become deaf [MTY], with the result that he cannot hear you when you call to him for help.

2But, you have separated yourselves from your God by the sins that you have committed.

Because of your sins, he has turned away from you,

with the result that he does not pay attention to what you request him to do.

3You do violent things [MTY] to others,

with the result that your hands are stained with their blood.

You constantly tell [MTY] lies,

and you say [MTY] evil things about others.

4When you accuse someone in court, what you say is not fair and it is not true.

You accuse people falsely.

You are constantly planning to cause trouble for others,

and then you do those evil things that you planned.

5What you plan to do to harm people [MET] is as dangerous as the eggs of a ◄cobra/poisonous snake►,

because cobras will hatch from those eggs.

You trap people like [MET] spiders trap/catch insects in their webs.

6We people cannot hide/cover our skin with clothes made of spider webs [MET],

and similarly you cannot hide the evil things that you have done.

You are constantly acting [MTY] violently.

7You [SYN] are very quick to go and do evil things,

and you hurry to murder people [MTY] who are innocent.

You are continually thinking about sinning.

Wherever you go, you destroy things and cause people to suffer.

8You do not know how to act peacefully or to treat others fairly.

You always are ◄dishonest/deceiving others► [MET],

and those who imitate your behavior never have any inner peace.

9Because of that, God does not rescue us from our enemies,

it seems that he is not acting fairly/righteously toward us.

We expect God to give us light,

but all he gives us is darkness [DOU].

10We are like [SIM] blind people who have to feel along a wall to be able to walk anywhere.

We stumble and trip at noontime like [SIM] we would when it is dark.

We are like [SIM] dead people who are among healthy people.

11We growl like [SIM] hungry bears;

we continually moan like [SIM] doves.

We seek people who do what is just/fair,

but we cannot find any anywhere.

We want God to rescue us,

but it seems that he is far away.

12But these things are happening because it is as though our sins are piled high in the presence of God,

and that they testify [PRS] against us.

We cannot deny it;

we know that we have done many wrong things.

13We know that we have rebelled against Yahweh;

we have turned away from him.

We ◄oppress people/treat people cruelly► by what we testify against them;

we do not allow them to get what they have a right to get.

We [SYN] think about the lies that we can tell,

and then we tell them.

14In our courts, the judges do not decide cases/matters fairly;

no one is acting righteously.

In plazas where people gather together, no one tells the truth [PRS];

it seems that people are not allowed to say what is true.

15No one tells the truth,

and people try to ruin the reputations of those who quit doing evil.

Yahweh looked around, and he saw that no one was doing what is just/fair,

and he was very displeased.

16He was disgusted when he saw that no one tried to help those who were being treated cruelly.

So he used his own power [MTY] to rescue them;

it is because he is always righteous that he did that [PRS].

17It is as though he is a soldier who [MET] puts on his armor and a helmet;

his continually doing what is right is like [MET] his armor, and his ability to rescue people is like his helmet.

His being extremely angry and his being ready to get revenge on those who do evil are like [MET] his robes.

18He will repay his enemies for the evil things that they have done.

He will severely punish [MTY] even those who live far from Jerusalem.

19When that happens, people everywhere, from the east to the west, will respect and honor Yahweh [MTY],

because he will come like [SIM] a rushing river that is pushed along by the strong wind that Yahweh sent.

20And Yahweh says that he will come to Jerusalem to free his people;

he will come to rescue those in Judah who have quit ◄doing sinful things/their sinful behavior►.

21This is what Yahweh says to his people: “This is the agreement that I will make with you:

My Spirit will not leave you,

and you will always have my message.

You will be able to declare it [MTY],

and your children and grandchildren will be able to declare it forever.”

60

Israel’s future glory

1You people of Jerusalem [PRS], stand up!

Yahweh has done glorious things for you,

and he has acted powerfully for you;

so show others that he is very great!

2But spiritual darkness has covered all the other people-groups on the earth,

complete darkness,

but Yahweh will show you how great he is,

and other people will also see it.

3By seeing what he has done for you, people of all people-groups will see that he is very great,

and kings will come to see the wonderful things that have happened to you.

4Yahweh says, “Look around and you will see the people who will be returning from ◄exile/countries to which they have been forced to go►!

Your sons will come from distant countries;

others will carry your little daughters home.

5When you look at this happening,

you will be very joyful [DOU],

because people will bring valuable goods to you from all around the world.

They will bring in ships valuable things from many nations.

6People will also bring valuable goods to you on herds/caravans of camels:

Camels from the Midian and Ephah areas of northern Arabia.

And from Sheba in southern Arabia they will come, bringing gold and frankincense;

they will all come to praise me, Yahweh.

7They will bring flocks of sheep and goats from Kedar in northern Arabia and give them to you.

They will bring [PRS] rams from Nebaioth for you to sacrifice on my altars,

and I will accept them happily.

At that time I will cause my temple to be very beautifully decorated.

8And what are those things that are

moving swiftly like [SIM] clouds?

They resemble [SIM] doves returning to their nests.

9But they are really ships from Tarshish that are bringing your people back here.

When your people come, they will bring with them all the valuable possessions that they have acquired,

and they will do that to honor me, Yahweh, your God, the Holy One of Israel,

because I will have greatly honored you.

10Foreigners will come and rebuild the walls of your cities,

and their kings will serve/help you.

Although I punished you because I was angry with you,

these things will happen now because I will act mercifully toward you because I am kind.

11The gates of your cities will be open during the day and also during the night,

in order that people will be able to bring into your cities valuable things from many countries,

with their kings being led to you in the processions.

12And the kingdoms and nations whose people refuse to allow you to rule them will be completely destroyed [DOU].

13The glorious/beautiful things in Lebanon will be brought to you—

lumber from cypress trees and fir trees and pine trees —

to be used to make my temple beautiful.

When that is done, my temple [MTY] will truly be glorious!

14The descendants of those who ◄oppressed you/treated you cruelly► will come and bow down to you;

those who despised you will prostrate themselves in front of your feet.

They will say that your city on Zion Hill

is the City of Yahweh,

where the Holy One of Israel lives.

15Previously everyone hated you and ignored you,

but now your city will be majestic/honored forever;

and I will cause you to be joyful forever.

16People of all nations and their kings will gladly bring [MET] their wealth to you.

And when that happens, you will realize that I truly am Yahweh,

the one who saves you and rescues you from your enemies,

and that I am the mighty one to whom you Israeli people belong.

17Instead of metals that are not valuable, like bronze and iron,

I will bring to you silver and gold.

Instead of wood and stones,

I will bring you bronze and iron for your buildings.

There will be peace in your country,

and your rulers will do what is fair/just.

18People in your country will no longer act violently,

and people will no longer destroy your land and cause it to become desolate/ruined.

The people in the city will be safe,

and everyone there will praise me [MTY].

19And you will no longer need the sun and moon to give you light,

because I, Yahweh, will give you more light than the sun and moon;

I will be a glorious light for you forever.

20It will seem as though the sun and moon will always be shining [LIT],

because I, Yahweh, will be an everlasting light for you.

You will never again be sad because of things that happen to you.

21Your people will all be righteous,

and they will occupy the land forever,

because I myself have put you there like people plant trees [MET]

in order that you will show others that I am very great.

22At that time, the groups that are very small now will become very large clans,

and small clans will become great nations.

All those things will happen because, I, Yahweh, will cause them to happen at the right time.”

61

Good news for oppressed people

1The Spirit of Yahweh our Lord is on me;

he has appointed [MTY] me to bring good news to those who are oppressed,

to comfort those who are discouraged,

to free all those who are as though they are chained/tied [DOU] by the wrong things that they continually do.

2He has sent me to tell those who mourn about the members of their families who died (OR, who are still in Babylonia)

that now is the time when Yahweh will act kindly toward his people;

now is the time when our God will ◄get revenge on/punish► their enemies.

3To all those in Jerusalem who mourn,

he will give flower necklaces to wear;

instead of ashes that they put on their heads to show that they are sad;

he will cause them to rejoice [MTY] instead of being sad;

he will enable them to be [MET] happy instead of being discouraged.

They will be called ‘people who continually do what is right,

people who are like tall/strong oak trees that Yahweh has planted’

to show others that he is very great.

4Those who return from Babylon will rebuild the cities that the soldiers from Babylon tore down.

Even though those cities have been destroyed and abandoned for many years,

they will be restored/rebuilt.

5Foreigners will be the ones who will take care of your flocks of sheep and goats,

and plow your fields and take care of your grapevines.

6But you are the ones who will be like the priests to serve Yahweh,

to work for God.

You will enjoy valuable goods that are brought from other nations,

and you will be happy that those things have become yours.

7Previously you were shamed and disgraced,

but now you will have great blessings;

previously your enemies humbled you,

but now you will have many good things;

you will be happy because of being in your land again,

and you will rejoice forever.

8“I, Yahweh, am very pleased with those/judges who decide matters fairly;

I hate those who illegally take things from other people.

I will surely repay my people

◄for/because of► all that they have suffered in the past.

And I will make an everlasting agreement with them.

9Their descendants will be honored by people of other nations [DOU].

Everyone who sees them will know that they are a nation that I, Yahweh, have blessed.”

10I greatly rejoice because of what Yahweh has done!

I am happy,

because he has saved me and declared that I am righteous;

those blessings are like [MET] a robe that he has put on me.

I am as happy as [SIM] a bridegroom in his wedding suit,

or a bride wearing jewels.

11Just as seeds sown in a garden sprout from the soil and grow [DOU],

Yahweh our God will cause people of all nations to act righteously,

with the result that they will praise him for doing that.

62

Isaiah’s prayer for Jerusalem

1Because I am very concerned about the people of Jerusalem [DOU],

I will do something to help them.

I will not stop praying for them

until they are rescued/freed from their oppressors,

until that becomes as apparent to everyone as the dawn every morning,

until people can see it as clearly as [SIM] they see a torch shining brightly at night.

2Some day the people of many nations will know that Yahweh has rescued you, his people.

Their kings will see that your city is very great/glorious.

And Yahweh [MTY] will give your city a new name.

3It will be as though Yahweh will hold you up in his hands in order that everyone can see you.

Under his authority [MTY], you will be like a glorious headband/turban worn by a king.

4Your city will never again be called ‘the deserted/abandoned city’ and your country will never again be called ‘the desolate land;’

it will be called ‘the land that Yahweh delights in’,

and it will also be called ‘married to Yahweh’.

It will be called that because Yahweh will be delighted with you,

and it will be as though you are his bride [MET].

5You people will live in all the country of Judah

like [SIM] a young man lives with his bride.

And our God will be happy that you belong to him

like [SIM] a bridegroom is happy that his bride belongs to him.

6You people of Jerusalem, I have placed watchmen on your walls;

they will [LIT] earnestly pray to Yahweh day and night.

You watchmen, you must not stop praying

and reminding Yahweh about what he has promised to do!

7And tell Yahweh that he should not rest

until he causes Jerusalem to be a city that is famous throughout the world.

8Yahweh has raised his right hand to solemnly promise to the people of Jerusalem,

“I will use my power [MTY] and never again allow your enemies to defeat you;

soldiers from other nations will never come again to take away your grain

and the wine that you worked hard to produce.

9You yourselves grew the grain,

and you will be the ones who will praise me, Yahweh, while you eat the bread made from that grain.

Inside the courtyards of my temple

you yourselves will drink the wine made from the grapes that you harvested.”

10Go out through the city gates!

Prepare the highway on which people will return from other countries!

Cause the road to become smooth;

clear off all the stones;

set up signal flags to help the people-groups to see where the road to Jerusalem is.

11This is the message that Yahweh has sent to the people of every nation:

“Tell the people of Israel, ‘The one who will rescue/save you is coming!

Look! He will be bringing to you ◄your reward/what you deserve for the good things that you have done►;

those whom he is setting free will be going ahead of him.’ ”

12They will be called ‘Yahweh’s own people,

the ones whom he rescued’.

And Jerusalem will be known as the city that Yahweh loves,

the city that is no longer abandoned.

63

Yahweh’s punishment on the nations

1I ask, “Who is this who is coming from Bozrah city in Edom,

whose clothes are stained red from blood?

Who is this who is wearing beautiful robes?”

He replies, “It is I, Yahweh, declaring that I have defeated your enemies,

and I am able to rescue you!”

2I ask him, “What are those red spots on your clothes?

It appears that [SIM] you have been treading/tramping on grapes to make wine.”

3He replies, “I have been treading on my enemies, not on grapes.

I did it myself; no one helped me.

I punished them because I was very angry with them,

and my clothes became stained with their blood.

4I did that because it was time for me [SYN] to get revenge;

it was time to rescue my people from those who had oppressed them.

5I searched for someone who would enable me to help my people,

but I was amazed/shocked that there was no one to help me.

So I defeated their enemies with my own power/strength [MTY];

I was able [PRS] to do that because of my being very angry.

6Because I was extremely angry, I punished the nations;

I caused them to stagger like [MET] drunk men,

and I caused their blood to pour out on the ground.”

Yahweh’s kindness to his people

7I will tell about Yahweh faithfully loving his people,

and I will praise him for all that he has done.

Yahweh has done good things for us people [MTY] of Israel;

he has acted mercifully toward us,

and he has steadfastly and faithfully loved us.

8Yahweh said, “These are my people;

they will not deceive me;”

so he rescued us.

9When we had many troubles,

he was sad also.

He sent his angel to rescue us.

Because he loved us and was merciful to us,

he saved us;

it was as though he picked our ancestors up and carried them all those years during which they were oppressed in Egypt.

10But we rebelled against him,

and we caused his Holy Spirit to be sad.

So he became like [MET] an enemy

who fought against us.

11Then we thought about what happened long ago,

during the time when Moses led our ancestors out of Egypt.

We cried out, “Where is the one who brought our ancestors through the Red Sea

while Moses led them?

Where is the one who sent his Holy Spirit

to be among our ancestors?

12Where is the one who showed his glorious power [MTY],

and caused the water to separate when Moses lifted his arm above it,

with the result that he will be honored/praised forever?

13Where is the one who led our ancestors while they walked through the sea bed?

They were like [SIM] horses that were racing along and never stumbled.

14They were like [SIM] cattle that walk down into a valley to rest,

and the Spirit of Yahweh enabled them to go to a place where they could rest.

Yahweh, you led your people,

and you caused yourself [MTY] to ◄get a wonderful reputation/be greatly honored►.”

A prayer for God’s mercy and pardon

15Yahweh, look down from heaven;

look down on us from your holy and glorious home.

You were [RHQ] previously very concerned about us, and you acted powerfully to help us.

But it seems that you do not act mercifully and zealously for us anymore.

16You are our father.

Abraham does not know what is happening to us,

and Jacob is not concerned about us, either,

but Yahweh, you are our father;

you rescued us long ago.

17Yahweh, why did you cause us to wander away from your road [RHQ]?

Why did you cause us to be stubborn,

with the result that we no longer revere you [RHQ]?

Help us like you did previously,

because we are the people who serve you and belong to you.

18We, your holy people, possessed your sacred temple for only a short time,

and now our enemies have destroyed it.

19Now it seems as though we never were ruled by you,

as though we were never part of your family [MTY].

64

1“Yahweh, I wish that you would tear open the sky and come down,

and cause the mountains to shake in your presence.

2Be like a fire that burns twigs

and causes water to boil!

Come down in order that your enemies will know who you are,

and the people of other nations will tremble in your presence.

3You have done awesome things which we were not expecting you to do;

the mountains shook when you came down at Horeb Mountain.

4Since ◄long ago/the world began►, no one [SYN] has ever seen or heard about a God like you;

you help those who ◄depend on/trust in► you.

5You help those who joyfully do what is right,

those who conduct their lives as you want them to.

But we did not do that; we continued to sin,

and so you became angry with us.

We have been sinning for a long time,

so only if we continually do what you want us to do will we be saved.

6We have all become people who are not fit to worship you;

all of the good things that we have done are only like [SIM] filthy/blood-stained rags.

Because of our sins, we are like [SIM] leaves that dry up

and are blown away by the wind.

7None of our people worships you,

and no one is completely dedicated to [IDM] you.

You have turned away from us.

It is as though you have caused us to be forced to continue our sinful behavior.

8Yahweh, you are our father.

We are like [MET] clay,

and you created us, like [MET] a potter creates pottery.

9Yahweh, do not continue to be angry with us;

do not keep thinking about our sins forever.

Do not forget that we are all your people.

10All of your towns in Judah have become like [MET] deserts;

even Jerusalem has been destroyed.

11Your glorious temple on Zion Hill, where our ancestors worshiped you,

has been destroyed by fire.

And all our other beautiful things have been ruined.

12Yahweh, you see all those things, so we worry that you will refrain from helping us,

and that you will cause us to suffer much more.

65

God’s punishment of the rebellious Israelis

1This is what Yahweh said:

“I was ready to reply to my people,

but no one requested me to help them.

I was ready to help even those who did not call out to me.

I continued to say, ‘I am here to help you!’

2It is as though I have continually held out my arms to show that I am ready to help my people who rebel against me,

and who continually do the evil things that they want to do.

3They boldly continue to do things that cause me to be angry:

They offer sacrifices to their idols in their gardens,

and they burn incense to them on altars made of bricks.

4They secretly remain awake at night in burial caves,

talking with the spirits of ◄dead people/their ancestors►.

They eat the meat of pigs,

and their pots are full of other meat that is also unacceptable to me.

5Then they say to others,

‘Stay away from me; do not come near me,

because I am very holy,

with the result that you should not touch me.’

People like that are like [MET] smoke in my nose

from a fire that burns continually.

6I have written a record of all the evil things that they have done.

And I will not do nothing about all those things;

I will certainly punish them

7for the sins that they and their ancestors have committed.

They have mocked/insulted me by burning incense to their idols on the hilltops.

So I will punish them like they deserve for doing those things.”

8This is also what Yahweh said:

“When there is a cluster of nice grapes on a vine,

people do not throw them away,

because they know that there is good juice in those grapes.

Similarly, because there are some people in Judah who faithfully serve/worship me,

I will not get rid of all of them.

9I will spare some of the descendants of Jacob

who are living on the hills of Judah.

I have chosen them, and they will possess that land;

they will worship/serve me, and they will live there.

10Then all the land from the Sharon Plain near the Mediterranean Sea and as far east as Achor Valley near Jericho will become pastureland

where their cattle and sheep will rest.

11But it will be different for you who have abandoned me,

you who do not worship me on Zion, my sacred hill,

you who worship Gad and Meni, the gods who you think will bring you good luck and good fortune.

12It is I, not Meni, who will decide/say what will happen to you;

you will all be slaughtered by swords.

That will happen because you did not answer

when I called out to you.

I spoke to you,

but you did not pay attention.

Instead, you did things that I said are evil;

you chose to do things that do not please me.

13I, Yahweh the Lord, will give to those who worship and obey me things to eat and drink,

and they will be happy;

but all you evil people will be hungry and thirsty,

and you will be sad and disgraced.

14Those who worship and obey me will sing joyfully,

but you evil people will wail loudly

because you will be suffering in your inner beings.

15Those whom I have chosen will use your names when they curse people;

I, Yahweh the Lord, will get rid of you.

But I will give to those who worship and obey me a new name that they will use when they bless people.

16The people in this land have had many troubles,

but I will cause those troubles to occur no more.

Therefore those who ask me to bless them and those who solemnly promise to do something

should never forget that I am God, who faithfully do what I promise to do.”

Yahweh’s new creation

17“Note this: Some day I will create a new heaven and a new earth.

They will be very wonderful, with the result that you will no longer think about all the troubles you had previously.

18Be glad and always rejoice because of what I will do:

Jerusalem will be a place where people rejoice;

the people who live there will always be happy.

19I will rejoice about Jerusalem,

and I will be delighted with my people.

People will no longer weep or cry because of being distressed.

20No child will die when it is still an infant;

all people will live until they are very old.

People will consider that anyone who is 100 years old is still young;

they will consider that anyone who dies who is younger than that has been cursed.

21My people will build houses and then live in them.

They will plant vineyards and then eat grapes from those vineyards.

22As for the houses that they build, no one will take those houses away from them and live in them.

No one will take a vineyard away from its owner.

My chosen people will live a long time, like trees do,

and they will enjoy what they have accomplished—

the houses that they have built and the crops that they have planted.

23They will not work hard in vain,

and their children will not die from some ◄calamity/terrible thing happening to them►.

I will certainly bless their children and their grandchildren.

24Before they call to me to help them, I will answer;

I will answer their prayers while they are still praying for me to do something for them.

25No one will be harmed or injured anywhere on Zion, my sacred hill:

Wolves and lambs will eat grass together peacefully;

lions will eat hay like oxen do, and they will not attack people.

Snakes will not hurt anyone; they will lie on the ground and eat only dirt.

That is surely what it will be like because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

66

Yahweh will judge all the nations

1Yahweh also said this:

“All of heaven is like my throne,

and the whole earth is like my footstool.

So you could certainly not [RHQ] build a house

that would be adequate for me to live in and rest!

2I [MTY] have created everything;

all things exist because I made them.

That is true because I, Yahweh, have said it.

The people I am most pleased with are those who are humble,

who patiently endure it when they ◄suffer/are afflicted►,

and who tremble when they hear me rebuking them.

3You have enjoyed continually doing the things that you want to do:

Some of you slaughter oxen to sacrifice them to me,

but you also bring human sacrifices to your idols!

You sacrifice lambs to me,

but you kill dogs to offer them to your gods.

You offer grain to me,

but you also bring pigs’ blood to your idols.

You burn incense to me,

but you also praise your idols.

You enjoy doing those disgusting things.

4When I called out to you,

you did not answer.

When I spoke, you did not pay attention.

You did many things that I say are evil;

you chose to do things that I did not like.

So now I will punish you by causing you to experience the things that you are very afraid of.”

Yahweh will help the people of Jerusalem

5But you people who tremble when you hear what Yahweh says,

listen to what he says now:

“Some of your people hate you and reject you

because you belong to me.

They make fun of you, and they say,

‘Yahweh should show his glorious power!

We want to see him do something to cause you to be truly happy.’

But some day those people will be very disgraced.”

6At that time, you will listen to the noise in the city.

You will hear the shouting in the temple.

It will be the sound of Yahweh shouting

while he is punishing his enemies!

7No one [RHQ] ever heard that a woman gave birth to a baby

when she was just starting to have birth pains.

8Certainly no one [RHQ] ever heard about such a thing happening,

and no one has ever seen it happen.

Similarly, no one ever [RHQ] heard that a nation was created in one instant,

not even in one day.

But Jerusalem is like [MET] a woman who gives birth to children

as soon as she starts to have birth pains.

9Women certainly do not [RHQ] bring infants to the time when they are ready to be born and then do not allow them to be born.

Similarly, he will do for Jerusalem [MET] what he has promised to do:

He will cause Jerusalem to be full of people again.

That will happen because Yahweh has said it.

10You people in [APO] Jerusalem, rejoice!

And all you people who love Jerusalem should also be happy.

You people who were sad because of what happened to Jerusalem,

you should now be glad.

11You people in Jerusalem will have everything that you need

like [MET] a baby that gets all it needs from its mother’s breasts.

You will enjoy all the abundant and glorious things [MET] in the city.

12Yahweh has promised,

“I will cause Jerusalem to be full of valuable things that come from other nations;

those things will pour into Jerusalem; it will be like [SIM] a big flood.

I will take care of the people of Jerusalem

like women care for the babies that they nurse.

13I will comfort you people in Jerusalem like [MET] mothers comfort their children.”

14When you see those things happen,

you [SYN] will rejoice.

Your old bones will become strong again

like [SIM] grass that grows quickly/well in the springtime.

When that happens, everyone will know that Yahweh has power [MTY] to help those who worship and obey him,

but that he is angry with his enemies.

15Yahweh will come down with flames of fire,

and his chariots will come down like [SIM] a whirlwind;

he will be extremely angry,

and he will punish his enemies by burning them in a fire.

16It is as though [MET] Yahweh has a big sword,

and he will judge and execute many people.

17Yahweh says, “Some of you people purify/bathe yourselves and then go to a garden to worship your gods. You eat the meat of pigs and lizards and mice, and other things that I have forbidden you to eat. So I will get rid of you for doing that.

18I know all the evil things that you think and do. It is now time for me to gather together the people who live in all nations and who speak all languages, and to show them that I am very great.

19I will put a mark on them, and those whom I have spared will go to various distant countries: to Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal, Javan, and to distant islands. I will send them to proclaim to nations that have never heard about me that I am very great and glorious. 20Then they will bring back here your relatives who have been ◄exiled/forced to go to other countries►, to be like [SIM] an offering to me. They will come on horses, in chariots, on mules, and on camels. They will come to Zion, my sacred hill in Jerusalem. That will be like [SIM] the offerings that my Israeli people used to bring in the correct manner to the temple. 21I solemnly promise that I will appoint some of them to be priests, and others to do other work in my temple. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it.

22I also promise that just like the new heaven and the new earth will last forever, you will always have descendants, and you [MTY] will always be honored. 23At every festival to celebrate the Sabbath each week and the new moon each month, everyone will come and worship me. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it. 24Then they will go out of Jerusalem and look at the corpses of those who rebelled against me. The maggots in those corpses will never die, the fire will never stop burning them, and everyone who sees their corpses will detest them.”