Study Desk

"You have not brought Me your sheep or goats for your burnt offerings, Nor honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, Nor wearied you with [demands for offerings of] incense.

"I, only I, am He who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.

'For I will pour out water on him who is thirsty, And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants;

"For the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts says this, 'I am the First and I am the Last; And there is no God besides Me.

Who has made a god or cast an idol which is profitable for nothing?

In fact, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble, let them stand up, let them be terrified, let them together be put to shame.

He cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and lets it grow strong for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain nourishes it.

Then it becomes fuel for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also kindles a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god [from the same wood] and worships it. He makes it into a carved idol [with his own hands] and falls down and worships it!

But from what is left of the wood he makes a god, his carved idol. He falls down before it, he worships it and prays to it and says, "Save me, for you are my god."

They do not know, nor do they understand, for God has muddied their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts (minds) as well so that they cannot understand.

"Remember [the foolishness of] these things, O Jacob And Israel, for you are My servant! I formed you, you are My servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me.

"I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you."

Shout for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done it! Shout in triumph, you depths of the earth; Break forth into jubilant rejoicing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, And He shows His glory in Israel.

For the LORD, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb says this, "I am the LORD, Maker of all things, Who alone stretches out the heavens, Who spreads out the earth by Myself,

"For the sake of Jacob My servant, And of Israel My chosen, I have also called you by your name; I have given you an honorable name Though you have not known Me.

For the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker says this, "Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, And give Me orders concerning the work of My hands.

For this is what the LORD says, "The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush (ancient Ethiopia) And the Sabeans, men of stature, Will come over to you and they will be yours; They will walk behind you, in chains [of subjection to you] they will come over, And they will bow down before you; They will make supplication to you, [humbly and earnestly] saying, 'Most certainly God is with you, and there is no other, No other God [besides Him].'"

Israel has been saved by the LORD With an everlasting salvation; You will not be put to shame or humiliated for all eternity.

For the LORD, who created the heavens (He is God, who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited) says this, "I am the LORD, and there is no one else.

"I have not spoken in secret, In a corner of a land of darkness; I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, 'Seek Me in vain [with no benefit for yourselves].' I, the LORD, speak righteousness [the truth—trustworthy, a straightforward correlation between deeds and words], Declaring things that are upright.