Study Desk

"Comfort, comfort My people,"^(a) says your God.

"Speak tenderly to^[a] Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of forced labor is over, her iniquity^(b) has been pardoned,^(c) and she has received from the Lord 's hand double for all her sins."^(d)

A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;^(e) make a straight highway for our God in the desert.^(f)

Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places, a plain.^(g)

And the glory of the Lord will appear,^(h) and all humanity^[b] together will see it,⁽ⁱ⁾ for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.^(j)

A voice was saying, "Cry out!" Another^[c] said, "What should I cry out?" "All humanity is grass,^(k) and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.^(l)

The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath^[d] of the Lord blows on them;^[e] indeed, the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flowers fade,^(m) but the word of our God remains forever."⁽ⁿ⁾

Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain.^(o) Jerusalem, herald of good news,^(p) raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"^(q)

See, the Lord God comes with strength, and His power establishes His rule.^(r) His reward is with Him,^(s) and His gifts accompany Him.

He protects His flock like a shepherd;^(t) He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them in the fold of His garment. He gently leads those that are nursing.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?^(u) Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in the scales?

Who has directed^[f] the Spirit of the Lord , or who gave Him His counsel?^(v)

Who did He consult with? Who gave Him understanding^(w) and taught Him the paths of justice? Who taught Him knowledge and showed Him the way of understanding?

Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered as a speck of dust in the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

Lebanon is not enough for fuel, or its animals enough for a burnt offering.^(x)

All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are considered by Him as nothingness and emptiness.^(y)

Who will you compare God with? What likeness will you compare Him to?^(z)

To an idol?—something that a smelter casts, and a metalworker plates with gold and makes silver welds for it?^(aa)

To one who shapes a pedestal, choosing wood that does not rot?^[g] He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not fall over.^(ab)

Do you not know?^(ac) Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth?^(ad)

God is enthroned above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.^(ae) He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth^(af) and spreads them out like a tent to live in.^(ag)

He reduces princes to nothing^(ah) and makes judges of the earth irrational.

They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground when He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.^(ai)

"Who will you compare Me to,^(aj) or who is My equal?" asks the Holy One.

Look up^[h] and see: who created^(ak) these? He brings out the starry host by number; He calls all of them by name.^(al) Because of His great power and strength, not one of them is missing.

Jacob, why do you say, and Israel, why do you assert: "My way is hidden from the Lord , and my claim is ignored by my God"?^(am)

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God,^(an) the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding.^(ao)

He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless.

Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall,

but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength;^(ap) they will soar on wings like eagles;^(aq) they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.

"Be silent before Me, islands!^(a) And let peoples renew their strength. Let them approach, then let them testify; let us come together for the trial.

Who has stirred him up from the east?^(b) He calls righteousness to his feet.^[a](c) The Lord hands nations over to him,^(d) and he subdues kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, like wind-driven stubble with his bow.

He pursues them, going on safely, hardly touching the path with his feet.

Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, am the first, and with the last^(e)—I am He."^(f)

The islands see and are afraid, the whole earth trembles.^(g) They approach and arrive.

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

The craftsman encourages the metalworker;^(h) the one who flattens with the hammer supports the one who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good." He fastens it with nails so that it will not fall over.⁽ⁱ⁾

But you, Israel, My servant,^(j) Jacob, whom I have chosen,^(k) descendant of Abraham, My friend^(l)—

I brought^[b] you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you: You are My servant; I have chosen you and not rejected you.^(m)

Do not fear, for I am with you;⁽ⁿ⁾ do not be afraid, for I am your God.^(o) I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.^(p)

Be sure that all who are enraged against you will be ashamed and disgraced;^(q) those who contend with you will become as nothing and will perish.

You will look for those who contend with you, but you will not find them. Those who war against you will become absolutely nothing.

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

Do not fear, you worm Jacob,^(s) you men^[c] of Israel: I will help you— this is the Lord 's declaration. Your Redeemer^(t) is the Holy One of Israel.^(u)

See, I will make you into a sharp threshing board, new, with many teeth. You will thresh mountains and pulverize them and make hills into chaff.^(v)

You will winnow them^(w) and a wind will carry them away, a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the Lord ; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them;^(x) I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

I will open rivers on the barren heights,^(y) and springs in the middle of the plains. I will turn the desert into a pool of water and dry land into springs of water.^(z)

I will plant cedars in the desert, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees.^(aa) I will put juniper trees in the desert, elms and cypress trees together,

so that all may see and know, consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this,^(ab) the Holy One of Israel has created^(ac) it.

"Submit your case," says the Lord . "Present your arguments," says Jacob's King.

"Let them come and tell us what will happen.^(ad) Tell us the past events, so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome, or tell us the future.

Tell us the coming events,^(ae) then we will know that you are gods. Indeed, do something good or bad, then we will be in awe^[d] and perceive.

Look, you are nothing^(af) and your work is worthless. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

"I have raised up one from the north,^(ag) and he has come, one from the east^(ah) who invokes My^[e] name.^(ai) He will march over rulers as if they were mud, like a potter who treads the clay.

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

I was the first to say to Zion:^[f] Look! Here they are! And I gave a herald of good news to Jerusalem.^(aj)

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

Look, all of them are a delusion;^[g] their works are nonexistent; their images are wind and emptiness.

"This^(a) is My Servant;^(b) I strengthen Him, this is My Chosen One;^(c) I delight in Him.^(d) I have put My Spirit on Him;^(e) He will bring justice^[a] to the nations.^(f)

He will not cry out or shout or make His voice heard in the streets.

He will not break a bruised reed, and He will not put out a smoldering wick; He will faithfully bring justice.

He will not grow weak or be discouraged until He has established justice on earth. The islands will wait for His instruction."^(g)

This is what God, Yahweh, says— who created the heavens and stretched them out,^(h) who spread out the earth and what comes from it,⁽ⁱ⁾ who gives breath to the people on it and life^[b] to those who walk on it^(j)—

"I, Yahweh, have called You for a righteous purpose,^[c](k) and I will hold You by Your hand.^(l) I will keep You and appoint You to be a covenant for the people^(m) and a light to the nations,⁽ⁿ⁾

in order to open blind eyes,^(o) to bring out prisoners from the dungeon,^(p) and those sitting in darkness from the prison house.

I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another^(q) or My praise to idols.

The past events have indeed happened. Now I declare new events;^(r) I announce them to you before they occur."

Sing a new song to the Lord ;^(s) sing His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea with all that fills it,^(t) you islands with your^[d] inhabitants.

Let the desert and its cities shout, the settlements where Kedar dwells cry aloud.^(u) Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;^(v) let them cry out from the mountaintops.

Let them give glory to the Lord and declare His praise in the islands.

The Lord advances like a warrior; He stirs up His zeal like a soldier.^(w) He shouts, He roars aloud, He prevails over His enemies.

"I have kept silent from ages past; I have been quiet and restrained Myself.^(x) But now, I will groan like a woman in labor,^(y) gasping breathlessly.

I will lay waste mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn rivers into islands and dry up marshes.^(z)

I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;^(aa) I will guide them on paths they have not known. I will turn darkness to light in front of them^(ab) and rough places into level ground.^(ac) This is what I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.^(ad)

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

"Listen, you deaf! Look, you blind, so that you may see.^(af)

Who is blind but My servant,^(ag) or deaf like My messenger I am sending? Who is blind like My dedicated one,^[e] or blind like the servant of the Lord ?

Though seeing many things,^[f] you do not obey. Though his ears are open, he does not listen."^(ah)

The Lord was pleased, because of His righteousness, to magnify His instruction and make it glorious.

But this is a people plundered and looted, all of them trapped in holes or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder^(ai) with no one to rescue them and loot, with no one saying, "Give it back!"

Who among you will pay attention to this? Let him listen and obey in the future.

Who gave Jacob to the robber,^[g] and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord ? Have we not sinned against Him? They were not willing to walk in His ways, and they would not listen to His instruction.

So He poured out on Jacob His furious anger and the power of war. It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it; it burned him, but he paid no attention.^[h](aj)

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

I will be with you^(d) when you pass through the waters,^(e) and when you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire,^(f) and the flame will not burn you.

For I Yahweh your God,^(g) the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior,^(h) give Egypt as a ransom for you, Cush and Seba in your place.

Because you are precious in My sight⁽ⁱ⁾ and honored, and I love you,^(j) I will give people in exchange for you and nations instead of your life.

Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east,^(k) and gather you from the west.^(l)

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

everyone called by My name and created for My glory. I have formed him; indeed, I have made him."

Bring out a people who are blind, yet have eyes,^(o) and are deaf, yet have ears.

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

"You are My witnesses"^(r)— this is the Lord 's declaration— "and My servant whom I have chosen,^(s) so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He.^(t) No god was formed before Me, and there will be none after Me.^(u)

I, I am Yahweh, and there is no other Savior but Me.^(v)

I alone declared, saved, and proclaimed— and not some foreign god^[a] among you. So you are My witnesses"— this is the Lord 's declaration— "and^[b] I am God.^(w)

Also, from today on I am He alone, and none can deliver from My hand.^(x) I act, and who can reverse it?"^(y)

This is what the Lord , your Redeemer,^(z) the Holy One of Israel^(aa) says: Because of you, I will send to Babylon and bring all of them as fugitives,^[c] even the Chaldeans^(ab) in the ships in which they rejoice.^[d]

I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.

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

who brings out the chariot and horse,^(ad) the army and the mighty one together (they lie down, they do not rise again; they are extinguished, quenched like a wick^(ae))—

"Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old.^(af)

Look, I am about to do something new;^(ag) even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,^(ah) rivers^[e] in the desert.

The animals of the field will honor Me, jackals and ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert,^(ai) to give drink to My chosen people.

The people I formed for Myself will declare My praise.^(aj)

"But Jacob, you have not called on Me, because, Israel, you have become weary of Me.^(ak)

You have not brought Me your sheep for burnt offerings or honored Me with your sacrifices.^(al) I have not burdened you with offerings or wearied you with incense.^[f]

You have not bought Me aromatic cane with silver, or satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened Me with your sins; you have wearied Me^(am) with your iniquities.^(an)

"It is I who sweep away your transgressions^(ao) for My own sake^(ap) and remember your sins no more.^(aq)

Take Me to court; let us argue our case together.^(ar) State your case, so that you may be vindicated.

Your first father sinned,^(as) and your mediators have rebelled against Me.^(at)

So I defiled the officers of the sanctuary, and set Jacob apart for destruction^(au) and Israel for abuse.