that you were hard, and your neck was an iron sinew, and your forehead bronze,  therefore I declared it to you long ago. Before it came I made you hear, lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them, and my carved image and my moulded image commanded them.’  “You have heard, look at them all. And do you not declare it? From now on I shall make you hear new ones, even hidden ones, which you have not known.  “Now they shall be created and not long ago. And before this day you have not heard them, lest you should say, ‘Look, I knew them.’ “No, you have not heard; no, you have not known; no, from of old your ear has not been open. Because I knew that you are indeed treacherous, and are called ‘a transgressor from the womb.’  “For My Name’s sake I postponed My displeasure, and for My praise I held it back from you, so as not to cut you off.  “See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. “For My own sake, for My own sake, I do it. For how is it profaned? And My esteem I do not give to another.  “Listen to Me, O Yaʽaqoḇ, and Yisra’ĕl, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last.  “Also, My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has stretched out the heavens. I call to them, let them stand together. All of you, gather yourselves, and hear! Who among them has declared these? יהוה has loved him. Let him do His pleasure on Baḇel, and His arm be on the Chaldeans.“I, I have spoken  I have also called him, I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

 “Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, I was there. And now the Master יהוה has sent Me, and His Spirit.”  Thus said יהוה, your Redeemer, the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl, “I am יהוה your Elohim, teaching you what is best, leading you by the way you should go.  “If only you had listened to My commands! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. “And your seed would have been like the sand, and the offspring of your inward parts like the grains of sand. His name would not have been cut off nor destroyed from before Me. “Come out of Baḇel! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare this with a voice of singing, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth! Say, ‘יהוה has redeemed His servant Yaʽaqoḇ!’ ”  And they did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He caused waters from a rock to flow for them; He split the rock, and waters gushed out.  “There is no peace for the wrong,” said יהוה.” Listen to Me, O coastlands, and hear, you peoples from afar! יהוה has called Me from the womb, from My mother’s belly He has caused My Name to be remembered. And He made My mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand He hid Me, and made Me a polished shaft. In His quiver He hid Me.”  And He said to Me, ‘You are My servant, O Yisra’ĕl, in whom I am adorned.’  And I said, ‘I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for emptiness, and in vain. But my right-ruling is with יהוה, and my work with my Elohim.’ ” And now said יהוה – who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Yaʽaqoḇ back to Him, though Yisra’ĕl is not gathered to Him, yet I am esteemed in the eyes of יהוה, and My Elohim has been My strength –  and He says, “Shall it be a small matter for You to be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Yaʽaqoḇ, and to bring back the preserved ones of Yisra’ĕl? And I shall give You as a light to the gentiles, to be My deliverance to the ends of the earth!”  Thus said יהוה, the Redeemer of Yisra’ĕl, their Set-apart One, to the despised , to the loathed One of the nation, to the Servant of rulers, “Sovereigns shall see and arise, rulers also shall bow themselves, because of יהוה who is steadfast, the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl. And He has chosen You!”  Thus said יהוה, “In a favourable time I shall answer You, and in the day of deliverance I shall help You – and I guard You and give You for a covenant of the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the ruined inheritances,  to say to the prisoners, ‘Go out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ “Let them feed on the ways, and let their pasture be on all bare hills.  “They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither heat or sun strike them, for He who has compassion on them shall lead them, even by fountains of water guide them. “And I shall make all My mountains a way, and My highways raised up.  “See, these come from far away, and see, those from the north and the west, and these from the land of Sinim.” Sing, O heavens, rejoice, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For יהוה shall comfort His people and have compassion on His afflicted ones. But Tsiyon says, “יהוה has forsaken me, and יהוה has forgotten me.”  “Would a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Though they forget, I never forget you.  “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are always before Me “Your sons shall hurry, your destroyers and those who laid you waste depart from  “Lift up your eyes round about and see, all of them gather together and come to you. As I live,” declares יהוה, “you shall put on all of them as an ornament, and bind them on you as a bride does.  “For your wastes, and your deserted places, and the land of your destruction, shall soon be too narrow for the inhabitants, while those who swallowed you up are far away.  “The sons of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, ‘The place is too narrow for me, make room for me to live.’  “And you shall say in your heart, ‘Who has brought forth these for me, since I am bereaved and barren, an exile, and wandering to and fro? And who reared them? See, I was left alone – from where did these come?’ ”  Thus said the Master יהוה, “See, I lift My hand up to the gentiles, and set up My banner for the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters carried on their shoulders; “And sovereigns shall be your foster fathers, and their sovereignesses your nursing mothers. They bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. And you shall know that I am יהוה – those who wait for Me shall not be ashamed.” Is prey taken from the mighty, and the captives of the righteous delivered?  Yet thus said יהוה, “Even the captives of the mighty is taken away, and the prey of the ruthless is delivered; and I strive with him who strives with you, and I save your children.  “And I shall feed those who oppress you with their own flesh, and let them drink their own blood as sweet wine. All flesh shall know that I, יהוה, am your Saviour, and your Redeemer, the Elohim of Yaʽaqoḇ.”  Thus says יהוה, “Where is the certificate of your mother’s divorce, whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Look, you were sold for your crookednesses, and your mother was put away for your transgressions. “When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Was My hand too short to redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? See, by My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink for there is not water, and die of thirst. “I clothe the heavens with darkness, and I make sackcloth their covering.” The Master יהוה has given Me the tongue of taught ones, that I should know to help the weary with a word. He wakes Me morning by morning, he wakes My ear to hear as taught ones. The Master יהוה has opened My ear, and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away.I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard, I did not hide My face from humiliation and spitting. And the Master יהוה helps Me, therefore I shall not be humiliated. So I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I am not put to shame. Near is He who declares Me right. Who would contend with Me? Let us stand together. Who is My adversary? Let him come near Me. See, the Master יהוה helps Me. Who would declare Me wrong? See, all of them wear out like a garment, a moth eats them  Who among you is fearing יהוה, obeying the voice of His Servant, that has walked in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the Name of יהוה and lean upon his Elohim! See, all you who light a fire, girding on burning arrows: walk in the light of your fire and in the burning arrows you have lit. From My hand you shall have this: you shall lie down in grief!  “Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, seeking יהוה: Look to the rock you were hewn from, and to the hole of the pit you were dug from.  “Look to Aḇraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you. For he was alone when I called him, and I blessed him and increased him.  “For יהוה shall comfort Tsiyon, He shall comfort all her waste places. For He makes her wilderness like Ěḏen, and her desert like the garden of יהוה. Joy and gladness are found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of song “Listen to Me, My people, and give ear to Me, O My nation, for the Torah goes forth from Me, and My right-ruling I set as a light to peoples. “My righteousness is near, My deliverance shall go forth, and My arms judge peoples. Coastlands wait upon Me, and for My arm they wait expectantly. “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth wear out like a garment, and those who dwell in it die as gnats. But My deliverance is forever, and My righteousness is not broken. “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, a people in whose heart is My Torah: do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their revilings.“For a moth eats them like a garment, and a worm eats them like wool; but My righteousness is forever, and My deliverance to all generations.” Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of יהוה! Awake as in days of old, everlasting generations. Was it not You who cut Rahaḇ apart, and pierced the Crocodile? Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?  And let the ransomed of יהוה return. And they shall come to Tsiyon with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. Let them attain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing shall flee away.  “I, I am He who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid of man that dies, and of the son of man who is made like grass?  “And you have forgotten יהוה your Maker who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you continually fear, all the day, because of the rage of the oppressor, as he has prepared to destroy. And where is the rage of the oppressor?  “Bowed, he hastens to be loosened, that he should not die in the pit, and that his bread should not fail.“But I am יהוה your Elohim, stirring up the sea, and its waves roar. יהוה of hosts is His Name.  “And I have put My Words in your mouth, and with the shadow of My hand I have covered you, to plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and to say to Tsiyon, ‘You are My people.’ ” Awake, awake yourself! Rise up, O Yerushalayim, you who have drunk at the hand of יהוה the cup of His wrath. You have drunk the dregs of the cup of reeling, and drained it out. Of all the sons she bore, she has none to guide her. And of all the sons she has brought up, none takes her by the hand.  Both these are coming upon you – who is sorry for you?: Ruin and destruction, scarcity of food and sword. How shall I comfort you?  Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, like a gazelle in a net. They are filled with the wrath of יהוה, the rebuke of your Elohim. Therefore please hear this, you afflicted and drunk, but not with wine. Thus said your Master, יהוה and your Elohim, who pleads the cause of His people, “See, I shall take out of your hand the cup of reeling, the dregs of the cup of My wrath – never again shall you drink it.

“And I shall put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your being, ‘Bow down, and we pass over you.’ And you made your back like the ground, and as the street, to walk over.”  Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Tsiyon, put on your garments of splendour, O Yerushalayim, the set-apart city! For no more do the uncircumcised and the unclean come into you.  Shake yourself from the dust, arise, and sit down, O Yerushalayim. Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Tsiyon! For thus said יהוה, “You have been sold for naught, and you are redeemed not with silver.”  For thus said the Master יהוה, “At first My people went down into Mitsrayim to sojourn there, and Ashshur oppressed them without cause.“And now, what have I here,” declares יהוה, “that My people are taken away for naught? Those who rule over them make them wail,” declares יהוה, “and My Name is despised all day continually. “Therefore My people shall know My Name, in that day, for I am the One who is speaking. See, it is I.” How pleasant upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings good news, who proclaims deliverance, who says to Tsiyon, “Your Elohim reigns!” The voice of your watchmen! They shall lift up their voices, together they shout for joy, because eye to eye they see the return of יהוה to Tsiyon. Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Yerushalayim! For יהוה shall comfort His people, He shall redeem Yerushalayim.  יהוה shall lay bare His set-apart arm in the eyes of all the nations. And all the ends of the earth shall see the deliverance of our Elohim. Turn aside! Turn aside! Come out from there, touch not the unclean. Come out of her midst, be clean, you who bear the vessels of יהוה.  For you shall not come out in haste, nor go in flight. For יהוה is going before you, and the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl is your rear guard. See, My Servant shall work wisely, He shall be exalted and lifted up and very high.  As many were astonished at You – so the disfigurement beyond any man’s and His form beyond the sons of men – He shall likewise startle many nations. Sovereigns shut their mouths at Him, for what had not been recounted to them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall understand  Who has believed our report? And to whom was the arm of יהוה revealed? For He grew up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or splendour that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should desire Him –despised and rejected by men, a man of pains and knowing sickness. And as one from whom the face is hidden, being despised, and we did not consider Him.  Truly, He has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains. Yet we reckoned Him stricken, smitten by Elohim, and afflicted.  But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our crookednesses. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.  We all, like sheep, went astray, each one of us has turned to his own way. And יהוה has laid on Him the crookedness of us all.  He was oppressed and He was afflicted, but He did not open His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, but He did not open His mouth He was taken from prison and from judgment. And as for His generation, who considered that He shall be cut off from the land of the living? For the transgression of My people He was stricken.  And He was appointed a grave with the wrong, and with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was deceit in His mouthBut יהוה was pleased to crush Him, He laid sickness on Him, that when He made Himself an offering for guilt, He would see a seed, He would prolong His days and the pleasure of יהוה prosper in His hand.  He would see the result of the suffering of His life and be satisfied. Through His knowledge My righteous Servant makes many righteous, and He bears their crookednesses.  Therefore I give Him a portion among the great, and He divides the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His being unto death, and He was counted with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.  “Sing, O barren one, you who did not bear! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not been in labour! For the children of the deserted one are more than the children of the married woman,” said יהוה. “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not. Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. “For you shall break forth to the right and to the left, and your seed inherit the nations, and make the deserted cities inhabited. “Do not fear, for you shall not be put to shame, nor hurt, you shall not be humiliated. For the shame of your youth you shall forget, and not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more.  “For your Maker is your husband, יהוה of hosts is His Name, and the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl is your Redeemer. He is called the Elohim of all the earth.  “For יהוה has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when you were refused,” declares your Elohim.“For a little while I have forsaken you, but with great compassion I shall gather you.  “In an overflow of wrath I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I shall have compassion on you,” said יהוה, your Redeemer.  “For this is the waters of Noaḥ to Me, in that I have sworn that the waters of Noaḥ would never again cover the earth, so have I sworn not to be wroth with you, nor to rebuke you.  “For though the mountains be removed and the hills be shaken, My kindness is not removed from you, nor is My covenant of peace shaken,” said יהוה, who has compassion on you. “O you afflicted one, tossed with storm, and not comforted, see, I am setting your stones in antimony, and shall lay your foundations with sapphires, and shall make your battlements of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones, and all your children taught by יהוה, and the peace of your children great.  “In righteousness you shall be established – far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and far from ruin, for it does not come near you.  “See, they shall indeed assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever shall assemble against you falls for your sake!  “See, I Myself have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth an instrument for his work. And I have created the waster to destroy.  “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall prove wrong. This is the inheritance of the servants of יהוה, and their righteousness from Me,” declares יהוה.  “Oh everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no silver, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without silver and without price. “Why do you weigh out silver for what is not bread, and your labour for what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and let your being delight itself in fatness.  “Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, so that your being lives. And let Me make an everlasting covenant with you, the trustworthy kindnesses of Dawiḏ. “See, I have given Him as a witness to the people, a Leader and a Commander for the people. “See, a nation you do not know you shall call, and a nation who does not know you run to you, because of יהוה your Elohim, and the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl, for He has adorned you.”  Seek יהוה while He is to be found, call on Him while He is near.  Let the wrong forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to יהוה, who has compassion on him, and to our Elohim, for He pardons much.“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares יהוה.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.  “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,  so is My Word that goes forth from My mouth – it does not return to Me empty, but shall do what I please, and shall certainly accomplish what I sent it for. “For with joy you go out, and with peace you are brought in – the mountains and the hills break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field clap the hands.  “Instead of the thorn the cypress comes up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle comes up. And it shall be to יהוה for a name, for an everlasting sign which is not cut off.”   Thus said יהוה, “Guard right-ruling, and do righteousness, for near is My deliverance to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. “Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it, guarding the Sabbath lest he profane it, and guarding his hand from doing any evil.  “And let not the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to יהוה speak, saying, ‘יהוה has certainly separated me from His people,’ nor let the eunuch say, ‘Look I am a dry tree.’ ”  For thus said יהוה, “To the eunuchs who guard My Sabbaths, and have chosen what pleases Me, and hold fast to My covenant:  to them I shall give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters – I give them an everlasting name that is not cut off. “Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to יהוה, to serve Him, and to love the Name of יהוה, to be His servants, all who guard the Sabbath, and not profane it, and hold fast to My covenant – them I shall bring to My set-apart mountain, and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their slaughterings are accepted on My altar, for My house is called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”  The Master יהוה, who gathers the outcasts of Yisra’ĕl, declares, “I gather still others to him besides those who are gathered to him.” All you beasts of the field, come to devour, all you beasts in the forest.His watchmen are blind, all of them, they have not known. All of them are dumb dogs, unable to bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

 And the dogs have a strong appetite, they never have enough. And they are shepherds! They have not known understanding. All of them look to their own way, every one for his own gain, from his own end, saying “Come, let me bring wine and fill ourselves with strong drink. And tomorrow shall be as today, even much greater.”  The righteous one has perished, and no one takes it to heart. And kind men are taken away, while no one understands that the righteous one is taken away from the presence of evil, he enters into peace. They who walk in integrity rest on their beds. “But come here, you sons of the sorceress, you offspring of the adulterer and the whore! Against whom are you sporting? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, offspring of falsehood,

 being inflamed with mighty ones under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? “Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion; they, they, are your lot! Also to them you have poured a drink offering, you have offered a grain offering. Am I comforted in these? “On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed. There, too, you went up to make an offering.  “Also behind the doors and their posts you have set up your remembrance. For you have departed from Me, and have gone up to them. You have made your bed wide and made a covenant with them. You have loved their bed, where you saw their hand.  And you went to the sovereign with ointment, and increased your perfumes. And you sent your messengers far off, and lowered yourself even to the grave. “You have wearied yourselves with your many wanderings, yet you did not say, ‘I give up!’ You have found the life of your hand, therefore you were not grieved“And of whom have you been afraid, or feared, that you have lied and not remembered Me, nor taken it to your heart? Have I not been silent, even from of old, and you have not feared Me?“Let Me declare your righteousness and your works, for they do not profit you.  “When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind shall bear them all away, a breath take them. But he who takes refuge in Me shall inherit the land, and possess My set-apart mountain.”  And one shall say, “Heap it up! Heap it up! Prepare the way, take the stumbling-block out of the way of My people.”  For thus declares the high and exalted One who dwells forever, whose Name is set-apart, “I dwell in the high and set-apart place, with him who has a bruised and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of bruised ones.  “For I would not strive forever, nor am I wroth forever, for the spirit would grow faint before Me, even the beings I have made.  “For the crookedness of his unfair gain I was wroth and I smote him. I hid Myself and was wroth, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.  “I have seen his ways, but now I heal him, and I lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips: peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,” said יהוה, “and I shall heal him.”  But the wrong are like the troubled sea, for it is unable to rest, and its waters cast up mud and dirt.“There is no peace,” said my Elohim, “for the wrong.” “Cry aloud, do not spare. Lift up your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression, and the house of Yaʽaqoḇ their sins.  “Yet they seek Me day by day, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the right-ruling of their Elohim. They ask of Me rulings of righteousness, they delight in drawing near to Elohim. They say, ‘Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our beings, and You took no note?’ “Look, in the day of your fasting you find pleasure, and drive on all your labourers.“Look, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wrongness. You do not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high. “Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his being? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to יהוה “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loosen the tight cords of wrongness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to exempt the oppressed, and to break off every yoke? “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, and cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? “Then your light would break forth like the morning, your healing spring forth speedily. And your righteousness shall go before you, the esteem of יהוה would be your rear guard.  “Then, when you call, יהוה would answer; when you cry, He would say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and the speaking of unrighteousness, if you extend your being to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted being, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness be as noon.  “Then יהוה would guide you continually, and satisfy your being in drought, and strengthen your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.  “And those from among you shall build the old waste places. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations. And you would be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.  “If you do turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My set-apart day, and shall call the Sabbath ‘a delight,’ the set-apart day of יהוה ‘esteemed,’ and shall esteem it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in יהוה. And I shall cause you to ride on the heights of the earth, and feed you with the inheritance of Yaʽaqoḇ your father. For the mouth of יהוה has spoken!”  Look, the hand of יהוה has not become too short to save, nor His ear too heavy to hear But your crookednesses  have separated you from your Elohim. And your sins have hidden His face from you, from hearing.  For your hands have been defiled with blood, and your fingers with crookedness; your lips have spoken falsehood, your tongue