Envoys from Babylon
1 sAt that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, tsent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. 2 And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, uthe silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. vThere was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” 4 He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6 wBehold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. 7 xAnd some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, y“There will be peace and security in my days.”
Comfort for God’s People
1 zComfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 aSpeak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
d“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
emake straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 fEvery valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 gAnd the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
hfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
The Word of God Stands Forever
6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said,3 “What shall I cry?”
iAll flesh is grass,
and all its beauty4 is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 jThe grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
The Greatness of God
9 Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, kherald of good news;5
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;6
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10 lBehold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
mbehold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 nHe will tend his flock like a shepherd;
ohe will gather the lambs in his arms;
phe will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
12 qWho has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 rWho has measured7 the Spirit of the Lord,
or what man shows him his counsel?
14 Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
sWho taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted tas the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up uthe coastlands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are vits beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17 wAll the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18 xTo whom then will you liken God,
yor what likeness compare with him?
19 yAn idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20 zHe who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood8 that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.
21 aDo you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are blike grasshoppers;
cwho stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
23 dwho brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
eand the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25 fTo whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
gHe who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
and because he is strong in power,
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
h“My way is hidden from the Lord,
iand my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is jthe everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
khis understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but lthey who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings mlike eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Fear Not, for I Am with You
1 nListen to me in silence, oO coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.
2 pWho stirred up one from the east
whom victory meets at every qstep?9
rHe gives up nations before him,
so that he tramples kings underfoot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
slike driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them and passes on safely,
by paths his feet have not trod.
4 tWho has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
uI, the Lord, the first,
and with the last; I am he.
5 vThe coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
6 Everyone helps his neighbor
and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 wThe craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
and they strengthen it with nails xso that it cannot be moved.
8 But you, Israel, ymy servant,
Jacob, zwhom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, amy friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called bfrom its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are ymy servant,
zI have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with cmy righteous right hand.
11 dBehold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12 eYou shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
fthose who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13 For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”
14 Fear not, you gworm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
your hRedeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 iBehold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh jthe mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
16 kyou shall winnow them, and lthe wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
mAnd you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
Greeting
1 Paul, aan apostle of Christ Jesus bby the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and care faithful1 in Christ Jesus:
2 dGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 eBlessed be fthe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing gin the heavenly places, 4 heven as he ichose us in him jbefore the foundation of the world, that we should be kholy and blameless before him. In love 5 lhe predestined us2 for madoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, naccording to the purpose of his will, 6 oto the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in pthe Beloved. 7 qIn him we have rredemption sthrough his blood, tthe forgiveness of our trespasses, uaccording to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 vmaking known3 to us the mystery of his will, naccording to his purpose, which he wset forth in Christ4 10 as a plan for xthe fullness of time, yto unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him.
11 In him we have obtained zan inheritance, ahaving been predestined baccording to the purpose of him who works all things according to cthe counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be dto the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard ethe word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, fwere sealed with the gpromised Holy Spirit, 14 who is hthe guarantee5 of our iinheritance until jwe acquire kpossession of it,6 lto the praise of his glory.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
15 For this reason, mbecause I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love7 toward all the saints, 16 I ndo not cease to give thanks for you, oremembering you in my prayers, 17 that pthe God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, qmay give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 rhaving the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is sthe hope to which he has called you, what are tthe riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, uaccording to the working of vhis great might 20 that he worked in Christ wwhen he raised him from the dead and xseated him at his right hand yin the heavenly places, 21 zfar above aall rule and authority and power and dominion, and above bevery name that is named, not only in cthis age but also in the one to come. 22 And dhe put all things under his feet and gave him as ehead over all things to the church, 23 fwhich is his body, gthe fullness of him hwho fills iall in all.
How Awesome Are Your Deeds
To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.
1 bShout for joy to God, all the earth;
2 sing the glory of his name;
cgive to him glorious praise!
3 Say to God, d“How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power that your enemies ecome cringing to you.
4 fAll the earth worships you
and sings praises to you;
they sing praises to your name.” Selah
5 gCome and see what God has done:
dhe is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
6 He hturned the sea into dry land;
they ipassed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
7 who rules by his might forever,
whose jeyes keep watch on the nations—
let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
8 Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
9 who has kept our soul among the living
and khas not let our feet slip.
10 For you, O God, have ltested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
11 You brought us into mthe net;
you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
12 you let men nride over our heads;
we went through fire and through owater;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.
13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will pperform my vows to you,
14 that which my lips uttered
and my mouth promised qwhen I was in trouble.
15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
16 rCome and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
17 I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on1 my tongue.2
18 If I had scherished iniquity in my heart,
tthe Lord would not have listened.
19 But truly uGod has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
20 Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!
25 fLet your father and mother be glad;
let gher who bore you rejoice.
26 My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe1 my ways.
27 For a prostitute is ha deep pit;
ian adulteress2 is a narrow jwell.
28 kShe lies in wait like a robber
and increases the traitors among mankind.
