42  ^bBehold ^cmy ^dservant, whom I uphold,

^emy chosen, ^fin whom my soul delights;

^gI have put my Spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

2  He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

3  a bruised reed he will not break,

and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

4  He will not grow faint or be discouraged¹

till he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his law.

5  Thus says God, the Lord,

^hwho created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people on it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

6  “I am the Lord; I have called you² in righteousness;

I will take you by the hand and keep you;

ⁱI will give you as a covenant for the people,

a ^jlight for the nations,

7  ^kto open the eyes that are blind,

^lto bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

from the prison those who sit in darkness.

8  I am the Lord; ^mthat is my name;

ⁿmy glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to carved idols.

9  Behold, the former things have come to pass,

and ^onew things I now declare;

before they spring forth

I tell you of them.”

10  Sing to the Lord a new song,

his praise from the end of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,

the coastlands and their inhabitants.

11  Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,

the villages that Kedar inhabits;

let the habitants of Sela sing for joy,

let them shout from the top of the mountains.

12  Let them ^pgive glory to the Lord,

and declare his praise in the coastlands.

13  The Lord goes out ^qlike a mighty man,

like a man of war he stirs up his ^rzeal;

he cries out, he shouts aloud,

he shows himself mighty against his foes.

14  For a long time ^sI have held my peace;

I have kept still and restrained myself;

now I will cry out like a woman in labor;

I will gasp and pant.

15  I will lay waste mountains and hills,

and dry up all their vegetation;

I will turn the rivers into islands,³

and dry up the pools.

16  And I will lead the blind

in a way that they do not know,

in paths that they have not known

I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

^tthe rough places into level ground.

These are the things I do,

and I do not forsake them.

17  They are turned back and utterly ^uput to shame,

who trust in carved idols,

who say to metal images,

“You are our gods.”

18  Hear, you deaf,

and look, you blind, that you may see!

19  Who is blind but my servant,

or deaf as my messenger whom I send?

Who is blind as my dedicated one,⁴

or blind as the servant of the Lord?

20  He sees many things, but does not observe them;

his ears are open, but he does not hear.

21  The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,

to magnify his law and make it glorious.

22  But this is a people plundered and looted;

they are all of them trapped in holes

and hidden in prisons;

they have become plunder with none to rescue,

spoil with none to say, “Restore!”

23  Who among you will give ear to this,

will attend and listen for the time to come?

24  Who gave up Jacob to the looter,

and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,

in whose ways they would not walk,

and whose law they would not obey?

25  So he poured on him the heat of his anger

and the might of battle;

it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand;

it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.

43  But now thus says the Lord,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have ^vredeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

2  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

3  For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I give ^wEgypt as your ransom,

Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

4  Because you are precious in my eyes,

and honored, and I ^xlove you,

I give men in return for you,

peoples in exchange for your life.

5  ^yFear not, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring ^zfrom the east,

and from the west I will gather you.

6  I will say to the north, Give up,

and to the south, Do not withhold;

^abring my sons from afar

^band my daughters from the end of the earth,

7  everyone who is ^ccalled by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.”

8  Bring out the people ^dwho are blind, yet have eyes,

who are deaf, yet have ears!

9  All the nations gather together,

and the peoples assemble.

Who among them can ^edeclare this,

and show us the former things?

Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,

and let them hear and say, It is true.

10  ^f“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,

“and my servant whom I have chosen,

that you may know and believe me

and understand that ^gI am he.

Before me no god was formed,

nor shall there be any after me.

11  I, I am the Lord,

and ^hbesides me there is no savior.

12  I declared and saved and proclaimed,

when there was no strange god among you;

and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.

13  Also henceforth I am he;

there is none who can deliver from my hand;

I work, and ⁱwho can turn it back?”

14  Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“For your sake I send to Babylon

and bring them all down as fugitives,

even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.

15  I am the Lord, your Holy One,

the Creator of Israel, your King.”

16  Thus says the Lord,

^jwho makes a ^kway in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters,

17  who brings forth chariot and horse,

army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,

they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

18  ^l“Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

19  Behold, I am doing a ^mnew thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and ⁿrivers in the desert.

20  The wild beasts will honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches,

for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,

21  the people whom I formed for myself

^othat they might declare my praise.

22  “Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;

but ^pyou have been weary of me, O Israel!

23  You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,

or honored me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with offerings,

or wearied you with frankincense.

24  You have not bought me sweet cane with money,

or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have ^qburdened me with your sins;

you have ^rwearied me with your iniquities.

25  “I, I am he

who ^sblots out your transgressions ^tfor my own sake,

and I will not ^uremember your sins.

26  Put me in remembrance; let us argue together;

set forth your case, that you may be proved right.

27  Your first father sinned,

and your mediators transgressed against me.

28  Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary,

and deliver Jacob to utter destruction

and Israel to reviling.

44  “But now hear, O Jacob ^vmy servant,

Israel whom I have chosen!

2  Thus says the Lord who made you,

who formed you from the womb and will help you:

Fear not, O Jacob my servant,

^wJeshurun whom I have chosen.

3  For I will pour water on the thirsty land,

and streams on the dry ground;

^xI will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,

and my blessing on your descendants.

4  They shall spring up among the grass

like willows by flowing streams.

5  This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’

another will call on the name of Jacob,

and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’

and name himself by the name of Israel.”

6  Thus says the Lord, the ^yKing of Israel

and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:

“I am the ^zfirst and I am the last;

^abesides me there is no god.

7  Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.¹

Let him declare and set it before me,

since I appointed an ancient people.

^bLet them declare what is to come, and what will happen.

8  Fear not, nor be afraid;

have I not told you from of old and declared it?

And ^cyou are my witnesses!

Is there a God besides me?

There is no ^dRock; I know not any.”

21  ^hRemember these things, O Jacob,

and Israel, for you are my servant;

I formed you; you are my servant;

O Israel, ⁱyou will not be forgotten by me.

22  I have ^jblotted out your transgressions like a cloud

and your sins like mist;

return to me, for I have redeemed you.

23  ^kSing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;

shout, O depths of the earth;

^lbreak forth into singing, O mountains,

O forest, and every tree in it!

For the Lord ^mhas redeemed Jacob,

and will be glorified³ in Israel.

24  Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,

who formed you from the womb:

“I am the Lord, who made all things,

who alone ⁿstretched out the heavens,

who spread out the earth by myself,

25  who frustrates the signs of liars

and makes fools of diviners,

who turns wise men back

and ^omakes their knowledge foolish,

26  who confirms the word of his servant

and fulfills the counsel of his messengers,

who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’

and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,

and I will raise up their ruins’;

27  who says to the deep, ‘Be dry;

I will dry up your rivers’;

28  who says of ^pCyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,

and he shall fulfill all my purpose’;

saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’

and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”

45  Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,

whose right hand I have grasped,

to subdue nations before him

and to loose the belts of kings,

to open doors before him

that gates may not be closed:

2  “I will go before you

and ^qlevel the exalted places,¹

I will ^rbreak in pieces the doors of bronze

and cut through the bars of iron,

3  I will give you the treasures of darkness

and the hoards in secret places,

that you may know that it is I, the Lord,

the God of Israel, who call you by your name.

4  For the sake of my servant Jacob,

and Israel my ^schosen,

I call you by your name,

I name you, though you do not know me.

5  I am the Lord, and there is no other,

besides me there is no God;

I equip you, though you do not know me,

6  that people may know, ^tfrom the rising of the sun

and from the west, that there is none besides me;

I am the Lord, and there is no other.

7  I form light and create darkness;

I make well-being and create calamity;

I am the Lord, who does all these things.

8  “Shower, O heavens, from above,

and let the clouds rain down righteousness;

let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;

let the earth cause them both to sprout;

I the Lord have created it.

9  “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,

a pot among earthen pots!

Does the ^uclay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’

or ‘Your work has no handles’?

10  Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’

or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”

11  Thus says the Lord,

the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:

“Ask me of things to come;

will you command me concerning my ^vchildren and the work of my hands?²

12  I made the earth

and created man on it;

it was my hands that ^wstretched out the heavens,

and I commanded all their host.

13  I have ^xstirred him up in righteousness,

and I will make all his ways level;

he shall ^ybuild my city

and set my exiles free,

^znot for price or reward,”

says the Lord of hosts.

14  Thus says the Lord:

“The wealth of ^aEgypt and the merchandise of Cush,

and the Sabeans, men of stature,

shall come over to you and be yours;

they shall ^bfollow you;

they shall come over in chains and ^cbow down to you.

They will plead with you, saying:

^d‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other,

no god besides him.’”

15  Truly, you are a God who hides himself,

O God of Israel, the Savior.

16  All of them are ^eput to shame and confounded;

the makers of idols go in confusion together.

17  But Israel is saved by the Lord

with everlasting salvation;

^fyou shall not be put to shame or confounded

to all eternity.

18  For thus says the Lord,

^gwho created the heavens

(he is God!),

who formed the earth and made it

(he established it;

he did not create it empty,

he formed it to be inhabited!):

“I am the Lord, and there is no other.

19  ^hI did not speak in secret,

in a land of darkness;

I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,

‘Seek me in vain.’³

I the Lord speak the truth;

I declare what is right.

20  “Assemble yourselves and come;

draw near together,

you survivors of the nations!

They have no knowledge

who ⁱcarry about their wooden idols,

and keep on ^jpraying to a god

that cannot save.

21  Declare and present your case;

let them take counsel together!

Who ^ktold this long ago?

Who declared it of old?

Was it not I, the Lord?

And there is no other god besides me,

a righteous God and a Savior;

there is none besides me.

22  “Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other.

23  ^lBy myself I have sworn;

^mfrom my mouth has gone out in righteousness

a word that shall not return:

‘To me ⁿevery knee shall bow,

every tongue shall swear allegiance.’⁴

24  “Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,

are righteousness and strength;

to him shall come and be ashamed

^oall who were incensed against him.

25  In the Lord all the offspring of Israel

shall be justified and shall glory.”

46  ^pBel bows down; Nebo stoops;

their idols are on beasts and livestock;

these things you ^qcarry are borne

as burdens on weary beasts.

2  They stoop; they bow down together;

they cannot save the burden,

but themselves go into captivity.

3  “Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all the ^rremnant of the house of Israel,

who have been ^sborne by me ^tfrom before your birth,

carried from the womb;

4  ^ueven to your old age ^vI am he,

and to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear;

I will carry and will save.

5  ^w“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,

and compare me, that we may be alike?

6  Those who lavish gold from the purse,

and weigh out silver in the scales,

hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;

then they fall down and worship!

7  They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,

they set it in its place, and it stands there;

it ^xcannot move from its place.

If one ^ycries to it, it does not answer

or save him from his trouble.

8  ^z“Remember this and stand firm,

recall it to mind, you transgressors,

9  remember the former things of old;

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me,

10  ^adeclaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, ^b‘My counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

11  calling a bird of prey from the east,

the man of my counsel from a far country.

I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;

I have purposed, and I will do it.

12  “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,