AT THAT TIME MERODACHBALADAN,
THE SON OF BALADAN,
KING OF BABYLON,
SENT LETTERS
AND A PRESENT
TO HEZEKIAH:
FOR HE HAD HEARD THAT HE HAD BEEN SICK,
AND WAS RECOVERED.
And Hezekiah was glad of them,
and shewed them the house of his precious things,
the silver,
and the gold,
and the spices,
and the precious ointment,
and all the house of his armour,
and all that was found in his treasures:
there was nothing in his house,
nor in all his dominion,
that Hezekiah shewed them not.
THEN CAME ISAIAH THE PROPHET
UNTO KING HEZEKIAH,
AND SAID UNTO HIM,
What said these men?
and from whence came they unto thee?
And Hezekiah said,
They are come from a far country unto me,
even from Babylon.
Then said he,
What have they seen in thine house?
And Hezekiah answered,
All that is in mine house have they seen:
there is nothing among my treasures
that I have not shewed them.
THEN SAID ISAIAH TO HEZEKIAH,
HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD OF HOSTS:
BEHOLD,
THE DAYS COME,
that all that is in thine house,
and that which thy fathers have laid up in store
until this day,
shall be carried to Babylon:
nothing shall be left,
saith the LORD.
And of thy sons that shall issue from thee,
which thou shalt beget,
shall they take away;
and they shall be eunuchs
in the palace of the king of Babylon.
T
HEN SAID HEZEKIAH TO ISAIAH,
Good is the word of the LORD
which thou hast spoken.
He said moreover,
For there shall be peace
and truth
in my days.
Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people,
saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her,
that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned:
for she hath received of the LORD’S hand
double for all her sins.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low:
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough places plain:
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together:
for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
THE VOICE SAID,
CRY.
And he said,
What shall I cry?
All flesh is grass,
and all the goodliness thereof
is as the flower of the field:
The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth:
because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it:
surely the people is grass.
The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth:
but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
O ZION,
THAT BRINGEST GOOD TIDINGS,
get thee up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
that bringest good tidings,
lift up thy voice with strength;
lift it up,
be not afraid;
say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold your God!
Behold,
the Lord GOD will come with strong hand,
and his arm shall rule for him:
behold,
his reward is with him,
and his work before him.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd:
he shall gather the lambs with his arm,
and carry them in his bosom,
and shall gently lead those that are with young.
WHO HATH MEASURED THE WATERS
IN THE HOLLOW OF HIS HAND,
and meted out heaven with the span,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales,
and the hills in a balance?
Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD,
or being his counsellor hath taught him?
With whom took he counsel,
and who instructed him,
and taught him in the path of judgment,
and taught him knowledge,
and shewed to him the way of understanding?
Behold,
the nations are as a drop of a bucket,
and are counted as the small dust of the balance:
behold,
he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
All nations before him are as nothing;
and they are counted to him less than nothing,
and vanity.
TO WHOM THEN WILL YE LIKEN GOD?
OR WHAT LIKENESS WILL YE COMPARE UNTO HIM?
The workman melteth a graven image,
and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold,
and casteth silver chains.
He that is so impoverished
that he hath no oblation
chooseth a tree that will not rot;
he seeketh unto him a cunning workman
to prepare a graven image,
that shall not be moved.
Have ye not known?
have ye not heard?
hath it not been told you from the beginning?
have ye not understood
from the foundations of the earth?
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth,
and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers;
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,
and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
That bringeth the princes to nothing;
he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
Yea,
they shall not be planted;
yea,
they shall not be sown:
yea,
their stock shall not take root in the earth:
and he shall also blow upon them,
and they shall wither,
and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
To whom then will ye liken me,
or shall I be equal?
saith the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high,
and behold who hath created these things,
that bringeth out their host by number:
he calleth them all by names
by the greatness of his might,
for that he is strong in power;
not one faileth.
Why sayest thou,
O Jacob,
and speakest,
O Israel,
My way is hid from the LORD,
and my judgment is passed over from my God?
HAST THOU NOT KNOWN?
hast thou not heard,
that the everlasting God,
the LORD,
the Creator of the ends of the earth,
fainteth not,
neither is weary?
there is no searching of his understanding.
He giveth power to the faint;
and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
and the young men shall utterly fall:
But they that wait upon the LORD
shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run,
and not be weary;
and they shall walk,
and not faint.
KEEP SILENCE BEFORE ME,
O ISLANDS;
and let the people renew their strength:
let them come near;
then let them speak:
let us come near together to judgment.
WHO RAISED UP THE RIGHTEOUS MAN
FROM THE EAST,
called him to his foot,
gave the nations before him,
and made him rule over kings?
He gave them as the dust to his sword,
and as driven stubble to his bow.
He pursued them,
and passed safely;
even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
Who hath wrought and done it,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I the LORD,
the first,
and with the last;
I am he.
The isles saw it,
and feared;
the ends of the earth were afraid,
drew near,
and came.
They helped every one his neighbour;
and every one said to his brother,
Be of good courage.
So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith,
and he that smootheth with the hammer
him that smote the anvil,
saying,
It is ready for the sodering:
and he fastened it with nails,
that it should not be moved.
But thou, Israel,
art my servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
the seed of Abraham my friend.
Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
and called thee from the chief men thereof,
and said unto thee,
Thou art my servant;
I have chosen thee,
and not cast thee away.
Fear thou not;
for I am with thee:
be not dismayed;
for I am thy God:
I will strengthen thee;
yea,
I will help thee;
yea,
I will uphold thee
with the right hand of my righteousness.
Behold,
all they that were incensed against thee
shall be ashamed and confounded:
they shall be as nothing;
and they that strive with thee shall perish.
Thou shalt seek them,
and shalt not find them,
even them that contended with thee:
they that war against thee shall be as nothing,
and as a thing of nought.
For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand,
saying unto thee,
Fear not;
I will help thee.
Fear not,
thou worm Jacob,
and ye men of Israel;
I will help thee,
saith the LORD,
and thy redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel.
BEHOLD,
I WILL MAKE THEE
A NEW SHARP THRESHING INSTRUMENT
HAVING TEETH:
thou shalt thresh the mountains,
and beat them small,
and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Thou shalt fan them,
and the wind shall carry them away,
and the whirlwind shall scatter them:
and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD,
and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue faileth for thirst,
I the LORD will hear them,
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
I will open rivers in high places,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys:
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar,
the shittah tree,
and the myrtle,
and the oil tree;
I will set in the desert the fir tree,
and the pine,
and the box tree together:
That they may see,
and know,
and consider,
and understand together,
that the hand of the LORD hath done this,
and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
PRODUCE YOUR CAUSE,
SAITH THE LORD;
BRING FORTH YOUR STRONG REASONS,
SAITH THE KING OF JACOB.
Let them bring them forth,
and shew us what shall happen:
let them shew the former things,
what they be,
that we may consider them,
and know the latter end of them;
or declare us things for to come.
Shew the things that are to come hereafter,
that we may know that ye are gods:
yea, do good,
or do evil,
that we may be dismayed,
and behold it together.
Behold,
ye are of nothing,
and your work of nought:
an abomination is he that chooseth you.
I have raised up one from the north,
and he shall come:
from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name:
and he shall come upon princes as upon morter,
and as the potter treadeth clay.
WHO HATH DECLARED FROM THE BEGINNING,
THAT WE MAY KNOW?
and beforetime,
that we may say,
He is righteous?
yea,
there is none that sheweth,
yea,
there is none that declareth,
yea,
there is none that heareth your words.
The first shall say to Zion,
Behold,
behold them:
and
I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
For I beheld,
and there was no man;
even among them,
and there was no counsellor,
that,
when I asked of them,
could answer a word.
Behold,
they are all vanity;
their works are nothing:
their molten images are wind and confusion.
Behold my servant,
whom I uphold;
mine elect,
in whom my soul delighteth;
I have put my spirit upon him:
he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
He shall not cry,
nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break,
and the smoking flax shall he not quench:
he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged,
till he have set judgment in the earth:
and the isles shall wait for his law.
THUS SAITH GOD THE LORD,
HE THAT CREATED THE HEAVENS,
and stretched them out;
he that spread forth the earth,
and that which cometh out of it;
he that giveth breath unto the people upon it,
and spirit to them that walk therein:
I the LORD have called thee in righteousness,
and will hold thine hand,
and will keep thee,
and give thee for a covenant of the people,
for a light of the Gentiles;
To open the blind eyes,
to bring out the prisoners from the prison,
and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
I am the LORD:
that is my name:
and my glory will I not give to another,
neither my praise to graven images.
Behold,
the former things are come to pass,
and new things do I declare:
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.
SING UNTO THE LORD A NEW SONG,
AND HIS PRAISE FROM THE END OF THE EARTH,
ye that go down to the sea,
and all that is therein;
the isles,
and the inhabitants thereof.
Let the wilderness
and the cities thereof
lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar doth inhabit:
let the inhabitants of the rock sing,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Let them give glory unto the LORD,
and declare his praise in the islands.
The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man,
he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war:
he shall cry,
yea,
roar;
he shall prevail against his enemies.
I have long time holden my peace;
I have been still,
and refrained myself:
now will I cry like a travailing woman;
I will destroy and devour at once.
I will make waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their herbs;
and I will make the rivers islands,
and I will dry up the pools.
And I will bring the blind
by a way that they knew not;
I will lead them in paths that they have not known:
I will make darkness light before them,
and crooked things straight.
These things will I do unto them,
and not forsake them.
They shall be turned back,
they shall be greatly ashamed,
that trust in graven images,
that say to the molten images,
Ye are our gods.
Hear,
ye deaf;
and look,
ye blind,
that ye may see.
WHO IS BLIND,
BUT MY SERVANT?
or deaf,
as my messenger that I sent?
who is blind as he that is perfect,
and blind as the LORD’S servant?
Seeing many things,
but thou observest not;
opening the ears,
but he heareth not.
The LORD is well pleased
for his righteousness’ sake;
he will magnify the law,
and make it honourable.
But this is a people robbed and spoiled;
they are all of them snared in holes,
and they are hid in prison houses:
they are for a prey,
and none delivereth;
for a spoil,
and none saith,
Restore.
Who among you will give ear to this?
who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
Who gave Jacob for a spoil,
and Israel to the robbers?
did not the LORD,
he against whom we have sinned?
for they would not walk in his ways,
neither were they obedient unto his law.
Therefore he hath poured upon him
the fury of his anger,
and the strength of battle:
and it hath set him on fire round about,
yet he knew not;
and it burned him,
yet he laid it not to heart.
Isaiah 39:1-42:25