1 But now thus
saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed
thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called
thee by thy name; thou art mine.
2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee;
and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee.
3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour:
I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable,
and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and
people for thy life.
5 Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the
east, and gather thee from the west;
6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not
back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends
of the earth;
7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created
him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
8 Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf
that have ears.
9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people
be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former
things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may
be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.
10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom
I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand
that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall
there be after me.
11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when
there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses,
saith the LORD, that I am God.
13 Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can
deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
14 Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel;
For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down
all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your
King.
16 Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a
path in the mighty waters;
17 Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and
the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise:
they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.
18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things
of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth;
shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert.
20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the
owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in
the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth
my praise.
22 But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast
been weary of me, O Israel.
23 Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings;
neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not
caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with
incense.
24 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast
thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast
made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine
iniquities.
25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for
mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
26 Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou,
that thou mayest be justified.
27 Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed
against me.
28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and
have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
Chapter 44
1 Yet now hear,
O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:
2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the
womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and
thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods
upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and
my blessing upon thine offspring:
4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by
the water courses.
5 One shall say, I am the LORD's; and another shall call himself
by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand
unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the
LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside
me there is no God.
7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it
in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the
things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.
8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from
that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is
there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.
9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and
their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their
own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable
for nothing?
11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen,
they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them
stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
12 The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth
it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms:
yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no
water, and is faint.
13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out
with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out
with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according
to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the
oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the
forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof,
and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea,
he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image,
and falleth down thereto.
16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he
eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth
himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven
image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth
unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their
eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot
understand.
19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge
nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire;
yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have
roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof
an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside,
that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie
in my right hand?
21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant:
I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt
not be forgotten of me.
22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions,
and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed
thee.
23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye
lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains,
O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed
Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee
from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth
forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by
myself;
25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners
mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge
foolish;
26 That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the
counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt
be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built,
and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:
27 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:
28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform
all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built;
and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Chapter 45
1 Thus saith the
LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden,
to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of
kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates
shall not be shut;
2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight:
I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder
the bars of iron:
3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden
riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD,
which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have
even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou
hast not known me.
5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside
me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the
west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there
is none else.
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create
evil: I the LORD do all these things.
8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour
down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth
salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD
have created it.
9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd
strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to
him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath
no hands?
10 Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou?
or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker,
Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning
the work of my hands command ye me.
12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my
hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have
I commanded.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct
all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my
captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.
14 Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise
of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over
unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee;
in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto
thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely
God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.
15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel,
the Saviour.
16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them:
they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting
salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without
end.
18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself
that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he
created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the
LORD; and there is none else.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth:
I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the
LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that
are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that
cannot save.
21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel
together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath
told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no
God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none
beside me.
22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:
for I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth
in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee
shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
24 Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and
strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed
against him shall be ashamed.
25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and
shall glory. |