^45:1The Lord says to the man of his selection, to Cyrus, whom I have taken by the right hand, putting down nations before him, and taking away the arms of kings; making the doors open before him, so that the ways into the towns may not be shut; ^45:2I will go before you, and make the rough places level: the doors of brass will be broken, and the iron rods cut in two: ^45:3And I will give you the stores of the dark, and the wealth of secret places, so that you may be certain that I am the Lord, who gave you your name, even the God of Israel. ^45:4Because of Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have taken for myself, I have sent for you by name, giving you a name of honour, though you had no knowledge of me. ^45:5I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God but me: I will make you ready for war, though you had no knowledge of me: ^45:6So that they may see from the east and from the west that there is no God but me: I am the Lord, and there is no other. ^45:7I am the giver of light and the maker of the dark; causing blessing, and sending troubles; I am the Lord, who does all these things. ^45:8Let righteousness come down, O heavens, from on high, and let the sky send it down like rain: let the earth be open to give the fruit of salvation, causing righteousness to come up with it; I the Lord have made it come about. ^45:9Cursed is he who has an argument with his Maker, the pot which has an argument with the Potter! Will the wet earth say to him who is working with it, What are you doing, that your work has nothing by which it may be gripped? ^45:10Cursed is he who says to a father, To what are you giving life? or to a woman, What are you in birth-pains with? ^45:11The Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, says, Will you put a question to me about the things which are to come, or will you give me orders about my sons, and the work of my hands? ^45:12I have made the earth, forming man on it: by my hands the heavens have been stretched out, and all the stars put in their ordered places. ^45:13I have sent him out to overcome the nations, and I will make all his ways straight: I will give him the work of building my town, and he will let my prisoners go free, without price or reward, says the Lord of armies. ^45:14The Lord says, The workmen of Egypt, and the traders of Ethiopia, and the tall Sabaeans, will come over the sea to you, and they will be yours; they will go after you; in chains they will come over: and they will go down on their faces before you, and will make prayer to you, saying, Truly, God is among you; and there is no other God. ^45:15Truly, you have a secret God, the God of Israel is a Saviour! ^45:16All those who have gone against him will be put to shame; the makers of images will be made low. ^45:17But the Lord will make Israel free with an eternal salvation: you will not be put to shame or made low for ever and ever. ^45:18For this is the word of the Lord who made the heavens; he is God; the maker and designer of the earth; who made it not to be a waste, but as a living-place for man: I am the Lord, and there is no other. ^45:19I have not given my word in secret, in a place in the underworld; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Go into a waste land to make request of me: I the Lord say what is true, my word is righteousness. ^45:20Come together, even come near, you nations who are still living: they have no knowledge who take up their image of wood, and make prayer to a god in whom is no salvation. ^45:21Give the word, put forward your cause, let us have a discussion together: who has given news of this in the past? who made it clear in early times? did not I, the Lord? and there is no God but me; a true God and a saviour; there is no other. ^45:22Let your hearts be turned to me, so that you may have salvation, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no other. ^45:23By myself have I taken an oath, a true word has gone from my mouth, and will not be changed, that to me every knee will be bent, and every tongue will give honour. ^45:24Only in the Lord will Jacob overcome and be strong: together all those who were angry with him will be put to shame and come to destruction. ^45:25In the Lord will all the seed of Israel get their rights, and they will give glory to him.

^46:1Bel is bent down, Nebo is falling; their images are on the beasts and on the cattle: the things which you took about have become a weight to the tired beast. ^46:2They are bent down, they are falling together: they were not able to keep their images safe, but they themselves have been taken prisoner. ^46:3Give ear to me, O family of Jacob, and all the rest of the people of Israel, who have been supported by me from their birth, and have been my care from their earliest days: ^46:4Even when you are old I will be the same, and when you are grey-haired I will take care of you: I will still be responsible for what I made; yes, I will take you and keep you safe. ^46:5Who in your eyes is my equal? or what comparison will you make with me? ^46:6As for those who take gold out of a bag, and put silver in the scales, they give payment to a gold-worker, to make it into a god; they go down on their faces and give it worship. ^46:7They put him on their backs, and take him up, and put him in his fixed place, from which he may not be moved; if a man gives a cry for help to him, he is unable to give an answer, or get him out of his trouble. ^46:8Keep this in mind and be shamed; let it come back to your memory, you sinners. ^46:9Let the things which are past come to your memory: for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me; ^46:10Making clear from the first what is to come, and from past times the things which have not so far come about; saying, My purpose is fixed, and I will do all my pleasure; ^46:11Sending for a bird of strong flight from the east, the man of my purpose from a far country; I have said it, and I will give effect to it; the thing designed by me will certainly be done. ^46:12Give ear to me, you feeble-hearted, who have no faith in my righteousness: ^46:13My righteousness is near, it is not far off; salvation will come quickly; and I will make Zion free, and give Israel my glory.

^47:1Come and take your seat in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; come down from your seat of power, and take your place on the earth, O daughter of the Chaldaeans: for you will never again seem soft and delicate. ^47:2Take the crushing-stones and get the meal crushed: take off your veil, put away your robe, let your legs be uncovered, go through the rivers. ^47:3The shame of your unclothed condition will be seen by all: I will give punishment without mercy, ^47:4Says the Lord who takes up our cause; the Lord of armies is his name, the Holy One of Israel. ^47:5Be seated in the dark without a word, O daughter of the Chaldaeans: for you will no longer be named, The Queen of Kingdoms. ^47:6I was angry with my people, I put shame on my heritage, and gave them into your hands: you had no mercy on them; you put a cruel yoke on those who were old; ^47:7And you said, I will be a queen for ever: you did not give attention to these things, and did not keep in mind what would come after. ^47:8So now take note of this, you who are given up to pleasure, living without fear of evil, saying in your heart, I am, and there is no one like me; I will never be a widow, or have my children taken from me. ^47:9But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day, the loss of children and of husband: in full measure they will come on you, for all your secret arts, and all your wonders. ^47:10For you had faith in your evil-doing; you said, No one sees me; by your wisdom and knowledge you have been turned out of the way: and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no other. ^47:11Because of this evil will come on you, which may not be turned away for any price: and trouble will overtake you, from which no money will give salvation: destruction will come on you suddenly, without your knowledge. ^47:12Go on now with your secret arts, and all your wonder-working, to which you have given yourself up from your earliest days; it may be that they will be of profit to you, or by them you may put fear into your attackers. ^47:13But your mind is troubled by the number of your guides: let them now come forward for your salvation: the measurers of the heavens, the watchers of the stars, and those who are able to say from month to month what things are coming on you. ^47:14Truly, they have become like dry stems, they have been burned in the fire; they are not able to keep themselves safe from the power of the flame: it is not a coal for warming them, or a fire by which a man may be seated. ^47:15Small profit have you had from those who, from your earliest days, got great profit out of you; they have gone in flight, every one straight before him, and you have no saviour.

^48:1Give ear to this, O family of Jacob, you who are named by the name of Israel, and have come out of the body of Judah; who take oaths by the name of the Lord, and make use of the name of the God of Israel, but not truly and not in good faith. ^48:2For they say that they are of the holy town, and put their faith in the God of Israel: the Lord of armies is his name. ^48:3I gave word in the past of the things which came about; they came from my mouth, and I made them clear: suddenly I did them, and they came about. ^48:4Because I saw that your heart was hard, and that your neck was an iron cord, and your brow brass; ^48:5For this reason I made it clear to you in the past, before it came I gave you word of it: for fear that you might say, My god did these things, and my pictured and metal images made them come about. ^48:6All this has come to your ears and you have seen it; will you not give witness to it? I am now making clear new things, even secret things, of which you had no knowledge. ^48:7They have only now been effected, and not in the past: and before this day they had not come to your ears; for fear that you might say, I had knowledge of them. ^48:8Truly you had no word of them, no knowledge of them; no news of them in the past had come to your ears; because I saw how false was your behaviour, and that your heart was turned against me from your earliest days. ^48:9Because of my name I will put away my wrath, and for my praise I will keep myself from cutting you off. ^48:10See, I have been testing you for myself like silver; I have put you through the fire of trouble. ^48:11For myself, even because of my name, I will do it; for I will not let my name be shamed; and my glory I will not give to another. ^48:12Give ear to me, Jacob, and Israel, my loved one; I am he, I am the first and I am the last. ^48:13Yes, by my hand was the earth placed on its base, and by my right hand the heavens were stretched out; at my word they take up their places. ^48:14Come together, all of you, and give ear; who among you has given news of these things? the Lord's loved one will do his pleasure with Babylon, and with the seed of the Chaldaeans. ^48:15I, even I, have given the word; I have sent for him: I have made him come, and have given effect to his undertakings. ^48:16Come near to me, and give ear to this; from the start I did not keep it secret; from the time of its coming into existence I was there: and now the Lord God has sent me, and given me his spirit. ^48:17The Lord who takes up your cause, the Holy One of Israel, says, I am the Lord your God, who is teaching you for your profit, guiding you by the way in which you are to go. ^48:18If only you had given ear to my orders, then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea: ^48:19Your seed would have been like the sand, and your offspring like the dust: your name would not be cut off or come to an end before me. ^48:20Go out of Babylon, go in flight from the Chaldaeans; with the sound of song make it clear, give the news, let the word go out even to the end of the earth: say, The Lord has taken up the cause of his servant Jacob. ^48:21They had no need of water when he was guiding them through the waste lands: he made water come out of the rock for them: the rock was parted and the waters came flowing out. ^48:22There is no peace, says the Lord, for the evil-doers.

^49:1Give ear, O sea-lands, to me; and take note, you peoples from far: I have been marked out by the Lord from the first; when I was still in my mother's body, he had my name in mind: ^49:2And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shade of his hand he has kept me; and he has made me like a polished arrow, keeping me in his secret place; ^49:3And he said to me, You are my servant, Israel, in whom my glory will be seen; ^49:4And I said, I have undergone weariness for nothing, I have given my strength for no purpose or profit: but still the Lord will take up my cause, and my God will give me my reward. ^49:5And now, says the Lord, who made me his servant when I was still in my mother's body, so that I might make Jacob come back to him, and so that Israel might come together to him: and I was honoured in the eyes of the Lord, and my God became my strength. ^49:6It is not enough for one who is my servant to put the tribes of Jacob again in their place, and to get back those of Israel who have been sent away: my purpose is to give you as a light to the nations, so that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth. ^49:7The Lord who takes up Israel's cause, even his Holy One, says to him whom men make sport of, who is hated by the nations, a servant of rulers: Kings will see and get up from their places, and chiefs will give worship: because of the Lord who keeps faith; even the Holy One of Israel who has taken you for himself. ^49:8This is the word of the Lord: I have given ear to you at a good time, and I have been your helper in a day of salvation: and I will keep you safe, and will make you a glory for the people, putting the land in order, and giving them the heritages which now are waste; ^49:9Saying to those who are in chains, Go free; to those who are in the dark, Come out into the light. They will get food by the way wherever they go, and have grass-lands on all the dry mountain-tops. ^49:10They will not be in need of food or drink, or be troubled by the heat or the sun: for he who has mercy on them will be their guide, taking them by the springs of water. ^49:11And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways will be lifted up. ^49:12See, these are coming from far; and these from the north and the west; and these from the land of Sinim. ^49:13Let your voice be loud in song, O heavens; and be glad, O earth; make sounds of joy, O mountains, for the Lord has given comfort to his people, and will have mercy on his crushed ones. ^49:14But Zion said, The Lord has given me up, I have gone from his memory. ^49:15Will a woman give up the child at her breast, will she be without pity for the fruit of her body? yes, these may, but I will not let you go out of my memory. ^49:16See, your name is marked on my hands; your walls are ever before me. ^49:17Your builders are coming quickly; your haters and those who made you waste will go out of you. ^49:18Let your eyes be lifted up round about, and see: they are all coming together to you. By my life, says the Lord, truly you will put them all on you as an ornament, and be clothed with them like a bride. ^49:19For though the waste places of your land have been given to destruction, now you will not be wide enough for your people, and those who made you waste will be far away. ^49:20The children to whom you gave birth in other lands will say in your ears, The place is not wide enough for me: make room for me to have a resting-place. ^49:21Then you will say in your heart, Who has given me all these children? when my children had been taken from me, and I was no longer able to have others, who took care of these? when I was by myself, where then were these? ^49:22This is the word of the Lord God: See, I will make a sign with my hand to the nations, and put up my flag for the peoples; and they will take up your sons on their beasts, and your daughters on their backs. ^49:23And kings will take care of you, and queens will give you their milk: they will go down on their faces before you, kissing the dust of your feet; and you will be certain that I am the Lord, and that those who put their hope in me will not be shamed. ^49:24Will the goods of war be taken from the strong man, or the prisoners of the cruel one be let go? ^49:25But the Lord says, Even the prisoners of the strong will be taken from him, and the cruel made to let go his goods: for I will take up your cause against your haters, and I will keep your children safe. ^49:26And the flesh of your attackers will be taken by themselves for food; and they will take their blood for drink, as if it was sweet wine: and all men will see that I the Lord am your saviour, even he who takes up your cause, the Strong One of Jacob.

^50:1This is the word of the Lord: Where is the statement which I gave your mother when I put her away? or to which of my creditors have I given you for money? It was for your sins that you were given into the hands of others, and for your evil-doing was your mother put away. ^50:2Why, then, when I came, was there no man? and no one to give answer to my voice? has my hand become feeble, so that it is unable to take up your cause? or have I no power to make you free? See, at my word the sea becomes dry, I make the rivers a waste land: their fish are dead for need of water, and make an evil smell. ^50:3By me the heavens are clothed with black, and I make haircloth their robe. ^50:4The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are experienced, so that I may be able to give the word a special sense for the feeble: every morning my ear is open to his teaching, like those who are experienced: ^50:5And I have not put myself against him, or let my heart be turned back from him. ^50:6I was offering my back to those who gave me blows, and my face to those who were pulling out my hair: I did not keep my face covered from marks of shame. ^50:7For the Lord God is my helper; I will not be put to shame: so I have made my face like a rock, and I am certain that he will give me my right. ^50:8He who takes up my cause is near; who will go to law with me? let us come together before the judge: who is against me? let him come near to me. ^50:9See, the Lord God is my helper; who will give a decision against me? truly, all of them will become old like a robe; they will be food for the worm. ^50:10Who among you has the fear of the Lord, giving ear to the voice of his servant who has been walking in the dark and has no light? Let him put his faith in the name of the Lord, looking to his God for support. ^50:11See, all you who make a fire, arming yourselves with burning branches: go in the flame of your fire, and among the branches you have put a light to. This will you have from my hand, you will make your bed in sorrow.

^51:1Give ear to me, you who are searching for righteousness, who are looking for the Lord: see the rock from which you were cut out, and the hole out of which you were taken. ^51:2Let your thoughts be turned to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth: for when he was but one, my voice came to him, and I gave him my blessing, and made him a great people. ^51:3For the Lord has given comfort to Zion: he has made glad all her broken walls; making her waste places like Eden, and changing her dry land into the garden of the Lord; joy and delight will be there, praise and the sound of melody. ^51:4Give attention to me, O my people; and give ear to me, O my nation; for teaching will go out from me, and the knowledge of the true God will be a light to the peoples. ^51:5Suddenly will my righteousness come near, and my salvation will be shining out like the light; the sea-lands will be waiting for me, and they will put their hope in my strong arm. ^51:6Let your eyes be lifted up to the heavens, and turned to the earth which is under them: for the heavens will go in flight like smoke, and the earth will become old like a coat, and its people will come to destruction like insects: but my salvation will be for ever, and my righteousness will not come to an end. ^51:7Give ear to me, you who have knowledge of righteousness, in whose heart is my law; have no fear of the evil words of men, and give no thought to their curses. ^51:8For like a coat they will be food for the insect, the worm will make a meal of them like wool: but my righteousness will be for ever, and my salvation to all generations. ^51:9Awake! awake! put on strength, O arm of the Lord, awake! as in the old days, in the generations long past. Was it not by you that Rahab was cut in two, and the dragon Wounded? ^51:10Did you not make the sea dry, the waters of the great deep? did you not make the deep waters of the sea a way for the Lord's people to go through? ^51:11Those whom the Lord has made free will come back with songs to Zion; and on their heads will be eternal joy: delight and joy will be theirs, and sorrow and sounds of grief will be gone for ever. ^51:12I, even I, am your comforter: are you so poor in heart as to be in fear of man who will come to an end, and of the son of man who will be like grass? ^51:13And you have given no thought to the Lord your Maker, by whom the heavens were stretched out, and the earth placed on its base; and you went all day in fear of the wrath of the cruel one, when he was making ready for your destruction. And where is the wrath of the cruel one? ^51:14The prisoner, bent under his chain, will quickly be made free, and will not go down into the underworld, and his bread will not come to an end. ^51:15For I am the Lord your God, who makes the sea calm when its waves are thundering: the Lord of armies is his name. ^51:16And I have put my words in your mouth, covering you with the shade of my hand, stretching out the heavens, and placing the earth on its base, and saying to Zion, You are my people. ^51:17Awake! awake! up! O Jerusalem, you who have taken from the Lord's hand the cup of his wrath; tasting in full measure the wine which overcomes. ^51:18She has no one among all her children to be her guide; not one of the sons she has taken care of takes her by the hand. ^51:19These two things have come on you; who will be weeping for you? wasting and destruction; death from need of food, and from the sword; how may you be comforted? ^51:20Your sons are overcome, like a roe in a net; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the punishment of your God. ^51:21So now give ear to this, you who are troubled and overcome, but not with wine: ^51:22This is the word of the Lord your master, even your God who takes up the cause of his people: See, I have taken out of your hand the cup which overcomes, even the cup of my wrath; it will not again be given to you: ^51:23And I will put it into the hand of your cruel masters, and of those whose yoke has been hard on you; who have said to your soul, Down on your face! so that we may go over you: and you have given your backs like the earth, even like the street, for them to go over.

^52:1Awake! awake! put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful robes, O Jerusalem, the holy town: for from now there will never again come into you the unclean and those without circumcision. ^52:2Make yourself clean from the dust; up! and take the seat of your power, O Jerusalem: the bands of your neck are loose, O prisoned daughter of Zion. ^52:3For the Lord says, You were given for nothing, and you will be made free without price. ^52:4For the Lord God says, My people went down at first into Egypt, to get a place for themselves there: and the Assyrian put a cruel yoke on them without cause. ^52:5Now then, what have I here? says the Lord, for my people are taken away without cause; they are made waste and give cries of sorrow, says the Lord, and all the day the nations put shame on my name. ^52:6For this cause I will make my name clear to my people; in that day they will be certain that it is my word which comes to them; see, here am I. ^52:7How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who comes with good news, who gives word of peace, saying that salvation is near; who says to Zion, Your God is ruling! ^52:8The voice of your watchmen! their voices are loud in song together; for they will see him, eye to eye, when the Lord comes back to Zion. ^52:9Give sounds of joy, make melody together, waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord has given comfort to his people, he has taken up the cause of Jerusalem. ^52:10The Lord has let his holy arm be seen by the eyes of all nations; and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. ^52:11Away! away! go out from there, touching no unclean thing; go out from among her; be clean, you who take up the vessels of the Lord. ^52:12For you will not go out suddenly, and you will not go in flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will come after you to keep you. ^52:13See, my servant will do well in his undertakings, he will be honoured, and lifted up, and be very high. ^52:14As peoples were surprised at him, And his face was not beautiful, so as to be desired: his face was so changed by disease as to be unlike that of a man, and his form was no longer that of the sons of men. ^52:15So will nations give him honour; kings will keep quiet because of him: for what had not been made clear to them they will see; and they will give their minds to what had not come to their ears.

^53:1Who would have had faith in the word which has come to our ears, and to whom had the arm of the Lord been unveiled? ^53:2For his growth was like that of a delicate plant before him, and like a root out of a dry place: he had no grace of form, to give us pleasure; ^53:3Men made sport of him, turning away from him; he was a man of sorrows, marked by disease; and like one from whom men's faces are turned away, he was looked down on, and we put no value on him. ^53:4But it was our pain he took, and our diseases were put on him: while to us he seemed as one diseased, on whom God's punishment had come. ^53:5But it was for our sins he was wounded, and for our evil doings he was crushed: he took the punishment by which we have peace, and by his wounds we are made well. ^53:6We all went wandering like sheep; going every one of us after his desire; and the Lord put on him the punishment of us all. ^53:7Men were cruel to him, but he was gentle and quiet; as a lamb taken to its death, and as a sheep before those who take her wool makes no sound, so he said not a word. ^53:8They took away from him help and right, and who gave a thought to his fate? for he was cut off from the land of the living: he came to his death for the sin of my people. ^53:9And they put his body into the earth with sinners, and his last resting-place was with the evil-doers, though he had done no wrong, and no deceit was in his mouth. ^53:10And the Lord was pleased ... see a seed, long life, ... will do well in his hand. ... ^53:11... made clear his righteousness before men ... had taken their sins on himself. ^53:12For this cause he will have a heritage with the great, and he will have a part in the goods of war with the strong, because he gave up his life, and was numbered with the evil-doers; taking on himself the sins of the people, and making prayer for the wrongdoers.

^54:1Let your voice be loud in song, O woman without children; make melody and sounds of joy, you who did not give birth: for the children of her who had no husband are more than those of the married wife, says the Lord. ^54:2Make wide the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your house be stretched out without limit: make your cords long, and your tent-pins strong. ^54:3For I will make wide your limits on the right hand and on the left; and your seed will take the nations for a heritage, and make the waste towns full of people. ^54:4Have no fear; for you will not be shamed or without hope: you will not be put to shame, for the shame of your earlier days will go out of your memory, and you will no longer keep in mind the sorrows of your widowed years. ^54:5For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of armies is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is he who takes up your cause; he will be named the God of all the earth. ^54:6For the Lord has made you come back to him, like a wife who has been sent away in grief of spirit; for one may not give up the wife of one's early days. ^54:7For a short time I gave you up; but with great mercies I will take you back again. ^54:8In overflowing wrath my face was veiled from you for a minute, but I will have pity on you for ever, says the Lord who takes up your cause. ^54:9For this is like the days of Noah to me: for as I took an oath that the waters of Noah would never again go over the earth, so have I taken an oath that I will not again be angry with you, or say bitter words to you. ^54:10For the mountains may be taken away, and the hills be moved out of their places, but my love will not be taken from you, or my agreement of peace broken, says the Lord, who has had mercy on you. ^54:11O troubled one, storm-crushed, uncomforted! see, your stones will be framed in fair colours, and your bases will be sapphires. ^54:12I will make your towers of rubies, and your doors of carbuncles, and the wall round you will be of all sorts of beautiful stones. ^54:13And all your builders will be made wise by the Lord; and great will be the peace of your children. ^54:14All your rights will be made certain to you: have no fear of evil, and destruction will not come near you. ^54:15See, they may be moved to war, but not by my authority: all those who come together to make an attack on you, will be broken against you. ^54:16See, I have made the iron-worker, blowing on the burning coals, and making the instrument of war by his work; and I have made the waster for destruction. ^54:17No instrument of war which is formed against you will be of any use; and every tongue which says evil against you will be judged false. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness comes from me, says the Lord.

^55:1Ho! everyone in need, come to the waters, and he who has no strength, let him get food: come, get bread without money; wine and milk without price. ^55:2Why do you give your money for what is not bread, and the fruit of your work for what will not give you pleasure? Give ear to me, so that your food may be good, and you may have the best in full measure. ^55:3Give ear, and come to me, take note with care, so that your souls may have life: and I will make an eternal agreement with you, even the certain mercies of David. ^55:4See, I have given him as a witness to the peoples, a ruler and a guide to the nations. ^55:5See, you will send for a nation of which you had no knowledge, and those who had no knowledge of you will come running to you, because of the Lord your God, and because of the Holy One of Israel, for he has given you glory. ^55:6Make search for the Lord while he is there, make prayer to him while he is near: ^55:7Let the sinner give up his way, and the evil-doer his purpose: and let him come back to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for there is full forgiveness with him. ^55:8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, or your ways my ways, says the Lord. ^55:9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. ^55:10For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and does not go back again, but gives water to the earth, and makes it fertile, giving seed to the planter, and bread for food; ^55:11So will my word be which goes out of my mouth: it will not come back to me with nothing done, but it will give effect to my purpose, and do that for which I have sent it. ^55:12For you will go out with joy, and be guided in peace: the mountains and the hills will make melody before you, and all the trees of the fields will make sounds of joy. ^55:13In place of the thorn will come up the fir-tree, and in place of the blackberry the myrtle: and it will be to the Lord for a name, for an eternal sign which will not be cut off.

^56:1The Lord says, Let your way of life be upright, and let your behaviour be rightly ordered: for my salvation is near, and my righteousness will quickly be seen. ^56:2Happy is the man who does this, and the son of man whose behaviour is so ordered; who keeps the Sabbath holy, and his hand from doing any evil. ^56:3And let not the man from a strange country, who has been joined to the Lord, say, The Lord will certainly put a division between me and his people: and let not the unsexed man say, See, I am a dry tree. ^56:4For the Lord says, As for the unsexed who keep my Sabbaths, and give their hearts to pleasing me, and keep their agreement with me: ^56:5I will give to them in my house, and inside my walls, a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name which will not be cut off. ^56:6And as for those from a strange country, who are joined to the Lord, to give worship to him and honour to his name, to be his servants, even everyone who keeps the Sabbath holy, and keeps his agreement with me: ^56:7I will make them come to my holy mountain, and will give them joy in my house of prayer; I will take pleasure in the burned offerings which they make on my altar: for my house will be named a house of prayer for all peoples. ^56:8The Lord God, who gets together the wandering ones of Israel, says, I will get together others in addition to those of Israel who have come back. ^56:9All you beasts of the field, come together for your meat, even all you beasts of the wood. ^56:10His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dogs without tongues, unable to make a sound; stretched out dreaming, loving sleep. ^56:11Yes, the dogs are for ever looking for food; while these, the keepers of the sheep, are without wisdom: they have all gone after their pleasure, every one looking for profit; they are all the same. ^56:12Come, they say, I will get wine, and we will take strong drink in full measure; and tomorrow will be like today, full of pleasure.

^57:1The upright man goes to his death, and no one gives a thought to it; and god-fearing men are taken away, and no one is troubled by it; for the upright man is taken away because of evil-doing, and goes into peace. ^57:2They are at rest in their last resting-places, every one going straight before him. ^57:3But come near, you sons of her who is wise in secret arts, the seed of her who is false to her husband, and of the loose woman. ^57:4Of whom do you make sport? against whom is your mouth open wide and your tongue put out? are you not uncontrolled children, a false seed, ^57:5You who are burning with evil desire among the oaks, under every green tree; putting children to death in the valleys, under the cracks of the rocks? ^57:6Among the smooth stones of the valley is your heritage; they, even they, are your part: even to them have you made a drink offering and a meal offering. Is it possible for such things to be overlooked by me? ^57:7You have put your bed on a high mountain: there you went up to make your offering. ^57:8And on the back of the doors and on the pillars you have put your sign: for you have been false to me with another; you have made your bed wide, and made an agreement with them; you had a desire for their bed where you saw it ^57:9And you went to Melech with oil and much perfume, and you sent your representatives far off, and went as low as the underworld. ^57:10You were tired with your long journeys; but you did not say, There is no hope: you got new strength, and so you were not feeble. ^57:11And of whom were you in fear, so that you were false, and did not keep me in mind, or give thought to it? Have I not been quiet, keeping myself secret, and so you were not in fear of me? ^57:12I will make clear what your righteousness is like and your works; you will have no profit in them. ^57:13Your false gods will not keep you safe in answer to your cry; but the wind will take them, they will be gone like a breath: but he who puts his hope in me will take the land, and will have my holy mountain as his heritage. ^57:14And I will say, Make it high, make it high, get ready the way, take the stones out of the way of my people. ^57:15For this is the word of him who is high and lifted up, whose resting-place is eternal, whose name is Holy: my resting-place is in the high and holy place, and with him who is crushed and poor in spirit, to give life to the spirit of the poor, and to make strong the heart of the crushed. ^57:16For I will not give punishment for ever, or be angry without end: for from me breath goes out; and I it was who made the souls. ^57:17I was quickly angry with his evil ways, and sent punishment on him, veiling my face in wrath: and he went on, turning his heart from me. ^57:18I have seen his ways, and I will make him well: I will give him rest, comforting him and his people who are sad. ^57:19I will give the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is near and to him who is far off, says the Lord; and I will make him well. ^57:20But the evil-doers are like the troubled sea, for which there is no rest, and its waters send up earth and waste. ^57:21There is no peace, says my God, for the evil-doers.

^58:1Make a loud cry, do not be quiet, let your voice be sounding like a horn, and make clear to my people their evil doings, and to the family of Jacob their sins. ^58:2Though they make prayer to me every day, and take pleasure in the knowledge of my ways: like a nation which has done righteousness, and has not given up the rules of their God, they make requests to me for the right orders, it is their delight to come near to God. ^58:3They say, Why have we kept ourselves from food, and you do not see it? why have we kept ourselves from pleasure, and you take no note of it? If, in the days when you keep from food, you take the chance to do your business, and get in your debts; ^58:4If keeping from food makes you quickly angry, ready for fighting and giving blows with evil hands; your holy days are not such as to make your voice come to my ears on high. ^58:5Have I given orders for such a day as this? a day for keeping yourselves from pleasure? is it only a question of the bent head, of putting on haircloth, and being seated in the dust? is this what seems to you a holy day, well-pleasing to the Lord? ^58:6Is not this the holy day for which I have given orders: to let loose those who have wrongly been made prisoners, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the crushed go free, and every yoke be broken? ^58:7Is it not to give your bread to those in need, and to let the poor who have no resting-place come into your house? to put a robe on the unclothed one when you see him, and not to keep your eyes shut for fear of seeing his flesh? ^58:8Then will light be shining on you like the morning, and your wounds will quickly be well: and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will come after you. ^58:9Then at the sound of your voice, the Lord will give an answer; at your cry he will say, Here am I. If you take away from among you the yoke, the putting out of the finger of shame, and the evil word; ^58:10And if you give your bread to those in need of it, so that the troubled one may have his desire; then you will have light in the dark, and your night will be as the full light of the sun: ^58:11And the Lord will be your guide at all times; in dry places he will give you water in full measure, and will make strong your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like an ever-flowing spring. ^58:12And your sons will be building again the old waste places: you will make strong the bases of old generations: and you will be named, He who puts up the broken walls, and, He who makes ready the ways for use. ^58:13If you keep the Sabbath with care, not doing your business on my holy day; and if the Sabbath seems to you a delight, and the new moon of the Lord a thing to be honoured; and if you give respect to him by not doing your business, or going after your pleasure, or saying unholy words; ^58:14Then the Lord will be your delight; and I will put you on the high places of the earth; and I will give you the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the Lord has said it.

^59:1Truly, the Lord's hand has not become short, so that he is unable to give salvation; and his ear is not shut from hearing: ^59:2But your sins have come between you and your God, and by your evil doings his face has been veiled from you, so that he will give you no answer. ^59:3For your hands are unclean with blood, and your fingers with sin; your lips have said false things, and your tongue gives out deceit. ^59:4No one puts forward an upright cause, or gives a true decision: their hope is in deceit, and their words are false; they are with child with sin, and give birth to evil. ^59:5They give birth to snake's eggs, and make spider's threads: whoever takes their eggs for food comes to his death, and the egg which is crushed becomes a poison-snake. ^59:6Their twisted threads will not make clothing, and their works will give them nothing for covering themselves: their works are works of sin, and violent acts are in their hands. ^59:7Their feet go quickly to evil, and they take delight in the death of the upright; their thoughts are thoughts of sin; wasting and destruction are in their ways. ^59:8They have no knowledge of the way of peace, and there is no sense of what is right in their behaviour: they have made for themselves ways which are not straight; whoever goes in them has no knowledge of peace. ^59:9For this cause our right is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us: we are looking for light, but there is only the dark; for the shining of the sun, but our way is in the night. ^59:10We go on our way, like blind men feeling for the wall, even like those who have no eyes: we are running against things in daylight as if it was evening; our place is in the dark like dead men. ^59:11We make noises of grief, like bears, and sad sounds like doves: we are looking for our right, but it is not there; for salvation, but it is far from us. ^59:12For our evil doings are increased before you, and our sins give witness against us: for our evil doings are with us, and we have knowledge of our sins: ^59:13We have gone against the Lord, and been false to him, turning away from our God, our words have been uncontrolled, and in our hearts are thoughts of deceit. ^59:14And the right is turned back, and righteousness is far away: for good faith is not to be seen in the public places, and upright behaviour may not come into the town. ^59:15Yes, faith is gone; and he whose heart is turned from evil comes into the power of the cruel: and the Lord saw it, and he was angry that there was no one to take up their cause. ^59:16And he saw that there was no man, and was surprised that there was no one to take up their cause: so his arm gave salvation, and he made righteousness his support. ^59:17Yes, he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and salvation as a head-dress; and he put on punishment as clothing, and wrath as a robe. ^59:18He will give them the right reward of their doings, wrath to his attackers, punishment to his haters, and even on the sea-lands he will send punishment. ^59:19So they will see the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the east: for he will come like a rushing stream, forced on by a wind of the Lord. ^59:20And as a saviour he will come to Zion, turning away sin from Jacob, says the Lord. ^59:21And as for me, this is my agreement with them, says the Lord: my spirit which is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, will not go away from your mouth, or from the mouth of your seed, or from the mouth of your seed's seed, says the Lord, from now and for ever.

^60:1Up! let your face be bright, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is shining on you. ^60:2For truly, the earth will be dark, and the peoples veiled in blackest night; but the Lord will be shining on you, and his glory will be seen among you. ^60:3And nations will come to your light, and kings to your bright dawn. ^60:4Let your eyes be lifted up, and see: they are all coming together to you: your sons will come from far, and your daughters taken with loving care. ^60:5Then you will see, and be bright with joy, and your heart will be shaking with increase of delight: for the produce of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you. ^60:6You will be full of camel-trains, even the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all from Sheba will come, with gold and spices, giving word of the great acts of the Lord. ^60:7All the flocks of Kedar will come together to you, the sheep of Nebaioth will be ready for your need; they will be pleasing offerings on my altar, and my house of prayer will be beautiful. ^60:8Who are these coming like a cloud, like a flight of doves to their windows? ^60:9Vessels of the sea-lands are waiting for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, so that your sons may come from far, and their silver and gold with them, to the place of the name of the Lord your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has made you beautiful. ^60:10And men from strange countries will be building up your walls, and their kings will be your servants: for in my wrath I sent punishment on you, but in my grace I have had mercy on you. ^60:11Your doors will be open at all times; they will not be shut day or night; so that men may come into you with the wealth of the nations, with their kings at their head. ^60:12For the nation or kingdom which will not be your servant will come to destruction; such nations will be completely waste. ^60:13The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the cypress, the plane, and the sherbin-tree together, to make my holy place beautiful; and the resting-place of my feet will be full of glory. ^60:14And the sons of those who were cruel to you will come before you with bent heads; and those who made sport of you will go down on their faces at your feet; and you will be named, The Town of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. ^60:15And though you were turned away from, and hated, and had no helper, I will make you a pride for ever, a joy from generation to generation. ^60:16And you will take the milk of the nations, flowing from the breast of kings; and you will see that I, the Lord, am your saviour, and he who takes up your cause, the Strong One of Jacob. ^60:17In place of brass, I will give gold, and for iron silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: and I will make Peace your judge, and Righteousness your overseer. ^60:18Violent acts will no longer be seen in your land, wasting or destruction in your limits; but your walls will be named, Salvation, and your doors Praise. ^60:19The sun will not be your light by day, and the moon will no longer be bright for you by night: but the Lord will be to you an eternal light, and your God your glory. ^60:20Your sun will never again go down, or your moon keep back her light: for the Lord will be your eternal light, and the days of your sorrow will be ended. ^60:21Your people will all be upright, the land will be their heritage for ever; the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, to be for my glory. ^60:22The smallest of their families will become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I, the Lord, will make it come quickly in its time.

^61:1The spirit of the Lord is on me, because I am marked out by him to give good news to the poor; he has sent me to make the broken-hearted well, to say that the prisoners will be made free, and that those in chains will see the light again; ^61:2To give knowledge that the year of the Lord's good pleasure has come, and the day of punishment from our God; to give comfort to all who are sad; ^61:3To give them a fair head-dress in place of dust, the oil of joy in place of the clothing of grief, praise in place of sorrow; so that they may be named trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and so that he may have glory. ^61:4And they will be building again the old broken walls, and will make new the old waste places, and will put up again the towns which have been waste for long generations. ^61:5And men from strange countries will be your herdsmen, and those who are not Israelites will be your ploughmen and vine-keepers. ^61:6But you will be named the priests of the Lord, the servants of our God: you will have the wealth of the nations for your food, and you will be clothed with their glory. ^61:7As they had twice as much grief, and marks of shame were their heritage, so in their land they will be rewarded twice over, and will have eternal joy. ^61:8For I, the Lord, take pleasure in upright judging; I will not put up with the violent taking away of right; and I will certainly give them their reward, and I will make an eternal agreement with them. ^61:9And their seed will be noted among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples: it will be clear to all who see them that they are the seed to which the Lord has given his blessing. ^61:10I will be full of joy in the Lord, my soul will be glad in my God; for he has put on me the clothing of salvation, covering me with the robe of righteousness, as the husband puts on a fair head-dress, and the bride makes herself beautiful with jewels. ^61:11For as the earth puts out buds, and as the garden gives growth to the seeds which are planted in it, so the Lord will make righteousness and praise to be flowering before all the nations.

^62:1Because of Zion I will not keep quiet, and because of Jerusalem I will take no rest, till her righteousness goes out like the shining of the sun, and her salvation like a burning light. ^62:2And the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you will have a new name, given by the mouth of the Lord. ^62:3And you will be a fair crown in the hand of the Lord, and a king's head-dress in the hand of your God. ^62:4You will not now be named, She who is given up; and your land will no longer be named, The waste land: but you will have the name, My pleasure is in her, and your land will be named, Married: for the Lord has pleasure in you, and your land will be married. ^62:5For as a young man takes a virgin for his wife, so will your maker be married to you: and as a husband has joy in his bride, so will the Lord your God be glad over you. ^62:6I have put watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will not keep quiet day or night: you who are the Lord's recorders, take no rest, ^62:7And give him no rest, till he puts Jerusalem in her place to be praised in the earth. ^62:8The Lord has taken an oath by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Truly, I will no longer give your grain to be food for your haters; and men of strange countries will not take the wine for which your work has been done: ^62:9But those who have got in the grain will have it for their food, and will give praise to the Lord; and those who have got in the grapes will take the wine of them in the open places of my holy house. ^62:10Go through, go through the doors; make ready the way of the people; let the highway be lifted up; let the stones be taken away; let a flag be lifted up over the peoples. ^62:11The Lord has sent out word to the end of the earth, Say to the daughter of Zion, See, your saviour comes; those whom he has made free are with him, and those to whom he has given salvation go before him. ^62:12And they will be named, The holy people, Those whose cause has been taken up by the Lord: and you will be named, Desired, A town not given up.

^63:1Who is this who comes from Edom, with blood-red robes from Bozrah? he whose clothing is fair, stepping with pride in his great strength? I whose glory is in the right, strong for salvation. ^63:2Why is your clothing red, and why are your robes like those of one who is crushing the grapes? ^63:3I have been crushing the grapes by myself, and of the peoples there was no man with me: in my wrath and in my passion, they were crushed under my feet; and my robes are marked with their life-blood, and all my clothing is red. ^63:4For the day of punishment is in my heart, and the year for the payment of the price for my people has come. ^63:5And I saw that there was no helper, and I was wondering that no one gave them support: so my arm did the work of salvation, and my wrath was my support. ^63:6And in my passion the peoples were crushed under my feet, and broken in my wrath, and I put down their strength to the earth. ^63:7I will give news of the mercies of the Lord, and his great acts, even all the things the Lord has done for us, in his great grace to the house of Israel; even all he has done for us in his unnumbered mercies. ^63:8For he said, Truly they are my people, children who will not be false: so he was their saviour out of all their trouble. ^63:9It was no sent one or angel, but he himself who was their saviour: in his love and in his pity he took up their cause, and he took them in his arms, caring for them all through the years. ^63:10But they went against him, causing grief to his holy spirit: so he was turned against them, and made war on them. ^63:11Then the early days came to their minds, the days of Moses his servant: and they said, Where is he who made the keeper of his flock come up from the sea? where is he who put his holy spirit among them, ^63:12He who made the arm of his glory go at the right hand of Moses, by whom the waters were parted before them, to make himself an eternal name; ^63:13He who made them go through the deep waters, like a horse in the waste land? ^63:14Like the cattle which go down into the valley, they went without falling, the spirit of the Lord guiding them: so you went before your people, to make yourself a great name. ^63:15Let your eyes be looking down from heaven, from your holy and beautiful house: where is your deep feeling, the working of your power? do not keep back the moving of your pity and your mercies: ^63:16For you are our father, though Abraham has no knowledge of us, and Israel gives no thought to us: you, O Lord, are our father; from the earliest days you have taken up our cause. ^63:17O Lord, why do you send us wandering from your ways, making our hearts hard, so that we have no fear of you? Come back, because of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. ^63:18Why have evil men gone over your holy place, so that it has been crushed under the feet of our haters? ^63:19We have become as those who were never ruled by you, on whom your name was not named.

^64:1O let the heavens be broken open and come down, so that the mountains may be shaking before you, ^64:2As when fire puts the brushwood in flames, or as when water is boiling from the heat of the fire: to make your name feared by your haters, so that the nations may be shaking before you; ^64:3While you do acts of power for which we are not looking, and which have not come to the ears of men in the past. ^64:4The ear has not had news of, or the eye seen, ... any God but you, working for the man who is waiting for him. ^64:5Will you not have mercy on him who takes pleasure in doing righteousness, even on those who keep in mind your ways? Truly you were angry, and we went on doing evil, and sinning against you in the past. ^64:6For we have all become like an unclean person, and all our good acts are like a dirty robe: and we have all become old like a dead leaf, and our sins, like the wind, take us away. ^64:7And there is no one who makes prayer to your name, or who is moved to keep true to you: for your face is veiled from us, and you have given us into the power of our sins. ^64:8But now, O Lord, you are our father; we are the earth, and you are our maker; and we are all the work of your hand. ^64:9Be not very angry, O Lord, and do not keep our sins in mind for ever: give ear to our prayer, for we are all your people. ^64:10Your holy towns have become a waste, Zion has become a waste, Jerusalem is a mass of broken walls. ^64:11Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers gave praise to you, is burned with fire; and all the things of our desire have come to destruction. ^64:12In view of all this, will you still do nothing, O Lord? will you keep quiet, and go on increasing our punishment?