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Isaiah 1

 ¹ The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

A Rebellious Nation

 ³ The ox knows his master,
       the donkey his owner's manger,
       but Israel does not know,
       my people do not understand."

 ⁴ Ah, sinful nation,
       a people loaded with guilt,
       a brood of evildoers,
       children given to corruption!
       They have forsaken the LORD;
       they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
       and turned their backs on him.

 ⁵ Why should you be beaten anymore?
       Why do you persist in rebellion?
       Your whole head is injured,
       your whole heart afflicted.

 ⁶ From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
       there is no soundness—
       only wounds and welts
       and open sores,
       not cleansed or bandaged
       or soothed with oil.

 ⁷ Your country is desolate,
       your cities burned with fire;
       your fields are being stripped by foreigners
       right before you,
       laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.

 ⁸ The Daughter of Zion is left
       like a shelter in a vineyard,
       like a hut in a field of melons,
       like a city under siege.

 ⁹ Unless the LORD Almighty
       had left us some survivors,
       we would have become like Sodom,
       we would have been like Gomorrah.

 ¹⁰ Hear the word of the LORD,
       you rulers of Sodom;
       listen to the law of our God,
       you people of Gomorrah!

 ¹¹ "The multitude of your sacrifices—
       what are they to me?" says the LORD.
       "I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
       of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
       I have no pleasure
       in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

 ¹² When you come to appear before me,
       who has asked this of you,
       this trampling of my courts?

 ¹³ Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
       Your incense is detestable to me.
       New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
       I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

 ¹⁴ Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts
       my soul hates.
       They have become a burden to me;
       I am weary of bearing them.

 ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer,
       I will hide my eyes from you;
       even if you offer many prayers,
       I will not listen.
       Your hands are full of blood;

 ¹⁶ wash and make yourselves clean.
       Take your evil deeds
       out of my sight!
       Stop doing wrong,

 ¹⁷ learn to do right!
       Seek justice,
       encourage the oppressed. ^[a]
       Defend the cause of the fatherless,
       plead the case of the widow.

 ¹⁸ "Come now, let us reason together,"
       says the LORD.
       "Though your sins are like scarlet,
       they shall be as white as snow;
       though they are red as crimson,
       they shall be like wool.

 ¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
       you will eat the best from the land;

 ²⁰ but if you resist and rebel,
       you will be devoured by the sword."
       For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

 ²¹ See how the faithful city
       has become a harlot!
       She once was full of justice;
       righteousness used to dwell in her—
       but now murderers!

 ²² Your silver has become dross,
       your choice wine is diluted with water.

 ²³ Your rulers are rebels,
       companions of thieves;
       they all love bribes
       and chase after gifts.
       They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
       the widow's case does not come before them.

 ²⁴ Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty,
       the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
       "Ah, I will get relief from my foes
       and avenge myself on my enemies.

 ²⁵ I will turn my hand against you;
       I will thoroughly purge away your dross
       and remove all your impurities.

 ²⁶ I will restore your judges as in days of old,
       your counselors as at the beginning.
       Afterward you will be called
       the City of Righteousness,
       the Faithful City."

 ²⁷ Zion will be redeemed with justice,
       her penitent ones with righteousness.

 ²⁸ But rebels and sinners will both be broken,
       and those who forsake the LORD will perish.

 ²⁹ "You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks
       in which you have delighted;
       you will be disgraced because of the gardens
       that you have chosen.

 ³⁰ You will be like an oak with fading leaves,
       like a garden without water.

 ³¹ The mighty man will become tinder
       and his work a spark;
       both will burn together,
       with no one to quench the fire."

Isaiah 2

The Mountain of the Lord

 ² In the last days
       the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established
       as chief among the mountains;
       it will be raised above the hills,
       and all nations will stream to it.

 ³ Many peoples will come and say,
       "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
       to the house of the God of Jacob.
       He will teach us his ways,
       so that we may walk in his paths."
       The law will go out from Zion,
       the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

 ⁴ He will judge between the nations
       and will settle disputes for many peoples.
       They will beat their swords into plowshares
       and their spears into pruning hooks.
       Nation will not take up sword against nation,
       nor will they train for war anymore.

 ⁵ Come, O house of Jacob,
       let us walk in the light of the LORD.

The Day of the Lord

 ⁷ Their land is full of silver and gold;
       there is no end to their treasures.
       Their land is full of horses;
       there is no end to their chariots.

 ⁸ Their land is full of idols;
       they bow down to the work of their hands,
       to what their fingers have made.

 ⁹ So man will be brought low
       and mankind humbled—
       do not forgive them. ^[b]

 ¹⁰ Go into the rocks,
       hide in the ground
       from dread of the LORD
       and the splendor of his majesty!

 ¹¹ The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled
       and the pride of men brought low;
       the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

 ¹² The LORD Almighty has a day in store
       for all the proud and lofty,
       for all that is exalted
       (and they will be humbled),

 ¹³ for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
       and all the oaks of Bashan,

 ¹⁴ for all the towering mountains
       and all the high hills,

 ¹⁵ for every lofty tower
       and every fortified wall,

 ¹⁶ for every trading ship ^[c]
       and every stately vessel.

 ¹⁷ The arrogance of man will be brought low
       and the pride of men humbled;
       the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,

 ¹⁸ and the idols will totally disappear.

 ¹⁹ Men will flee to caves in the rocks
       and to holes in the ground
       from dread of the LORD
       and the splendor of his majesty,
       when he rises to shake the earth.

 ²⁰ In that day men will throw away
       to the rodents and bats
       their idols of silver and idols of gold,
       which they made to worship.

 ²¹ They will flee to caverns in the rocks
       and to the overhanging crags
       from dread of the LORD
       and the splendor of his majesty,
       when he rises to shake the earth.

 ²² Stop trusting in man,
       who has but a breath in his nostrils.
       Of what account is he?

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Isaiah 6

Isaiah's Commission

 ⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

 ⁵ "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

 ⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

 ⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
      And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

 ⁹ He said, "Go and tell this people:
       " 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
       be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'

 ¹⁰ Make the heart of this people calloused;
       make their ears dull
       and close their eyes. ^[a]
       Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
       hear with their ears,
       understand with their hearts,
       and turn and be healed."

 ¹¹ Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"
      And he answered:
       "Until the cities lie ruined
       and without inhabitant,
       until the houses are left deserted
       and the fields ruined and ravaged,

 ¹² until the LORD has sent everyone far away
       and the land is utterly forsaken.

 ¹³ And though a tenth remains in the land,
       it will again be laid waste.
       But as the terebinth and oak
       leave stumps when they are cut down,
       so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

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Isaiah 40

Comfort for God's People

 ² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
       and proclaim to her
       that her hard service has been completed,
       that her sin has been paid for,
       that she has received from the LORD's hand
       double for all her sins.

 ³ A voice of one calling:
       "In the desert prepare
       the way for the LORD ^[a] ;
       make straight in the wilderness
       a highway for our God. ^[b]

 ⁴ Every valley shall be raised up,
       every mountain and hill made low;
       the rough ground shall become level,
       the rugged places a plain.

 ⁵ And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
       and all mankind together will see it.
       For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

 ⁶ A voice says, "Cry out."
       And I said, "What shall I cry?"
       "All men are like grass,
       and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

 ⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
       because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
       Surely the people are grass.

 ⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
       but the word of our God stands forever."

 ⁹ You who bring good tidings to Zion,
       go up on a high mountain.
       You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, ^[c]
       lift up your voice with a shout,
       lift it up, do not be afraid;
       say to the towns of Judah,
       "Here is your God!"

 ¹⁰ See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power,
       and his arm rules for him.
       See, his reward is with him,
       and his recompense accompanies him.

 ¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd:
       He gathers the lambs in his arms
       and carries them close to his heart;
       he gently leads those that have young.

 ¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
       or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
       Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
       or weighed the mountains on the scales
       and the hills in a balance?

 ¹³ Who has understood the mind ^[d] of the LORD,
       or instructed him as his counselor?

 ¹⁴ Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
       and who taught him the right way?
       Who was it that taught him knowledge
       or showed him the path of understanding?

 ¹⁵ Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
       they are regarded as dust on the scales;
       he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

 ¹⁶ Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
       nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.

 ¹⁷ Before him all the nations are as nothing;
       they are regarded by him as worthless
       and less than nothing.

 ¹⁸ To whom, then, will you compare God?
       What image will you compare him to?

 ¹⁹ As for an idol, a craftsman casts it,
       and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
       and fashions silver chains for it.

 ²⁰ A man too poor to present such an offering
       selects wood that will not rot.
       He looks for a skilled craftsman
       to set up an idol that will not topple.

 ²¹ Do you not know?
       Have you not heard?
       Has it not been told you from the beginning?
       Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

 ²² He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
       and its people are like grasshoppers.
       He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
       and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

 ²³ He brings princes to naught
       and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

 ²⁴ No sooner are they planted,
       no sooner are they sown,
       no sooner do they take root in the ground,
       than he blows on them and they wither,
       and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

 ²⁵ "To whom will you compare me?
       Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

 ²⁶ Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
       Who created all these?
       He who brings out the starry host one by one,
       and calls them each by name.
       Because of his great power and mighty strength,
       not one of them is missing.

 ²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
       and complain, O Israel,
       "My way is hidden from the LORD;
       my cause is disregarded by my God"?

 ²⁸ Do you not know?
       Have you not heard?
       The LORD is the everlasting God,
       the Creator of the ends of the earth.
       He will not grow tired or weary,
       and his understanding no one can fathom.

 ²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
       and increases the power of the weak.

 ³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
       and young men stumble and fall;

 ³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
       will renew their strength.
       They will soar on wings like eagles;
       they will run and not grow weary,
       they will walk and not be faint.

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Isaiah 52

 ¹ Awake, awake, O Zion,
       clothe yourself with strength.
       Put on your garments of splendor,
       O Jerusalem, the holy city.
       The uncircumcised and defiled
       will not enter you again.

 ² Shake off your dust;
       rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem.
       Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
       O captive Daughter of Zion.

 ³ For this is what the LORD says:
       "You were sold for nothing,
       and without money you will be redeemed."

 ⁴ For this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
       "At first my people went down to Egypt to live;
       lately, Assyria has oppressed them.

 ⁵ "And now what do I have here?" declares the LORD.
       "For my people have been taken away for nothing,
       and those who rule them mock, ^[a] "
       declares the LORD.
       "And all day long
       my name is constantly blasphemed.

 ⁶ Therefore my people will know my name;
       therefore in that day they will know
       that it is I who foretold it.
       Yes, it is I."

 ⁷ How beautiful on the mountains
       are the feet of those who bring good news,
       who proclaim peace,
       who bring good tidings,
       who proclaim salvation,
       who say to Zion,
       "Your God reigns!"

 ⁸ Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
       together they shout for joy.
       When the LORD returns to Zion,
       they will see it with their own eyes.

 ⁹ Burst into songs of joy together,
       you ruins of Jerusalem,
       for the LORD has comforted his people,
       he has redeemed Jerusalem.

 ¹⁰ The LORD will lay bare his holy arm
       in the sight of all the nations,
       and all the ends of the earth will see
       the salvation of our God.

 ¹¹ Depart, depart, go out from there!
       Touch no unclean thing!
       Come out from it and be pure,
       you who carry the vessels of the LORD.

 ¹² But you will not leave in haste
       or go in flight;
       for the LORD will go before you,
       the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

The Suffering and Glory of the Servant

 ¹⁴ Just as there were many who were appalled at him ^[c]—
       his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
       and his form marred beyond human likeness—

 ¹⁵ so will he sprinkle many nations, ^[d]
       and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
       For what they were not told, they will see,
       and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Isaiah 53

 ¹ Who has believed our message
       and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

 ² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
       and like a root out of dry ground.
       He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
       nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

 ³ He was despised and rejected by men,
       a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
       Like one from whom men hide their faces
       he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 ⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities
       and carried our sorrows,
       yet we considered him stricken by God,
       smitten by him, and afflicted.

 ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
       the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
       and by his wounds we are healed.

 ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
       each of us has turned to his own way;
       and the LORD has laid on him
       the iniquity of us all.

 ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
       yet he did not open his mouth;
       he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
       and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
       so he did not open his mouth.

 ⁸ By oppression ^[e] and judgment he was taken away.
       And who can speak of his descendants?
       For he was cut off from the land of the living;
       for the transgression of my people he was stricken. ^[f]

 ⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
       and with the rich in his death,
       though he had done no violence,
       nor was any deceit in his mouth.

 ¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
       and though the LORD makes ^[g] his life a guilt offering,
       he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
       and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

 ¹¹ After the suffering of his soul,
       he will see the light of life ^[h] and be satisfied ^[i] ;
       by his knowledge ^[j] my righteous servant will justify many,
       and he will bear their iniquities.

 ¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, ^[k]
       and he will divide the spoils with the strong, ^[l]
       because he poured out his life unto death,
       and was numbered with the transgressors.
       For he bore the sin of many,
       and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 54

The Future Glory of Zion

 ² "Enlarge the place of your tent,
       stretch your tent curtains wide,
       do not hold back;
       lengthen your cords,
       strengthen your stakes.

 ³ For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
       your descendants will dispossess nations
       and settle in their desolate cities.

 ⁴ "Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame.
       Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
       You will forget the shame of your youth
       and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

 ⁵ For your Maker is your husband—
       the LORD Almighty is his name—
       the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
       he is called the God of all the earth.

 ⁶ The LORD will call you back
       as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
       a wife who married young,
       only to be rejected," says your God.

 ⁷ "For a brief moment I abandoned you,
       but with deep compassion I will bring you back.

 ⁸ In a surge of anger
       I hid my face from you for a moment,
       but with everlasting kindness
       I will have compassion on you,"
       says the LORD your Redeemer.

 ⁹ "To me this is like the days of Noah,
       when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
       So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
       never to rebuke you again.

 ¹⁰ Though the mountains be shaken
       and the hills be removed,
       yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
       nor my covenant of peace be removed,"
       says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

 ¹¹ "O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
       I will build you with stones of turquoise, ^[m]
       your foundations with sapphires. ^[n]

 ¹² I will make your battlements of rubies,
       your gates of sparkling jewels,
       and all your walls of precious stones.

 ¹³ All your sons will be taught by the LORD,
       and great will be your children's peace.

 ¹⁴ In righteousness you will be established:
       Tyranny will be far from you;
       you will have nothing to fear.
       Terror will be far removed;
       it will not come near you.

 ¹⁵ If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;
       whoever attacks you will surrender to you.

 ¹⁶ "See, it is I who created the blacksmith
       who fans the coals into flame
       and forges a weapon fit for its work.
       And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc;

 ¹⁷ no weapon forged against you will prevail,
       and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
       This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
       and this is their vindication from me,"
       declares the LORD.

Isaiah 55

Invitation to the Thirsty

 ² Why spend money on what is not bread,
       and your labor on what does not satisfy?
       Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
       and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

 ³ Give ear and come to me;
       hear me, that your soul may live.
       I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
       my faithful love promised to David.

 ⁴ See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
       a leader and commander of the peoples.

 ⁵ Surely you will summon nations you know not,
       and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
       because of the LORD your God,
       the Holy One of Israel,
       for he has endowed you with splendor."

 ⁶ Seek the LORD while he may be found;
       call on him while he is near.

 ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way
       and the evil man his thoughts.
       Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
       and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

 ⁸ "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
       neither are your ways my ways,"
       declares the LORD.

 ⁹ "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
       so are my ways higher than your ways
       and my thoughts than your thoughts.

 ¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
       come down from heaven,
       and do not return to it
       without watering the earth
       and making it bud and flourish,
       so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

 ¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
       It will not return to me empty,
       but will accomplish what I desire
       and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

 ¹² You will go out in joy
       and be led forth in peace;
       the mountains and hills
       will burst into song before you,
       and all the trees of the field
       will clap their hands.

 ¹³ Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
       and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
       This will be for the LORD's renown,
       for an everlasting sign,
       which will not be destroyed."