Lead out those who have eyes but are blind,(A)
    who have ears but are deaf.(B)
All the nations gather together(C)
    and the peoples assemble.
Which of their gods foretold(D) this
    and proclaimed to us the former things?
Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right,
    so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”
10 “You are my witnesses,(E)” declares the Lord,
    “and my servant(F) whom I have chosen,
so that you may know(G) and believe me
    and understand that I am he.
Before me no god(H) was formed,
    nor will there be one after me.(I)
11 I, even I, am the Lord,(J)
    and apart from me there is no savior.(K)
12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
    I, and not some foreign god(L) among you.
You are my witnesses,(M)” declares the Lord, “that I am God.
13     Yes, and from ancient days(N) I am he.(O)
No one can deliver out of my hand.
    When I act, who can reverse it?”(P)

God’s Mercy and Israel’s Unfaithfulness

14 This is what the Lord says—
    your Redeemer,(Q) the Holy One(R) of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon
    and bring down as fugitives(S) all the Babylonians,[a](T)
    in the ships in which they took pride.
15 I am the Lord,(U) your Holy One,
    Israel’s Creator,(V) your King.(W)

16 This is what the Lord says—
    he who made a way through the sea,
    a path through the mighty waters,(X)
17 who drew out(Y) the chariots and horses,(Z)
    the army and reinforcements together,(AA)
and they lay(AB) there, never to rise again,
    extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:(AC)
18 “Forget the former things;(AD)
    do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!(AE)
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness(AF)
    and streams in the wasteland.(AG)
20 The wild animals(AH) honor me,
    the jackals(AI) and the owls,
because I provide water(AJ) in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21     the people I formed(AK) for myself(AL)
    that they may proclaim my praise.(AM)

22 “Yet you have not called on me, Jacob,
    you have not wearied(AN) yourselves for[b] me, Israel.(AO)
23 You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings,(AP)
    nor honored(AQ) me with your sacrifices.(AR)
I have not burdened(AS) you with grain offerings
    nor wearied you with demands(AT) for incense.(AU)
24 You have not bought any fragrant calamus(AV) for me,
    or lavished on me the fat(AW) of your sacrifices.
But you have burdened me with your sins
    and wearied(AX) me with your offenses.(AY)

25 “I, even I, am he who blots out
    your transgressions,(AZ) for my own sake,(BA)
    and remembers your sins(BB) no more.(BC)
26 Review the past for me,
    let us argue the matter together;(BD)
    state the case(BE) for your innocence.
27 Your first father(BF) sinned;
    those I sent to teach(BG) you rebelled(BH) against me.
28 So I disgraced the dignitaries of your temple;
    I consigned Jacob to destruction[c](BI)
    and Israel to scorn.(BJ)

Israel the Chosen

44 “But now listen, Jacob, my servant,(BK)
    Israel, whom I have chosen.(BL)
This is what the Lord says—
    he who made(BM) you, who formed you in the womb,(BN)
    and who will help(BO) you:
Do not be afraid,(BP) Jacob, my servant,(BQ)
    Jeshurun,[d](BR) whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water(BS) on the thirsty land,
    and streams on the dry ground;(BT)
I will pour out my Spirit(BU) on your offspring,
    and my blessing(BV) on your descendants.(BW)
They will spring up like grass(BX) in a meadow,
    like poplar trees(BY) by flowing streams.(BZ)
Some will say, ‘I belong(CA) to the Lord’;
    others will call themselves by the name of Jacob;
still others will write on their hand,(CB) ‘The Lord’s,’(CC)
    and will take the name Israel.

The Lord, Not Idols

“This is what the Lord says—
    Israel’s King(CD) and Redeemer,(CE) the Lord Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;(CF)
    apart from me there is no God.(CG)
Who then is like me?(CH) Let him proclaim it.
    Let him declare and lay out before me
what has happened since I established my ancient people,
    and what is yet to come—
    yes, let them foretell(CI) what will come.
Do not tremble, do not be afraid.
    Did I not proclaim(CJ) this and foretell it long ago?
You are my witnesses. Is there any God(CK) besides me?
    No, there is no other Rock;(CL) I know not one.”

All who make idols(CM) are nothing,
    and the things they treasure are worthless.(CN)
Those who would speak up for them are blind;(CO)
    they are ignorant, to their own shame.(CP)
10 Who shapes a god and casts an idol,(CQ)
    which can profit nothing?(CR)
11 People who do that will be put to shame;(CS)
    such craftsmen are only human beings.
Let them all come together and take their stand;
    they will be brought down to terror and shame.(CT)

12 The blacksmith(CU) takes a tool
    and works with it in the coals;
he shapes an idol with hammers,
    he forges it with the might of his arm.(CV)
He gets hungry and loses his strength;
    he drinks no water and grows faint.(CW)
13 The carpenter(CX) measures with a line
    and makes an outline with a marker;
he roughs it out with chisels
    and marks it with compasses.
He shapes it in human form,(CY)
    human form in all its glory,
    that it may dwell in a shrine.(CZ)
14 He cut down cedars,
    or perhaps took a cypress or oak.
He let it grow among the trees of the forest,
    or planted a pine,(DA) and the rain made it grow.
15 It is used as fuel(DB) for burning;
    some of it he takes and warms himself,
    he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
But he also fashions a god and worships(DC) it;
    he makes an idol and bows(DD) down to it.
16 Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
    over it he prepares his meal,
    he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
    “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.(DE)
17 From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
    he bows down to it and worships.(DF)
He prays(DG) to it and says,
    “Save(DH) me! You are my god!”
18 They know nothing, they understand(DI) nothing;
    their eyes(DJ) are plastered over so they cannot see,
    and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
19 No one stops to think,
    no one has the knowledge or understanding(DK) to say,
“Half of it I used for fuel;(DL)
    I even baked bread over its coals,
    I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable(DM) thing from what is left?
    Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”(DN)
20 Such a person feeds on ashes;(DO) a deluded(DP) heart misleads him;
    he cannot save himself, or say,
    “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?(DQ)

21 “Remember(DR) these things, Jacob,
    for you, Israel, are my servant.(DS)
I have made you, you are my servant;(DT)
    Israel, I will not forget you.(DU)
22 I have swept away(DV) your offenses like a cloud,
    your sins like the morning mist.
Return(DW) to me,
    for I have redeemed(DX) you.”

23 Sing for joy,(DY) you heavens, for the Lord has done this;
    shout aloud, you earth(DZ) beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,(EA)
    you forests and all your trees,(EB)
for the Lord has redeemed(EC) Jacob,
    he displays his glory(ED) in Israel.

Jerusalem to Be Inhabited

24 “This is what the Lord says—
    your Redeemer,(EE) who formed(EF) you in the womb:(EG)

I am the Lord,
    the Maker of all things,
    who stretches out the heavens,(EH)
    who spreads out the earth(EI) by myself,
25 who foils(EJ) the signs of false prophets
    and makes fools of diviners,(EK)
who overthrows the learning of the wise(EL)
    and turns it into nonsense,(EM)
26 who carries out the words(EN) of his servants
    and fulfills(EO) the predictions of his messengers,

who says of Jerusalem,(EP) ‘It shall be inhabited,’
    of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuilt,’
    and of their ruins,(EQ) ‘I will restore them,’(ER)
27 who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry,
    and I will dry up(ES) your streams,’
28 who says of Cyrus,(ET) ‘He is my shepherd
    and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem,(EU) “Let it be rebuilt,”
    and of the temple,(EV) “Let its foundations(EW) be laid.”’

45 “This is what the Lord says to his anointed,(EX)
    to Cyrus,(EY) whose right hand I take hold(EZ) of
to subdue nations(FA) before him
    and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
    so that gates will not be shut:
I will go before you(FB)
    and will level(FC) the mountains[e];
I will break down gates(FD) of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.(FE)
I will give you hidden treasures,(FF)
    riches stored in secret places,(FG)
so that you may know(FH) that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.(FI)
For the sake of Jacob my servant,(FJ)
    of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
    and bestow on you a title of honor,
    though you do not acknowledge(FK) me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other;(FL)
    apart from me there is no God.(FM)
I will strengthen you,(FN)
    though you have not acknowledged me,
so that from the rising of the sun
    to the place of its setting(FO)
people may know(FP) there is none besides me.(FQ)
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
I form the light and create darkness,(FR)
    I bring prosperity and create disaster;(FS)
    I, the Lord, do all these things.

“You heavens above, rain(FT) down my righteousness;(FU)
    let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
    let salvation(FV) spring up,
let righteousness flourish with it;
    I, the Lord, have created it.

“Woe to those who quarrel(FW) with their Maker,(FX)
    those who are nothing but potsherds(FY)
    among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,(FZ)
    ‘What are you making?’(GA)
Does your work say,
    ‘The potter has no hands’?(GB)
10 Woe to the one who says to a father,
    ‘What have you begotten?’
or to a mother,
    ‘What have you brought to birth?’

11 “This is what the Lord says—
    the Holy One(GC) of Israel, and its Maker:(GD)
Concerning things to come,
    do you question me about my children,
    or give me orders about the work of my hands?(GE)
12 It is I who made the earth(GF)
    and created mankind on it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;(GG)
    I marshaled their starry hosts.(GH)
13 I will raise up Cyrus[f](GI) in my righteousness:
    I will make all his ways straight.(GJ)
He will rebuild my city(GK)
    and set my exiles free,
but not for a price or reward,(GL)
    says the Lord Almighty.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 43:14 Or Chaldeans
  2. Isaiah 43:22 Or Jacob; / surely you have grown weary of
  3. Isaiah 43:28 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
  4. Isaiah 44:2 Jeshurun means the upright one, that is, Israel.
  5. Isaiah 45:2 Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint; the meaning of the word in the Masoretic Text is uncertain.
  6. Isaiah 45:13 Hebrew him

Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.

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.

44 Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:

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.

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:

And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

45 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;

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:

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.

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.

I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

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.

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

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.

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.