Isaiah 40-48

New Century Version

⁶ A voice says, “Cry out!”
    Then I said, “What shall I cry out?”

“Say all people are like the grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
⁷ The grass dies and the flowers fall
    when the breath of the Lord blows on them.
    Surely the people are like grass.
⁸ The grass dies and the flowers fall,
    but the word of our God will live forever.”
⁹ Jerusalem, you have good news to tell.
    Go up on a high mountain.
Jerusalem, you have good news to tell.
    Shout out loud the good news.
Shout it out and don’t be afraid.
    Say to the towns of Judah,
    “Here is your God.”
¹⁰ Look, the Lord God is coming with power
    to rule all the people.
Look, he will bring reward for his people;
    he will have their payment with him.
¹¹ He takes care of his people like a shepherd.
    He gathers them like lambs in his arms
    and carries them close to him.
He gently leads the mothers of the lambs.

¹⁵ The nations are like one small drop in a bucket;
    they are no more than the dust on his measuring scales.
    To him the islands are no more than fine dust on his scales.
¹⁶ All the trees in Lebanon are not enough for the altar fires,
    and all the animals in Lebanon are not enough for burnt offerings.
¹⁷ Compared to the Lord all the nations are worth nothing;
    to him they are less than nothing.

¹⁸ Can you compare God to anything?
    Can you compare him to an image of anything?
¹⁹ An idol is formed by a craftsman,
    and a goldsmith covers it with gold
    and makes silver chains for it.
²⁰ A poor person cannot buy those expensive statues,
    so he finds a tree that will not rot.
Then he finds a skilled craftsman
    to make it into an idol that will not fall over.

²¹ Surely you know. Surely you have heard.
    Surely from the beginning someone told you.
    Surely you understand how the earth was created.
²² God sits on his throne above the circle of the earth,
    and compared to him, people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the skies like a piece of cloth
    and spreads them out like a tent to sit under.
²³ He makes rulers unimportant
    and the judges of this world worth nothing.
²⁴ They are like plants that are placed in the ground,
    like seeds that are planted.
As soon as they begin to grow strong,
    he blows on them and they die,
    and the wind blows them away like chaff.

²⁵ God, the Holy One, says, “Can you compare me to anyone?
    Is anyone equal to me?”
²⁶ Look up to the skies.
    Who created all these stars?
He leads out the army of heaven one by one
    and calls all the stars by name.
Because he is strong and powerful,
    not one of them is missing.

²⁷ People of Jacob, why do you complain?
    People of Israel, why do you say,
“The Lord does not see what happens to me;
    he does not care if I am treated fairly”?
²⁸ Surely you know.
    Surely you have heard.
The Lord is the God who lives forever,
    who created all the world.
He does not become tired or need to rest.
    No one can understand how great his wisdom is.
²⁹ He gives strength to those who are tired
    and more power to those who are weak.
³⁰ Even children become tired and need to rest,
    and young people trip and fall.
³¹ But the people who trust the Lord will become strong again.
They will rise up as an eagle in the sky;
    they will run and not need rest;
    they will walk and not become tired.

² “Who caused the one to come from the east?
    Who gives him victories everywhere he goes?
The one who brought him gives nations over to him
    and defeats kings.
He uses his sword, and kings become like dust.
    He uses his bow, and they are blown away like chaff.
³ He chases them and is never hurt,
    going places he has never been before.
⁴ Who caused this to happen?
    Who has controlled history since the beginning?
I, the Lord, am the one. I was here at the beginning,
    and I will be here when all things are finished.”

⁵ All you faraway places, look and be afraid;
    all you places far away on the earth, shake with fear.
Come close and listen to me.
⁶ The workers help each other
    and say to each other, “Be strong!”
⁷ The craftsman encourages the goldsmith,
    and the workman who smooths the metal with a hammer encourages the one who shapes the metal.
He says, “This metal work is good.”
    He nails the statue to a base so it can’t fall over.

¹¹ “All those people who are angry with you
    will be ashamed and disgraced.
Those who are against you
    will disappear and be lost.
¹² You will look for your enemies,
    but you will not find them.
Those who fought against you
    will vanish completely.
¹³ I am the Lord your God,
    who holds your right hand,
and I tell you, ‘Don’t be afraid.
    I will help you.’
¹⁴ You few people of Israel who are left,
    do not be afraid even though you are weak as a worm.
I myself will help you,” says the Lord.
    “The one who saves you is the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵ Look, I have made you like a new threshing board
    with many sharp teeth.
So you will walk on mountains and crush them;
    you will make the hills like chaff.
¹⁶ You will throw them into the air, and the wind will carry them away;
    a windstorm will scatter them.
Then you will be happy in the Lord;
    you will be proud of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷ “The poor and needy people look for water,
    but they can’t find any.
    Their tongues are dry with thirst.
But I, the Lord, will answer their prayers;
    I, the God of Israel, will not leave them to die.
¹⁸ I will make rivers flow on the dry hills
    and springs flow through the valleys.
I will change the desert into a lake of water
    and the dry land into fountains of water.
¹⁹ I will make trees grow in the desert—
    cedars, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees.
I will put pine, fir, and cypress trees
    growing together in the desert.
²⁰ People will see these things and understand;
    they will think carefully about these things and learn
that the Lord’s power did this,
    that the Holy One of Israel made these things.”

²⁵ “I have brought someone to come out of the north^[a]
    I have called by name a man from the east, and he knows me.
He walks on kings as if they were mud,
    just as a potter walks on the clay.
²⁶ Who told us about this before it happened?
    Who told us ahead of time so we could say, ‘He was right’?
None of you told us anything;
    none of you told us before it happened;
    no one heard you tell about it.
²⁷ I, the Lord, was the first one to tell Jerusalem that the people were coming home.
    I sent a messenger to Jerusalem with the good news.
²⁸ I look at the idols, but there is not one that can answer.
    None of them can give advice;
    none of them can answer my questions.
²⁹ Look, all these idols are false.
    They cannot do anything;
    they are worth nothing.

⁵ God, the Lord, said these things.
He created the skies and stretched them out.
    He spread out the earth and everything on it.
He gives life to all people on earth,
    to everyone who walks on the earth.
⁶ The Lord says, “I, the Lord, called you to do right,
    and I will hold your hand
and protect you.
    You will be the sign of my agreement with the people,
    a light to shine for all people.
⁷ You will help the blind to see.
    You will free those who are in prison,
    and you will lead those who live in darkness out of their prison.

⁸ “I am the Lord. That is my name.
    I will not give my glory to another;
    I will not let idols take the praise that should be mine.
⁹ The things I said would happen have happened,
    and now I tell you about new things.
Before those things happen,
    I tell you about them.”

¹⁴ The Lord says, “For a long time I have said nothing;
    I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now I will cry out
    and strain like a woman giving birth to a child.
¹⁵ I will destroy the hills and mountains
    and dry up all their plants.
I will make the rivers become dry land
    and dry up the pools of water.
¹⁶ Then I will lead the blind along a way they never knew;
    I will guide them along paths they have not known.
I will make the darkness become light for them,
    and the rough ground smooth.
These are the things I will do;
    I will not leave my people.
¹⁷ But those who trust in idols,
    who say to their statues,
‘You are our gods’
    will be rejected in disgrace.

²³ Will any of you listen to this?
    Will you listen carefully in the future?
²⁴ Who let the people of Jacob be carried off?
    Who let robbers take Israel away?
The Lord allowed this to happen,
    because we sinned against him.
We did not live the way he wanted us to live
    and did not obey his teaching.
²⁵ So he became very angry with us
    and brought terrible wars against us.
It was as if the people of Israel had fire all around them,
    but they didn’t know what was happening.
It was as if they were burning,
    but they didn’t pay any attention.

¹⁴ This is what the Lord, who saves you,
    the Holy One of Israel, says:
“I will send armies to Babylon for you,
    and I will knock down all its locked gates.
The Babylonians will shout their cries of sorrow.
¹⁵ I am the Lord, your Holy One,
    the Creator of Israel, your King.”

²² “People of Jacob, you have not called to me;
    people of Israel, you have become tired of me.
²³ You have not brought me your sacrifices of sheep
    nor honored me with your sacrifices.
I did not weigh you down with sacrifices to offer
    or make you tired with incense to burn.
²⁴ So you did not buy incense for me;
    you did not freely bring me fat from your sacrifices.
Instead you have weighed me down with your many sins;
    you have made me tired of your many wrongs.

²⁵ “I, I am the One who erases all your sins, for my sake;
    I will not remember your sins.
²⁶ But you should remind me.
    Let’s meet and decide what is right.
    Tell what you have done and show you are right.
²⁷ Your first father sinned,
    and your leaders have turned against me.
²⁸ So I will make your holy rulers unholy.
    I will bring destruction on the people of Jacob,
    and I will let Israel be insulted.”

⁶ The Lord, the king of Israel,
    is the Lord All-Powerful, who saves Israel.
This is what he says: “I am the beginning and the end.
    I am the only God.
⁷ Who is a god like me?
    That god should come and prove it.
Let him tell and explain all that has happened since I set up my ancient people.
    He should also tell what will happen in the future.
⁸ Don’t be afraid! Don’t worry!
    I have always told you what will happen.
You are my witnesses.
    There is no other God but me.
    I know of no other Rock; I am the only One.”

¹² One workman uses tools to heat iron,
    and he works over hot coals.
With his hammer he beats the metal and makes a statue,
    using his powerful arms.
But when he becomes hungry, he loses his power.
    If he does not drink water, he becomes tired.

¹³ Another workman uses a line and a compass
    to draw on the wood.
Then he uses his chisels to cut a statue
    and his calipers to measure the statue.
In this way, the workman makes the wood look exactly like a person,
    and this statue of a person sits in the house.
¹⁴ He cuts down cedars
    or cypress or oak trees.
Those trees grew by their own power in the forest.
    Or he plants a pine tree, and the rain makes it grow.
¹⁵ Then he burns the tree.
    He uses some of the wood for a fire to keep himself warm.
    He also starts a fire to bake his bread.
But he uses part of the wood to make a god, and then he worships it!
    He makes the idol and bows down to it!
¹⁶ The man burns half of the wood in the fire.
    He uses the fire to cook his meat,
    and he eats the meat until he is full.
He also burns the wood to keep himself warm. He says,
    “Good! Now I am warm. I can see because of the fire’s light.”
¹⁷ But he makes a statue from the wood that is left and calls it his god.
    He bows down to it and worships it.
He prays to it and says,
    “You are my god. Save me!”
¹⁸ Those people don’t know what they are doing. They don’t understand!
    It is as if their eyes are covered so they can’t see.
    Their minds don’t understand.
¹⁹ They have not thought about these things;
    they don’t understand.
They have never thought to themselves,
    “I burned half of the wood in the fire
    and used the hot coals to bake my bread.
    I cooked and ate my meat.
And I used the wood that was left to make this hateful thing.
    I am worshiping a block of wood!”
²⁰ He doesn’t know what he is doing;
    his confused mind leads him the wrong way.
He cannot save himself
    or say, “This statue I am holding is a false god.”

²³ Skies, sing for joy because the Lord did great things!
    Earth, shout for joy, even in your deepest parts!
Sing, you mountains, with thanks to God.
    Sing, too, you trees in the forest!
The Lord saved the people of Jacob!
    He showed his glory when he saved Israel.
²⁴ This is what the Lord says, who saved you,
    who formed you in your mother’s body:
“I, the Lord, made everything,
    stretching out the skies by myself
    and spreading out the earth all alone.
²⁵ I show that the signs of the lying prophets are false;
    I make fools of those who do magic.
I confuse even the wise;
    they think they know much, but I make them look foolish.
²⁶ I make the messages of my servants come true;
    I make the advice of my messengers come true.
I say to Jerusalem,
    ‘People will live in you again!’
I say to the towns of Judah,
    ‘You will be built again!’
I say to Jerusalem’s ruins,
    ‘I will repair you.’
²⁷ I tell the deep waters, ‘Become dry!
    I will make your streams become dry!’
²⁸ I say of Cyrus,^[b] ‘He is my shepherd
    and will do all that I want him to do.
    He will say to Jerusalem, “You will be built again!”
    He will tell the Temple, “Your foundations will be rebuilt.”’”

⁸ “Sky above, make victory fall like rain;
    clouds, pour down victory.
Let the earth receive it,
    and let salvation grow,
and let victory grow with it.
    I, the Lord, have created it.

⁹ “How terrible it will be for those who argue with the God who made them.
    They are like a piece of broken pottery among many pieces.
The clay does not ask the potter,
    ‘What are you doing?’
The thing that is made doesn’t say to its maker,
    ‘You have no hands.’
¹⁰ How terrible it will be for the child who says to his father,
    ‘Why are you giving me life?’
How terrible it will be for the child who says to his mother,
    ‘Why are you giving birth to me?’”

¹¹ This is what the Lord,
    the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker, says:
“You ask me about what will happen.
    You question me about my children.
    You give me orders about what I have made.
¹² I made the earth
    and all the people living on it.
With my own hands I stretched out the skies,
    and I commanded all the armies in the sky.
¹³ I will bring Cyrus to do good things,
    and I will make his work easy.
He will rebuild my city
    and set my people free
without any payment or reward.
    The Lord All-Powerful says this.”

¹⁴ The Lord says,
“The goods made in Egypt and Cush
    and the tall people of Seba
will come to you
    and will become yours.
The Sabeans will walk behind you,
    coming along in chains.
They will bow down before you
    and pray to you, saying,
‘God is with you,
    and there is no other God.’”

¹⁵ God and Savior of Israel,
    you are a God that people cannot see.
¹⁶ All the people who make idols will be put to great shame;
    they will go off together in disgrace.
¹⁷ But Israel will be saved by the Lord,
    and that salvation will continue forever.
    Never again will Israel be put to shame.

¹⁸ The Lord created the heavens.
    He is the God who formed the earth and made it.
He did not want it to be empty,
    but he wanted life on the earth.
This is what the Lord says:
    “I am the Lord. There is no other God.
¹⁹ I did not speak in secret
    or hide my words in some dark place.
I did not tell the family of Jacob
    to look for me in empty places.
I am the Lord, and I speak the truth;
    I say what is right.

²⁰ “You people who have escaped from other nations,
    gather together and come before me;
    come near together.
People who carry idols of wood don’t know what they are doing.
    They pray to a god who cannot save them.
²¹ Tell these people to come to me.
    Let them talk about these things together.
Who told you long ago that this would happen?
    Who told about it long ago?
I, the Lord, said these things.
    There is no other God besides me.
I am the only good God. I am the Savior.
    There is no other God.

²² “All people everywhere,
    follow me and be saved.
    I am God. There is no other God.
²³ I will make a promise by my own power,
    and my promise is true;
    what I say will not be changed.
I promise that everyone will bow before me
    and will promise to follow me.
²⁴ People will say about me, ‘Goodness and power
    come only from the Lord.’”
Everyone who has been angry with him
    will come to him and be ashamed.
²⁵ But with the Lord’s help, the people of Israel
    will be found to be good,
    and they will praise him.

³ “Family of Jacob, listen to me!
    All you people from Israel who are still alive, listen!
I have carried you since you were born;
    I have taken care of you from your birth.
⁴ Even when you are old, I will be the same.
    Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you.
I made you and will take care of you.
    I will carry you and save you.

⁵ “Can you compare me to anyone?
    No one is equal to me or like me.
⁶ Some people are rich with gold
    and weigh their silver on the scales.
They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god.
    Then they bow down and worship it.
⁷ They put it on their shoulders and carry it.
    They set it in its place, and there it stands;
    it cannot move from its place.
People may yell at it, but it cannot answer.
    It cannot save them from their troubles.

⁸ “Remember this, and do not forget it!
    Think about these things, you who turn against God.
⁹ Remember what happened long ago.
    Remember that I am God, and there is no other God.
    I am God, and there is no one like me.
¹⁰ From the beginning I told you what would happen in the end.
    A long time ago I told you things that have not yet happened.
When I plan something, it happens.
    What I want to do, I will do.
¹¹ I am calling a man from the east to carry out my plan;
    he will come like a hawk from a country far away.
I will make what I have said come true;
    I will do what I have planned.
¹² Listen to me, you stubborn people,
    who are far from what is right.
¹³ I will soon do the things that are right.
    I will bring salvation soon.
I will save Jerusalem
    and bring glory to Israel.”

⁴ Our Savior is named the Lord All-Powerful;
    he is the Holy One of Israel.

⁵ “Babylon, sit in darkness and say nothing.
    You will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.
⁶ I was angry with my people,
    so I rejected those who belonged to me.
I gave them to you,
    but you showed them no mercy.
You even made the old people
    work very hard.
⁷ You said, ‘I will live forever
    as the queen.’
But you did not think about these things
    or consider what would happen.

⁸ “Now, listen, you lover of pleasure.
    You think you are safe.
You tell yourself,
    ‘I am the only important person.
I will never be a widow
    or lose my children.’
⁹ Two things will happen to you suddenly, in a single day.
    You will lose your children and your husband.
These things will truly happen to you,
    in spite of all your magic,
    in spite of your powerful tricks.
¹⁰ You do evil things, but you feel safe
    and say, ‘No one sees what I do.’
Your wisdom and knowledge
    have fooled you.
You say to yourself,
    ‘I am God, and no one is equal to me.’
¹¹ But troubles will come to you,
    and you will not know how to stop them.
Disaster will fall on you,
    and you will not be able to keep it away.
You will be destroyed quickly;
    you will not even see it coming.

¹² “Keep on using your tricks
    and doing all your magic
    that you have used since you were young.
Maybe they will help you;
    maybe you will be able to scare someone.
¹³ You are tired of the advice you have received.
    So let those who study the sky—
those who tell the future by looking at the stars and the new moons—
    let them save you from what is about to happen to you.
¹⁴ But they are like straw;
    fire will quickly burn them up.
They cannot save themselves
    from the power of the fire.
They are not like coals that give warmth
    nor like a fire that you may sit beside.
¹⁵ You have worked with these people,
    and they have been with you since you were young,
    but they will not be able to help you.
Everyone will go his own way,
    and there will be no one left to save you.”

⁶ “You heard and saw everything that happened,
    so you should tell this news to others.
Now I will tell you about new things,
    hidden things that you don’t know yet.
⁷ These things are happening now, not long ago;
    you have not heard about them before today.
So you cannot say, ‘We already knew about that.’
⁸ But you have not heard me; you have not understood.
    Even long ago you did not listen to me.
I knew you would surely turn against me;
    you have fought against me since you were born.
⁹ But for my own sake I will be patient.
    People will praise me for not becoming angry
    and destroying you.
¹⁰ I have made you pure, but not by fire, as silver is made pure.
    I have purified you by giving you troubles.
¹¹ I do this for myself, for my own sake.
    I will not let people speak evil against me,
    and I will not let some god take my glory.

¹⁴ All of you, come together and listen.
    None of the gods said these things would happen.
The Lord has chosen someone
    to attack the Babylonians;
    he will carry out his wishes against Babylon.

¹⁵ “I have spoken; I have called him.^[c]
    I have brought him, and I will make him successful.
¹⁶ Come to me and listen to this.
    From the beginning I have spoken openly.
    From the time it began, I was there.”

Now, the Lord God
    has sent me with his Spirit.

¹⁷ This is what the Lord, who saves you,
    the Holy One of Israel, says:
“I am the Lord your God,
    who teaches you to do what is good,
    who leads you in the way you should go.
¹⁸ If you had obeyed me,
    you would have had peace like a full-flowing river.
    Good things would have flowed to you like the waves of the sea.
¹⁹ You would have had many children,
    as many as the grains of sand.
They would never have died out
    nor been destroyed.”

²⁰ My people, leave Babylon!
    Run from the Babylonians!
Tell this news with shouts of joy to the people;
    spread it everywhere on earth.
Say, “The Lord has saved his servants, the people of Jacob.”
²¹ They did not become thirsty when he led them through the deserts.
    He made water flow from a rock for them.
He split the rock,
    and water flowed out.

²² “There is no peace for evil people,” says the Lord.