Bible in 90 Days
For generation after generation of God’s people who have watched their country being attacked repeatedly and humbled by their enemies, Isaiah’s words must provide a great deal of comfort. Nothing could be more traumatic than to know that the temple to the one True God is under siege and finally destroyed. When Isaiah’s words are heard, many audiences must think of a restored temple in Jerusalem. God Himself is promising to lay the foundation for that restored temple, assuring that those who trust in His work will never have to rush around again to figure out how to save themselves from another invader. God’s foundation will hold firm, no matter what, so there is every reason to be confident.
Early Christians see in Isaiah’s message a promise of a new temple, a temple not made with hands. Simon, whom Jesus names “Rock” (Peter), refers to this prophecy when he writes of believers coming to Jesus to form a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:6). Jesus’ followers confess Him to be the stone that forms the foundation for God’s new temple. He is the cornerstone: though rejected by some, He is chosen and precious in God’s sight.
29 O Ariel, woe to you Ariel, our Jerusalem,
where David set up his camp to stay.
Go ahead, go on with your fruitless festivals,
your calendar of events, year in and year out.
2 In the meantime, I will trouble Ariel to the point of mourning and crying.
She will be for me a fiery hearth.
3 I will surround you, enclose you, cut you off.
I will isolate you from aid or reprieve;
I will attack the city walls with towers and siege works.
4 That will humble you so low, you’ll speak from the earth itself.
And when you do, your voice will issue from the very dust where you lie;
Your voice will rise from the ground like the voice of a ghost,
like a soft whisper from the earth.
5 But in an instant your ruthless enemies, who seem too many to count,
will become as fluttering dust, as wind-driven chaff.
They will be blown away in the snap of a finger.
6 For the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will visit you
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
With raging wind and tempest and consuming fire.
7 And all those armies intent on destroying Ariel,
that great international coalition of Jerusalem’s enemies
Battering against the city of God, will disappear.
They’ll evaporate like a night’s dream in the light of day.
8 As when a starving person dreams of eating at a banquet and wakes hungry,
or a thirsty person drinking his fill in sleepy night visions
Finds himself still parched when the morning comes,
that’s how it will be for the horde attacking Mount Zion, His chosen place.
9 But it will take some time. Wait and wonder.
In the meantime, make yourselves unable to see or understand.
Make yourselves drunk and unsteady,
but not from wine or liquor.
10 For the Eternal One has poured you a cup of sleep—
deep, heavy sleep.
O prophets and seers, He has closed your eyes and covered your heads.
11-12 Everything God is disclosing to you will be like the words recorded in a book that is sealed. When it is given to one who is literate, he can’t read it because it is sealed. When it is given to one who is illiterate, he can’t read it because he doesn’t know how.
The prophet’s message seems inaccessible or unintelligible to many. For some, a few rituals are enough. But a relationship with God demands a complete commitment to something, Someone greater.
Eternal One: 13 These people think they can draw near to Me by saying the right things,
by honoring Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me.
Their worship of Me consists of man-made traditions learned by rote;
it is a meaningless sham.[a]
14 Therefore, I will do something extraordinary with this people.
I will add wonder to wonders—
Shut down the wisdom of their wise
and hide what the discerning have figured out.
15 Oh, it’ll be bad for those of you who conceal your thoughts from the Eternal,
who do your deeds in the dark and say:
“Who sees us? Who knows what we are doing?”
Do they really think that God cannot know what they have hidden, so dark and deep? They are sure to be surprised.
16 My goodness, how you’ve turned things around!
You seem to think that the potter is equal to the clay;
Should the pot say about the potter, “He didn’t make me”?
Or does the thing formed say about the one who formed it,
“He doesn’t understand anything”?
17 Surely you know that in just a little while
the forests that clothe Lebanon will become rich fields
And the fields will be considered as valuable as the forests.
18 Then the deaf will hear the words read from a book,
and darkness and gloom will fall from the eyes of the blind.
19 A renewed sense of joy will come over the humble, thanks to the Eternal;
and joyous celebrations will break out among the poor, because of the Holy One of Israel.
20 For cruelty and mean-spiritedness will come to an end,
and those who laugh dismissively will be silenced.
All those who are determined to do evil will be cut down.
21 Those who level a false charge against an innocent person,
who twist an honest testimony and tell lies
in order to incriminate the innocent, will be stopped.
22 So the Eternal One, who rescued Abraham, says concerning Jacob:
Eternal One: The people of Jacob’s line will no longer be ashamed,
nor will they grow pale with embarrassment.
23 For when they lay eyes on their children, the work of My hands,
they will protect My name and keep it holy.
They will recognize that I am sacred, the Holy One of Jacob,
and stand in awe of Me, the God of Israel.
24 Whoever thought otherwise and wandered off will know the truth,
and whoever said otherwise and voiced criticism will quietly learn.
30 Eternal One: Oh, it will be so bad for you, My rebellious children,
who enact a plan but not as I would have you do,
Who form an alliance contrary to My Spirit,
compounding sin, one bad choice after another.
2 You look to Egypt for security and help without consulting Me.
You seem to think that Pharaoh is the answer,
That Egypt will protect you from harm.
3 But because you cling to the earthly power of great nations,
you will be disappointed and ashamed
In the very thing you grasped—Pharaoh and Egypt.
4 For even though Egypt’s princes and ambassadors are in the delta region,
in Zoan and Hanes,
5 They will be no help to you, no security or revenue for you.
You’ll be embarrassed that you ever thought they would be
And you will be shamed and disgraced for associating with them.
6 A message about the beasts of the Negev:
Nevertheless, the Judeans go down to Egypt,
Crossing through a land of trouble and anguish,
tracked by lionesses and lions, in danger of vipers and poisonous snakes,
All their precious valuables packed on the backs of donkeys and camels.
They look to a people who can offer them nothing.
7 Eternal One: Egypt’s help is no help at all.
Therefore I call Egypt “Rahab”—a storm that just sits there.
8 So, go on—write all this down on a tablet in their presence;
inscribe it on a scroll as a permanent record
So people will know about it forever.
9 After all, these people are rebellious and distrustful.
They won’t accept, don’t even pay attention
To what the Eternal has tried to tell them.
10 They say to those gifted with discernment and insight:
“Stop with your visions. We’ve had enough of them.”
They say to the prophets, “Tell us only what we’d like to hear;
save your truth-telling pessimism for someone else.
We want to hear flattery.
11 And for goodness’ sake, stop talking about the Holy One of Israel.
Get out of the gloomy rut you are in—
Your message is a bit stale—take a different path.”
12 But the Holy One of Israel says,
Eternal One: Because you refused to accept this truth, My word and purpose,
and trusted instead in deceit and manipulation, you will fall.
13 Your wrongdoing, your misplaced confidence and web of lies,
will be your undoing.
Like a breach in a wall that bulges out and suddenly gives way,
your façade will come crashing down in an instant.
14 Your destruction will be as complete
as when someone savagely smashes a piece of pottery.
There won’t be even a single piece big enough
to scoop an ember from the fire or skim a sip of water from a cistern.
15 Listen! The Lord, the Eternal, the Holy One of Israel says,
Eternal One: In returning and rest, you will be saved.
In quietness and trust you will find strength.
God invites His people to lean only on Him. If they will just stop their busyness and self-reliance, God will be able to take care of them.
But you refused. 16 You couldn’t sit still;
instead, you said, “No! We will ride out of here on horseback.
Fast horses will give us an edge in battle.”
But those who pursue you will be faster still.
17 When one person threatens, a thousand will panic and flee.
When five terrorize you, all will run pell-mell,
Until you are as conspicuous as a single flag standing high on a hill.
18 Meanwhile, the Eternal One yearns to give you grace and boundless compassion;
that’s why He waits.
For the Eternal is a God of justice.
Those inclined toward Him, waiting for His help, will find happiness.
19 Oh, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, you will not cry anymore. God hears the sound of your weeping, and He will answer with grace. 20 Even though the Lord has fed you the bitter food of adversity and offered you the water of oppression, your great Teacher will reveal Himself to you; your eyes will see Him. 21 Your ears will hear sweet words behind you: “Go this way. There is your path; this is how you should go” whenever you must decide whether to turn to the right or the left. 22 Then you’ll get rid of all your worthless idols clad in silver and your despicable images plated with gold. You will destroy these idols and discard them as you do filthy rags, saying, “Get out of here.”
23 And then God will see to it that your efforts are fruitful—He’ll give you rain for your seedlings, bread from the earth, grain nourishing and plentiful. On that day your livestock will graze on acre after acre of green pastures. 24 Also if the oxen and donkeys that work that ground for you are well fed with good grain that is carefully winnowed with shovel and fork, then they will be content. 25 When the day arrives and your enemies are slaughtered and the towers come tumbling down, there will be rushing brooks of clear, sweet water running down every high mountain and steep hill. 26 When the time comes and the Eternal One binds up the brokenness of His people and heals what He had bruised, then the light of the moon will shine as brightly as the midday sun, and the sun will shine seven times brighter than normal, as if one day had seven days of sunlight.
27 See now, the name of the Eternal is echoing from far away.
God is coming with a fury inescapable to set things right again.
God is coming like fire and smoke;
His lips, indignation—His tongue, consuming fire.
28 God’s breath barrels down like hurricane rain,
rising right up to the neck to rattle the nations
And to subdue all peoples as a horse handler bridles a crazy mare for slaughter.
29 In your newfound freedom, you will sing as if it’s a festival night.
With lighthearted joy, you will dance your way toward Jerusalem,
To the Eternal’s mountain, the Rock Israel can trust.
30 Then the Eternal One will make unmistakable His absolute authority
when all hear His voice, and God’s power will be obvious
For all to see—God’s anger against the nations—that consuming fire
like a cloudburst, thunderstorm, and hailstorm all at once.
31 And Assyria
will cover its ears, terrified at the sound of God’s voice
When He comes to strike them with His punishing rod.
32 And every wave of the Eternal’s attacks against Assyria
will be accompanied by a song with tambourines and harps.
In battle after battle, He lifts his arm and fights against them.
33 After all, long ago, God prepared the place of vindication,
a funeral pyre for Assyria’s king laid deep and high,
A large stack of wood just waiting for God’s breath like brimstone to ignite it.
31 O how bad it will be for you who look to the south
to Egypt for help and depend on her horses,
Who trust in its many chariots and fix your hopes on its strong drivers.
Yet you do not look to the Holy One of Israel for relief
or even bother to consult Him.
2 God is both wise and willing to wreak disaster;
He does not second guess Himself or backtrack on what He says.
God will amass all divine power against those who do evil
and against whoever aids and abets them.
3 As for Egypt, why do you rely on them?
They are great, yes,
but merely human, not God—their steeds just creatures, not spirits.
But when the Eternal reaches out and makes His power felt,
those who lent their help will stumble; those who looked for help will fall.
Together they will be routed and killed.
4 Eternal One (to Isaiah): Just as a lion or a young lion fiercely growls over his prey,
even while shepherds band together to fight him off,
A lion won’t be scared off by their shouts
or deterred by their noise and threatening gestures.
So, too, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will descend
to defend Mount Zion and its hill without fail.
In Scripture God is often described as having the strength of a lion. The power and skill of the lion are legendary. Here the picture Isaiah paints is of a hungry lion fixated on his prey, refusing to be distracted by the threats of its victim’s would-be protectors. The prophet uses this picture to inspire and encourage the faithful. Zion and the people of His holy mountain are God’s great prize; they are His possession, and He is not about to give them up. He will defend His prize and not share it with the predator-nations that surround Judah. Isaiah is clear in declaring that God will use these predators for His purposes, but He will not be frustrated by their schemes.
5 As birds hover protectively over their nests
so the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will guard Jerusalem from all harm.
Not only that, but God will protect and save it,
rescue and keep it.
6 So give up, children of Israel. Return, people of promise, to God against whom you so blatantly rebelled. 7 For in that day you’ll see the worthlessness of the idols you so wickedly made, and everyone will throw away their gods of silver and gold.
8 Eternal One: And then, the one you fear, Assyria, will fall and be defeated,
not by the sword of man but by the sword of God.
It will try to escape the edge of the blade,
but its young men will be captured and put to forced labor.
9 The very thing the Assyrians thought was permanent
will disappear into thin air, fleeing in fear;
And the discipline of their military will come to nothing.
They’ll panic and run.
This is what the Eternal, whose fire burns in Zion, whose furnace blazes in Jerusalem, has said.
32 Look, a good king, right with God,
along with princes, too, will rule with justice.
2 For the people they’ll be like cover from the storm, a wall against the wind.
They’ll be like streams of water in a dry place
and the cool shade of a giant boulder in the burning sun.
3 Then the eyes of those who see will see indeed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 Careless and impulsive minds will take time to really understand,
and clear speech will return to the shy stutterer.
5 Fools will no longer be called noble-minded,
nor will criminals be respected.
6 For fools utter nonsense, and their minds are preoccupied with evil;
they regularly misrepresent the Eternal in what they say and do,
Leaving true seekers frustrated and confused,
the hungry with empty stomachs and the thirsty with parched mouths.
7 As for the criminals—their schemes are vile and evil;
they are constantly looking for ways to hurt the innocent,
To ruin the poor with their lies, and to twist a justified complaint.
8 By contrast, those who are noble have noble intentions,
and they stand confidently by their honorable words and actions.
Isaiah looks down the corridors of history to see the arrival of a good king who will do what is right, repair what is broken, and restore justice to the oppressed. More than any other prophet, Isaiah speaks of this coming king, God’s anointed ruler. When the Messiah comes, He will shelter His people from harm and deal finally, decisively with evil. No longer will wrong be called right, folly be celebrated, evil triumph, and complacency and apathy rule the day. When this good king arrives, the world—with all of its problems—will be set right.
9 Get up, you women who lie around in your life of ease;
hear my voice, you careless daughters, and listen to what I have to say.
10 Soon—in a year and a few days—you will shudder and shake;
your mindless lounging will come to an end, careless daughters.
For the wine you so enjoyed will be gone, with none to replace it.
There will be no fruit, no grapes to mash and juice.
11 Be worried, women of ease;
be bothered and anxious, careless daughters.
Strip off your fine clothes and replace them
with sackcloth; dress for mourning.
12 Beat your breasts over the loss of those lush vineyards,
over the vines, heavy with fruit.
13 Mourn over my people’s land, verdant and lush,
now the habitat of thorns and briars—
Yes, for all the happy homes and vibrant cities.
14 Palaces and bustling cities will be abandoned;
hilltop posts and watchtowers will serve as caves for animals;
wild donkeys and flocks will enjoy the wide open spaces.
15 So it will be until God pours out the Spirit from up above,
and the land comes alive again—desert to fertile field, fertile field to forest.
16 Then justice and truth will settle in the desert places,
and righteousness will infuse the fertile land.
17 Then righteousness will yield peace, and the quiet and confidence
that attend righteousness will be present forever.
18 My people’s homes and hometowns will be filled with peace;
they’ll relax, safe and secure.
19 Before such reconciliation, there will be cold, hard hail,
raining down when the forests fall and the cities are razed to the ground.
20 And you, you who plant on streams’ edges
and let your oxen and donkeys range free,
You will be happy.
33 Oh, how bad it will be for the one who ruins and is not yet ruined,
who lies, cheats, and steals without experiencing the same in return.
It will come back to you. When you’ve exhausted your destroying,
you will find yourself destroyed,
And your treachery will come back to haunt you at the treacherous hands of others.
If Assyria thinks it has a license to do whatever it wishes, to destroy whatever is in its path, to betray with impunity, then it is sure to be surprised when God shows up to rescue His people.
2 We’ve been waiting for you, Eternal One, to come and shower us with grace.
In the morning, be our strength; in times of trouble, be what saves us.
3 People flee when they hear the crashing thunder of Your voice;
nations scatter when You arise.
4 The spoil of the nations is gathered—swiftly and decisively—
as a hungry locust gathers, as a swarm of locusts rushes to strip the land.
5 The Eternal One is high above it all; for that is where He lives;
He will fill Zion (that heaven on earth) with justice and all manner of doing right.
6 God will be what holds things together,
fast and firm during these times.
He will be boundless salvation,
the roots and fruits of wisdom and knowledge.
Zion’s most precious possession
is the people’s awe-filled respect of the Eternal.
Reverence for God is crucial to the welfare of God’s people, regardless of where they live.
7 Look, their stoutest men run screaming in the streets;
their messengers of peace have broken down in bitter tears.
8 The roads are empty; no one ventures out.
The Assyrians have broken their treaty,
Disavowing the promises they made before witnesses.
They show no respect for anyone.
9 The land itself, like a new widow, grieves and wastes away.
Lush Lebanon decays, once-rose-covered Sharon looks like a desert,
And the tree-topped mountains of Bashan and Carmel
are completely denuded.
10 Eternal One: Now’s the time for action. I will arise.
People will esteem Me and recognize My greatness.
11 For you have produced nothing but chaff and worthless stubble.
Your breath is a fire that will sweep back and consume you.
12 Your people will be burned to ashes
like thornbushes cut down and burned up in the fire.
13 Listen well, wherever you are; make sure you know
that I have accomplished this.
Near and far, you’d better take note of My incomparable strength.
14 Those who do wrong, the guilty and criminal in Zion, are terrified;
in the presence and power of God, the godless tremble.
They ask themselves,
“Who could possibly survive this all-consuming conflagration?
Who can live through the unrelenting heat, the flames, the smoke?”
15 I will tell you who: the one who goes through life with integrity and
speaks truth with conviction, refusing to take part in fraud and abuse,
Whose hands are free of bribes, whose ears are covered to violent schemes,
and whose eyes are shut to the temptations of evil.
16 That one will survive and prosper on the heights of Zion
and take comfort in the shelter of rock fortresses,
And never be hungry, never thirsty.
17 Ah, you will see for yourself the beauty of the One who rules over all.
Your eyes will take in a land that stretches far beyond the horizon.
18 You will think back on the terror you experienced:
“Where is the officer who counted the plunder, weighed out our taxes, and calculated our defenses?”
19 You will no longer see rude and arrogant people in charge of the city,
and you will no longer have to listen to their strange babbling and incomprehensible muttering.
20 Ah, just look at Zion! The city where we celebrate,
where we make our God-appointed feasts.
You’ll see a Jerusalem at peace, untroubled, undisturbed,
like a permanent tent with stakes driven deep and ropes that never break.
21 There, the Eternal, so splendid and regal,
will be for us a place of broad rivers and wide canals.
No large boats will pass through them—
no mighty ships will sail their waters.
22 For the Eternal One is our Judge; He has prescribed our laws;
He rules over us, and He is the One who will save us.
23 You who try to sail in will be unable,
as if your lines are limp, your mast is wobbly, and your sails are furled.
The spoils in your hold will be divided among the deserving.
Even those who can hardly walk will take what you had taken.
24 And nobody who lives in God’s city will say he doesn’t feel well.
For everyone will be washed clean and forgiven for their wrongdoing.
34 Gather around, everyone. All peoples take note!
The earth and everything in it,
The world and all that comes from it should hear this, too,
2 For the Eternal One is furious with all the nations. He has had it with their armies.
He has marked them for destruction, and has given them over to slaughter.
3 Their blood will run like rivers down the mountains,
their corpses tossed out, heaped up, and randomly piled in a great stinking mound.
4 All the stars in the once-vibrant heavens will vanish:
and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll.
All the starry hosts will wither and fall,
like grape leaves crisped by fall or fig leaves shriveled by winter.[b]
5 Eternal One: For once my sword has had its fill in the heavens;
I’ll set it against Edom, those people who despise My own.
I have marked Edom for judgment and destruction.
6 The Eternal One indeed has a blood-gulping sword.
It drinks up fat and blood from the innards
And flesh of lambs, goats, and rams—the sacrifice.
And now the Eternal is coming to sacrifice the Edomites—
A great slaughter in their capital Bozrah,
7 And great wild cattle will be slaughtered
along with them—bulls, oxen, and steers—
Until their land is soggy with blood and oozes with their fat.
8 For the Eternal has determined a time for retaliation,
a time to vindicate Zion, ravaged by Babylon and Edom.
The Edomites take advantage of Judah during the Babylonian conquest. Like parasites they eat away at the land, the strength, and the resources of Judah. Edom is a place of incorrigible violence, filled with devastating evils. In a word, Edom has become like Sodom and Gomorrah. God cannot let that stand, so He comes to vindicate His covenant people. The image Isaiah paints here of Edom and its grim future is hellish. The great, bustling civilization of Edom is reduced to nothing and eventually annihilated; its land becomes a wasteland, the haunt of fearsome desert creatures.
9 Edom’s waters will be made thick and black as oily pitch.
Its dust will turn to brimstone, and the land will ignite with burning pitch.
10 Edom’s fiery judgment will burn day and night for all time;
the smoke from it will ascend forever.
For generations to come it will be a wasteland,
and no person will make it their home ever again.
11 Desert owls and screech owls, great owls and ravens
will take up residence in that bleak place.
When God measures the land,
desolation will be its width and chaos will mark its length.
12 The land will be known as No Kingdom.
No nobles are there to name a king. Its line of princes will cease.
13 Its great towers will be covered in thorns.
Nasty nettles and thistles will overrun its strong cities.
Wild jackals will slink around the premises,
and ostriches will make themselves at home.
14 Among the howling and hissing wild creatures and demons,
Lilith herself, demoness of the night, will call Edom her haunt,
A place to recoup and rest between her devastating forays.
15 Owls of all sorts will take up habitation there,
nesting and laying their eggs.
They will hatch their young and cover them beneath their wings.
Vultures and their mates will gather there.
16 You can look for it and read all about it in the book of the Eternal One.
None of these creatures will be missing and none will lack a mate
Because His voice has given the order
and His Spirit has gathered them in that place.
17 He has determined where they should live;
He has handed it over to them and it will be theirs for all time.
They will live there, one generation after the next, forever.
35 Imagine the wilderness whooping for joy,
the desert’s unbridled happiness with its spring flowers.
2 It will happen! The deserts will come alive with new growth budding and blooming,
singing and celebrating with sheer delight.
The glory of Lebanon’s cedars and the majesty of Carmel and Sharon
will spill over to the deserts.
The glory of the Eternal One will be on full display there,
and they will revel in the majestic splendor of our God.
3 So, with confidence and hope in this message,
strengthen those with feeble hands, shore up the weak-kneed and weary.
4 Tell those who worry, the anxious and fearful,
“Take strength; have courage! There’s nothing to fear.
Look, here—your God! Right here is your God!
The balance is shifting; God will right all wrongs.
None other than God will give you success.
He is coming to make you safe.”
5 Then, such healing, such repair: the eyes of the blind will be opened;
the ears of the deaf will be clear.
6-7 The lame will leap like deer excited;
they will run and jump tirelessly and gracefully.
The stutterer, the stammerer, and the tongue of the mute
will sing out loud and clear in joyful song.
Waters will pour through the deserts;
streams will flow in godforsaken lands.
Burning sands and hardened wastelands will become pools, shimmering with life;
the thirsty ground will drink deep from refreshing springs.
Abandoned villages where predators once lurked will become grassy playgrounds.
Dry, arid land will turn lush and green.
8 And the road to this happy renovation will be clearly signed.
People will declare the way itself to be holy—the route, “sacred.”
Only those who are right with God
will be able to walk its pleasant path,
And nobody—no visitor, no dimwit—will get lost along it.
9 There’ll be no lions lying in wait, no predators or dangers in sight.
Only those made right with God will journey there.
10 Those whom the Eternal One has recalled from a punishing exile,
they will go along so easily. They will walk this path,
Come waltzing to Zion, singing their way
to that place of right relation to God.
An aura of joy never-ending will attend them;
they will clasp gladness and joy to their hearts,
While sadness and despair evaporate into thin air.
36 After Hezekiah had been Judah’s king for 14 years, King Sennacherib of Assyria launched an attack against Judah’s fortified cities and conquered them. 2 Sennacherib sent his right-hand man (whom they call the Rabshakeh) to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem along with an army to intimidate him. The Rabshakeh came from Lachish, formerly a great Judean city, and stationed himself along the highway that skirts the field where they launder the cloth, near the aqueduct for the upper pool. 3 Three men from Hezekiah’s court came down from the palace to meet him there. They were Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, the palace administrator; Shebna, the royal secretary; and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder.
4 The Rabshakeh told them to relay to Hezekiah these words of Sennacherib, the great king of Assyria.
Rabshakeh: How come you’re so sure of yourself? 5 Your strategy and strength for war seem to be limited to diplomacy and empty words. Now that you have rebelled against me, who are you really relying on? 6 Take a look! Are you really counting on the help of a crushed reed, Egypt, against me? Relying on Egypt is like leaning on a splintering stick that ends up jabbing you through the palm. That’s the way Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is to everyone who relies on him. 7 Or maybe you’ll tell me, “We are putting our trust in the Eternal One our God.” Hah! I don’t think so. Don’t forget that Hezekiah went around destroying all His altars and wrecking His places of worship, insisting that Judah and Jerusalem must worship before the one altar in Jerusalem.
Hezekiah ascends to the throne as Judah’s king in 715 b.c. He may have served for a time as co-regent with his father Ahaz, so when the Assyrian army marches against him and issues its demands (apparently in 701 b.c.), Hezekiah has many years of experience. As a king of David’s royal line, Hezekiah’s reign is anchored to a promise God made to King David hundreds of years earlier. Indeed Judah enjoyed some success, but now all seems uncertain. Not long before Hezekiah takes the throne in Jerusalem, Israel, his northern neighbor, succumbs to invaders from Assyria. Now more than 20 years later, the Assyrians are moving against Jerusalem and her king. With bullying words and intimidating tactics, the Rabshakeh tries to force the Judean king to surrender Jerusalem and its citizens. Ironically—or perhaps providentially—the place where Isaiah met Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father, with God’s message turns out to be near the place where the Rabshakeh now makes his demands upon Judah.
8 Come on now. Make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria: I’ll give you 2,000 horses if you can do your part and deliver the same number of riders. 9 How can you repel even the weakest unit in my master’s army when you have to look to Egypt for chariots and drivers? 10 And just in case you think that I’m attacking you of my own volition, you should know that I am not. Your God, the Eternal, sent me. Your God said to me, “Rise up against that land (namely you Judeans), and destroy it.”
11 Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah appealed to the Rabshakeh.
Hezekiah’s Men: Please speak to us, your servants, in a language we understand—Aramaic—not in Judah’s common language, so that the people on the wall who are trying to listen in can’t understand.
Rabshakeh: 12 My, my, my! Do you think that my king sent me here to speak only to your king and to you when those people stand just as much to lose as you? Don’t you think that these people along the wall should have a chance to hear our negotiations? After all, they’ll be reduced with you to eating their own feces and drinking their own urine.
13 So the Rabshakeh stood up and spoke even louder in the Judean language so all could hear and understand.
Rabshakeh: Hear the words of Great King Sennacherib, king of Assyria, dominator of the world!
14 “Don’t listen to Hezekiah’s lies. Your king won’t be able to save you. 15 Don’t let him convince you to trust the Eternal by saying, ‘The Eternal will surely save us; God will spare Jerusalem from the king of Assyria.’ 16 Don’t believe it for a minute.”
My king, Sennacherib, says, “Make your peace with me. Don’t fight it, but come on out and join me. Then each of you will be able to enjoy your home and garden, eat your own grapes and figs, and drink the water from your own cistern 17 until I come and bring you back to my place. Oh, it’s like yours, to be sure. It has grain for bread and vineyards for new wine. 18 Be careful or Hezekiah will deceive you with his empty claim: ‘The Eternal One will surely save us.’ Look around. We’ve defeated everyone we’ve fought—every capital of every country. And did their gods save them? No. 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad, Sepharvaim, or even your sibling to the north, Samaria? 20 All of these are fallen—not a god in sight to save them. Do you really think you’re so different? Why should the Eternal save Jerusalem from me?”
21 To their credit, the people didn’t say anything. Hezekiah had commanded them not to answer the Rabshakeh, and indeed they just sat there silently. 22 Then the three men who had gone for Hezekiah—Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, the palace administrator; Shebna, the royal secretary; and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder—returned to their king. In great distress, they tore their clothes and told him everything the Rabshakeh said.
37 When King Hezekiah heard the report, he, too, was terribly distressed. He tore his clothes, changed into sackcloth, and went to the Eternal’s house. 2 He sent Eliakim, the palace administrator, along with Shebna, the royal secretary and some senior priests—who were also covered in sackcloth—to fetch Isaiah the prophet (Amoz’s son).
Hezekiah’s Men (to Isaiah): 3 Hezekiah is terribly upset. The king said, “This is a calamitous day. It is marked by anguish, chastisement, and disgrace. Things are as desperate for us as for a pregnant woman weakened by labor who cannot deliver the baby because she is physically spent from the birth pangs.”
4 Hezekiah implores you, Isaiah, “Pray for the remnant that is left here in Jerusalem. Maybe the Eternal One your God will notice how blasphemous the Rabshakeh is (on orders from his master the Assyrian king) and punish them because of what the living God heard him say.”
5 When the men delivered their message as the king requested, Isaiah responded.
Isaiah: 6 Go back to Hezekiah, your lord and king, and give him these sure words of confidence and hope: The Eternal One says, “Don’t let the blasphemous threats delivered by the servants of the Assyrian king make you doubtful or afraid. 7 Watch! I am going to trick him, to set a spirit against him. Just when he is ready to attack you, he’s going to hear a rumor that there are problems back home in Assyria and he will return there. Not only that, but once he’s back, he will die by the sword in his own land.”
8 Meanwhile, the Rabshakeh learned that Sennacherib had left Lachish and was already engaged in battle against the city of Libnah. 9 Now the Assyrian king heard that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, had allied himself with the Judeans and was coming to fight against him. The news prompted him to send messengers to Hezekiah with another message.
Rabshakeh: 10 Tell the Judean king, Hezekiah, “Don’t listen to your God, whom you’re counting on, when He tells you that the king of Assyria won’t conquer Jerusalem. 11 Look around you, and listen to the reports of what the Assyrian king has already done to the neighboring nations. How can he destroy them and let you get away? 12 This line of Assyrian kings has demolished all sorts of nations and peoples. Think of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden in Telassar. None of their gods saved them. 13 While we’re at it, what do you think happened to the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? We destroyed them. You’ll not get away.”
14 When Hezekiah got the written message, he read it. Then he took it to the temple, spread it out before the Eternal One, 15 and began to pray.
Hezekiah: 16 Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, who sits enthroned above the winged guardians—You alone are God. Only You are supreme over all the nations and kingdoms of the earth. And only You have made the heavens above, the earth below, and everything in them. 17 Please, please listen, Eternal One. Attend to us here and now; look and listen. Hear all that Sennacherib said, and all that he wrote, to ridicule You, the living God. 18 Eternal One, he’s right about how the Assyrian kings have destroyed other nations and taken over their lands. 19 And sure, they ruined the gods of those nations, smashed and burned them. But those were not real gods, only the product of human hands, shaped of stone and wood. That is why they could be destroyed. 20 I implore You, Eternal One our God, help us. Save us from the onslaught of these Assyrians. Make it clear to the whole world that You alone are the Eternal One, that You alone are God.
21-22 And Hezekiah got a response. The prophet Isaiah, Amoz’s son, relayed this to him:
Isaiah: The Eternal, Israel’s God, the God to whom you prayed concerning the Assyrian king, has this to say against Sennacherib:
Eternal One: The virgin daughter of Zion, lovely lady that she is,
despises you, mocks you.
The daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head and rejects you.
23 After all, who is the one you’ve taunted and insulted?
Who is the one you’ve slandered with untruths, ugly and dismissive?
Who is the one you shouted at and looked down upon with your arrogant eyes?
None other than the Holy One of Israel!
24 By way of your servants’ mouths, you have blasphemed my Lord.
Foolish, foolish Sennacherib. You have boasted,
‘My impressive company of chariots has taken me up the highest mountains,
into the far reaches of the Lebanese forests.
I myself felled its greatest cedars, cut down the best of its cypresses.
I have been to its highest peak, and claimed its thickest forest.
25 I have dug wells wherever I wished, and drunk my fill of others’ water.
I have dried up Egypt’s waterways simply by walking them.’
26 Ah, Sennacherib, haven’t you heard, don’t you know that long before you arrived,
way back in ancient days, I determined all of this?
I charted this course long ago, and now I bring it to pass.
This is the reason why you turn well-fortified cities into heaps of rubble.
27 Their hapless citizens look on,
helpless, shocked, and ashamed.
They were temporary and fragile like grass in the field
or tender new growth, like grass sprouting on rooftops
Blasted by a burning wind before it can grow and become strong.
28 I know everything about you: where you sit, when you come, where you go.
And I know your agitation against Me.
29 Because of this agitation,
and because your smug sense of security has reached My ears,
I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth,
and turn you back on the road you came from.
(to Hezekiah) 30 Here is a sign for you: you’ll know it’s true by seeing that in three years, life will be normal again: This year you’ll live off of what grows spontaneously. Next year, you’ll live off of what grows from that. In the third year, you’ll do the planting and harvesting—fields and vineyards—and eat from what grows. 31 And those who have survived in this land of Judah—this remnant—will strengthen their roots and become productive again.
32 A small group of survivors will emerge from Jerusalem,
from Zion, the mountain of God’s choosing.
Isaiah: The intensive passion of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will drive this to completion.
33 Here is what the Eternal says concerning the Assyrian king.
Eternal One: He will not come into this city. He will not shoot an arrow at it or approach it with a shield or build a siege ramp against it to come over its walls. 34 Instead he will turn around and go back the way he came. He absolutely will not come into this city. 35 I will defend Jerusalem. I will save this city for My sake and the sake of David, who reverently served Me.
36 Shortly after that, the special messenger of the Eternal One killed 185,000 Assyrian troops. When the morning came, the people could see all the dead bodies strewn around the camp. 37 So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp and went back to live in Nineveh, his capital in Assyria. 38 But one day, while he was worshiping his god Nisroch in that temple, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer attacked and killed him. They immediately fled to Ararat, leaving the throne empty. So Esarhaddon, another of Sennacherib’s sons, became Assyria’s king after him.
38 Meanwhile, back in Judah, Hezekiah became very sick and was about to die. Learning of it, Isaiah, Amoz’s son, went to visit him.
These are sad times for Judah and Isaiah. Although Isaiah has served as a court prophet for several of Judah’s kings, he and King Hezekiah have gotten to know one another particularly well over the years. Now the aging king is about to die. On many occasions Hezekiah seeks Isaiah’s counsel and takes it seriously. Even if he doesn’t always do exactly as he should, it is clear that he is genuinely concerned about the welfare of his subjects. With Isaiah’s help and perhaps a bit of his pestering, Hezekiah comes to understand that Judah’s national welfare is not separate from his and his people’s personal relationships with God.
Isaiah: Here is what the Eternal One has to say:
Eternal One: Get your affairs in order. You are going to die. You are not going to recover from this.
2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and started praying.
Hezekiah: 3 Eternal One, I beg you to remember how I have followed the path You set before me, and how I did so with all my heart. Remember how I have done what You wanted with sincerity of purpose every step of the way.
Then Hezekiah broke down and wept. He wept and wept. 4 Then a different word from the Eternal came upon the prophet Isaiah.
Eternal One: 5 Go and tell Hezekiah that the Eternal, the God of your ancestor David, says: “I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears. I’ve decided to add another 15 years to your life. 6 Not only that, but I will also rescue you and this city and not allow you to fall under the control of the Assyrian king. I Myself will protect this city, Jerusalem. 7 You’ll know that I, the Eternal One, will keep My promise by this sign: 8 I will make the sun’s shadow—which has climbed these steps of Ahaz’s stairway—go backward 10 steps.”
And the shadow on the stairway moved backward 10 steps. 9 When Hezekiah, king of Judah, recovered from his illness, he composed a poem.
10 Hezekiah: I thought for sure in the prime of my life
that I’d been brought to the gates of death,
that I’d miss out on the rest of my years.
11 I thought: That’s it. I will never again see the Eternal in the land of the living.
I will never again enjoy the company of those alive in this world.
12 My time on earth is folded up and packed away like a shepherd’s tent.
It’s as if a weaver has snipped me off from the loom and rolled me up.
From day to night You bring my life to an end.
13 I stay calm until morning arrives,
then like a lion He breaks all my bones.
From day to night You bring my life to an end.
14 Oh, how I argue and mourn for my passing life!
Like a swallow or a crane I twitter;
like a lonesome dove I moan.
My eyes become bleary from looking up to the heavens for help.
I cry, “O Lord, way up high, I am oppressed; come and help me!”
15 But what can I say? God has spoken to me.
Things are as He made them.
So I am determined to go slowly, make the most of my years,
even though I am bitter to the core.
16 But I so wanted to live! So I prayed, “Lord, by these things, people live
and my spirit is grounded in the same.
So heal me, let me live!”
17 Paradoxically, my bitter experience was pushing me toward wholeness.
For You, God, have put behind all my shortcomings and wrongdoings.
You have rescued me from death.
You pulled me from a black hole of nothingness and held me close to You.
18 And so I join the living in giving thanks to You.
After all, thankful voices never rise from the land of the dead.
After all, the songs of praise never soar from death’s dark realm.
Those who go down into the pit—that great black nothingness—
Hezekiah becomes confident that God will restore his health and bring him back from the edge of death. Ironically, many years earlier his father Ahaz refused to ask for a sign even though God insisted that he do so. The son, it seems, has learned a valuable lesson; so he asks for a sign because he wants to know when he will be well enough to return to God’s house and offer thanks to Him among the rest of his citizens. Unfortunately, with some people, it is only in the bitterness of disease and in death’s dark shadow that a person learns to embrace life and live it to the fullest. Hezekiah’s near-death experience embitters his soul, but it also moves him toward wholeness. What Hezekiah does not know is that the Babylonians have their eyes set on dominating the rest of the world. For years, the Assyrians and Babylonians have coexisted, but the Babylonians are not content to remain a regional power. As they build their empire—annexing lands, conquering peoples, gaining strength—they begin to take an interest in little Judah. Hezekiah doesn’t account for how his actions might affect his nation. He simply isn’t that shrewd.
They can’t even begin to hope for Your faithfulness.
19 But ah, the living! And I am among them today,
giving praise and thanks to You for life,
The old telling the young about the loyalty of Your love.
20 The Eternal will rescue me,
and we will break out the stringed instruments.
We will sing and make music for the rest of our lives,
right here in the house of the Eternal.
21 Isaiah instructed the physicians to apply a compress of squashed figs to the boil on Hezekiah’s skin to help him recover.
Hezekiah: 22 When will I know that I am well enough to go to the Eternal’s house? Is there a sign I should look for?
39 The man who was king of Babylon, Merodach-baladan (Baladan’s son), heard about Hezekiah—how he was so very sick and then got better. So he sent envoys to Hezekiah with letters and a gift. 2 Hezekiah was delighted at the kind gesture from so great a king, so he welcomed his guests and showed them the best of Judah’s treasures and talents—silver and gold, precious spices, and oils that wafted the smells of paradise. He gave them a tour of his armory and showed them all of Judah’s military equipment and everything they’d stashed away for future need. Hezekiah held nothing back from their appreciative eyes. He showed them everything in his house and his kingdom.
3 When Isaiah the prophet heard about Hezekiah’s tour, he hurried to the palace and confronted Hezekiah.
Isaiah: What in the world have you done? Where did these people come from? And what did you talk with them about?
Hezekiah (puzzled by Isaiah’s obvious distress): They came from a great distance simply to extend kind wishes for my recovery from their king! They came from Babylon.
Isaiah: 4 What did you show them? What have they seen in your palace?
Hezekiah: Well, everything. They have seen all that I own. I put all of my treasures on display. I didn’t hold back anything from them.
During Isaiah’s life, the Northern Kingdom (composed of ten Israelite tribes) flourishes and then falls, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah is battered by surrounding nations but persists. Eventually the Southern Kingdom itself falls, not to Assyria but to Babylon. Shockingly, the Babylonians destroy the capital and raze the temple where the Holy One of Israel is uniquely present with the people.
The Lord determines these events because their failings—as Isaiah described in such detail—and their refusal to correct their attitudes and behavior necessitate punishment on the order of national destruction. God’s covenant people have broken their part of the agreement and be-come unfit to live as people of Zion.
The scene has shifted. The situation has changed. The threat from Assyria now seems a distant memory. A new reality encompasses the people of God: Jerusalem and its glorious temple have been destroyed, and the key citizens of Judah have been carried off into exile by the Babylonians.
While tradition credits the entire book to Isaiah of Jerusalem, many scholars think these next 16 chapters are recorded by another prophet years later in the spirit of that great prophet of Jerusalem who proclaimed much of the previous writings. Whether this was Isaiah speaking in the future prophetically or another person used by the Spirit to continue Isaiah’s ministry, the traditions and ideas of Isaiah are so closely followed by the next chapters that they have been collected and included in this large book named after Isaiah. The time and circumstances are different, so the message is a bit different too. It is equally passionate about righteousness, Zion, and the Holy One of Israel. These events occur about two centuries after Isaiah’s death in the land of exile—Babylon.
Isaiah: 5 Listen well to what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has said: 6 “The time is coming when everything in your palace—everything of value kept, passed down, and stored by your ancestors to this present time—will be taken away to Babylon. Of everything that you showed this Babylonian contingent, nothing will be left. Absolutely nothing will remain here,” says the Eternal One. 7 “Even some of your sons yet to be born will be taken to exile. They will be castrated and forced to serve in the Babylonian royal house.”
Hezekiah: 8 The message you have spoken from the Eternal is good.
“At least,” Hezekiah thought to himself, “during my lifetime things will be peaceful and secure.”
40 “Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
2 “With gentle words, tender and kind,
Assure Jerusalem, this chosen city from long ago,
that her battles are over.
The terror, the bloodshed, the horror of My punishing work is done.
This place has paid for its guilt; iniquity is pardoned;
its term of incarceration is complete.
It has endured double the punishment it was due.”
3 A voice is wailing, “In the wilderness, get it ready! Prepare the way;
make it a straight shot. The Eternal would have it so.
Straighten the way in the wandering desert
to make the crooked road wide and straight for our God.[c]
4 Where there are steep valleys, treacherous descents,
raise the highway; lift it up;
bring down the dizzying heights.
Fill in the potholes and gullies, the rough places.
Iron out the shoulders flat and wide.
5 The Lord will be, really be, among us.
The radiant glory of the Lord will be revealed.
All flesh together will take it in. Believe it.
None other than God, the Eternal, has spoken.”[d]
During the time of Jesus, John the Baptist wanders around Israel in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets warning the people that they need to correct their attitudes and behaviors, to bring them better in line with what God expects and desires. He declares (warns, actually) that God is coming and will set things right. During the circumstances of exile, the people don’t fully understand who or what this voice in the wilderness will be; centuries later, as the early Christian community looks back over the life of Jesus and John, they recognize the anonymous voice.
6 A voice says, “Declare!”
But what shall I declare?
All life is like the grass.
All of its grace and beauty fades like the wild flowers in a field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
as the breath of the Eternal One blows away.
People are no different from grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades;
nothing lasts except the word of our God.
It will stand forever.[e]
Isaiah’s message is not just doom and gloom. God determines that His people may return home to rebuild their lives! God uses the new king, Cyrus of Persia, to accomplish this glorious restoration. God does not allow His punishment to last forever.
Now, in this new time, God smoothes the rocky way between Mesopotamia and all Israel; He makes the deserts between the present place of exile and their home just east of the Mediterranean Sea burst with sweet water and bloom with beauty and good things to eat. Treacherous roads and threatening beasts yield to God’s desire that they return safely.
In chapters 40–55, for the most part, the message is one of comfort and encouragement to God’s downtrodden and discouraged people. Many centuries later, these words will be understood in light of the Anointed One.
9 Ascend a high mountain,
you herald of good tidings, O Zion;
With a clear, strong voice make known to everyone
the joy that belongs to God’s chosen place,
O, Jerusalem, You herald of good tidings!
Make the news ring out! Don’t be afraid!
Say to these cities, this Judah: “Behold your God!”
10 The Lord, the Eternal, comes with power, with unstoppable might;
He will take control without question or delay.
He will see to it that wages are paid,
repairs are made, and all is set right again.
11 He will feed His fold like a shepherd;
He will gather together His lambs—the weak and the wobbly ones—into His arms.
He will carry them close to His bosom,
and tenderly lead like a shepherd the mother of her lambs.
12 Who has taken count and measured out all earth’s waters in a single, cupped palm
and determined heaven’s expanse with an outstretched hand?
Who has counted out exactly how many grains of dirt are here on earth,
and weighed the mountains and hills on scales?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Eternal One?
Can anyone claim to be His advisor?[f]
14 To whom did God turn for advice or instruction?
Whom did He consult about right and wrong?
Who directed Him down the path of justice or imparted to Him knowledge
or taught Him the way of understanding?
15 Face it; the nations are nothing but a drop in the bucket,
only a smidgen on the scales by the reckoning of God.
He can pick up entire islands as if they are grains of dirt.
16 Even if we had all the resources of Lebanon—
all of its trees to burn for fuel, all of its animals for burnt offerings—
How could we think that we’ve got enough to give to God?
17 All the countries of the world don’t add up to anything. In the eyes of God
they are less than nothing;
they are empty wastelands.
18 So would you try to find someone to compare to Him?
Can you think of anything that has a likeness to God?
19 An idol? Hardly. They are made by human hands.
Even if they are overlaid with gold, decorated with silver,
And shaped by the world’s best artisans,
they are subject to tarnish, tearing, and breaking.
20 Those who cannot afford such an extravagant offering
select a choice hardwood that will not rot,
And seek a skilled artisan to fashion an image
that will not totter and fall.
21 Don’t you know, haven’t you heard or even been told
from your earliest memories how the earth came to be?
22 Who else could have done it except God, enthroned high above the earth?
From such a vantage people seem like grasshoppers to Him.
Who else but God could stretch out the skies as if they were a curtain,
draw them tight, suspend them over our heads like the roof of a tent?
23 God reduces the rulers and judges,
the rich and powerful of the earth, to nothing;
24 They scarcely are planted, take root and start growing,
before God blows a withering breath,
And storm winds carry them away like chaff.
25 The Holy One asks, “Do you really think you can find
someone or something to compare to Me? My equal?”
26 Look at the myriad of stars and constellations above you.
Who set them to burning, each in its place?
Who knows those countless lights each by name?
They obediently shine, each in its place,
because God has the great strength and strong power to make it so.
27 Why, then, do you, Jacob, inheritors of God’s promise,
you, Israel, chosen of God—
Why do you say, “My troubled path is hidden from the Eternal;
God has lost all interest in My cause”?
28 Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard?
The Eternal, the Everlasting God,
The Creator of the whole world, never gets tired or weary.
His wisdom is beyond understanding.
29 God strengthens the weary
and gives vitality to those worn down by age and care.
30 Young people will get tired;
strapping young men will stumble and fall.
31 But those who trust in the Eternal One will regain their strength.
They will soar on wings as eagles.
They will run—never winded, never weary.
They will walk—never tired, never faint.
41 Eternal One: Keep quiet and listen to Me, lands along the seacoast;
give the people of the nations a chance to regain their strength.
Let them come close, all together, to speak their minds and present their case;
let’s consider the facts and make a judgment.
2 Who brought up this eastern hero? Who called up his justice service?
He lays nations at his feet and makes an end of their kings.
With a thrust of his sword and the bend of his bow,
this hero turns kings and their armies into dust.
3 With agility and speed unmatched, he chases them down
and is himself unscathed, even though he is passing over unfamiliar land.
4 Who has performed these deeds and accomplished this purpose?
Who calls each generation into being from the first on down?
It is I, the Eternal One your God.
I am the first.
And to the very last, I am the One.
5 The lands along the seacoast have seen and are scared.
The ends of earth take to shaking and yet still they draw near.
6 They try to bolster each other up saying,
“Have courage, brother, have courage!”
7 Recognizing their mutual dependence, the artisan encourages the goldsmith;
the one who hammers the metal emboldens the one who welds,
Saying, “Looks good! Fine job!” and fastens the idols together with nails,
making it stand firm and stable.
The nations fashion new idols in the hopes these new gods will be able to protect them during the coming battles against the eastern hero, Cyrus of Persia. If powerful Babylon can fall before him and his mighty army, what chance do other nations have? But Israel has nothing to fear. For God’s covenant people, Cyrus’ rise to power is good news; his ascension and Babylon’s defeat are God’s answers to their anxious prayers. Cyrus’ campaign to build his empire is not simply the will of man or a coincidence of history; it is the outworking of God’s plan to redeem and restore His scattered people. It was God who sent His disobedient covenant partners into exile; it will be God who brings them back home.
8 Eternal One: But you, My servant, Israel,
Jacob whom I have chosen and descendant of My friend, Abraham,
9 I have reached to wherever you are in the farthest corners of earth,
and the most hidden places therein.
I have called to you and said, “You are my servant.
I have chosen you, not thrown you away!”
10 So don’t be afraid. I am here, with you;
don’t be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, help you.
I am here with My right hand to make right and to hold you up.
11 Look, everyone who hated you and sought to do you wrong
will be embarrassed and confused.
Whoever challenged you with hot-headed bluster
will become as if they never were, and nevermore will be.
12 You may go looking for them, but you won’t find them;
because those who tried to fight with you will become as if they never were.
13 After all, it is I, the Eternal One your God,
who has hold of your right hand,
Who whispers in your ear, “Don’t be afraid. I will help you.”
14 So don’t be afraid, Jacob, though you are nothing but a worm.
People of Israel, you little bug, you have nothing to fear.
Eternal One: I will help you. I am One who saves you,
the Holy One of Israel.
15 I will turn you into a formidable threshing sledge
with brand new sharp blades that will mow down entire mountains
and turn the hills into chaff.
16 You will separate value from waste, and a great wind
and a strong storm will take away what is useless and unimportant.
You will take joy in the Eternal.
You will glow with pride in the Holy One of Israel.
17 And when people thirst, when those poor souls with parched tongues
look in vain for something to drink,
I, the Eternal, the God of Israel, won’t leave them to suffer. I will respond
18 By making the hard, brown hills sparkle with streams of fresh water
and causing valleys to come alive with springs.
I will see that gentle pools wait on the desert floor for the weary traveler,
and great fountains bubble up from dry ground;
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.