Bible-Reading.comIsaiah 45
1Thus 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 the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut;
2I will go before thee, and make the rugged places plain: I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
3and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I am the LORD, which call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel.
4For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
5I am the LORD, and there is none else; beside me there is no God: I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me:
6that 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.
7I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the LORD, that doeth all these things.
8Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, that they may bring forth salvation, and let her cause righteousness to spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
9Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
10Woe unto him that saith unto a father, What begettest thou? or to a woman, with what travailest thou?
11Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me of the things that are to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me.
12I 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.
13I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.
14Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine; they shall go after thee; in chains they shall come over: and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.
15Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
16They shall be ashamed, yea, confounded, all of them: they shall go into confusion together that are makers of idols.
17But Israel shall be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
18For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; he is God; that formed the earth and made it; he established it, he created it not a waste, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
19I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness; I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21Declare ye, and bring it forth; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath shewed this from ancient time? who hath declared it of old? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a saviour; there is none beside me.
22Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23By myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
24Only in the LORD, shall one say unto me, is righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come, and all they that were incensed against him shall be ashamed.
25In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
Isaiah 46
1Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary beast.
2They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.
3Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which have been borne by me from the belly, which have been carried from the womb:
4and even to old age I am he, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; yea, I will carry, and will deliver.
5To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
6Such as lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, they hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god; they fall down, yea, they worship.
7They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
8Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
9Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me;
10declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
11calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country; yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it.
12Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:
13I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory,
Isaiah 47
1Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
2Take the millstones, and grind meal: remove thy veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers.
3Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will accept no man.
4Our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
5Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called The lady of kingdoms.
6I was wroth with my people, I profaned mine inheritance, and gave them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the aged hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.
7And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end thereof.
8Now therefore hear this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and there is none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
9but these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: in their full measure shall they come upon thee, despite of the multitude of thy sorceries, and the great abundance of thine enchantments.
10For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, None seeth me; thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee: and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and there is none else beside me.
11Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know the dawning thereof: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou knowest not.
12Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
13Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee.
14Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before.
15Thus shall the things be unto thee wherein thou hast laboured: they that have trafficked with thee from thy youth shall wander every one to his quarter; there shall be none to save thee.
Isaiah 48
1Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah; which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.
2For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is his name.
3I have declared the former things from of old; yea, they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them: suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
5therefore I have declared it to thee from of old; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
6Thou hast heard it; behold all this; and ye, will ye not declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, which thou hast not known.
7They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
8Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from of old thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou didst deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
9For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
10Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
11For mine own sake, for mine own sake, will I do it; for how should my name be profaned? and my glory will I not give to another.
12Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
13Yea, mine hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spread out the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
14Assemble yourselves, all ye, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
15I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
16Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD hath sent me, and his spirit.
17Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the LORD thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
18Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
19thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the grains thereof: his name should not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.
20Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth: say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
21And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
22There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.
Isaiah 49
1Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye peoples, from far: the LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name:
2and he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me; and he hath made me a polished shaft, in his quiver hath he kept me close:
3and he said unto me, Thou art my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
4But I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and vanity: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my recompence with my God.
5And now saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered unto him: (for I am honourable in the eyes of the LORD, and my God is become my strength:)
6yea, he saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
7Thus saith the LORD, the redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of the LORD that is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee.
8Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I answered thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;
9saying to them that are bound, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture.
10They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
11And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
12Lo, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
13Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have compassion upon his afflicted.
14But Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.
15Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee.
16Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
17Thy children make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.
18Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I l live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, and gird thyself with them, like a bride.
19For, as for thy waste and thy desolate places and thy land that hath been destroyed, surely now shalt thou be too strait for the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.
20The children of thy bereavement shall yet say in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.
21Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?
22Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the nations, and set up my ensign to the peoples: and they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall he carried upon their shoulders.
23And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and they that wait for me shall not be ashamed.
24Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered?
25But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
26And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy saviour, and thy redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
Isaiah 50
1Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, wherewith I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were ye sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.
2Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.
3I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
4The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I should know how to sustain with words him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught.
5The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward.
6I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
7For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore have I not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
8He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand up together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.
9Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? behold, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
10Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant? he that walketh in darkness, and hath no light, let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
11Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that gird yourselves about with firebrands: walk ye in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.