Isaiah
Isaiah 41
Friday, November 20,2009
Israel Encouraged
1"Coastlands, listen to Me in silence,
And let the peoples gain new strength;
Let them come forward, then let them speak;
Let us come together for judgment.
2"Who has aroused one from the east
Whom He calls in righteousness to His feet?
He delivers up nations before him
And subdues kings
He makes them like dust with his sword,
As the wind-driven chaff with his bow.
3"He pursues them, passing on in safety,
By a way he had not been traversing with his feet.
4"Who has performed and accomplished it,
Calling forth the generations from the beginning?
'I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last I am He.'"
5The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
The ends of the earth tremble;
They have drawn near and have come.
6Each one helps his neighbor
And says to his brother, "Be strong!"
7So the craftsman encourages the smelter,
And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil,
Saying of the soldering, "It is good";
And he fastens it with nails,
So that it will not totter.
8"But you, Israel, My servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
Descendant of Abraham My friend,
9You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its remotest parts
And said to you, 'You are My servant,
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
10'Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'
11"Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
12"You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
13"For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you.'
14"Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel;
I will help you," declares the LORD, "and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15"Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;
You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them,
And will make the hills like chaff.
16"You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away,
And the storm will scatter them;
But you will rejoice in the LORD,
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17"The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none,
And their tongue is parched with thirst;
I, the LORD, will answer them Myself,
As the God of Israel I will not forsake them.
18"I will open rivers on the bare heights
And springs in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water
And the dry land fountains of water.
19"I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
The acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree;
I will place the juniper in the desert
Together with the box tree and the cypress,
20That they may see and recognize,
And consider and gain insight as well,
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21"Present your case," the LORD says.
"Bring forward your strong arguments,"
The King of Jacob says.
22Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place;
As for the former events, declare what they were,
That we may consider them and know their outcome.
Or announce to us what is coming;
23Declare the things that are going to come afterward,
That we may know that you are gods;
Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.
24Behold, you are of no account,
And your work amounts to nothing;
He who chooses you is an abomination.
25"I have aroused one from the north, and he has come;
From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;
And he will come upon rulers as upon mortar,
Even as the potter treads clay."
26Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know?
Or from former times, that we may say, "He is right!"?
Surely there was no one who declared,
Surely there was no one who proclaimed,
Surely there was no one who heard your words.
27"Formerly I said to Zion, 'Behold, here they are '
And to Jerusalem, 'I will give a messenger of good news.'
28"But when I look, there is no one,
And there is no counselor among them
Who, if I ask, can give an answer.
29"Behold, all of them are false;
Their works are worthless,
Their molten images are wind and emptiness.
Isaiah 42
God's Promise concerning His Servant
1"Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen one in whom My soul delights
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
2"He will not cry out or raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
3"A bruised reed He will not break
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth justice.
4"He will not be disheartened or crushed
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law."
5Thus says God the LORD,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread out the earth and its offspring,
Who gives breath to the people on it
And spirit to those who walk in it,
6"I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness,
I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations,
7To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.
8"I am the LORD, that is My name;
I will not give My glory to another,
Nor My praise to graven images.
9"Behold, the former things have come to pass,
Now I declare new things;
Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you."
10Sing to the LORD a new song,
Sing His praise from the end of the earth!
You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it
You islands, and those who dwell on them.
11Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices,
The settlements where Kedar inhabits
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud,
Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains.
12Let them give glory to the LORD
And declare His praise in the coastlands.
13The LORD will go forth like a warrior,
He will arouse His zeal like a man of war
He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry
He will prevail against His enemies.
The Blindness of the People
14"I have kept silent for a long time,
I have kept still and restrained Myself.
Now like a woman in labor I will groan,
I will both gasp and pant.
15"I will lay waste the mountains and hills
And wither all their vegetation;
I will make the rivers into coastlands
And dry up the ponds.
16"I will lead the blind by a way they do not know,
In paths they do not know I will guide them
I will make darkness into light before them
And rugged places into plains
These are the things I will do,
And I will not leave them undone."
17They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame,
Who trust in idols,
Who say to molten images,
"You are our gods."
18Hear, you deaf!
And look, you blind, that you may see.
19Who is blind but My servant,
Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?
Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me,
Or so blind as the servant of the LORD?
20You have seen many things, but you do not observe them;
Your ears are open, but none hears.
21The LORD was pleased for His righteousness' sake
To make the law great and glorious.
22But this is a people plundered and despoiled;
All of them are trapped in caves,
Or are hidden away in prisons;
They have become a prey with none to deliver them,
And a spoil, with none to say, "Give them back!"
23Who among you will give ear to this?
Who will give heed and listen hereafter?
24Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers?
Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned,
And in whose ways they were not willing to walk,
And whose law they did not obey?
25So He poured out on him the heat of His anger
And the fierceness of battle;
And it set him aflame all around,
Yet he did not recognize it;
And it burned him, but he paid no attention.
Isaiah 39
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Hezekiah Shows His Treasures
1At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.
2Hezekiah was pleased, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
3Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon."
4He said, "What have they seen in your house?" So Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not shown them."
5Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts,
6'Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,' says the LORD.
7'And some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away, and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"
8Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good " For he thought, "For there will be peace and truth in my days."
Isaiah 40
The Greatness of God
1"Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God.
2"Speak kindly to Jerusalem;
And call out to her, that her warfare has ended,
That her iniquity has been removed,
That she has received of the LORD'S hand
Double for all her sins."
3A voice is calling,
"Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
4"Let every valley be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low;
And let the rough ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
5Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
And all flesh will see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
6A voice says, "Call out."
Then he answered, "What shall I call out?"
All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
7The grass withers, the flower fades,
When the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
8The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.
9Get yourself up on a high mountain,
O Zion, bearer of good news,
Lift up your voice mightily,
O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;
Lift it up, do not fear
Say to the cities of Judah,
"Here is your God!"
10Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might,
With His arm ruling for Him
Behold, His reward is with Him
And His recompense before Him.
11Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,
In His arm He will gather the lambs
And carry them in His bosom;
He will gently lead the nursing ewes.
12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
And marked off the heavens by the span,
And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance
And the hills in a pair of scales?
13Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,
Or as His counselor has informed Him?
14With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?
And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge
And informed Him of the way of understanding?
15Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;
Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
16Even Lebanon is not enough to burn,
Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17All the nations are as nothing before Him,
They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.
18To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare with Him?
19As for the idol, a craftsman casts it,
A goldsmith plates it with gold,
And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
20He who is too impoverished for such an offering
Selects a tree that does not rot;
He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman
To prepare an idol that will not totter.
21Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
23He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,
Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
24Scarcely have they been planted,
Scarcely have they been sown,
Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,
But He merely blows on them, and they wither,
And the storm carries them away like stubble.
25"To whom then will you liken Me
That I would be his equal?" says the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing.
27Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD,
And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God"?
28Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired
His understanding is inscrutable.
29He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
30Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
31Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 [NASB]
Isaiah 37
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah's Help
1And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the LORD.
2Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
3They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of distress, rebuke and rejection; for children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver.
4'Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.'"
5So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6Isaiah said to them, "Thus you shall say to your master, 'Thus says the LORD, "Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
7"Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land."'"
8Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.
9When he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, "He has come out to fight against you," and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10"Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."
11'Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared?
12'Did the gods of those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?
13'Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?'"
Hezekiah's Prayer in the Temple
14Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.
15Hezekiah prayed to the LORD saying,
16"O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth You have made heaven and earth.
17"Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God.
18"Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands,
19and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men's hands, wood and stone So they have destroyed them.
20"Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God."
God Answers through Isaiah
21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:
"She has despised you and mocked you,
The virgin daughter of Zion;
She has shaken her head behind you,
The daughter of Jerusalem!
23"Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice
And haughtily lifted up your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24"Through your servants you have reproached the Lord,
And you have said, 'With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of Lebanon;
And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses
And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest forest.
25'I dug wells and drank waters,
And with the sole of my feet I dried up
All the rivers of Egypt.'
26"Have you not heard?
Long ago I did it,
From ancient times I planned it
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
27"Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength,
They were dismayed and put to shame;
They were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb,
As grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up.
28"But I know your sitting down
And your going out and your coming in
And your raging against Me.
29"Because of your raging against Me
And because your arrogance has come up to My ears,
Therefore I will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back by the way which you came.
30"Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31"The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
32"For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."'
33"Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, 'He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, or throw up a siege ramp against it.
34'By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,' declares the LORD.
35'For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David's sake.'"
Assyrians Destroyed
36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead.
37So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh.
38It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.
Isaiah 38
Hezekiah Healed
1In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'"
2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
3and said, "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your sight " And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,
5"Go and say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David, "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.
6"I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city."'
7"This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that He has spoken:
8"Behold, I will cause the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, to go back ten steps " So the sun's shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.
9A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
10I said, "In the middle of my life
I am to enter the gates of Sheol;
I am to be deprived of the rest of my years."
11I said, "I will not see the LORD,
The LORD in the land of the living;
I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12"Like a shepherd's tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;
As a weaver I rolled up my life
He cuts me off from the loom;
From day until night You make an end of me.
13"I composed my soul until morning.
Like a lion--so He breaks all my bones,
From day until night You make an end of me.
14"Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;
I moan like a dove;
My eyes look wistfully to the heights;
O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.
15"What shall I say?
For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will wander about all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16"O Lord, by these things men live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
O restore me to health and let me live!
17"Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness;
It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness,
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18"For Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19"It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today;
A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.
20"The LORD will surely save me;
So we will play my songs on stringed instruments
All the days of our life at the house of the LORD."
21Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover."
22Then Hezekiah had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?"
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