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God's

's mercy to Israel.

CHAP. XLV.

The omnipotence of God. hath done it shout, ye lower parts of the to him that fashioneth it, What makest earth break forth into singing, ye moun- thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? tains, O forest, and every tree therein: 10 Wo unto him that saith unto his fafor the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ther, What begettest thou? or to the woglorified himself in Israel. man, What hast thou brought forth?

24 Thus saith the LORD thy Redeemer, 11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One and he that formed thee from the womb, of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things am the LORD that maketh all things; that to come concerning my sons, and concernstretcheth forth the heavens alone; that ing the work of my hands command ye me. spreadeth abroad the earth by myself: 12 I have made the earth, and created 25 That frustrate th the tokens of the man upon it: I, even my hands, have liars, and maketh diviners mad; that stretched out the heavens, and all their turneth wise men backward, and maketh host have I commanded. 13 I have raised him up, in righteous

their knowledge foolish;

26 That confirmeth the word of his ser-ness, and I will direct all his ways: he vant, and performeth the counsel of his shall build my city, and he shall let go my messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou captives, not for price nor reward, saith shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Ju- the LORD of hosts. dah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:

14 Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and 27 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come I will dry up thy rivers: over unto thee, and they shall be thine: 28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shep-they shall come after thee; in chains they herd, and shall perform all my pleasure: shall come over, and they shall fall down even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be unto thee, they shall make supplication built; and to the temple, Thy foundation unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; shall be laid.

THU

CHAP. XLV.

HUS saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut;

and there is none else, there is no God.
15 Verily thou art a God that hidest
thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.

16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.

17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without

2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in end. pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder 18 For thus saith the LORD that created the bars of iron: the heavens; God himself that formed the

3 And I will give thee the treasures of earth and made it; he hath established it, darkness, and hidden riches of secret he created it not in vain, he formed it to places, that thou mayest know that I, the be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there LORD, which call thee by thy name, am is none else.

the God of Israel.

19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark 4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Is-place of the earth: I said not unto the rael mine elect, I have even called thee by seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the thy name: I have surnamed thee, though LORD speak righteousness, I declare things thou hast not known me. that are right.

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

6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

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

20 T Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else besides me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none besides me.

8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth 22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all salvation, and let righteousness spring up the ends of the earth: for I am God, and together; I the LORD have created it. there is none else.

9 Wo unto him that striveth with his 23 I have sworn by myself, the word is Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the gone out of my mouth in righteousness, potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say and shall not return, That unto me every

Idols not comparable to God.

ISAIAH. God's judgments upon Babylon.

knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. [uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, un24 Surely, shall one say, In the LORD cover the thigh, pass over the rivers. have I righteousness and strength: even 3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, to him shall men come; and all that are yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take incensed against him shall be ashamed. vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a

25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Is- man. rael be justified, and shall glory.

CHAP. XLVI.

4 As for our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

Btheir idols were upon the beasts, and ness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for

EL boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, 5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into dark

beast.

upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy thou shalt no more be called, The lady of loaden; they are a burden to the weary kingdoms. 6 I was wroth with my people, 1 2 They stoop, they bow down together; have polluted mine inheritance, and given they could not deliver the burden, but them into thy hand: thou didst shew themselves are gone into captivity. them no mercy; upon the ancient hast 3 Hearken unto me, O house of Ja-thou very heavily laid thy yoke. cob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb 4 And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: 1 have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

7 ¶ And 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 of it.

8 Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thy heart, I am, and To whom will ye liken me, and none else besides me; I shall not sit as a make me equal, and compare me, that we, widow, neither shall I know the loss of may be like? children:

5

6 They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.

9 But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection, for the mul7 They bear him upon the shoulder, titude of thy sorceries, and for the great they carry him, and set him in his place, abundance of thine enchantments. and he standeth; from his place shall he 10 For thou hast trusted in thy not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth yet can he not answer, nor save him out of me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it his trouble. hath perverted thee; and thou hast said 8 Remember this, and shew yourselves in thy heart, I am, and none else besides men bring it again to mind, O ye trans-me.

gressors.

11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; 9 Remember the former things of old: thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: for I am God, and there is none else; I am and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou God, and there is none like me, shalt not be able to put it off: and desola10 Declaring the end from the begin- tion shall come upon thee suddenly, which ning, and from ancient times the things thou shalt not know.

that are not yet done, saying, My counsel 12 Stand now with thine enchantments, shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: and with the multitude of thy sorceries, 11 Calling a ravenous bird from the wherein thou hast laboured from thy east, the man that executeth my counsel youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, if so be thou mayest prevail. I will also bring it to pass; I have pur- 13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of posed it, I will also do it. thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, 12 T Hearken unto me, ye stout-heart- the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticaed, that are far from righteousness: tors, stand up, and save thee from these 13 I bring near my righteousness; it things that shall come upon thee. shall not be far off, and my salvation shall 14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the not tarry and I will place salvation in fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver Zion for Israel my glory. themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor

CHAP. XLVII.

COME down, and sit in the dust, O fire to sit before it.

virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on 15 Thus shall they be unto thee with the ground: there is no throne, O daugh- whom thou hast laboured, even thy merter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no chants, from thy youth; they shall wander more be called tender and delicate. every one to his quarter; none shall save 2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: thee.

God reveals his prophecies. CHAP. XLVIII, XLIX. Christ complains of the Jews. there am I and now the Lord God, and

CHAP. XLVIII.

17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy which swear by the name of the LORD, God which teacheth thee to profit, which and make mention of the God of Israel, but leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldnot in truth, nor in righteousness.

HEAR ye this, O house of Jacob, which his Spirit, hath sent me.

est go.

18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my 2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.

19 Thy seed also had been as the sand,

3 I have declared the former things from waves of the sea: the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them and the offspring of thy bowels like the suddenly, and they came to pass.

4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; 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.

6 Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.

7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.

gravel thereof; his name should not have
been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

20 T Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye
from the Chaldeans, with a voice of sing-
ing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the
end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath
redeemed his servant Jacob.

21 And they thirsted not when he led them to flow out of the rock for them: he clave through the deserts: he caused the waters 22 There is no peace, saith the LORD, the rock also, and the waters gushed out. unto the wicked.

CHAP. XLIX.

ye people, from far; The LORD hath ISTEN, O isles, unto me; and hearken, called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of

8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou my name. 2 And he hath made my mouth like a knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou sharp sword; in the shadow of his han wouldest deal very treacherously, and hath he hid me, and made me a polished transgressor from the shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; wast called a womb.

9 For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.

10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

'11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

13 My hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.

I

3 And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, have spent my strength for nought, and in vain; yet surely my judgment is with 5 T And now, saith the LORD that formthe LORD, and my work with my God. ed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.

6 And he said, It is a light 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.

7 Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer 14 All ye, assemble yourselves and hear; which among them hath declared these of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom things? The LORD hath loved him: he will man despiseth, to him whom the nation do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worshall be on the Chaldeans. 15 I, even I, bave spoken, yea, I have ship, because of the LORD that is faithful, called him: I have brought him, and he and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall shall make his way prosperous.

hear ye

choose thee.

8 Thus saith the LORD, In an accepta16 Come ye near unto me, this; I have not spoken in secret from the ble time have I heard thee, and in a day of beginning; from the time that it was, salvation have I helped thee: and I will

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God's love to the church.

ISAIAH.

Cause of the Jews' dereliction. preserve thee, and give thee for a cove-their face toward the earth, and lick up nant of the people, to establish the earth, the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know to cause to inherit the desolate heritages: that I am the LORD: for they shall not be 9 That thou mayest say to the prisoners, ashamed that wait for me. Go forth; to them that are in darkness, 24 Shall the prey be taken from the Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? ways, and their pastures shall be in all high 25 But thus saith the LORD, Even the places. captives of the mighty shall be taken away, 10 They shall not hunger nor thirst, nei-and the prey of the terrible shall be delither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for vered: for I will contend with him that he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, contendeth with thee, and I will save thy even by the springs of water shall he guide children. them. 26 And I will feed them that oppress 11 And I will make all my mountains a thee with their own flesh; and they shall way, and my highways shall be exalted. be drunken with their own blood, as with 12 Behold, these shall come from far; sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that and lo, these from the north and from the I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Rewest; and these from the land of Sinim. deemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. 13 ¶ Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, CHAP. L.

O earth; and break forth into singing, OHUS saith the LORD, Where is the

:

his people, and will have mercy upon his whom I have put away? or which of my afflicted. creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

14 But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my LORD hath forgotten me. 15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion 2 Wherefore, when I came, was there on the son of her womb? yea, they may no man? when I called, was there none to forget, yet will I not forget thee. answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that

16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the it cannot redeem? or have I no power to palms of my hands; thy walls are continu- deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up ally before me. the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: 17 Thy children shall make haste; thy their fish stinketh, because there is no destroyers and they that made thee waste water, and dieth for thirst. shall go forth of thee. 3 I clothe the heavens with blackness,

18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and and I make sackcloth their covering. behold: all these gather themselves toge- 4 The Lord God hath given me the ther, and come to thee. As I live, saith tongue of the learned, that I should know the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee how to speak a word in season to him that with them all, as with an ornament, and is weary: he wakeneth morning by mornbind them on thee, as a bride doeth. ing, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the 19 For thy waste and thy desolate places, learned.

and the land of thy destruction, shall even 5 The Lord God hath opened mine now be too narrow by reason of the inha-ear, and I was not rebellious, neither bitants, and they that swallowed thee up turned away back.

shall be far away.

6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my

20 The children which thou shalt have, cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I after thou hast lost the other, shall say hid not my face from shame and spitting. again in thine ears, The place is too strait 7 For the Lord God will help me: therefor me: give place to me that I may dwell. fore shall I not be confounded: therefore 21 Then shalt thou say in thy heart, have I set my face like a flint, and I know Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have that I shall not be ashamed. lost my children, and am desolate, a cap- 8 He is near that justifieth me: who will tive, and removing to and fro? and who contend with me? let us stand together: hath brought up these? Behold I was left who is mine adversary? let him come near alone; these, where had they been? to me. 22 Thus saith the Lord GoD, Behold, I 9 Behold, the Lord God will help me; will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they set up my standard to the people: and they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy shall eat them up. daughters shall be carried upon their 10 ¶ Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his ser

shoulders.

23 And kings shall be thy nursing fa- vant, that walketh in darkness, and hath thers, and their queens thy nursing mo- no light? let him trust in the name of the thers: they shall bow down to thee with LORD, and stay upon his God.

Christ defends his people.

CHAP. LI, LII. Christ's free redemption.

11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that that hath stretched forth the heavens, and compass yourselves about with sparks: walk laid the foundations of the earth; and hast in the light of your fire, and in the sparks feared continually every day because of that ye have kindled. This shall ye have the fury of the oppressor, as if he were of my hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow. ready to destroy?" and where is the fury of CHAP. LI. the oppressor?

HEARKEN to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.

14 The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

15 But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.

2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him 16 And I have put my words in thy alone, and blessed him, and increased him. mouth, and have covered thee in the 3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he shadow of my hand, that I may plant the will comfort all her waste places; and he heavens, and lay the foundations of the will make her wilderness like Eden, and earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my her desert like the garden of the LORD; people.

joy and gladness shall be found therein, 17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jeruthanksgiving, and the voice of melody. salem, which hast drunk at the hand of the 4 Hearken unto me, my people; and LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law the dregs of the cup of trembling, and shall proceed from me, and I will make my wrung them out.

judgment to rest for a light of the people. 18 There is none to guide her among all 5 My righteousness is near; my salva- the sons whom she hath brought forth; tion is gone forth, and mine arms shall neither is there any that taketh her by the judge the people; the isles shall wait upon hand of all the sons that she hath brought up. Ine, and on mine arm shall they trust. 19 These two things are come unto thee; +6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, look upon the earth beneath: for the hea- and destruction, and the famine, and the vens shall vanish away like smoke, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? earth shall wax old like a garment, and 20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at they that dwell therein shall die in like the head of all the streets, as a wild bull manner: but my salvation shall be for in a net: they are full of the fury of the ever, and my righteousness shall not be LORD, the rebuke of thy God.

abolished. + 21 Therefore hear now this, thou af7¶ Hearken unto me, ye that know flicted, and drunken, but not with wine: righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

22 Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:

23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy 9 ¶ Awake, awake, put on strength, O soul, Bow down, that we may go over: arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, days, in the generations of old. Art thou and as the street, to them that went over. not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded CHAP. LII.

the dragon?

10 Art thou not it which hath dried the AWAKE, awake, put on thy strength,

O Zion; put on thy beautiful garsea, the waters of the great deep; that hath ments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for made the depths of the sea a way for the henceforth there shall no more come into ransomed to pass over? thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

11 Therefore the redeemed of the LORD 2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, shall return, and come with singing unto and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon from the bands of thy neck, O captive their head: they shall obtain gladness and daughter of Zion.

away.

joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee 3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be re12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: deemed without money. who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid 4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My of a man that shall die, and of the son of people went down aforetime into Egypt to man which shall be made as grass; sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed 13 And forgettest the LORD thy Maker, them without cause.

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