^u“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

^vthe whole earth is full of his glory!”²

^d“‘Keep on hearing,³ but do not understand;

keep on seeing,⁴ but do not perceive.’

10  ^eMake the heart of this people ^fdull,⁵

and their ears heavy,

and blind their eyes;

^glest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.”

11  Then I said, ^h“How long, O Lord?”

And he said:

“Until ⁱcities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is a desolate waste,

12  and the Lord removes people far away,

and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

13  ^jAnd though a tenth remain in it,

it will be burned⁶ again,

like a terebinth or an oak,

whose stump ^kremains

when it is felled.”

^lThe holy seed⁷ is its stump.

1  ^zComfort, comfort my people, says your God.

2  ^aSpeak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and cry to her

that ^bher warfare¹ is ended,

that her iniquity is pardoned,

that she has received from the Lord’s hand

double for all her sins.

3  ^cA voice cries:²

^d“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;

^emake straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4  ^fEvery valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

and the rough places a plain.

5  ^gAnd the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together,

^hfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

6  A voice says, “Cry!”

And I said,³ “What shall I cry?”

ⁱAll flesh is grass,

and all its beauty⁴ is like the flower of the field.

7  The grass withers, the flower fades

when the breath of the Lord blows on it;

surely the people are grass.

8  ^jThe grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever.

9  Go on up to a high mountain,

O Zion, ^kherald of good news;⁵

lift up your voice with strength,

O Jerusalem, herald of good news;⁶

lift it up, fear not;

say to the cities of Judah,

“Behold your God!”

10  ^lBehold, the Lord God comes with might,

and his arm rules for him;

^mbehold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

11  ⁿHe will tend his flock like a shepherd;

^ohe will gather the lambs in his arms;

^phe will carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young.

12  ^qWho has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span,

enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

and weighed the mountains in scales

and the hills in a balance?

13  ^rWho has measured⁷ the Spirit of the Lord,

or what man shows him his counsel?

14  Whom did he consult,

and who made him understand?

^sWho taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

15  Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted ^tas the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up ^uthe coastlands like fine dust.

16  Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

nor are ^vits beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17  ^wAll the nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18  ^xTo whom then will you liken God,

^yor what likeness compare with him?

19  ^yAn idol! A craftsman casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and casts for it silver chains.

20  ^zHe who is too impoverished for an offering

chooses wood⁸ that will not rot;

he seeks out a skillful craftsman

to set up an idol that will not move.

21  ^aDo you not know? Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22  It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are ^blike grasshoppers;

^cwho stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

23  ^dwho brings princes to nothing,

and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

24  Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

when he blows on them, and they wither,

^eand the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25  ^fTo whom then will you compare me,

that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

26  Lift up your eyes on high and see:

who created these?

^gHe who brings out their host by number,

calling them all by name;

by the greatness of his might

and because he is strong in power,

not one is missing.

27  Why do you say, O Jacob,

and speak, O Israel,

^h“My way is hidden from the Lord,

ⁱand my right is disregarded by my God”?

28  Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is ^jthe everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

^khis understanding is unsearchable.

29  He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30  Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

31  but ^lthey who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings ^mlike eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

1  ^cAwake, awake,

put on your strength, O Zion;

^dput on your beautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, ^ethe holy city;

^ffor there shall no more come into you

the uncircumcised and the unclean.

2  ^gShake yourself from the dust and arise;

be seated, O Jerusalem;

^hloose the bonds from your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion.

7  ⁿHow beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who brings good news,

who publishes peace, ^owho brings good news of happiness,

who publishes salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

8  The voice of ^pyour watchmen—they lift up their voice;

together they sing for joy;

^qfor eye to eye they see

the return of the Lord to Zion.

9  ^rBreak forth together into singing,

^syou waste places of Jerusalem,

for ^tthe Lord has comforted his people;

he has redeemed Jerusalem.

10  ^uThe Lord has bared his holy arm

before the eyes of all the nations,

^vand all the ends of the earth shall see

the salvation of our God.

11  ^wDepart, depart, go out from there;

touch no unclean thing;

go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,

^xyou who bear the vessels of the Lord.

12  For you shall not ^ygo out in haste,

and you shall not go in flight,

^zfor the Lord will go before you,

^aand the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

13  Behold, ^bmy servant shall act wisely;²

he shall be high and lifted up,

and shall be exalted.

14  As many were astonished at you—

^chis appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

15  so ^dshall he sprinkle³ many nations.

^eKings shall shut their mouths because of him,

^ffor that which has not been told them they see,

and that which they have not heard they understand.

1  ^gWho has believed what he has heard from us?⁴

And to whom has ^hthe arm of the Lord been revealed?

2  For he grew up before him like a young plant,

ⁱand like a root out of dry ground;

^jhe had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

3  ^kHe was despised and rejected⁵ by men,

a man of sorrows⁶ and acquainted with⁷ grief;⁸

and as one from whom men hide their faces⁹

he was despised, and ^lwe esteemed him not.

4  ^mSurely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

ⁿsmitten by God, and afflicted.

5  ^oBut he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

^pand with his wounds we are healed.

6  ^qAll we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

^rand the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

^syet he opened not his mouth;

^tlike a ^ulamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

8  By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, ^vwho considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

9  And they made his grave with the wicked

^wand with a rich man in his death,

although ^xhe had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10  Yet ^yit was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;¹⁰

^zwhen his soul makes¹¹ an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

^athe will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11  Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see¹² and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall ^bthe righteous one, my servant,

^cmake many to be accounted righteous,

^dand he shall bear their iniquities.

12  ^eTherefore I will divide him a portion with the many,¹³

^fand he shall divide the spoil with the strong,¹⁴

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

^gyet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.