45:5. I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God besides me: I girded thee, and thou hast not known me:
45:6. That they may know who are from the rising of the sun, and they who are from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none else:
45:7. I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord that do all these things.
Create evil, etc... The evils of afflictions and punishments, but not the evil of sin.
45:8. Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour: and let justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him.
45:9. Woe to him that gainsayeth his maker, a sherd of the earthen pots: shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it: What art thou making, and thy work is without hands?
45:10. Woe to him that saith to his father: Why begettest thou? and to the woman: Why dost thou bring forth?
45:11. Thus saith the Lord the Holy One of Israel, his maker: Ask me of things to come, concerning my children, and concerning the work of my hands give ye charge to me.
45:12. I made the earth: and I created man upon it: my hand stretched forth the heavens, and I have commanded all their host.
45:13. I have raised him up to justice, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and let go my captives, not for ransom, nor for presents, saith the Lord the God of hosts.
45:14. Thus saith the Lord: The labour of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and of Sabaim, men of stature shall come over to thee, and shall be thine: they shall walk after thee, they shall go bound with manacles: and they shall worship thee, and shall make supplication to thee: only in thee is God, and there is no God besides thee.
45:15. Verily thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel the saviour.
45:16. They are all confounded and ashamed: the forgers of errors are gone together into confusion.
45:17. Israel is saved in the Lord with an eternal salvation: you shall not be confounded, and you shall not be ashamed for ever and ever.
45:18. For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth, and made it, the very maker thereof: he did not create it in vain: he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is no other.
45:19. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I have not said to the seed of Jacob: Seek me in vain. I am the Lord that speak justice, that declare right things.
45:20. Assemble yourselves, and come, and draw near together, ye that are saved of the Gentiles: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven work, and pray to a god that cannot save.
45:21. Tell ye, and come, and consult together: who hath declared this from the beginning, who hath foretold this 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.
45:22. Be converted to me, and you shall be saved, all ye ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no other.
45:23. I have sworn by myself, the word of justice shall go out of my mouth, and shall not return:
45:24. For every knee shall be bowed to me, and every tongue shall swear.
45:25. Therefore shall he say: In the Lord are my justices and empire: they shall come to him, and all that resist him shall be confounded.
45:26. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and praised.
Isaias Chapter 46
The idols of Babylon shall be destroyed. Salvation is promised through Christ.
46:1. Bel is broken, Nebo is destroyed: their idols are put upon beasts and cattle, your burdens of heavy weight even unto weariness.
46:2. They are consumed, and are broken together: they could not save him that carried them, and they themselves shall go into captivity.
46:3. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel who are carried by my bowels, are borne up by my womb.
46:4. Even to your old age I am the same, and to your grey hairs I will carry you: I have made you, and I will bear: I will carry and will save.
46:5. To whom have you likened me, and made me equal, and compared me, and made me like?
46:6. You that contribute gold out of the bag, and weigh out silver in the scales: and hire a goldsmith to make a god: and they fall down and worship.
46:7. They bear him on their shoulders and carry him, and set him in his place, and he shall stand, and shall not stir out of his place. Yea, when they shall cry also unto him, he shall not hear: he shall not save them from tribulation.
46:8. Remember this, and be ashamed: return, ye transgressors, to the heart.
46:9. Remember the former age, for I am God, and there is no God beside, neither is there the like to me:
46:10. Who shew from the beginning the things that shall be at last, and from ancient times the things that as yet are not done, saying: My counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done:
46:11. Who call a bird from the east, and from a far country the man of my own will, and I have spoken, and will bring it to pass: I have created, and I will do it. Hear me, O ye hardhearted, who are far from justice.
46:12. I have brought my justice near, it shall not be afar off: and my salvation shall not tarry. I will give salvation in Sion, and my glory in Israel.
Isaias Chapter 47
God's judgment upon Babylon.
47:1. Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt no more be called delicate and tender.
47:2. Take a millstone and grind meal: uncover thy shame, strip thy shoulder, make bare thy legs, pass over the rivers.
47:3. Thy nakedness shall be discovered, and thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and no man shall resist me.
47:4. Our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
47:5. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms.
47:6. I was angry with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and have given them into thy hand: thou hast shewn no mercy to them: upon the ancient thou hast laid thy yoke exceeding heavy.
47:7. And thou hast said: I shall be a lady for ever: thou hast not laid these things to thy heart, neither hast thou remembered thy latter end.
47:8. And now hear these things, thou that art delicate, and dwellest confidently, that sayest in thy heart: I am, and there is none else besides me: I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know barrenness.
47:9. These two things shall come upon thee suddenly in one day, barrenness and widowhood. All things are come upon thee, because of the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great hardness of thy enchanters.
47:10. And thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, and hast said: There is none that seeth me. Thy wisdom, and, thy knowledge, this hath deceived thee. And thou hast said in thy heart: I am, and besides me there is no other.
47:11. Evil shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know the rising thereof: and calamity shall fall violently upon thee, which thou canst not keep off: misery shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
47:12. Stand now with thy enchanters, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou hast laboured from thy youth, if so be it may profit thee any thing, or if thou mayst become stronger.
47:13. Thou hast failed in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the astrologers stand and save thee, they that gazed at the stars, and counted the months, that from them they might tell the things that shall come to thee.
47:14. Behold they are as stubble, fire hath burnt them, they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flames: there are no coals wherewith they may be warmed, nor fire, that they may sit thereat.
47:15. Such are all the things become to thee, in which thou hast laboured: thy merchants from thy youth, every one hath erred in his own way, there is none that can save thee.
Isaias Chapter 48
He reproaches the Jews for their obstinacy: he will deliver them out of their captivity, for his own name's sake.
48:1. Hear ye these things, O house of Jacob, you that are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Juda, you who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in justice.
48:2. For they are called of the holy city, and are established upon the God of Israel: the Lord of hosts is his name.
48:3. The former things of old, I have declared, and they went forth out of my mouth, and I have made them to be heard: I did them suddenly and they came to pass.
48:4. For I knew that thou art stubborn, and thy neck is as an iron sinew, and thy forehead as brass.
48:5. I foretold thee of old, before they came to pass I told thee, lest thou shouldst say: My idols have done these things, and my graven and molten things have commanded them.
48:6. See now all the things which thou hast heard: but have you declared them? I have shewn thee new things from that time, and things are kept which thou knowest not:
48:7. They are created now, and not of old: and before the day, when thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldst say: Behold I knew them.
48:8. Thou hast neither heard, nor known, neither was thy ear opened of old. For I know that transgressing thou wilt transgress, and I have called thee a transgressor from the womb.
48:9. For my name's sake I will remove my wrath far off: and for my praise I will bridle thee, lest thou shouldst perish.
48:10. Behold I have refined thee, but not as silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of poverty.
48:11. For my own sake, for my own sake will I do it, that I may not be blasphemed: and I will not give my glory to another.
48:12. Hearken to me, O Jacob, and thou Israel whom I call: I am he, I am the first, and I am the last.
48:13. My hand also hath founded the earth, and my right hand hath measured the heavens: I shall call them, and they shall stand together.
48:14. Assemble yourselves together, all you, and hear: who among them hath declared these things? the Lord hath loved him, he will do his pleasure in Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
48:15. I, even I have spoken and called him: I have brought him, and his way is made prosperous.
48:16. Come ye near unto me, and hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning: from the time before it was done, I was there, and now the Lord God hath sent me, and his spirit.
48:17. Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God that teach thee profitable things, that govern thee in the way that thou walkest.
48:18. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: thy peace had been as a river, and thy justice as the waves of the sea,
48:19. And thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have perished, nor have been destroyed from before my face.
48:20. Come forth out of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, declare it with the voice of joy: make this to be heard, and speak it out even to the ends of the earth. Say: The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
48:21. They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out: he brought forth water out of the rock for them, and he clove the rock, and the waters gushed out.
48:22. There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord.
Isaias Chapter 49
Christ shall bring the Gentiles to salvation. God's love to his church is perpetual.
49:1. Give ear, ye islands, and hearken, ye people from afar. The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother he hath been mindful of my name.
49:2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword: in the shadow of his hand he hath protected me, and hath made me as a chosen arrow: in his quiver he hath hidden me.
49:3. And he said to me: Thou art my servant Israel, for in thee will I glory.
49:4. And I said: I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength without cause and in vain: therefore my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.
49:5. And now saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I may bring back Jacob unto him, and Israel will not be gathered together: and I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is made my strength.
49:6. And he said: It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel. Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.
49:7. Thus saith the Lord the redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to the soul that is despised, to the nation that is abhorred, to the servant of rulers: Kings shall see, and princes shall rise up, and adore for the Lord's sake, because he is faithful, and for the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee.
49:8. Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee: and I have preserved thee, and given thee to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise up the earth, and possess the inheritances that were destroyed:
49:9. That thou mightest say to them that are bound: Come forth: and to them that are in darkness: Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in every plain.
49:10. They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them: for he that is merciful to them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink.
49:11. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my paths shall be exalted.
49:12. Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the north and from the sea, and these from the south country.
49:13. Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth, ye mountains, give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his poor ones.
49:14. And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.
49:15. Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee.
49:16. Behold, I have graven thee in my hands: thy walls are always before my eyes.
49:17. Thy builders are come: they that destroy thee and make thee waste shall go out of thee.
49:18. Lift up thy eyes round about, and see all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt put them about thee.
49:19. For thy deserts, and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be chased far away.
49:20. The children of thy barrenness shall still say in thy ears: The place is too strait for me, make me room to dwell in.
49:21. And thou shalt say in thy heart: Who hath begotten these? I was barren and brought not forth, led away, and captive: and who hath brought up these? I was destitute and alone: and these, where were they?
49:22. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and will set up my standard to the people. And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and carry thy daughters upon their shoulders.
49:23. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nurses: they shall worship thee with their face toward the earth, and they shall lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be confounded that wait for him.
49:24. Shall the prey be taken from the strong? or can that which was taken by the mighty, be delivered?
49:25. For thus saith the Lord: Yea verily, even the captivity shall be taken away from the strong: and that which was taken by the mighty, shall be delivered. But I will judge those that have judged thee, and thy children I will save.
49:26. And I will feed thy enemies with their own flesh: and they shall be made drunk with their own blood, as with new wine: and all flesh shall know, that I am the Lord that save thee, and thy Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob.
Isaias Chapter 50
The synagogue shall be divorced for her iniquities. Christ for her sake will endure ignominious afflictions.
50:1. Thus saith the Lord: What is this bill of the divorce of your mother, with which I have put her away? or who is my creditor, to whom I sold you: behold you are sold for your iniquities, and for your wicked deeds have I put your mother away.
50:2. Because I came, and there was not a man: I called, and there was none that would hear. Is my hand shortened and become little, that I cannot redeem? or is there no strength in me to deliver? Behold at my rebuke I will make the sea a desert, I will turn the rivers into dry land: the fishes shall rot for want of water, and shall die for thirst.
50:3. I will clothe the heavens with darkness, and will make sackcloth their covering.
50:4. The Lord hath given me a learned tongue, that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary: he wakeneth in the morning, in the morning he wakeneth my ear, that I may hear him as a master.
50:5. The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I do not resist: I have not gone back.
50:6. I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me, and spit upon me.
50:7. The Lord God is my helper, therefore am I not confounded: therefore have I set my face as a most hard rock, and I know that I shall not be confounded.
50:8. He is near that justifieth me, who will contend with me? let us stand together, who is my adversary? let him come near to me.
50:9. Behold the Lord God is my helper: who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they shall all be destroyed as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.
50:10. Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, that heareth the voice of his servant, that hath walked in darkness, and hath no light? let him hope in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God.
50:11. Behold all you that kindle a fire, encompassed with flames, walk in the light of your fire, and in the flames which you have kindled: this is done to you by my hand, you shall sleep in sorrows.
Isaias Chapter 51
An exhortation to trust in Christ. He shall protect the children of his church.
51:1. Give ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out.
51:2. Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sara that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him.
51:3. The Lord therefore will comfort Sion, and will comfort all the ruins thereof: and he will make her desert as a place of pleasure, and her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of praise.
51:4. Hearken unto me, O my people, and give ear to me, O my tribes: for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment shall rest to be a light of the nations.
51:5. My just one is near at hand, my saviour is gone forth, and my arms shall judge the people: the islands shall look for me, and shall patiently wait for my arm.
51:6. Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look down to the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth shall be worn away like a garment, and the inhabitants thereof shall perish in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice shall not fail.
51:7. Hearken to me, you that know what is just, my people who have my law in your heart: fear ye not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their blasphemies.
51:8. For the worm shall eat them up as a garment: and the moth shall consume them as wool: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice from generation to generation.
51:9. Arise, arise, put on strength, O thou arm of the Lord, arise as in the days of old, in the ancient generations. Hast not thou struck the proud one, and wounded the dragon?
51:10. Hast not thou dried up the sea, the water of the mighty deep, who madest the depth of the sea a way, that the delivered might pass over?
51:11. And now they that are redeemed by the Lord, shall return, and shall come into Sion singing praises, and joy everlasting shall be upon their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
51:12. I myself will comfort you: who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a mortal man, and of the son of man, who shall wither away like grass?
51:13. And thou hast forgotten the Lord thy maker, who stretched out the heavens, and founded the earth: and thou hast been afraid continually all the day at the presence of his fury who afflicted thee, and had prepared himself to destroy thee: where is now the fury of the oppressor?
51:14. He shall quickly come that is going to open unto you, and he shall not kill unto utter destruction, neither shall his bread fail.
51:15. But I am the Lord thy God, who trouble the sea, and the waves thereof swell: the Lord of hosts is my name.
51:16. I have put my words in thy mouth, and have protected thee in the shadow of my hand, that thou mightest plant the heavens, and found the earth: and mightest say to Sion: Thou art my people.
51:17. Arise, arise, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunk even to the bottom of the cup of dead sleep, and thou hast drunk even to the dregs.
51:18. There is none that can uphold her among all the children that she hath brought forth: and there is none that taketh her by the hand among all the children that she hath brought up.
51:19. There are two things that have happened to thee: who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword, who shall comfort thee?
51:20. Thy children are cast forth, they have slept at the head of all the ways, and the wild ox that is snared: full of the indignation of the Lord, of the rebuke of thy God.
51:21. Therefore hear this, thou poor little one, and thou that art drunk but not with wine.
51:22. Thus saith thy Sovereign the Lord, and thy God, who will fight for his people: Behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of dead sleep, the dregs of the cup of my indignation, thou shalt not drink it again any more.
51:23. And I will put it in the hand of them that have oppressed thee, and have said to thy soul: Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as a way to them that went over.
Isaias Chapter 52
Under the figure of the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, the church is invited to rejoice for her redemption from sin. Christ's kingdom shall be exalted.
52:1. Arise, arise, put on thy strength, O Sion, put on the garments of thy glory, O Jerusalem, the city of the Holy One: for henceforth the uncircumcised, and unclean shall no more pass through thee.
52:2. Shake thyself from the dust, arise, sit up, O Jerusalem: loose the bonds from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion.
52:3. For thus saith the Lord: You were sold gratis, and you shall be redeemed, without money.
52:4. For thus saith the Lord God: My people went down into Egypt at the beginning to sojourn there: and the Assyrian hath oppressed them without any cause at all.
52:5. And now what have I here, saith the Lord: for my people is taken away gratis. They that rule over them treat them unjustly, saith the Lord, and my name is continually blasphemed all the day long.
52:6. Therefore my people shall know my name in that day: for I myself that spoke, behold I am here.
52:7. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace: of him that sheweth forth good, that preacheth salvation, that saith to Sion: Thy God shall reign!
52:8. The voice of thy watchmen: they have lifted up their voice, they shall praise together: for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall convert Sion.
52:9. Rejoice, and give praise together, O ye deserts of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people: he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
52:10. The Lord hath prepared his holy arm in the sight of all the Gentiles: and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
52:11. Depart, depart, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing: go out of the midst of her, be ye clean, you that carry the vessels of the Lord.
52:12. For you shall not go out in a tumult, neither shall you make haste by flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will gather you together.
52:13. Behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted, and extolled, and shall be exceeding high.
52:14. As many have been astonished at thee, so shall his visage be inglorious among men, and his form among the sons of men.
52:15. He shall sprinkle many nations, kings shall shut their mouth at him: for they to whom it was not told of him, have seen: and they that heard not, have beheld.
Isaias Chapter 53
A prophecy of the passion of Christ.
53:1. Who a hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
53:2. And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him:
53:3. Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not.
53:4. Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted.
53:5. But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.
53:6. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
53:7. He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.
53:8. He was taken away from distress, and from judgment: who shall declare his generation? because he is cut off out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of my people have I struck him.
53:9. And he shall give the ungodly for his burial, and the rich for his death: because he hath done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in his mouth.
53:10. And the Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity: if he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a longlived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in his hand.
53:11. Because his soul hath laboured, he shall see and be filled: by his knowledge shall this my just servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities.
53:12. Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.
Isaias Chapter 54
The Gentiles, who were barren before, shall multiply in the church of Christ: from which God's mercy shall never depart.
54:1. Give praise, O thou barren, that bearest not: sing forth praise, and make a joyful noise, thou that didst not travail with child: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband, saith the Lord.
54:2. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and stretch out the skins of thy tabernacles, spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.
54:3. For thou shalt pass on to the right hand, and to the left: and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and shall inhabit the desolate cities.
54:4. Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded, nor blush: for thou shalt not be put to shame, because thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt remember no more the reproach of thy widowhood.
54:5. For he that made thee shall rule over thee, the Lord of hosts is his name: and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, shall be called the God of all the earth.
54:6. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and mourning in spirit, and as a wife cast off from her youth, said thy God.
54:7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.
54:8. In a moment of indignation have I hid my face a little while from thee, but with everlasting kindness have I had mercy on thee, said the Lord thy Redeemer.
54:9. This thing is to me as in the days of Noe, to whom I swore, that I would no more bring in the waters of Noe upon the earth: so have I sworn not to be angry with thee, and not to rebuke thee.
54:10. For the mountains shall be moved, and the hills shall tremble; but my mercy shall not depart from thee, and the covenant of my peace shall not be moved: said the Lord that hath mercy on thee.
54:11. O poor little one, tossed with tempest, without all comfort, behold I will lay thy stones in order, and will lay thy foundations with sapphires,
54:12. And I will make thy bulwarks of jasper: and thy gates of graven stones, and all thy borders of desirable stones.
54:13. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord: and great shall be the peace of thy children.
54:14. And thou shalt be founded in justice: depart far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee.
54:15. Behold, an inhabitant shall come, who was not with me, he that was a stranger to thee before, shall be joined to thee.
54:16. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and bringeth forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the killer to destroy.
54:17. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper: and every tongue that resisteth thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their justice with me, saith the Lord.
Isaias Chapter 55
God promises abundance of spiritual graces to the faithful, that shall believe in Christ out of all nations, and sincerely serve him.
55:1. All you that thirst, come to the waters: and you that have no money make haste, buy, and eat: come ye, buy wine and milk without money, and without any price.
55:2. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which doth not satisfy you? Hearken diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and your soul shall be delighted in fatness.
55:3. Incline your ear and come to me: hear and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the faithful mercies of David.
55:4. Behold I have given him for a witness to the people, for a leader and a master to the Gentiles.
55:5. Behold thou shalt call a nation, which thou knewest not: and the nations that knew not thee shall run to thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee.
55:6. Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, while he is near.
55:7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God: for he is bountiful to forgive.
55:8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
55:9. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.
55:10. And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
55:11. So shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it.
55:12. For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall sing praise before you, and all the trees of the country shall clap their hands.
55:13. Instead of the shrub, shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the nettle, shall come up the myrtle tree: and the Lord shall be named for an everlasting sign, that shall not be taken away.
Isaias Chapter 56
God invites all to keep his commandments: the Gentiles that keep them shall be the people of God: the Jewish pastors are reproved.
56:1. Thus saith the Lord: Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my justice to be revealed.
56:2. Blessed is the man that doth this, and the son of man that shall lay hold on this: that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, that keepeth his hands from doing any evil.
56:3. And let not the son of the stranger, that adhereth to the Lord, speak, saying: The Lord will divide and separate me from his people. And let not the eunuch say: Behold I am a dry tree.
56:4. For thus saith the Lord to the eunuchs, They that shall keep my sabbaths, and shall choose the things that please me, and shall hold fast my covenant:
56:5. I will give to them in my house, and within my walls, a place, and a name better than sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name which shall never perish.
56:6. And the children of the stranger that adhere to the Lord, to worship him, and to love his name, to be his servants: every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and that holdeth fast my covenant:
56:7. I will bring them into my holy mount, and will make them joyful in my house of prayer: their holocausts, and their victims shall please me upon my altar: for my house shall be called the house of prayer, for all nations.
56:8. The Lord God, who gathereth the scattered of Israel, saith: I will still gather unto him his congregation.
56:9. All ye beasts of the field come to devour, all ye beasts of the forest.
56:10. His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams.
56:11. And most impudent dogs, they never had enough: the shepherds themselves knew no understanding: all have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last.
56:12. Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness: and it shall be as to day, so also to morrow, and much more.
Isaias Chapter 57
The infidelity of the Jews: their idolatry. Promises to humble penitents.
57:1. The just perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart, and men of mercy are taken away, because there is none that understandeth; for the just man is taken away from before the face of evil.
57:2. Let peace come, let him rest in his bed that hath walked in his uprightness.
57:3. But draw near hither, you sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer, and of the harlot.
57:4. Upon whom have you jested? upon whom have you opened your mouth wide, and put out your tongue? are not you wicked children, a false seed,
57:5. Who seek your comfort in idols under every green tree, sacrificing children in the torrents, under the high rocks?
57:6. In the parts of the torrent is thy portion, this is thy lot: and thou hast poured out libations to them, thou hast offered sacrifice. Shall I not be angry at these things?
57:7. Upon a high and lofty mountain thou hast laid thy bed, and hast gone up thither to offer victims.
57:8. And behind the door, and behind the post thou hast set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself near me, and hast received an adulterer: thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made a covenant with them: thou hast loved their bed with open hand.
57:9. And thou hast adorned thyself for the king with ointment, and hast multiplied thy perfumes. Thou hast sent thy messengers far off, and wast debased even to hell.
57:10. Thou hast been wearied in the multitude of thy ways: yet thou saidst not: I will rest: thou has found life of thy hand, therefore thou hast not asked.
57:11. For whom hast thou been solicitous and afraid, that thou hast lied, and hast not been mindful of me, nor thought on me in thy heart? for I am silent, and as one that seeth not, and thou hast forgotten me.
57:12. I will declare thy justice, and thy works shall not profit thee.
57:13. When thou shalt cry, let thy companies deliver thee, but the wind shall carry them all off, a breeze shall take them away, but he that putteth his trust in me, shall inherit the land, and shall possess my holy mount.
57:14. And I will say: Make a way: give free passage, turn out of the path, take away the stumblingblocks out of the way of my people.
57:15. For thus saith the High and the Eminent that inhabiteth eternity: and his name is Holy, who dwelleth in the high and holy place, and with a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
57:16. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be angry unto the end: because the spirit shall go forth from my face, and breathings I will make.
57:17. For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, and I struck him: I hid my face from thee, and was angry: and he went away wandering in his own heart.
57:18. I saw his ways, and I healed him, and brought him back, and restored comforts to him, and to them that mourn for him.
57:19. I created the fruit of the lips, peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, said the Lord, and I healed him.
57:20. But the wicked are like the raging sea, which cannot rest, and the waves thereof cast up dirt and mire.
57:21. There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord God.
Isaias Chapter 58
God rejects the hypocritical fasts of the Jews: recommends works of mercy, and sincere godliness.
58:1. Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their wicked doings, and the house of Jacob their sins.
58:2. For they seek me from day to day, and desire to know my ways, as a nation that hath done justice, and hath not forsaken the judgment of their God: they ask of me the judgments of justice: they are willing to approach to God.
58:3. Why have we fasted, and thou hast not regarded: have we humbled our souls, and thou hast not taken notice? Behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors.
58:4. Behold you fast for debates and strife, and strike with the fist wickedly. Do not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry to be heard on high.
58:5. Is this such a fast as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a day? is this it, to wind his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?
58:6. Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden.
58:7. Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh.
58:8. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up.
58:9. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not.
58:10. When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday.
58:11. And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail.
58:12. And the places that have been desolate for ages shall be built in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundation of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the repairer of the fences, turning the paths into rest.
58:13. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy own will in my holy day, and call the sabbath delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify him, while thou dost not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found, to speak a word:
58:14. Then shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Isaias Chapter 59
The dreadful evil of sin is displayed, as the great obstacle to all good from God: yet he will send a Redeemer, and make an everlasting covenant with his church.
59:1. Behold the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear.
59:2. But your iniquities have divided between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he should not hear.
59:3. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue uttereth iniquity.
59:4. There is none that calleth upon justice, neither is there any one that judgeth truly: but they trust in a mere nothing, and speak vanities: they have conceived labour, and brought forth iniquity.
59:5. They have broken the eggs of asps, and have woven the webs of spiders: he that shall eat of their eggs, shall die: and that which is brought out, shall be hatched into a basilisk.
59:6. Their webs shall not be for clothing, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are unprofitable works, and the work of iniquity is in their hands.
59:7. Their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are unprofitable thoughts: wasting and destruction are in their ways.
59:8. They have not known the way of peace, and there is no judgment in their steps: their paths are become crooked to them, every one that treadeth in them knoweth no peace.
59:9. Therefore is judgment far from us, and justice shall not overtake us. We looked for light, and behold darkness: brightness, and we have walked in the dark.
59:10. We have groped for the wall, and like the blind we have groped as if we had no eyes: we have stumbled at noonday as in darkness, we are in dark places, as dead men.
59:11. We shall roar all of us like bears, and shall lament as mournful doves. We have looked for judgment, and there is none: for salvation, and it is far from us.
59:12. For our iniquities are multiplied before thee, and our sins have testified against us: for our wicked doings are with us, and have known our iniquities:
59:13. In sinning and lying against the Lord: and we have turned away so that we went not after our God, but spoke calumny and transgression: we have conceived, and uttered from the heart, words of falsehood.
59:14. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice hath stood far off: because truth hath fallen down in the street, and equity could not come in.
59:15. And truth hath been forgotten: and he that departed from evil, lay open to be a prey: and the Lord saw, and it appeared evil in his eyes, because there is no judgment.
59:16. And he saw that there is not a man: and he stood astonished, because there is none to oppose himself: and his own arm brought salvation to him, and his own justice supported him.
59:17. He put on justice as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head: he put on the garments of vengeance, and was clad with zeal as with a cloak.
59:18. As unto revenge, as it were to repay wrath to his adversaries, and a reward to his enemies: he will repay the like to the islands.
59:19. And they from the west, shall fear the name of the Lord: and they from the rising of the sun, his glory when he shall come as a violent stream, which the spirit of the Lord driveth on:
59:20. And there shall come a redeemer to Sion, and to them that return from iniquity in Jacob, saith the Lord.
59:21. This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: My spirit that is in thee, and my words that I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.
This is my covenant, etc... Note here a clear promise of perpetual orthodoxy to the church of Christ.
Isaias Chapter 60
The light of true faith shall shine forth in the church of Christ, and shall be spread through all nations, and continue for all ages.
60:1. Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
60:2. For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
60:3. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising.
60:4. Lift up thy eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side.
60:5. Then shalt thou see, and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee.
60:6. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Madian and Epha: all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense: and shewing forth praise to the Lord.
60:7. All the flocks of Cedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nabaioth shall minister to thee: they shall be offered upon my acceptable altar, and I will glorify the house of my majesty.
60:8. Who are these, that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows?
60:9. For, the islands wait for me, and the ships of the sea in the beginning: that I may bring thy sons from afar: their silver, and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
60:10. And the children of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister to thee: for in my wrath have I struck thee, and in my reconciliation have I had mercy upon thee.
60:11. And thy gates shall be open continually: they shall not be shut day nor night, that the strength of the Gentiles may be brought to thee, and their kings may be brought.
60:12. For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve thee, shall perish: and the Gentiles shall be wasted with desolation.
60:13. The glory of Libanus shall come to thee, the fir tree, and the box tree, and the pine tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary: and I will glorify the place of my feet.
60:14. And the children of them that afflict thee, shall come bowing down to thee, and all that slandered thee shall worship the steps of thy feet, and shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Sion of the Holy One of Israel.
60:15. Because thou wast forsaken, and hated, and there was none that passed through thee, I will make thee to be an everlasting glory, a joy unto generation and generation:
60:16. And thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and thou shalt be nursed with the breasts of kings: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
60:17. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver: and for wood brass, and for stones iron: and I will make thy visitation peace, and thy overseers justice.
60:18. Iniquity shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction in thy borders, and salvation shall possess thy walls, and praise thy gates.
60:19. Thou shalt no more have the sun for thy light by day, neither shall the brightness of the moon enlighten thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee for an everlasting light, and thy God for thy glory.
Thou shalt no more, etc... In this latter part of the chapter, the prophet passes from the illustrious promises made to the church militant on earth, to the glory of the church triumphant in heaven.
60:20. Thy sun shall go down no more, and thy moon shall not decrease: for the Lord shall be unto thee for an everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
60:21. And thy people shall be all just, they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hand to glorify me.
60:22. The least shall become a thousand, and a little one a most strong nation: I the Lord will suddenly do this thing in its time.
Isaias Chapter 61
The office of Christ: the mission of the Apostles; the happiness of their converts.
61:1. The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me: he hath sent me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach a release to the captives, and deliverance to them that are shut up.
61:2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God: to comfort all that mourn:
61:3. To appoint to the mourners of Sion, and to give them a crown for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, a garment of praise for the spirit of grief: and they shall be called in it the mighty ones of justice, the planting of the Lord to glorify him.
61:4. And they shall build the places that have been waste from of old, and shall raise up ancient ruins, and shall repair the desolate cities, that were destroyed for generation and generation.
61:5. And strangers shall stand and shall feed your flocks: and the sons of strangers shall be your husbandman, and the dressers of your vines.
61:6. But you shall be called the priests of the Lord: to you it shall be said: Ye ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and you shall pride yourselves in their glory.
61:7. For your double confusion and shame, they shall praise their part: therefore shall they receive double in their land, everlasting joy shall be unto them.
61:8. For I am the Lord that love judgment, and hate robbery in a holocaust: and I will make their work in truth, and I will make a perpetual covenant with them.
61:9. And they shall know their seed among the Gentiles, and their offspring in the midst of peoples: all that shall see them, shall know them, that these are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.
61:10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation: and with the robe of justice he hath covered me, as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels.
61:11. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth her seed to shoot forth: so shall the Lord God make justice to spring forth, and praise before all the nations.
Isaias Chapter 62
The prophet will not cease from preaching Christ: to whom all nations shall be converted: and whose church shall continue for ever.
62:1. For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for the sake of Jerusalem, I will not rest till her just one come forth as brightness, and her saviour be lighted as a lamp.
62:2. And the Gentiles shall see thy just one, and all kings thy glorious one: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.
62:3. And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
62:4. Thou shalt no more be called Forsaken: and thy land shall no more be called Desolate: but thou shalt be called My pleasure in her, and thy land inhabited. Because the Lord hath been well pleased with thee: and thy land shall be inhabited.
62:5. For the young man shall dwell with the virgin, and thy children shall dwell in thee. And the bridegroom shall rejoice over the bride, and thy God shall rejoice over thee.
62:6. Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all the day, and all the night, they shall never hold their peace. You that are mindful of the Lord, hold not your peace,