Isaiah

¹ Sit down and rest, everyone. Recover your strength. Gather around me. Say what's on your heart. Together let's decide what's right.

² got this champion from the east on the move? Who recruited him for this job, then rounded up and corralled the nations so he could run roughshod over kings? He's off and running, pulverizing nations into dust, leaving only stubble and chaff in his wake.

³ his feet scarcely touching the path.

⁴ Who always gets things started? I did. God. I'm first on the scene. I'm also the last to leave.

⁵ The ends of the earth are shaken. Fearfully they huddle together.

⁶ making up stories in the dark.

⁷ go into overtime production, crafting new models of no-gods, Urging one another on—'Good job!' 'Great design!'— pounding in nails at the base so that the things won't tip over.

⁸ You're Jacob, my first choice, descendants of my good friend Abraham.

⁹ called you in from every dark corner of the earth, Telling you, 'You're my servant, serving on my side. I've picked you. I haven't dropped you.'

¹⁰ There's no need to fear for I'm your God. I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.

¹¹ will end up out in the cold— real losers. Those who worked against you will end up empty-handed— nothing to show for their lives.

¹² you won't find them— Not a trace of your old enemies, not even a memory.

¹³ have a firm grip on you and I'm not letting go. I'm telling you, 'Don't panic. I'm right here to help you.'

¹⁴ Don't be afraid. Feel like a fragile insect, Israel? I'll help you. I, God, want to reassure you. The God who buys you back, The Holy of Israel.

¹⁵ from insect to iron. As a sharp-toothed harrow you'll smooth out the mountains, turn those tough old hills into loamy soil.

¹⁶ to the blasts of sun and wind and rain. But you'll be confident and exuberant, expansive in The Holy of Israel!

¹⁷ their tongues parched and no water to be found. But I'm there to be found, I'm there for them, and I, God of Israel, will not leave them thirsty.

¹⁸ spout fountains in the valleys. I'll turn the baked-clay badlands into a cool pond, the waterless waste into splashing creeks.

¹⁹ also acacia, myrtle, and olive. I'll place the cypress in the desert, with plenty of oaks and pines.

²⁰ unavoidable, indisputable evidence That I, God, personally did this. It's created and signed by The Holy of Israel.

²¹ "Bring your evidence," says the King of Jacob.

²² assemble reasons. Spread out the facts before us so that we can assess them ourselves. Ask them, 'If you are gods, explain what the past means—

²³ Can't do that? How about doing something—anything! Good or bad—whatever. Can you hurt us or help us? Do we need to be afraid?'

²⁴ sham gods, no-gods, fool-making gods.

²⁵ He was called out of the east by name. He'll stomp the rulers into the mud the way a potter works the clay.

²⁶ Did anyone tell us earlier so we might confirm it with 'Yes, he's right!'? No one mentioned it, no one announced it, no one heard a peep out of you.

²⁷ I gave Jerusalem a preacher of good news.

²⁸ no one who knows what's going on. I ask, but no one can tell me the score.

²⁹ sham gods, hollow gods, no-gods.