Isaiah

¹ I'm backing him to the hilt. He's the one I chose, and I couldn't be more pleased with him. I've bathed him with my Spirit, my life. He'll set everything right among the nations.

² with loud speeches or gaudy parades.

³ and he won't disregard the small and insignificant, but he'll steadily and firmly set things right.

⁴ until he's finished his work—to set things right on earth. Far-flung ocean islands wait expectantly for his teaching."

⁵ the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies, laid out the earth and all that grows from it, Who breathes life into earth's people, makes them alive with his own life:

⁶ I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe. I have set you among my people to bind them to me, and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,

⁷ opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prisons.

⁸ I don't franchise my glory, don't endorse the no-god idols.

⁹ I'm announcing the new salvation work. Before it bursts on the scene, I'm telling you all about it."

¹⁰ sing his praises all over the world! Let the sea and its fish give a round of applause, with all the far-flung islands joining in.

¹¹ calling the Kedar nomads to join in. Let the villagers in Sela round up a choir and perform from the tops of the mountains.

¹² echo his praises from coast to coast.

¹³ You can see he's primed for action. He shouts, announcing his arrival; he takes charge and his enemies fall into line:

¹⁴ I've held back, biting my tongue. But now I'm letting loose, letting go, like a woman who's having a baby—

¹⁵ withering the wildflowers, Drying up the rivers, turning lakes into mudflats.

¹⁶ who can't see where they're going. I'll be a personal guide to them, directing them through unknown country. I'll be right there to show them what roads to take, make sure they don't fall into the ditch. These are the things I'll be doing for them— sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute."

¹⁷ are bankrupt—dead broke.

¹⁸ Open your eyes! Are you blind?

¹⁹ You're my messenger, and you're not listening! The very people I depended upon, servants of God, blind as a bat—willfully blind!

²⁰ You've heard everything, but listened to nothing.

²¹ to be lavish in his revelation.

²² shut up in attics and closets, Victims licking their wounds, feeling ignored, abandoned.

²³ Is anyone paying attention to what's coming?

²⁴ let loose the robbers on Israel? Wasn't it God himself, this God against whom we've sinned— not doing what he commanded, not listening to what he said?

²⁵ God's punishing power? Their whole world collapsed but they still didn't get it; their life is in ruins but they don't take it to heart.