God’s Blessing on Jacob

¹Yet now listen, O Jacob, My servant,[#Isa 41:8; Jer 30:10]

and Israel, whom I have chosen.

²Thus says the Lord

who made you, and formed you from the womb,

who will help you:

Do not fear, O Jacob, My servant, and you,

Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

³For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,

and floods on the dry ground;

I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants,

and My blessing on your offspring;

⁴and they shall spring up as among the grass,

as willows by the water courses.

⁵One will say, “I am the Lord ’s”;

another will call himself by the name of Jacob;

and another will write on his hand, “Belonging to the Lord ,”

and name himself by the name of Israel.

Idolatry Condemned

⁶Thus says the Lord the King of Israel,

and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts:

I am the First, and I am the Last;

besides Me there is no God.

⁷Who is like Me? Let him proclaim

and declare it, and recount it in order for Me,

since I appointed the ancient people.

And let them declare to them the things that are coming,

and shall come.

⁸Do not fear, nor be afraid;

have I not told you from of old, and declared it?

You are My witnesses!

Is there a God besides Me?

There is no rock; I know not any.

⁹Those who make a graven image are, all of them, vain,

and their delectable things shall not profit;

and they are their own witnesses;

they do not see or know, that they may be ashamed.

¹⁰Who has formed a god or molded a graven image

that is profitable for nothing?

¹¹Behold, all his companions shall be ashamed;

and the workmen, they are mere men.

Let them all be gathered together; let them stand up,

yet they shall fear; they shall be ashamed together.

¹²The smith with the tongs[#Isa 40:19; 41:6–7]

both works in the coals

and fashions it with hammers,

and works it with the strength of his arms.

He becomes hungry, and his strength fails;

He drinks no water and is faint.

¹³The carpenter stretches out his measuring line;

he marks it out with a line;

he fits it with planes,

and he marks it out with the compass,

and makes it after the figure of a man,

according to the beauty of a man,

that it may remain in the house.

¹⁴He hews down cedars for himself,[#Isa 40:20]

and takes the cypress and the oak,

which he raises for himself among the trees of the forest.

He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow.

¹⁵Then it shall be for a man to burn,

for he will take some of it and warm himself;

he kindles it and bakes bread;

he also makes a god and worships it;

he makes it a graven image and bows down to it.

¹⁶He burns half of it in the fire;

over this half he eats meat;

he roasts it and is satisfied.

Also he warms himself and says,

“Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire.”

¹⁷And the rest he makes into a god, even his carved image.

He falls down to it, and worships it,

and prays to it, and says,

“Deliver me, for you are my god.”

¹⁸They have not known nor understood;

for He has shut their eyes so that they cannot see,

and their hearts so that they cannot understand.

¹⁹No one considers in his heart,

nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say,

“I have burned part of it in the fire;

I also have baked bread on the coals;

I have roasted meat and eaten it;

and shall I make the rest into an abomination?

Shall I fall down to a block of wood?”

²⁰He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside[#Ps 102:9; #Job 15:31]

so that he cannot deliver his soul, or say,

“Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

Israel Not Forgotten

²¹Remember these things, O Jacob,

and Israel, for you are My servant;

I have formed you; you are My servant;

O Israel, you shall not be forgotten by Me.

²²I have blotted out, as a thick cloud,

your transgressions, and your sins, as a cloud.

Return to Me,

for I have redeemed you.

²³Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it.

Shout joyfully, you lower parts of the earth;

break forth into singing, you mountains,

O forest, and every tree in it.

For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,

and glorified Himself in Israel.

Jerusalem to Be Inhabited

²⁴Thus says the Lord ,

your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb:

I am the Lord

who makes all things,

who stretches out the heavens alone,

who spreads abroad the earth by Myself,

²⁵who frustrates the omens of the boasters

and makes fools out of diviners,

who turns wise men backward

and makes their knowledge foolish,

²⁶who confirms the word of His servant

and performs the counsel of His messengers,

who says to Jerusalem, “You shall be inhabited,”

and to the cities of Judah, “You shall be built.”

And I will raise up her ruins again;

²⁷it is I who says to the deep, “Be dried up!”

And I will dry up your rivers;

²⁸it is I who says of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd,[#2Ch 36:22; Isa 45:1]

and shall perform all My desire”;

and he declares to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,”

and to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”