The sovereign Lord has spoken to me clearly; I have not rebelled, I have not turned back.

O sky, rain down from above! Let the clouds send down showers of deliverance! Let the earth absorb it so salvation may grow, and deliverance may sprout up along with it. I, the Lord, create it.

Syria from the east, and the Philistines from the west, they gobbled up Israelite territory. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.

I will make streams flow down the slopes and produce springs in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water and the arid land into springs.

You did not hear, you do not know, you were not told beforehand. For I know that you are very deceitful; you were labeled a rebel from birth.

Is this the one who made the world like a desert, who ruined its cities, and refused to free his prisoners so they could return home?”’

Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time? Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground?

(63:19b) If only you would tear apart the sky and come down! The mountains would tremble before you!

Pay attention and listen to my message! Be attentive and listen to what I have to say!

“Listen, you deaf ones! Take notice, you blind ones!

The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has chosen me. He has commissioned me to encourage the poor, to help the brokenhearted, to decree the release of captives, and the freeing of prisoners,

The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, so that I know how to help the weary. He wakes me up every morning; he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do.

The earth is broken in pieces, the earth is ripped to shreds, the earth shakes violently.

This is what the Lord says, the one who made a road through the sea, a pathway through the surging waters,

On every high, elevated hill you prepare your bed; you go up there to offer sacrifices.

who led them through the deep water? Like a horse running on flat land they did not stumble.

Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.

But those who harvest the grain will eat it, and will praise the Lord. Those who pick the grapes will drink the wine in the courts of my holy sanctuary.”

I spread out my hands all day long to my rebellious people, who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable, and who did what they desired.

At that time the sovereign master will use a razor hired from the banks of the Euphrates River, the king of Assyria, to shave the head and the pubic hair; it will also shave off the beard.