The sovereign Lord has spoken to me clearly; ¹  I have not rebelled, I have not turned back.

O sky, rain down from above! Let the clouds send down showers ¹  of deliverance! Let the earth absorb it ²  so salvation may grow, ³  and deliverance may sprout up ⁴  along with it. I, the Lord, create it. ⁵ 

Syria from the east, and the Philistines from the west, they gobbled up Israelite territory. ¹  Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again. ² 

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. ¹  For I know that you are very deceitful; ²  you were labeled ³  a rebel from birth.

Is this the one who made the world like a desert, who ruined its ¹  cities, and refused to free his prisoners so they could return home?”’ ² 

Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time? ¹  Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground?

(63:19b) ¹  If only you would tear apart the sky ²  and come down! The mountains would tremble ³  before you!

Pay attention and listen to my message! ¹  Be attentive and listen to what I have to say! ² 

“Listen, you deaf ones! Take notice, ¹  you blind ones!

The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has chosen ¹  me. ²  He has commissioned ³  me to encourage ⁴  the poor, to help ⁵  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, ¹  so that I know how to help the weary. ²  He wakes me up every morning; he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do. ³ 

The earth is broken in pieces, the earth is ripped to shreds, the earth shakes violently. ¹ 

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 ¹  they did not stumble.

Hezekiah took the letter ¹  from the messengers and read it. ²  Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord.

But those who harvest the grain ¹  will eat it, and will praise the Lord. Those who pick the grapes will drink the wine ²  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. ¹ 

At that time ¹  the sovereign master will use a razor hired from the banks of the Euphrates River, ²  the king of Assyria, to shave the head and the pubic hair; ³  it will also shave off the beard.