I am the Lord your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves surge. The Lord who commands armies is his name!

Yet do not depart quickly or leave in a panic. ¹  For the Lord goes before you; the God of Israel is your rear guard.

But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God; your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers. ¹ 

You will be a majestic crown in the hand of the Lord, a royal turban in the hand of your God.

Tell me! Present the evidence! ¹  Let them consult with one another! Who predicted this in the past? Who announced it beforehand? Was it not I, the Lord? I have no peer, there is no God but me, a God who vindicates and delivers; ²  there is none but me.

Those who trust in idols will turn back and be utterly humiliated, ¹  those who say to metal images, ‘You are our gods.’”

But he lifted up our illnesses, he carried our pain; ¹  even though we thought he was being punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done. ² 

¹ This is a message about Babylon that God revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz: ² 

They seek me day after day; they want to know my requirements, ¹  like a nation that does what is right and does not reject the law of their God. They ask me for just decrees; they want to be near God.

Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth ¹  will do so in the name of the faithful God; ²  whoever makes an oath in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God. ³  For past problems will be forgotten; I will no longer think about them. ⁴ 

They will pass through the land ¹  destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, ²  and they will curse their king and their God ³  as they look upward.

Predict how future events will turn out, ¹  so we might know you are gods. Yes, do something good or bad, so we might be frightened and in awe. ² 

Gather together and come! Approach together, you refugees from the nations! Those who carry wooden idols know nothing, those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.

But I thought, ¹  “I have worked in vain; I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” ²  But the Lord will vindicate me; my God will reward me. ³ 

As a young man marries a young woman, so your sons ¹  will marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

For you ignore ¹  the God who rescues you; you pay no attention to your strong protector. ²  So this is what happens: You cultivate beautiful plants and plant exotic vines. ³ 

So Isaiah replied, ¹  “Pay attention, ²  family ³  of David. ⁴  Do you consider it too insignificant to try the patience of men? Is that why you are also trying the patience of my God?

O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor, ¹  what I have heard from the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel, I have reported to you.

Why do you say, Jacob, Why do you say, Israel, “The Lord is not aware of what is happening to me, ¹  My God is not concerned with my vindication”? ² 

For I am the Lord your God, the one who takes hold of your right hand, who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, I am helping you.’