It is me – I stir him up and commission him; ¹  I will make all his ways level. He will rebuild my city; he will send my exiled people home, but not for a price or a bribe,” says the Lord who commands armies.

the people whom I formed for myself, so they might praise me.” ¹ 

This is what the sovereign Lord says: “Look I will raise my hand to the nations; I will raise my signal flag to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

For ¹  evil burned like a fire, ²  it consumed thorns and briers; it burned up the thickets of the forest, and they went up in smoke. ³ 

He will lift a signal flag for the nations; he will gather Israel’s dispersed people ¹  and assemble Judah’s scattered people from the four corners of the earth.

Then the guard ¹  cries out: “On the watchtower, O sovereign master, ²  I stand all day long; at my post I am stationed every night.

The king ¹  heard that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia ²  was marching out to fight him. ³  He again sent ⁴  messengers to Hezekiah, ordering them:

Pay attention to me, my people! Listen to me, my people! For ¹  I will issue a decree, ²  I will make my justice a light to the nations. ³ 

When its branches get brittle, ¹  they break; women come and use them for kindling. ²  For these people lack understanding, ³  therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them; the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

For ¹  the burial place is already prepared; ²  it has been made deep and wide for the king. ³  The firewood is piled high on it. ⁴  The Lord’s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone, will ignite it.

Look, all of you who start a fire and who equip yourselves with ¹  flaming arrows, ²  walk ³  in the light ⁴  of the fire you started and among the flaming arrows you ignited! ⁵  This is what you will receive from me: ⁶  you will lie down in a place of pain. ⁷ 

You will sing as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival. You will be happy like one who plays a flute as he goes to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock who shelters Israel. ¹ 

I commission you ¹  as my spokesman; ²  I cover you with the palm of my hand, ³  to establish ⁴  the sky and to found the earth, to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” ⁵ 

At that time ¹  the sovereign master ²  will again lift his hand ³  to reclaim ⁴  the remnant of his people ⁵  from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, ⁶  Cush, ⁷  Elam, Shinar, ⁸  Hamath, and the seacoasts. ⁹ 

The powerful will be like ¹  a thread of yarn, their deeds like a spark; both will burn together, and no one will put out the fire.

those who bear false testimony against a person, ¹  who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate ²  and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges. ³ 

He will not grow dim or be crushed ¹  before establishing justice on the earth; the coastlands ²  will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” ³ 

I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud, the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. ¹  Come back to me, for I protect ²  you.”

I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away; I am bringing my salvation near, ¹  it does not wait. I will save Zion; ²  I will adorn Israel with my splendor.” ³ 

(64:1) As when fire ignites dry wood, or fire makes water boil, let your adversaries know who you are, ¹  and may the nations shake at your presence!