Who acts and carries out decrees? ¹  Who ²  summons the successive generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, am present at the very beginning, and at the very end – I am the one. ³ 

the one who led chariots and horses to destruction, ¹  together with a mighty army. They fell down, ²  never to rise again; they were extinguished, put out like a burning wick:

I am the one who gives them reason to celebrate. ¹  Complete prosperity ²  is available both to those who are far away and those who are nearby,” says the Lord, “and I will heal them.

I will make it a wasteland; no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, ¹  and thorns and briers will grow there. I will order the clouds not to drop any rain on it.

Please let the Moabite fugitives live ¹  among you. Hide them ²  from the destroyer!” Certainly ³  the one who applies pressure will cease, ⁴  the destroyer will come to an end, those who trample will disappear ⁵  from the earth.

His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river ¹  that reaches one’s neck. He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff; ²  he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction. ³ 

Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made; ¹  a sword not made by humankind will destroy them. ²  They will run away from this sword ³  and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.

They will surrender their stronghold ¹  because of fear; ²  their officers will be afraid of the Lord’s battle flag.” ³  This is what the Lord says – the one whose fire is in Zion, whose firepot is in Jerusalem. ⁴ 

Now, this is what the Lord says, the one who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel: “Don’t be afraid, for I will protect ¹  you. I call you by name, you are mine.

who commissions ¹  Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd ²  to carry out all my wishes ³  and to decree concerning Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and concerning the temple, ‘It will be reconstructed.’” ⁴ 

who summons an eagle ¹  from the east, from a distant land, one who carries out my plan. Yes, I have decreed, ²  yes, I will bring it to pass; I have formulated a plan, yes, I will carry it out.

They will not be hungry or thirsty; the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them, ¹  for one who has compassion on them will guide them; he will lead them to springs of water.

Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! ¹  Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity! Did you not smash ²  the Proud One? ³  Did you not ⁴  wound the sea monster? ⁵ 

Even if the mountains are removed and the hills displaced, my devotion will not be removed from you, nor will my covenant of friendship ¹  be displaced,” says the Lord, the one who has compassion on you.

It shatters in pieces like a clay jar, so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. ¹  Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough ²  to scoop a hot coal from a fire ³  or to skim off water from a cistern.” ⁴ 

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.

“I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals ¹  and covered with pools of stagnant water. I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom,” ²  says the Lord who commands armies.

Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, ¹  like one of the large sacred trees ²  or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. ³  That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.” ⁴ 

So now the Lord says, the one who formed me from birth ¹  to be his servant – he did this ²  to restore Jacob to himself, so that Israel might be gathered to him; and I will be honored ³  in the Lord’s sight, for my God is my source of strength ⁴  –

When you cry out for help, let your idols ¹  help you! The wind blows them all away, ²  a breeze carries them away. ³  But the one who looks to me for help ⁴  will inherit the land and will have access to ⁵  my holy mountain.”