2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth, for the LORD speaks, saying, "The sons I have raised have revolted against Me." 3 "An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master's manger, but Israel does not know or understand Me." 4 "They are a sinful nation, a people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evil doers who themselves act corruptly! They have despised Me and turned from the Holy One of Israel." 5 "Why will you continue to receive blows as you continue to rebel? You are sick and faint." 6 "From the sole of your foot to the top of your head you are broken and bruised, covered with welts and open wounds that have not been bandaged or received healing oil." 7 "Your land is desolate, and your cities have been burned. Strangers devour your fields while you watch." 8 "The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of cucumbers, like a city under siege." 9 "Unless the LORD of hosts had left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom and Gomorrah."

10 "Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom, listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!" 11 "What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?" Says the lord."i have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle, and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats." 12 "When you come to appear before Me, who has required of you this trampling of My courts?" 13 "Do not bring your worthless offerings any longer. Incense is an abomination to Me, for I cannot endure your iniquity and solemn assemblies on new moons and Sabbaths." 14 "I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts. They have become a wearisome burden to Me." 15 "No matter how many prayers you make to Me, I will not look at or listen to you. Your hands are covered with blood." 16 "Wash yourselves and be clean. Cease to do evil."

COMMENT: Forgiveness (washing) is only part of being right with God. He calls us to stop doing what He has told us is wrong.

Galatians 2:17 "But if we, while seeking to be justified in Christ, are found to be sinners, is Christ then condoning sin? God forbid that we ever think like this."

1 Timothy 5:20 In the presence of everyone rebuke those who continue in sin that they may be afraid of continuing in sin.

17 "Learn to do good, seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, and plead the widow's cause."

18 "Come now, and let us reason together, " says the lord."though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool." 19 "If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land." 20 "But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." This is the word from the LORD.

21 "See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice and righteousness, but now murderers dwell there!" 22 "Your silver has become dross, and your wine has been mixed with water." 23 "Your rulers are rebels and companions of thieves. They love a bribe and do not defend the cause of the fatherless or the widow." 24 Therefore the LORD of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, says, "I will get rid of My adversaries, and take vengeance on My enemies." 25 "I will turn against you, and smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy." 26 "I will restore your judges as in days of old, and your counselors as in the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City." 27 "Zion will be redeemed with justice, and her penitent ones with righteousness." 28 "But transgressors and sinners will be crushed. Those who forsake the LORD will perish."

29 "You will be ashamed of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted, and disgraced because of the gardens that you have chosen." 30 "For you will be like an oak with fading leaves, and a garden without water." 31 "The strong man will become tinder and his work will be burned, with no one to put out the fire."

Isaiah 2 - RWB Paraphrase (22 V)
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Walk In The Light Of The Lord
1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills, and all the nations will come to it. 3 Many people will say, "Let us go up to the mountain of the LORD and to the house of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways, and that we may walk in them." For the law will proceed out of Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 Then He will judge the nations and render decisions for them. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And nations will learn war no more. 5 Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

6 For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with influences from the east. They have become soothsayers like the Philistines, and are pleased with the ways of foreigners. 7 Their land is filled with silver and gold and they have abundant treasure, and there is no end to their horses and chariots. 8 Their land is filled with idols, the work of their hands. This is what they worship.

COMMENT: Even though we believe we do no worship idols as the Israelites did, are we not guilty of worshiping the work of our hands, our accomplishments, authority and strength. Anything we may accomplish is by what God has granted us to be able to do. It is Him alone that we are to worship.

9 So the common man has been humbled and the man of importance has been abased. Do not forgive them. 10 Go into the rocks, and hide in them from the dread of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty!

COMMENT:

Revelation 6:16 And they said to the rocks and the mountains, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb."

11 Proud men will be abased and humbled, for the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

12 The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted will be brought low. 13 For all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan, 14 all the towering mountains and all the high hills, 15 for every lofty tower and every fortified wall, 16 for every trading ship and every stately vessel. 17 Proud men will be abased and humbled, for the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

18 And idols will totally disappear. 19 When the LORD arises to make the earth tremble, men will go into caves in the rocks and holes in the ground before His splendor and majesty.

COMMENT:

Revelation 6:15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and their commanders, the rich and the strong, every slave and every free man hid themselves in caves among the rocks of the mountains.

20 In that day men will cast their idols of silver and gold, which they worshiped, to the moles and the bats.

COMMENT: Why moles and bats? Because these like the dark recesses of the earth.

21 They will go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs before the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty, when He makes the earth to tremble. 22 Do not think so highly of mere man whose breath of life is in his nostrils. Why should he be esteemed?

Isaiah 3 - RWB Paraphrase (26 V)
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Isaiah Warns Of Judgment Coming To Judah
1 Behold, the LORD God of hosts will remove His support of bread and water from Jerusalem and Judah. 2 The mighty man, the warrior, the judge, the prophet, the deviner and the elder, 3 the captain of fifty and the honorable man, the counselor and the expert artisan, as well as the enchanter, 4 will have boys as their officials, mere children will govern them. 5 And the people will be oppressed, each one by his neighbor. The youth will storm against the elder and the base against the honorable. 6 A man will take one of his father's sons and say, "You have the mantle and shall be our leader. Take charge of these ruins!" 7 But he will reply, "I have no solution. I have neither food or clothing in my house. I will not be the leader of this people." 8 For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their actions rebel against the LORD, and His glorious presence. 9 The look on their faces testifies against them. Like Sodom, they do not hide their sin. Woe to them! They have brought disaster on themselves.

10 But tell the righteous that it will go well for them, for they will eat of the fruit of their actions.

COMMENT: Our actions have consequences.

Revelation 20:12-13 I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God, and the books were opened. One of the books was the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. [13] The sea gave up her dead, and the graves delivered up their dead, and every man was judged according to his works.

11 Woe to the wicked. It will go badly for him. He will get what he deserves.

12 O My people! Their oppressors are children, and women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you are leading you astray.

COMMENT: We are seeing more and more women in politics. Will this text have more meaning as time progresses?

13 The LORD rises to judge the people. 14 The LORD enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of His people, saying, "You who have ruined my vineyard, and plundered the poor in your houses." 15 The LORD of Hosts asks, "What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the face of the poor in the dirt?"

COMMENT:

Zechariah 7:10 "And do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor. Do not devise evil against each other."

James 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Isn't it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?

16 Moreover, the LORD said, "Because the daughters of Zion are proud and walk with heads held high and seductive eyes, and walking with mincing steps and bangles tinkling on their feet," 17 "therefore the LORD will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion, and make their scalps bald." 18 In that day the LORD will snatch away their finery, the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, 19 dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, 20 headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets, 21 finger rings, nose rings, 22 festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, 23 hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans and veils. 24 Instead of sweet perfume there will be putrefaction, and a rope will be used in place of a belt. Instead of carefully done hair, scalps will be plucked out. Instead of fine clothes, they will wear sackcloth. 25 Their mighty men will fall by the sword in battle. 26 The gates of Zion will lament and mourn, as she sits destitute on the ground.

Isaiah 4 - RWB Paraphrase (6 V)
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God's Holy People Will Be Cleaned
1 Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will provide our own bread and clothing. Just let us be called by your name, that our reproach may be removed."

COMMENT: In those days it was a reproach to be unmarried. Marriage was a form of security. This translates represent those of us who want to take the name of Christ and to be called Christian while we try to provide our own means of salvation.

2 In that day the Branch of the LORD will be glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. 3 Those left in Zion and Jerusalem will be called holy, with their names recorded for life in Jerusalem.

4 When the LORD has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and burning,

COMMENT:

Revelation 19:20 And the beast was seized, as was the false prophet that performed miracles in his presence, with which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and worshipped his image. Both of these were thrown into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.

Revelation 21:8 "But the cowardly and unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the immoral, the sorcerers, idolaters and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

5 then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a canopy.

COMMENT: This is like what God did for Israel in the wilderness as He was leading them to the promised land.

Exodus 13:22 He was always with the people in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

6 It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge for hiding from the storm.

Isaiah 5 - RWB Paraphrase (30 V)
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God's People Are His Vineyard
1 I will sing a song to the one I love, about His vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared the stones, and planted the choicest vines. He also built a watchtower and made a winepress. Then He expected a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only poor fruit.

3 "Now you who dwell in Jerusalem and Judah, judge between Me and My vineyard." 4 "What more could I do for My vineyard? Why did it produce worthless grapes instead of good ones?" 5 "Let me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard. I will take away its protection and let it be over run. After I have taken down its walls it will be trampled into the ground." 6 I will make it a wasteland, for I will neither prune or cultivate it. Briers and thorns will grow where it once was. And I will command the clouds to give it no rain.

7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah are His delightful plant. And He looked for justice, but found bloodshed, for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress. 8 Woe to those who multiply houses and fields for themselves, so that they live alone in the midst of the land!

COMMENT: God through Moses had arranged the apportioning of the land laws to ensure that land did not end up under the control of just a few.

9 The LORD of Hosts has sworn, "Surely many houses shall become desolate, even the most beautiful ones will have no occupants." 10 Ten acres of vineyard will yield only six gallons of juice, and two and one half quarts of seed will yield little more than half a bushel of grain.

11 Woe to those who begin early in the morning to go after strong drink, and then stay up late Inflaming themselves with wine. 12 They have lyre and harp music at their banquets, and they drink their wine while tambourines and flutes are played. But they have no regard for or pay any attention to what the LORD has done. 13 For lack of knowledge My people will be sent into exile. Their honorable will be famished and their masses will be parched with thirst. 14 Therefore the grave will enlarge its appetite, and with open mouth, take without limit their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers. 15 Thus the common will be humbled and the eyes of the arrogant abased. 16 But in judgment the LORD of hosts will be vindicated, and the holy God will show Himself to be righteous. 17 Then the lambs will graze as in the pastures of the wealthy, and strangers will glean from the land. 18 Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, insisting on their wickedness. 19 These are the ones who say, "Let's see the LORD make good His word. Let's see if He says will come to pass!"

20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil. They make darkness and light interchangeable, substituting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and see themselves as so clever! 22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and so valiant in mixing their strong drink, 23 who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of those in the right! 24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall rot, and their blossom be blown away like dust, because they have cast aside the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 This is why the anger of the LORD has burned against His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them. The mountains quake, and their corpses lay like refuse in the streets. Yet after all this, His anger is not finished with them.

26 He will call for a distant nation and it will come swiftly. 27 No one in it stumbles or get weary. They don't even seem to sleep. They never stop for rest, or even to fix a sandal strap. 28 Their arrows are sharp and their bows are bent. The hooves of their horses are like flint and their chariot wheels spin like a whirlwind. 29 This nation's roar is like that of young lions, seizing their pray and carrying it where it cannot be delivered. 30 Its growl will be like the roaring of the sea. Darkness and distress will be over the land. Even what light there is will be darkened by its clouds.

Isaiah 6 - RWB Paraphrase (13 V)
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Isaiah's Commission From God
1 In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the LORD sitting on a lofty and exalted throne. The train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Serphims were above the throne, each having six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 One called out to another, saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of Hosts. His glory fills the whole earth." 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filled with smoke. 5 "Woe is me!" I cried."I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." 6 Then one of the seraphims flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, "See, this has touched your lips, your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven." 8 Then I heard the voice of the LORD say, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I, Lord. Send me!"

COMMENT: The natural response after being cleansed is to share God's word.

9 He said, "Go, and tell this people to keep on listening, even though they will not perceive, and to keep on looking even though they will not understand." 10 "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed."

COMMENT: If we do not want to be healed God will not force us.

11 Then I said, "For how long, O LORD?" And he answered, "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitants, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged," 12 "until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken." 13 "Even though a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

Isaiah 7 - RWB Paraphrase (25 V)
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Immanuel - God With Us
1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to make war against Jerusalem. But they could not conquer it. 2 When the house of David was told that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, like the trees of the forest are shaken by a wind. 3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go to meet Ahaz with your son Shearjashub at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the fuller's field." 4 Say to him, "Take care to be calm. Do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah." 5 "Do not worry about the evil Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, and what they have planned against you. Though they have said," 6 "let us invade Judah, tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabel king over it." 7 Thus says the LORD GOD, "This shall not come to pass." 8 "For the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within 65 years Ephraim will be shattered, so that it is no longer a people," 9 "and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all."

10 Then the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 "Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God. Make it as small or as large as you like." 12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask a sign, or test the LORD!" 13 Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?" 14 "Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." 15 "He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right." 16 "But before the boy knows enough to choose between right and wrong, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste." 17 "The LORD will use the king of Assyria to bring on you, on your people, and on your father's house, such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah." 18 "In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria." 19 "They will come and settle in the steep ravines, in the crevices of the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at all the watering holes." 20 "In that day the LORD will use a razor hired from beyond the River, with the king of Assyria, to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to remove your beards as well." 21 "In that day a man may be able to keep a heifer alive and a pair of sheep," 22 "and because of the abundance of the milk they give, those who remain in the land will eat curds and honey." 23 "In that day, in every place where there was once a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be only briers and thorns." 24 "Men will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be overgrown with briers and thorns." 25 "As for all the hills once cultivated with a hoe, you will no longer go there because of the briers and thorns. It will be a place for cattle to be turned loose and where sheep are pastured."

Isaiah 8 - RWB Paraphrase (22 V)
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The Invasion Of Assyria Predicted
1 Then the LORD said to me, "Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters, 'Mahershalalhashbaz.'"

COMMENT: Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey.

2 "And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."

3 So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Name him Mahershalalhashbaz." 4 "For before the boy knows how to say 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria."

5 The LORD spoke to me again, saying, 6 "Because this people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and instead rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah," 7 "the LORD will bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates, as well as the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will rise up out of its channels and go over all its banks." 8 "It will sweep through Judah and overflow the entire land, O Immanuel." 9 "Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, but you will be shattered!" 10 "Any plan you devise will not work. Any proposal you make will not stand, for God is with us."

11 The LORD spoke to me with His strong hand upon me, and warned me not to follow the way of this people. He said, 12 "Do not call conspiracy everything that these people say it is. Do not fear what they fear." 13 "Sanctify the LORD of hosts and regard Him as holy. He is the one you shall fear." 14 "And He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel He will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock to make them fall. He will be a trap and a snare for the people of Jerusalem." 15 "Many will stumble, fall and be broken. They will be snared and caught."

16 "Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples." 17 "I will wait for the LORD, Who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him." 18 "Here I am, and the children the LORD have given me to be signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion." 19 "When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?"

COMMENT: The dead know nothing. Devils, pretending to be the departed dead, speak to people who enquire of them.

Ecclesiastes 9:5 "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no more reward and the memory of them is forgotten."

20 "To the law and the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." 21 "Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land. When they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God." 22 "Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress, darkness and fearful gloom. Then they will go into utter darkness."

COMMENT: If we do not look to God, hopelessness is all that we have.

Isaiah 9 - RWB Paraphrase (21 V)
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A Prophecy About The Coming Messiah
1 "Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who was in anguish, as when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, afterward more heavily oppressing her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles." 2 "A great light will shine on the people who walk in a dark land." 3 "You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you as people rejoice during the harvest, or when they are dividing plunder."

4 "As in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, and the rod of their oppressor." 5 "Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, fuel for the fire."

6 "A child will be born to us, a son given to us. The government will rest on His shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." 7 "The increase of His government and peace will have no end upon the throne of David and over His kingdom. He will order and establish it with judgment and justice forever. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will perform this." 8 The LORD sends a message against Jacob, and it falls on Israel. 9 All the people will know it, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say with pride and arrogance of heart, 10 "the bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with smooth stones, The sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars." 11 Therefore the LORD raises adversaries against them from Rezin and spurs on their enemies. 12 The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west, devour Israel with gaping jaws. In spite of all this, His anger is not abated and His hand remains stretched out against them. 13 Still the people do not turn back to Him who struck them. They do not seek the LORD of hosts.

14 So the LORD will cut off head and tail from Israel, both palm branch and bulrush in a single day. 15 The head is the elder and honorable man, and the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail. 16 For those who guide this people are leading them astray, bringing them to confusion. 17 For this reason the LORD does not delight in their young men, or have pity on their orphans and widows. For they are all godless doing evil and speaking foolishness. This is why His anger is not abated or His outstretched arm drawn back. 18 Wickedness burns like a fire, consuming briars and thorns. The thickets of the forest are aflame and roll upward in a column of smoke. 19 By the wrath of the LORD Almighty the land will be burned up, and the people will be fuel for the fire. No one will spare his brother. 20 On the right they will devour, but still be hungry. On the left they will eat, but not be satisfied. Each will feed on the flesh of his own offspring. 21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and together they are against Judah. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away and His hand is still stretched out.

Isaiah 10 - RWB Paraphrase (34 V)
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Assyria Will Be Punished By God
1 Woe to those who enact evil statutes and continually record unjust decisions, 2 depriving the needy of justice and robbing the rights of the poor who are My people, so that widows and orphans become plunder. 3 "What will you do in the day of your punishment when devastation comes upon you from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And what will become of your wealth?" 4 "You will have no choice but to crouch among the captives or fall with he slain. After all this, His anger is not turned away and His hand is still outstretched."

5 "Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hands is My indignation." 6 "I will send it against a godless nation and commission it against the people of My fury, to capture booty, seize plunder, and trample them down like mud in the streets." 7 But this is not what He intends, or has in mind. His purpose is to destroy, and put an end to many nations. 8 For he says, "Are not my commanders all kings?" 9 "Has not Calno fared like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad, and Samaria like Damascus?" 10 "As My hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria," 11 "shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?" 12 So it will be that when the LORD has completed His work on Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, "I will punish the fruit of the pride of the willful heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness." 13 For he says, "By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom and understanding, I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures, and like a mighty one I subdue their kings." 14 "As one reaches into a nest, so my hand has reached for the wealth of the nations, as men gather abandoned eggs, I have gathered all the countries, and not one flapped a wing, or opened its beak to chirp." 15 Should the axe make itself greater than the one who chops with it? Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it? That would be like a club wielding those who lift it, or like a rod lifting the one holding him.

COMMENT: Everyone is a tool in God's hand for Him to accomplish His purpose.

16 Therefore the LORD GOD of hosts will send a wasting disease among those stout warriors, and a fire will be kindled under them. 17 The Light of Israel, that Holy One, will become a flame, and in a single day it will burn his thorns and briers. 18 The splendor of his forests and fertile fields will be completely destroyed, like a sick man who wastes away. 19 And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could count them. 20 In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. 21 A remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.

22 Even though the people of Israel may be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed. It will be overwhelming and righteous. 23 The LORD Almighty, will carry out the destruction He has decreed upon the whole land. 24 Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty, says, "O My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians, who beat you with a rod as Egypt did." 25 "Very soon My anger against you will end and My wrath will be directed toward their destruction." 26 "The LORD Almighty will lash them with a whip, as when He struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb, and He will raise His staff over the waters, as He did in Egypt."

27 "So it will be in that day. His burden will be removed from your shoulders and His yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because of His anointing." 28 "He has come against Aiath, He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he deposited his baggage." 29 They have gone through the pass, saying, "Geba will be our lodging place." Ramah is terrified, and Gibeah of Saul has fled. 30 "Cry aloud with your voice, O daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laishah and wretched Anathoth!" 31 "Madmenah is in flight, the people of Gebim take cover." 32 "This day they will halt at Nob. They will shake their fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem." 33 "See, with great power the LORD Almighty will lop off the boughs. The lofty trees will be felled and brought low." 34 "He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe, and Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One."

Isaiah 11 - RWB Paraphrase (16 V)
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A New Branch From Jesse
1 A shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. 3 And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, and not judge by what He sees with His eyes, or hears with His ears. 4 He will judge the poor with righteousness, and decide what is fair for the afflicted of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be His belt and faithfulness the sash around His waist.

COMMENT: All words about Jesus.

6 The wolf will live with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the lion and the fatling shall be together, and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow and the bear will graze, while their young lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child will play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child will put his hand into the viper's den. 9 Nothing in all My holy mountain will hurt or destroy, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD the way the waters cover the sea.

COMMENT: This is how it will be when Jesus comes to establish His kingdom.

10 "In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who will stand as a banner to the people, for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious." 11 In that day the LORD will reach out His hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of His people from Assyria, lower Egypt, upper Egypt, from Cush, Elam, Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. 12 He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel. He will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. 13 Ephraim's jealousy will vanish, and Judah's enemies will be cut off. Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim. 14 They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the sons of the east, and will possess Edom and Moab. And the sons of Ammon will be subject to them. 15 The LORD will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea. With a scorching wind He will sweep His hand over the Euphrates River breaking it up into seven streams so that men can cross over in sandals. 16 And there will be a highway from Assyria like that when Israel came up from the land of Egypt. And the remnant of His people will return on it.

Isaiah 12 - RWB Paraphrase (6 V)
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Singing God's Praise
1 On that day, you will say, "I give thanks to You, O LORD. For although You were angry with me, Your anger has been turned away and You comfort me." 2 "Surely God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation." 3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And in that day you will say, "Give thanks to the LORD. Call on His name and make known His deeds among the peoples. Help them to remember that His name is exalted." 5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things, let this be known in all the earth. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.

Isaiah 13 - RWB Paraphrase (22 V)
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Prophecy Against Babylon
1 The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. 2 "Lift up a banner on the high mountain, Raise your voice to them, and wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles." 3 "I have commanded My consecrated ones, and even called My mighty warriors, my proudly exulting ones, to execute My anger." 4 There is the sound of tumult on the mountains, like that of many people! It is the uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathered together! The LORD of hosts is mustering an army for battle. 5 They come from far away lands, from the ends of the earth. It is the LORD and the weapons of His wrath, to destroy the whole country.

COMMENT: The Lord is using foreign nations to execute His wrath against His chosen people.

6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near. It will come as destruction from the Almighty. 7 Every man's heart will melt and his hands will fall limp. 8 Pangs of sorrows shall take hold of them. Their pain will be like a woman that is in labor. They will look aghast at one another with inflamed faces.

9 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming. It will be cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation. He will exterminate its sinners. 10 For the stars of heaven will not give their light. The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light. 11 "Thus I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the haughty and ruthless." 12 "I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir." 13 "Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of the LORD of hosts in the day of His burning anger." 14 "Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, and to his native land." 15 "Whoever is captured will be thrust through. All who are caught will fall by the sword." 16 "Their little ones will be dashed to pieces while they watch. Their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished." 17 "Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them, who will care nothing for silver or gold." 18 "Their bows will strike down the young men. They will have no mercy on infants or children." 19 "And God will overthrow Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Chaldeans. It will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." 20 "It will never be lived in again from generation to generation. The Arab will not pitch his tent there. Neither will shepherds take their flocks to pasture there." 21 "It will be a place for desert creatures. Their houses will be full of owls, and it will be a place for ostriches to live. And shaggy goats will frolic there." 22 "Hyenas will howl in their strongholds, and jackals will inhabit her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged."

Isaiah 14 - RWB Paraphrase (32 V)
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God Promises Compassion On Israel
1 "The LORD will have compassion on Jacob. Once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. Foreigners will join themselves to the house of Jacob." 2 "Then people will bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will take them as their servants and maids in the land of the LORD. They will take captive those who took them captive, and rule over their oppressors." 3 "On the day when the LORD gives you relief from suffering and cruel bondage," 4 "you will confront the king of Babylon, saying, 'How the oppressor has come to an end and his fury has ended.'" 5 "The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, and the scepter of rulers," 6 "which were used to strike the peoples with furious and unrelenting strokes, which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution."

7 "The whole earth rests quietly. Everyone shouts for joy." 8 "Even the cypress an cedars rejoice over you, saying, 'Since you were laid low, no woodsman comes out to cut us down.'"

9 "The grave below is all astir to meet you at your coming. It rouses the departed to greet you. All those who were leaders in the world, all the kings of the nations, rise from their thrones." 10 "They will all say to you, 'Even you have been made weak like us.'" 11 "All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps. Maggots are spread out beneath you and worms are your covering."

12 "How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! You have been cut down to the earth where you weaken the nations!" 13 "You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north.'." 14 "I will ascend above the clouds, and make myself like the Most High." 15 "But you are brought down to hell, to the depths of the pit." 16 "Those who gaze upon you will ponder over you, saying, 'Is this the one who made the earth to tremble, who shook the kingdoms?'" 17 "Who overthrew its cities and made the world like a wilderness? The one who did not let his prisoners go home?"

18 "All the kings of the nations will lie in glory, each in his own tomb." 19 "But your tomb has rejected you, for you are clothed with the slain who are pierced with the sword and cast like stones into the pit." 20 "You will not be buried like other kings, for you have ruined your country and slain your people. The offspring of evil doers will be forgotten forever." 21 "Their sons will be slaughtered because of the iniquity of their fathers. They will not take possession of the earth."

22 "I will rise up against them, " declares the LORD of Hosts, "And cut off Babylon's survivors." 23 "I will make it a place of swamps inhabited by hedgehogs. I will sweep it to destruction with a broom, " says the LORD of Hosts.

24 "The LORD of Hosts has sworn, saying, "What I have planned will come to pass. 25 "I will break Assyria. The yoke he has placed on My people I will remove." 26 "I have devised a plan against the whole earth, and My hand is stretched out against the nations." 27 "Who can frustrate the plan of the LORD of Hosts, or turn Him from His purpose?"

28 This oracle came in the year that King Ahaz died. 29 "Do not rejoice, O Philistines, because the rod that struck you is broken. For from the serpent's root a viper will come out, and its fruit will be a flying serpent." 30 "The poorest of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety. But I will destroy your root with famine, and slay your survivors."

31 "Wail, O gate! Howl, O city! Melt away, all you Philistines! A cloud of smoke comes from the north, and does not come slowly." 32 "What answer shall be given to the envoys of that nation? The LORD has established Zion, and in her His afflicted people will find refuge."

Isaiah 15 - RWB Paraphrase (9 V)
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Prophecy Against Moab
1 An oracle concerning Moab. Because Ar and Ker are laid waste in a night, Moab is undone. 2 "They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, even to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Everyone's head is bald and every beard is cut off." 3 "In their streets they are girded with sackcloth. With much weeping they wail on their house tops." 4 "Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out, their voices being heard all the way to Jahaz. So the armed men of Moab tremble and cry aloud."

5 "My heart cries for Moab. Her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, and Eglath Shelishiyah. They weep as they go up to Luhith, and on the road to Horonaim they lament their destruction." 6 "The waters of Nimrim are gone. Surely the tender grass has died, and there is no green thing." 7 "So the wealth they have acquired and stored up they carry away over the Brook of the Willows." 8 "The cry of distress has gone around the territory of Moab. Their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim, and their lamentation as far as Beerelim." 9 "For the waters of Dimon are full of blood. But I will bring added woes upon Dimon. A lion will fall upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land."

Isaiah 16 - RWB Paraphrase (14 V)
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God Rebukes Moab For Its Pride
1 "They have sent lambs from Sela to the ruler of the land by way of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Zion." 2 "Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon." 3 "Give us advice, make a decision. Cast your shadow like night at high noon and hide the outcasts. Do not betray the fugitive." 4 "Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you. Be their shelter from the destroyer. The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease. The aggressor will vanish from the land." 5 "In mercy the throne will be established, and One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness." 6 "We have heard of the excessive pride of Moab, its arrogance. His idle boasts are false." 7 "For this reason everyone in Moab will wail. For the foundations of Kirhareseth you shall mourn. Surely they are stricken." 8 "The fields of Heshbon have withered, as well as the vines of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts. Its tendrils have passed across the sea." 9 "So I weep, as Jazer weeps, for the vines of Sibmah. O Heshbon, O Elealeh, I drench you with tears! The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit and your harvests have been stilled." 10 "Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field. In the vineyards there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting. No one will tread wine in the presses, for I have made rejoicing to cease." 11 "My heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kirhareseth." 12 "So it will come about when Moab presents himself. When he goes to his sanctuary to pray, it will be to no avail." 13 This is what the LORD has said concerning Moab. 14 "Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all his great population. His remnant will be very small indeed."

Isaiah 17 - RWB Paraphrase (14 V)
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Prophecy Against Syria
1 The oracle concerning Damascus."Behold, Damascus is about to no longer be a city. It will become a heap of ruins." 2 "The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks to lie down in with no one to frighten them." 3 "The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the children of Israel, " declares the LORD Almighty. 4 "In that day the glory of Jacob will fade, for the fat of his body will waste away." 5 "And it shall be as when the reaper harvests the grain, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim." 6 "Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs, " declares the LORD, the God of Israel. 7 "In that day man will regard his Maker and his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel." 8 "He will not look to the altars, what his hands have made, even the Asherim and incense stands." 9 "In that day their strong cities will be forsaken places, abandoned before the children of Israel, and the land will be desolate." 10 "For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, the rock of your refuge. You planted choice imported vines of a strange god." 11 "You fenced them in and waited for the blossoms. But the harvest will be sickliness and incurable pain."

12 "Woe to the multitude of many peoples, and their agitation!" 13 "The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, but He will rebuke them and they will flee far away, chased like chaff before the wind in the mountains." 14 "When evening comes there is terror. By morning they will be gone. Such will be the portion of those who plunder us."

Isaiah 18 - RWB Paraphrase (7 V)
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Prophecy Against Ethiopia
1 "Woe to the land of whirring wings along the rivers of Cush," 2 "which sends envoys by the sea in papyrus vessels. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people feared far and wide. They are a powerful and an oppressive nation divided by rivers." 3 "All you inhabitants of the world, as soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, you will see it. When the trumpet is sounded, you will hear it." 4 "For the LORD has told me, 'I will look from my dwelling place and see a dazzling heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.'." 5 "For before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes the ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, and cut away the spreading branches." 6 "It will be for the mountain birds of prey, and the beasts of the earth. The birds of prey will eat it during the summer and the beasts of the earth will winter on it." 7 "At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the LORD of Hosts at Mount Zion, from a people tall and smooth, feared far and wide, a powerful and oppressive nation, whose land the rivers divide."

Isaiah 19 - RWB Paraphrase (25 V)
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Prophecy Against Egypt
1 The oracle concerning Egypt."Watch as the LORD rides on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence as the hearts of the Egyptians melt at the sight of Him." 2 "I will incite the Egyptians against each other, city against city and kingdom against kingdom." 3 "The Egyptians will lose heart as I bring their plans to nothing. They will consult their idols and the spirits of the dead, through mediums and spiritists." 4 "I will deliver them into the hand of a cruel master. A mighty king will rule over them, " declares the LORD of Hosts. 5 "And the waters of the Nile will be dried up." 6 "The canals will stink, and the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up causing the reeds and rushes to wither." 7 "The bulrushes by the edge of the Nile and all the sown fields next to it will become dry." 8 "The fishermen will cast their lines and spread their nets, but there will be no fish." 9 "Those who make linen from combed flax and those who weave white cloth will be without hope." 10 "Those who are the pillars of Egypt will be crushed and the hired laborers will grieve." 11 "The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools. The wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice. How can they say to Pharaoh, "I am one of the wise men, a son of the ancient kings?

12 "Where are your wise men now? Let them make known what the LORD Almighty has planned against Egypt." 13 "The officials of Zoan have become fools, the leaders of Memphis are deceived. The cornerstones of her peoples have led Egypt astray." 14 "The LORD has poured into them a spirit of dizziness to make Egypt stagger in all that she does, as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit." 15 "There is nothing Egypt can do, from the highest to the lowest." 16 "In that day the Egyptians will become like women, trembling with dread, because of what the hand of the LORD of hosts is about to do to them."

17 "The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt. Just the mention of them will cause dread in Egypt, because of what the LORD of hosts has proposed against them." 18 "In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts. One shall be called the City of Destruction." 19 "In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to Him at its border." 20 "It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, He will send them a Savior and Defender, and He will rescue them." 21 "So the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will worship with sacrifice and offering, making vows to the LORD and keeping those vows." 22 "The LORD will strike Egypt, so that they will turn to Him. Then He will respond to them with healing." 23 "In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. Citizens from both countries will travel back and forth and worship together." 24 "In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria. Together they will be a blessing in the earth." 25 The LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, "Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance."

Isaiah 20 - RWB Paraphrase (6 V)
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Prophecy Against Egypt And Ethiopia
1 In the year that Sargon, the king of Syria, sent a commander against Ashdod and captured it, 2 the LORD spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go and loosen the sackcloth from your waist and take your shoes off." So he did this and walked naked and barefoot. 3 And the LORD said, "Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush," 4 "so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian and Cushite exiles, young and old, with bare buttocks to Egypt's shame." 5 "Those who trusted in Cush and Egypt will be afraid and ashamed." 6 "In that day the people who live on this coast will say, 'See what has happened to those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then shall we escape.'"

Isaiah 21 - RWB Paraphrase (17 V)
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Prophecy Against Babylon
1 An oracle concerning the desert by the sea."Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland, an invader comes from the desert, from a terrifying land." 2 "What I saw was terrible to watch. The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot. Go up Elam, lay siege Media! I will bring to an end all the groaning she has caused." 3 "My body is racked with pain, like that of a woman in labor. I am stagger and I am bewildered by what I see and hear." 4 "My heart falters and I tremble with fear. I longed for twilight, but it has become a horror to me." 5 "They set the tables and spread the rugs. They eat and drink! Then they are told, 'Rise up, you princes, oil your shields!'"

6 "For the LORD says to me, 'Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.'." 7 "When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, a train of donkeys or camels, let him watch carefully."

8 And the lookout shouted, "My Lord, I stand on the watchtower, day and night." 9 "I see a troop of riders, horsemen by pairs." One of them said, "Babylon has fallen, and all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground." 10 "O my afflicted people, afflicted on the threshing floor. I am making known to you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts."

The Oracle Concerning Edom
11 "One keeps calling to me from Seir, saying, 'Watchman, is the night almost over?'" 12 The watchman replies, "Morning is coming, but so is the night. If you must ask, ask, and come back to ask yet again."

The Oracle About Arabia
13 "O caravan of Danites, you must spend the night in the thickets of Arabia." 14 "You who live in Tema, bring food and water for the fugitives." 15 "They have fled from the sword and the bow, and from the heat of battle." 16 And this is what the LORD has said to me, "In a year, as a hired man would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will be finished." 17 "Few of the bowmen and other mighty men will be left, for the LORD has spoken."

Isaiah 22 - RWB Paraphrase (25 V)
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Prophecy About Jerusalem
1 The oracle concerning the Valley of Vision."Why have you all gone up to the housetops?" 2 "O city, full of commotion, tumult and revelry? Your slain were not killed by the sword. Neither did they die in battle." 3 "All your rulers have fled together, and been captured without using the bow." 4 For this reason I said, "Turn away and let me weep bitterly. Do not console me over my people's destruction." 5 "The LORD Almighty has a day of tumult, trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision, a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains." 6 "Elam took up the quiver with the chariots, infantry and horsemen. And Kir uncovered the shield." 7 "Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen have been posted at the gates of the city." 8 "He removed the protection of Judah. You looked in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest." 9 "You saw that the City of David had many breaches in its defenses, and you stored up water in the Lower Pool." 10 "Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore some down for material to fortify the wall." 11 "You made a reservoir between the two walls for the waters of the old pool. But you did not depend on Him who made it, nor did you consider Him who planned it long ago." 12 "Therefore in that day the LORD GOD of hosts called for weeping, wailing, shaving of the head and the wearing of sackcloth." 13 "But instead, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! You say, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!'" 14 But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me, saying, "Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you until you die."

15 This is what the LORD, the LORD Almighty, says, "Go, say to this steward, to Shebna, who is in charge of the palace," 16 "what are you doing here and who gave you permission to hew out a grave for yourself here, chiseling your resting place in the rock?" 17 "Behold, the LORD will hurl you away violently, O mighty man. He will seize you with a firm hold," 18 "and roll you tightly like a ball, to be cast into a vast country. There you will die and there your splendid chariots will be. You are a shame to your master's house." 19 "I will remove you from your office and pull you down from your station." 20 "In that day I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah," 21 "and cloth him with your tunic and tie your sash securely around him. I will give him your authority and he will be come a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah." 22 "I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder. What he opens, no one will shut, and what he shuts, no one will open." 23 "I will drive him like a peg in a firm place, and he will become a throne of glory to his father's house." 24 "They will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to the pitchers." 25 "In that day, " declares the LORD of hosts, "The peg driven in a firm place will give way, break off and fall, and the load hanging on it will fall with it, for the LORD has spoken."

Isaiah 23 - RWB Paraphrase (18 V)
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Prophecy Against Tyre
1 The oracle concerning Tyre."Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor. It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus." 2 "Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon. Your messengers crossed the sea." 3 "On the great waters came the grain that was brought from Shihor. The harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre, and she became the marketplace of the nations." 4 "Be ashamed, O Sidon, you fortress by the sea, for the sea has spoken, saying, 'I have neither been in labor nor given birth. Neither have I reared sons nor brought up daughters.'" 5 "Egypt will be in anguish when it hears about Tyre." 6 "Pass over to Tarshish. Wail, O inhabitants of the coast!" 7 "Is this your city of revelry, whose origin is of old, and whose feet have taken her to settle in far off lands?" 8 "Who planned this against Tyre, who has bestowed crowns, whose merchants are princes and whose traders are renowned in the earth?" 9 "The LORD of hosts has planned it, to defile the pride of the beauty and honored of the earth." 10 "Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish, there is no more restraint." 11 "The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea and made the kingdoms tremble. He has commanded that the strongholds of Canaan be demolish." 12 "He has said, 'You shall exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Cyprus, but even there you will find no rest.'" 13 "Look at the land of Babylon. Its people have become of no account! The Assyrians have made it a place for desert creatures. They raised up their siege towers. They stripped its fortresses bare and turned it into a ruin." 14 "Wail, you ships of Tarshish. Your fortress is destroyed!"

15 "At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king's life. But at the end of the seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute." 16 "Take up a harp, walk through the city, O prostitute forgotten. Play the harp well. Sing many songs so that you will be remembered." 17 "At the end of seventy years, the LORD will deal with Tyre and she will return to her hire as a prostitute. Once again she will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth." 18 "Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the LORD. They will not be hoarded. Instead her profits will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothes."

Isaiah 24 - RWB Paraphrase (23 V)
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God's Judgment Of The Land
1 "Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastating and distorting its surface, and scattering its inhabitants." 2 "It will be the same for priest and people, for master and servant, for mistress and maid, for seller and buyer, for borrower and lender, and for debtor and creditor." 3 "The earth will be totally plundered." The LORD has declared this.

4 "The earth mourns and withers. The exalted of the earth fade away." 5 "The earth's inhabitants have polluted it. They transgress laws, violate statutes and break the everlasting covenant." 6 "For this reason a curse will devour the earth. Those who live in it are held guilty. The inhabitants of the earth will be burned and few men will be left."

7 "The new wine mourns and the vine decays. The merry hearted sigh," 8 "and the gaiety of tambourines ceases. The noise of revelers is no more and the gaiety of the harp ceases." 9 "They do not drink wine with song, and strong drink is bitter."

10 "The ruined city lies desolate. The entrance to every house is barred." 11 "In the streets they cry out for wine while all joy turns to gloom. All gaiety is banished." 12 "The gate is battered to ruins and the city is desolate." 13 "This is how it will be among the peoples. It will be like the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings after grape harvest." 14 "They raise their voices in shouts of joy. From the west they acclaim the LORD's majesty." 15 "In the east they give glory to the LORD, exalting His name, the LORD God of Israel, and in the coastlands of the sea." 16 "From the ends of the earth we hear songs, 'Glory to the Righteous One. ' But I say, 'Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me! The treacherous deal very treacherously.'" 17 "A terror, a pit and a snare await you, O people of the earth." 18 "Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit, whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare. The floodgates of the heavens are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake." 19 "The earth is broken and split through, and violently shaken." 20 "It reels back and forth like a drunkard, for its transgression is heavy upon it. It will fall, and never rise again."

21 "So that is what will happen. In that day the LORD will punish the exalted ones on high as well as the kings of the earth." 22 "They will be gathered and placed in prison, and after many days they will be punished." 23 "Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and His glory will be before His elders."

Isaiah 25 - RWB Paraphrase (12 V)
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Praise The Lord
1 "O LORD, you are my God. I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness You have done marvelous things that You planned long ago." 2 "You have made a fortified city into a heap of ruins. The foreigners' stronghold is a city no more, never to be rebuilt." 3 "Therefore strong peoples will honor you, and the cities of ruthless nations will revere you." 4 "You have been a defense for the helpless and distressed, a refuge from the storm and a shade from the heat. You are a wall against the storming breath of the ruthless one." 5 "Like the heat of the desert, You silence the uproar of foreigners. As heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled."

6 "The LORD of hosts will prepare a great banquet for all peoples on this mountain, a banquet of choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine." 7 "On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that is stretched over all nations." 8 "He will swallow up death for all time, and the LORD GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken."

COMMENT:

Revelation 21:4 "He shall wipe away all tears and there will be no more death or sorrow. Neither will there be any more pain, for the former things have passed away."

9 "In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God. We trusted in Him to save us. This is the LORD, let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation. 10 "The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, but Moab will be trampled under as straw is trampled down in the manure." 11 "They will spread out their hands in it, as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim. God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands." 12 "He will cast to the ground their walls that could not be scaled."

Isaiah 26 - RWB Paraphrase (21 V)
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The People Sing To God
1 "In that day, this song will be sung in Judah: 'We have a strong city. He sets up salvation as walls for security.'" 2 "Open the gates, that the righteous nation that remains faithful may enter." 3 "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind steadfastly trusts in You." 4 "Trust in the LORD forever, for in the LORD Jehovah we have an everlasting Rock." 5 "He has brought low those who dwell on high and has laid the lofty city in the dust." 6 "The feet of the poor and oppressed trample it down." 7 "The way of the righteous is level, You make their path smooth." 8 "And as we walk in Your ways and laws, O LORD, Your name and renown become the desire of our hearts." 9 "At night my soul longs for You, and my spirit seeks You diligently, for when the earth experiences Your judgments its inhabitants learn righteousness."

10 "When the wicked is shown favor, he does not learn righteousness. He deals unjustly in the land and does not perceive the majesty of the LORD." 11 "O LORD, though Your hand is lifted up they do not see it. Let them see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame. Let the fire reserved for Your enemies consume them." 12 "LORD, You establish peace for us, and all that we have accomplished has been done by You." 13 "O LORD our God, other masters have ruled us, but we confess Your name alone." 14 "The dead will not live. You have punished and destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them."

COMMENT: This will happen after the second death.

15 "You have enlarged the nation, O LORD, and have gained glory for Yourself and extended all the borders of the land." 16 "LORD, they came to You in their distress, when You disciplined them, and they could barely whisper a prayer." 17 "As a woman about to give birth, writhing and crying out in pain, so were we in Your presence, O LORD." 18 "We writhed in labor, but gave birth only to wind. We could not accomplish deliverance in the earth. Neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen." 19 "But Your dead will live, their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, will wake and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew on the herbs and the earth will cast out her dead."

COMMENT: God will raise His faithful to eternal life.

20 "Come my people. Hide in your rooms. Close the doors behind you. In a little while indignation will run its course." 21 "For the LORD is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her and will no longer cover her slain.

COMMENT: If the Lord was about to come way back then, imagine how much sooner He is about to come now. Of course a thousand years is as a day for the Lord.

2 Peter 3:8 Beloved, do not let this one fact escape you. With the LORD one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day.

Isaiah 27 - RWB Paraphrase (13 V)
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The Lord Will Deliver Israel
1 "In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan, the fleeing, twisted serpent, and will slay that reptile that is in the sea." 2 "In that day, 'Sing of a pleasant vineyard.'" 3 "I, the LORD, am its keeper, watering it every moment. I watch it night and day so that no one will damage it." 4 "I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle against! I would trod them down and burn them." 5 "Let him make peace with Me and rely on Me for protection." 6 "In the days to come Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and together they will fill the whole world with fruit." 7 "Has He smitten them as He smote those who smote them? Or have they been slain like those they slaughtered?" 8 "You contended with them by banishing them and driving them away. With His fierce wind He has expelled them as on the day when the east wind blows." 9 "By this Jacob's guilt be atoned for. And this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin, when he makes all the altar stones as chalk, crushed to bit. Not one Asherah pole or incense altar will be left standing." 10 "For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken. It is like the wilderness, where the calf grazes and lies down, and feed on its branches." 11 "When its limbs are dry, they are broken off, and women use them to make a fire. For they are not a people of discernment. This is the reason their Maker will have no compassion on them, or be gracious to them." 12 "In that day the LORD will do His threshing from the Euphrates River to the stream of Egypt. And you will be gathered up one by one, O children of Israel." 13 "In that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem."

Isaiah 28 - RWB Paraphrase (29 V)
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Prophecy Against Samaria
1 "Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, that city that is the pride of those laid low by wine!" 2 "Behold, the LORD has one who is very strong, like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest with overflowing waters. He will cast it to the earth with violence." 3 "The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot." 4 "That fading flower with its glorious beauty, which is set at the head of a fertile valley, will be like a fig ripe before harvest. As soon as someone sees it and takes it in his hand, he eats it." 5 "In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people," 6 "a spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate." 7 "And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink. The priest and the prophet are confused by wine. They also stagger, even as they are having visions, and stumble when rendering judgment." 8 "The tables are covered with vomit. There isn't a single clean place on it." 9 "To whom would He give knowledge and who would give the interpretation? Those just weaned from milk?" 10 "For precept must be upon precept, and line upon line. Here a little, and there a little."

COMMENT: Our belief system comes from all over the Bible.

11 "So He will speak to this people through stammering lips and a foreign tongue." 12 "He says to them, 'This is the place where the weary may rest,' but they will not listen." 13 "So the word of the LORD to them will be, 'Order on order, line on line, a little here, a little there, that they may stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive." 14 "So hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem," 15 "because you have said, 'We have made a covenant with death, and the overwhelming scourge will pass us by, for we have made falsehood and deception our refuge.'" 16 "So this is what the LORD God says, 'I am laying a costly corner stone in Zion. It is a tested stone to be placed firmly for the foundation. Whoever believes in it will never be dismayed.'"

COMMENT: Jesus is this costly corner stone.

17 "I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overflow the hiding place." 18 "Your covenant with death will be canceled, your agreement with the grave will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be trampled by it." 19 "As often as it passes through, it will seize you. Day after day it will sweep through, any time during the day or night. It will be sheer terror to understand what happens next." 20 "The bed is too short on which to stretch out, and the blanket is too small to wrap around you." 21 "For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim, and be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon. He will do His unusual task, and work His extraordinary work." 22 "Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier. The LORD Almighty has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land." 23 "Give ear and listen to my words." 24 "Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed?" 25 "When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow various seeds and grains, each in its plot or field?" 26 "God teaches him how to do it right." 27 "Dill and cummin are not threshed the way grain is." 28 "Grain must be ground to make bread, so one does not go on threshing it forever. Though he drives the wheels of his threshing cart over it, his horses do not grind it." 29 "This also comes from the LORD of hosts. He is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom."

Isaiah 29 - RWB Paraphrase (24 V)
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Prophecy Against Jerusalem
1 "Woe Ariel, the city where David once camped! Add year to year, observing your feasts on schedule." 2 "I will bring distress to Ariel. She will be a city of mourning." 3 "I will camp against you, encircling you, and setting siegeworks and battle towers against you." 4 "Then you will be brought low where you will whisper from your prostrate position in the dust." 5 "The multitude of your enemies will be like dust, chaff that blows away. It will happen suddenly." 6 "The LORD of hosts will punished with thunder and earthquake, whirlwind, tempest and a consuming fire." 7 "And the multitude of the nations who war against Ariel, will be like a dream, a vision of the night." 8 "It will be like when a man who is hungry and thirsty dreams that he is eating and drinking, but when he awakens, he is still hungry and thirsty. His dream has not satisfied. This is how it will be for the many nations who wage war against Mount Zion."

9 "Pause and wonder! They are drunk, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink." 10 "The LORD has brought a deep sleep upon you. He has sealed the eyes of the prophets, and covered the heads of the seers." 11 "The vision will seem to you like the words of a sealed book that cannot be read." 12 "Those who try to read it will be illiterate." 13 "Then the LORD will say, 'This people draw near to Me with their words, honoring Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their reverence consists of rote tradition.'" 14 "Therefore I will once again astound these people with wonder upon wonder. Their wisdom and intelligence will vanish."

15 "Woe to those who hide their plans from the LORD. They think no one can see what they plan." 16 "You have gotten it backwards. Can the potter be considered equal to the clay? Can the clay, who understands nothing, tell the potter what it shall be formed into?"

17 "Will it not be a short time before Lebanon is turned into a fertile field and the fertile field will seem like a forest?" 18 "On that day the deaf will hear and the blind will see."

COMMENT: Is this referring to Jesus miracles for the deaf and blind?

19 "The afflicted will increase their happiness in the LORD, and the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel."

COMMENT: It sounds like when Jesus walked on earth healing and preaching.

20 "The ruthless will come to an end and the scorner will be finished. Indeed, all who are intent on doing evil will be cut off," 21 "along with those who with a word make a man out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice."

22 "Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob, 'No longer will Jacob be ashamed and grow pale.'" 23 "He will see His children, the work of My hands, sanctifying the Holy One of Jacob and standing in awe of the God of Israel." 24 "Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding, and those who complain will accept instruction."

Isaiah 30 - RWB Paraphrase (33 V)
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Prophecy Against Rebels
1 "Woe to the rebellious children, " declares the LORD, "To those who do not carry out My plans, but form alliances My Spirit does not approve of. They heap sin upon sin." 2 "They go down to Egypt without consulting Me, and make Pharaoh their refuge, seeking shelter in the shadow of Egypt." 3 "The safety provided by Pharaoh will be their shame and humiliation." 4 "For their princes are at Zoan and their ambassadors arrive at Hanes." 5 "Everyone will be ashamed because Egypt cannot help, but bring only shame and reproach."

The Oracle Concerning The Beasts Of The Negev
6 "Through a land of distress and anguish, where the lion, the viper and flying serpent are, riches are carried on the backs of young donkeys and treasures on camels' humps, to a people who shall not profit," 7 "to Egypt, whose help is vain and empty. Therefore, I have called her 'Rahab who has been exterminated.'" 8 "Go and write it on a tablet before them and inscribe it on a scroll, that there will always be a witness." 9 "For this is a rebellious people, false sons unwilling to listen to the LORD's instruction." 10 "They are not interested in the visions of the seers, and they tell the prophets not to prophesy. They prefer only pleasant words and illusions." 11 "They say, 'Get off the path. Let us hear no more of the Holy One of Israel.'" 12 "Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, 'Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit,'" 13 "This sin will become to you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that suddenly collapses." 14 "Its destruction will be like the smashing of a potter's jar. Nothing left of it will be used for any purpose." 15 "For thus says the LORD GOD, the Holy One of Israel, 'In repentance and rest you will be saved. Quietness and trust is your strength. But you were not willing.'." 16 "You said, 'We will escape on swift horses,' but those pursuing you will also be swift." 17 "One man will cause a thousand of you to flee. More and more will flee until you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, or a banner on a hill." 18 "The LORD has longed to be gracious to you, and He waits on high to have compassion on you. For He is a God of justice. How blessed are all those who wait for Him." 19 "O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When He hears it, He will answer you." 20 "Although the LORD has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold Him." 21 "Your ears will hear a word behind you, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whether you turn to the right or to the left."

COMMENT: I want to hear His voice at all times.

22 "Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and gold. You will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and want nothing more to do with them."

COMMENT: May I despise the worldly things I formerly enjoyed!

23 "He will send you rain for the seed you have sown, and the harvest will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows." 24 "Your oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork." 25 "On the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall, every lofty mountain and every high hill will have streams running with water." 26 "The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds He inflicted."

COMMENT: We quote this verse to speak of what it will be like when God recreates the earth and dwells in it with us.

27 "Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke, His lips are full of wrath, and His tongue is a devouring fire." 28 "His breath is like an overflowing torrent, which shakes the nations back and forth in a sieve, and then leads the peoples to their ruin." 29 "You shall have a song as in the night of a holy feast, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel." 30 "The LORD will cause His voice of authority to be heard, and the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger, and in the flame of a consuming fire with a cloudburst of hailstones."

COMMENT: Is this not a picture of the final fire from God that cleanses the earth from sin?

31 "For at the voice of the LORD Assyria will be terrified when He strikes with the rod." 32 "Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as He fights them in battle with the blows of His arm." 33 "Topheth has long been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and fuel. The breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze."

Isaiah 31 - RWB Paraphrase (9 V)
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The Futility Of Trusting In Egypt
1 "Woe to those who rely on the strength of Egypt and its many horses and chariots. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel!" 2 "The LORD is wise and does not retract His words. He will rise up against those who work iniquity." 3 "The Egyptians are men and not God. Their horses are flesh. The LORD will stretch our His hand. Both horse and soldier will stumble and come to an end." 4 "For the LORD says to me, 'As the lion growls over his prey, he will not be disturbed by a band of shepherds sent against him. ' The LORD of Hosts will come down to wage war on Mount Zion." 5 "Like flying birds, the LORD will hover over, protect and deliver Jerusalem."

6 "Return to Him against whom you have so deeply revolted, O children of Israel." 7 "For in that day every one of you will reject your idols of silver and gold which you have made with your own sinful hands." 8 "And the Assyrian will fall by the sword of the LORD. They will not escape but become forced labor." 9 "From fear he shall cross over to his stronghold. And his princes shall be afraid of the banner, " says the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 32 - RWB Paraphrase (20 V)
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Prophecy Of Peace For Israel
1 "Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice." 2 "Each will be like a refuge from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry country, like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land." 3 "Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will actually listen." 4 "The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear." 5 "No longer will the fool be called noble, or the scoundrel be highly respected." 6 "For the fool speaks folly, and his mind is busy with evil. He practices ungodliness and spreads error concerning the LORD. He leaves the hungry empty and withholds water from the thirsty." 7 "The scoundrel's methods are wicked. He makes up lies to destroy the poor, even when their plea is just." 8 "But the noble man devises noble plans, and stands by them."

9 "You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me. You daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say!" 10 "In little more than a year you who feel secure will tremble. The grape harvest will fail, and the harvest of fruit will not come." 11 "Tremble, you complacent women, shudder, you daughters who feel so secure! Strip off your clothes, and put sackcloth around your waists." 12 "Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines," 13 "and for the land of my people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers. Yes, mourn for all houses of merriment and for this city of revelry." 14 "The fortress will be abandoned. The noisy city will be deserted. Citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of wild donkeys, and a pasture for flocks," 15 "until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field is considered as a forest." 16 "Then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness will abide in the fertile field." 17 "The work of righteousness will be peace, and its service quietness and confidence forever." 18 "Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation, and dwell undisturbed." 19 "Though hail flattens the forest and completely levels the city," 20 "how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range freely."

Isaiah 33 - RWB Paraphrase (24 V)
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The Lord Is Judge
1 "Woe to you who plunder, though you have not been plundered, and you who deal treacherously, though no one has dealt treacherously with you! When you cease plundering, you will be plundered. When you no longer act with treachery, they will deal treacherously with you."

2 "O LORD, be gracious to us who long for you. Be our strength every morning, and our salvation in distress." 3 "At the thunder of your voice, the peoples flee. When you rise up, nations scatter." 4 "Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men rush about like locusts." 5 "The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high. He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness." 6 "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure."

7 "Look, their brave men cry out. The envoys of peace weep bitterly." 8 "The highways are deserted. No one travels. The treaty has been broken. Its witnesses are despised, and no one is respected." 9 "The land mourns and wastes away. Lebanon is shamed and withers. Sharon is like the Arabah, and Bashan and Carmel lose their foliage." 10 "Now I will arise, " says the LORD, "Now I will be exalted, and lifted up." 11 "You have conceived chaff, and will give birth to stubble, which My breath will consume like a fire." 12 "The peoples will be burned to lime, like thorns burned in the fire." 13 "You who are near or far, hear what I have done and acknowledge My might." 14 "Sinners in Zion are terrified. The godless tremble. They say, 'Who can live with the consuming fire and continual burning?'" 15 "The one who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, rejecting unjust gain and taking no bribe. He will not listen to plans for bloodshed and does not look upon evil." 16 "This is the one who will dwell on the heights, and whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread and water will be sure." 17 "Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches away." 18 "Your mind will muse on the terror, thinking, 'Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is the one who counted the towers?'"

19 "You will no longer see a fierce people whose speech you do not comprehends." 20 "Looking upon Zion, the city of our feasts, you will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved. Its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken." 21 "There the Majestic One, who is the LORD, will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals on which no boat with oars nor mighty ship will pass." 22 "For the LORD is our Judge and Lawgiver. The LORD is our King. He will save us." 23 "Your rigging hangs loose, the mast is not held secure and the sail is not spread. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided and even the lame will carry off plunder." 24 "No resident will say, 'I am sick,' for the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity."

Isaiah 34 - RWB Paraphrase (17 V)
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God Will Destroy His Enemies
1 "Come near and hear Me, you nations. Pay attention! Let everyone in the earth hear." 2 "The LORD is angry with all nations, and His wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them." 3 "Their slain will be thrown out, and their dead bodies will stink. The mountains will be soaked with their blood." 4 "All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll. They will all fall like withered leaves from the vine, like figs that fall from the fig tree." 5 "My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, and descends in judgment on Edom, whom I have devoted to destruction." 6 "The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood. It is covered with fat, the blood of lambs and goats and fat from the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Edom." 7 "And the wild oxen will fall with them, the bull calves and the great bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood. The dust will be soaked with fat." 8 "For the LORD has a day of vengeance, and a year of retribution, to recompence the cause of Zion." 9 "Edom's streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur. Her land will become blazing pitch!" 10 "It will not be quenched night or day. From generation to generation its smoke will rise forever, and it will lie desolate. No one will ever pass through it again." 11 "But pelican and hedgehog will possess it. Owl and raven will dwell there. He will stretch the line of desolation over it." 12 "There will no one to proclaim king, and there will be no princes." 13 "Thorns will overrun her citadels, nettles and brambles her strongholds. She will become a haunt for jackals and owls." 14 "Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and wild goats will bleat to each other. The night creatures will repose there and find places of rest." 15 "The tree snake will make its nest and lay its eggs there, hatching them under its protection. Yes, the hawks will be gathered there, Every one with its mate." 16 "Look in the scroll of the LORD and read. None of these will be missing, not one will lack its mate. For He has given the order, and His Spirit will gather them together." 17 "He has apportioned this place as their possession from generation to generation, forever."

Isaiah 35 - RWB Paraphrase (10 V)
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Streams In The Desert
1 "The desert and the parched land will be glad. The wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus," 2 "that bursts into bloom, they will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God." 3 "Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble." 4 "Say to those with anxious heart, 'Take courage. Your God will come with vengeance, and He will save you.'" 5 "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped."

COMMENT: Jesus did this for the people.

6 "The lame will leap like a deer, and the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah." 7 "The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground bubbling with springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass, reeds and papyrus will grow." 8 "A highway will be there called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean and fools will not travel on it. It will be for wayfaring men." 9 "No lion will be there, nor any ferocious beast. Only the redeemed will walk there," 10 "and the ransomed of the LORD will return, entering Zion with singing. Everlasting joy will crown their heads. They will be overcome with gladness and joy. Sorrow and sighing will be no more."

Isaiah 36 - RWB Paraphrase (22 V)
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Assyria Threatens Judah
1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured the fortified cities of Judah. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field, 3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him. 4 Rabshakeh said to them, "The great king of Assyria wants to know why you continue to have confidence?" 5 "It is easy to see that your council and strength are empty words. Whom are you relying on that has caused you to rebel against me?" 6 Egypt is like a staff that is nothing more than a crushed reed, and you rely on him? This staff pierces the hand of him who holds it. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who rely on him. 7 "But you say to me, 'We trust in the LORD our God. ' Hezekiah has taken away all the alters on high places and insisted that everyone worship before the altar in Jerusalem."

8 "Therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses if you have that many riders to place on them." 9 "How can you repulse one of my master's weakest servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen." 10 "Haven't I come against this city with out the LORD, and the LORD has said to me, 'Go up against this land destroy it.'" 11 Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak with us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall." 12 But Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me only to your master and to you, to speak these words? The men who sit on the wall are doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine. They need to hear what we are saying."

13 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean, saying, "Hear the words of the great king of Assyria." 14 "The king says. 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you!'" 15 "Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, 'The LORD will surely deliver us, for this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'." 16 "Do not listen to Hezekiah, for the king of Assyria says, 'Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern," 17 "until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of bread and vineyards.'" 18 "Beware that Hezekiah does not deceive you by saying, 'The LORD will deliver us. ' Have any of the gods of the other nations delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria?" 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 20 "Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the LORD can deliver Jerusalem from me?" 21 The people on the wall were all silent, answering him not a word, for the king had told them not to answer him.

22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him what Rabshakeh had said.

Isaiah 37 - RWB Paraphrase (38 V)
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God Will Deliver Jerusalem
1 And when King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. 2 He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 They told him, "Hezekiah says that this day is a day of distress, rebuke and disgrace, as when a woman is about to give birth and has no strength to deliver her child." 4 "It may be that the LORD your God will have heard the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and He will rebuke his words. Therefore, lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left." 5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 and he said to them, "Tell your master, 'The LORD says to not be afraid of the words with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.'." 7 "I will cause him to hear a rumor and return to his own land where he will be cut down with the sword."

8 So when Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

9 Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was marching out to fight against him. Hearing this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: 10 "do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, 'Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'." 11 "You have heard what the kings of Assyria has done to all the lands, destroying them completely. Do you think you will be spared?" 12 "Did the gods of the nations my father destroyed deliver them, the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?" 13 "Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?" 14 When the messengers brought back the letter, Hezekiah took it to the house of the LORD and spread it out before Him. 15 He prayed to the LORD saying, 16 "O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth." 17 "Open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who reproaches the living God." 18 "It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands." 19 "They have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men's hands, made of wood and stone." 20 "Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that You alone are God."

21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, "Here is what the LORD God of Israel says. Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria," 22 "the LORD says concerning him, 'The daughter of Jerusalem despises you, shaking her head behind your back!'" 23 "You have reproached and blasphemed, raising your voice and lifting up haughtily eyes against the Holy One of Israel." 24 "Through your servants you have reproached the LORD, saying, 'With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, to the remotest parts of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses. And I will continue to do this on its highest peak, and thickest forest.'." 25 "I have dug wells and drunk the water. And I have dried up all the rivers of Egypt with the sole of my feet." 26 "Haven't you heard? From ancient times I planned for you to turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps." 27 "For this reason their inhabitants were short of strength, dismayed and ashamed. They were as grass on the housetops that is scorched before it is fully grown." 28 "I know everything you do, including your raging against Me." 29 "Because of this, and your arrogance, I will put a hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and turn you back the way you came from."

30 "Then this shall be the sign for you concerning the sureness of My word. This year you will eat what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from that. In the third year you will sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit." 31 "The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root and bear fruit." 32 "For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, a band of survivors out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will make this happen." 33 "Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, 'He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow against it, or come before it with a shield, or throw up a siege ramp against it.'" 34 "He will return the way he came without coming to this city, " declares the LORD. 35 "For I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for My servant David's sake."

36 The angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. In the morning, those not slain, awoke to discover a camp full of dead men.

37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and went home to Nineveh where he stayed. 38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

Isaiah 38 - RWB Paraphrase (22 V)
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Hezekiah Receives Fifteen Extra Years
1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, went to him and said, "The LORD says that you are to put your house in order, because you are going to die." 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3 saying, "Please remember O LORD, how I have walked before You in truth and with my whole heart, doing what is good in Your sight." And he wept bitterly. 4 The LORD sent Isaiah to Hezekiah with these words, 5 "the LORD God of your father David says, 'I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life.'." 6 "I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria." 7 "This shall be the sign that the LORD will do for you what He has spoken." 8 "Behold, I will cause the sun's shadow on the stairway to go back ten steps." So the sun's shadows moved back ten steps on the stairway.

9 After Hezekiah king of Judah recovered from his illness, he wrote the following: 10 "in the middle of my life I was about to go to the grave and be robbed of my remaining years." 11 I said, "I will not be able approach the LORD in the land of the living any more." 12 "I felt like a shepherd's tent that is being taken down. As a weaver I rolled my life on a loom, and God was cutting me off." 13 I waited patiently until dawn, but like a lion, He broke all my bones. Day and night I was aware of my end. 14 I cried like a swift or thrush, moaning like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens."I am troubled, O LORD, come to my aid!" 15 But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and He himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul. 16 "Lord, by such things men live, and my spirit finds life in them. You restored me to health and let me live." 17 Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction, and put all my sins behind your back. 18 "For those who go to the grave cannot thank You or praise You. While they are dead they have no hope for Your faithfulness."

COMMENT:

Ecclesiastes 9:5 "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no more reward and the memory of them is forgotten."

19 "It is the living who give thanks to You, as I am giving it today. While he is alive, a father tells his sons of Your faithfulness." 20 "The LORD will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the LORD."

21 Isaiah had told Hezekiah's attendants to place a cake of figs on his boil to help him recover. 22 Hezekiah had asked, "What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?"

Isaiah 39 - RWB Paraphrase (8 V)
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Messengers From Babylon
1 At that time Merodach son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery.

COMMENT: Maybe his scholars had noticed the unusual movement of the sun and knew of Hezekiah's story.

2 Hezekiah was pleased to see them and showed them all his treasure, including the silver, gold, spices, precious oil and all his armory. He showed him everything.

COMMENT: But he did not say anything about God healing him.

3 Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men come to you for? Where did they come from?" Hezekiah said, "They came from Babylon." 4 Isaiah asked, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "I showed them everything in my house and treasuries."

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Listen to what the LORD says," 6 "the days are coming when everything in your house that you and your fathers have stored up will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left." 7 "Some of your own sons will be taken away to be made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."

COMMENT: This is a prediction fulfilled by Daniel and his three friends.

8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and truth while I live."

Isaiah 40 - RWB Paraphrase (31 V)
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God Will Feed His Flock
1 "Comfort, comfort my people, " says your God. 2 "Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed. Her sin has been paid for, and she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins."

3 "A voice calls out, 'Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness. Make a straight path in the desert for our God.'." 4 "Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low. Let the rough ground be made level, and the rugged places a plain."

COMMENT: This foretells John the Baptist's purpose as the forerunner of Christ.

5 "Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh will see it, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

6 A voice said, "Call out." And the answer came back asking, "What shall I say?" Say, "All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field." 7 "The grass withers and the flowers fades, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. The people are as grass." 8 "The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever."

9 "O Zion, bearer of good news, get up on a high mountain, and loudly call out, saying to the cities of Judah, 'Here is your God!'" 10 "Behold, the LORD GOD comes with might, and His arm rules. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense goes before Him." 11 "Like a shepherd He will tend His flock. He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to Himself. And He will gently lead the nursing ewes."

12 "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, or calculated the dust of the earth with a measure, and weighed the mountains and the hills in a pair of scales?" 13 "Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or given counsel to Him?" 14 "With whom did He consult? Who gave Him understanding? Who taught Him the ways of justice, knowledge and understanding?" 15 "Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, or a speck of dust on the scales. He lifts up the islands as though they were fine dust." 16 "All of Lebanon's trees are not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings." 17 "All the nations amount to nothing before Him. From His point of view they are regarded as meaningless." 18 "To whom will you liken God, or to whom can you compare Him?"

19 "A workman casts an image and the goldsmith overlays it with gold. The silversmith makes chains of silver." 20 "The person too poor to afford such things chooses a tree of very hard wood. He then finds a craftsman to make an idol from it."

21 "Don't you know? Hasn't it been made known to you since the beginning, since the foundations of the earth?" 22 "God sits above the circle of the earth. Its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He has stretched out the heavens like a curtain, like tent in which to dwell."

COMMENT: The circle of the earth suggests an understanding that the earth is round.

23 "He reduces rulers to nothing and makes judges in the earth of no account." 24 "Shortly after they are planted He blows on them and they wither and are carried away by the storm like stubble."

25 "To whom would you liken Me to be My equal?" Ask the Holy One. 26 "As you look up in the night sky, consider who has created the stars, who leads their host by number and called them all by name. By the greatness of His strength not one of them is missing." 27 "Why do you say, O Jacob, O Israel, my way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me escapes the LORD's notice?" 28 "Haven't you heard? Don't you understand? The Everlasting God, the LORD and Creator of all the earth, does not become tired and His understanding is unsearchable." 29 "He gives strength to the weary. To those who lack strength He increases their power." 30 "Though the young grow weary, and vigorous young men stumble badly," 31 "yet those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength and mount up as with eagle wings. They will run and not be tired. They shall walk and not become weary."

Isaiah 41 - RWB Paraphrase (29 V)
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God Will Help Israel
1 "Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength and come forward and speak as we meet together at the place of judgment." 2 "Who has stirred up someone from the east, calling him in righteousness to His service? He hands the nations over to him, to subdue their kings. He turns them to dust with his sword, to become windblown chaff." 3 "He pursues them and passes on safely, by paths He never traveled before." 4 "Who has called forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, who is the first and the last. I am the One." 5 "The islands have seen and are afraid. The ends of the earth tremble as they draw near." 6 "Each one helps his neighbor and encourages him to be strong!" 7 "The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer spurs on the one striking the anvil. He says of the sodering, 'It is good. ' He nails down the idol so it will not topple."

8 "But you, O Israel, my servant Jacob, whom I have chosen, who is descended from My friend Abraham," 9 "I called you from the farthest corners of the earth. I said, 'You are my servant, I have chosen you and have not rejected you.'" 10 "Have no fear, looking about anxiously, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and be to you a sure help. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." 11 "All those who are angry with you will be put to shame and perish." 12 "You will not be able to find those who were at war with you." 13 "For I am the LORD your God, Who upholds your right hand, saying to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you.'." 14 "Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O men of Israel, for I Myself will help you, " declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15 "Behold, I will make of you a threshing sledge, new and sharp, having teeth. You shall thresh the mountains and crush them. You shall make the hills to be like chaff." 16 "You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away. And you will rejoice in the LORD, glorying in the Holy One of Israel."

17 "When the poor and needy seek water with parched tongue, and there is no water, I the LORD God of Israel will not forsake them." 18 "I will open rivers on the bare heights and springs in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and fountains of water in the dry land." 19 "I will put the cedar in the wilderness along with the acacia, the myrtle, the olive tree, the juniper, the box tree and the cypress," 20 "that they may see and recognize that the Holy One of Israel has created it."

21 The LORD says, "Present your case. Bring your strong arguments." 22 "Declare what is yet to happen. Or explain the former things and how they came to be." 23 "Declare the things that are coming, that we may know that you can tell us what the future holds, that we may know that you are gods. Do something, good or bad, that we may be impressed and filled with fear."

24 "But you are of no account. Your work amounts to nothing. Those who choose you are detestable."

25 "I have stirred up someone from the north, and he comes from the rising sun, one who calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if he were a potter treading the clay."

COMMENT: Long range this is Christ.

26 "Who told of this from the beginning, so that it would not take You by surprise? No one. Certainly not You."

27 "I declared it to Zion, giving Jerusalem the good news." 28 "For I looked, but there was no counselor, who, when I asked, could answer even one word." 29 "Everyone of them is worthless. Their deeds amount to nothing. Their molten images are but wind and emptiness."

COMMENT: The God of Israel stands without a peer in power and foresight.

Isaiah 42 - RWB Paraphrase (25 V)
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God's Chosen One
1 "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold, My chosen One in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him. He will bring justice to the nations."

COMMENT: This is Jesus Christ who will arrive in about 700 years.

2 "He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street." 3 "A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish. He will faithfully bring forth justice." 4 "He will not falter or be discouraged until He establishes justice on earth. In His law the coastlands will put their hope."

COMMENT: This is a description of the Christ who is yet to come.

5 The LORD God, Who created the heavens and spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people who walk in it, says, 6 "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand to keep you. I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, and as a light to the Gentiles." 7 "To open blind eyes, bring prisoners from the dungeon who dwell in darkness."

COMMENT: Jesus came to help those imprisoned by Satan.

8 "I am the LORD. I will not give My glory to another, or My praise to graven images." 9 "Behold, the former things have come to pass and now I declare new things before they come to pass."

10 "Sing a new song to the LORD. Sing His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them." 11 "Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices, including the settlements where Kedar is. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud, Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains." 12 "Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare His praise in the coastlands." 13 "The LORD will go forth with zeal like a man of war, to shout a war cry and prevail against His enemies." 14 "I have kept silent for too long, and now like a woman in labor I will cry out, gasp and pant." 15 "I will lay waste the vegetation on the mountains and hills. I will turn rivers into coastlands and dry up the pools." 16 "I will lead the blind in paths where they have not been and make their darkness into light. I will make crooked things straight. This I must do." 17 "Those who trust in idols, calling them their gods, will be put to shame." 18 "Those who are deaf, listen. And those who are blind, look that you may see." 19 "Who is so blind and deaf as My servant, the messenger I have sent?" 20 "You have seen and heard many things, but you seem unaffected."

21 "The LORD was pleased, for His righteousness' sake, to magnify His law and make it glorious."

COMMENT: The law is a picture of who God is.

22 "But this people have been plundered. They have been in pits or hidden away in prisons. There is no one to rescue them, to send them back." 23 "Who among you will listen and give heed?" 24 "Who gave up Jacob and Israel to be spoiled and plundered? Was it not the LORD, against whom they sinned, because they were unwilling to obey His law?" 25 "So He poured out His anger on them through the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand, or take it to heart."

COMMENT: They did not learn their leson.

Isaiah 43 - RWB Paraphrase (28 V)
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There Is No Other Savior
1 "By your many sins and dishonest trade you desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out of your midst, and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who watched." 2 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. They will not overflow you. And when you walk through the flame, you will not be burned."

COMMENT: This was very literally fulfilled for the three Hebrew worthies who walked in the fiery furnace in Babylon while Nebuchadrezzar watched. And it is also a promise to you and me.

3 "For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior, and I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place." 4 "Since you are precious in My sight, you are honored and I love you. I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life." 5 "Do not be afraid, for I am with you, I will gather your children from the east and the west." 6 "I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not hold them back. ' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth," 7 "everyone who is called by My name, and created for My glory." 8 "Bring out the blind, though they have eyes, and the deaf, though they have ears." 9 "Let all the nations be assembled together. Who among them can show us the former things? Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified in their claims, or let them admit the truth."

10 "You are My witnesses, " says the lord."i have chosen you as my servant, that you may know and understand that there has never been any other god besides Me and there never will be." 11 "I, even I, am the LORD, and there is no Savior besides Me." 12 "I have declared and saved, while there was no foreign god among you. For this reason you are My witnesses, " says the LORD, "And I am God." 13 "From eternity I am He. No one can be delivered out of my hand. When I act, no one can change it?"

14 "Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, 'For your sake I will break down the defenses of Babylon, and their shouts of triumph will be turned to Lamentations.'." 15 "I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, and your King." 16 "Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters," 17 "who drew out the army of chariots, horses and reinforcements, so that they lay down never to rise again, extinguished like a snuffed out wick," 18 "forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past." 19 "Behold, I am doing a new thing. It will spring forth. Can you not perceive it? I will make a pathway in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." 20 "The beasts of the field will glorify Me, even the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, that My chosen people may drink." 21 "The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise."

22 "Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob, and you have become weary of Me, O Israel." 23 "You have not brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings, nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings and incense." 24 "You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your iniquities."

25 "I am the one who wipes away your transgressions for My own sake, and I will remember your sins no more." 26 "Review the past with Me. Let us go over the matter together, and make your case for your innocence." 27 "Your first forefather sinned, and your mediators have transgressed against Me." 28 "Therefore I profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and delivered Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to reproach."

Isaiah 44 - RWB Paraphrase (28 V)
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Idols Are False Gods
1 "But listen, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have chosen." 2 "Thus says the LORD who formed you from the womb, and who is your help, 'Do not fear, O Jacob My servant, and you Jeshurun whom I have chosen." 3 "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and provide streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants." 4 "They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams." 5 "They will say they belong to the LORD. Israel will be mentioned with honor." 6 "Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, their Redeemer, who is the LORD of hosts, 'I am the first and the last, and there is no God besides Me.'"

COMMENT:

Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and Omega," the beginning and the end, says the LORD Almighty, which is, and was, and is to come.

Revelation 22:13 "I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

7 "Who is like Me? Let them make themselves known. Let them declare the things yet to come."

COMMENT: The devil wants to be God, and he can try to predict the future, but not with accuracy.

8 "Do not tremble or be afraid. You are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me? I know of none."

9 "All who make idols are nothing. They treasure worthless things. Those who speak up for them are blind and ignorant to their own shame." 10 "Who has made an idol and found that it cannot help to him?" 11 "The craftsmen who are his companions will be put to shame. They are only men."

COMMENT: Can a man make a god? And yet we all make gods of things we allow to control us.

12 "A man works over hot coals to make a cutting tool from iron. He fashions hammers to use with his strong arm. When he gets hungry he become weak. When he is thirsty he become weary." 13 "Another man shapes wood, outlining its form with a marker. He roughs it out with chisels and marks it with a caliper. He shapes it in the form of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine." 14 "He cuts down cedars, or perhaps a cypress or an oak. He has watched it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine. And the rain made it grow." 15 "It became something that can be burned, so he takes part of it to make a fire to warms himself. He may also bake bread over the fire, and then with the same wood, he might make a carved image, and he then he falls down before it to worship it." 16 "Half of it he burns to cook his food and warm himself. The fire makes him glad." 17 "The rest of the wood he uses to make a carved image to his god. He prays to it, asking it to deliver him."

18 "The carved image understands nothing. Its eyes are plastered over, and it cannot see. It is made by a man and comprehends nothing." 19 "No one seems to understand that they can use the same wood for cooking and heat, or to make a god to worship." 20 "To worship these is to feed on ashes. A deluded heart misleads the maker. The image cannot save himself or his maker. Those who worship him do not recognize the lie they are living." 21 "Remember these things, O Jacob, O Israel, for you are My servant. I formed you and I will not forget you."

COMMENT: It is God who has formed the man. When man forms the god it is no real god.

22 "I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, your sins like a heavy mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you."

COMMENT: Man made gods do not have the power to forgive.

23 "Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this. Shout aloud, O earth below. Burst into song, you mountains, forests and all you trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and He displays His glory in Israel." 24 "Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the One who formed you in the womb, 'I, the LORD, am the Maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone,'." 25 "Who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise, showing it for the nonsense it is," 26 "confirming the word of His servant and performing the purpose of His messengers. It is I who says of Jerusalem, 'She shall be inhabited!' And of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be built, and I will raise up her ruins again.'" 27 "It is I who says to the depth of the sea, 'Be dried up!' And I will make your rivers dry." 28 "I am the one who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please. He will say of Jerusalem, let it be rebuilt,' and concerning the temple, 'Let its foundations be laid?"

COMMENT: This was said about Cyrus more than 100 years before he did this.

Ezra 5:17 "If it pleases the king, let a search be made in the king's treasure house for a record of the decree issued by King Cyrus to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Let the king send his decision to us concerning this matter."

Isaiah 45:13 "I will raise up Cyrus in My righteousness. I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild My city and set My exiles free. He will do this without being paid, " says the LORD Almighty.

Isaiah 45 - RWB Paraphrase (25 V)
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Jehovah Is The One True God
1 Thus says the LORD to Cyrus, His anointed one, whose right hand He has held, to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut.

COMMENT: Cyrus was shown this prophecy, written before he was born. He was impressed.