Study Desk

"I have kept silent for a long time, I have kept still and restrained Myself. Now like a woman in labor I will groan, I will both gasp and pant.

"I will lead those who are blind by a way they have not known, In paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them And uneven land into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone."

But this is a people plundered and pillaged; All of them are trapped in caves, Or are hidden away in prisons; They have become plunder, with no one to save them, And spoils with no one to say, "Give them back!"

This is what the LORD says, He who makes a way through the sea And a path through the mighty waters,

Who brings out the chariot and the horse, The army and the mighty man (They will lie down together and not rise again; They have been extinguished, and have gone out like a wick):

"Behold, I am going to do something new, Now it will spring up; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.

Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no benefit?

The craftsman of iron shapes a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary.

The craftsman of wood extends a measuring line; he outlines it with a marker. He works it with carving knives and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of mankind, so that it may sit in a house.

He will cut cedars for himself, and he takes a holm-oak or another oak and lets it grow strong for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel tree, and the rain makes it grow.

Then it becomes something for a person to burn, so he takes one of them and gets warm; he also makes a fire and bakes bread. He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image and bows down before it.

Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat, he roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, "Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire."

Yet the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image. He bows down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, "Save me, for you are my god."

No one remembers, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, "I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I bow down before a block of wood!"

He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has misled him. And he cannot save himself, nor say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"

"I have wiped out your wrongdoings like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you."

Shout for joy, you heavens, for the LORD has done it! Shout joyfully, you lower parts of the earth; Break into a shout of jubilation, you mountains, Forest, and every tree in it; For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, And in Israel He shows His glory.

"For the sake of Jacob My servant, And Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor Though you have not known Me.

"Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker— A piece of pottery among the other earthenware pottery pieces! Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' Or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands'?

"Woe to him who says to a father, 'What are you fathering?' Or to a woman, 'To what are you giving birth?'"