Study Desk

"Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even put a road in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.

"I, only I, am He who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.

"One will say, 'I am the LORD'S'; And another will name himself after Jacob; And another will write on his hand, 'I am the LORD'S,' And be called by the [honorable] name of Israel.

"For the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts says this, 'I am the First and I am the Last; And there is no God besides Me.

He burns half of the wood in the fire; over this half he [cooks and] eats meat, he roasts meat and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, "Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire."

That kind of man (the idolater) feeds on ashes [and is satisfied with ashes]! A deceived mind has led him astray, so that he cannot save himself, or ask, "Is this thing [that I am holding] in my right hand not a lie?"

For the LORD, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb says this, "I am the LORD, Maker of all things, Who alone stretches out the heavens, Who spreads out the earth by Myself,

"I am the LORD, and there is no one else; There is no God except Me. I will embrace and arm you, though you have not known Me,

That people may know from the rising to the setting of the sun [the world over] That there is no one except Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other,

The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing peace and creating disaster; I am the LORD who does all these things.

For the LORD, who created the heavens (He is God, who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited) says this, "I am the LORD, and there is no one else.

"Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.

Even to your old age I am He, And even to your advanced old age I will carry you! I have made you, and I will carry you; Be assured I will carry you and I will save you.

"Remember [carefully] the former things [which I did] from ages past; For I am God, and there is no one else; I am God, and there is no one like Me,

"Now, then, hear this, you who live a luxuriant life, You who dwell safely and securely, Who say in your heart (mind), 'I am [the queen], and there is no one besides me. I shall not sit as a widow, Nor know the loss of children.'

"For you [Babylon] have trusted and felt confident in your wickedness; you have said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and your knowledge have led you astray, And you have said in your heart (mind), 'I am, and there is no one besides me.'

"Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called; I am He, I am the First, I am the Last.

This is what the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says, "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit (benefit), Who leads you in the way that you should go.

And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him and that Israel might be gathered to Him, —For I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, And My God is My strength—

"Then [Zion], you will say in your heart, 'Who has borne me these children, Since I have been bereaved of my children And am barren, an exile and a wanderer? And who has reared these? Indeed, I was left alone; From where then did these children come?'"