Study Desk

So I say: "Don't look at me! I am weeping bitterly. Don't try to console me concerning the destruction of my defenseless people."

I am not angry. I wish I could confront some thorns and briers! Then I would march against them for battle; I would set them all on fire,

Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord , says: "Look, I am laying a stone in Zion, an approved stone, set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. The one who maintains his faith will not panic.

No resident of Zion will say, "I am ill"; the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.

Certainly you must have heard! Long ago I worked it out, in ancient times I planned it, and now I am bringing it to pass. The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins.

"I thought, ‘In the middle of my life I must walk through the gates of Sheol, I am deprived of the rest of my years.'

Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp, I coo like a dove; my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. O sovereign master, I am oppressed; help me!

What can I say? He has decreed and acted. I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief.

Hezekiah said, "What is the confirming sign that I will go up to the Lord 's temple?" Isaiah replied, "This is your sign from the Lord confirming that the Lord will do what he has said: Look, I will make the shadow go back ten steps on the stairs of Ahaz." And then the shadow went back ten steps. This is the prayer of King Hezekiah of Judah when he was sick and then recovered from his illness: "I thought, ‘In the middle of my life I must walk through the gates of Sheol, I am deprived of the rest of my years.' "I thought, ‘I will no longer see the Lord in the land of the living, I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world. My dwelling place is removed and taken away from me like a shepherd's tent. I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; from the loom he cuts me off. You turn day into night and end my life. I cry out until morning; like a lion he shatters all my bones; you turn day into night and end my life. Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp, I coo like a dove; my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. O sovereign master, I am oppressed; help me! What can I say? He has decreed and acted. I will walk slowly all my years because I am overcome with grief. O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life; may years of life be restored to me. Restore my health and preserve my life.' "Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. You delivered me from the Pit of oblivion. For you removed all my sins from your sight. Indeed Sheol does not give you thanks; death does not praise you. Those who descend into the Pit do not anticipate your faithfulness. The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks, as I do today. A father tells his sons about your faithfulness. The Lord is about to deliver me, and we will celebrate with music for the rest of our lives in the Lord 's temple."

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

you whom I am bringing back from the earth's extremities, and have summoned from the remote regions— I told you, "You are my servant." I have chosen you and not rejected you.

Don't be afraid, for I am with you! Don't be frightened, for I am your God! I strengthen you— yes, I help you— yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand!

For I am the Lord your God, the one who takes hold of your right hand, who says to you, ‘Don't be afraid, I am helping you.'

Don't be afraid, despised insignificant Jacob, men of Israel. I am helping you," says the Lord , your protector, the Holy One of Israel.

"Look, I am making you like a sharp threshing sledge, new and double-edged. You will thresh the mountains and crush them; you will make the hills like straw.

I am the Lord ! That is my name! I will not share my glory with anyone else, or the praise due me with idols.

When you pass through the waters, I am with you; when you pass through the streams, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not harm you.

For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your deliverer. I have handed over Egypt as a ransom price, Ethiopia and Seba in place of you.

Don't be afraid, for I am with you. From the east I will bring your descendants; from the west I will gather you.

You are my witnesses," says the Lord , "my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe in me, and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and none will outlive me.