Study Desk

You have heard; now look at all the evidence! Will you not admit that what I say is true? From this point on I am announcing to you new events that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about.

Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I summoned! I am the one; I am present at the very beginning and at the very end.

Approach me! Listen to this! From the very first I have not spoken in secret; when it happens, I am there." So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit.

This is what the Lord , your protector, says, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who leads you in the way you should go.

Kings will be your children's guardians; their princesses will nurse your children. With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you and they will lick the dirt on your feet. Then you will recognize that I am the Lord ; those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine. Then all humankind will recognize that I am the Lord , your deliverer, your protector, the powerful Ruler of Jacob."

But the sovereign Lord helps me, so I am not humiliated. For that reason I am steadfastly resolved; I know I will not be put to shame.

I am ready to vindicate, I am ready to deliver, I will establish justice among the nations. The coastlands wait patiently for me; they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power.

"I, I am the one who consoles you. Why are you afraid of mortal men, of mere human beings who are as short-lived as grass?

I am the Lord your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves surge. The Lord who commands armies is his name!

For this reason my people will know my name, for this reason they will know at that time that I am the one who says, ‘Here I am.'"

"As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah's time, when I vowed that the waters of Noah's flood would never again cover the earth. In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.

"O afflicted one, driven away, and unconsoled! Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony and I lay your foundation with lapis-lazuli.

This is what the Lord says, "Promote justice! Do what is right! For I am ready to deliver you; I am ready to vindicate you openly.

No foreigner who becomes a follower of the Lord should say, ‘The Lord will certainly exclude me from his people.' The eunuch should not say, ‘Look, I am like a dried-up tree.'"

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

Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond; you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.' You must remove the burdensome yoke from among you and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.

You will drink the milk of nations; you will nurse at the breasts of kings. Then you will recognize that I, the Lord , am your deliverer, your protector, the powerful Ruler of Jacob.

"I made myself available to those who did not ask for me; I appeared to those who did not look for me. I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!' to a nation that did not invoke my name.

They say, ‘Keep to yourself! Don't get near me, for I am holier than you!' These people are like smoke in my nostrils, like a fire that keeps burning all day long.