Study Desk

Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know, or beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right'? No one told of this, no one foretold it, no one heard any words from you.

So he poured out on them his burning anger, the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Which of their gods foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things? Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right, so that others may hear and say, "It is true."

"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord , "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.

So I disgraced the dignitaries of your temple; I consigned Jacob to destruction and Israel to scorn.

They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand.

"This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:

I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord , the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord , and there is no other.

Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, ‘My images brought them about; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.'

They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot say, ‘Yes, I knew of them.'

For my own name's sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely.

Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?

For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord Almighty is his name.

Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness—

so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

"To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,