Isaiah

Learn to Do Well

Your new moons and appointed feasts my soul hates. Wash yourselves; put away the evil of your doings. Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow — and then, though your sins are as scarlet.

Swords into Plowshares

The mountain of the LORD’s house established, and nations streaming to it. They will beat their swords into plowshares and not learn war any more.

The Spoil of the Poor

Leadership stripped away. What do you mean, crushing my people and grinding the face of the poor? Then the long inventory of finery that will be taken.

The Branch

Short. A canopy over Zion for shade from the heat and shelter from the storm.

The Vineyard

He looked for justice and found bloodshed. Then six woes — beginning with those who join house to house and field to field until there is no room left for anyone else.

Here Am I

The year King Uzziah died. The throne, the seraphim, the coal from the altar — and a commission that comes with the warning that they will not understand.

Immanuel

Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign and is given one anyway. Meet the king at the end of the conduit, with your son Shear-jashub.

A Stone of Stumbling

Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls conspiracy. Waters of Shiloah that go softly, refused in favour of a river in flood.

A Child Is Born

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace — and of the increase of his government there will be no end.

Woe to the Unjust Decrees

Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, to turn aside the needy from justice and rob the poor of their right. Then Assyria described as the axe that forgets who is swinging it.

The Root of Jesse

He will not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he will judge the poor. The wolf and the lamb, and a child leading them.

A Short Song

Two verses of thanks in the middle of judgment — with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Babylon

The oracles against the nations begin. The day of the LORD described in the language of the sky going dark.

How You Have Fallen

A taunt-song over the king of Babylon — the morning star cut down to the ground — read far beyond its subject ever since.

Moab

A short lament. Everyone’s head is bald and every beard cut off; in their streets they wear sackcloth.

Shelter the Outcasts

Let my outcasts dwell with you, Moab; be a covert to them from the face of the destroyer — asylum requested of the nation being judged.

Damascus

The glory of Jacob made thin, and a gleaning left — two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough.

Cush

A land of whirring wings beyond the rivers, and messengers sent back with a word.

A Highway to Egypt

Judgment on Egypt — and then the astonishing ending: Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.

Barefoot

Three years walking naked and barefoot as a sign against trusting in Egypt.

The Watchman

Set a watchman; let him declare what he sees. Watchman, what of the night?

The Valley of Vision

You counted the houses and tore them down to fortify the wall, but you did not look to the one who made it. Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

Tyre

The merchant city whose traders were princes, and the trade that will one day be set apart for the LORD.

The Earth Emptied

A wide vision: the land polluted under its inhabitants because they transgressed the laws and broke the everlasting covenant.

The Feast on the Mountain

A feast of rich food for all peoples, the veil over the nations destroyed, death swallowed up, and tears wiped from off all faces.

Perfect Peace

You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you. A strong city with walls and bulwarks, and gates opened for the righteous nation that keeps faith.

The Vineyard Again

Sung differently this time — I, the LORD, am its keeper; I water it every moment, and keep it night and day.

Precept Upon Precept

Against drunken leaders and a covenant made with death. A tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation — and a farmer who does not thresh everything the same way.

Lips and Hearts

This people draw near with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but have removed their heart far from me. Then the deaf hearing and the meek increasing their joy.

In Returning and Rest

Woe to the rebellious children who go down to Egypt for help. In returning and rest you will be saved; in quietness and confidence will be your strength — and you would not.

Horses and Chariots

Woe to those who trust in horses because they are many, and do not look to the Holy One.

A King Will Reign

Each a hiding place from the wind and a cover from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place. The fool will no longer be called noble — because the fool leaves the hungry empty.

He Who Walks Righteously

Who among us can dwell with everlasting burning? He who despises the gain of oppression, who shakes his hands free of bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of blood.

Edom

A chapter of desolation — the land left to the wild creatures, and the measuring line of confusion stretched over it.

The Desert Blossoms

Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. The eyes of the blind opened, the lame leaping, and a highway called the Way of Holiness.

Sennacherib’s Envoy

The Rabshakeh at the conduit, shouting in Hebrew so the men on the wall can hear him — and the officials asking him to please speak Aramaic instead.

Hezekiah’s Prayer

The letter taken into the temple and spread out before the LORD. Isaiah’s answer, and the army struck in the night.

Fifteen Years

Hezekiah sick, turning his face to the wall. The shadow moved back on the steps, and the psalm he wrote afterward — like a swallow I chattered; I moaned like a dove.

The Envoys from Babylon

He shows them everything in his treasury, and is told it will all be carried there. His reply — there will be peace in my days — is the hinge the book turns on.

Comfort My People

Speak comfortingly to Jerusalem. A voice in the wilderness. All flesh is grass — and those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength and mount up with wings as eagles.

I Will Help You

Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will hold you with the right hand of my righteousness. The poor and needy seeking water, and rivers opened on bare heights.

A Bruised Reed

The first Servant song. He will not cry out or raise his voice in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench — to open blind eyes and bring prisoners out.

When You Pass Through the Waters

I have called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. Behold, I will do a new thing — rivers in the desert.

The Man Who Makes an Idol

Half the log he burns to warm himself and bakes his bread on, and of the rest he makes a god — the most withering satire in the prophets. And then Cyrus named.

Cyrus, My Anointed

A foreign king called by name and given a title, though he does not know God — so that people may know from the rising of the sun that there is no other.

Carried from the Womb

Their idols have to be loaded onto weary animals. But I have carried you from birth, and even to your old age and grey hairs I will carry you.

Sit in the Dust

Babylon addressed as a queen brought down — and the specific charge: on the aged you laid your yoke very heavily, and showed them no mercy.

For My Own Name’s Sake

Refined, but not as silver — chosen in the furnace of affliction. Oh that you had listened; then your peace would have been like a river.

Can a Woman Forget?

The second Servant song. Too small a thing to restore only Israel — a light to the nations. Can a woman forget her nursing child? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.

I Did Not Hide My Face

The third Servant song. The tongue of those who are taught, to know how to sustain with words the one who is weary. He gave his back to those who beat him.

Look to the Rock

Look to the rock you were cut from. The cup of staggering taken out of her hand, and put into the hand of those who afflicted her.

How Beautiful the Feet

Awake, put on your strength. How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news — and then the fourth Servant song begins.

Despised and Rejected

He had no beauty that we should desire him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. With his stripes we are healed — and he opened not his mouth.

Sing, Barren One

Enlarge the place of your tent. For a small moment I forsook you, but with great mercies I will gather you. The mountains may depart, but my loving kindness will not.

Come, Buy Without Money

Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. Why do you spend money for what is not bread? My thoughts are not your thoughts — and the word that will not return empty.

The Foreigner and the Eunuch

My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples. The eunuch given a name better than sons and daughters, and the foreigner not to say “the LORD will surely separate me.”

With the Contrite

I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit — to revive the spirit of the humble and the heart of the contrite.

The Fast I Have Chosen

Is not this the fast: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to let the oppressed go free, to break every yoke? To give your bread to the hungry, to bring the homeless poor into your house, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh.

Justice Stands Far Off

Truth has fallen in the street, and justice cannot enter. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.

Arise, Shine

Your light has come. Nations coming to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Violence no longer heard in your land.

The Year of the LORD’s Favour

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the humble — to bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and comfort all who mourn.

No Longer Forsaken

You will be called by a new name. No more termed Forsaken, and your land no more termed Desolate — and watchmen set on the walls who never hold their peace.

In All Their Affliction

In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. Then the question: why have you made us wander from your ways?

Oh That You Would Tear the Heavens

Come down, and let the mountains shake. We are the clay and you our potter — and all of us are the work of your hand.

New Heavens and a New Earth

I was found by those who did not seek me. They will build houses and inhabit them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit — and not build for another to inhabit.

As One Whom His Mother Comforts

To this man I will look: to him who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at my word. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.