The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁷ “The suffering and those in need look for water, but there is none. Their tongue is dry with thirst. I the Lord will answer them. I the God of Israel will not leave them alone. ¹⁸ I will open rivers on the dry mountain tops, and give water in the valleys. I will make the desert a pool of water, and the dry land wells of water. ¹⁹ I will put in the desert the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive tree. I will put the juniper tree in the desert, together with the box tree and the cypress. ²⁰ Then men will see and know and think about and understand that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has made it happen.

²¹ “Let your cause be known,” says the Lord. “Bring what you have to prove it,” says the King of Jacob. ²² Let them bring what they have, and tell us what is going to happen. Let them tell us what has happened in the past, that we may think about it and know what will happen in the future. ²³ Tell us what will happen after this, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good or bad, that we may together be afraid and fear. ²⁴ See, you are nothing. And your work is nothing. He who chooses you is hated and sinful.

²⁵ “I have called one from the north, and he has come. From the rising of the sun he will call on My name. He will step hard on rulers as on builder’s clay, as the pot-maker steps hard on clay.” ²⁶ Who has said this from the beginning, that we might know, or from times long ago, that we might say, “He is right”? There was no one who said it, no one who made it known, no one who heard your words. ²⁷ “Before I had said to Zion, ‘See, here they are,’ and to Jerusalem, ‘I will send someone to bring good news.’ ²⁸ But I see that there is no one, even no wise man among them, who can answer My questions. ²⁹ See, all of them are false. Their works are nothing. Their objects of worship are empty wind.

The Servant of the Lord

42 “See! My servant, My chosen one! My much Loved, in Whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit on Him. He will say to the nations what is right from wrong. ² He will not cry out or speak with a loud voice. His voice will not be heard in the streets. ³ He will not break a broken branch or put out a little fire. He will be faithful to make everything fair. ⁴ He will not lose hope or be crushed, until He has made things right on the earth. And the islands will wait with hope in His Law.”

⁵ This is what God the Lord Who made the heavens and spread them out and Who spread out the earth and what comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk in it, says, ⁶ “I am the Lord. I have called you to be right and good. I will hold you by the hand and watch over you. And I will give you as an agreement to the people, as a light to the nations. ⁷ You will open blind eyes. You will bring people out of prison, out of the prison where they live in darkness. ⁸ I am the Lord. That is My name. I will not give My shining-greatness to another, or My praise to false gods. ⁹ See, the things told about in the past have happened. Now I speak about new things. Before they happen I will tell you about them.”

A Song of Praise to the Lord

¹⁰ Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing His praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands and those who live on them. ¹¹ Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the towns where Kedar lives. Let the people of Sela sing. Let them call out for joy from the tops of the mountains. ¹² Let them give honor to the Lord, and praise Him in the islands. ¹³ The Lord will go out like a powerful soldier. He will be ready like a man of war. He will call out, yes, He will call out a war cry. He will be strong against those who hate Him.

God Promises to Help His People

¹⁴ “I have been quiet for a long time. I have been quiet and have held Myself back. Now I will cry out like a woman giving birth. I will breathe hard and fast. ¹⁵ I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and dry up all their plants. I will make the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools. ¹⁶ I will lead the blind by a way that they do not know. I will lead them in paths they do not know. I will turn darkness into light in front of them. And I will make the bad places smooth. These are the things I will do and I will not leave them.” ¹⁷ They will be turned back and be put to shame who trust in false gods, who say to these objects of worship, “You are our gods.”

Israel Is Blind and Cannot Hear

¹⁸ Listen, you who do not hear! And look, you blind, that you may see. ¹⁹ Who is blind but My servant? Who does not hear, as the one whom I send with news? Who is so blind as he who is at peace with Me, or so blind as the servant of the Lord? ²⁰ You see many things, but you cannot tell what you see. Your ears are open, but you do not hear. ²¹ Because He is right and good, the Lord was pleased to make the Law great and give it honor. ²² But this is a people robbed of what they owned. All of them are trapped in deep holes, or hidden in prisons. They have been robbed of what they have, with no one to help them. They have been taken away, with no one to say, “Give them back!”

²³ Who among you will hear this? Who will listen and hear in the future? ²⁴ Who let Jacob be taken? Who gave Israel to robbers? Was it not the Lord, Whom we have sinned against, in Whose ways we were not willing to walk, and Whose Law we did not obey? ²⁵ So He poured out upon Israel the heat of His anger and the power of battle. It set him on fire all around. Yet he did not understand. It burned him, but he did not think about it.

God Promises to Save Israel

43 But now the Lord Who made you, O Jacob, and He Who made you, O Israel, says, “Do not be afraid. For I have bought you and made you free. I have called you by name. You are Mine! ² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not flow over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The fire will not destroy you. ³ For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, Who saves you. I have given Egypt as pay for your life, and have traded Cush and Seba for you. ⁴ You are of great worth in My eyes. You are honored and I love you. I will give other men in your place. I will trade other people for your life. ⁵ Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bring your children from the east, and I will gather you from the west. ⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from far away, and My daughters from the ends of the earth. ⁷ Bring every one who is called by My name, for I have made him for My honor, yes, I made him.”

⁸ Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes, and those who cannot hear, even though they have ears. ⁹ All the nations have gathered together so the people may be together. Who among them can make this known, and tell us what has happened before? Let them bring people who can show us that they are right. Let them hear and say, “It is true.” ¹⁰ “You can speak for Me,” says the Lord. “You are My servant whom I have chosen so that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. No God was made before Me, and there will be none after Me. ¹¹ I, even I, am the Lord. There is no one who saves except Me. ¹² I have spoken and saved and have made things known, and there was no strange god among you. You can speak for Me,” says the Lord, “and I am God. ¹³ I am God and always will be. No one is able to take anything out of My hand. I do something, and who can change it?”

God Saved Us from Sin

2 At one time you were dead because of your sins. ² You followed the sinful ways of the world and obeyed the leader of the power of darkness. He is the devil who is now working in the people who do not obey God. ³ At one time all of us lived to please our old selves. We gave in to what our bodies and minds wanted. We were sinful from birth like all other people and would suffer from the anger of God.

⁴ But God had so much loving-kindness. He loved us with such a great love. ⁵ Even when we were dead because of our sins, He made us alive by what Christ did for us. You have been saved from the punishment of sin by His loving-favor. ⁶ God raised us up from death when He raised up Christ Jesus. He has given us a place with Christ in the heavens. ⁷ He did this to show us through all the time to come the great riches of His loving-favor. He has shown us His kindness through Christ Jesus.

⁸ For by His loving-favor you have been saved from the punishment of sin through faith. It is not by anything you have done. It is a gift of God. ⁹ It is not given to you because you worked for it. If you could work for it, you would be proud. ¹⁰ We are His work. He has made us to belong to Christ Jesus so we can work for Him. He planned that we should do this.

Followers Now Become the Body of Christ

¹¹ Do not forget that at one time you did not know God. The Jews, who had gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew by man’s hands, said you were people who do not know God. ¹² You were living without Christ then. The Jewish people who belonged to God had nothing to do with you. The promises He gave to them were not for you. You had nothing in this world to hope for. You were without God.

¹³ But now you belong to Christ Jesus. At one time you were far away from God. Now you have been brought close to Him. Christ did this for you when He gave His blood on the cross. ¹⁴ We have peace because of Christ. He has made the Jews and those who are not Jews one people. He broke down the wall that divided them. ¹⁵ He stopped the fighting between them by His death on the cross. He put an end to the Law. Then He made of the two people one new kind of people like Himself. In this way, He made peace. ¹⁶ He brought both groups together to God. Christ finished the fighting between them by His death on the cross. ¹⁷ Then Christ came and preached the Good News of peace to you who were far away from God. And He preached it to us who were near God. ¹⁸ Now all of us can go to the Father through Christ by way of the one Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ From now on you are not strangers and people who are not citizens. You are citizens together with those who belong to God. You belong in God’s family. ²⁰ This family is built on the teachings of the missionaries and the early preachers. Jesus Christ Himself is the cornerstone, which is the most important part of the building. ²¹ Christ keeps this building together and it is growing into a holy building for the Lord. ²² You are also being put together as a part of this building because God lives in you by His Spirit.

Nations Praise God

67 May God show loving-kindness toward us and bring good to us. May He make His face shine upon us. ² May Your way be known on the earth, and Your saving power among all nations. ³ May the people praise You, O God. May all the people praise You. ⁴ May the nations be glad and sing for joy. For You will be fair when You judge the people and rule the nations of the earth. ⁵ May the people praise You, O God. May all the people praise You. ⁶ The earth has given its fruit. God, our God, will bring good to us. ⁷ God will bring good to us, and all the ends of the earth will fear Him.

²⁹ Who has trouble? Who has sorrow? Who is fighting? Who is complaining? Who is hurt without a reason? Who has eyes that have become red? ³⁰ Those who stay a long time over wine. Those who go to taste mixed wine. ³¹ Do not look at wine when it is red, when it shines in the cup, when it is smooth in going down. ³² In the end it bites like a snake. It stings like the bite of a snake with poison. ³³ Your eyes will see strange things. Your mind will say the wrong things. ³⁴ And you will be like one who lies down in the center of the sea, or like one who lies above a ship’s sail. ³⁵ “They hit me, but I was not hurt. They beat me, but I did not know it. When will I wake up? I will look for another drink.”