For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those in Laodicea, even all who have not seen my face in the flesh,

That their hearts may be  ¹comforted, they being knit together in  ²love and unto all the  ³riches of the  ⁴full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of the  ⁵mystery of God, Christ,

In whom all the treasures of  ¹wisdom and knowledge are hidden.

This I say that no one may  ¹delude you with  ²persuasive speech.

For even though I am absent in the flesh, yet in the  ¹spirit I am with you, rejoicing and seeing your order and the solid basis of your faith  ²in Christ.

As therefore you have  ¹received the Christ, Jesus the Lord,  ²walk in Him,

Having been  ¹rooted and being built up in Him, and being established  ²in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Beware that no one carries you off as spoil through his  ¹philosophy and empty deceit, according to the  ²tradition of men, according to the  ³elements of the world, and not according to  ⁴Christ;

For in Him dwells all the  ¹fullness of the  ²Godhead  ³bodily,

And you have been made  ¹full in Him, who is the Head of all  ²rule and authority.

In Him also you were circumcised with a  ¹circumcision  ²not made with hands, in the  ³putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ,

 ¹Buried together with Him in baptism, in which also you were  ²raised together with Him through the  ³faith of the operation of God, who raised Him from the dead.

And you, though  ¹dead in your offenses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He  ²made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our offenses;

 ¹Wiping out the  ²handwriting in  ³ordinances, which was against us, which was contrary to us; and He has taken it out of the way,  ⁴nailing it to the cross.

 ¹Stripping off the  ²rulers and the authorities,  ³He made a  ⁴display of them openly, triumphing over them in  ⁵it.

Let no one therefore judge you  ¹in eating and in drinking or in respect of a  ²feast or of a  ³new moon or of the  ⁴Sabbath,

Which are a  ¹shadow of the things to come, but the  ²body is of  ³Christ.

Let no one  ¹defraud you by judging you unworthy of your prize, in self-chosen  ²lowliness and the worship of the angels,  ³dwelling on the things which he has  ⁴seen, vainly puffed up by  ⁵his mind set on the flesh,

And  ¹not holding the Head,  ²out from whom all the  ³Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the  ⁴joints and  ⁵sinews,  ⁶grows with the  ⁷growth of God.

 ¹If you  ²died with Christ from the  ³elements of the world, why, as living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances:

 ¹Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch,

(Regarding things which are all to  ¹perish when  ²used) according to the commandments and teachings of men?

 ¹Such things indeed have a  ²reputation of wisdom in self-imposed worship and lowliness and  ³severe treatment of the body, but are  ⁴not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.

 ¹Listen to Me in silence, O coastlands.
Let the people renew their strength;
Let them approach, then let them speak;
Let us come together for judgment.

Who has stirred up someone from the east,
Called  ¹him in righteousness to His feet?
He gave up the nations before him,
And caused him to have dominion over kings.
He made them like dust with his sword,
Like driven stubble with his bow.

He pursues them and passes on in safety,
He will not come on a way known to his feet.

Who has wrought this and done this,
Calling the generations from the beginning?
I, Jehovah, am the first,
And with the last, I am  ¹He.

The coastlands saw it and were afraid;
The ends of the earth trembled;
They drew near and came.

Each one helps his neighbor,
And each one says to his brother, Be strong.

So the craftsman encourages the goldsmith,
And he who smoothes metal with a hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil,
Saying that the soldering is good;
And he fastens it with nails so that it should not be moved.

But you,  ¹Israel, My servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
The seed of Abraham My friend;

You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And from its extremities have called,
And said to you, You are My servant;
I have chosen you and have not cast you away.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you; surely I will help you;
Surely I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness.

Indeed all those who were incensed against you
Will be ashamed and confounded;
The men who strive against you
Will be as nothing and will perish.

You will seek but not find
The men who contend with you;
The men who war with you
Will be as nothing and as without existence.

For I am Jehovah your God,
Who takes hold of your right hand,
Who says to you, Do not be afraid;
I will help you.

Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob,
You few men of Israel;
I will help you, declares Jehovah,
Even your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

Now I will make you into a sharp threshing instrument,
One that is new and possessing teeth.
You shall thresh the mountains and make them powder,
And you shall make the hills like chaff.

You shall winnow them, and the wind will carry them away
And the storm wind will scatter them.
And you will rejoice in Jehovah,
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

When the poor and needy seek for water, and there is none,
And their tongue is dry from thirst,
I, Jehovah, will answer them;
As the God of Israel I will not forsake them.

I will open up rivers on the bare heights,
And in the midst of the valleys, springs.
I will make the wilderness into a pool of water,
And the dry land into springs of water.

I will plant in the wilderness the cedar,
The acacia, the myrtle, and the olive tree;
I will place in the desert the fir tree,
The pine tree, and the box tree together;

That they may see and know,
And consider and understand together,
That the hand of Jehovah has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Present your  ¹case, says Jehovah;
Bring forward your arguments, says the King of Jacob.

Let them bring forth and declare to us
What will take place;
Let them show what the former things were,
That we may consider them,
And may know the end of them;
Or let us hear the things that are coming.

Declare to us the things that are coming afterward,
That we may know that you are gods;
Indeed do good or do evil,
That we may look at one another anxiously and be afraid together.

You are indeed nothing,
And your work is of no consequence;
He who chooses you is an abomination.

I have raised up one from the north and he has come;
From the rising of the sun he will call upon My name.
He will come upon rulers as upon mortar,
As the potter treads the clay.

Who has declared it from the beginning that we may know,
And in advance that we may say, He is right?
Indeed there was no one who declared it; indeed no one who let us hear;
Indeed no one who heard your words.

Formerly I said to Zion, Here, here they are;
And to Jerusalem, I will give someone who preaches glad tidings.

But I looked and there was no man,
And from among these there was no counselor,
Who, when I asked, would give Me an answer.

Indeed all of them are vanity;
Their works are of no consequence;
Their molten images are a wind and a waste.

Here is My  ¹Servant, whom I uphold,
My chosen One in whom My soul delights;
I have put My  ²Spirit upon Him,
And He will bring forth  ³justice to the nations.

He will not  ¹cry out, nor lift up His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.

A  ¹bruised reed He will not break;
And a  ¹dimly burning flax He will not extinguish;
He will bring forth justice in truth.

He will not  ¹faint, nor will He  ²be discouraged,
Until He has established  ³justice in the earth;
And the coastlands will wait for His instruction.

Thus says God Jehovah,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread forth the earth and what springs up from it,
Who gives breath to the people upon it
And  ¹spirit to those who walk on it:

I am Jehovah; I have called You in righteousness;
I have held You by the hand;
I have kept You and I have given You
As a  ¹covenant for the people, as a  ²light for the nations;

To open the eyes of the blind,
To bring the prisoner out from the prison,
Those who dwell in darkness from the prison house.

I am Jehovah, that is My name,
And I will not give My glory to another,
Nor My praise to idols.

Indeed, the former things have come to pass,
And new things I am telling you;
Before they spring forth
I will let you hear them.

Sing a new song to Jehovah;
Sing His praise from the end of the earth;
You who go down to the sea and all that fills it,
You coastlands and their inhabitants.

Let the wilderness and its cities,
The villages which Kedar inhabits, lift up their voices;
Let the inhabitants of  ¹Sela sing for joy;
Let them shout from the tops of the mountains.

Let them give glory to Jehovah,
And declare His praise in the coastlands.

Jehovah will go forth as a mighty man,
Like a man of war He will stir up His jealousy;
He will raise a war cry; He will even roar.
He will prevail over His enemies.

For a long time I have been silent;
I have kept still, I have restrained Myself.
Now I will cry like a woman in travail;
I will  ¹gasp and pant at the same time.

I will lay waste the mountains and hills,
And all of their vegetation I will dry up;
And I will make the rivers into islands;
I will dry up the pools.

I will bring the blind on a way they do not know;
I will guide them in paths they do not know;
I will make the darkness into light before them,
And crooked things straight.
These are the things
I will do for them and will not forsake them.

They who have turned back will be utterly put to shame,
That is, those who trust in graven images,
Those who say to molten images,
You are our gods.

You who are deaf, Hear;
And you who are blind, Look, that you may see.

Who is blind except My  ¹servant,
And as deaf as My messenger, whom I will send?
Who is as blind as the one at peace with Me,
And as blind as the servant of Jehovah?

You have seen many things and do not observe them;
His ears are open, but he does not hear.

Jehovah is well pleased for His righteousness' sake;
He will magnify the law and make it honorable.

But this is a people plundered and spoiled:
All of them are trapped in holes,
And they are hidden in prison houses;
They have become plunder, and there is no one to deliver;
They have become spoil, and there is no one to say, Restore them.

Who among you will give ear to this?
Who will pay attention and listen to the coming things?

Who gave Jacob to the plunderers,
And Israel to the robbers?
Was it not Jehovah, against whom we have sinned,
And in whose ways they were not willing to walk,
And whose law they would not obey?

Therefore He poured out upon them the heat of His anger
And the strength of battle;
And set them on fire round about, yet they did not realize it;
And He burned against them and they did not take it to heart.