Messengers from Babylonia

¹About that same time the king of Babylonia, Merodach Baladan, son of Baladan, heard that King Hezekiah had been sick, so he sent him a letter and a present.

²Hezekiah welcomed the messengers and showed them his wealth—his silver and gold, his spices and perfumes, and all his military equipment. There was nothing in his storerooms or anywhere in his kingdom that he did not show them.

³Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did these messengers come from and what did they say to you?” Hezekiah answered, “They came from a very distant country, from Babylonia.”

⁴“What did they see in the palace?” “They saw everything. There is nothing in the storerooms that I didn't show them.”

⁵Isaiah then told the king, “The Lord Almighty says that

⁶a time is coming when everything in your palace, everything that your ancestors have stored up to this day, will be carried off to Babylonia. Nothing will be left.

⁷Some of your own direct descendants will be taken away and made eunuchs to serve in the palace of the king of Babylonia.”

⁸King Hezekiah understood this to mean that there would be peace and security during his lifetime, so he replied, “The message you have given me from the Lord is good.”

Words of Hope

¹“Comfort my people,” says our God. “Comfort them!

²Encourage the people of Jerusalem. Tell them they have suffered long enough and their sins are now forgiven. I have punished them in full for all their sins.”

³A voice cries out, “Prepare in the wilderness a road for the Lord! Clear the way in the desert for our God!

⁴Fill every valley; level every mountain. The hills will become a plain, and the rough country will be made smooth.

⁵Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it. The Lord himself has promised this.”

⁶A voice cries out, “Proclaim a message!” “What message shall I proclaim?” I ask. “Proclaim that all human beings are like grass; they last no longer than wild flowers.

⁷Grass withers and flowers fade when the Lord sends the wind blowing over them. People are no more enduring than grass.

⁸Yes, grass withers and flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever.”

⁹Jerusalem, go up on a high mountain and proclaim the good news! Call out with a loud voice, Zion; announce the good news! Speak out and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah that their God is coming!

¹⁰The Sovereign Lord is coming to rule with power, bringing with him the people he has rescued.

¹¹He will take care of his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs together and carry them in his arms; he will gently lead their mothers.

Israel's Incomparable God

¹²Can anyone measure the ocean by handfuls or measure the sky with his hands? Can anyone hold the soil of the earth in a cup or weigh the mountains and hills on scales?

¹³Can anyone tell the Lord what to do? Who can teach him or give him advice?

¹⁴With whom does God consult in order to know and understand and to learn how things should be done?

¹⁵To the Lord the nations are nothing, no more than a drop of water; the distant islands are as light as dust.

¹⁶All the animals in the forests of Lebanon are not enough for a sacrifice to our God, and its trees are too few to kindle the fire.

¹⁷The nations are nothing at all to him.

¹⁸To whom can God be compared? How can you describe what he is like?

¹⁹He is not like an idol that workers make, that metalworkers cover with gold and set in a base of silver.

²⁰Anyone who cannot afford silver or gold chooses wood that will not rot. He finds a skillful worker to make an image that won't fall down.

²¹Do you not know? Were you not told long ago? Have you not heard how the world began?

²²It was made by the one who sits on his throne above the earth and beyond the sky; the people below look as tiny as ants. He stretched out the sky like a curtain, like a tent in which to live.

²³He brings down powerful rulers and reduces them to nothing.

²⁴They are like young plants, just set out and barely rooted. When the Lord sends a wind, they dry up and blow away like straw.

²⁵To whom can the holy God be compared? Is there anyone else like him?

²⁶Look up at the sky! Who created the stars you see? The one who leads them out like an army, he knows how many there are and calls each one by name! His power is so great— not one of them is ever missing!

²⁷Israel, why then do you complain that the Lord doesn't know your troubles or care if you suffer injustice?

²⁸Don't you know? Haven't you heard? The Lord is the everlasting God; he created all the world. He never grows tired or weary. No one understands his thoughts.

²⁹He strengthens those who are weak and tired.

³⁰Even those who are young grow weak; young people can fall exhausted.

³¹But those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. They will rise on wings like eagles; they will run and not get weary; they will walk and not grow weak.

God's Throne

¹On the fifth day of the fourth month of the thirtieth year, I, Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, was living with the Jewish exiles by the Chebar River in Babylonia. The sky opened, and I saw a vision of God.

²(It was the fifth year since King Jehoiachin had been taken into exile.)

³There in Babylonia beside the Chebar River, I heard the Lord speak to me, and I felt his power.

⁴I looked up and saw a windstorm coming from the north. Lightning was flashing from a huge cloud, and the sky around it was glowing. Where the lightning was flashing, something shone like bronze.

⁵At the center of the storm I saw what looked like four living creatures in human form,

⁶but each of them had four faces and four wings.

⁷Their legs were straight, and they had hoofs like those of a bull. They shone like polished bronze.

⁸In addition to their four faces and four wings, they each had four human hands, one under each wing.

⁹Two wings of each creature were spread out so that the creatures formed a square, with their wing tips touching. When they moved, they moved as a group without turning their bodies.

¹⁰Each living creature had four different faces: a human face in front, a lion's face at the right, a bull's face at the left, and an eagle's face at the back.

¹¹Two wings of each creature were raised so that they touched the tips of the wings of the creatures next to it, and their other two wings were folded against their bodies.

¹²Each creature faced all four directions, and so the group could go wherever they wished, without having to turn.

¹³Among the creatures there was something that looked like a blazing torch, constantly moving. The fire would blaze up and shoot out flashes of lightning.

¹⁴The creatures themselves darted back and forth with the speed of lightning.

¹⁵As I was looking at the four creatures I saw four wheels touching the ground, one beside each of them.

¹⁶All four wheels were alike; each one shone like a precious stone, and each had another wheel intersecting it at right angles,

¹⁷so that the wheels could move in any of the four directions.

¹⁸The rims of the wheels were covered with eyes.

¹⁹Whenever the creatures moved, the wheels moved with them, and if the creatures rose up from the earth, so did the wheels.

²⁰The creatures went wherever they wished, and the wheels did exactly what the creatures did, because the creatures controlled them.

²¹So every time the creatures moved or stopped or rose in the air, the wheels did exactly the same.

²²Above the heads of the creatures there was something that looked like a dome made of dazzling crystal.

²³There under the dome stood the creatures, each stretching out two wings toward the ones next to it and covering its body with the other two wings.

²⁴I heard the noise their wings made in flight; it sounded like the roar of the sea, like the noise of a huge army, like the voice of Almighty God. When they stopped flying, they folded their wings,

²⁵but there was still a sound coming from above the dome over their heads.

²⁶Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne made of sapphire, and sitting on the throne was a figure that looked like a human being.

²⁷The figure seemed to be shining like bronze in the middle of a fire. It shone all over with a bright light

God Calls Ezekiel to Be a Prophet

²⁸that had in it all the colors of the rainbow. This was the dazzling light which shows the presence of the Lord. When I saw this, I fell face downward on the ground. Then I heard a voice

²⁹Those who bring trouble on their families will have nothing at the end. Foolish people will always be servants to the wise.

³⁰Righteousness gives life, but violence takes it away.

³¹Those who are good are rewarded here on earth, so you can be sure that wicked and sinful people will be punished.