13. The Lord advances like a warrior;He stirs up His zeal like a soldier. He shouts, He roars aloud,He prevails over His enemies.
14. “I have kept silent from ages past;I have been quiet and restrained Myself. But now, I will groan like a woman in labor, gasping breathlessly.
15. I will lay waste mountains and hillsand dry up all their vegetation.I will turn rivers into islandsand dry up marshes.
16. I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on paths they have not known.I will turn darkness to light in front of them and rough places into level ground. This is what I will do for them,and I will not forsake them.
17. They will be turned back and utterly ashamed —those who trust in idolsand say to metal-plated images:You are our gods!
18. “Listen, you deaf!Look, you blind, so that you may see.
19. Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like My messenger I am sending?Who is blind like My dedicated one, or blind like the servant of the Lord?
20. Though seeing many things, you do not obey.Though his ears are open, he does not listen.”
21. The Lord was pleased, because of His righteousness,to magnify His instruction and make it glorious.
22. But this is a people plundered and looted,all of them trapped in holesor imprisoned in dungeons.They have become plunder with no one to rescue themand loot, with no one saying, “Give it back! ”
23. Who among you will pay attention to this?Let him listen and obey in the future.
24. Who gave Jacob to the robber, and Israel to the plunderers?Was it not the Lord?Have we not sinned against Him?They were not willing to walk in His ways,and they would not listen to His instruction.
25. So He poured out on Jacob His furious angerand the power of war.It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it;it burned him, but he paid no attention.