Isaiah 46–49

1Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.

2The gods cower; they crouch together, unable to relieve the burden; but they themselves go into captivity.

3“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.

4Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.

5To whom will you liken Me or count Me equal? To whom will you compare Me, that we should be alike?

6They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

7They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles.

8Remember this and be brave; take it to heart, you transgressors!

9Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.

10I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’

11I summon a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land. Truly I have spoken, and truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, and I will surely do it.

12Listen to Me, you stubborn people, far removed from righteousness:

13I am bringing My righteousness near; it is not far away, and My salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion and adorn Israel with My splendor.

1“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of the Chaldeans! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.

2Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.

3Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”

4Our Redeemer—the LORD of Hosts is His name— is the Holy One of Israel.

5“Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.

6I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.

7You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.

8So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’

9These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.

10You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

11But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.

12So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror!

13You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you— your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate.

14Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.

15This is what they are to you— those with whom you have labored and traded from youth— each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.

1“Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, who have descended from the line of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD, who invoke the God of Israel— but not in truth or righteousness—

2who indeed call yourselves after the holy city and lean on the God of Israel; the LORD of Hosts is His name.

3I foretold the former things long ago; they came out of My mouth and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.

4For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze.

5Therefore I declared it to you long ago; I announced it before it came to pass, so that you could not claim, ‘My idol has done this; my carved image and molten god has ordained it.’

6You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not acknowledge them? From now on I will tell you of new things, hidden things unknown to you.

7They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot claim, ‘I already knew them!’

8You have never heard; you have never understood; for a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew how deceitful you are; you have been called a rebel from birth.

9For the sake of My name I will delay My wrath; for the sake of My praise I will restrain it, so that you will not be cut off.

10See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

11For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.

12Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the first, and I am the last.

13Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.

14Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The LORD’s chosen ally will carry out His desire against Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans.

15I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I have brought him, and he will succeed in his mission.

16Come near to Me and listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it happened, I was there.” And now the Lord GOD has sent me, accompanied by His Spirit.

17Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go.

18If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.

19Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and your offspring as numerous as its grains; their name would never be cut off or eliminated from My presence.”

20Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare it with a shout of joy, proclaim it, let it go out to the ends of the earth, saying, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!”

21They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.

22“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

1Listen to Me, O islands; pay attention, O distant peoples: The LORD called Me from the womb; from the body of My mother He named Me.

2He made My mouth like a sharp sword; He hid Me in the shadow of His hand. He made Me like a polished arrow; He hid Me in His quiver.

3He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel, in whom I will display My glory.”

4But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength in futility and vanity; yet My vindication is with the LORD, and My reward is with My God.”

5And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, that Israel might be gathered to Him— for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and My God is My strength—

6He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

7Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, to Him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the Servant of rulers: “Kings will see You and rise, and princes will bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You.”

8This is what the LORD says: “In the time of favor I will answer You, and in the day of salvation I will help You; I will keep You and appoint You to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to apportion its desolate inheritances,

9to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will feed along the pathways, and find pasture on every barren hill.

10They will not hunger or thirst, nor will scorching heat or sun beat down on them. For He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

11I will turn all My mountains into roads, and My highways will be raised up.

12Behold, they will come from far away, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Aswan.”

13Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth in song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.

14But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!”

15“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!

16Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.

17Your builders hasten back; your destroyers and wreckers depart from you.

18Lift up your eyes and look around. They all gather together; they come to you. As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “you will wear them all as jewelry and put them on like a bride.

19For your ruined and desolate places and your ravaged land will now indeed be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away.

20Yet the children of your bereavement will say in your hearing, ‘This place is too small for us; make room for us to live here.’

21Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. So who has reared them? Look, I was left all alone, so where did they come from?’”

22This is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and raise My banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

23Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in Me will never be put to shame.”

24Can the plunder be snatched from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered?

25Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away, and the plunder of the tyrant will be retrieved; I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.

26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”