Isaiah 46–51

^aBel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth,

Their ^bidols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle:

Your ^cocarriages were heavy loaden;

They are a burden to the ^dweary beast.

²They stoop, they bow down together;

They could not deliver the burden,

^eBut themselves are gone into captivity.

³Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob,

And ^fall the remnant of the house of Israel,

Which are borne by me ^gfrom the belly,

^hWhich are carried ^gfrom the womb:

⁴And even to your ⁱold age ^kI am he;

And even ⁱto hoar hairs will I carry you:

I have made, and I will ^hbear;

Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

^5lTo whom will ye liken me, and make me equal,

And compare me, that we may be like?

^6mThey lavish gold out of the bag,

And weigh silver in the balance,

And hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god:

ⁿThey fall down, yea, they worship.

^7oThey bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him,

And ^pset him in his place, and he standeth;

From his place shall he not remove:

Yea, one shall cry unto him, ^qyet can he not answer,

Nor save him out of his trouble.

⁸Remember this, and ^rshew yourselves men:

^sBring it again to mind, O ye ^ttransgressors.

^9uRemember the former things of old:

^vFor I am God, and there is none else;

I am God, and there is none like me,

^10wDeclaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times the things that are not yet done,

Saying, ^xMy counsel shall stand,

And I will do ^yall my pleasure:

¹¹Calling ^za ravenous bird ^afrom the east,

The man ^ythat executeth my counsel from a far country:

Yea, ^bI have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass;

I have purposed it, I will also do it.

¹²Hearken unto me, ^cye stouthearted,

That are far from righteousness:

^13dI bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off,

And my salvation ^eshall not tarry:

And I will place ^fsalvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

XLVII.^aCome down, and sit in the dust, O virgin ^bdaughter of Babylon,

^cSit on the ground: ^dthere is no throne,

^eO daughter of the Chaldeans;

For thou shalt no more be called ^ftender and delicate.

^2gTake the millstones, and ^hgrind meal:

Uncover thy ⁱlocks, make bare the leg,

^kUncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.

^3kThy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen:

^lI will take vengeance, and I will not ^mmeet thee as a man.

⁴As for ^noour redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name,

ⁿThe Holy One of Israel.

⁵Sit thou ^psilent, and get thee into ^pdarkness, ^eO daughter of the Chaldeans:

^qFor thou shalt no more be called, ^rThe lady of kingdoms.

^6sI was wroth with ^tmy people, ^uI have polluted ^tmine inheritance,

And given them into thine hand:

Thou didst shew them no mercy;

^vUpon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.

⁷And ^wthou saidst, I shall be ^ra lady for ever:

So that thou didst not ^xlay these things to thy heart,

Neither didst remember ^ythe latter end of it.

⁸Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, ^zthat dwellest carelessly,

^zaThat sayest in thine heart, ^bI am, and none else besides me;

^cI shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know ^dthe loss of children:

⁹But ^ethese two things shall come to thee ^fin a moment ^gin one day,

^dThe loss of children, and widowhood:

They shall come upon thee in their perfection

^hFor the multitude of thy ⁱsorceries, and for the great abundance of ^hthine ⁱenchantments.

¹⁰For thou ^khast trusted in thy wickedness: ^lthou hast said, None seeth me.

^mThy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee;

And ^athou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else besides me.

¹¹Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth:

And ⁿmischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off:

And ^odesolation shall come upon thee ^fsuddenly, which ^pthou shalt not know.

^12qStand now ^hwith thine enchantments, and ^hwith the multitude of thy sorceries,

Wherein ^sthou hast laboured from thy youth;

If so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest ^rprevail.

^13sThou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels.

^tLet now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators,

Stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

¹⁴Behold, they shall be ^uas stubble; the fire shall burn them;

They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame:

There shall not be a coal to warm at, nor ^vfire to sit before it.

¹⁵Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even ^wthy merchants, from thy youth:

They shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.

XLVIII.Hear ye this, O house of Jacob,

Which are called by the name of Israel,

And ^aare come forth out of the waters of Judah,

^bWhich swear by the name of the Lord,

And make mention of ^cthe God of Israel,

But not ^din truth, nor in righteousness.

²For they call themselves of ^ethe holy city,

And ^fstay themselves upon the God of Israel;

The Lord of hosts is his name.

^3gI have declared the former things ^hfrom the beginning;

And they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them;

I did them suddenly, and ⁱthey came to pass.

⁴Because I knew that thou art obstinate,

And ^jthy neck is an iron sinew,

And thy brow brass:

⁵I have even ^hfrom the beginning declared it to thee;

Before it came to pass I shewed it thee:

^kLest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them,

And my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

⁶Thou hast heard, see all this;

And will not ye declare it?

I have shewed thee new things from this time,

Even ^lhidden things, and thou didst not know them.

⁷They are created now, and not ^hfrom the beginning;

Even before the day when thou heardest them not;

^kLest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.

⁸Yea, thou heardest not; yea, ^kthou knewest not;

Yea, ^hfrom that time that thine ear was not opened:

For I knew that thou wouldest ^mdeal very treacherously,

And wast called a transgressor ⁿfrom the womb.

^9oFor my name’s sake ^pwill ^qI defer mine anger,

And for my praise will I refrain for thee,

That I cut thee not off.

¹⁰Behold, ^rI have refined thee, but not with silver;

I have chosen thee ^sin the furnace of affliction.

^11tFor mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it:

For ^uhow should my name be polluted?

And ^vI will not give my glory unto another.

¹²Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel my called;

^wI am he; ^xI am the first, I also am the last.

^13yMine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth,

And my right hand hath spanned the heavens:

When I call unto them, they stand up together.

¹⁴All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear;

^zWhich among them hath declared these things?

^aThe Lord hath loved him:

^bHe will do his pleasure on Babylon,

And ^ahis arm shall be on ^cthe Chaldeans.

¹⁵I, even I, have spoken; yea, ^dI have called him:

I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

¹⁶Come ye near unto me, hear ye this;

^eI have not spoken in secret from the beginning;

From the time that it was, there am I:

And now ^fthe Lord God, and ^fhis Spirit, hath sent me.

^17ghThus saith the Lord, ^hthy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel;

I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit,

Which leadeth thee ⁱby the way that thou shouldest go.

^18jO that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments!

Then had ^kthy peace been as a river,

And thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

¹⁹Thy seed also had been ^las the sand,

And ^mthe offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof;

His name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

²⁰ⁿGo ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from ^cthe Chaldeans,

ⁿⁿWith a voice of singing declare ye, tell this,

Utter it even to the end of the earth;

Say ye, ^nnoThe Lord ^hhath redeemed ^phis servant Jacob.

²¹And ^qthey thirsted not when he led them through the deserts:

^rHe caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them:

^qHe clave the rock also, and ^sthe waters gushed out.

^22tThere is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.

XLIX.Listen, ^aO isles, unto me;

And hearken, ye people, ^bfrom afar;

^cThe Lord hath called me ^dfrom the womb;

From the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

²And he hath made ^emy mouth ^flike a sharp sword;

^gIn the shadow of his hand hath he hid me,

And made me ^ha polished shaft;

In his quiver hath he hid me;

³And said unto me, ⁱThou art my servant,

O Israel, ^kin whom I will be glorified.

⁴Then I said, ^lI have laboured in vain,

I have spent my strength ^mfor nought, and in vain:

Yet surely ⁿmy judgment is with the Lord,

And my work with my God.

⁵And now, saith ^cthe Lord ^othat formed me ^dfrom the womb to be his servant,

To bring Jacob again to him,

Though Israel be not gathered,

Yet shall I ^pbe glorious in the eyes of the Lord,

And my God shall be my strength.

⁶And he said, ^qIt is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant

To raise up the tribes of Jacob,

And to restore the ^rpreserved of Israel:

^sI will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles.

That thou mayest be ^tmy salvation unto the end of the earth.

^7uThus saith the Lord, the redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One,

^vTo him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers,

^wKings shall see and arise,

Princes also shall worship,

Because of ^xthe Lord that is faithful,

And the Holy One of Israel, and ^yhe shall choose thee.

⁸Thus saith the Lord,

^zIn an acceptable time have I heard thee,

And in a day of salvation have I helped thee:

And I will preserve thee, and ^agive thee for a covenant of the people,

To establish the earth, ^aato cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

⁹That thou mayest say ^bcto the prisoners, Go forth;

^bTo them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves.

They shall feed in the ways,

And their pastures shall be in all high places.

^10dThey shall not hunger nor thirst;

^eNeither shall ^fthe heat nor sun smite them:

For he that hath mercy on them ^gshall lead them,

Even by ^hthe springs of water ^gshall he guide them.

¹¹And ⁱI will make all my mountains a way,

And my highways shall be exalted.

¹²Behold, ^kthese shall come from far:

And lo, these ^lfrom the north and ^lfrom the west;

And these from the land of Sinim.

^13mSing, O heavens; and ⁿbe joyful, O…