Isaiah 46–51

THERE IS NO ONE LIKE GOD

46Bel crouches; Nebo cowers.^m

Idols depicting them are consigned to beasts and cattle.

The images you carry are loaded,

as a burden for the weary animal.

²The gods cower; they crouch together;

they are not able to rescue the burden,

but they themselves go into captivity.ⁿ

³“Listen to me, house of Jacob,

all the remnant of the house of Israel,

who have been sustained from the womb,

carried along since birth.

⁴I will be the same until your old age,^o

and I will bear you up when you turn gray.

I have made you, and I will carry you;

I will bear and rescue you.

⁵“To whom will you compare me or make me equal?

Who will you measure me with,

so that we should be like each other?^p

⁶Those who pour out their bags of gold

and weigh out silver on scales—

they hire a goldsmith and he makes it into a god.

Then they kneel and bow down to it.^q

⁷They lift it to their shoulder and bear it along;^r

they set it in its place, and there it stands;

it does not budge from its place.^s

They cry out to it but it doesn’t answer;

it saves no one from his trouble.

⁸“Remember this and be brave;^A

take it to heart, you transgressors!

⁹Remember what happened long ago,^t

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and no one is like me.

¹⁰I declare the end from the beginning,

and from long ago what is not yet done,

saying: my plan will take place,

and I will do all my will.^u

¹¹I call a bird of prey^B from the east,^v

a man for my purpose from a far country.

Yes, I have spoken; so I will also bring it about.^w

I have planned it; I will also do it.

¹²Listen to me, you hardhearted,

far removed from justice:

¹³I am bringing my justice near;^x

it is not far away,

and my salvation will not delay.

I will put salvation in Zion,

my splendor in Israel.

THE FALL OF BABYLON

47“Go down and sit in the dust,^a

Virgin Daughter Babylon.^b

Sit on the ground without a throne,

Daughter Chaldea!

For you will no longer be called pampered and spoiled.

²Take millstones and grind flour;^c

remove your veil,

strip off your skirt, bare your thigh,

wade through the streams.

³Your nakedness will be uncovered,

and your disgrace will be exposed.^d

I will take vengeance;

I will spare no one.”^A

⁴The Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer;^e

The Lord of Armies is his name.

⁵“Daughter Chaldea,

sit in silence^f and go into darkness.

For you will no longer be called mistress of kingdoms.

⁶I was angry with my people;

I profaned my possession,

and I handed them over to you.

You showed them no mercy;

you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly.

⁷You said, ‘I will be the queen forever.’

You did not take these things to heart

or think about their outcome.

⁸“So now hear this, lover of luxury,

who sits securely,^g

who says to herself,

‘I am, and there is no one else.

I will never be a widow

or know the loss of children.’^h

⁹These two things will happen to you

suddenly, in one day:

loss of children and widowhood.

They will happen to you in their entirety,

in spite of your many sorceriesⁱ

and the potency of your spells.

¹⁰You were secure in your wickedness;

you said, ‘No one sees me.’^j

Your wisdom and knowledge

led you astray.

You said to yourself,

‘I am, and there is no one else.’

¹¹But disaster will happen to you;

you will not know how to avert it.

And it will fall on you,

but you will be unable to ward it off.^A

Devastation will happen to you suddenly

and unexpectedly.^k

¹²So take your stand with your spells

and your many sorceries,

which you have wearied yourself with from your youth.

Perhaps you will be able to succeed;

perhaps you will inspire terror!

¹³You are worn out with your many consultations.

So let the astrologers stand and save you—

those who observe the stars,^l

those who predict monthly

what will happen to you.

¹⁴Look, they are like stubble;^m

fire burns them.ⁿ

They cannot rescue themselves

from the power of the flame.

This is not a coal for warming themselves,

or a fire to sit beside!

¹⁵This is what they are to you—

those who have wearied you

and have traded with you from your youth—

each wanders on his own way;

no one can save you.

ISRAEL MUST LEAVE BABYLON

48“Listen to this, house of Jacob—

those who are called by the name Israel

and have descended from^B Judah,^o

who swear by the name of the Lord^p

and declare the God of Israel,

but not in truth or righteousness.

²For they are named after the holy city,

and lean on the God of Israel;^q

his name is the Lord of Armies.

³I declared the past events long ago;

they came out of my mouth; I proclaimed them.

Suddenly I acted, and they occurred.

⁴Because I know that you are stubborn,

and your neck is iron^A

and your forehead bronze,^a

⁵therefore I declared to you long ago.

I announced it to you before it occurred,

so you could not claim, ‘My idol caused them;

my carved image and cast idol control them.’^b

⁶You have heard it. Observe it all.

Will you not acknowledge it?

From now on I will announce new things to you,

hidden things that you have not known.^c

⁷They have been created now, and not long ago;

you have not heard of them before today,

so you could not claim, ‘I already knew them!’

⁸You have never heard; you have never known;

for a long time your ears have not been open.

For I knew that you were very treacherous,

and were known as a rebel from birth.^d

⁹I will delay my anger for the sake of my name,

and I will restrain myself for your benefit and for my praise,

so that you will not be destroyed.

¹⁰Look, I have refined you,^e but not as silver;

I have tested^B you in the furnace of affliction.

¹¹I will act for my own sake, indeed, my own,^f

for how can I^C be defiled?

I will not give my glory to another.^g

¹²“Listen to me, Jacob,

and Israel, the one called by me:

I am he; I am the first,

I am also the last.^h

¹³My own hand founded the earth,

and my right hand spread out the heavens;ⁱ

when I summoned them,

they stood up together.

¹⁴All of you, assemble and listen!

Who among the idols^D has declared these things?

The Lord loves him;^E

he will accomplish his will against Babylon,^j

and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.

¹⁵I—I have spoken;

yes, I have called him;^k

I have brought him,

and he will succeed in his mission.^l

¹⁶Approach me and listen to this.

From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;^m

from the time anything existed, I was there.”

And now the Lord God

has sent me and his Spirit.ⁿ

¹⁷This is what the Lord, your Redeemer,^o the Holy One of Israel^p says:

I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you for your benefit,

who leads you in the way you should go.

¹⁸If only you had paid attention to my commands.

Then your peace would have been like a river,^q

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.^r

¹⁹Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand,^s

and the offspring of your body like its grains;

their name would not be cut off

or eliminated from my presence.

²⁰Leave Babylon,

flee from the Chaldeans!

Declare with a shout of joy,

proclaim this,

let it go out to the end of the earth;

announce,

“The Lord has redeemed his servant^t Jacob!”

²¹They did not thirst

when he led them through the deserts;

he made water flow from the rock for them;^u

he split the rock, and water gushed out.

²²“There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.^v

THE SERVANT BRINGS SALVATION

49Coasts and islands,^A listen to me;

distant peoples, pay attention.

The Lord called^a me before I was born.

He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.^b

²He made my words like a sharp sword;^c

he hid me in the shadow of his hand.^d

He made me like a sharpened arrow;

he hid me in his quiver.

³He said to me, “You are my servant,^e

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

⁴But I myself said: I have labored in vain,

I have spent my strength for nothing and futility;

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

so 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

raising up the tribes of Jacob

and restoring the protected ones of Israel.

I will also make you a light for the nations,^f

to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”^g

⁷This is what the Lord,

the Redeemer^h of Israel, his Holy One, says

to one who is despised,

to one abhorred by people,^Ai

to a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see, princes will stand up,

and they^B will all bow down

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel^j—and he has chosen you.”^k

⁸This is what the Lord says:

I will answer you in a time of favor,

and I will help you in the day of salvation.^l

I will keep you, and I will appoint you

to be a covenant for the people,^m

to restore the land,

to make them possess the desolate inheritances,

⁹saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”ⁿ

and to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”

They will feed along the pathways,

and their pastures will be on all the barren heights.^o

¹⁰They will not hunger or thirst,

the scorching heat or sun will not strike them;

for their compassionate one will guide them,

and lead them to springs.^p

¹¹I will make all my mountains into a road,

and my highways will be raised up.^q

¹²See, these will come from far away,

from the north and from the west,^Cr

and from the land of Sinim.^DE

¹³Shout for joy, you heavens!^s

Earth, rejoice!

Mountains break into joyful shouts!

For the Lord has comforted his people,^t

and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.^u

ZION REMEMBERED

¹⁴Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me;

the Lord has forgotten me!”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

or lack compassion for the child of her womb?

Even if these forget,

yet I will not forget you.

¹⁶Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;^v

your walls are continually before me.

¹⁷Your builders^F hurry;

those who destroy and devastate you will leave you.

¹⁸Look up, and look around.

They all gather together; they come to you.^a

As I live”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“you will wear all your children^A as…