Isaiah 46–51

The Idols of Babylon and the One True God

46^oBel bows down; Nebo stoops;

their idols are on beasts and livestock;

these things you carry are borne

as burdens on weary beasts.

²They stoop; they bow down together;

they cannot save the burden,

but ^pthemselves go into captivity.

³“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all the remnant of the house of Israel,

^qwho have been borne by me from before your birth,

carried from the womb;

^4reven to your old age I am he,

and to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear;

I will carry and will save.

^5s“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,

and compare me, that we may be alike?

^6tThose who lavish gold from the purse,

and weigh out silver in the scales,

hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;

^uthen they fall down and worship!

^7vThey lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,

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

^wit cannot move from its place.

If one cries to it, it does not answer

or save him from his trouble.

⁸“Remember this and stand firm,

recall it to mind, ^xyou transgressors,

⁹remember the former things of old;

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me,

^10ydeclaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, ^z‘My counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

^11acalling a bird of prey from the east,

the man of my counsel from a far country.

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

I have purposed, and I will do it.

¹²“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,

you who are far from righteousness:

^13cI bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,

and my salvation will not delay;

^dI will put salvation in Zion,

for Israel my glory.”

The Humiliation of Babylon

47^eCome down and sit in the dust,

O virgin ^fdaughter of Babylon;

^gsit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of ^hthe Chaldeans!

ⁱFor you shall no more be called

tender and delicate.

²Take the millstones and ^jgrind flour,

^kput off your veil,

strip off your robe, uncover your legs,

pass through the rivers.

³Your nakedness shall be uncovered,

and your disgrace shall be seen.

I will take vengeance,

and I will spare no one.

^4lOur Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—

is the Holy One of Israel.

^5mSit in silence, and go into darkness,

O daughter of ^hthe Chaldeans;

for you shall no more be called

ⁿthe mistress of kingdoms.

^6oI was angry with my people;

I profaned my heritage;

I gave them into your hand;

^pyou showed them no mercy;

on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.

⁷You said, “I shall be ^qmistress forever,”

so that you did not lay these things to heart

or remember their end.

⁸Now therefore hear this, ^qyou lover of pleasures,

^rwho sit securely,

who say in your heart,

^s“I am, and there is no one besides me;

^tI shall not sit as a widow

or know the loss of children”:

^9uThese two things shall come to you

in a moment, ^vin one day;

the loss of children and widowhood

shall come upon you in full measure,

^win spite of your many sorceries

and the great power of your enchantments.

¹⁰You felt secure in your wickedness;

you said, “No one sees me”;

your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,

and you said in your heart,

^x“I am, and there is no one besides me.”

¹¹But evil shall come upon you,

which you will not know how to charm away;

disaster shall fall upon you,

for which you will not be able to atone;

^yand ruin shall come upon you suddenly,

of which you know nothing.

^12zStand fast in your enchantments

and your many sorceries,

with which you have labored from your youth;

perhaps you may be able to succeed;

perhaps you may inspire terror.

¹³You are wearied with your many counsels;

let them stand forth and save you,

^athose who divide the heavens,

who gaze at the stars,

who at the new moons make known

what shall come upon you.

¹⁴Behold, ^bthey are like stubble;

^cthe fire consumes them;

they cannot deliver themselves

from the power of the flame.

No coal for warming oneself is this,

no fire to sit before!

¹⁵Such to you are those with whom you have labored,

who have done business with you from your youth;

they wander about, each in his own direction;

there is no one to save you.

Israel Refined for God’s Glory

48Hear this, O house of Jacob,

^dwho are called by the name of Israel,

and ^ewho came from the waters of Judah,

^fwho swear by the name of the Lord

and confess the God of Israel,

but not in truth or right.

²For they call themselves after the holy city,

^gand stay themselves on the God of Israel;

the Lord of hosts is his name.

³“The former things ^hI declared of old;

they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;

then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.

⁴Because I know that ⁱyou are obstinate,

and your neck is an iron sinew

and your forehead brass,

^5hI declared them to you from of old,

before they came to pass I announced them to you,

lest you should say, ^j‘My idol did them,

my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’

⁶“You have heard; now see all this;

and will you not declare it?

From this time forth ^kI announce to you new things,

hidden things that you have not known.

⁷They are created now, not long ago;

before today you have never heard of them,

lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’

⁸You have never heard, you have never known,

from of old your ear has not been opened.

For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,

and that ^lfrom before birth you were called a rebel.

^9m“For my name’s sake I defer my anger;

for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,

that I may not cut you off.

¹⁰Behold, I have refined you, ⁿbut not as silver;

^oI have tried¹ you in the furnace of affliction.

^11pFor my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

for how should my name² be profaned?

^qMy glory I will not give to another.

The Lord’s Call to Israel

¹²“Listen to me, O Jacob,

and Israel, whom I called!

I am he; ^rI am the first,

and I am the last.

¹³My hand ^slaid the foundation of the earth,

and my right hand ^sspread out the heavens;

^twhen I call to them,

they stand forth together.

¹⁴“Assemble, all of you, and listen!

^uWho among them has declared these things?

The Lord loves him;

^vhe shall perform his purpose on Babylon,

and his arm shall be against ^wthe Chaldeans.

^15xI, even I, have spoken and called him;

I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.

^16yDraw near to me, hear this:

from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,

from the time it came to be I have been there.”

And now ^zthe Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

¹⁷Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you to profit,

who leads you in the way you should go.

^18aOh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

^bThen your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;

^19cyour offspring would have been like the sand,

and your descendants like its grains;

their name would never be cut off

or destroyed from before me.”

^20dGo out from Babylon, flee from ^eChaldea,

declare this ^fwith a shout of joy, proclaim it,

send it out to the end of the earth;

say, ^g“The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

^21hThey did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;

ⁱhe made water flow for them from the rock;

he split the rock and the water gushed out.

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

The Servant of the Lord

49Listen to me, ^kO coastlands,

and give attention, you peoples ^lfrom afar.

^mThe Lord called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name.

²ⁿHe made my mouth like a sharp sword;

^oin the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow;

in his quiver he hid me away.

³And he said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, ^pin whom I will be glorified.”¹

^4qBut I said, “I have labored in vain;

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my right is with the Lord,

and my recompense with my God.”

^5rAnd now the Lord says,

he ^mwho formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him;

and that Israel might be gathered to him—

for ^sI am honored in the eyes of the Lord,

and my God has become my strength—

⁶he says:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

^tI will make you ^uas a light for the nations,

that ^vmy salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

⁷Thus says the Lord,

^wthe Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

^xto one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,

the servant of rulers:

^y“Kings shall see and arise;

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

The Restoration of Israel

⁸Thus says the Lord:

^z“In a ^atime of favor I have answered you;

in a day of salvation I have helped you;

I will keep you ^band give you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

^cto apportion the desolate heritages,

^9dsaying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’

to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

^eThey shall feed along the ways;

on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

^10fthey shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,

for he who has pity on them ^gwill lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them.

^11hAnd I will make all my mountains a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.

¹²ⁱBehold, these shall come from afar,

and behold, ^jthese from the north and from the west,²

and these from the land of Syene.”³

^13kSing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord ^lhas comforted his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted.

¹⁴But Zion said, ^m“The Lord has forsaken me;

my Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵ⁿ“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

¹⁶Behold, ^oI have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me.

¹⁷Your builders make haste;⁴

^pyour destroyers and those who…