Babylon’s Idols and the True God

1 aBel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over;

Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle.

The things 1that you carry are burdensome,

A load for the weary beast.

2 They stooped over, they have bowed down together;

They could not rescue the burden,

But 1have themselves agone into captivity.

3 “aListen to Me, O house of Jacob,

And all bthe remnant of the house of Israel,

You who have been cborne by Me from 1birth

And have been carried from the womb;

4 Even to your old age aI 1will be the same,

And even to your 2bgraying years I will bear you!

I have 3done it, and I will carry you;

And I will bear you and I will deliver you.

5 “aTo whom would you liken Me

And make Me equal and compare Me,

That we would be alike?

6 “Those who alavish gold from the purse

And weigh silver on the scale

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

They bbow down, indeed they worship it.

7 “They alift it upon the shoulder and carry it;

They set it in its place and it stands there.

bIt does not move from its place.

Though one may cry to it, it ccannot answer;

It dcannot deliver him from his distress.