Isaiah 47:1–48:22
1 “aCome down and sit in the dust,
O bvirgin cdaughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you shall no longer be called dtender and delicate.
2 “Take the amillstones and bgrind meal.
Remove your cveil, dstrip off the skirt,
Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
3 “Your anakedness will be uncovered,
Your shame also will be exposed;
I will btake vengeance and will not 1spare a man.”
4 Our aRedeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.
5 “aSit silently, and go into bdarkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans,
For you will no longer be called
6 “I was angry with My people,
I profaned My heritage
And gave them into your hand.
You did not show mercy to them,
On the aaged you made your yoke very heavy.
7 “Yet you said, ‘I will be a aqueen forever.’
These things you did not bconsider
Nor remember the coutcome of 1them.
8 “Now, then, hear this, you asensual one,
Who bdwells securely,
Who says in 1your heart,
‘cI am, and there is no one besides me.
I will dnot sit as a widow,
Nor know loss of children.’
9 “But these atwo things will come on you bsuddenly in one day:
Loss of children and widowhood.
They will come on you in full measure
In spite of your many csorceries,
In spite of the great power of your spells.
10 “You felt asecure in your wickedness and said,
‘bNo one sees me,’
Your cwisdom and your knowledge, 1they have deluded you;
For you have said in your heart,
‘dI am, and there is no one besides me.’
11 “But aevil will come on you
Which you will not know how to charm away;
And disaster will fall on you
For which you cannot atone;
And bdestruction about which you do not know
Will come on you csuddenly.
12 “Stand fast now in your aspells
And in your many sorceries
With which you have labored from your youth;
Perhaps you will be able to profit,
Perhaps you may cause trembling.
13 “You are awearied with your many counsels;
Let now the bastrologers,
Those who prophesy by the stars,
Those who predict by the new moons,
Stand up and csave you from what will come upon you.
14 “Behold, they have become alike stubble,
bFire burns them;
They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame;
There will be cno coal to warm by
Nor a fire to sit before!
15 “So have those become to you with whom you have labored,
Who have atrafficked with you from your youth;
Each has wandered in his own 1way;
There is bnone to save you.
1 “aHear this, O house of Jacob, who are named Israel
And who came forth from the 1bloins of Judah,
Who cswear by the name of the Lord
And invoke the God of Israel,
But not in truth nor in drighteousness.
2 “For they call themselves after the aholy city
And blean on the God of Israel;
The Lord of hosts is His name.
3 “I adeclared the former things long ago
And they went forth from My mouth, and I proclaimed them.
bSuddenly I acted, and they ccame to pass.
4 “Because I know that you are 1aobstinate,
And your bneck is an iron sinew
And your cforehead bronze,
5 Therefore I declared them to you long ago,
Before 1they took place I proclaimed them to you,
So that you would not say, ‘My aidol has done them,
And my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.’
6 “You have heard; look at all this.
And you, will you not declare it?
I proclaim to you anew things from this time,
Even hidden things which you have not known.
7 “They are created now and not long ago;
And before today you have not heard them,
So that you will not say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 “You have not aheard, you have not known.
Even from long ago your ear has not been open,
Because I knew that you would deal very treacherously;
And you have been called a 1brebel from 2birth.
9 “aFor the sake of My name I bdelay My wrath,
And for My praise I restrain it for you,
In order not to cut you off.
10 “Behold, I have refined you, but anot as silver;
I have tested you in the bfurnace of affliction.
11 “aFor My own sake, for My own sake, I will act;
For how can My name be profaned?
And My bglory I will not give to another.
12 “Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel 1whom I called;
aI am He, bI am the first, I am also the last.
13 “Surely My hand afounded the earth,
And My right hand spread out the heavens;
When I bcall to them, they stand together.
14 “aAssemble, all of you, and listen!
bWho among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him; he will ccarry out His good pleasure on dBabylon,
And His arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15 “I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have acalled him,
I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful.
16 “aCome near to Me, listen to this:
From the first I have bnot spoken in secret,
cFrom the time it took place, I was there.
And now dthe Lord 1God has sent Me, and His Spirit.”
17 Thus says the Lord, your aRedeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit,
Who bleads you in the way you should go.
18 “If only you had apaid attention to My commandments!
Then your 1bwell-being would have been like a river,
And your crighteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 “Your 1adescendants would have been like the sand,
And 2your offspring like its grains;
bTheir name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence.”
20 aGo forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans!
Declare with the sound of bjoyful shouting, proclaim this,
cSend it out to the end of the earth;
Say, “dThe Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob.”
21 They did not athirst when He led them through the deserts.
He bmade the water flow out of the rock for them;
He split the rock and cthe water gushed forth.
22 “aThere is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.