Isaiah 47–49

Babylon Will Fall

47“City of Babylon,

go down and sit in the dust.

Leave your throne and sit on the ground.

City of the Babylonians,

your life will not be comfortable

and easy anymore.

²Get millstones and grind some flour like a female slave.

Take your veil off.

Lift your skirts up. Make your legs bare.

Wade through the streams.

³Everyone will see your naked body.

Everyone will see your shame.

I will pay you back for what you did.

I will not spare any of your people.”

⁴The one who sets us free is the Holy One of Israel.

His name is The Lord Who Rules Over All.

⁵The Lord says, “City of the Babylonians,

go into a dark prison and sit there quietly.

You will not be called

the queen of kingdoms anymore.

⁶I was angry with my people.

I treated them as if they did not belong to me.

I handed them over to you.

And you did not show them any pity.

You even placed heavy loads on their old people.

⁷You said, ‘I will continue to be queen forever!’

But you did not think about what you were doing.

You did not consider how things might turn out.

⁸“So listen, you who love pleasure.

You think you are safe and secure.

You say to yourself,

‘I am like a god.

No one is greater than I am.

I’ll never be a widow.

And my children will never be taken away from me.’

⁹But both of those things will happen to you in a moment.

They will take place on a single day.

You will lose your children.

And you will become a widow.

That is what will happen to you.

All of your evil magic

and powerful spells will not save you.

¹⁰You have felt secure in your evil ways.

You have said, ‘No one sees what I’m doing.’

Your wisdom and knowledge lead you down the wrong path.

You say to yourself,

‘I am like a god. No one is greater than I am.’

¹¹So horrible trouble will come on you.

You will not know how to use your evil magic to make it go away.

Great trouble will fall on you.

No amount of money can keep it away.

Something terrible will happen to you all at once.

You will not see it coming ahead of time.

¹²“So keep on casting your magic spells.

Keep on practicing your evil magic.

You have been doing those things ever since you were a child.

Perhaps they will help you.

Maybe they will scare your enemies away.

¹³All of the advice you have received

has only worn you out!

Let those who study the heavens come forward.

They claim to know what is going to happen

by watching the stars every month.

So let them save you from the trouble

that is coming on you.

¹⁴They are just like straw.

Fire will burn them up.

They can’t even save themselves

from the powerful flames.

They are not like coals that can warm anyone.

They are not like a fire to sit by.

¹⁵They can’t do you any good.

You have done business with them ever since you were a child.

You have always asked them for advice.

All of them are bewildered and continue in their own ways.

None of them can save you.”

Israel Is Stubborn

48People of Jacob, listen to me.

You are called by the name of Israel.

You come from the family line of Judah.

You take oaths in the name of the Lord.

You pray to Israel’s God.

But you aren’t honest.

You don’t mean what you say.

²You call yourselves citizens of the holy city of Jerusalem.

You say you depend on Israel’s God.

His name is The Lord Who Rules Over All. He says,

³“Long ago I told you ahead of time what would happen.

I announced it and made it known.

Then all of a sudden I acted.

And those things took place.

⁴I knew how stubborn you were.

Your neck was as unbending as iron.

Your forehead was as hard as bronze.

⁵So I told you those things long ago.

Before they happened I announced them to you.

I did it so you would not be able to say,

‘My statues of gods did them.

My wooden and metal gods made them happen.’

⁶You have heard me tell you those things.

Think about all of them.

Won’t you admit they have taken place?

“From now on I will tell you about new things that will happen.

I have not made them known to you before.

⁷Those things are taking place right now.

They did not happen long ago.

You have not heard of them before today.

So you can’t say,

‘Oh, yes. I already knew about them.’

⁸You have not heard or understood what I said.

Your ears have been plugged up for a long time.

I knew very well that you would turn against me.

From the day you were born, you have refused to obey me.

⁹For the honor of my own name I put off showing my anger.

I hold it back from you so people will continue to praise me.

I do not want to destroy you.

¹⁰I have put you to the test in the furnace of suffering.

I have tried to make you pure.

But I did not use as much heat as it takes to make silver pure.

¹¹I tried to purify you for my own honor.

I did it for the honor of my name.

How can I let myself be dishonored?

I will not give up my glory to any other god.

Israel Is Set Free

¹²“Family of Jacob, listen to me.

People of Israel, pay attention.

I have chosen you.

I am the First and the Last.

I am the Lord.

¹³With my own hand I laid the foundations of the earth.

With my right hand I spread out the heavens.

When I send for them,

they come and stand ready to obey me.

¹⁴“People of Israel, come together and listen to me.

What other god has said ahead of time that certain things would happen?

I have chosen Cyrus.

He will carry out my plans against Babylon.

He will use his powerful arm against the Babylonians.

¹⁵I myself have spoken.

I have chosen him to carry out my purpose.

I will bring him to Babylon.

He will succeed in what I tell him to do.

¹⁶“Come close and listen to me.

“From the first time I said Cyrus was coming,

I did not do it in secret.

When he comes, I will be there.”

The Lord and King has filled me with his Spirit.

People of Israel, he has sent me to you.

¹⁷The Lord is the Holy One of Israel.

He sets his people free. He says to them,

“I am the Lord your God.

I teach you what is best for you.

I direct you in the way you should go.

¹⁸I wish you would pay attention to my commands.

If you did, peace would flow over you like a river.

Holiness would sweep over you like the waves of the ocean.

¹⁹Your family would be like the sand.

Your children after you would be as many as the grains of sand by the sea.

It would be impossible to count them.

I would always accept the members of your family line.

They would never be cut off or destroyed.”

²⁰People of Israel, leave Babylon!

Hurry up and get away from the Babylonians!

Here is what I want you to announce.

Make it known with shouts of joy.

Send the news out from one end of the earth to the other.

Say, “The Lord has set Jacob’s people free.

They are his servants.”

²¹They didn’t get thirsty when he led them through the deserts.

He made water flow out of the rock for them.

He broke the rock open,

and water came out of it.

²²“There is no peace for those who are evil,” says the Lord.

The Servant of the Lord

49People who live on the islands, listen to me.

Pay attention, you nations far away.

Before I was born the Lord chose me to serve him.

He appointed me by name.

²He made my words like a sharp sword.

He hid me in the palm of his hand.

He made me into a sharpened arrow.

He took good care of me and kept me safe.

³He said to me, “You are my true servant Israel.

I will show my glory through you.”

⁴But I said, “In spite of my hard work,

I feel as if I haven’t accomplished anything.

I’ve used up all of my strength.

It seems as if everything I’ve done is worthless.

But the Lord will give me what I should receive.

My God will reward me.”

⁵The Lord formed me in my mother’s body to be his servant.

He wanted me to bring the family of Jacob back to him.

He wanted me to gather the people of Israel to himself.

The Lord will honor me.

My God will give me strength.

⁶The Lord says to me,

“It is not enough for you as my servant

to bring the tribes of Jacob back to their land.

It is not enough for you to bring back

the people of Israel I have kept alive.

I will also make you a light for other nations.

Then you will make it possible for the whole world to be saved.”

⁷The Lord sets his people free.

He is the Holy One of Israel.

He speaks to his servant, who is looked down on and hated by the nations.

He speaks to the servant of rulers. He says to him,

“Kings will see you and rise up to honor you.

Princes will see you and bow down to show you their respect.

I am the Lord. I am faithful.

I am the Holy One of Israel.

I have chosen you.”

Israel Is Brought Back to Their Land

⁸The Lord says to his servant,

“When it is time to show you my favor, I will answer your prayers.

When it is time to save you, I will help you.

I will keep you safe.

You will put my covenant with the people of Israel into effect.

Then their land will be made like new again.

Each tribe will be sent back to its territory that was left empty.

⁹I want you to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out.’

Tell those who are in their dark cells, ‘You are free!’

“On their way home they will eat beside the roads.

They will find plenty to eat on every bare hill.

¹⁰They will not get hungry or thirsty.

The heat from the desert sun will not beat down on them.

The One who shows his tender love to them will guide them.

Like a shepherd, he will lead them beside springs of water.

¹¹I will make roads across the mountains.

I will build wide roads for my people.

¹²They will come from far away.

Some of them will come from the north.

Others will come from the west.

Still others will come from Aswan in the south.”

¹³Shout with joy, you heavens!

Be glad, you earth!

Burst into song, you mountains!

The Lord will comfort his people.

He will show his tender love to those who are suffering.

¹⁴But the city of Zion said, “The Lord has deserted me.

The Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵The Lord answers, “Can a mother forget the baby

who is nursing at her breast?

Can she stop showing her tender love

to the child who was born to her?

She might forget her child.

But I will not forget you.

¹⁶I have written your name on the palms of my hands.

Your walls are never out of my sight.

¹⁷Your people will hurry back.

Those who destroyed you so completely will leave you.

¹⁸Look up. Look all around…