Isaiah 46:1–48:22

Dead Idols and the Living God

46 Bel abows down, Nebo stoops;

Their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle.

Your carriages were heavily loaded,

bA burden to the weary beast.

2 They stoop, they bow down together;

They could not deliver the burden,

cBut have themselves gone into captivity.

3 “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,

And all the remnant of the house of Israel,

dWho have been upheld by Me from 1birth,

Who have been carried from the womb:

4 Even to your old age, eI am He,

And even to gray hairs fI will carry you!

I have made, and I will bear;

Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

5 “To gwhom will you liken Me, and make Me equal

And compare Me, that we should be alike?

6 hThey lavish gold out of the bag,

And weigh silver on the scales;

They hire a igoldsmith, and he makes it a god;

They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship.

7 jThey bear it on the shoulder, they carry it

And set it in its place, and it stands;

From its place it shall not move.

Though kone cries out to it, yet it cannot answer

Nor save him out of his trouble.

8 “Remember this, and 2show yourselves men;

lRecall to mind, O you transgressors.

9 mRemember the former things of old,

For I am God, and nthere is no other;

I am God, and there is none like Me,

10 oDeclaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times things that are not yet done,

Saying, p‘My counsel shall stand,

And I will do all My pleasure,’

11 Calling a bird of prey qfrom the east,

The man rwho executes My counsel, from a far country.

Indeed sI have spoken it;

I will also bring it to pass.

I have purposed it;

I will also do it.

12 “Listen to Me, you tstubborn-hearted,

uWho are far from righteousness:

13 vI bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off;

My salvation wshall not 3linger.

And I will place xsalvation in Zion,

For Israel My glory.

The Humiliation of Babylon

47 “Come adown and bsit in the dust,

O virgin daughter of cBabylon;

Sit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of the Chaldeans!

For you shall no more be called

Tender and 1delicate.

2 dTake the millstones and grind meal.

Remove your veil,

Take off the skirt,

Uncover the thigh,

Pass through the rivers.

3 eYour nakedness shall be uncovered,

Yes, your shame will be seen;

fI will take vengeance,

And I will not arbitrate with a man.”

4 As for gour Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name,

The Holy One of Israel.

5 “Sit in hsilence, and go into darkness,

O daughter of the Chaldeans;

iFor you shall no longer be called

The Lady of Kingdoms.

6 jI was angry with My people;

kI have profaned My inheritance,

And given them into your hand.

You showed them no mercy;

lOn the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily.

7 And you said, ‘I shall be ma lady forever,’

So that you did not ntake these things to heart,

oNor remember the latter end of them.

8 “Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures,

Who dwell securely,

Who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me;

I shall not sit as a widow,

Nor shall I know the loss of children’;

9 But these two things shall come to you

pIn a moment, in one day:

The loss of children, and widowhood.

They shall come upon you in their fullness

Because of the multitude of your sorceries,

For the great abundance of your enchantments.

10 “For you have trusted in your wickedness;

You have said, ‘No one qsees me’;

Your wisdom and your knowledge have 2warped you;

And you have said in your heart,

‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’

11 Therefore evil shall come upon you;

You shall not know from where it arises.

And trouble shall fall upon you;

You will not be able 3to put it off.

And rdesolation shall come upon you ssuddenly,

Which you shall not know.

12 “Stand now with your enchantments

And the multitude of your sorceries,

In which you have labored from your youth—

Perhaps you will be able to profit,

Perhaps you will prevail.

13 tYou are wearied in the multitude of your counsels;

Let now uthe 4astrologers, the stargazers,

And 5the monthly prognosticators

Stand up and save you

From what shall come upon you.

14 Behold, they shall be vas stubble,

The fire shall wburn them;

They shall not deliver themselves

From the power of the flame;

It shall not be a coal to be warmed by,

Nor a fire to sit before!

15 Thus shall they be to you

With whom you have labored,

xYour merchants from your youth;

They shall wander each one to his 6quarter.

No one shall save you.

Israel Refined for God’s Glory

48 “Hear this, O house of Jacob,

Who are called by the name of Israel,

And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah;

Who swear by the name of the Lord,

And make mention of the God of Israel,

But anot in truth or in righteousness;

2 For they call themselves bafter the holy city,

And clean on the God of Israel;

The Lord of hosts is His name:

3 “I have ddeclared the former things from the beginning;

They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.

Suddenly I did them, eand they came to pass.

4 Because I knew that you were 1obstinate,

And fyour neck was an iron sinew,

And your brow bronze,

5 Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;

Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,

Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,

And my carved image and my molded image

Have commanded them.’

6 “You have heard;

See all this.

And will you not declare it?

I have made you hear new things from this time,

Even hidden things, and you did not know them.

7 They are created now and not from the beginning;

And before this day you have not heard them,

Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’

8 Surely you did not hear,

Surely you did not know;

Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.

For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,

And were called ga transgressor from the womb.

9 “For hMy name’s sake iI will 2defer My anger,

And for My praise I will restrain it from you,

So that I do not cut you off.

10 Behold, jI have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tested you in the kfurnace of affliction.

11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;

For lhow should My name be profaned?

And mI will not give My glory to another.

God’s Ancient Plan to Redeem Israel

12 “Listen to Me, O Jacob,

And Israel, My called:

I am He, nI am the oFirst,

I am also the Last.

13 Indeed pMy hand has laid the foundation of the earth,

And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;

When qI call to them,

They stand up together.

14 “All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!

Who among them has declared these things?

rThe Lord loves him;

sHe shall do His pleasure on Babylon,

And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.

15 I, even I, have spoken;

Yes, tI have called him,

I have brought him, and his way will prosper.

16 “Come near to Me, hear this:

uI have not spoken in secret from the beginning;

From the time that it was, I was there.

And now vthe Lord God and His Spirit

3Have sent Me.”

17 Thus says wthe Lord, your Redeemer,

The Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God,

Who teaches you to profit,

xWho leads you by the way you should go.

18 yOh, that you had heeded My commandments!

zThen your peace would have been like a river,

And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

19 aYour descendants also would have been like the sand,

And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;

His name would not have been cut off

Nor destroyed from before Me.”

20 bGo forth from Babylon!

Flee from the Chaldeans!

With a voice of singing,

Declare, proclaim this,

Utter it to the end of the earth;

Say, “The Lord has credeemed

His servant Jacob!”

21 And they ddid not thirst

When He led them through the deserts;

He ecaused the waters to flow from the rock for them;

He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.

22 “There fis no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”