Isaiah 46–51

⁴⁶Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;

their idols are on beasts and cattle;

these things you carry are loaded

as burdens on weary animals.^*

²They stoop; they bow down together;

they cannot save the burden

but themselves go into captivity.^*

³Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all the remnant of the house of Israel,

who have been borne by me from your birth,

carried from the womb;^*

⁴even to your old age I am he;

even when you turn gray I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear;

I will carry and will save.^*

⁵To whom will you liken me and make me equal

and compare me, as though we were alike?^*

⁶Those who lavish gold from the purse

and weigh out silver in the scales—

they hire a goldsmith, who makes it into a god;

then they fall down and worship!^*

⁷They lift it to their shoulders; they carry it;

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

it cannot move from its place.

If one cries out to it, it does not answer

or save anyone from trouble.^*

⁸Remember this and consider;ⁿ

recall it to mind, you transgressors;^*

⁹remember the former things of old,

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is no one like me,^*

¹⁰declaring the outcome from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, “My purpose shall stand,

and I will fulfill my intention,”^*

¹¹calling a bird of prey from the east,

the man for my purpose from a far country.

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

I have planned, and I will do it.^*

¹²Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,

you who are far from deliverance:^*

¹³I bring near my deliverance; it is not far off,

and my salvation will not tarry;

I will put salvation in Zion,

for Israel my glory.^*

The Humiliation of Babylon

⁴⁷Come down and sit in the dust,

virgin daughter Babylon!

Sit on the ground without a throne,

daughter Chaldea!

For you shall no more be called

tender and delicate.^*

²Take the millstones and grind meal;

remove your veil;

strip off your robe; uncover your legs;

pass through the rivers.

³Your nakedness shall be uncovered,

and your shame shall be seen.

I will take vengeance,

and I will spare no one.^o*

⁴Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—

is the Holy One of Israel.^*

⁵Sit in silence, and go into darkness,

daughter Chaldea!

For you shall no more be called

the mistress of kingdoms.^*

⁶I was angry with my people;

I profaned my heritage;

I gave them into your hand;

you showed them no mercy;

on the aged you made your yoke

exceedingly heavy.^*

⁷You said, “I shall be mistress forever,”

so that you did not lay these things to heart

or remember their end.^*

⁸Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,

who sit securely,

who say in your heart,

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

I shall not sit as a widow

or know the loss of children”—^*

⁹both these things shall come upon you

in a moment, in one day:

the loss of children and widowhood

shall come upon you in full measure,

in 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,

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

¹¹But evil shall come upon you,

which you cannot charm away;

disaster shall fall upon you,

which you will not be able to ward off,

and ruin shall come on you suddenly,

of which you know nothing.^*

¹²Stand 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 consultations;

let those who study^p the heavens

stand up and save you,

those who gaze at the stars

and at each new moon predict

what^q shall befall you.^*

¹⁴See, they are like stubble;

the 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 trafficked with you from your youth;

they all wander about in their own paths;

there is no one to save you.^*

God the Creator and Redeemer

⁴⁸Hear this, O house of Jacob,

who are called by the name of Israel

and who came forth from the loins^r of Judah,

who swear by the name of the Lord

and invoke the God of Israel

but not in truth or right.^*

²For they call themselves after the holy city

and lean on the God of Israel;

the Lord of hosts is his name.^*

³The former things I declared long ago;

they went out from my mouth, and I made them known;

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

⁴Because I know that you are obstinate,

and your neck is an iron sinew

and your forehead brass,^*

⁵I declared them to you from long ago,

before they came to pass I announced them to you,

so that you would not say, “My idol did them;

my carved image and my cast image commanded them.”^*

⁶You have heard; now see all this;

and will you not declare it?

From this time forward I tell 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,

so that you could not say, “I already 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 act very treacherously

and that from birth you were called a rebel.^*

⁹For my name’s sake I defer my anger;

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

so that I may not cut you off.^*

¹⁰See, I have refined you but not like^s silver;

I have tested you in the furnace of adversity.^*

¹¹For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

for why should my name^t be profaned?

My glory I will not give to another.^*

¹²Listen to me, O Jacob,

and Israel, whom I called:

I am he; I am the first,

and I am the last.^*

¹³My hand laid the foundation of the earth,

and my right hand spread out the heavens;

when I summon them,

they stand at attention.^*

¹⁴Assemble, all of you, and hear!

Who among them has declared these things?

The one the Lord loves shall perform his purpose against Babylon,

and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.^*

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

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

¹⁶Draw 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 the 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 how to succeed,

who leads you in the way you should go.^*

¹⁸O that you had paid attention to my commandments!

Then your prosperity would have been like a river

and your success like the waves of the sea;^*

¹⁹your 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.^*

²⁰Go out from Babylon; flee from Chaldea;

declare this with a shout of joy; proclaim it;

send it forth to the end of the earth;

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

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

he made water flow for them from the rock;

he split open the rock, and the water gushed out.^*

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

The Servant’s Mission

⁴⁹Listen to me, O coastlands;

pay attention, you peoples from far away!

The Lord called me before I was born;

while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.^*

²He made my mouth like a sharp sword;

in 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, in whom I will be glorified.”^*

⁴But I said, “I have labored in vain;

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my cause is with the Lord

and my reward with my God.”^*

⁵And now the Lord says,

who formed me in the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him,

and that Israel might be gathered to him,

for I am honored in the sight 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 restore the survivors of Israel;

I will give you as a light to the nations,

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

⁷Thus says the Lord,

the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,

the slave of rulers,

“Kings shall see and stand up;

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

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

Zion’s Children to Be Brought Home

⁸Thus says the Lord:

In a time of favor I have answered you;

on a day of salvation I have helped you;

I have kept you and given you

as a covenant to the people,^u

to establish the land,

to apportion the desolate heritages,^*

⁹saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”

to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”

They shall feed along the ways;

on all the bare heights^v shall be their pasture;^*

¹⁰they shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,

for he who has pity on them will lead them

and by springs of water will guide them.^*

¹¹And I will turn all my mountains into a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.^*

¹²Look, some shall come from far away,

some from the north and from the west,

and some from the land of Syene.^w*

¹³Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord has comforted his people

and will have compassion on his suffering ones.^*

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

my Lord has forgotten me.”^*

¹⁵Can a woman forget her nursing child

or show no compassion for the child of her womb?

Even these might forget,

yet I will not forget you.^*

¹⁶See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me.^*

¹⁷Your builders outdo your destroyers,^x

and those who laid you waste go away from you.^*

¹⁸Lift up your eyes all around and see;

they all gather; they come to you.

As I live, says the Lord,

you shall put all of them on like an ornament,

and like a…