20
“Come, gather together,
and draw near, you fugitives of the nations.
Those who carry their wooden idols,
and pray to a god who cannot save,
have no knowledge.
21
Speak up and present your case —
yes, let them take counsel together.
Who predicted this long ago?
Who announced it from ancient times?
Was it not I, Yahweh?
There is no other God but Me,
a righteous God and Savior;
there is no one except Me.
22
Turn to Me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth.
For I am God,
and there is no other.
23
By Myself I have sworn;
Truth has gone from My mouth,
a word that will not be revoked:
Every knee will bow to Me,
every tongue will swear allegiance.
24
It will be said to Me: Righteousness and strength
is only in the
Lord
.”
All who are enraged against Him
will come to Him and be put to shame.
25
All the descendants of Israel
will be justified and find glory through the
Lord
.
Isaiah
There is No One Like God
46
Bel crouches; Nebo cowers.
Their idols are consigned to beasts and cattle.
The images you carry are loaded,
as a burden for the weary animal.
2
The gods cower; they crouch together;
they are not able to rescue the burden,
but they themselves go into captivity.
3
“Listen to Me, house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been sustained from the womb,
carried along since birth.
4
I will be the same until your old age,
and I will bear you up when you turn gray.
I have made you, and I will carry you;
I will bear and save you.
5
“Who will you compare Me or make Me equal to?
Who will you measure Me with,
so that we should be like each other?
6
Those who pour out their bags of gold
and weigh out silver on scales —
they hire a goldsmith and he makes it into a god.
Then they kneel and bow down to it.
7
They lift it to their shoulder and bear it along;
they set it in its place, and there it stands;
it does not budge from its place.
They cry out to it but it doesn't answer;
it saves no one from his trouble.
8
“Remember this and be brave;
take it to heart, you transgressors!
9
Remember what happened long ago,
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and no one is like Me.
10
I declare the end from the beginning,
and from long ago what is not yet done,
saying: My plan will take place,
and I will do all My will.
11
I call a bird of prey from the east,
a man for My purpose from a far country.
Yes, I have spoken; so I will also bring it about.
I have planned it; I will also do it.
12
Listen to me, you hardhearted,
far removed from justice:
13
I am bringing My justice near;
it is not far away,
and My salvation will not delay.
I will put salvation in
•Zion
,
My splendor in Israel.
Isaiah
The Fall of Babylon
47
“Go down and sit in the dust,
Virgin Daughter Babylon.
Sit on the ground without a throne,
Daughter Chaldea!
For you will no longer be called pampered and spoiled.
2
Take millstones and grind meal;
remove your veil,
strip off your skirt, bare your thigh,
wade through the streams.
3
Your nakedness will be uncovered,
and your shame will be exposed.
I will take vengeance;
I will spare no one.
4
The Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer;
•Yahweh
of
•Hosts
is His name.
5
“Daughter Chaldea,
sit in silence and go into darkness.
For you will no longer be called mistress of kingdoms.
6
I was angry with My people;
I profaned My possession,
and I placed them under your control.
You showed them no mercy;
you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly.
7
You said, ‘I will be the mistress forever.'
You did not take these things to heart
or think about their outcome.
8
“So now hear this, lover of luxury,
who sits securely,
who says to herself,
‘I exist, and there is no one else.
I will never be a widow
or know the loss of children.'
9
These two things will happen to you
suddenly, in one day:
loss of children and widowhood.
They will happen to you in their entirety,
in spite of your many sorceries
and the potency of your spells.
10
You were secure in your wickedness;
you said, ‘No one sees me.'
Your wisdom and knowledge
led you astray.
You said to yourself,
‘I exist, and there is no one else.'
11
But disaster will happen to you;
you will not know how to avert it.
And it will fall on you,
but you will be unable to ward it off.
Devastation will happen to you suddenly
and unexpectedly.
12
So take your stand with your spells
and your many sorceries,
which you have wearied yourself with from your youth.
Perhaps you will be able to succeed;
perhaps you will inspire terror!
13
You are worn out with your many consultations.
So let them stand and save you —
the astrologers, who observe the stars,
who predict monthly
what will happen to you.
14
Look, they are like stubble;
fire burns them up.
They cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
This is not a coal for warming themselves,
or a fire to sit beside!
15
This is what they are to you —
those who have wearied you
and have traded with you from your youth —
each wanders on his own way;
no one can save you.
Isaiah
Israel Must Leave Babylon
48
“Listen to this, house of Jacob —
those who are called by the name Israel
and have descended from Judah,
who swear by the name of
•Yahweh
and declare the God of Israel,
but not in truth or righteousness.
2
For they are named after the Holy City,
and lean on the God of Israel;
His name is Yahweh of
•Hosts
.
3
I declared the past events long ago;
they came out of My mouth; I proclaimed them.
Suddenly I acted, and they occurred.
4
Because I know that you are stubborn,
and your neck is iron
and your forehead bronze,
5
therefore I declared to you long ago.
I announced it to you before it occurred,
so you could not claim, ‘My idol caused them;
my carved image and cast idol control them.'
6
You have heard it. Observe it all.
Will you not acknowledge it?
From now on I will announce new things to you,
hidden things that you have not known.
7
They have been created now, and not long ago;
you have not heard of them before today,
so you could not claim, ‘I already knew them! '
8
You have never heard; you have never known;
For a long time your ears have not been open.
For I knew that you were very treacherous,
and were known as a rebel from birth.
9
I will delay My anger for the honor of My name,
and I will restrain Myself for your benefit and for My praise,
so that you will not be destroyed.
10
Look, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11
I will act for My own sake, indeed, My own,
for how can I be defiled?
I will not give My glory to another.
12
“Listen to Me, Jacob,
and Israel, the one called by Me:
I am He; I am the first,
I am also the last.
13
My own hand founded the earth,
and My right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summoned them,
they stood up together.
14
All of you, assemble and listen!
Who among the idols has declared these things?
The
Lord
loves him;
he will accomplish His will against Babylon,
and His arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15
I — I have spoken;
yes, I have called him;
I have brought him,
and he will succeed in his mission.
16
Approach Me and listen to this.
From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;
from the time anything existed, I was there.”
And now the Lord
God
has sent me and His Spirit.
17
This is what Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says:
I am the
Lord
your God,
who teaches you for your benefit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18
If only you had paid attention to My commands.
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19
Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand,
and the offspring of your body like its grains;
their name would not be cut off
or eliminated from My presence.
20
Leave Babylon,
flee from the Chaldeans!
Declare with a shout of joy,
proclaim this,
let it go out to the end of the earth;
announce,
“The
Lord
has redeemed His servant Jacob! ”
21
They did not thirst
when He led them through the deserts;
He made water flow for them from the rock;
He split the rock, and water gushed out.
22
“There is no peace for the wicked,” says the
Lord
.
Isaiah
The Servant Brings Salvation
49
Coastlands, listen to me;
distant peoples, pay attention.
The
Lord
called me before I was born.
He named me while I was in my mother's womb.
2
He made my words like a sharp sword;
He hid me in the shadow of His hand.
He made me like a sharpened arrow;
He hid me in His quiver.
3
He said to me, “You are My Servant, Israel;
I will be glorified in him.”
4
But I myself said: I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and futility;
yet my vindication is with the
Lord
,
and my reward is with my God.
5
And now, says the
Lord
,
who formed me from the womb to be His Servant,
to bring Jacob back to Him
so that Israel might be gathered to Him;
for I am honored in the sight of the
Lord
,
and my God is my strength —
6
He says,
“It is not enough for you to be My Servant
raising up the tribes of Jacob
and restoring the protected ones of Israel.
I will also make you a light for the nations,
to be My salvation to the ends of the earth.”
7
This is what the
Lord
,
the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, says
to one who is despised,
to one abhorred by people,
to a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and stand up,
and princes will bow down,
because of the
Lord
, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel — and He has chosen you.”