Aug 10 - Isaiah 46-49
Isaiah
1Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary.2They stoop and bow down together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity.3"Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth.4Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.5"To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?6Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it.7They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles.8"Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels.9Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.10I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.11From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.12Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness.13I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.
1"Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender or delicate.2Take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams.3Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one."4Our Redeemer-the LORD Almighty is his name- is the Holy One of Israel.5"Sit in silence, go into darkness, Daughter of the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms.6I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke.7You said, 'I will continue forever- the eternal queen!' But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.8"Now then, listen, you wanton creature, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.'9Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.10You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me.'11Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.12"Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.13All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.14Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone; here is no fire to sit by.15That is all they can do for you- these you have labored with and trafficked with since childhood. Each of them goes on in his error; there is not one that can save you.
1"Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel- but not in truth or righteousness-2you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and rely on the God of Israel- the LORD Almighty is his name:3I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.4For I knew how stubborn you were; the sinews of your neck were iron, your forehead was bronze.5Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, 'My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.'6You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? "From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you.7They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot say, 'Yes, I knew of them.'8You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ear has not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth.9For my own name's sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off.10See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.11For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.12"Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first and I am the last.13My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.14"Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The LORD's chosen ally will carry out his purpose against Babylon; his arm will be against the Babylonians.15I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I will bring him, and he will succeed in his mission.16"Come near me and listen to this: "From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there." And now the Sovereign LORD has sent me, with his Spirit.17This is what the LORD says- your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.18If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.19Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me."20Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends 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 the rock and water gushed out.22"There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."
1Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.2He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.3He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor."4But I said, "I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand, and my reward is with my God."5And now the LORD says- he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength-6he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."7This is what the LORD says- the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel- to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: "Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."8This is what the LORD says: "In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances,9to say to the captives, 'Come out,' and to those in darkness, 'Be free!'"They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.10They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.11I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up.12See, they will come from afar- some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan. "13Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.14But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me."15"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!16See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.17Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.18Lift up your eyes and look around; all your sons gather and come to you. As surely as I live," declares the LORD, "you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride.19"Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away.20The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing, 'This place is too small for us; give us more space to live in.'21Then you will say in your heart, 'Who bore me these? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up? I was left all alone, but these-where have they come from?'"22This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.23Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed."24Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce?25But this is what the LORD says: "Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."