Isaiah, starting at chapter 46
{46:1} Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols are on the animals, and
on the livestock: the things that you carried about are made a
load, a burden to the weary [animal]. {46:2} They stoop, they
bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but
themselves are gone into captivity.
{46:3} "Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house
of Israel, that have been borne [by me] from their birth, that
have been carried from the womb; {46:4} and even to old age I
am he, and even to gray hairs will I carry you. I have made,
and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver.
{46:5} "To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me,
that we may be like? {46:6} Some pour out gold from the bag,
and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he
makes it a god. They fall down--yes, they worship. {46:7} They
bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its
place, and it stands, from its place it shall not move: yes,
one may cry to it, yet it can not answer, nor save him out of
his trouble.
{46:8} "Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to
mind, you transgressors. {46:9} Remember the former things of
old: for I am God, and there is none else; [I am] God, and
there is none like me; {46:10} declaring the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times things that are not [yet]
done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my
pleasure; {46:11} calling a ravenous bird from the east, the
man of my counsel from a far country; yes, I have spoken, I
will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it.
{46:12} Listen to me, you stout-hearted, who are far from
righteousness: {46:13} I bring near my righteousness, it shall
not be far off, and my salvation shall not wait; and I will
place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
{47:1} "Come down, and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon;
sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans:
for you shall no more be called tender and delicate. {47:2}
Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove your veil, strip
off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers. {47:3}
Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame shall be
seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man."
{47:4} Our Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies is his name, the Holy One of
Israel.
{47:5} "Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the
Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.
{47:6} I was angry with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and gave
them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; on the aged you
have very heavily laid your yoke. {47:7} You said, I shall be
mistress forever; so that you did not lay these things to your
heart, neither did remember the latter end of it.
{47:8} "Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who
sit securely, who say in your heart, I am, and there is none
else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I
know the loss of children: {47:9} but these two things shall
come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and
widowhood; in their full measure shall they come on you, in the
multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your
enchantments. {47:10} For you have trusted in your wickedness;
you have said, No one sees me; your wisdom and your knowledge,
it has perverted you, and you have said in your heart, I am,
and there is none else besides me. {47:11} Therefore evil will
come on you; you won't know when it dawns: and mischief wil
fall on you; you will not be able to put it away: and
desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you don't know.
{47:12} "Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of
your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth; if
so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail.
{47:13} You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels: let
now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly
prognosticators, stand up, and save you from the things that
shall come on you. {47:14} Behold, they shall be as stubble;
the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves
from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at,
nor a fire to sit before. {47:15} Thus shall the things be to
you in which you have labored: those who have trafficked with
you from your youth shall wander everyone to his quarter; there
shall be none to save you.
{48:1} "Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of
Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah; who
swear by the name of Yahweh, and make mention of the God of
Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness {48:2} (for they
call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves on the
God of Israel; Yahweh of Armies is his name): {48:3} I have
declared the former things from of old; yes, they went forth
out of my mouth, and I showed them: suddenly I did them, and
they happened. {48:4} Because I knew that you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass; {48:5}
therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came
to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, 'My idol has
done them, and my engraved image, and my molten image, has
commanded them.' {48:6} You have heard it; see all this; and
you, will you not declare it?
"I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which
you have not known. {48:7} They are created now, and not from
of old; and before this day you didn't hear them; lest you
should say, 'Behold, I knew them.'
{48:8} Yes, you didn't hear; yes, you didn't know; yes, from of old
your ear was not opened: for I knew that you did deal very
treacherously, and was called a transgressor from the womb.
{48:9} For my name's sake will I defer my anger, and for my
praise will I refrain for you, that I not cut you off. {48:10}
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen
you in the furnace of affliction. {48:11} For my own sake, for
my own sake, will I do it; for how should [my name] be
profaned? and my glory I will not give to another.
{48:12} "Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am
the first, I also am the last. {48:13} Yes, my hand has laid
the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out
the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together.
{48:14} "Assemble yourselves, all you, and hear; who among them has
declared these things? He whom Yahweh loves shall perform his
pleasure on Babylon, and his arm [shall be on] the Chaldeans.
{48:15} I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him; I have
brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
{48:16} "Come near to me and hear this:
"From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it
was, there am I." Now the Lord Yahweh has sent me, with his
Spirit.
{48:17} Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am
Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by
the way that you should go. {48:18} Oh that you had listened to
my commandments! then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea: {48:19} your
seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your body
like its grains: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed
from before me. {48:20} Go forth from Babylon, flee from the
Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare, tell this, utter it
even to the end of the earth: say, Yahweh has redeemed his
servant Jacob. {48:21} They didn't thirst when he led them
through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the
rock for them; he split the rock also, and the waters gushed
out. {48:22} "There is no peace," says Yahweh, "for the wicked."
________________________________________________________________________
The World English Bible is dedicated to the Public Domain by the
translators and editors. It is not copyrighted. "World English Bible"
and the World English Bible logo are a trademarks of Rainbow Missions,
Inc. They may only be used to identify this translation of the Holy
Bible as published by Rainbow Missions, Inc., and faithful copies and
quotations. "Faithful copies" include copies converted to other formats
(i. e. HTML, PDF, etc.) or typeset differently, without altering the
text of the Scriptures. Use of the markings of direct quotes of Jesus
Christ for different rendition (i. e. red text) is optional. Comments
and typo reports are welcome at http://eBible.org/cgi-bin/comment.cgi.
Please see http://WEBible.org/ for updates, revision status, free
downloads, and printed edition purchase information.
_______________________________________________
Bible mailing list subscription management information:
http://eBible.org/subscribe.htm
http://lists.worldenglishbible.org/mailman/listinfo/bible
