Isaiah 47-48
Christian Standard Bible
The Fall of Babylon
47 “Go down and sit in the dust,(A)
Virgin Daughter Babylon.(B)
Sit on the ground without a throne,
Daughter Chaldea!
For you will no longer be called pampered and spoiled.
2 Take millstones and grind flour;(C)
remove your veil,
strip off your skirt, bare your thigh,
wade through the streams.
3 Your nakedness will be uncovered,
and your disgrace will be exposed.(D)
I will take vengeance;
I will spare no one.”[a]
4 The Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer;(E)
The Lord of Armies is his name.
5 “Daughter Chaldea,
sit in silence(F) 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 handed them over to you.
You showed them no mercy;
you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly.
7 You said, ‘I will be the queen 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,(G)
who says to herself,
‘I am, and there is no one else.
I will never be a widow
or know the loss of children.’(H)
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(I)
and the potency of your spells.
10 You were secure in your wickedness;
you said, ‘No one sees me.’(J)
Your wisdom and knowledge
led you astray.
You said to yourself,
‘I am, 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.[b]
Devastation will happen to you suddenly
and unexpectedly.(K)
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 the astrologers stand and save you—
those who observe the stars,(L)
those who predict monthly
what will happen to you.
14 Look, they are like stubble;(M)
fire burns them.(N)
They cannot rescue 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.
Israel Must Leave Babylon
48 “Listen to this, house of Jacob—
those who are called by the name Israel
and have descended from[c] Judah,(O)
who swear by the name of the Lord(P)
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;(Q)
his name is the Lord of Armies.
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[d]
and your forehead bronze,(R)
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.’(S)
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.(T)
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.(U)
9 I will delay my anger for the sake 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,(V) but not as silver;
I have tested[e] you in the furnace of affliction.
11 I will act for my own sake, indeed, my own,(W)
for how can I[f] be defiled?
I will not give my glory to another.(X)
12 “Listen to me, Jacob,
and Israel, the one called by me:
I am he; I am the first,
I am also the last.(Y)
13 My own hand founded the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;(Z)
when I summoned them,
they stood up together.
14 All of you, assemble and listen!
Who among the idols[g] has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;[h]
he will accomplish his will against Babylon,(AA)
and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15 I—I have spoken;
yes, I have called him;(AB)
I have brought him,
and he will succeed in his mission.(AC)
16 Approach me and listen to this.
From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;(AD)
from the time anything existed, I was there.”
And now the Lord God
has sent me and his Spirit.(AE)
17 This is what the Lord, your Redeemer,(AF) the Holy One of Israel(AG) 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,(AH)
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.(AI)
19 Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand,(AJ)
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(AK) Jacob!”
21 They did not thirst
when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow from the rock for them;(AL)
he split the rock, and water gushed out.
22 “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.(AM)
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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