Cyrus to Lead

45 This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, whom He has chosen, whose right hand He has held, “I send him to put nations under his power, and to take away the power of kings. And I will open doors in front of him so that gates will not be shut. ² I will go before you and make the hard places smooth. I will break the brass doors to pieces, and cut through their iron gates. ³ I will give you riches hidden in the darkness and things of great worth that are hidden in secret places. Then you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by name. ⁴ For the good of Jacob My servant and Israel My chosen one, I called you by your name. I gave you a name of honor, when you had not known Me. ⁵ I am the Lord, and there is no other. There is no God besides Me. I will give you strength, even though you have not known Me. ⁶ Then men may know from sunrise to sunset that there is no God besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. ⁷ I make light and I make darkness. I bring good and I make trouble. I am the Lord Who does all these things.

⁸ “Send down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds pour down what is right and good. Let the earth open up and bring the fruit of saving power. And let what is right and good grow with it. I the Lord have made it.

⁹ “It is bad for the one who works against His Maker. He is just a clay pot among the other pots of earth. Will the clay say to the pot-maker, ‘What are you doing?’ or, your work say, ‘He has no hands’? ¹⁰ It is bad for him who says to his father, ‘To what are you giving life?’ or to a woman, ‘To what are you giving birth?’”

¹¹ The Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, says, “Will you ask Me about the things to come for My children? Will you tell Me about the work of My hands? ¹² I made the earth, and made man upon it. I spread out the heavens with My hands, and put all the stars in their places. ¹³ I have sent Cyrus to do what is right and good. And I will make all his ways smooth. He will build My city and without any money will set My people free who were taken away,” says the Lord of All.

¹⁴ The Lord says, “The riches of Egypt and the good things of Cush and the tall Sabeans will come over to you and be yours. They will walk behind you in chains and bow down to you. They will beg you, saying, ‘For sure God is with you, and there is no other God. There is none other.’” ¹⁵ It is true that You are a God Who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the One Who saves! ¹⁶ All of them will be put to shame and troubled. Those who make false gods will go away together in shame. ¹⁷ Israel has been saved forever by the Lord. You will never be put to shame for all time.

¹⁸ This is what the Lord Who made the heavens, the God Who planned and made the earth, and everything in it and did not make it a waste place, but made it a place for people to live in, says, “I am the Lord, and there is no other. ¹⁹ I have not spoken in secret in some dark land. I did not say to the children of Jacob, ‘Look for Me for nothing.’ I the Lord speak the truth. I say what is right.

²⁰ “Gather together and come. Come near together, you who are left of the nations. They have no learning, who carry around their false god made of wood and pray to a god who cannot save. ²¹ Make your need known. Yes, let them talk it over together. Who said this would happen from long ago? Who has been saying it for a long time? Is it not I, the Lord? There is no other God besides Me, a God Who is right and good, a God Who saves. There is none except Me. ²² Look 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. The Word has gone out from My mouth in truth, and will not turn back: ‘Every knee will bow down before Me. And every tongue will say that I am God.’ ²⁴ They will say of Me, ‘Strength and what is right and good are only found in the Lord.’ Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame. ²⁵ In the Lord all the children of Israel will be made right, and will give praise.”

False Gods and the Living God

46 The false gods, Bel and Nebo, bow down. Their objects of worship were put on animals and cattle and the wagons had heavy loads making it hard for the tired animals. ² They get down, they bow down together. They could not save the heavy load, but are themselves carried away to another land.

³ “Listen to Me, O family of Jacob, and all who are left of the family of Israel. You have been helped by Me before you were born and carried since you were born. ⁴ Even when you are old I will be the same. And even when your hair turns white, I will help you. I will take care of what I have made. I will carry you, and will save you.

⁵ “To whom will you compare Me? With whom will you make Me the same and compare Me, that we should be alike? ⁶ Those who take much gold from the money bag and weigh silver hire one who works with gold, and he makes it into a god. Then they bow down and worship it. ⁷ They lift it upon their shoulders and carry it. They set it in its place and it stands there. It does not move from its place. When one cries to it, it cannot answer. It cannot take him away from his trouble.

⁸ “Remember this and be men. Bring it to mind again, you sinners. ⁹ Remember the things of long ago. For I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is no one like Me. ¹⁰ I tell from the beginning what will happen in the end. And from times long ago I tell of things which have not been done, saying, ‘My Word will stand. And I will do all that pleases Me.’ ¹¹ I call a strong and hungry bird from the east, the man from a far country who will do what I have planned. I have spoken, and I will make it happen. I have planned it, and I will do it.

¹² “Listen to Me, you strong-willed people who are far from being right and good. ¹³ I bring near what is right and good. It is not far away. And My saving power is ready now. I will save Zion, and will bring My great power to Israel.

Babylon Is Punished

47 “Come down and sit in the dust, O pure daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O people of the Babylonians. For you will no longer be called soft and gentle. ² Take the heavy stones and grind grain. Take off your face-covering and your clothing. Take the covering off your legs, and cross the rivers. ³ Your body will not be covered, and your shame will be seen. I will punish, and will not show pity to any man.” ⁴ The One Who bought us and saves us, the Lord of All is His name, the Holy One of Israel. ⁵ “Sit and be quiet, and go into darkness, O people of the Babylonians. For you will no more be called the queen of nations. ⁶ I was angry with My people. I made My chosen nation unclean, and gave them into your hand. You did not show loving-kindness to them. On the older people you made your load very heavy. ⁷ You said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’ So you did not think about these things, or remember what might happen.

⁸ “So now hear this, you who love the desires of the body, who live without fear of danger. You say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a woman whose husband has died, and I will not lose my children.’ ⁹ But these two things will come upon you all at once in one day. You will lose your children and your husband. All this trouble will come to you, even with all your witchcraft and the strong power of your sinful secret ways. ¹⁰ You trusted in your sin and said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and learning have led you the wrong way, for you have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’ ¹¹ Much trouble will come upon you, and you will not know how to get away from it. Trouble will fall on you, and there will be no way for you to pay that it might go away. You will not know it but all at once you will be destroyed.

¹² “Keep on with your sinful secret ways and all your witchcraft that you have used since you were young. It might be that you will get something from it. Maybe you can cause fear. ¹³ You are tired with your many wise men. Now call the star watchers, those who tell by the stars what will happen in the future, those who tell the future by the new moons. Have them stand up and save you from what will come upon you. ¹⁴ See, they have become like dry grass. Fire burns them. They cannot take themselves away from the power of the fire. This is no fire for making one warm, or fire to sit by! ¹⁵ This is how those are to you, with whom you have worked since you were young. Each one has gone on in his own wrong way. There is no one who can save you.

The New Life Lived by the Power of Christ

3 If then you have been raised with Christ, keep looking for the good things of heaven. This is where Christ is seated on the right side of God. ² Keep your minds thinking about things in heaven. Do not think about things on the earth. ³ You are dead to the things of this world. Your new life is now hidden in God through Christ. ⁴ Christ is our life. When He comes again, you will also be with Him to share His shining-greatness.

The Old Person Put Aside

⁵ Destroy the desires to sin that are in you. These desires are: sex sins, anything that is not clean, a desire for sex sins, and wanting something someone else has. This is worshiping a god. ⁶ It is because of these sins that the anger of God comes down on those who do not obey Him. ⁷ You used to do these sins when you lived that kind of life. ⁸ Put out of your life these things also: anger, bad temper, bad feelings toward others, talk that hurts people, speaking against God, and dirty talk. ⁹ Do not lie to each other. You have put out of your life your old ways. ¹⁰ You have now become a new person and are always learning more about Christ. You are being made more like Christ. He is the One Who made you. ¹¹ There is no difference in men in this new life. Greeks and Jews are the same. The man who has gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew and the one who has not are the same. There is no difference between nations. Men who are servants and those who are free are the same. Christ is everything. He is in all of us.

¹² God has chosen you. You are holy and loved by Him. Because of this, your new life should be full of loving-pity. You should be kind to others and have no pride. Be gentle and be willing to wait for others. ¹³ Try to understand other people. Forgive each other. If you have something against someone, forgive him. That is the way the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And to all these things, you must add love. Love holds everything and everybody together and makes all these good things perfect. ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ have power over your hearts. You were chosen as a part of His body. Always be thankful.

¹⁶ Let the teaching of Christ and His words keep on living in you. These make your lives rich and full of wisdom. Keep on teaching and helping each other. Sing the Songs of David and the church songs and the songs of heaven with hearts full of thanks to God. ¹⁷ Whatever you say or do, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through the Lord Jesus.

How Families Should Live

¹⁸ Wives, obey your husbands. This is what the Lord wants you to do. ¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives. Do not hold hard feelings against them. ²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything. The Lord is pleased when you do. ²¹ Fathers, do not be so hard on your children that they will give up trying to do what is right.

²² You who are servants who are owned by someone, obey your owners. Work hard for them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Work for them as you would for the Lord because you honor God. ²³ Whatever work you do, do it with all your heart. Do it for the Lord and not for men. ²⁴ Remember that you will get your reward from the Lord. He will give you what you should receive. You are working for the Lord Christ. ²⁵ If anyone does wrong, he will suffer for it. God does not respect one person more than another.