Isaiah 46-48

English Standard Version

The Idols of Babylon and the One True God

46 ^(A)Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;
    their idols are on beasts and livestock;
these things you carry are borne
    as burdens on weary beasts.
²They stoop; they bow down together;
    they cannot save the burden,
    but ^(B)themselves go into captivity.

³“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
    all the remnant of the house of Israel,
^(C)who have been borne by me from before your birth,
    carried from the womb;
⁴^(D)even to your old age I am he,
    and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
    I will carry and will save.

⁵^(E)“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
    and compare me, that we may be alike?
⁶^(F)Those who lavish gold from the purse,
    and weigh out silver in the scales,
hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
    ^(G)then they fall down and worship!
⁷^(H)They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,
    they set it in its place, and it stands there;
    ^(I)it cannot move from its place.
If one cries to it, it does not answer
    or save him from his trouble.

⁸“Remember this and stand firm,
    recall it to mind, ^(J)you transgressors,
⁹    remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me,
¹⁰^(K)declaring the end from the beginning
    and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ^(L)‘My counsel shall stand,
    and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
¹¹^(M)calling a bird of prey from the east,
    the man of my counsel from a far country.
^(N)I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
    I have purposed, and I will do it.

¹²“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
    you who are far from righteousness:
¹³^(O)I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
    and my salvation will not delay;
^(P)I will put salvation in Zion,
    for Israel my glory.”

The Humiliation of Babylon

47 ^(Q)Come down and sit in the dust,
    O virgin ^(R)daughter of Babylon;
^(S)sit on the ground without a throne,
    O daughter of ^(T)the Chaldeans!
^(U)For you shall no more be called
    tender and delicate.
²Take the millstones and ^(V)grind flour,
    ^(W)put off your veil,
strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
    pass through the rivers.
³Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
    and your disgrace shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
    and I will spare no one.
⁴^(X)Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—
    is the Holy One of Israel.

⁵^(Y)Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
    O daughter of ^(Z)the Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
    ^(AA)the mistress of kingdoms.
⁶^(AB)I was angry with my people;
    I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
    ^(AC)you showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
⁷You said, “I shall be ^(AD)mistress forever,”
    so that you did not lay these things to heart
    or remember their end.

⁸Now therefore hear this, ^(AE)you lover of pleasures,
    ^(AF)who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
    ^(AG)“I am, and there is no one besides me;
^(AH)I shall not sit as a widow
    or know the loss of children”:
⁹^(AI)These two things shall come to you
    in a moment, ^(AJ)in one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
    shall come upon you in full measure,
^(AK)in spite of your many sorceries
    and the great power of your enchantments.

¹⁰You felt secure in your wickedness;
    you said, “No one sees me”;
your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
    ^(AL)“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
¹¹But evil shall come upon you,
    which you will not know how to charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
    for which you will not be able to atone;
^(AM)and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
    of which you know nothing.

¹²^(AN)Stand fast in your enchantments
    and your many sorceries,
    with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed;
    perhaps you may inspire terror.
¹³You are wearied with your many counsels;
    let them stand forth and save you,
^(AO)those who divide the heavens,
    who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons make known
    what shall come upon you.

¹⁴Behold, ^(AP)they are like stubble;
    ^(AQ)the fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
    from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
    no fire to sit before!
¹⁵Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
    who have done business with you from your youth;
they wander about, each in his own direction;
    there is no one to save you.

Israel Refined for God's Glory

48 Hear this, O house of Jacob,
    ^(AR)who are called by the name of Israel,
    and ^(AS)who came from the waters of Judah,
^(AT)who swear by the name of the Lord
    and confess the God of Israel,
    but not in truth or right.
²For they call themselves after the holy city,
    ^(AU)and stay themselves on the God of Israel;
    the Lord of hosts is his name.

³“The former things ^(AV)I declared of old;
    they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
    then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
⁴Because I know that ^(AW)you are obstinate,
    and your neck is an iron sinew
    and your forehead brass,
⁵^(AX)I declared them to you from of old,
    before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, ^(AY)‘My idol did them,
    my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’

⁶“You have heard; now see all this;
    and will you not declare it?
From this time forth ^(AZ)I announce to you new things,
    hidden things that you have not known.
⁷They are created now, not long ago;
    before today you have never heard of them,
    lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
⁸You have never heard, you have never known,
    from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,
    and that ^(BA)from before birth you were called a rebel.

⁹^(BB)“For my name's sake I defer my anger;
    for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
    that I may not cut you off.
¹⁰Behold, I have refined you, ^(BC)but not as silver;
    ^(BD)I have tried^[a] you in the furnace of affliction.
¹¹^(BE)For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
    for how should my name^[b] be profaned?
    ^(BF)My glory I will not give to another.

The Lord's Call to Israel

¹²“Listen to me, O Jacob,
    and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; ^(BG)I am the first,
    and I am the last.
¹³My hand ^(BH)laid the foundation of the earth,
    and my right hand ^(BI)spread out the heavens;
^(BJ)when I call to them,
    they stand forth together.

¹⁴“Assemble, all of you, and listen!
    ^(BK)Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
    ^(BL)he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
    and his arm shall be against ^(BM)the Chaldeans.
¹⁵^(BN)I, even I, have spoken and called him;
    I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
¹⁶^(BO)Draw near to me, hear this:
    from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
    from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now ^(BP)the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

¹⁷Thus says the Lord,
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
    who teaches you to profit,
    who leads you in the way you should go.
¹⁸^(BQ)Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
    ^(BR)Then your peace would have been like a river,
    and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
¹⁹^(BS)your offspring would have been like the sand,
    and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
    or destroyed from before me.”

²⁰^(BT)Go out from Babylon, flee from ^(BU)Chaldea,
    declare this ^(BV)with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it out to the end of the earth;
    say, ^(BW)“The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
²¹^(BX)They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
    ^(BY)he made water flow for them from the rock;
    he split the rock and the water gushed out.

²²^(BZ)“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 48:10 Or I have chosen
Isaiah 48:11 Hebrew lacks my name

Matthew 13:24-58

English Standard Version

The Parable of the Weeds

²⁴He put another parable before them, saying, ^(A)“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds^[a] among the wheat and went away. ²⁶So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. ²⁷And the servants^[b] of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ ²⁸He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹But he said, ^(B)‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ^(C)“Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

³¹He put another parable before them, saying, ^(D)“The kingdom of heaven is like ^(E)a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. ³²It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

³³He told them another parable. ^(F)“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in ^(G)three measures of flour, till it was ^(H)all leavened.”

Prophecy and Parables

³⁴^(I)All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. ³⁵This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:^[c]

^(J)“I will open my mouth in parables;
^(K)I will utter what has been hidden ^(L)since the foundation of the world.”

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

³⁶Then he left the crowds and went into ^(M)the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, ^(N)“Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” ³⁷He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸The field is the world, and the good seed is ^(O)the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are ^(P)the sons of the evil one, ³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. ^(Q)The harvest is ^(R)the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰Just as the weeds ^(S)are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at ^(T)the end of the age. ⁴¹^(U)The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all ^(V)causes of sin and ^(W)all law-breakers, ⁴²^(X)and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place ^(Y)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then ^(Z)the righteous will shine like the sun ^(AA)in the kingdom of their Father. ^(AB)He who has ears, let him hear.

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

⁴⁴“The kingdom of heaven ^(AC)is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy ^(AD)he goes and sells all that he has and ^(AE)buys that field.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value

⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, ⁴⁶who, on finding ^(AF)one pearl of great value, ^(AG)went and sold all that he had and ^(AH)bought it.

The Parable of the Net

⁴⁷“Again, the kingdom of heaven is ^(AI)like a net that was thrown into the sea and ^(AJ)gathered fish of every kind. ⁴⁸When it was full, ^(AK)men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. ⁴⁹So it will be at ^(AL)the end of the age. The angels will come out and ^(AM)separate the evil from the righteous ⁵⁰^(AN)and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place ^(AO)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

New and Old Treasures

⁵¹^(AP)“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” ⁵²And he said to them, “Therefore every ^(AQ)scribe ^(AR)who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who ^(AS)brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

⁵³And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, ⁵⁴^(AT)and coming to ^(AU)his hometown ^(AV)he taught them in their synagogue, so that ^(AW)they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ⁵⁵^(AX)Is not this ^(AY)the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not ^(AZ)his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷And ^(BA)they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ^(BB)“A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” ⁵⁸And he did not do many mighty works there, ^(BC)because of their unbelief.