Isaiah 46-49

New American Standard Bible

Babylon’s Idols and the True God

46 ^(A)Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over;
Their idols have become loads for the animals and the cattle.
The things ^[a]that you carry are burdensome,
A load for the weary animal.
²They stooped over, they have bowed down together;
They could not rescue the burden,
But ^[b]have themselves ^(B)gone into captivity.

³“^(C)Listen to Me, house of Jacob,
And all ^(D)the remnant of the house of Israel,
You who have been ^(E)carried by Me from ^[c]birth
And have been carried from the womb;
⁴Even to your old age ^(F)I ^[d]will be the same,
And even to your ^[e]^(G)graying years I will ^[f]carry you!
I have ^[g]done it, and I will bear you;
And I will ^[h]carry you and I will save you.

⁵“^(H)To whom would you liken Me
And make Me equal, and compare Me,
That we would be alike?
⁶Those who ^(I)lavish gold from the bag
And weigh silver on the scale,
Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
They ^(J)bow down, indeed they worship it.
⁷They ^(K)lift it on the shoulder, carry it,
And set it in its place, and it stands there.
^(L)It does not move from its place.
Though one may shout to it, it ^(M)cannot answer;
It ^(N)cannot save him from his distress.

⁸“^(O)Remember this, and be ^[i]assured;
^(P)Recall it to ^[j]mind, you ^(Q)wrongdoers.
⁹Remember the ^(R)former things long past,
For I am God, and there is ^(S)no other;
I am God, and there is ^(T)no one like Me,
¹⁰Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘^(U)My plan will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
¹¹Calling a ^(V)bird of prey from the ^(W)east,
The man of ^[k]My purpose from a distant country.
Truly I have ^(X)spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, I will certainly do it.

¹²“^(Y)Listen to Me, you ^(Z)stubborn-minded,
Who are ^(AA)far from righteousness.
¹³I ^(AB)bring near My righteousness, it is not far off;
And My salvation will not delay.
And I will grant ^(AC)salvation in Zion,
And My ^(AD)glory for Israel.

Mourning for Babylon

47 “^(AE)Come down and sit in the dust,
^(AF)Virgin ^(AG)daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground without a throne,
Daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you will no longer be called ^(AH)tender and delicate.
²Take the ^(AI)millstones and ^(AJ)grind flour.
Remove your ^(AK)veil, ^(AL)strip off the skirt,
Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
³Your ^(AM)nakedness will be uncovered,
Your shame will also be exposed;
I will ^(AN)take vengeance and will not spare anyone.”
⁴Our ^(AO)Redeemer, the Lord of armies is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.
⁵“^(AP)Sit silently, and go into ^(AQ)darkness,
Daughter of the Chaldeans;
For you will no longer be called
The ^(AR)queen of ^(AS)kingdoms.
⁶I was angry with My people,
I profaned My heritage
And handed them over to you.
You did not show mercy to them,
On the ^(AT)aged you made your yoke very heavy.
⁷Yet you said, ‘I will be a ^(AU)queen forever.’
These things you did not ^(AV)consider
Nor remember the ^(AW)outcome of ^[l]them.

⁸“Now, then, hear this, you ^(AX)luxuriant one,
Who ^(AY)lives securely,
Who says in her heart,
‘^(AZ)I am, and there is no one besides me.
I will ^(BA)not sit as a widow,
Nor know the loss of children.’
⁹But these ^(BB)two things will come on you ^(BC)suddenly in one day:
Loss of children and widowhood.
They will come on you in full measure
In spite of your many ^(BD)sorceries,
In spite of the great power of your spells.
¹⁰You felt ^(BE)secure in your wickedness and said,
‘^(BF)No one sees me,’
Your ^(BG)wisdom and your knowledge, ^[m]they have led you astray;
For you have said in your heart,
‘^(BH)I am, and there is no one besides me.’
¹¹But ^(BI)evil will come on you
Which you will not know how to charm away;
And disaster will fall on you
For which you cannot atone;
And ^(BJ)destruction about which you do not know
Will come on you ^(BK)suddenly.

¹²“Persist now in your ^(BL)spells
And in your many sorceries
With which you have labored from your youth;
Perhaps you will be able to benefit,
Perhaps you may cause trembling.
¹³You are ^(BM)wearied with your many counsels;
Let now the ^(BN)astrologers,
Those who prophesy by the stars,
Those who predict by the new moons,
Stand up and ^(BO)save you from what will come upon you.
¹⁴Behold, they have become ^(BP)like stubble,
^(BQ)Fire burns them;
They cannot save themselves from the power of the flame;
There will be ^(BR)no coal to warm by
Nor a fire to sit before!
¹⁵So have those become to you with whom you have labored,
Those who have ^(BS)done business with you from your youth;
Each has wandered in his own ^[n]way;
There is ^(BT)no one to save you.

Israel’s Obstinacy

48 “^(BU)Hear this, house of Jacob, who are named Israel
And who came from the ^(BV)waters of Judah,
Who ^(BW)swear by the name of the Lord
And invoke the God of Israel,
But not in truth nor in ^(BX)righteousness.
²For they name themselves after the ^(BY)holy city,
And ^(BZ)lean on the God of Israel;
The Lord of armies is His name.
³I ^(CA)declared the former things long ago,
And they went out of My mouth, and I proclaimed them.
^(CB)Suddenly I acted, and they ^(CC)came to pass.
⁴Because I know that you are ^[o]^(CD)obstinate,
And your ^(CE)neck is an iron tendon
And your ^(CF)forehead bronze,
⁵Therefore I declared them to you long ago,
Before ^[p]they took place I proclaimed them to you,
So that you would not say, ‘My ^(CG)idol has done them,
And my carved image and my cast metal image have commanded them.’
⁶You have heard; look at all this.
And you, will you not declare it?
I proclaim to you ^(CH)new things from this time,
Hidden things which you have not known.
⁷They are created now and not long ago;
And before today you have not heard them,
So that you will not say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
⁸You have not ^(CI)heard, you have not known.
Even from long ago your ear has not been open,
Because I knew that you would deal very treacherously;
And you have been called a ^[q]^(CJ)rebel from ^[r]birth.
⁹^(CK)For the sake of My name I ^(CL)delay My wrath,
And for My praise I restrain it for you,
In order not to cut you off.
¹⁰Behold, I have refined you, but ^(CM)not as silver;
I have tested you in the ^(CN)furnace of affliction.
¹¹^(CO)For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act;
For how can My name be profaned?
And I will not give My ^(CP)glory to another.

Rescue Promised

¹²“Listen to Me, Jacob, Israel ^[s]whom I called;
^(CQ)I am He, ^(CR)I am the first, I am also the last.
¹³Assuredly My hand ^(CS)founded the earth,
And My right hand spread out the heavens;
When I ^(CT)call to them, they stand together.
¹⁴^(CU)Assemble, all of you, and listen!
^(CV)Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him; he will ^(CW)carry out His good pleasure against ^(CX)Babylon,
And His arm will be against the Chaldeans.
¹⁵I, yes I, have spoken; indeed I have ^(CY)called him,
I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful.
¹⁶^(CZ)Come near to Me, listen to this:
From the beginning I have ^(DA)not spoken in secret,
^(DB)From the time it took place, I was there.
And now ^(DC)the Lord ^[t]God has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

¹⁷This is what the Lord says, He who is your ^(DD)Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to benefit,
Who ^(DE)leads you in the way you should go.
¹⁸If only you had ^(DF)paid attention to My commandments!
Then your ^[u]^(DG)well-being would have been like a river,
And your ^(DH)righteousness like the waves of the sea.
¹⁹Your ^[v]^(DI)descendants would have been like the sand,
And ^[w]your offspring like its grains;
^(DJ)Their name would never be eliminated or destroyed from My presence.”

²⁰^(DK)Go out from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans!
Declare with the sound of ^(DL)joyful shouting, proclaim this,
^(DM)Send it out to the end of the earth;
Say, “^(DN)The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob.”
²¹They did not ^(DO)thirst when He led them through the deserts.
He ^(DP)made the water flow out of the rock for them;
He split the rock and ^(DQ)the water gushed out.
²²“^(DR)There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.

Salvation Reaches to the Ends of the Earth

49 Listen to Me, you ^(DS)islands,
And pay attention, you peoples from afar.
^(DT)The Lord called Me from the womb;
From the ^[x]body of My mother He named Me.
²He has made My ^(DU)mouth like a sharp sword,
In the ^(DV)shadow of His hand He has concealed Me;
And He has also made Me a sharpened ^(DW)arrow,
He has hidden Me in His quiver.
³He said to Me, “^(DX)You are My Servant, Israel,
^(DY)In whom I will show My glory.”
⁴But I said, “I have ^(DZ)labored in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and futility;
Nevertheless, the justice due to Me is with the Lord,
And My ^(EA)reward is with My God.”

⁵And now says ^(EB)the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him, so that ^(EC)Israel might be gathered to Him
(For I am ^(ED)honored in the sight of the Lord,
And My God is My ^(EE)strength),
⁶He says, “It is too ^[y]small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the ^(EF)protected ones of Israel;
I will also make You a ^(EG)light ^[z]of the nations
So that My salvation may ^[aa]reach to the ^(EH)end of the earth.”
⁷This is what the Lord, the ^(EI)Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One,
Says to the ^[ab]^(EJ)despised One,
To the One abhorred by the nation,
To the Servant of rulers:
“^(EK)Kings will see and arise,
Princes will also ^(EL)bow down,
Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”

⁸This is what the Lord says:
“At a ^(EM)favorable time I answered You,
And on a day of salvation I helped You;
And I will ^(EN)watch over You and ^(EO)make You a covenant of the people,
To ^[ac]^(EP)restore the land, to give as inheritances the deserted hereditary lands;
⁹Saying to those who are ^(EQ)bound, ‘^[ad]Go free,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
They will feed along the roads,
And their pasture will be on all ^(ER)bare heights.
¹⁰They will ^(ES)not hunger or thirst,
Nor will the scorching ^(ET)heat or sun strike them down;
For ^(EU)He who has compassion on them will ^(EV)lead them,
And He will guide them to ^(EW)springs of water.
¹¹I will make all ^(EX)My mountains a road,
And My ^(EY)highways will be raised up.
¹²Behold, these will come ^(EZ)from afar;
And behold, these will come from the ^(FA)north and from the west,
And these from the land of Aswan.”
¹³^(FB)Shout for joy, you heavens! And rejoice, you earth!
Break forth into joyful shouting, mountains!
For the ^(FC)Lord has comforted His people
And will ^(FD)have compassion on His afflicted.

Promise to Zion

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord has abandoned me,
And the Lord has forgotten me.”
¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child
And have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, but ^(FE)I will not forget you.
¹⁶Behold, I have ^(FF)inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your ^(FG)walls are continually before Me.
¹⁷Your ^[ae]builders hurry;
Your ^(FH)destroyers and devastators
Will leave you.
¹⁸^(FI)Raise your eyes and look around;
^(FJ)All of them gather together, ^(FK)they come to you.
^(FL)As I live,” declares the Lord,
“You will certainly ^(FM)put them all on as ^[af]jewelry and bind them on as a bride.
¹⁹For ^(FN)your ruins and deserted places and your destroyed land—
Now you will certainly be ^(FO)too cramped for the inhabitants,
And those who ^(FP)swallowed you will be far away.
²⁰The ^(FQ)children ^[ag]you lost will yet say in your ears,
‘The place is too cramped for me;
Make room for me that I may live here.’
²¹Then you will ^(FR)say in your heart,
‘Who has fathered these for me,
Since I have been bereaved of my children
And ^(FS)cannot conceive, and I am an ^(FT)exile, and a wanderer?
And who has raised these?
Behold, I was ^(FU)left alone;
^[ah]^(FV)Where are these from?’”

²²This is what the Lord ^[ai]God says:

“Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations
And set up My ^(FW)flag to the peoples;
And they will ^(FX)bring your sons ^[aj]in their arms,
And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.
²³^(FY)Kings will be your guardians,
And their princesses your nurses.
They will ^(FZ)bow down to you with their faces to the ground
And ^(GA)lick the dust from your feet;
And you will ^(GB)know that I am the Lord;
Those who hopefully ^(GC)wait for Me will ^(GD)not be put to shame.

²⁴“^(GE)Can the prey be taken from a mighty man,
Or the captives of ^[ak]a tyrant be rescued?”

²⁵Indeed, this is what the Lord says:

“Even the ^(GF)captives of the mighty man will be taken away,
And the prey of a tyrant will be rescued;
For I will contend with the one who contends with you,
And I will ^(GG)save your sons.
²⁶I will feed your ^(GH)oppressors with their ^(GI)own flesh,
And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine;
And ^[al]^(GJ)humanity will know that I, the Lord, am your ^(GK)Savior
And your ^(GL)Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 46:1 Lit carried by you
Isaiah 46:2 Or their soul has
Isaiah 46:3 Lit the belly
Isaiah 46:4 Lit will be He
Isaiah 46:4 Lit gray hairs
Isaiah 46:4 Or support
Isaiah 46:4 Or made you
Isaiah 46:4 Or support
Isaiah 46:8 Lit firm
Isaiah 46:8 Lit heart
Isaiah 46:11 Lit His
Isaiah 47:7 Lit it
Isaiah 47:10 Lit it has
Isaiah 47:15 Lit side, region
Isaiah 48:4 Or harsh
Isaiah 48:5 Lit it
Isaiah 48:8 Or transgressor
Isaiah 48:8 Lit the belly
Isaiah 48:12 Lit My called one
Isaiah 48:16 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
Isaiah 48:18 Or peace
Isaiah 48:19 Lit seed
Isaiah 48:19 Lit the offspring of your inward parts
Isaiah 49:1 Lit inward parts
Isaiah 49:6 Lit light
Isaiah 49:6 Or to
Isaiah 49:6 Lit be
Isaiah 49:7 Lit despised of soul
Isaiah 49:8 Lit establish
Isaiah 49:9 Lit Go out
Isaiah 49:17 Ancient versions and DSS; MT sons
Isaiah 49:18 Lit an ornament
Isaiah 49:20 Lit of your bereavement
Isaiah 49:21 Lit These, where are they?
Isaiah 49:22 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
Isaiah 49:22 Lit on the chest
Isaiah 49:24 Ancient versions and DSS; MT the righteous, cf. v 25
Isaiah 49:26 Lit all flesh

1 Peter 5

New American Standard Bible

Serve God Willingly

5 ^(A)Therefore, I urge elders among you, as your ^(B)fellow elder and a ^(C)witness of the sufferings of Christ, and one who is also a ^[a]^(D)fellow partaker of the glory that is to be revealed: ²shepherd ^(E)the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, ^(F)not under compulsion but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and ^(G)not ^[b]with greed but with eagerness; ³nor yet as ^(H)domineering over ^[c]those assigned to your care, but by ^[d]proving to be ^[e]^(I)examples to the flock. ⁴And when the Chief ^(J)Shepherd appears, you will receive the ^(K)unfading ^[f]^(L)crown of glory. ⁵^(M)You ^[g]younger men, likewise, ^(N)be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with ^(O)humility toward one another, because ^(P)God is opposed to the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.

⁶Therefore ^(Q)humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, ⁷having cast all your ^(R)anxiety on Him, because He cares about you. ⁸^(S)Be of sober spirit, ^(T)be on the alert. Your adversary, ^(U)the devil, prowls around like a roaring ^(V)lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹^[h]^(W)So resist him, ^(X)firm in your faith, knowing that ^(Y)the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your ^[i]brothers and sisters who are in the world. ¹⁰After you have suffered ^(Z)for a little while, the ^(AA)God of all grace, who ^(AB)called you to His ^(AC)eternal glory in Christ, will Himself ^(AD)perfect, ^(AE)confirm, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹^(AF)To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

¹²Through ^(AG)Silvanus, our faithful brother ^[j](for so I regard him), ^(AH)I have written to you briefly, ^[k]exhorting and testifying that this is ^(AI)the true grace of God. ^(AJ)Stand firm in it! ¹³She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, ^(AK)Mark. ¹⁴^(AL)Greet one another with a kiss of love.