Isaiah 47-48
English Standard Version
The Humiliation of Babylon
47 (A)Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin (B)daughter of Babylon;
(C)sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of (D)the Chaldeans!
(E)For you shall no more be called
tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and (F)grind flour,
(G)put off your veil,
strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
pass through the rivers.
3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
and your disgrace shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
and I will spare no one.
4 (H)Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—
is the Holy One of Israel.
5 (I)Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of (J)the Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
(K)the mistress of kingdoms.
6 (L)I was angry with my people;
I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
(M)you showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
7 You said, “I shall be (N)mistress forever,”
so that you did not lay these things to heart
or remember their end.
8 Now therefore hear this, (O)you lover of pleasures,
(P)who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
(Q)“I am, and there is no one besides me;
(R)I shall not sit as a widow
or know the loss of children”:
9 (S)These two things shall come to you
in a moment, (T)in one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
shall come upon you in full measure,
(U)in spite of your many sorceries
and the great power of your enchantments.
10 You 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,
(V)“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
11 But 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;
(W)and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
of which you know nothing.
12 (X)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.
13 You are wearied with your many counsels;
let them stand forth and save you,
(Y)those who divide the heavens,
who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons make known
what shall come upon you.
14 Behold, (Z)they are like stubble;
(AA)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!
15 Such 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,
(AB)who are called by the name of Israel,
and (AC)who came from the waters of Judah,
(AD)who swear by the name of the Lord
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
2 For they call themselves after the holy city,
(AE)and stay themselves on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
3 “The former things (AF)I declared of old;
they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4 Because I know that (AG)you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead brass,
5 (AH)I declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, (AI)‘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 (AJ)I announce to you new things,
hidden things that you have not known.
7 They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 You 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 (AK)from before birth you were called a rebel.
9 (AL)“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.
10 Behold, I have refined you, (AM)but not as silver;
(AN)I have tried[a] you in the furnace of affliction.
11 (AO)For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name[b] be profaned?
(AP)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; (AQ)I am the first,
and I am the last.
13 My hand (AR)laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand (AS)spread out the heavens;
(AT)when I call to them,
they stand forth together.
14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
(AU)Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
(AV)he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against (AW)the Chaldeans.
15 (AX)I, even I, have spoken and called him;
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 (AY)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 (AZ)the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.
17 Thus 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 (BA)Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
(BB)Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19 (BC)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 (BD)Go out from Babylon, flee from (BE)Chaldea,
declare this (BF)with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it out to the end of the earth;
say, (BG)“The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 (BH)They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
(BI)he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock and the water gushed out.
22 (BJ)“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
2 Corinthians 1:12-2:17
English Standard Version
Paul's Change of Plans
12 For our boast is this, (A)the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity[a] and (B)godly sincerity, (C)not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— 14 just as you did (D)partially understand us—that (E)on the day of our Lord Jesus (F)you will boast of us as (G)we will boast of you.
15 Because I was sure of this, (H)I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have (I)a second (J)experience of grace. 16 I wanted to visit you (K)on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans (L)according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as (M)God is faithful, (N)our word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For (O)the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, (P)Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but (Q)in him it is always Yes. 20 For (R)all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our (S)Amen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and (T)has anointed us, 22 and who has also (U)put his seal on us and (V)given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.[b]
23 But (W)I call God to witness against me—it was (X)to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we (Y)lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm (Z)in your faith.
2 For I made up my mind (AA)not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For (AB)if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, (AC)for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For (AD)I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
Forgive the Sinner
5 Now (AE)if anyone has caused pain, (AF)he has caused it not to me, but (AG)in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, (AH)this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so (AI)you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might (AJ)test you and know (AK)whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for (AL)we are not ignorant of his designs.
Triumph in Christ
12 When (AM)I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though (AN)a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit (AO)was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.
14 But (AP)thanks be to God, who in Christ always (AQ)leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads (AR)the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among (AS)those who are being saved and among (AT)those who are perishing, 16 (AU)to one a fragrance from death to death, (AV)to the other a fragrance from life to life. (AW)Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
Footnotes
- 2 Corinthians 1:12 Some manuscripts holiness
- 2 Corinthians 1:22 Or down payment
Psalm 106:35-41
English Standard Version
35 but they (A)mixed with the nations
and learned to do as they did.
36 They served their idols,
which became (B)a snare to them.
37 They (C)sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to (D)the demons;
38 they poured out innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was (E)polluted with blood.
39 Thus they (F)became unclean by their acts,
and (G)played the whore in their deeds.
40 Then (H)the anger of the Lord was kindled against (I)his people,
and he abhorred his (J)heritage;
41 he (K)gave them into the hand of the nations,
so that those who hated them ruled over them.
Proverbs 23:9-10
English Standard Version
9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
for he will despise the good sense of your words.
10 (A)Do not move an ancient landmark
or enter the fields of the fatherless,
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
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