Isaiah 43-48
World English Bible
43 But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob,
and he who formed you, Israel, says:
“Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by your name.
You are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,
and through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned,
and flame will not scorch you.
3 For I am Yahweh your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
your Savior.
I have given Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
4 Since you have been precious and honored in my sight,
and I have loved you,
therefore I will give people in your place,
and nations instead of your life.
5 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and gather you from the west.
6 I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’
and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back!
Bring my sons from far away,
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
7 everyone who is called by my name,
and whom I have created for my glory,
whom I have formed,
yes, whom I have made.’”
8 Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
and the deaf who have ears.
9 Let all the nations be gathered together,
and let the peoples be assembled.
Who among them can declare this,
and show us former things?
Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified,
or let them hear, and say, “That is true.”
10 “You are my witnesses,” says Yahweh,
“With my servant whom I have chosen;
that you may know and believe me,
and understand that I am he.
Before me there was no God formed,
neither will there be after me.
11 I myself am Yahweh.
Besides me, there is no savior.
12 I have declared, I have saved, and I have shown,
and there was no strange god among you.
Therefore you are my witnesses”,
says Yahweh, “and I am God.
13 Yes, since the day was, I am he.
There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
I will work, and who can hinder it?”
14 Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “For your sake, I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. 15 I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”
16 Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea,
and a path in the mighty waters,
17 who brings out the chariot and horse,
the army and the mighty man
(they lie down together, they shall not rise;
they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick) says:
18 “Don’t remember the former things,
and don’t consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing.
It springs out now.
Don’t you know it?
I will even make a way in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert.
20 The animals of the field, the jackals and the ostriches, shall honor me,
because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people which I formed for myself,
that they might declare my praise.
22 Yet you have not called on me, Jacob;
but you have been weary of me, Israel.
23 You have not brought me any of your sheep for burnt offerings,
neither have you honored me with your sacrifices.
I have not burdened you with offerings,
nor wearied you with frankincense.
24 You have bought me no sweet cane with money,
nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices,
but you have burdened me with your sins.
You have wearied me with your iniquities.
25 I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake;
and I will not remember your sins.
26 Put me in remembrance.
Let us plead together.
Declare your case,
that you may be justified.
27 Your first father sinned,
and your teachers have transgressed against me.
28 Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;
and I will make Jacob a curse,
and Israel an insult.”
44 Yet listen now, Jacob my servant,
and Israel, whom I have chosen.
2 This is what Yahweh who made you,
and formed you from the womb,
who will help you says:
“Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant;
and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,
and streams on the dry ground.
I will pour my Spirit on your descendants,
and my blessing on your offspring:
4 and they will spring up among the grass,
as willows by the watercourses.
5 One will say, ‘I am Yahweh’s;’
and another will be called by the name of Jacob;
and another will write with his hand ‘to Yahweh,’
and honor the name of Israel.”
6 This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says:
“I am the first, and I am the last;
and besides me there is no God.
7 Who is like me?
Who will call,
and will declare it,
and set it in order for me,
since I established the ancient people?
Let them declare the things that are coming,
and that will happen.
8 Don’t fear,
neither be afraid.
Haven’t I declared it to you long ago,
and shown it?
You are my witnesses.
Is there a God besides me?
Indeed, there is not.
I don’t know any other Rock.”
9 Everyone who makes a carved image is vain.
The things that they delight in will not profit.
Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.
10 Who has fashioned a god,
or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?
11 Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed;
and the workmen are mere men.
Let them all be gathered together.
Let them stand up.
They will fear.
They will be put to shame together.
12 The blacksmith takes an ax,
works in the coals,
fashions it with hammers,
and works it with his strong arm.
He is hungry,
and his strength fails;
he drinks no water,
and is faint.
13 The carpenter stretches out a line.
He marks it out with a pencil.
He shapes it with planes.
He marks it out with compasses,
and shapes it like the figure of a man,
with the beauty of a man,
to reside in a house.
14 He cuts down cedars for himself,
and takes the cypress and the oak,
and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest.
He plants a cypress tree,
and the rain nourishes it.
15 Then it will be for a man to burn;
and he takes some of it, and warms himself.
Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread.
Yes, he makes a god, and worships it;
he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.
16 He burns part of it in the fire.
With part of it, he eats meat.
He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.
Yes, he warms himself,
and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.”
17 The rest of it he makes into a god,
even his engraved image.
He bows down to it and worships,
and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me; for you are my god!”
18 They don’t know, neither do they consider:
for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see;
and their hearts, that they can’t understand.
19 No one thinks,
neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say,
“I have burned part of it in the fire.
Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals.
I have roasted meat and eaten it.
Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination?
Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?”
20 He feeds on ashes.
A deceived heart has turned him aside;
and he can’t deliver his soul,
nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”
21 Remember these things, Jacob and Israel;
for you are my servant.
I have formed you.
You are my servant.
Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions,
and, as a cloud, your sins.
Return to me, for I have redeemed you.
23 Sing, you heavens, for Yahweh has done it!
Shout, you lower parts of the earth!
Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees,
for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob,
and will glorify himself in Israel.
24 Yahweh, your Redeemer,
and he who formed you from the womb says:
“I am Yahweh, who makes all things;
who alone stretches out the heavens;
who spreads out the earth by myself;
25 who frustrates the signs of the liars,
and makes diviners mad;
who turns wise men backward,
and makes their knowledge foolish;
26 who confirms the word of his servant,
and performs the counsel of his messengers;
who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited;’
and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be built,’
and ‘I will raise up its waste places;’
27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’
and ‘I will dry up your rivers;’
28 Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,’
even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built;’
and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”
45 Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
2 “I will go before you
and make the rough places smooth.
I will break the doors of bronze in pieces
and cut apart the bars of iron.
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
and hidden riches of secret places,
that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who calls you by your name,
even the God of Israel.
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake,
and Israel my chosen,
I have called you by your name.
I have given you a title,
though you have not known me.
5 I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.
Besides me, there is no God.
I will strengthen[a] you,
though you have not known me,
6 that they may know from the rising of the sun,
and from the west,
that there is no one besides me.
I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.
7 I form the light
and create darkness.
I make peace
and create calamity.
I am Yahweh,
who does all these things.
8 Rain, you heavens, from above,
and let the skies pour down righteousness.
Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation,
and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it.
I, Yahweh, have created it.
9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker—
a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth!
Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’
or your work, ‘He has no hands?’
10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’
or to a mother, ‘What have you given birth to?’”
11 Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel
and his Maker says:
“You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons,
and you command me concerning the work of my hands!
12 I have made the earth, and created man on it.
I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens.
I have commanded all their army.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness,
and I will make all his ways straight.
He shall build my city,
and he shall let my exiles go free,
not for price nor reward,” says Yahweh of Armies.
14 Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt,
and the merchandise of Ethiopia,
and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you,
and they will be yours.
They will go after you.
They shall come over in chains.
They will bow down to you.
They will make supplication to you:
‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else.
There is no other god.
15 Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself,
God of Israel, the Savior.’”
16 They will be disappointed,
yes, confounded, all of them.
Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.
17 Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation.
You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.
18 For Yahweh who created the heavens,
the God who formed the earth and made it,
who established it and didn’t create it a waste,
who formed it to be inhabited says:
“I am Yahweh.
There is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
in a place of the land of darkness.
I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’
I, Yahweh, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right.
20 “Assemble yourselves and come.
Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations.
Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image,
and pray to a god that can’t save.
21 Declare and present it.
Yes, let them take counsel together.
Who has shown this from ancient time?
Who has declared it of old?
Haven’t I, Yahweh?
There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior.
There is no one besides me.
22 “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
23 I have sworn by myself.
The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked,
that to me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall take an oath.
24 They will say of me,
‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.’”
Even to him will men come.
All those who raged against him will be disappointed.
25 All the offspring of Israel will be justified in Yahweh,
and will rejoice!
46 Bel bows down.
Nebo stoops.
Their idols are carried by animals,
and on the livestock.
The things that you carried around are heavy loads,
a burden for the weary.
2 They stoop and they bow down together.
They could not deliver the burden,
but they have gone into captivity.
3 “Listen to me, house of Jacob,
and all the remnant of the house of Israel,
that have been carried from their birth,
that have been carried from the womb.
4 Even to old age I am he,
and even to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear.
Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.
5 “To whom will you compare me, and consider my equal,
and compare me, as if we were the same?
6 Some pour out gold from the bag,
and weigh silver in the balance.
They hire a goldsmith,
and he makes it a god.
They fall down—
yes, they worship.
7 They bear it on their shoulder.
They carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands there.
It cannot move from its place.
Yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer.
It cannot save him out of his trouble.
8 “Remember this, and show yourselves men.
Bring it to mind again, 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 I declare the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times things that are not yet done.
I say: My counsel will stand,
and I will do all that I please.
11 I call a ravenous bird from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
Yes, I have spoken.
I will also bring it to pass.
I have planned.
I will also do it.
12 Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted,
who are far from righteousness!
13 I bring my righteousness near.
It is not far off,
and my salvation will not wait.
I will grant salvation to Zion,
my glory to Israel.
47 “Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon.
Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans.
For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and grind flour.
Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs,
and wade through the rivers.
3 Your nakedness will be uncovered.
Yes, your shame will be seen.
I will take vengeance,
and will spare no one.”
4 Our Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies is his name,
is the Holy One of Israel.
5 “Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
daughter of the Chaldeans.
For you shall no longer be called
the mistress of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my people.
I profaned my inheritance
and gave them into your hand.
You showed them no mercy.
You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged.
7 You said, ‘I will be a princess forever,’
so that you didn’t lay these things to your heart,
nor did you remember the results.
8 “Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures,
who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.
I won’t sit as a widow,
neither will I know the loss of children.’
9 But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day,
the loss of children and widowhood.
They will come on you in their full measure,
in the multitude of your sorceries,
and the great abundance of your enchantments.
10 For you have trusted in your wickedness.
You have said, ‘No one sees me.’
Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you.
You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
11 Therefore disaster will come on you.
You won’t know when it dawns.
Mischief will fall on you.
You won’t be able to put it away.
Desolation will come on you suddenly,
which you don’t understand.
12 “Stand now with your enchantments
and with the multitude of your sorceries,
in which you have labored from your youth,
as if you might profit,
as if you might prevail.
13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels.
Now let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from the things that will happen to you.
14 Behold, they are like stubble.
The fire will burn them.
They won’t deliver themselves from the power of the flame.
It won’t be a coal to warm at
or a fire to sit by.
15 The things that you labored in will be like this:
those who have trafficked with you from your youth will each wander in his own way.
There will be no one to save you.
48 “Hear this, house of Jacob,
you who are called by the name of Israel,
and have come out of the waters of Judah.
You swear by Yahweh’s name,
and make mention of the God of Israel,
but not in truth, nor in righteousness—
2 for they call themselves citizens of the holy city,
and rely on the God of Israel;
Yahweh of Armies is his name.
3 I have declared the former things from of old.
Yes, they went out of my mouth, and I revealed them.
I did them suddenly, and they happened.
4 Because I knew that you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew,
and your brow bronze;
5 therefore I have declared it to you from of old;
before it came to pass I showed it to you;
lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them.
My engraved image and my molten image has commanded them.’
6 You have heard it.
Now see all this.
And you, won’t you declare it?
“I have shown you new things from this time,
even hidden things, which you have not known.
7 They are created now, and not from of old.
Before today, you didn’t hear them,
lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 Yes, you didn’t hear.
Yes, you didn’t know.
Yes, from of old your ear was not opened,
for I knew that you dealt very treacherously,
and were called a transgressor from the womb.
9 For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger,
and for my praise, I hold it back for you
so that I don’t cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you,
but not as silver.
I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake,
for my own sake, I will do it;
for how would my name be profaned?
I will not give my glory to another.
12 “Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel my called:
I am he.
I am the first.
I am also the last.
13 Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand has spread out the heavens.
when I call to them, they stand up together.
14 “Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
He whom Yahweh loves will do what he likes to Babylon,
and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken.
Yes, I have called him.
I have brought him
and he shall make his way prosperous.
16 “Come near to me and hear this:
“From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;
from the time that it happened, I was there.”
Now the Lord Yahweh has sent me
with his Spirit.
17 Yahweh,
your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel says:
“I am Yahweh your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you by the way that you should go.
18 Oh that you had listened to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 Your offspring also would have been as the sand
and the descendants of your body like its grains.
His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.”
20 Leave Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
With a voice of singing announce this,
tell it even to the end of the earth:
say, “Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 They didn’t thirst when he led them through the deserts.
He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them.
He also split the rock and the waters gushed out.
22 “There is no peace”, says Yahweh, “for the wicked.”
Footnotes
- 45:5 or, equip
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