20 “Gather together(A) and come;
    assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant(B) are those who carry(C) about idols of wood,
    who pray to gods that cannot save.(D)
21 Declare what is to be, present it—
    let them take counsel together.
Who foretold(E) this long ago,
    who declared it from the distant past?(F)
Was it not I, the Lord?
    And there is no God apart from me,(G)
a righteous God(H) and a Savior;(I)
    there is none but me.

22 “Turn(J) to me and be saved,(K)
    all you ends of the earth;(L)
    for I am God, and there is no other.(M)
23 By myself I have sworn,(N)
    my mouth has uttered in all integrity(O)
    a word that will not be revoked:(P)
Before me every knee will bow;(Q)
    by me every tongue will swear.(R)
24 They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone
    are deliverance(S) and strength.(T)’”
All who have raged against him
    will come to him and be put to shame.(U)
25 But all the descendants(V) of Israel
    will find deliverance(W) in the Lord
    and will make their boast in him.(X)

Gods of Babylon

46 Bel(Y) bows down, Nebo stoops low;
    their idols(Z) are borne by beasts of burden.[a]
The images that are carried(AA) about are burdensome,
    a burden for the weary.
They stoop and bow down together;
    unable to rescue the burden,
    they themselves go off into captivity.(AB)

“Listen(AC) to me, you descendants of Jacob,
    all the remnant(AD) of the people of Israel,
you whom I have upheld since your birth,(AE)
    and have carried(AF) since you were born.(AG)
Even to your old age and gray hairs(AH)
    I am he,(AI) I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
    I will sustain(AJ) you and I will rescue you.

“With whom will you compare me or count me equal?
    To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?(AK)
Some pour out gold from their bags
    and weigh out silver on the scales;
they hire a goldsmith(AL) to make it into a god,
    and they bow down and worship it.(AM)
They lift it to their shoulders and carry(AN) it;
    they set it up in its place, and there it stands.
    From that spot it cannot move.(AO)
Even though someone cries out to it, it cannot answer;(AP)
    it cannot save(AQ) them from their troubles.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 46:1 Or are but beasts and cattle

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