Beginning
Chapter 45
1 Thus says the Lord to his anointed,[a] Cyrus,
whose right hand I grasp,
Subduing nations before him,
stripping kings of their strength,
Opening doors before him,
leaving the gates unbarred:
2 I will go before you
and level the mountains;
Bronze doors[b] I will shatter,
iron bars I will snap.(A)
3 I will give you treasures of darkness,
riches hidden away,
That you may know I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, who calls you by name.
4 For the sake of Jacob, my servant,
of Israel my chosen one,
I have called you by name,
giving you a title, though you do not know me.(B)
5 I am the Lord, there is no other,
there is no God besides me.
It is I who arm you, though you do not know me,
6 so that all may know, from the rising of the sun
to its setting, that there is none besides me.[c]
I am the Lord, there is no other.
7 I form the light, and create the darkness,
I make weal and create woe;[d]
I, the Lord, do all these things.
8 Let justice descend, you heavens, like dew from above,
like gentle rain let the clouds drop it down.
Let the earth open and salvation bud forth;
let righteousness spring up with them![e]
I, the Lord, have created this.(C)
9 Woe to anyone who contends with their Maker;(D)
a potsherd among potsherds of the earth![f]
Shall the clay say to the potter, “What are you doing?”
or, “What you are making has no handles”?
10 Woe to anyone who asks a father, “What are you begetting?”
or a woman, “What are you giving birth to?”
11 Thus says the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, his maker:
Do you question me about my children,
tell me how to treat the work of my hands?
12 It was I who made the earth
and created the people upon it;
It was my hands that stretched out the heavens;
I gave the order to all their host.
13 It was I who stirred him[g] up for justice;
all his ways I make level.
He shall rebuild my city
and let my exiles go free
Without price or payment,
says the Lord of hosts.
14 Thus says the Lord:
The earnings of Egypt, the gain of Ethiopia,
and the Sabeans,[h] tall of stature,
Shall come over to you and belong to you;
they shall follow you, coming in chains.
Before you they shall bow down,
saying in prayer:
“With you alone is God; and there is none other,
no other god!(E)
15 Truly with you God is hidden,[i]
the God of Israel, the savior!(F)
16 They are put to shame and disgrace, all of them;
they go in disgrace who carve images.
17 Israel has been saved by the Lord,
saved forever!
You shall never be put to shame or disgrace
in any future age.”
18 For thus says the Lord,
The creator of the heavens,
who is God,
The designer and maker of the earth
who established it,
Not as an empty waste[j] did he create it,
but designing it to be lived in:
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret
from some place in the land of darkness,
I have not said to the descendants of Jacob,
“Look for me in an empty waste.”
I, the Lord, promise justice,
I declare what is right.
20 Come and assemble, gather together,
you fugitives from among the nations!
They are without knowledge who bear wooden idols[k]
and pray to gods that cannot save.
21 Come close and declare;
let them take counsel together:
Who announced this from the beginning,
declared it from of old?
Was it not I, the Lord,
besides whom there is no other God?
There is no just and saving God but me.
22 Turn to me and be safe,
all you ends of the earth,
for I am God; there is no other!
23 By myself I swear,
uttering my just decree,
a word that will not return:
To me every knee shall bend;
by me every tongue shall swear,(G)
24 Saying, “Only in the Lord
are just deeds and power.
Before him in shame shall come
all who vent their anger against him.
25 In the Lord all the descendants of Israel
shall have vindication and glory.”
Chapter 46
The Gods of Babylon
1 Bel bows down, Nebo[l] stoops,
their idols set upon beasts and cattle;
They must be borne upon shoulders,
a load for weary animals.
2 They stoop and bow down together;
unable to deliver those who bear them,
they too go into captivity.
3 Hear me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
My burden from the womb,
whom I have carried since birth.(H)
4 Even to your old age I am he,
even when your hair is gray I will carry you;
I have done this, and I will lift you up,
I will carry you to safety.
5 To whom would you liken me as an equal,
compare me, as though we were alike?
6 There are those who pour out gold from a purse
and weigh out silver on the scales;
They hire a goldsmith to make it into a god
before which they bow down in worship.
7 They lift it to their shoulders to carry;
when they set it down, it stays,
and does not move from the place.
They cry out to it, but it cannot answer;
it delivers no one from distress.
8 Remember this and be firm,
take it to heart, you rebels;
9 remember the former things, those long ago:
I am God, there is no other;
I am God, there is none like me.
10 At the beginning I declare the outcome;
from of old, things not yet done.
I say that my plan shall stand,
I accomplish my every desire.
11 I summon from the east a bird of prey,[m]
from a distant land, one to carry out my plan.
Yes, I have spoken, I will accomplish it;
I have planned it, and I will do it.
12 Listen to me, you fainthearted,
far from the victory of justice:
13 I am bringing on that victory, it is not far off,
my salvation shall not tarry;
I will put salvation within Zion,
give to Israel my glory.
Chapter 47
The Fall of Babylon[n]
1 Come down, sit in the dust,
virgin daughter Babylon;
Sit on the ground, dethroned,
daughter of the Chaldeans.
No longer shall you be called
dainty and delicate.(I)
2 Take the millstone and grind flour,
remove your veil;
Strip off your skirt, bare your legs,
cross through the streams.
3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
and your shame be seen;
I will take vengeance,
I will yield to no entreaty,
says 4 our redeemer,
Whose name is the Lord of hosts,
the Holy One of Israel.
5 Go into darkness and sit in silence,
daughter of the Chaldeans,
No longer shall you be called
sovereign mistress of kingdoms.
6 Angry at my people,
I profaned my heritage
And gave them into your power;
but you showed them no mercy;
Upon the aged
you laid a very heavy yoke.
7 You said, “I shall remain always,
a sovereign mistress forever!”
You did not take these things to heart,
but disregarded their outcome.(J)
8 Now hear this, voluptuous one,
enthroned securely,
Saying in your heart,
“I, and no one else![o]
I shall never be a widow,
bereft of my children”—(K)
9 Both these things shall come to you
suddenly, in a single day:
Complete bereavement and widowhood
shall come upon you
Despite your many sorceries
and the full power of your spells;[p]
10 Secure in your wickedness,
you said, “No one sees me.”
Your wisdom and your knowledge
led you astray,
And you said in your heart,
“I, and no one else!”
11 But upon you shall come an evil
you will not be able to charm away;
Upon you shall fall a disaster
you cannot ward off.
Upon you shall suddenly come
a ruin you cannot imagine.
12 Keep on with your spells
and your many sorceries,
at which you toiled from your youth.
Perhaps you can prevail,
perhaps you can strike terror!
13 You wore yourself out with so many consultations!
Let the astrologers stand forth to save you,
The stargazers who forecast at each new moon
what would happen to you.
14 See, they are like stubble,
fire consumes them;
They cannot deliver themselves
from the spreading flames.
This is no warming ember,
no fire to sit before!
15 Thus do your wizards serve you
with whom you have toiled from your youth;
They wander their separate ways,
with none to save you.
Chapter 48
Exhortations to the Exiles
1 Hear this, house of Jacob
called by the name Israel,
sprung from the stock of Judah,
You who swear by the name of the Lord
and invoke the God of Israel
without sincerity, without justice,
2 Though you are named after the holy city
and rely on the God of Israel,
whose name is the Lord of hosts.
3 Things of the past I declared long ago,
they went forth from my mouth, I announced them;
then suddenly I took action and they came to be.
4 Because I know that you are stubborn
and that your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead bronze,
5 I declared them to you of old;
before they took place I informed you,
That you might not say, “My idol did them,
my statue, my molten image commanded them.”
6 Now that you have heard, look at all this;
must you not admit it?(L)
From now on I announce new things to you,
hidden events you never knew.
7 Now, not from of old, they are created,
before today you did not hear of them,
so that you cannot claim, “I have known them.”
8 You never heard, you never knew,
they never reached your ears beforehand.
Yes, I know you are utterly treacherous,
a rebel you were named from the womb.(M)
9 For the sake of my name I restrain my anger,
for the sake of my renown I hold it back from you,
lest I destroy you.
10 See, I refined you, but not like silver;
I tested you in the furnace of affliction.(N)
11 For my sake, for my own sake, I do this;
why should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.
12 Listen to me, Jacob,
Israel, whom I called!
I, it is I who am the first,
and am I the last.(O)
13 Yes, my hand laid the foundations of the earth;
my right hand spread out the heavens.
When I summon them,
they stand forth at once.(P)
14 All of you assemble and listen:
Who among you declared these things?
The one the Lord loves[q] shall do his will
against Babylon and the offspring of Chaldea.
15 I myself have spoken, I have summoned him,
I have brought him, and his way succeeds!
16 Come near to me and hear this!
From the beginning I did not speak in secret;
At the time it happens, I am there:
“Now the Lord God has sent me, and his spirit.”[r]
17 Thus says the Lord, your redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
I am the Lord, your God,
teaching you how to prevail,
leading you on the way you should go.
18 If only you would attend to my commandments,
your peace would be like a river,
your vindication like the waves of the sea,
19 Your descendants like the sand,
the offspring of your loins like its grains,
Their name never cut off
or blotted out from my presence.
20 Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chaldea!
With shouts of joy declare this, announce it;
Make it known to the ends of the earth,
Say: “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.
21 They did not thirst
when he led them through dry lands;
Water from the rock he set flowing for them;
he cleft the rock, and waters welled forth.”(Q)
22 There is no peace[s] for the wicked,
says the Lord.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.