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11 This is what the Lord says,
the Holy One of Israel,[a] the one who formed him,
concerning things to come:[b]
“How dare you question me[c] about my children!
How dare you tell me what to do with[d] the work of my own hands!
12 I made the earth;
I created the people who live[e] on it.
It was me—my hands[f] stretched out the sky.[g]
I give orders to all the heavenly lights.[h]
13 It is me—I stir him up and commission him;[i]
I will make all his ways level.
He will rebuild my city;
he will send my exiled people home,
but not for a price or a bribe,”
says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope
14 This is what the Lord says:
“The profit[j] of Egypt and the revenue[k] of Ethiopia,
along with the Sabeans, those tall men,
will be brought to you[l] and become yours.
They will walk behind you, coming along in chains.[m]
They will bow down to you
and pray to you:[n]
‘Truly God is with[o] you; he has no peer;[p]
there is no other God!’”
15 Yes, you are a God who keeps hidden,
O God of Israel, deliverer!
16 They will all be ashamed and embarrassed;
those who fashion idols will all be humiliated.[q]
17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord;[r]
you will never again be ashamed or humiliated.[s]
18 For this is what the Lord says,
the one who created the sky—
he is the true God,[t]
the one who formed the earth and made it;
he established it,
he did not create it without order,[u]
he formed it to be inhabited:
“I am the Lord, I have no peer.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
in some hidden place.[v]
I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,
‘Seek me in vain!’[w]
I am the Lord,
the one who speaks honestly,
who makes reliable announcements.[x]
20 Gather together and come!
Approach together, you refugees from the nations.
Those who carry wooden idols know nothing,
those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.
21 Tell me! Present the evidence![y]
Let them consult with one another.
Who predicted this in the past?
Who announced it beforehand?
Was it not I, the Lord?
I have no peer, there is no God but me,
a God who vindicates and delivers;[z]
there is none but me.
22 Turn to me so you can be delivered,[aa]
all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!
For I am God, and I have no peer.
23 I solemnly make this oath[ab]—
what I say is true and reliable:[ac]
‘Surely every knee will bow to me,
every tongue will solemnly affirm;[ad]
24 they will say about me,
“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’”[ae]
All who are angry at him will cower before him.[af]
25 All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord
and will boast in him.[ag]
The Lord Carries His People
46 Bel[ah] kneels down,
Nebo[ai] bends low.
Their images weigh down animals and beasts.[aj]
Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals.[ak]
2 Together they bend low and kneel down;
they are unable to rescue the images;[al]
they themselves[am] head off into captivity.[an]
3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,[ao]
all you who are left from the family of Israel,[ap]
you who have been carried from birth,[aq]
you who have been supported from the time you left the womb.[ar]
4 Even when you are old, I will take care of you,[as]
even when you have gray hair, I will carry you.
I made you and I will support you;
I will carry you and rescue you.[at]
5 To whom can you compare and liken me?
Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!
6 Those who empty out gold from a purse
and weigh out silver on the scale[au]
hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.
They then bow down and worship it.
7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;
they put it in its place and it just stands there;
it does not[av] move from its place.
Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;
it does not deliver him from his distress.
8 Remember this, so you can be brave.[aw]
Think about it, you rebels![ax]
9 Remember what I accomplished in antiquity.[ay]
Truly I am God, I have no peer;[az]
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 who announces the end from the beginning
and reveals beforehand[ba] what has not yet occurred;
who says, ‘My plan will be realized,
I will accomplish what I desire;’
11 who summons an eagle[bb] from the east,
from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.
Yes, I have decreed,[bc]
yes, I will bring it to pass;
I have formulated a plan,
yes, I will carry it out.
12 Listen to me, you stubborn people,[bd]
you who distance yourselves from doing what is right.[be]
13 I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away;
I am bringing my salvation near,[bf] it does not wait.
I will save Zion;[bg]
I will adorn Israel with my splendor.[bh]
Babylon Will Fall
47 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,
O virgin[bi] daughter Babylon!
Sit on the ground, not on a throne,
O daughter of the Babylonians!
Indeed,[bj] you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.
2 Pick up millstones and grind flour.
Remove your veil,
strip off your skirt,
expose your legs,
cross the streams.
3 Let your naked body be exposed.
Your shame will be on display![bk]
I will get revenge;
I will not have pity on anyone,”[bl]
4 says our Protector—
the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name,
the Holy One of Israel.[bm]
5 “Sit silently! Go to a hiding place,[bn]
O daughter of the Babylonians!
Indeed,[bo] you will no longer be called ‘Queen of kingdoms.’
6 I was angry at my people;
I defiled my special possession
and handed them over to you.
You showed them no mercy;[bp]
you even placed a very heavy burden on old people.[bq]
7 You said,
‘I will rule forever as permanent queen!’[br]
You did not think about these things;[bs]
you did not consider how it would turn out.[bt]
8 So now, listen to this,
O one who lives so lavishly,[bu]
who lives securely,
who says to herself,[bv]
‘I am unique! No one can compare to me![bw]
I will never have to live as a widow;
I will never lose my children.’[bx]
9 Both of these will come upon you
suddenly, in one day!
You will lose your children and be widowed.[by]
You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies,[bz]
despite[ca] your many incantations
and your numerous amulets.[cb]
10 You were complacent in your evil deeds;[cc]
you thought,[cd] ‘No one sees me.’
Your self-professed[ce] wisdom and knowledge lead you astray,
when you say, ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me!’[cf]
11 Disaster will overtake you;
you will not know how to charm it away.[cg]
Destruction will fall on you;
you will not be able to appease it.
Calamity will strike you suddenly,
before you recognize it.[ch]
12 Persist[ci] in trusting[cj] your amulets
and your many incantations,
which you have faithfully recited[ck] since your youth!
Maybe you will be successful[cl]—
maybe you will scare away disaster.[cm]
13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice.[cn]
Let them take their stand—
the ones who see omens in the sky,
who gaze at the stars,
who make monthly predictions—
let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you![co]
14 Look, they are like straw,
that the fire burns up;
they cannot rescue themselves
from the heat[cp] of the flames.
There are no coals to warm them,
no firelight to enjoy.[cq]
15 They will disappoint you,[cr]
those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth.[cs]
Each strays off in his own direction,[ct]
leaving no one to rescue you.”
The Lord Appeals to the Exiles
48 Listen to this, O family of Jacob,[cu]
you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’
and are descended from Judah,[cv]
who take oaths in the name of the Lord,
and invoke[cw] the God of Israel—
but not in an honest and just manner.[cx]
2 Indeed, they live in the holy city;[cy]
they trust in[cz] the God of Israel,
whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
3 “I announced events beforehand,[da]
I issued the decrees and made the predictions;[db]
suddenly I acted and they came to pass.
4 I did this[dc] because I know how stubborn you are.
Your neck muscles are like iron
and your forehead like bronze.[dd]
5 I announced them to you beforehand;
before they happened, I predicted them for you,
so you could never say,
‘My image did these things,
my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’
6 You have heard; now look at all the evidence![de]
Will you not admit that what I say is true?[df]
From this point on I am announcing to you new events
that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about.[dg]
7 Now they come into being,[dh] not in the past;
before today you did not hear about them,
so you could not say,
‘Yes,[di] I know about them.’
8 You did not hear,
you do not know,
you were not told beforehand.[dj]
For I know that you are very deceitful;[dk]
you were labeled[dl] a rebel from birth.
9 For the sake of my reputation[dm] I hold back my anger;
for the sake of my prestige[dn] I restrain myself from destroying you.[do]
10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have purified you[dp] in the furnace of misery.
11 For my sake alone[dq] I will act,
for how can I allow my name to be defiled?[dr]
I will not share my glory with anyone else![ds]
Live in Unity
4 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord,[a] urge you to live[b] worthily of the calling with which you have been called,[c] 2 with all humility and gentleness,[d] with patience, putting up with[e] one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he captured[f] captives; he gave gifts to men.”[g] 9 Now what is the meaning of “he ascended,” except that he also descended[h] to the lower regions,[i] namely, the earth?[j] 10 He, the very one[k] who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things. 11 And he himself[l] gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,[m] 12 to equip[n] the saints for the work of ministry, that is,[o] to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to[p] the measure of Christ’s full stature.[q] 14 So[r] we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes.[s] 15 But practicing the truth in love,[t] we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. 16 From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together[u] through every supporting ligament.[v] As each one does its part, the body builds itself up in love.
19 The Lord deserves praise.[a]
Day after day[b] he carries our burden,
the God who delivers us. (Selah)
20 Our God is a God who delivers;
the Lord, the Sovereign Lord, can rescue from death.[c]
21 Indeed, God strikes the heads of his enemies,
the hairy foreheads of those who persist in rebellion.[d]
22 The Lord says,
“I will retrieve them[e] from Bashan.
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
23 so that your feet may stomp[f] in their blood,
and your dogs may eat their portion of the enemies’ corpses.”[g]
24 They[h] see your processions, O God—
the processions of my God, my king, who marches along in holy splendor.[i]
25 Singers walk in front;
musicians follow playing their stringed instruments,[j]
in the midst of young women playing tambourines.[k]
26 In your large assemblies praise God,
the Lord, in the assemblies of Israel.[l]
27 There is little Benjamin, their ruler,[m]
and the princes of Judah in their robes,[n]
along with the princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali.
28 God has decreed that you will be powerful.[o]
O God, you who have acted on our behalf, demonstrate your power.
29 Because of your temple in Jerusalem,[p]
kings bring tribute to you.
30 Sound your battle cry against[q] the wild beast of the reeds,[r]
and the nations that assemble like a herd of calves led by bulls.[s]
They humble themselves[t] and offer gold and silver as tribute.[u]
God[v] scatters[w] the nations that like to do battle.
31 They come with red cloth[x] from Egypt.
Ethiopia[y] voluntarily offers tribute[z] to God.
32 O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
Sing praises to the Lord, (Selah)
33 to the one who rides through the sky from ancient times.[aa]
Look! He thunders loudly.[ab]
34 Acknowledge God’s power,[ac]
his sovereignty over Israel,
and the power he reveals in the skies.[ad]
35 You are awe-inspiring, O God, as you emerge from your holy temple.[ae]
It is the God of Israel[af] who gives the people power and strength.
God deserves praise![ag]
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