Old/New Testament

⁴ Our Savior is named the Lord of heaven’s armies.
    He is the Holy One of Israel.

⁵ “Babylon, sit in darkness and say nothing.
    You will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.
⁶ I was angry with my people.
    So I rejected those people who belonged to me.
I gave them to you,
    but you showed them no mercy.
You even made the old people
    work very hard.
⁷ You said, ‘I will live forever.
    I will always be the queen.’
You did not think about these things.
    You did not think about what would happen.

⁸ “Now, listen, you lover of pleasure.
    You think you are safe.
You tell yourself,
    ‘I am the only important person.
I will never be a widow.
    I will never lose my children.’
⁹ Two things will happen to you
    suddenly in a single day.
    You will lose your children and your husband.
These things will truly happen to you.
    All your magic and powerful tricks
    will not save you.
¹⁰ You do evil things, but you feel safe.
    You say, ‘No one sees what I do.’
Your wisdom and knowledge
    have fooled you.
You say to yourself,
    ‘I am God. No one is equal to me.’
¹¹ But troubles will come to you.
    You will not know how to stop them.
Disaster will fall on you.
    And you will not be able to keep it away.
You will be destroyed quickly.
    You will not even see it coming.

¹² “Keep on using your tricks.
    Continue doing all your magic.
    You have done these things since you were young.
Maybe they will help you.
    Maybe you will be able to scare someone.
¹³ You are tired of the advice you have received.
    So let those who study the sky come.
They tell the future by looking at the stars.
    So let them save you from what is about to happen to you.
¹⁴ But they are like straw.
    Fire will quickly burn them up.
They cannot save themselves
    from the power of the fire.
They are not like coals that give warmth.
    They are not like a fire you may sit beside.
¹⁵ You have worked with these people.
    They have been with you since you were young.
    But they will not be able to help you.
Everyone will go his own way.
    And there will be no one left to save you.”

⁶ “You heard and saw all the things that happened.
    So you should tell this news to others.
Now I will tell you about new things.
    These are hidden things that you don’t know yet.
⁷ These things are happening now, not long ago.
    You have not heard about them before today.
So you cannot say, ‘We already knew about that.’
⁸ But you have not heard me. You have not understood.
    Even long ago you did not listen to me.
I knew you would surely turn against me.
    You have fought against me since you were born.
⁹ But for my own sake I will be patient.
    People will praise me for not becoming angry
    and destroying you.
¹⁰ I have made you pure, but not by fire, as silver is made pure.
    I have purified you by giving you troubles.
¹¹ I do this for myself, for my own sake.
    I will not let people speak evil against me.
    I will not let some false god take my glory.

¹⁴ “All of you, come together and listen.
    None of the false gods said these things would happen.
I, the Lord, have chosen someone
    to attack the Babylonians.
    He will carry out my wishes against Babylon.
¹⁵ I have spoken. I have called him.^[a]
    I have brought him, and I will make him successful.
¹⁶ Come to me and listen to this.
    From the beginning I have spoken openly.
    From the time it began, I was there.”

Now, the Lord God
    has sent me with his Spirit.

¹⁷ The Lord is your close relative who saves you, the Holy One of Israel.
    The Lord says,
“I am the Lord your God.
    I teach you to do what is good.
    I lead you in the way you should go.
¹⁸ If you had obeyed me,
    you would have had peace like a full-flowing river.
    Good things would have flowed to you like the waves of the sea.
¹⁹ You would have had many children.
    They would have been as many as the grains of sand.
They would never have died out.
    They would not have been destroyed.”

²⁰ My people, leave Babylon!
    Run from the Babylonians!
Tell this news with shouts of joy to the people.
    Spread it everywhere on earth.
Say, “The Lord has saved
    his servants, the people of Jacob.”
²¹ They did not become thirsty when he led them through the deserts.
    He made water flow from a rock for them.
He split the rock,
    and water flowed out.

²² “There is no peace for evil people,” says the Lord.

⁷ The Lord is your close relative who saves you.
    He is the Holy One of Israel.
He speaks to the one who is hated by the people.
    He speaks to the servant of rulers.
The Lord says, “Kings will see you and stand to honor you.
    Great leaders will bow down before you.
This is because the Lord can be trusted.
    He is the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

“At the right time I will hear your prayers.
    On the day of salvation I will help you.
I will protect you.
    And you will be the sign of my agreement with the people.
You will bring back the people to the land.
    You will give the land that is now ruined back to its owners.
⁹ You will tell the prisoners, ‘Come out of your prison.’
    You will tell those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’
The people will eat beside the roads.
    They will find food even on bare hills.
¹⁰ They will not be hungry or thirsty.
    Neither the hot sun nor the desert wind will hurt them.
The God who comforts them will lead them.
    He will lead them by springs of water.
¹¹ I will make my mountains into roads for my people.
    And the roads will be raised up.
¹² Look, people are coming to me from far away.
    They are coming from the north and from the west.
    They are coming from Aswan in southern Egypt.”

¹³ Heavens and earth, be happy.
    Mountains, shout with joy.
Be happy because the Lord comforts his people.
    He will comfort those who suffer.

¹⁵ The Lord answers, “Can a woman forget the baby she nurses?
    Can she feel no kindness for the child she gave birth to?
Even if she could forget her children,
    I will not forget you.
¹⁶ See, I have written your name on my hand.
    Jerusalem, I always think about your walls.
¹⁷ Your children will soon return to you.
    And the people who defeated you and destroyed you will leave.
¹⁸ Look up and look around you.
    All your children are gathering to return to you.”
The Lord says, “As surely as I live,
    your children will be like jewels.
    You will be as proud of them as a bride is of her jewels.

¹⁹ “You were destroyed and defeated.
    Your land was made useless.
But now you will have more people than the land can hold.
    And those people who destroyed you will be far away.
²⁰ Children were born to you while you were sad.
    But they will say to you,
‘This place is too small for us.
    Give us a bigger place to live.’
²¹ Then you will say to yourself,
    ‘Who gave me all these children?
I was sad and lonely.
    I was defeated and away from my people.
    So who reared these children?
I was left all alone.
    Where did all these children come from?’”

²² This is what the Lord God says:
“See, I will lift my hand to signal the nations.
    I will raise my banner for all people to see.
Then they will bring your sons back to you in their arms.
    They will carry your daughters on their shoulders.
²³ Kings will teach your children.
    Daughters of kings will take care of those children.
They will bow down before you.
    They will kiss the dirt at your feet.
Then you will know I am the Lord.
    Anyone who trusts in me will not be disappointed.”

²⁴ Can the wealth a soldier wins in war be taken away from him?
    Can a prisoner be freed from a powerful soldier?
²⁵ But this is what the Lord says:
“The prisoners will be taken from the strong soldiers.
    What the soldiers have taken will be saved.
I will fight your enemies.
    I will save your children.
²⁶ I will force those who trouble you to eat their own flesh.
    Their own blood will be the wine that makes them drunk.
Then everyone will know
    I, the Lord, am the One who saves you.
    I am the Powerful One of Jacob who saves you.”