Old/New Testament
The Fall of Babylon
47 “Come down and sit in the dust,
Virgin Daughter of Babylon.
Sit on[a] the ground without a chair,
Daughter of the Chaldeans!
For no longer will they call you
tender and attractive.
2 Take millstones and grind flour.
Remove your veil,
strip off your robes,[b]
bare your legs,
and wade through the rivers.
3 Your nakedness will be[c] exposed,
and your disgrace will also be seen.
I’ll take vengeance,
and I will spare no mortal.
4 “Our Redeemer—
the Lord of the Heavenly Armies is his name—
is the Holy One of Israel.
5 “Sit silent,[d] and enter into the darkness,
you daughter of the Chaldeans;
for no more will they call you
Queen of Kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my people,
and[e] I desecrated my heritage,
and gave them into your control.
You showed them no mercy;
even on the aged you laid your yoke most heavily.
7 You said, ‘I will always continue—Queen forever!’
You didn’t take these things into your thinking,
nor did you think about their consequences.[f]
8 “Now hear this, you wanton creature,
lounging with no cares,
and saying to herself:
‘I am the one, and there will be none besides me;
I won’t live as a widow,
nor will I see[g] the loss of children.’
9 Both of these things will overtake you
suddenly on a single day:
loss of children and widowhood.
They will come upon you in full measure,
despite the multitude of your incantations
and the great power of your spells.”
Self-Deception of the Babylonians
10 “You trusted in your own knowledge.[h]
You said, ‘No one sees me.’
Your wisdom and knowledge have misled you.
You said in your heart,
‘I am the one, and there will be none besides me.’
11 “But disaster will come[i] upon you,
and[j] you will not know how to charm it away.
A calamity will befall you
that you will not be able to[k] ward off;
and devastation will come upon you suddenly,
and[l] you won’t anticipate it.
12 “But[m] stand up now with your spells
and your many incantations,
at which you have labored from your childhood until today,[n]
13 according to[o] your multiple schemes.
Let them stand up now—
those who conjure[p] the heavens
and[q] gaze at the stars,
predicting at the new moons—
and save you from what is about to happen to them.[r]
14 “See, they are just like stubble;
fire burns them up.
They could not[s] even save themselves
from the power of the flame.
There will be no coals for warming oneself,
no fire to sit by.
15 So will they be to you—those with whom you toiled
and did business since your childhood—
they wander about, each in his own direction;
there is not one who can save you.
God the Creator and Redeemer
48 “Listen to this, house of Jacob,
you who are called by the name of Israel,
and who have come forth from Judah’s loins;[t]
you who swear oaths in the name of the Lord
and invoke the God of Israel—
but not in truth, nor in good faith.
2 For they name themselves after the holy city,
and rely on the God of Israel—
the Lord of the Heavenly Armies is his name.
3 I foretold the former things long ago;
it[u] went forth from my mouth,
and I disclosed them;
Suddenly, I acted,
and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew[v] that you are obstinate,
and because your neck is an iron sinew,
and your forehead is bronze,
5 I told you these things long ago;
I announced them to you before they happened
so that you couldn’t say, ‘My idol did them;
my[w] carved image or metal idol ordained them.’
6 “You have heard—now look at them all!
How[x] can you not admit them?
From now on, I’ll make you hear new things,
hidden things that you have not known.
7 They are created now, and not long ago;
you didn’t hear them before today,
so you cannot say, ‘Yes, I knew them.’
8 And[y] neither had you heard, nor did you understand,
nor did you open[z] your ear long ago.[aa]
Indeed, I knew that[ab] you would act very deceitfully,
and they would call[ac] you a rebel from birth.
9 I defer my anger for my name’s sake,
and as my first act[ad] I’m restraining it for you,
so as not to cut you off.
10 Look, I have refined you, but not like silver;
I have purified[ae] you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake—Yes, for my own sake!—I’m doing it;
indeed, how can I be profaned?[af]
Furthermore, I won’t give my glory to another.”
The Lord Calls Israel
12 “Listen to these things,[ag] Jacob,
and Israel, whom I have called.
I am the One: I am the first,
I am even[ah] the last.
13 Moreover, my hands laid[ai] the earth’s foundation,
and my right hand spread out the heavens.
I call out to them,
and[aj] they stand up together.
14 Let all of them come together and listen:[ak]
Who is there among them that could declare[al] these things?
“The Lord loves me,[am]
and he will accomplish[an] my purpose[ao] against Babylon;
his arm[ap] will be against the Chaldeans.
15 I—Yes, I!—have spoken;
indeed, I’ve called and[aq] I’ve brought him,
and he will make his path successful.[ar]
16 Draw near to me, and[as] listen to this:
‘From the beginning I haven’t spoken in secret;
at[at] the time it happened, I was there.’
And now the Lord God, and his Spirit, has sent me.[au]
17 “This is what the Lord says,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you how to succeed,
who directs you[av] in the path by which[aw] you should go.
18 Now[ax] if only you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your success like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants would’ve been like the sand,
and your offspring[ay] like its numberless grains.
Their name wouldn’t have been cut off
or annihilated out of my reach.
20 “Go out from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans!
With happy shouts, announce
and[az] proclaim this[ba] to the ends[bb] of the earth:
Say, ‘The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!’
21 They didn’t thirst when he led him[bc] through the desolate places.
He made water gush[bd] from a rock for them;
he split open the rock, and water gushed out.
22 “But[be] there is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”
The Servant of the Lord
49 “Listen to me, you coastlands!
Pay[bf] attention, you people[bg] from far away!
The Lord called me from the womb;
while I was still in my mother’s body,
he pronounced my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
he hid me in the shadow of his hands.[bh]
He made me like a polished arrow
and hid me away in his quivers.[bi]
3 He said to me: ‘You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will glorify myself.’
4 “I[bj] said: ‘I’ve labored for nothing.
I’ve exhausted my strength on futility and on[bk] emptiness.’
Yet surely my recompense is with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.
5 “And now, says the Lord,
who formed you[bl] from the womb as his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
so that Israel might be gathered[bm] to him—
and I am honored in the Lord’s sight
and my God has been my help[bn]—
6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Israel[bo]
and bring back those of Jacob[bp] I have preserved.
I’ll also make you as a light to the nations,
to be my salvation to the ends[bq] of the earth.
7 “This is what my Lord[br] says—
the Lord your Redeemer, O Israel,[bs]
and his Holy One—
to one despised by people,[bt]
to those abhorred[bu] as a nation,
to the servant of rulers:
“Kings see[bv] and arise,
and princes[bw] will bow down,
because of the Lord who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel,
the one who has[bx] chosen you.”
The Restoration of Israel
8 “This what the Lord says:
“I’ll answer[by] you in a time of favor,
and on a day of salvation I’ll help[bz] you.
I have watched over you,
and given you as a covenant for the people,
to restore the land,
to reassign the inheritances that have been devastated;
9 saying to captives, ‘Come out!’
and[ca] to those who are in darkness, ‘Be free!’[cb]
“They will feed on all the mountains,[cc]
and their pasture will be on all the barren hills.
10 They won’t hunger or thirst,
nor will the desert heat or sun beat upon them;
for the one who has compassion on them will drive them
and guide them alongside springs of water.
11 I’ll turn all my mountains into a road,
and my highways will be raised up.
12 “Watch! They’ll come from far away—
some from the north and from the west,
and others from the region of China.”[cd]
13 Shout with joy, you heavens,
and rock with glee, you earth!
Break out in song, you mountains![ce]
The Lord is comforting[cf] his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
Zion Not Forgotten
14 “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,
and my God[cg] has forgotten me.’
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
or have no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these mothers may forget;
But as for me, I’ll never forget you!
16 Look! I’ve inscribed you on the palms of my hands,
and[ch] your walls are forever before me.
17 Your builders[ci] are working faster than your destroyers,
and those who devastated you go away from you.
18 Lift up your eyes and look around—
they have all gathered together
and are coming to you.
“As surely as I live,” says the Lord,
“you will clothe yourself with all of them like ornaments,
and tie them on like a bride.
19 Indeed, your ruins, your desolate places,
and your devastated land
will now be too crowded for your inhabitants,
while those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 “The children who are grieving at present[cj]
will yet say in your hearing,
‘This place is too crowded for me;
make room for me,
so I may have a place to live.’
21 Then you’ll ask[ck] in your heart,
‘Who bore these children for me,
although I was childless and barren,
and[cl] an exile[cm] and cast aside?
Who[cn] brought these up?
Look![co] For my part I was left all alone;
but as for these, where have they come from?’
22 “For[cp] this what the Lord[cq] says,
‘Watch! I’ll lift up my hand to the nations
and raise my banner to the[cr] peoples.[cs]
They will bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.’
23 “Oh, yes![ct] Kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens will be your nursing mothers.
They will bow to you with their faces to the ground,
and lick the dust from your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
those who hope in me will not be disappointed.
24 “Can they seize plunder[cu] from warriors,
or[cv] can the captives of tyrants[cw] be rescued?
25 But this is what the Lord says:
“He will seize[cx] even the warriors’ plunder,[cy]
and the captives[cz] of tyrants will be rescued.
I myself will quarrel with those who have a quarrel with you,[da]
and I myself will save your children.
26 “I’ll make those who mistreat you[db] eat their own flesh,
and they will get drunk on their own blood, as with new wine.
“Then all mankind will know that I am the Lord
your Savior and your Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Instructions on the Way Christians Should Live
4 Now then, brothers, you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, as in fact you are doing. We ask and encourage you in the Lord to do so even more. 2 You know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For it is God’s will that you be sanctified: You must abstain from sexual immorality. 4 Each of you must know how to control his own body[a] in a holy and honorable manner, 5 not with passion and lust like the gentiles who do not know God. 6 Furthermore, you must never take advantage of or exploit a brother in this regard, because the Lord avenges all these things, just as we already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to be holy. 8 Therefore, whoever rejects this instruction[b] is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
9 Now you do not need anyone to write to you about brotherly love, since you have been taught by God to love each other. 10 In fact, you are showing love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia, but we urge you, brothers, to keep on doing this even more. 11 Also, make it your goal to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may win the respect of outsiders, and have need of nothing.
Comfort about Christians who Have Died
13 But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve like other people who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus God will bring those who have died with him. 15 For we declare to you what the Lord has told us to say:[c] We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have died. 16 With a shout of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of God’s trumpet, the Lord himself will come down from heaven, and the dead who belong to the Messiah[d] will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So then, encourage one another with these words.
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.