Isaiah 47; Isaiah 48; Isaiah 49; 1 Thessalonians 4

1 Go, sit in the dirt, virgin princess of Babylon! Sit on the ground, not on a throne, princess of the Babylonians! You will no longer be called soft and delicate.

2 Take millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil. Take off your skirt. Uncover your legs, and cross the river.

3 People will see you naked. People will see your shame. I will take revenge. I won't spare anyone.

4 Our defender is the Holy One of Israel. His name is the LORD of Armies.

5 Go into the dark, and sit in silence, princess of the Babylonians! You will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.

6 I was angry with my people. I dishonored those who belong to me. I put them under your control. You showed them no mercy. You placed a heavy burden on old people.

7 You said, "I will always be a queen." You didn't carefully consider these things or keep in mind how they would end.

8 Now then, listen to this, you lover of pleasure. You live securely and say to yourself, "I'm the only one, and there's no one else. I won't live as a widow. I won't suffer the loss of children."

9 In one day both of these will happen to you instantly: the loss of your children and your husband. All this will happen to you in spite of your evil magic and your many spells.

10 You feel safe in your wickedness and say, "No one can see me." Your wisdom and knowledge have led you astray, so you say to yourself, "I'm the only one, and there's no one else."

11 But evil will happen to you. You won't know how to keep it away. Disaster will strike you. You won't be able to stop it. Destruction will overtake you suddenly. You won't expect it.

12 Keep practicing your spells and your evil magic. You have practiced them ever since you were young. You may succeed. You may cause terror.

13 You are worn out by your many plans. Let your astrologers and your stargazers, who foretell the future month by month, come to you, rise up, and save you.

14 They are like straw. Fire burns them. They can't rescue themselves from the flames. There are no glowing coals to keep them warm and no fire for them to sit by.

15 This is how it will be for those who have worked with you, for those who have been with you ever since you were young. They will go their own ways, and there will be no one to save you.

1 Listen to this, descendants of Jacob! You are given the name of Israel. You are descended from Judah. You take oaths by the name of the LORD. You acknowledge the God of Israel, but you are not honest or sincere.

2 You call yourselves [citizens] of the holy city. You depend on the God of Israel. His name is the LORD of Armies.

3 From the beginning I revealed to you what would happen. These words came out of my mouth, and I made them known. Suddenly, I acted, and they happened.

4 I know that you are stubborn. Like iron, you are hardheaded. Like bronze, nothing gets through your thick skull.

5 That is why I revealed to you what would happen long ago. I told you about them before they happened. [I did this] so you couldn't say, "My gods have done these things. My carved idols and my metal idols have commanded them to happen."

6 You've heard these words. Now look at all this. Won't you admit it? From now on I will reveal to you new things, hidden things that you do not know.

7 They are created now, not in the past. You haven't heard about them before today, so you can't say that you already knew about them.

8 You have never heard about them. You have never known about them. Your ears have never been open to hear them before. I know that you've acted very treacherously and that you have been called a rebel since you were born.

9 For my name's sake I'll be patient. For my glory's sake I'll hold my anger back from you, rather than destroy you.

10 I have refined you, but not like silver. I have tested you in the furnace of suffering.

11 I am doing this for myself, only for myself. Why should my name be dishonored? I will not give my glory to anyone else.

12 Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called. I am the one. I am the first and the last.

13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth. My right hand stretched out the heavens. When I call for them, they both stand.

14 Gather together, all of you, and listen. What idol has revealed such things? The LORD loves Cyrus. He will carry out the LORD's plan against Babylon. He will use his strength against the Babylonians.

15 I alone have spoken. I have called him. I will bring him here, and he will succeed.

16 Come here. Listen to this: From the beginning I have spoken nothing in private. From the time it took place, I was there. Now the Almighty LORD has sent me and his Spirit.

17 This is what the LORD, your Defender, the Holy One of Israel, says: I am the LORD your God. I teach you what is best for you. I lead you where you should go.

18 If only you had listened to my commands! Your peace would be like a river [that never runs dry]. Your righteousness would be like waves on the sea.

19 Your descendants would be like sand. Your children would be like its grains. Their names would not be cut off or wiped out in my presence.

20 Leave Babylon; flee from the Babylonians! Shout for joy as you tell it and announce it. Shout it out to the ends of the earth. Say that the LORD has reclaimed his servant Jacob.

21 They weren't thirsty when he led them through the deserts. He made water flow from a rock for them. He split a rock, and water gushed out.

22 "There is no peace for the wicked," says the LORD.

1 Listen to me, you islands. Pay attention, you people far away. Before I was born, the LORD chose me. While I was in my mother's womb, he recorded my name.

2 He made my tongue like a sharp sword and hid me in the palm of his hand. He made me like a sharpened arrow and hid me in his quiver.

3 He said to me, "You are my servant Israel. I will display my glory through you."

4 But I said, "I have worked hard for nothing. I have used my strength, but I didn't accomplish anything. Yet, certainly my case is in the LORD's hands, and my reward is with my God."

5 The LORD formed me in the womb to be his servant in order to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to him. (The LORD honors me, and my God has become my strength.)

6 Now, the Lord says, "You are not just my servant who restores the tribes of Jacob and brings back those in Israel whom I have preserved. I have also made you a light for the nations so that you would save people all over the world."

7 The LORD is the defender of Israel, its Holy One. This is what the LORD says to the despised one, to the one scorned by the nation, to the slave of rulers: Kings will see [you] and stand. Princes will see [you] and bow. The LORD is faithful. The Holy One of Israel has chosen you.

8 This is what the LORD says: In the time of favor I will answer you. In the day of salvation I will help you. I will protect you. I will appoint you as my promise to the people. You will restore the land. You will make them inherit the desolate inheritance.

9 You will say to the prisoners, "Come out," and to those who are in darkness, "Show yourselves." They will graze along every path, and they will find pastures on every bare hill.

10 They will never be hungry or thirsty, nor will the sun or the burning, hot wind strike them. The one who has compassion on them will lead them and guide them to springs.

11 I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be restored.

12 They will come from far away. They will come from the north and from the west, and they will come from the land of Sinim.

13 Sing with joy, you heavens! Rejoice, you earth! Break into shouts of joy, you mountains! The LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his humble people.

14 But Zion said, "The LORD has abandoned me. My Lord has forgotten me."

15 Can a woman forget her nursing child? Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb? Although mothers may forget, I will not forget you.

16 I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are always in my presence.

17 Your children will hurry back. Those who destroyed you and laid waste to you will leave you.

18 Look up, look around, and watch! All of your children are gathering together and returning to you. "I solemnly swear as I live," declares the LORD, "you will wear all of them like jewels and display them on yourself as a bride would."

19 Though you are destroyed and demolished and your land is in ruins, you will be too crowded for [your] people now. Those who devoured you will be long gone.

20 The children taken from you will say to you, "This place is too crowded for me. Make room for me to live here."

21 Then you will ask yourself, "Who has fathered these [children] for me? I was childless and unable to have children. I was exiled and rejected. Who raised these [children for me]? I was left alone. Where have they come from?"

22 This is what the Almighty LORD says: I will lift my hand [to signal] the nations. I will raise my flag for the people. They will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

23 Then kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens will nurse you. They will bow in front of you with their faces touching the ground. They will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD. Those who wait with hope for me will not be put to shame.

24 Can loot be taken away from mighty men or prisoners be freed from conquerors?

25 This is what the LORD says: Prisoners will be freed from mighty men. Loot will be taken away from tyrants. I will fight your enemies, and I will save your children.

26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they will become drunk on their own blood as though it were new wine. Then all humanity will know that I am the LORD, who saves you, the Mighty One of Jacob, who reclaims you.

1 Now then, brothers and sisters, because of the Lord Jesus we ask and encourage you to excel in living a God-pleasing life even more than you already do. Do this the way we taught you.

2 You know what orders we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

3 It is God's will that you keep away from sexual sin as a mark of your devotion to him.

4 Each of you should know that finding a husband or wife for yourself is to be done in a holy and honorable way,

5 not in the passionate, lustful way of people who don't know God.

6 No one should take advantage of or exploit other believers that way. The Lord is the one who punishes people for all these things. We've already told you and warned you about this.

7 God didn't call us to be sexually immoral but to be holy.

8 Therefore, whoever rejects this [order] is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

9 You don't need anyone to write to you about the way Christians should love each other. God has taught you to love each other.

10 In fact, you are showing love to all the Christians throughout the province of Macedonia. We encourage you as believers to excel in love even more.

11 Also, make it your goal to live quietly, do your work, and earn your own living, as we ordered you.

12 Then your way of life will win respect from those outside [the church], and you won't have to depend on anyone else for what you need.

13 Brothers and sisters, we don't want you to be ignorant about those who have died. We don't want you to grieve like other people who have no hope.

14 We believe that Jesus died and came back to life. We also believe that, through Jesus, God will bring back those who have died. They will come back with Jesus.

15 We are telling you what the Lord taught. We who are still alive when the Lord comes will not go [into his kingdom] ahead of those who have already died.

16 The Lord will come from heaven with a command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet [call] of God. First, the dead who believed in Christ will come back to life.

17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive will be taken in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In this way we will always be with the Lord.

18 So then, comfort each other with these words!