Isaiah 44; Isaiah 45; Isaiah 46; Isaiah 47; Isaiah 48

1 The Lord says, "Listen now, Israel, my servant, my chosen people, the descendants of Jacob.

2 I am the Lord who created you; from the time you were born, I have helped you. Do not be afraid; you are my servant, my chosen people whom I love.

3 "I will give water to the thirsty land and make streams flow on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on your children and my blessing on your descendants.

4 They will thrive like well-watered grass, like willows by streams of running water.

5 "One by one, people will say, "I am the Lord's.' They will come to join the people of Israel. They each will mark the name of the Lord on their arms and call themselves one of God's people."

6 The Lord, who rules and protects Israel, the Lord Almighty, has this to say: "I am the first, the last, the only God; there is no other god but me.

7 Could anyone else have done what I did? Who could have predicted all that would happen from the very beginning to the end of time?

8 Do not be afraid, my people! You know that from ancient times until now I have predicted all that would happen, and you are my witnesses. Is there any other god? Is there some powerful god I never heard of?"

9 All those who make idols are worthless, and the gods they prize so highly are useless. Those who worship these gods are blind and ignorant - and they will be disgraced.

10 It does no good to make a metal image to worship as a god!

11 Everyone who worships it will be humiliated. The people who make idols are human beings and nothing more. Let them come and stand trial - they will be terrified and will suffer disgrace.

12 The metalworker takes a piece of metal and works with it over a fire. His strong arm swings a hammer to pound the metal into shape. As he works, he gets hungry, thirsty, and tired.

13 The carpenter measures the wood. He outlines a figure with chalk, carves it out with his tools, and makes it in the form of a man, a handsome human figure, to be placed in his house.

14 He might cut down cedars to use, or choose oak or cypress wood from the forest. Or he might plant a laurel tree and wait for the rain to make it grow.

15 A person uses part of a tree for fuel and part of it for making an idol. With one part he builds a fire to warm himself and bake bread; with the other part he makes a god and worships it.

16 With some of the wood he makes a fire; he roasts meat, eats it, and is satisfied. He warms himself and says, "How nice and warm! What a beautiful fire!"

17 The rest of the wood he makes into an idol, and then he bows down and worships it. He prays to it and says, "You are my god - save me!"

18 Such people are too stupid to know what they are doing. They close their eyes and their minds to the truth.

19 The maker of idols hasn't the wit or the sense to say, "Some of the wood I burned up. I baked some bread on the coals, and I roasted meat and ate it. And the rest of the wood I made into an idol. Here I am bowing down to a block of wood!"

20 It makes as much sense as eating ashes. His foolish ideas have so misled him that he is beyond help. He won't admit to himself that the idol he holds in his hand is not a god at all.

21 The Lord says, "Israel, remember this; remember that you are my servant. I created you to be my servant, and I will never forget you.

22 I have swept your sins away like a cloud. Come back to me; I am the one who saves you."

23 Shout for joy, you heavens! Shout, deep places of the earth! Shout for joy, mountains, and every tree of the forest! The Lord has shown his greatness by saving his people Israel.

24 "I am the Lord, your savior; I am the one who created you. I am the Lord, the Creator of all things. I alone stretched out the heavens; when I made the earth, no one helped me.

25 I make fools of fortunetellers and frustrate the predictions of astrologers. The words of the wise I refute and show that their wisdom is foolishness.

26 But when my servant makes a prediction, when I send a messenger to reveal my plans, I make those plans and predictions come true. I tell Jerusalem that people will live there again, and the cities of Judah that they will be rebuilt. Those cities will rise from the ruins.

27 With a word of command I dry up the ocean.

28 I say to Cyrus, "You are the one who will rule for me; you will do what I want you to do: you will order that Jerusalem be rebuilt and that the foundations of the Temple be laid.' "

1 The Lord has chosen Cyrus to be king. He has appointed him to conquer nations; he sends him to strip kings of their power; the Lord will open the gates of cities for him. To Cyrus the Lord says,

2 "I myself will prepare your way, leveling mountains and hills. I will break down bronze gates and smash their iron bars.

3 I will give you treasures from dark, secret places; then you will know that I am the Lord and that the God of Israel has called you by name.

4 I appoint you to help my servant Israel, the people that I have chosen. I have given you great honor, although you do not know me.

5 "I am the Lord; there is no other god. I will give you the strength you need, although you do not know me.

6 I do this so that everyone from one end of the world to the other may know that I am the Lord and that there is no other god.

7 I create both light and darkness; I bring both blessing and disaster. I, the Lord, do all these things.

8 I will send victory from the sky like rain; the earth will open to receive it and will blossom with freedom and justice. I, the Lord, will make this happen."

9 Does a clay pot dare argue with its maker, a pot that is like all the others? Does the clay ask the potter what he is doing? Does the pot complain that its maker has no skill?

10 Do we dare say to our parents, "Why did you make me like this?"

11 The Lord, the holy God of Israel, the one who shapes the future, says: "You have no right to question me about my children or to tell me what I ought to do!

12 I am the one who made the earth and created human beings to live there. By my power I stretched out the heavens; I control the sun, the moon, and the stars.

13 I myself have stirred Cyrus to action to fulfill my purpose and put things right. I will straighten out every road that he travels. He will rebuild my city, Jerusalem, and set my captive people free. No one has hired him or bribed him to do this." The Lord Almighty has spoken.

14 The Lord says to Israel, "The wealth of Egypt and Ethiopia will be yours, and the tall men of Seba will be your slaves; they will follow you in chains. They will bow down to you and confess, "God is with you - he alone is God.

15 The God of Israel, who saves his people, is a God who conceals himself.

16 Those who make idols will all be ashamed; all of them will be disgraced.

17 But Israel is saved by the Lord, and her victory lasts forever; her people will never be disgraced.' "

18 The Lord created the heavens - he is the one who is God! He formed and made the earth - he made it firm and lasting. He did not make it a desolate waste, but a place for people to live. It is he who says, "I am the Lord, and there is no other god.

19 I have not spoken in secret or kept my purpose hidden. I did not require the people of Israel to look for me in a desolate waste. I am the Lord, and I speak the truth; I make known what is right."

20 The Lord says, "Come together, people of the nations, all who survive the fall of the empire; present yourselves for the trial! The people who parade with their idols of wood and pray to gods that cannot save them - those people know nothing at all!

21 Come and present your case in court; let the defendants consult one another. Who predicted long ago what would happen? Was it not I, the Lord, the God who saves his people? There is no other god.

22 "Turn to me now and be saved, people all over the world! I am the only God there is.

23 My promise is true, and it will not be changed. I solemnly promise by all that I am: Everyone will come and kneel before me and vow to be loyal to me.

24 "They will say that only through me are victory and strength to be found; but all who hate me will suffer disgrace.

25 I, the Lord, will rescue all the descendants of Jacob, and they will give me praise.

1 "This is the end for Babylon's gods! Bel and Nebo once were worshiped, but now they are loaded on donkeys, a burden for the backs of tired animals.

2 The idols cannot save themselves; they are captured and carried away. This is the end for Babylon's gods!

3 "Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all who are left of my people. I have cared for you from the time you were born.

4 I am your God and will take care of you until you are old and your hair is gray. I made you and will care for you; I will give you help and rescue you.

5 "To whom will you compare me?" says the Lord. "Is there anyone else like me?

6 People open their purses and pour out gold; they weigh out silver on the scales. They hire a goldsmith to make a god; then they bow down and worship it.

7 They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they put it in place, and there it stands, unable to move from where it is. If any pray to it, it cannot answer or save them from disaster.

8 "Remember this, you sinners; consider what I have done.

9 Remember what happened long ago; acknowledge that I alone am God and that there is no one else like me.

10 From the beginning I predicted the outcome; long ago I foretold what would happen. I said that my plans would never fail, that I would do everything I intended to do.

11 I am calling a man to come from the east; he will swoop down like a hawk and accomplish what I have planned. I have spoken, and it will be done.

12 "Listen to me, you stubborn people who think that victory is far away.

13 I am bringing the day of victory near - it is not far away at all. My triumph will not be delayed. I will save Jerusalem and bring honor to Israel there."

1 The Lord says, "Babylon, come down from your throne, and sit in the dust on the ground. You were once like a virgin, a city unconquered, but you are soft and delicate no longer! You are now a slave!

2 Turn the millstone! Grind the flour! Off with your veil! Strip off your fine clothes! Lift up your skirts to cross the streams!

3 People will see you naked; they will see you humbled and shamed. I will take vengeance, and no one will stop me."

4 The holy God of Israel sets us free - his name is the Lord Almighty.

5 The Lord says to Babylon, "Sit in silence and darkness; no more will they call you the queen of nations!

6 I was angry with my people; I treated them as no longer mine: I put them in your power, and you showed them no mercy; even the aged you treated harshly.

7 You thought you would always be a queen, and did not take these things to heart or think how it all would end.

8 "Listen to this, you lover of pleasure, you that think you are safe and secure. You claim you are as great as God - that there is no one else like you. You thought that you would never be a widow or suffer the loss of your children.

9 But in a moment, in a single day, both of these things will happen. In spite of all the magic you use, you will lose your husband and children.

10 "You felt sure of yourself in your evil; you thought that no one could see you. Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray, and you said to yourself, "I am God - there is no one else like me.'

11 Disaster will come upon you, and none of your magic can stop it. Ruin will come on you suddenly - ruin you never dreamed of!

12 Keep all your magic spells and charms; you have used them since you were young. Perhaps they will be of some help to you; perhaps you can frighten your enemies.

13 You are powerless in spite of the advice you get. Let your astrologers come forward and save you - those people who study the stars, who map out the zones of the heavens and tell you from month to month what is going to happen to you.

14 "They will be like bits of straw, and a fire will burn them up! They will not even be able to save themselves - the flames will be too hot for them, not a cozy fire to warm themselves by.

15 That is all the good they will do you - those astrologers you've consulted all your life. They all will leave you and go their own way, and none will be left to save you."

1 Listen to this, people of Israel, you that are descended from Judah: You swear by the name of the Lord and claim to worship the God of Israel - but you don't mean a word you say.

2 And yet you are proud to say that you are citizens of the holy city and that you depend on Israel's God, whose name is the Lord Almighty.

3 The Lord says to Israel, "Long ago I predicted what would take place; then suddenly I made it happen.

4 I knew that you would prove to be stubborn, as rigid as iron and unyielding as bronze.

5 And so I predicted your future long ago, announcing events before they took place, to keep you from claiming that your idols and images made them happen.

6 "All I foretold has now taken place; you have to admit my predictions were right. Now I will tell you of new things to come, events that I did not reveal before.

7 Only now am I making them happen; nothing like this took place in the past. If it had, you would claim that you knew all about it.

8 I knew that you couldn't be trusted, that you have always been known as a rebel. That is why you never heard of this at all, why no word of it ever came to your ears.

9 "In order that people will praise my name, I am holding my anger in check; I am keeping it back and will not destroy you.

10 I have tested you in the fire of suffering, as silver is refined in a furnace. But I have found that you are worthless.

11 What I do is done for my own sake - I will not let my name be dishonored or let anyone else share the glory that should be mine and mine alone."

12 The Lord says, "Listen to me, Israel, the people I have called! I am God, the first, the last, the only God!

13 My hands made the earth's foundations and spread the heavens out. When I summon earth and sky, they come at once and present themselves.

14 "Assemble and listen, all of you! None of the gods could predict that the man I have chosen would attack Babylon; he will do what I want him to do.

15 I am the one who spoke and called him; I led him out and gave him success.

16 "Now come close to me and hear what I say. From the beginning I have spoken openly and have always made my words come true." (Now the Sovereign Lord has given me his power and sent me.)

17 The holy God of Israel, the Lord who saves you, says: "I am the Lord your God, the one who wants to teach you for your own good and direct you in the way you should go.

18 "If only you had listened to my commands! Then blessings would have flowed for you like a stream that never goes dry. Victory would have come to you like the waves that roll on the shore.

19 Your descendants would be as numerous as grains of sand, and I would have made sure they were never destroyed."

20 Go out from Babylon, go free! Shout the news gladly; make it known everywhere: "The Lord has saved his servant Israel!"

21 When the Lord led his people through a hot, dry desert, they did not suffer from thirst. He made water come from a rock for them; he split the rock open, and water flowed out.

22 "There is no safety for sinners," says the Lord.