Isaiah 47-51
GOD’S WORD Translation
Babylon’s Fall
47 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.
The Lord Will Refine His People Before He Rescues Them from Babylon
48 Listen to this, descendants of Jacob!
You are given the name of Israel.
You are descended from Judah.[a]
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.
The Lord’s Servant Will Bring Salvation to the Nations
49 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 [b] 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.
The Lord Has Not Forgotten Israel
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.
The Lord’s People Were Sold because of Their Sin
50 This is what the Lord says:
Where are your mother’s divorce papers?
Did I give her any to get rid of her?
To which of my creditors did I sell you?
You were sold because of your sins.
I got rid of your mother because of your rebellion.
2 Why was no one here when I came?
Why was no one here to answer when I called?
Am I too weak to reclaim you?
Don’t I have the power to rescue you?
I dry up the sea with my command,
and I turn rivers into deserts.
Their fish stink because there is no water,
and people die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens in darkness
and cover them with sackcloth.
The Lord’s Servant Trusts in the Lord’s Help
4 The Almighty Lord will teach me what to say,
so I will know how to encourage weary people.
Morning after morning he will wake me
to listen like a student.
5 The Almighty Lord will open my ears.
I will not rebel, nor will I turn away ⌞from him⌟.
6 I will offer my back to those who whip me
and my cheeks to those who pluck hairs out of my beard.
I will not turn my face away from those who humiliate me
and spit on me.
7 The Almighty Lord helps me.
That is why I will not be ashamed.
I have set my face like a flint.
I know that I will not be put to shame.
8 The one who pronounces me innocent is near.
Who will bring a case against me?
Let us confront each other!
Who accuses me?
Let him confront me!
9 The Almighty Lord helps me.
Who will find me guilty?
They will all wear out like a garment.
Moths will eat them.
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys his servant?
Let those who walk in darkness and have no light
trust the name of the Lord
and depend upon their God.
11 But all of you light fires
and arm yourselves with flaming torches.
So walk in your own light
and among the torches you have lit.
This is what you will receive from me:
You will be tormented.
The Lord Will Save His People
51 Listen to me, you people who pursue what is right and seek the Lord.
Look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham, your ancestor,
and to Sarah, from whom you are descended.
When I called Abraham, he was childless.
I blessed him and gave him many descendants.
3 So the Lord will comfort Zion.
He will comfort all those who live among its ruins.
He will make its desert like Eden.
He will make its wilderness like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
4 Pay attention to me, my people.
Open your ears to hear me, my nation.
My teachings will go out from me.
My justice will become a light for the people.
5 My righteousness is near.
My salvation is on the way.
I will bring justice to people.
The coastlands put their hope in me,
and they wait eagerly for me.
6 Look at the sky.
Look at the earth below.
The sky will vanish like smoke.
The earth will wear out like clothing,
and those who live there will die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
and my righteousness will never fail.
7 Listen to me, you people who know righteousness,
you people who have my teachings in your hearts.
Don’t be afraid of being insulted by people.
Don’t be discouraged by their ridicule.
8 Moths will eat them like clothing.
Worms will devour them like wool.
But my righteousness will last forever,
and my salvation will last throughout every generation.
9 Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O Lord!
Wake up as you did in days long past, as in generations long ago.
Didn’t you cut Rahab [c] into pieces and stab the serpent?
10 Didn’t you dry up the sea, the water of the great ocean?
You made a road in the depths of the sea
so that the people reclaimed ⌞by the Lord⌟
might pass through it.
11 The people ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will come to Zion singing with joy.
Everlasting happiness will be on their heads ⌞as a crown⌟.
They will be glad and joyful.
They will have no sorrow or grief.
12 I alone am the one who comforts you.
Why, then, are you afraid of mortals, who must die,
of humans, who are like grass?
13 Why have you forgotten the Lord, your Creator?
He stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth.
Why should you live in constant fear of the fury
of those who oppress you,
of those who are ready to destroy you?
Where is the fury of those who oppress you?
14 Chained prisoners will be set free.
They will not die in prison.
They will not go without food.
15 I am the Lord your God who stirs up the sea
and makes its waves roar.
My name is the Lord of Armies.
16 I put my words in your mouth
and sheltered you in the palm of my hand.
I stretched out the heavens,
laid the foundations of the earth,
and said to Zion, “You are my people.”
Wake Up, Jerusalem
17 Wake up! Wake up!
Stand up, Jerusalem!
You drank from the cup in the Lord’s hand.
That cup was filled with his anger.
You drank from the bowl, the cup that makes people stagger,
and you drained it!
18 From all the children she gave birth to,
there was no one to guide her.
From all the children she raised,
there was no one to take her by the hand.
19 Twice as many disasters have happened to you.
Who will feel sorry for you?
Violence, destruction, famine, and war have happened to you.
Who will comfort you?
20 Your children have fainted.
They lie sleeping at every street corner.
They are like an antelope caught in a net.
They experience the anger of the Lord,
the fury of your God.
21 Listen to this, you humble people
who are drunk but not from wine.
22 The Lord your God defends his people.
This is what your master says:
I’m taking from your hand the cup that makes people stagger,
the bowl, the cup of my fury.
You will never drink from it again.
23 I will put it in the hands of those who made you suffer.
They said to you, “Lie down so that we can walk over you.”
So you made your back like the ground
and like a street for them to cross.
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