Isaiah 45-48

English Standard Version

^8 (N)“Shower, O heavens, from above,
    and ^(O)let the clouds rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;
    let the earth cause them both to sprout;
    I the Lord have created it.

^9 (P)“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
    a pot among earthen pots!
^(Q)Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
    or ‘Your work has no handles’?
¹⁰ Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
    or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”

¹¹ Thus says ^(R)the Lord,
    the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
^(S)“Ask me of things to come;
    will you command me ^(T)concerning my children and ^(U)the work of my hands?^[b]
12 (V)I made the earth
    and created man on it;
it was my hands ^(W)that stretched out the heavens,
    and ^(X)I commanded all their host.
^13 (Y)I have stirred him up in righteousness,
    ^(Z)and I will make all his ways level;
^(AA)he shall build my city
    ^(AB)and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,”
    says the Lord of hosts.

^15 (AE)Truly, you are a God who hides himself,
    O God of Israel, the Savior.
^16 (AF)All of them are put to shame and confounded;
    the makers of idols go in confusion together.
¹⁷ But Israel is saved by the Lord
    with everlasting salvation;
^(AG)you shall not be put to shame or confounded
    to all eternity.

^18 (AH)For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
    (he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
    (he established it;
he ^(AI)did not create it empty,
    ^(AJ)he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
^19 (AK)I did not speak in secret,
    in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
    ^(AL)‘Seek me in vain.’^[c]
I the Lord speak ^(AM)the truth;
    I declare what is right.

^20 (AN)“Assemble yourselves and come;
    draw near together,
    you survivors of the nations!
^(AO)They have no knowledge
    who ^(AP)carry about their wooden idols,
^(AQ)and keep on praying to a god
    that cannot save.
^21 (AR)Declare and present your case;
    let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
    Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
    And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God ^(AS)and a Savior;
    there is none besides me.

²² “Turn to me and be saved,
    ^(AT)all the ends of the earth!
    For I am God, and there is no other.
^23 (AU)By myself I have sworn;
    from my mouth has gone out in ^(AV)righteousness
    a word that shall not return:
^(AW)‘To me every knee shall bow,
    every tongue shall swear allegiance.’^[d]

^24 (AX)“Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
    are righteousness and ^(AY)strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
    ^(AZ)all who were incensed against him.
²⁵ In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
    shall be justified and shall glory.”

³ “Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
    all the remnant of the house of Israel,
^(BC)who have been borne by me from before your birth,
    carried from the womb;
^4 (BD)even to your old age I am he,
    and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
    I will carry and will save.

^5 (BE)“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
    and compare me, that we may be alike?
^6 (BF)Those who lavish gold from the purse,
    and weigh out silver in the scales,
hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
    ^(BG)then they fall down and worship!
^7 (BH)They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,
    they set it in its place, and it stands there;
    ^(BI)it cannot move from its place.
If one cries to it, it does not answer
    or save him from his trouble.

⁸ “Remember this and stand firm,
    recall it to mind, ^(BJ)you transgressors,
⁹     remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me,
^10 (BK)declaring the end from the beginning
    and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ^(BL)‘My counsel shall stand,
    and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
^11 (BM)calling a bird of prey from the east,
    the man of my counsel from a far country.
^(BN)I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
    I have purposed, and I will do it.

¹² “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
    you who are far from righteousness:
^13 (BO)I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
    and my salvation will not delay;
^(BP)I will put salvation in Zion,
    for Israel my glory.”

^5 (BY)Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
    O daughter of ^(BZ)the Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
    ^(CA)the mistress of kingdoms.
^6 (CB)I was angry with my people;
    I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
    ^(CC)you showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
⁷ You said, “I shall be ^(CD)mistress forever,”
    so that you did not lay these things to heart
    or remember their end.

⁸ Now therefore hear this, ^(CE)you lover of pleasures,
    ^(CF)who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
    ^(CG)“I am, and there is no one besides me;
^(CH)I shall not sit as a widow
    or know the loss of children”:
^9 (CI)These two things shall come to you
    in a moment, ^(CJ)in one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
    shall come upon you in full measure,
^(CK)in spite of your many sorceries
    and the great power of your enchantments.

¹⁰ You felt secure in your wickedness;
    you said, “No one sees me”;
your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
    ^(CL)“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
¹¹ But evil shall come upon you,
    which you will not know how to charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
    for which you will not be able to atone;
^(CM)and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
    of which you know nothing.

^12 (CN)Stand fast in your enchantments
    and your many sorceries,
    with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed;
    perhaps you may inspire terror.
¹³ You are wearied with your many counsels;
    let them stand forth and save you,
^(CO)those who divide the heavens,
    who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons make known
    what shall come upon you.

¹⁴ Behold, ^(CP)they are like stubble;
    ^(CQ)the fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
    from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
    no fire to sit before!
¹⁵ Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
    who have done business with you from your youth;
they wander about, each in his own direction;
    there is no one to save you.

³ “The former things ^(CV)I declared of old;
    they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
    then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
⁴ Because I know that ^(CW)you are obstinate,
    and your neck is an iron sinew
    and your forehead brass,
^5 (CX)I declared them to you from of old,
    before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, ^(CY)‘My idol did them,
    my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’

⁶ “You have heard; now see all this;
    and will you not declare it?
From this time forth ^(CZ)I announce to you new things,
    hidden things that you have not known.
⁷ They are created now, not long ago;
    before today you have never heard of them,
    lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
⁸ You have never heard, you have never known,
    from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,
    and that ^(DA)from before birth you were called a rebel.

^9 (DB)“For my name's sake I defer my anger;
    for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
    that I may not cut you off.
¹⁰ Behold, I have refined you, ^(DC)but not as silver;
    ^(DD)I have tried^[e] you in the furnace of affliction.
^11 (DE)For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
    for how should my name^[f] be profaned?
    ^(DF)My glory I will not give to another.

¹⁴ “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
    ^(DK)Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
    ^(DL)he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
    and his arm shall be against ^(DM)the Chaldeans.
^15 (DN)I, even I, have spoken and called him;
    I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
^16 (DO)Draw near to me, hear this:
    from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
    from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now ^(DP)the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

¹⁷ Thus says the Lord,
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
    who teaches you to profit,
    who leads you in the way you should go.
^18 (DQ)Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
    ^(DR)Then your peace would have been like a river,
    and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
^19 (DS)your offspring would have been like the sand,
    and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
    or destroyed from before me.”

^20 (DT)Go out from Babylon, flee from ^(DU)Chaldea,
    declare this ^(DV)with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it out to the end of the earth;
    say, ^(DW)“The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
^21 (DX)They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
    ^(DY)he made water flow for them from the rock;
    he split the rock and the water gushed out.

^22 (DZ)“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”