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Isaiah 46
Baal bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols are upon their beasts, and on the cattle: the things that you carried about have become a load, a burden to the weary beast. 2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but have gone into captivity themselves.
3 Listen to me, oh house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been carried by me from their birth, that have been carried from the womb; 4 and even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you: I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver. 5 To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? 6 Such as lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, they hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a mighty one; they fall down, yes, they worship. 7 They bear it upon the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands; it shall not move from its place: yes, one may cry to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
8 Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, you transgressors. 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am Elohim, and there is no one else; I am Elohim, and there is no one like me; 10 declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel will stand, and I will do all my pleasure; 11 calling a ravening bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country: yes, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it.
12 Listen to me, you stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness: 13 I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not wait; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
Isaiah 47
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called tender and delicate. 2 Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers. 3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man. 4 Our Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. 5 Sit silent, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called The mistress of kingdoms. 6 I was angry with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you did show them no mercy; upon the aged have you very heavily laid your yoke. 7 And you said, I shall be mistress forever; so that you did not lay these things to your heart, neither did remember the latter end of it.
8 Now therefore hear this, you that are given to pleasures, that sit securely, that say in your heart, I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: 9 but these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come upon you, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments. 10 For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, No one sees me; your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you; and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else besides me. 11 Therefore shall evil come upon you; you shall not know the dawning of it: and mischief shall fall upon you; you shall not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you know not.
12 Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail. 13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels: let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from the things that shall come upon you. 14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before. 15 In this manner shall the things be to you in which you have labored: They that have traded with you from your youth shall wander every one to his quarter; there shall be no one to save you.
Isaiah 48
Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Yahweh, and make mention of the Elohim of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness. 2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the Elohim of Israel; Yahweh of hosts is his name. 3 I have declared the former things from of old; yes, they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them: suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. 4 Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze; 5 therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, My idol has done them, and my carved image, and my molten image, has commanded them. 6 You have heard it; behold all this; and you, will you not declare it? I have showed you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known. 7 They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day you heard them not; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them. 8 Yes, you heard not; yes, you knew not; yes, from of old your ear was not opened: for I knew that you did deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb. 9 For my name’s sake will I defer my anger, and for my praise will I refrain for you, that I cut you not off. 10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, will I do it; for how should my name be profaned? And my glory will I not give to another.
12 Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. 13 Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together. 14 Assemble yourselves, all you, and hear; who among them has declared these things? He whom Yahweh loves shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans. 15 I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. 16 Come near to me, hear this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Sovereign Yahweh has sent me, and his Spirit.
17 In this manner says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Yahweh your Elohim, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. 18 Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea: 19 your seed also would have been as the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like the grains of it: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.
20 Go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth: say, Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob. 21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he split the rock also, and the waters gushed out. 22 There is no peace, says Yahweh, to the wicked.
