Isaiah 46

⁹Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one answered, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon! All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground!”

⁴⁴I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him spew out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even the wall of Babylon will fall.

²“Announce and declare to the nations; lift up a banner and proclaim it; hold nothing back when you say, ‘Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Marduk is shattered, her images are disgraced, her idols are broken in pieces.’

⁵²“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.

⁶Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!”

⁷The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who wields the hammer cheers him who strikes the anvil, saying of the welding, “It is good.” He nails it down so it will not be toppled.

³When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and returned him to his place.

⁷Because you trust in your works and treasures, you too will be captured, and Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.

¹⁷And the five men who had gone to spy out the land went inside and took the graven image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molten idol, while the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred armed men.

¹⁸When they entered Micah’s house and took the graven image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molten idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

²⁴He replied, “You took the gods I had made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’”

¹²I will kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar will burn those temples and take their gods as captives. So he will wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself in his garment, and he will depart from there unscathed.

¹³He will demolish the sacred pillars of the temple of the sun in the land of Egypt, and he will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.’”

²¹There the Philistines abandoned their idols, and David and his men carried them away.

¹²Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations—the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar?

³¹and in the wilderness, where the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way by which you traveled until you reached this place.”

⁷Listen to Me, you who know what is right, you people with My law in your hearts: Do not fear the scorn of men; do not be broken by their insults.

¹“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were hewn.

⁶I have leaned on You since birth; You pulled me from my mother’s womb. My praise is always for You.

¹But now listen, O Jacob My servant, Israel, whom I have chosen.

²This is the word of the Lord, your Maker, who formed you from the womb and who will help you: “Do not be afraid, O Jacob My servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

¹“Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, who have descended from the line of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord, who invoke the God of Israel—but not in truth or righteousness—

¹⁸Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.

¹⁴For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even till death.

¹⁴In old age they will still bear fruit; healthy and green they will remain,

⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

¹⁷Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.

²⁶They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them, and they will be passed on.

²⁷But You remain the same, and Your years will never end.

¹⁸To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?

²⁵“To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.

⁶For who in the skies can compare with the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord?

⁶Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

¹⁵The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

¹⁶The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—the Lord of Hosts is His name.

²⁹Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

¹⁴Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.

¹⁹To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

²⁰One lacking such an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

⁴They set up kings, but not by Me. They make princes, but without My approval. With their silver and gold they make themselves idols, to their own destruction.

⁵He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?

⁸Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.

²⁸After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

²⁰Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save.

⁵Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”

¹Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.

³When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and returned him to his place.

⁵The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.

⁴⁰Then Elijah ordered them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let a single one escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.

²⁰Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

¹⁷Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death!

⁷This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.

⁷You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.

⁵Now this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.

⁸Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.

²¹Speak up and present your case—yes, let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago? Who announced it from ancient times? Was it not I, the Lord? There is no other God but Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is none but Me.

²²Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

⁹Behold, the former things have happened, and now I declare new things. Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”

⁵To whom will you liken Me or count Me equal? To whom will you compare Me, that we should be alike?

⁴He has caused His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.

²⁶“There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your aid, and the clouds in His majesty.

⁷Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.

²¹Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the Lord will prevail.

¹¹The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations.

⁹And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ

¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.

¹³Even from eternity I am He, and none can deliver out of My hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”

³⁰There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the Lord.

²¹Speak up and present your case—yes, let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago? Who announced it from ancient times? Was it not I, the Lord? There is no other God but Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is none but Me.

¹⁹God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

²⁴The Lord of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.

²⁵I will break Assyria in My land; I will trample him on My mountain. His yoke will be taken off My people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

¹³But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.

¹¹In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,

²Who has aroused one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.

³⁹But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God.”

⁵This is what the Lord says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me? They followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves.

¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

³“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.

¹¹But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.

¹²They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of Hosts.

¹⁵⁰Those who follow after wickedness draw near; they are far from Your law.

¹Does not wisdom call out, and understanding raise her voice?

²On the heights overlooking the road, at the crossroads she takes her stand.

¹¹Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the ends of the earth, “Say to Daughter Zion: See, your Savior comes! Look, His reward is with Him, and His recompense goes before Him.”

²Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”

⁵My righteousness draws near, My salvation is on the way, and My arms will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look for Me and wait in hope for My arm.

³to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

²³Sing for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done this; shout aloud, O depths of the earth. Break forth in song, O mountains, you forests and all your trees. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and revealed His glory in Israel.

⁷everyone called by My name and created for My glory, whom I have indeed formed and made.”