11 This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel and his Maker:
“Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons,
And you shall commit to Me the work of My hands.
12 It is I who made the earth, and created mankind upon it.
I stretched out the heavens with My hands,
And I ordained all their lights.
13 I have stirred him in righteousness,
And I will make all his ways smooth.
He will build My city and let My exiles go free,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of armies.
14 This is what the Lord says:
“The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush
And the Sabeans, men of stature,
Will come over to you and will be yours;
They will walk behind you, they will come over in chains
And will bow down to you;
They will plead with you:
‘God certainly is with you, and there is no one else,
No other God.’”
15 Truly, You are a God who hides Himself,
God of Israel, Savior!
16 They will be put to shame and even humiliated, all of them;
The manufacturers of idols will go away together in humiliation.
17 Israel has been saved by the Lord
With an everlasting salvation;
You will not be put to shame or humiliated
To all eternity.
18 For this is what the Lord says, He who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it as a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited):
“I am the Lord, and there is no one else.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
In some dark land;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
‘Seek Me in a wasteland’;
I, the Lord, speak righteousness,
Declaring things that are right.
20 “Gather yourselves and come;
Come together, you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge,
Who carry around their wooden idol
And pray to a god who cannot save.
21 Declare and present your case;
Indeed, let them consult together.
Who has announced this long ago?
Who has long since declared it?
Is it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other God besides Me,
A righteous God and a Savior;
There is none except Me.
22 Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out from My mouth in righteousness
And will not turn back,
That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.
24 They will say of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’
People will come to Him,
And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.
25 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
Will be justified and will boast.”
1 Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over;
Their idols have become loads for the animals and the cattle.
The things that you carry are burdensome,
A load for the weary animal.
2 They stooped over, they have bowed down together;
They could not rescue the burden,
But have themselves gone into captivity.
3 “Listen to Me, house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
You who have been carried by Me from birth
And have been carried from the womb;
4 Even to your old age I will be the same,
And even to your graying years I will carry you!
I have done it, and I will bear you;
And I will carry you and I will save you.
5 “To whom would you liken Me
And make Me equal, and compare Me,
That we would be alike?
6 Those who lavish gold from the bag
And weigh silver on the scale,
Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
They bow down, indeed they worship it.
7 They lift it on the shoulder, carry it,
And set it in its place, and it stands there.
It does not move from its place.
Though one may shout to it, it cannot answer;
It cannot save him from his distress.
8 “Remember this, and be assured;
Recall it to mind, you wrongdoers.
9 Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My plan will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
11 Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man of My purpose from a distant country.
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, I will certainly do it.
12 “Listen to Me, you stubborn-minded,
Who are far from righteousness.
13 I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off;
And My salvation will not delay.
And I will grant salvation in Zion,
And My glory for Israel.
1 “Come down and sit in the dust,
Virgin daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground without a throne,
Daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and grind flour.
Remove your veil, strip off the skirt,
Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
3 Your nakedness will be uncovered,
Your shame will also be exposed;
I will take vengeance and will not spare anyone.”
4 Our Redeemer, the Lord of armies is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.
5 “Sit silently, and go into darkness,
Daughter of the Chaldeans;
For you will no longer be called
The queen of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with My people,
I profaned My heritage
And handed them over to you.
You did not show mercy to them,
On the aged you made your yoke very heavy.
7 Yet you said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’
These things you did not consider
Nor remember the outcome of them.
8 “Now, then, hear this, you luxuriant one,
Who lives securely,
Who says in her heart,
‘I am, and there is no one besides me.
I will not sit as a widow,
Nor know the loss of children.’
9 But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day:
Loss of children and widowhood.
They will come on you in full measure
In spite of your many sorceries,
In spite of the great power of your spells.
10 You felt secure in your wickedness and said,
‘No one sees me,’
Your wisdom and your knowledge, they have led you astray;
For you have said in your heart,
‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’
11 But evil will come on you
Which you will not know how to charm away;
And disaster will fall on you
For which you cannot atone;
And destruction about which you do not know
Will come on you suddenly.
12 “Persist now in your spells
And in your many sorceries
With which you have labored from your youth;
Perhaps you will be able to benefit,
Perhaps you may cause trembling.
13 You are wearied with your many counsels;
Let now the astrologers,
Those who prophesy by the stars,
Those who predict by the new moons,
Stand up and save you from what will come upon you.
14 Behold, they have become like stubble,
Fire burns them;
They cannot save themselves from the power of the flame;
There will be no coal to warm by
Nor a fire to sit before!
15 So have those become to you with whom you have labored,
Those who have done business with you from your youth;
Each has wandered in his own way;
There is no one to save you.
1 “Hear this, house of Jacob, who are named Israel
And who came from the waters of Judah,
Who swear by the name of the Lord
And invoke the God of Israel,
But not in truth nor in righteousness.
2 For they name themselves after the holy city,
And lean on the God of Israel;
The Lord of armies is His name.
3 I declared the former things long ago,
And they went out of My mouth, and I proclaimed them.
Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
4 Because I know that you are obstinate,
And your neck is an iron tendon
And your forehead bronze,
5 Therefore I declared them to you long ago,
Before they took place I proclaimed them to you,
So that you would not say, ‘My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my cast metal image have commanded them.’
6 You have heard; look at all this.
And you, will you not declare it?
I proclaim to you new things from this time,
Hidden things which you have not known.
7 They are created now and not long ago;
And before today you have not heard them,
So that you will not say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 You have not heard, you have not known.
Even from long ago your ear has not been open,
Because I knew that you would deal very treacherously;
And you have been called a rebel from birth.
9 For the sake of My name I delay My wrath,
And for My praise I restrain it for you,
In order not to cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act;
For how can My name be profaned?
And I will not give My glory to another.
1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says,
“When He ascended on high,
He led captive the captives,
And He gave gifts to people.”
9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11 And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden,
The God who is our salvation. Selah
20 God is to us a God of salvation;
And to God the Lord belong ways of escape from death.
21 God certainly will shatter the heads of His enemies,
The hairy head of one who goes about in his guilt.
22 The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan.
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
23 So that your foot may shatter them in blood,
And the tongue of your dogs may have its portion from your enemies.”
24 They have seen Your procession, God,
The procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.
25 The singers went on, the musicians after them,
In the midst of the young women beating tambourines.
26 Bless God in the congregations,
Even the Lord, you who are of the fountain of Israel.
27 Benjamin, the youngest, is there, ruling them,
The leaders of Judah in their company,
The leaders of Zebulun, the leaders of Naphtali.
28 Your God has commanded your strength;
Show Yourself strong, God, You who acted in our behalf.
29 Because of Your temple at Jerusalem
Kings will bring gifts to You.
30 Rebuke the animals in the reeds,
The herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples,
Trampling the pieces of silver;
He has scattered the peoples who delight in war.
31 Messengers will come from Egypt;
Cush will quickly stretch out her hands to God.
32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth,
Sing praises to the Lord, Selah
33 To Him who rides upon the highest heavens, which are from ancient times;
Behold, He speaks with His voice, a mighty voice.
34 Ascribe strength to God;
His majesty is over Israel,
And His strength is in the skies.
35 God, You are awesome from Your sanctuary.
The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people.
Blessed be God!
3 By wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
4 And by knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.
