Isaïe (NAB) 38
38 1 In those days, when Hezekiah was mortally ill, the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came and said to him: "Thus says the LORD: Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you shall not recover." 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD:3 "O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!" And Hezekiah wept bitterly.4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:5 "Go, tell Hezekiah: Thus says the LORD, the God of your father David: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you: in three days you shall go up to the LORD'S temple; I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; I will be a shield to this city."7 (Isaiah answered:) "This will be the sign for you from the LORD that he will do what he has promised:8 See, I will make the shadow cast by the sun on the stairway to the terrace of Ahaz go back the ten steps it has advanced." So the sun came back the ten steps it had advanced.
9 The song of Hezekiah, king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:10 Once I said, "In the noontime of life I must depart! To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned for the rest of my years." 11 I said, "I shall see the LORD no more in the land of the living. No longer shall I behold my fellow men among those who dwell in the world." 12 My dwelling, like a shepherd's tent, is struck down and borne away from me; You have folded up my life, like a weaver who severs the last thread. Day and night you give me over to torment; 13 I cry out until the dawn. Like a lion he breaks all my bones; (day and night you give me over to torment).14 Like a swallow I utter shrill cries; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak, gazing heavenward: O Lord, I am in straits; be my surety!15 What am I to say or tell him? He has done it! I shall go on through all my years despite the bitterness of my soul. 16 Those live whom the LORD protects; yours... the life of my spirit. You have given me health and life; 17 thus is my bitterness transformed into peace. You have preserved my life from the pit of destruction, When you cast behind your back all my sins. 18 For it is not the nether world that gives you thanks, nor death that praises you; Neither do those who go down into the pit await your kindness. 19 The living, the living give you thanks, as I do today. Fathers declare to their sons, O God, your faithfulness.20 The LORD is our savior; we shall sing to stringed instruments In the house of the LORD all the days of our life. 21 Isaiah then ordered a poultice of figs to be taken and applied to the boil, that he might recover.22 Then Hezekiah asked, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the temple of the LORD?"
39 1 At that time when Merodach-baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, heard that Hezekiah had recovered from his sickness, he sent letters and gifts to him. 2 Hezekiah was pleased at this, and therefore showed the messengers his treasury, the silver and gold, the spices and fine oil, his whole armory, and everything that was in his storerooms; there was nothing in his house or in his whole realm that he did not show them.3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did these men say to you? Where did they come from?" Hezekiah answered, "They came to me from a distant land, from Babylon."4 "What did they see in your house?" he asked. Hezekiah replied, "They saw everything in my house; there is nothing in my storerooms that I did not show them."5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:6 Behold, the days shall come when all that is in your house, and everything that your fathers have stored up until this day, shall be carried off to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the LORD. 7 Some of your own bodily descendants shall be taken and made servants in the palace of the king of Babylon."8 Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is favorable." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my lifetime."
40 1 Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! 4 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley.5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
6 A voice says, "Cry out!" I answer, "What shall I cry out?" "All mankind is grass, and all their glory like the flower of the field.7 The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it. (So then, the people is the grass.)8 Though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the word of our God stands forever."
9 Go up onto a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; Cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!10 Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.11 Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, Carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.
12 Who has cupped in his hand the waters of the sea, and marked off the heavens with a span? Who has held in a measure the dust of the earth, weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the spirit of the LORD, or has instructed him as his counselor?14 Whom did he consult to gain knowledge? Who taught him the path of judgment, or showed him the way of understanding?15 Behold, the nations count as a drop in the bucket, as dust on the scales; the coastlands weigh no more than powder.16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor its animals be enough for holocausts. 17 Before him all the nations are as nought, as nothing and void he accounts them.
18 To whom can you liken God? With what equal can you confront him?19 An idol, cast by a craftsman, which the smith plates with gold and fits with silver chains?20 Mulberry wood, the choice portion which a skilled craftsman picks out for himself, Choosing timber that will not rot, to set up an idol that will not be unsteady?
21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Was it not foretold you from the beginning? Have you not understood? Since the earth was founded22 He sits enthroned above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; He stretches out the heavens like a veil, spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.23 He brings princes to nought and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.24 Scarcely are they planted or sown, scarcely is their stem rooted in the earth, When he breathes upon them and they wither, and the stormwind carries them away like straw.25 To whom can you liken me as an equal? says the Holy One.26 Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these: He leads out their army and numbers them, calling them all by name. By his great might and the strength of his power not one of them is missing!
27 Why, O Jacob, do you say, and declare, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"? 28 Do you not know or have you not heard? The LORD is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny.29 He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound.30 Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall,31 They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.
41 1 Keep silence before me, O coastlands; you peoples, wait for my words! Let them draw near and speak; let us come together for judgment. 2 Who has stirred up from the East the champion of justice, and summoned him to be his attendant? To him he delivers the nations and subdues the kings; With his sword he reduces them to dust, with his bow, to driven straw. 3 He pursues them, passing on without loss, by a path his feet do not even tread.4 Who has performed these deeds? He who has called forth the generations since the beginning. I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last I will also be.5 The coastlands see, and fear; the ends of the earth tremble: these things are near, they come to pass.6 One man helps another, one says to the other, "Keep on!" 7 The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, the one who beats with the hammer, him who strikes on the anvil; He says the soldering is good, and he fastens it with nails to steady it.
8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham my friend-- 9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and summoned from its far-off places, You whom I have called my servant, whom I have chosen and will not cast off-- 10 Fear not, I am with you; be not dismayed; I am your God. I will strengthen you, and help you, and uphold you with my right hand of justice.11 Yes, all shall be put to shame and disgrace who vent their anger against you; Those shall perish and come to nought who offer resistance.12 You shall seek out, but shall not find, those who strive against you; They shall be as nothing at all who do battle with you.13 For I am the LORD, your God, who grasp your right hand; It is I who say to you, "Fear not, I will help you."14 Fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel; I will help you, says the LORD; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 15 I will make of you a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and double-edged, To thresh the mountains and crush them, to make the hills like chaff.16 When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off and the storm shall scatter them. But you shall rejoice in the LORD, and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain, their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.18 I will open up rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the broad valleys; I will turn the desert into a marshland, and the dry ground into springs of water.19 I will plant in the desert the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive; I will set in the wasteland the cypress, together with the plane tree and the pine,20 That all may see and know, observe and understand, That the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 Present your case, says the LORD; bring forward your reasons, says the King of Jacob. 22 Let them come near and foretell to us what it is that shall happen! What are the things of long ago? Tell us, that we may reflect on them And know their outcome; or declare to us the things to come!23 Foretell the things that shall come afterward, that we may know that you are gods! Do something, good or evil, that will put us in awe and in fear.24 Why, you are nothing and your work is nought! To choose you is an abomination.
25 I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes; from the east I summon him by name; He shall trample the rulers down like red earth, as the potter treads the clay. 26 Who announced this from the beginning, that we might know; beforehand, that we might say it is true? Not one of you foretold it, not one spoke; no one heard you say,27 "The first news for Zion: they are coming now," or, "For Jerusalem I will pick out a bearer of the glad tidings."28 When I look, there is not one, no one of them to give counsel, to make an answer when I question them.29 Ah, all of them are nothing, their works are nought, their idols are empty wind!
42 1 Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, 2 Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street.3 A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, 4 Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching. 5 Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops, Who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it:6 I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations,7 To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.8 I am the LORD, this is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols.9 See, the earlier things have come to pass, new ones I now foretell; Before they spring into being, I announce them to you.
10 Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth: Let the sea and what fills it resound, the coastlands, and those who dwell in them.11 Let the steppe and its cities cry out, the villages where Kedar dwells; Let the inhabitants of Sela exult, and shout from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to the LORD, and utter his praise in the coastlands.13 The LORD goes forth like a hero, like a warrior he stirs up his ardor; He shouts out his battle cry, against his enemies he shows his might:14 I have looked away, and kept silence, I have said nothing, holding myself in; But now, I cry out as a woman in labor, gasping and panting.15 I will lay waste mountains and hills, all their herbage I will dry up; I will turn the rivers into marshes, and the marshes I will dry up.16 I will lead the blind on their journey; by paths unknown I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight. These things I do for them, and I will not forsake them.17 They shall be turned back in utter shame who trust in idols; Who say to molten images, "You are our gods."
18 You who are deaf, listen, you who are blind, look and see! 19 Who is blind but my servant, or deaf like the messenger I send?20 You see many things without taking note; your ears are open, but without hearing.
21 Though it pleased the LORD in his justice to make his law great and glorious,22 This is a people despoiled and plundered, all of them trapped in holes, hidden away in prisons. They are taken as booty, with no one to rescue them, as spoil, with no one to demand their return. 23 Who of you gives ear to this? Who listens and pays heed for the time to come?24 Who was it that gave Jacob to be plundered, Israel to the despoilers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? In his ways they refused to walk, his law they disobeyed. 25 So he poured out wrath upon them, his anger, and the fury of battle; It blazed round about them, yet they did not realize, it burned them, but they took it not to heart.
43 1 But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine.2 When you pass through the water, I will be with you; in the rivers you shall not drown. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned; the flames shall not consume you.3 For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in return for you. 4 Because you are precious in my eyes and glorious, and because I love you, I give men in return for you and peoples in exchange for your life.5 Fear not, for I am with you; from the east I will bring back your descendants, from the west I will gather you.6 I will say to the north: Give them up! and to the south: Hold not back! Bring back my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth:7 Everyone who is named as mine, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.8 Lead out the people who are blind though they have eyes, who are deaf though they have ears.9 Let all the nations gather together, let the peoples assemble! Who among them could have revealed this, or foretold to us the earlier things? Let them produce witnesses to prove themselves right, that one may hear and say, "It is true!" 10 You are my witnesses, says the LORD, my servants whom I have chosen To know and believe in me and understand that it is I. Before me no god was formed, and after me there shall be none.11 It is I, I the LORD; there is no savior but me.12 It is I who foretold, I who saved; I made it known, not any strange god among you; You are my witnesses, says the LORD. I am God,13 yes, from eternity I am He; There is none who can deliver from my hand: who can countermand what I do?
14 Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sakes I send to Babylon; I will lower all the bars, and the Chaldeans shall cry out in lamentation. 15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.
16 Thus says the LORD, who opens a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters,17 Who leads out chariots and horsemen, a powerful army, Till they lie prostrate together, never to rise, snuffed out and quenched like a wick.18 Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; 19 See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.20 Wild beasts honor me, jackals and ostriches, For I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink,21 The people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise.
22 Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob, for you grew weary of me, O Israel. 23 You did not bring me sheep for your holocausts, nor honor me with your sacrifices. I did not exact from you the service of offerings, nor weary you for frankincense.24 You did not buy me sweet cane for money, nor fill me with the fat of your sacrifices; Instead, you burdened me with your sins, and wearied me with your crimes. 25 It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses; your sins I remember no more.26 Would you have me remember, have us come to trial? Speak up, prove your innocence!27 Your first father sinned; your spokesmen rebelled against me 28 Till I repudiated the holy gates, put Jacob under the ban, and exposed Israel to scorn.
44 1 Hear then, O Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen.2 Thus says the LORD who made you, your help, who formed you from the womb: Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, the darling whom I have chosen. 3 I will pour out water upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon the dry land; I will pour out my spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing upon your descendants.4 They shall spring up amid the verdure like poplars beside the flowing waters.5 One shall say, "I am the LORD'S," another shall be named after Jacob, And this one shall write on his hand, "The LORD'S," and Israel shall be his surname.
6 Thus says the LORD, Israel's King and redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; there is no God but me.7 Who is like me? Let him stand up and speak, make it evident, and confront me with it. Who of old announced future events? Let them foretell to us the things to come.8 Fear not, be not troubled: did I not announce and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there a God or any Rock besides me?
9 Idol makers all amount to nothing, and their precious works are of no avail, as they themselves give witness. To their shame, they neither see nor know anything; and they are more deaf than men are. 10 Indeed, all the associates of anyone who forms a god, or casts an idol to no purpose, will be put to shame;11 they will all assemble and stand forth, to be reduced to fear and shame.12 The smith fashions an iron image, works it over the coals, shapes it with hammers, and forges it with his strong arm. He is hungry and weak, drinks no water and becomes exhausted.13 The carpenter stretches a line and marks with a stylus the outline of an idol. He shapes it with a plane and measures it off with a compass, making it like a man in appearance and dignity, to occupy a shrine.14 He cuts down cedars, takes a holm or an oak, and lays hold of other trees of the forest, which the Lord had planted and the rain made grow15 to serve man for fuel. With a part of their wood he warms himself, or makes a fire for baking bread; but with another part he makes a god which he adores, an idol which he worships.16 Half of it he burns in the fire, and on its embers he roasts his meat; he eats what he has roasted until he is full, and then warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm, I feel the fire."17 Of what remains he makes a god, his idol, and prostrate before it in worship, he implores it, "Rescue me, for you are my god."18 The idols have neither knowledge nor reason; their eyes are coated so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand.19 Yet he does not reflect, nor have the intelligence and sense to say, "Half of the wood I burned in the fire, and on its embers I baked bread and roasted meat which I ate. Shall I then make an abomination out of the rest, or worship a block of wood?"20 He is chasing ashes-a thing that cannot save itself when the flame consumes it; yet he does not say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?"
21 Remember this, O Jacob, you, O Israel, who are my servant! I formed you to be a servant to me; O Israel, by me you shall never be forgotten:22 I have brushed away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like a mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.
23 Raise a glad cry, you heavens: the LORD has done this; shout, you depths of the earth. Break forth, you mountains, into song, you forest, with all your trees. For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and shows his glory through Israel.
24 Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, who formed you from the womb: I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens; when I spread out the earth, who was with me?25 It is I who bring to nought the omens of liars, who make fools of diviners; I turn wise men back and make their knowledge foolish.26 It is I who confirm the words of my servants, I carry out the plan announced by my messengers; I say to Jerusalem: Be inhabited; to the cities of Judah: Be rebuilt; I will raise up their ruins.27 It is I who said to the deep: Be dry; I will dry up your wellsprings.28 I say of Cyrus: My shepherd, who fulfills my every wish; He shall say of Jerusalem, "Let her be rebuilt," and of the temple, "Let its foundations be laid."
45 1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus, whose right hand I grasp, Subduing nations before him, and making kings run in his service, Opening doors before him and leaving the gates unbarred: 2 I will go before you and level the mountains; Bronze doors I will shatter, and iron bars I will snap. 3 I will give you treasures out of the darkness, and riches that have been hidden away, That you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.4 For the sake of Jacob, my servant, of Israel my chosen one, I have called you by your name, giving you a title, though you knew me not.5 I am the LORD and there is no other, there is no God besides me. It is I who arm you, though you know me not,6 so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun men may know that there is none besides me. I am the LORD, there is no other; 7 I form the light, and create the darkness, I make well-being and create woe; I, the LORD, do all these things. 8 Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let justice also spring up! I, the LORD, have created this. 9 Woe to him who contends with his Maker; a potsherd among potsherds of the earth! Dare the clay say to its modeler, "What are you doing?" or, "What you are making has no hands"? 10 Woe to him who asks a father, "What are you begetting?" or a woman, "What are you giving birth to?"11 Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, his maker: You question me about my children, or prescribe the work of my hands for me!12 It was I who made the earth and created mankind upon it; It was my hands that stretched out the heavens; I gave the order to all their host.13 It was I who stirred up one for the triumph of justice; all his ways I make level. He shall rebuild my city and let my exiles go free Without price or ransom, says the LORD of hosts.
14 Thus says the LORD: The earnings of Egypt, the gain of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, tall of stature, Shall come over to you and belong to you; they shall follow you, coming in chains. Before you they shall fall prostrate, saying in prayer: "With you only is God, and nowhere else; the gods are nought. 15 Truly with you God is hidden, the God of Israel, the savior! 16 Those are put to shame and disgrace who vent their anger against him; Those go in disgrace who carve images.17 Israel, you are saved by the LORD, saved forever! You shall never be put to shame or disgrace in future ages."
18 For thus says the LORD, The creator of the heavens, who is God, The designer and maker of the earth who established it, Not creating it to be a waste, but designing it to be lived in: I am the LORD, and there is no other. 19 I have not spoken from hiding nor from some dark place of the earth, And I have not said to the descendants of Jacob, "Look for me in an empty waste." I, the LORD, promise justice, I foretell what is right.
20 Come and assemble, gather together, you fugitives from among the gentiles! They are without knowledge who bear wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save. 21 Come here and declare in counsel together: Who announced this from the beginning and foretold it from of old? Was it not I, the LORD, besides whom there is no other God? There is no just and saving God but me.22 Turn to me and be safe, all you ends of the earth, for I am God; there is no other!23 By myself I swear, uttering my just decree and my unalterable word: To me every knee shall bend; by me every tongue shall swear,24 Saying, "Only in the LORD are just deeds and power. Before him in shame shall come all who vent their anger against him.25 In the LORD shall be the vindication and the glory of all the descendants of Israel."
46 1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols are upon beasts and cattle; They must be borne up on shoulders, carried as burdens by the weary. 2 They stoop and bow down together; unable to save those who bear them, they too go into captivity.3 Hear me, O house of Jacob, all who remain of the house of Israel, My burden since your birth, whom I have carried from your infancy.4 Even to your old age I am the same, even when your hair is gray I will bear you; It is I who have done this, I who will continue, and I who will carry you to safety.5 Whom would you compare me with, as an equal, or match me against, as though we were alike?6 There are those who pour out gold from a purse and weigh out silver on the scales; Then they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god before which they fall down in worship.7 They lift it to their shoulders to carry; when they set it in place again, it stays, and does not move from the spot. Although they cry out to it, it cannot answer; it delivers no one from distress.8 Remember this and be firm, bear it well in mind, you rebels; remember the former things, those long ago:9 I am God, there is no other; I am God, there is none like me.10 At the beginning I foretell the outcome; in advance, things not yet done. I say that my plan shall stand, I accomplish my every purpose.11 I call from the east a bird of prey, from a distant land, one to carry out my plan. Yes, I have spoken, I will accomplish it; I have planned it, and I will do it. 12 Listen to me, you fainthearted, you who seem far from the victory of justice:13 I am bringing on my justice, it is not far off, my salvation shall not tarry; I will put salvation within Zion, and give to Israel my glory.
47 1 Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter Babylon; Sit on the ground, dethroned, O daughter of the Chaldeans. No longer shall you be called dainty and delicate. 2 Take the millstone and grind flour, remove your veil; Strip off your train, bare your legs, pass through the streams.3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered and your shame be seen; I will take vengeance, I will yield to no entreaty, says our redeemer,4 Whose name is the LORD of hosts, the Holy One of Israel.5 Go into darkness and sit in silence, O daughter of the Chaldeans, No longer shall you be called sovereign mistress of kingdoms.6 Angry at my people, I profaned my inheritance, And I gave them into your hand; but you showed them no mercy, And upon old men you laid a very heavy yoke.7 You said, "I shall remain always, a sovereign mistress forever!" But you did not lay these things to heart, you disregarded their outcome.8 Now hear this, voluptuous one, enthroned securely, Saying to yourself, "I, and no one else! I shall never be a widow, or suffer the loss of my children"-- 9 Both these things shall come to you suddenly, in a single day: Complete bereavement and widowhood shall come upon you For your many sorceries and the great number of your spells; 10 Because you felt secure in your wickedness, and said, "No one sees me." Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, And you said to yourself, "I, and no one else!"11 But upon you shall come evil you will not know how to predict; Disaster shall befall you which you cannot allay. Suddenly there shall come upon you ruin which you will not expect.12 Keep up, now, your spells and your many sorceries. Perhaps you can make them avail, perhaps you can strike terror!13 You wearied yourself with many consultations, at which you toiled from your youth; Let the astrologers stand forth to save you, the stargazers who forecast at each new moon what would happen to you.14 Lo, they are like stubble, fire consumes them; They cannot save themselves from the spreading flames. This is no warming ember, no fire to sit before.15 Thus do your wizards serve you with whom you have toiled from your youth; Each wanders his own way, with none to save you.
48 1 Hear this, O house of Jacob called by the name Israel, sprung from the stock of Judah, You who swear by the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel without sincerity or justice,2 Though you are named after the holy city and rely on the God of Israel, whose name is the LORD of hosts.3 Things of the past I foretold long ago, they went forth from my mouth, I let you hear of them; then suddenly I took action and they came to be.4 Because I know that you are stubborn and that your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead bronze,5 I foretold them to you of old; before they took place I let you hear of them, That you might not say, "My idol did them, my statue, my molten image commanded them."6 Now that you have heard, look at all this; must you not admit it? From now on I announce new things to you, hidden events of which you knew not.7 Now, not long ago, they are brought into being, and beforetime you did not hear of them, so that you cannot claim to have known them;8 You neither heard nor knew, they did not reach your ears beforehand. Yes, I know you are utterly treacherous, a rebel you were called from birth.9 For the sake of my name I restrain my anger, for the sake of my renown I hold it back from you, lest I should destroy you.10 See, I have refined you like silver, tested you in the furnace of affliction.11 For my sake, for my own sake, I do this; why should I suffer profanation? My glory I will not give to another.
12 Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I named! I, it is I who am the first, a nd also the last am I.13 Yes, my hand laid the foundations of the earth; my right hand spread out the heavens. When I call them, they stand forth at once.14 All of you assemble and listen: Who among you foretold these things? The LORD'S friend shall do his will against Babylon and the progeny of Chaldea. 15 I myself have spoken, I have called him, I have brought him, and his way succeeds!16 Come near to me and hear this! Not from the beginning did I speak it in secret; At the time it comes to pass, I am present: "Now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his spirit."
17 Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I, the LORD, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go.18 If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea;19 Your descendants would be like the sand, and those born of your stock like its grains, Their name never cut off or blotted out from my presence.
20 Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chaldea! With shouts of joy proclaim this, make it known; Publish it to the ends of the earth, and say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.21 They did not thirst when he led them through dry lands; Water from the rock he set flowing for them; he cleft the rock, and waters welled forth."22 (There is no peace for the wicked, says the LORD.)
Isaïe (NAB) 38