Fear Not, for I Am with You
1 cListen to me in silence, O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.
2 Who dstirred up one from the east
whom victory meets at every step?1
He egives up nations before him,
so that he tramples kings underfoot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
like driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them and passes on safely,
by paths his feet have not trod.
4 Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord, fthe first,
and with the last; gI am he.
5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
6 Everyone helps his neighbor
and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
8 But you, Israel, hmy servant,
Jacob, whom I have ichosen,
the offspring of Abraham, jmy friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are kmy servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 lfear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
11 Behold, mall who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12 nYou shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13 For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”
14 Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
oyour Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I make of you a pthreshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
16 you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall qglory.
17 When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not rforsake them.
18 I will open srivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19 tI will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert the ucypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20 that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
vthat the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
The Futility of Idols
21 Set forth your case, says the Lord;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them, and wtell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.
23 Tell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
xdo good, or do harm,
that we may be dismayed and terrified.2
24 Behold, you are ynothing,
and your work is less than nothing;
an abomination is he who chooses you.
25 I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
26 Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
27 I was the first to say3 to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
and I give to Jerusalem a herald of zgood news.
28 But when I look, athere is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
29 Behold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their metal images are empty wind.
The Great Prostitute and the Beast
1 Then one of the wseven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the xgreat prostitute ywho is seated on many waters, 2 zwith whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the awine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3 And he bcarried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of cblasphemous names, and it had dseven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed ein purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a fgolden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her gforehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, hdrunk with the iblood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.1
When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 7 But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8 The beast that you saw jwas, and is not, and is about to krise from the bottomless pit2 and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the lbook of life from the foundation of the world will mmarvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. 9 nThis calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. 12 And othe ten horns that you saw are ten pkings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will make war on the qLamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is rLord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
15 And the angel3 said to me, “The waters that you saw, swhere the prostitute is seated, are tpeoples and multitudes and nations and languages. 16 And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, 17 for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman that you saw is uthe great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”
