47  ^eCome down and sit in the dust,

O virgin ^fdaughter of Babylon;

^gsit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of ^hthe Chaldeans!

ⁱFor you shall no more be called

tender and delicate.

2  Take the millstones and ^jgrind flour,

^kput off your veil,

strip off your robe, uncover your legs,

pass through the rivers.

3  Your nakedness shall be uncovered,

and your disgrace shall be seen.

I will take vengeance,

and I will spare no one.

4  ^lOur Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—

is the Holy One of Israel.

5  ^mSit in silence, and go into darkness,

O daughter of ^hthe Chaldeans;

for you shall no more be called

ⁿthe mistress of kingdoms.

6  ^oI was angry with my people;

I profaned my heritage;

I gave them into your hand;

^pyou showed them no mercy;

on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.

7  You said, “I shall be ^qmistress forever,”

so that you did not lay these things to heart

or remember their end.

8  Now therefore hear this, ^qyou lover of pleasures,

^rwho sit securely,

who say in your heart,

^s“I am, and there is no one besides me;

^tI shall not sit as a widow

or know the loss of children”:

9  ^uThese two things shall come to you

in a moment, ^vin one day;

the loss of children and widowhood

shall come upon you in full measure,

^win spite of your many sorceries

and the great power of your enchantments.

10  You felt secure in your wickedness;

you said, “No one sees me”;

your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,

and you said in your heart,

^x“I am, and there is no one besides me.”

11  But evil shall come upon you,

which you will not know how to charm away;

disaster shall fall upon you,

for which you will not be able to atone;

^yand ruin shall come upon you suddenly,

of which you know nothing.

12  ^zStand fast in your enchantments

and your many sorceries,

with which you have labored from your youth;

perhaps you may be able to succeed;

perhaps you may inspire terror.

13  You are wearied with your many counsels;

let them stand forth and save you,

^athose who divide the heavens,

who gaze at the stars,

who at the new moons make known

what shall come upon you.

14  Behold, ^bthey are like stubble;

^cthe fire consumes them;

they cannot deliver themselves

from the power of the flame.

No coal for warming oneself is this,

no fire to sit before!

15  Such to you are those with whom you have labored,

who have done business with you from your youth;

they wander about, each in his own direction;

there is no one to save you.

48  Hear this, O house of Jacob,

^dwho are called by the name of Israel,

and ^ewho came from the waters of Judah,

^fwho swear by the name of the Lord

and confess the God of Israel,

but not in truth or right.

2  For they call themselves after the holy city,

^gand stay themselves on the God of Israel;

the Lord of hosts is his name.

3  “The former things ^hI declared of old;

they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;

then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.

4  Because I know that ⁱyou are obstinate,

and your neck is an iron sinew

and your forehead brass,

5  ^hI declared them to you from of old,

before they came to pass I announced them to you,

lest you should say, ^j‘My idol did them,

my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’

6  “You have heard; now see all this;

and will you not declare it?

From this time forth ^kI announce to you new things,

hidden things that you have not known.

7  They are created now, not long ago;

before today you have never heard of them,

lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’

8  You have never heard, you have never known,

from of old your ear has not been opened.

For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,

and that ^lfrom before birth you were called a rebel.

9  ^m“For my name’s sake I defer my anger;

for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,

that I may not cut you off.

10  Behold, I have refined you, ⁿbut not as silver;

^oI have tried¹ you in the furnace of affliction.

11  ^pFor my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

for how should my name² be profaned?

^qMy glory I will not give to another.

12  “Listen to me, O Jacob,

and Israel, whom I called!

I am he; ^rI am the first,

and I am the last.

13  My hand ^slaid the foundation of the earth,

and my right hand ^sspread out the heavens;

^twhen I call to them,

they stand forth together.

14  “Assemble, all of you, and listen!

^uWho among them has declared these things?

The Lord loves him;

^vhe shall perform his purpose on Babylon,

and his arm shall be against ^wthe Chaldeans.

15  ^xI, even I, have spoken and called him;

I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.

16  ^yDraw near to me, hear this:

from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,

from the time it came to be I have been there.”

And now ^zthe Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

17  Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you to profit,

who leads you in the way you should go.

18  ^aOh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

^bThen your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;

19  ^cyour offspring would have been like the sand,

and your descendants like its grains;

their name would never be cut off

or destroyed from before me.”

20  ^dGo out from Babylon, flee from ^eChaldea,

declare this ^fwith a shout of joy, proclaim it,

send it out to the end of the earth;

say, ^g“The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

21  ^hThey did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;

ⁱhe made water flow for them from the rock;

he split the rock and the water gushed out.

22  ^j“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

49  Listen to me, ^kO coastlands,

and give attention, you peoples ^lfrom afar.

^mThe Lord called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name.

2  ⁿHe made my mouth like a sharp sword;

^oin the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow;

in his quiver he hid me away.

3  And he said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, ^pin whom I will be glorified.”¹

4  ^qBut I said, “I have labored in vain;

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my right is with the Lord,

and my recompense with my God.”

5  ^rAnd now the Lord says,

he ^mwho formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him;

and that Israel might be gathered to him—

for ^sI am honored in the eyes of the Lord,

and my God has become my strength—

6  he says:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

^tI will make you ^uas a light for the nations,

that ^vmy salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

7  Thus says the Lord,

^wthe Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

^xto one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,

the servant of rulers:

^y“Kings shall see and arise;

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

8  Thus says the Lord:

^z“In a ^atime of favor I have answered you;

in a day of salvation I have helped you;

I will keep you ^band give you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

^cto apportion the desolate heritages,

9  ^dsaying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’

to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

^eThey shall feed along the ways;

on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

10  ^fthey shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,

for he who has pity on them ^gwill lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them.

11  ^hAnd I will make all my mountains a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.

12  ⁱBehold, these shall come from afar,

and behold, ^jthese from the north and from the west,²

and these from the land of Syene.”³

13  ^kSing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord ^lhas comforted his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted.

14  But Zion said, ^m“The Lord has forsaken me;

my Lord has forgotten me.”

15  ⁿ“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

16  Behold, ^oI have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me.

17  Your builders make haste;⁴

^pyour destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.

18  ^qLift up your eyes around and see;

they all gather, they come to you.

^rAs I live, declares the Lord,

^syou shall put them all on as an ornament;

you shall bind them on as a bride does.

19  “Surely your waste and your desolate places

and your devastated land—

^tsurely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

20  ^uThe children of your bereavement

will yet say in your ears:

^t‘The place is too narrow for me;

make room for me to dwell in.’

21  Then you will say in your heart:

‘Who has borne me these?

^uI was bereaved and barren,

exiled and put away,

but who has brought up these?

Behold, I was left alone;

from where have these come?’”

22  Thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,

^vand raise my signal to the peoples;

^wand they shall bring your sons in their arms,⁵

and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

23  ^xKings shall be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers.

^yWith their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,

and ^zlick the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the Lord;

^athose who wait for me ^bshall not be put to shame.”

24  Can the prey be taken from the mighty,

or the captives of a tyrant⁶ be rescued?

25  For thus says the Lord:

^c“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,

and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,

for I will contend with those who contend with you,

and I will save your children.

26  ^dI will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,

and they shall be drunk ^ewith their own blood as with wine.

Then all flesh shall know

that ^fI am the Lord your Savior,

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

50  Thus says the Lord:

“Where is ^gyour mother’s certificate of divorce,

with which ^hI sent her away?

Or ⁱwhich of my creditors is it

to whom I have sold you?

^jBehold, for your iniquities you were sold,

and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

2  ^kWhy, when I came, was there no man;

why, when I called, was there no one to answer?

^lIs my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?

Or have I no power to deliver?

^mBehold, by my rebuke ⁿI dry up the sea,

^oI make the rivers a desert;

^ptheir fish stink for lack of water

and die of thirst.

3  ^qI clothe the heavens with blackness

and make sackcloth their covering.”

4  The Lord God has given ^rme

the tongue of those who are taught,

that ^sI may know how to sustain with a word

^thim who is weary.

Morning by morning he awakens;

he awakens my ear

to hear as those who are taught.

5  ^uThe Lord God has opened my ear,

^vand I was not rebellious;

I turned not backward.

6  ^wI gave my back to those who strike,

and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;

I hid not my face

from disgrace and spitting.

7  But the Lord God helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

^xtherefore I have set my face like a flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

8  ^yHe who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who is my adversary?

Let him come near to me.

9  ^zBehold, the Lord God helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;

the moth will eat them up.

10  Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys ^athe voice of his servant?

^bLet him who walks in darkness

and has no light

trust in the name of the Lord

and rely on his God.

11  Behold, all you who kindle a fire,

who equip yourselves with burning torches!

Walk by the light of your fire,

and by the torches that you have kindled!

^cThis you have from my hand:

you shall lie down in torment.

51  ^d“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,

you who seek the Lord:

look to the rock from which you were hewn,

and to the quarry from which you were dug.

2  Look to Abraham your father

and to Sarah who bore you;

for ^ehe was but one when I called him,

that I might bless him and multiply him.

3  For the Lord ^fcomforts Zion;

he comforts all her waste places

and makes her wilderness like ^gEden,

her desert like ^hthe garden of the Lord;

ⁱjoy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.

4  ^j“Give attention to me, my people,

and give ear to me, my nation;

^kfor a law¹ will go out from me,

and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.

5  ^lMy righteousness draws near,

my salvation has gone out,

and my arms will judge the peoples;

^mthe coastlands hope for me,

and for my arm they wait.

6  ⁿLift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

^ofor the heavens vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;²

^pbut my salvation will be forever,

and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

7  ^q“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

the people ^rin whose heart is my law;

^sfear not the reproach of man,

nor be dismayed at their revilings.

8  ^tFor the moth will eat them up like a garment,

and the worm will eat them like wool,

^pbut my righteousness will be forever,

and my salvation to all generations.”

9  ^uAwake, awake, ^vput on strength,

O ^warm of the Lord;

awake, ^xas in days of old,

the generations of long ago.

Was it not you who cut ^yRahab in pieces,

who pierced ^zthe dragon?

10  ^aWas it not you who dried up the sea,

the waters of the great deep,

who made the depths of the sea a way

for the redeemed to pass over?

11  ^bAnd the ransomed of the Lord shall return

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain gladness and joy,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12  “I, I am he ^cwho comforts you;

who are you that you are afraid of ^dman who dies,

of the son of man who is made ^elike grass,

13  and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,

^fwho stretched out the heavens

and ^glaid the foundations of the earth,

and you fear continually all the day

because of the wrath of ^hthe oppressor,

when he sets himself to destroy?

And where is the wrath of ^hthe oppressor?

14  ⁱHe who is bowed down shall speedily be released;

he shall not die and go down ^jto the pit,

neither shall his bread be lacking.

15  I am the Lord your God,

^kwho stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

the Lord of hosts is his name.

16  ^lAnd I have put my words in your mouth

^mand covered you in the shadow of my hand,

ⁿestablishing³ the heavens

and ^olaying the foundations of the earth,

and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

17  ^pWake yourself, wake yourself,

stand up, O Jerusalem,

^qyou who have drunk from the hand of the Lord

the cup of his wrath,

who have drunk to the dregs

the bowl, ^rthe cup of staggering.

18  ^sThere is none to guide her

among all the sons she has borne;

there is none to take her by the hand

among all the sons she has brought up.

19  ^tThese two things have happened to you—

who will console you?—

devastation and destruction, famine and sword;

who will comfort you?⁴

20  ^uYour sons have fainted;

they lie at the head of every street

like an ^vantelope ^win a net;

they are full of the wrath of the Lord,

the rebuke of your God.

21  ^xTherefore hear this, you who are afflicted,

who are drunk, but not with wine:

22  Thus says your Lord, the Lord,

your God ^ywho pleads the cause of his people:

“Behold, I have taken from your hand ^rthe cup of staggering;

the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;

23  ^zand I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,

^awho have said to you,

‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;

and ^byou have made your back like the ground

and like the street for them to pass over.”