Chapter 46

¹ Bel has fallen, Nabo is broken to pieces, their graven images are gone to the wild beasts and the cattle: ye take them packed up as a burden to the weary, exhausted, hungry, and at the same time helpless man; ² who will not be able to save themselves from war, but they themselves are led away captive.

³ Hear me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of Israel, who are borne by me from the womb, and taught by me from infancy, even to old age: ⁴ I am he; and until ye shall have grown old, I am he: I bear you, I have made, and I will ¹relieve, I will take up and save you.

⁵ To whom have ye compared me? see, consider, ye that go astray. ⁶ They that furnish gold out of a purse, and silver by weight, will weigh it in a scale, and they hire a goldsmith and make ²idols, and bow down, and worship them. ⁷ They bear it upon the shoulder, and go; and if they put it upon its place, it remains, it cannot move: and whosoever shall cry to it, it cannot hear; it cannot save him from trouble.

⁸ Remember ye these things, and groan: repent, ye that have gone astray, return in your heart; ⁹ and remember the former things that were of old: for I am God, and there is none other beside me, ¹⁰ telling beforehand the latter events before they come to pass, and they are accomplished together: and I said, all my counsel shall stand, and I will do all things that I have planned: ¹¹ calling a bird from the east, and from a land afar off, for the things which I have planned: I have spoken, and brought him; I have created and made him; I have brought him, and prospered his way.

¹² Hearken to me, ye senseless ones, that are far from righteousness: ¹³ I have brought near my righteousness, and I will not be slow with the salvation that is from me: I have given salvation in Sion to Israel for glory.

Chapter 47

¹ Come down, sit on the ground, O virgin daughter of Babylon: sit on the ground, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and luxurious. ² Take a millstone, grind meal: remove thy veil, uncover thy white hairs, make bare the leg, pass through the rivers.

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³ Thy shame shall be uncovered, thy reproaches shall be brought to light: I will exact of thee due vengeance, I will no longer deliver thee to men.

⁴ Thy deliverer is the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel is his name.

⁵ Sit thou down pierced with woe, go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: thou shalt no more be called the strength of a kingdom. ⁶ I have been provoked with my people; thou hast defiled mine inheritance: I gave them into thy hand, but thou didst not extend mercy to them: thou madest the yoke of the aged man very heavy, ⁷ and saidst, I shall be a princess for ever: thou didst not perceive these things in thine heart, nor didst thou remember the latter end.

⁸ But now hear these words, thou luxurious one, who art the one that sits at ease, that is secure, that says in her heart, I am, and there is not another; I shall not sit a widow, neither shall I know bereavement. ⁹ But now these two things shall come upon thee suddenly in one day, the loss of children and widowhood shall come suddenly upon thee, for thy sorcery, for the strength of thine enchantments, ¹⁰ for ³thy trusting in wickedness: for thou saidst, I am, and there is not another: know thou, the understanding of these things and thy harlotry shall be thy shame; for thou saidst in thy heart, I am, and there is not another.

¹¹ And destruction shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not be aware; there shall be a pit, and thou shalt fall into it: and grief shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not be able to be ⁴clear; and destruction shall come suddenly upon thee, and thou shalt not know. ¹² Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the abundance of thy sorcery, which thou hast learned from thy youth; if thou canst be profited. ¹³ Thou art wearied in thy counsels. Let now the astrologers of the heaven stand and deliver thee, let them that see the stars tell thee what is about to come upon thee. ¹⁴ Behold, they all shall be burnt up as sticks in the fire; neither shall they at all deliver their life from the flame. Because thou hast coals of fire, sit thou upon them; ¹⁵ these shall be thy help. Thou hast wearied thyself with traffic from thy youth: every man has wandered to his own home, but thou shalt have no deliverance.