1. Bel is bowed down, Nebo stooping; their images are (consigned) to the beasts and to the cattle. Your burdens are packed up (as) a load to the weary (beast). 2. They stoop, they bow together; they cannot save the load; themselves are gone into captivity.
3. Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, those borne from the belly, those carried from the womb. 4. And to old age I am He, and to grey hair I will bear (you); I have done it, and I will carry and I will bear and save (you).
5. To whom will ye liken Me, and equal and compare Me, that we may be like? 6. The prodigals will weigh gold from the bag, and silver with the rod; they will hire a gilder, and he will make it a god: they will bow down, yea, they will fall prostrate. 7. They will lift him on the shoulder, they will carry him, they will set him in his place, and he will stand (there); from his place he will not move; yea, one will cry to him, and he will not answer, from his distress he will not save him.
8. Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it home, ye apostates, (to) your mind. 9. Remember former things of old, for I am the Mighty, and there is no other God, and there is none like Me, 10. declaring from the first the last, and from ancient time the things which are not (yet) done, saying, My counsel shall stand and all My pleasure I will do. 11. Calling from the east a bird of prey, from a land of distance the man of His counsel; I have both said and will also bring it to pass, I have formed (the plan) and will also do it.
12. Hearken to Me, ye stout of heart, those far from righteousness. 13. I have brought near My righteousness, it shall not be far off; and My salvation, it shall not tarry; and I will place in Zion My salvation, to Israel My glory.
XLVII.—[Having exemplified his general doctrine, as to God’s ability and purpose to do justice both to friends and foes, by exhibiting the downfall of the Babylonian idols, Isaiah now attains the same end by predicting the downfall of Babylon itself, and of the state to which it gave its name. Under the figure of a royal virgin, she is threatened with extreme degradation and exposure, vers 1–3. Connecting this event with Israel and Israel’s God, as the great themes which it was intended to illustrate, he predicts the fall of the empire more distinctly, ver. 5, and assigns as a reason the oppression of God’s people, ver. 6, pride and self-confidence, ver. 7–9, especially reliance upon human wisdom and upon superstitious arts, all which would prove entirely insufficient to prevent the great catastrophe, vers. 10–15.]
1. Come down! Sit on the dust, virgin daughter of Babel! There is no throne, daughter of Chasdim! For thou shalt not continue to be called tender and delicate. 2. Take millstones and grind meal! Remove thy veil, lift up thy skirt, uncover the leg, cross streams! 3. Let thy nakedness be uncovered, likewise let thy shame be seen. I will take vengeance; I shall encounter no man.
4. Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts (is) His name, the Holy One of Israel.
5. Sit in silence and go into darkness, daughter of Chasdim! For thou shalt not continue to be called mistress of kingdoms. 6. I was wroth against My people; I profaned My heritage; and I gave them into thy hand. Thou didst not show them mercy; on the ancient thou didst aggravate thy yoke exceedingly; 7. and thou saidst, For ever I shall be a mistress (of kingdoms); until (at last) thou didst not lay these things to heart, thou didst not remember the end of it. 8. And now, hear this, thou voluptuous one, the (one) sitting in security, the (one) saying in her heart, I (am) and none besides; I shall not sit (as) a widow, and I shall not know the loss of children; 9. and they shall come to thee,—these two suddenly, loss of children and widowhood in the midst of the multitude of thy enchantments, in the midst of the multitude of thy spells. 10. And (yet) thou art secure in thy wickedness; thou hast said, there is no one seeing me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it has seduced thee; and thou hast said in thy heart, I am, and there is no other. 11. And so there cometh upon thee evil,—thou shalt not know how to charm it away; and there shall fall upon thee ruin,—thou shalt not be able to avert it; and there shall come upon thee suddenly a crash,—thou shalt not know (it). 12. Persist now in thy spells and in the abundance of thy charms, in which thou hast wearied thyself; perhaps thou wilt be able to succeed, perhaps thou wilt grow strong. 13. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsel. Now let them stand and save thee, the dividers of the heavens, the star-gazers, making known at the new-moon what shall come upon thee. 14. Behold, they are like stubble, fire has burned them; they cannot deliver themselves from the hand of the flame; (this fire) is not a coal (at which) to warm one’s self; a fire to sit before. 15. Thus are they to thee; and so are (even) thy traders: each to his own quarter, straight before him, they wander; there is no one saving thee.
XLVIII.—[Although Israel is God’s chosen and peculiar people, he is in himself unworthy of the honour and unfaithful to the trust, vers. 1, 2. Former predictions had been uttered expressly to prevent his ascribing the event to other gods, vers. 3–5. For the same reason new predictions will be uttered now, of events which have never been distinctly foretold, vers. 6–8. God’s continued favour to His people has no reference to merit upon their part, but is the fruit of His own sovereign mercy, and intended to promote His own designs, vers. 9–11. He again asserts His own exclusive deity, as proved by the creation of the world, by the prediction of events still future, and especially by the raising up of Cyrus, as a promised instrument to execute His purpose, vers 12–16. The sufferings of Israel are a fruit of his own sin, but his prosperity and glory, of God’s sovereign grace, vers. 17–19. The book closes as it opened, with a promise of deliverance from exile, accompanied in this case by a solemn limitation of the promise to its proper objects, vers. 20–22.]