HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1016
IS A IA H 4 9
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“Yes, I will tell you of things that are
entirely new,
things you never heard of before.
For I know so well what traitors you are.
You have been rebels from birth.
Yet for my own sake and for the honor of
my name,
I will hold back my anger and not wipe
you out.
I have refined you, but not as silver is refined.
Rather, I have refined you in the furnace
of suffering.
I will rescue you for my sake—
yes, for my own sake!
I will not let my reputation be tarnished,
and I will not share my glory with idols!
Freedom from Babylon
12 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
Israel my chosen one!
I alone am God,
the First and the Last.
13 It was my hand that laid the foundations
of the earth,
my right hand that spread out the
heavens above.
When I call out the stars,
they all appear in order.”
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Have any of your idols ever told you this?
Come, all of you, and listen:
The Lord has chosen Cyrus as his ally.
He will use him to put an end to the
empire of Babylon
and to destroy the Babylonian* armies.
“I have said it: I am calling Cyrus!
I will send him on this errand and will
help him succeed.
Come closer, and listen to this.
From the beginning I have told you
plainly what would happen.”
And now the Sovereign Lord and his Spirit
have sent me with this message.
This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you what is good for you
and leads you along the paths you should
follow.
Oh, that you had listened to my commands!
Then you would have had peace flowing
like a gentle river
and righteousness rolling over you like
waves in the sea.
Your descendants would have been like the
sands along the seashore—
too many to count!
There would have been no need for your
destruction,
or for cutting off your family name.”
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Yet even now, be free from your captivity!
Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.*
Sing out this message!
Shout it to the ends of the earth!
The Lord has redeemed his servants,
the people of Israel.*
They were not thirsty
when he led them through the desert.
He divided the rock,
and water gushed out for them to
drink.
“But there is no peace for the wicked,”
says the Lord.
The LORD’s Servant Commissioned
1 Listen to me, all you in distant
lands!
Pay attention, you who are far away!
The Lord called me before my birth;
from within the womb he called me
by name.
2 He made my words of judgment as sharp
as a sword.
He has hidden me in the shadow of
his hand.
I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.
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3
He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel,
and you will bring me glory.”
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I replied, “But my work seems so useless!
I have spent my strength for nothing and
to no purpose.
Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;
I will trust God for my reward.”
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And now the Lord speaks—
the one who formed me in my mother’s
womb to be his servant,
who commissioned me to bring Israel
back to him.
The Lord has honored me,
and my God has given me strength.
He says, “You will do more than restore
the people of Israel to me.
I will make you a light to the Gentiles,
and you will bring my salvation to the
ends of the earth.”
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The Lord, the Redeemer
and Holy One of Israel,
says to the one who is despised and rejected
by the nations,
to the one who is the servant of rulers:
“Kings will stand at attention when you
pass by.
Princes will also bow low
because of the Lord, the faithful one,
the Holy One of Israel, who has
chosen you.”
48:14 Or Chaldean. 48:20a Or the Chaldeans.
48:20b Hebrew his servant, Jacob. See note on 14:1.