Isaiah 46:8-47:7

Good News Translation

⁸“Remember this, you sinners;
    consider what I have done.
⁹Remember what happened long ago;
    acknowledge that I alone am God
    and that there is no one else like me.
¹⁰From the beginning I predicted the outcome;
    long ago I foretold what would happen.
I said that my plans would never fail,
    that I would do everything I intended to do.
¹¹I am calling a man to come from the east;^[a]
    he will swoop down like a hawk
    and accomplish what I have planned.
I have spoken, and it will be done.

¹²“Listen to me, you stubborn people
    who think that victory is far away.
¹³I am bringing the day of victory near—
    it is not far away at all.
My triumph will not be delayed.
    I will save Jerusalem
    and bring honor to Israel there.”

Judgment on Babylon

47 ^(A)The Lord says,

“Babylon, come down from your throne,
    and sit in the dust on the ground.
You were once like a virgin, a city unconquered,
    but you are soft and delicate no longer!
You are now a slave!
²Turn the millstone! Grind the flour!
Off with your veil! Strip off your fine clothes!
Lift up your skirts to cross the streams!^[b]
³People will see you naked;
    they will see you humbled and shamed.
I will take vengeance, and no one will stop me.”

⁴The holy God of Israel sets us free—
his name is the Lord Almighty.

⁵The Lord says to Babylon,

“Sit in silence and darkness;
    no more will they call you the queen of nations!
⁶I was angry with my people;
    I treated them as no longer mine:
I put them in your power,
    and you showed them no mercy;
    even the aged you treated harshly.
⁷You thought you would always be a queen,
    and did not take these things to heart
    or think how it all would end.