The Daily Audio Bible

God Will Take Israel Out of Trouble

¹² “Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel whom I called. I am He. I am the first, and I am the last. ¹³ My hand put the earth in its place. And My right hand spread out the heavens. When I call to them, they stand together. ¹⁴ Gather together, all of you, and listen! Who among them has made these things known? The Lord loves him. He will do to Babylon what pleases him, and his arm will be against the Babylonians. ¹⁵ I, even I, have spoken. Yes, I have called him, I have brought him, and he will do well. ¹⁶ Come near to Me and listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret. From the time it came to be, I was there. And now the Lord God has sent me and His Spirit.”

¹⁷ The Lord Who bought you and saves you, the Holy One of Israel, says, “I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to do well, Who leads you in the way you should go. ¹⁸ If only you had listened to My Laws! Then your peace would have been like a river and your right-standing with God would have been like the waves of the sea. ¹⁹ Your children’s children would have been like the sand. Those born to you would have been like the sand. Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before Me.”

²⁰ Go out from Babylon! Run from the Babylonians! Call out for joy and let this be known to the end of the earth, saying, “The Lord has bought and set free His servant Jacob!” ²¹ They were not thirsty when He led them through the deserts. He made water flow out of the rock for them. He broke the rock, and the water flowed out. ²² “There is no peace for the sinful,” says the Lord.

The Servant of the Lord

49 Listen to Me, O islands. Listen, you people from far away. The Lord called Me before I was born. From the body of My mother he said My name. ² He has made My mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden Me in the shadow of His hand. He has made Me a shining arrow, keeping Me in His secret place. ³ And He said to Me, “You are My Servant Israel, in Whom I will show My shining-greatness.” ⁴ But I said, “My work has been for nothing. I have spent My strength for nothing. Yet for sure what should come to Me is with the Lord, and My reward is with My God.”

⁵ And now the Lord speaks, Who made Me before I was born to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, that Israel might be gathered to Him. For I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and My God is My strength. ⁶ He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the family groups of Jacob, and to bring back those of Israel I have kept safe. I will also make You a light to the nations, so that men over all the earth can be saved from the punishment of their sins.” ⁷ This is what the Lord, the One Who saves Israel, and its Holy One, says to the hated One, to the One hated by the nations, to the Servant of rulers: “Kings will see and rise up. Rulers will also bow down, because of the Lord Who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel Who has chosen You.”

Israel as a Nation

⁸ The Lord says, “I have answered You at the right time. I have helped You in a day when people are saved. I will keep You and give You for an agreement to the people, to make the land good again, and to give them their land which had been destroyed. ⁹ I will say to those in prison, ‘Come out,’ and to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will eat along the roads, and find grass on all the hills. ¹⁰ They will not be hungry or thirsty. The burning heat of the sun will not trouble them. For He Who has loving-pity on them will lead them. He will lead them to wells of water. ¹¹ And I will make all My mountains a road. My straight roads will be raised up. ¹² See, these will come from far away. See, these will come from the north and from the west, and from the land of Sinim.” ¹³ Sing for joy, O heavens! Be glad, O earth! Break out into songs of joy, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people. He will have loving-pity on His suffering people.

God Remembers Zion

¹⁴ But Zion said, “The Lord has left me alone. The Lord has forgotten me.” ¹⁵ “Can a woman forget her nursing child? Can she have no pity on the son to whom she gave birth? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. ¹⁶ See, I have marked your names on My hands. Your walls are always before Me. ¹⁷ Your builders hurry. And those who destroy you will leave you. ¹⁸ Lift up your eyes and look around. All of them gather together and come to you. As I live,” says the Lord, “you will put them on like objects of beauty. You will tie them on as a bride does. ¹⁹ For your waste places and your destroyed land will now be too small for the people. And those who destroyed you will be far away. ²⁰ The children born to you during the time of your sorrow will say for you to hear, ‘The place is too small for us. Make a bigger place for us to live in.’ ²¹ Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has given birth to these for me? My children were taken from me, and I could not give birth. I was sent away and had no place of my own. Who has brought up these children? See, I was left alone. Where have these come from?’”

²² The Lord God says, “See, I will lift up My hand to the nations. I will raise My flag to the people. And they will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. ²³ Kings will take care of you as fathers. And their queens will be your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground, and kiss the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Those who wait for Me with hope will not be put to shame. ²⁴ “Can that which was taken by a strong man in battle be taken from him? Can those taken away to prison by a powerful ruler be saved?” ²⁵ The Lord says, “Even those taken away by the strong man will be taken from him. Those taken by the powerful ruler will be saved. For I will fight with the one who fights with you, and I will save your sons. ²⁶ I will feed those who make it hard for you with their own flesh. They will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. Then all flesh will know that I, the Lord, am the One Who saves you, and the One Who bought you, the Powerful One of Jacob.”

Israel’s Hope

50 The Lord says, “Where is the writing of your mother’s divorce, by which I have sent her away? To whom of those who owed Me money did I sell you? See, you were sold for your sins. For your wrong-doing your mother was sent away. ² Why was there no man when I came? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is My hand so short that it cannot pay for your life? Have I no power to take you out of trouble? See, I dry up the sea with My sharp words. I make the rivers a desert. Their fish smell bad because they do not have enough water, and die of thirst. ³ I clothe the heavens with darkness. I make cloth made from hair its covering.”

⁴ The Lord God has given Me the tongue of those who follow Him, that I may know how to give strength when I speak to one who is tired. He wakes Me up morning by morning. He wakes up My ear to listen as a follower. ⁵ The Lord God has opened My ear, and I obeyed Him. I did not turn back. ⁶ I gave My back to those who hit Me, and My face to those who pull out the hair on my face. I did not cover My face from shame and spit. ⁷ For the Lord God helps Me, so I am not put to shame. I have set My face like hard stone, and know that I will not be ashamed. ⁸ He Who shows I am right is near. Who will fight with Me? Let us stand up to each other. Who has something against Me? Let him come near to Me. ⁹ See, the Lord God helps Me. Who will say that I am guilty? See, they will all wear out like a piece of clothing. The moth will eat them. ¹⁰ Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of His Servant, yet walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and have faith in his God. ¹¹ See, all you who start a fire and put fire all around you! Walk in the light of your fire and among the pieces of wood you have started to burn. You will receive this from My hand: You will lie down in much suffering.

The Old and the New Life

¹⁷ I tell you this in the name of the Lord: You must not live any longer like the people of the world who do not know God. Their thoughts are foolish. ¹⁸ Their minds are in darkness. They are strangers to the life of God. This is because they have closed their minds to Him and have turned their hearts away from Him. ¹⁹ They do not care anymore about what is right or wrong. They have turned themselves over to the sinful ways of the world and are always wanting to do every kind of sinful act they can think of.

²⁰ But you did not learn anything like this from Christ. ²¹ If you have heard of Him and have learned from Him, ²² put away the old person you used to be. Have nothing to do with your old sinful life. It was sinful because of being fooled into following bad desires. ²³ Let your minds and hearts be made new. ²⁴ You must become a new person and be God-like. Then you will be made right with God and have a true holy life.

²⁵ So stop lying to each other. Tell the truth to your neighbor. We all belong to the same body. ²⁶ If you are angry, do not let it become sin. Get over your anger before the day is finished. ²⁷ Do not let the devil start working in your life. ²⁸ Anyone who steals must stop it! He must work with his hands so he will have what he needs and can give to those who need help. ²⁹ Watch your talk! No bad words should be coming from your mouth. Say what is good. Your words should help others grow as Christians. ³⁰ Do not make God’s Holy Spirit have sorrow for the way you live. The Holy Spirit has put a mark on you for the day you will be set free. ³¹ Put out of your life all these things: bad feelings about other people, anger, temper, loud talk, bad talk which hurts other people, and bad feelings which hurt other people. ³² You must be kind to each other. Think of the other person. Forgive other people just as God forgave you because of Christ’s death on the cross.

A Cry for Help

69 Save me, O God, for the waters have almost taken my life. ² I have gone down into deep mud and there is no place to put my feet. I have come into deep waters and a flood comes over me. ³ I have cried until I am tired. My mouth is dry. My eyes become weak while I wait for my God. ⁴ Those who hate me, without a reason, are more than the hairs on my head. Those who want to destroy me are powerful. I am made to return things that I did not steal.

⁵ O God, You know how foolish I am. My sins are not hidden from You. ⁶ May those who wait for You not be put to shame because of me, O Lord God of All. May those who look for You not lose respect because of me, O God of Israel. ⁷ I have been put to shame because of You. Shame has covered my face. ⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers, a stranger to my mother’s sons. ⁹ For the strong desire for Your house has burned me up. And the bad things said about You have fallen on me. ¹⁰ When I cried and went without food, I was put to shame. ¹¹ When I put on clothes made from hair, they made fun of me. ¹² Those who sit by the gate talk about me. And I am the song of those who drink too much.

¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to You at the right time, O Lord. Answer me with Your saving truth in Your great loving-kindness, O God. ¹⁴ Take me out of the mud and do not let me go down in it. Take me away from those who hate me and from the deep waters. ¹⁵ Keep the flood water from covering me. Do not let the sea swallow me up. Do not let the deep hole close its mouth over me.

¹⁶ Answer me, O Lord, for Your loving-kindness is good. Turn to me because of Your great loving-pity. ¹⁷ Do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble. Hurry to answer me. ¹⁸ Come near to me and save me. Pay the price to set me free from those who hate me.

⁵ A wise man is strong. A man of much learning adds to his strength. ⁶ For by wise leading you will make war, and the fight is won when there are many wise men to help you make the plans.