Isaiah 45:20--46:7

45:20 Gather together and come!

Approach together, you refugees from the nations!

Those who carry wooden idols know nothing,

those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.

45:21 Tell me! Present the evidence!

Let them consult with one another!

Who predicted this in the past?

Who announced it beforehand?

Was it not I, the Lord?

I have no peer, there is no God but me,

a God who vindicates and delivers;

there is none but me.

45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered,

all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!

For I am God, and I have no peer.

45:23 I solemnly make this oath

what I say is true and reliable:

‘Surely every knee will bow to me,

every tongue will solemnly affirm;

45:24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’”

All who are angry at him will cower before him.

45:25 All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord

and will boast in him.

The Lord Carries His People

46:1 Bel kneels down,

Nebo bends low.

Their images weigh down animals and beasts.

Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals.

46:2 Together they bend low and kneel down;

they are unable to rescue the images;

they themselves head off into captivity.

46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,

all you who are left from the family of Israel,

you who have been carried from birth,

you who have been supported from the time you left the womb.

46:4 Even when you are old, I will take care of you,

even when you have gray hair, I will carry you.

I made you and I will support you;

I will carry you and rescue you.

46:5 To whom can you compare and liken me?

Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!

46:6 Those who empty out gold from a purse

and weigh out silver on the scale

hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.

They then bow down and worship it.

46:7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;

they put it in its place and it just stands there;

it does not move from its place.

Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;

it does not deliver him from his distress.