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! ¹ 

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; ² 

there is none but me.

45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, ³ 

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 ⁴  –

what I say is true and reliable: ⁵ 

‘Surely every knee will bow to me,

every tongue will solemnly affirm; ⁶ 

45:24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” ⁷ 

All who are angry at him will cower before him. ⁸ 

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

and will boast in him. ⁹ 

The Lord Carries His People

46:1 Bel ¹⁰  kneels down,

Nebo ¹¹  bends low.

Their images weigh down animals and beasts. ¹² 

Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. ¹³ 

46:2 Together they bend low and kneel down;

they are unable to rescue the images; ¹⁴ 

they themselves ¹⁵  head off into captivity. ¹⁶ 

46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, ¹⁷ 

all you who are left from the family of Israel, ¹⁸ 

you who have been carried from birth, ¹⁹ 

you who have been supported from the time you left the womb. ²⁰ 

46:4 Even when you are old, I will take care of you, ²¹ 

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. ²² 

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 ²³ 

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 ²⁴  move from its place.

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

it does not deliver him from his distress.

[45:21]  ¹ tn Heb “Declare! Bring near!”; NASB “Declare and set forth your case.” See 41:21.

[45:21]  ² tn Or “a righteous God and deliverer”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “a righteous God and a Savior.”

[45:22]  ³ tn The Niphal imperative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The Niphal probably has a tolerative sense, “allow yourselves to be delivered, accept help.”

[45:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “I swear by myself”; KJV, NASB “have sworn.”

[45:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “a word goes out from my mouth [in] truth and will not return.”

[45:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “swear” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “confess allegiance.”

[45:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “‘Yes, in the Lord,’ one says about me, ‘is deliverance and strength.’”

[45:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “will come to him and be ashamed.”

[45:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be vindicated and boast.”

[46:1]  ¹⁰ sn Bel was the name of a Babylonian god. The name was originally associated with Enlil, but later was applied to Marduk. See HALOT 132 s.v. בֵּל.

[46:1]  ¹¹ sn Nebo is a variation of the name of the Babylonian god Nabu.

[46:1]  ¹² tn Heb “their images belong to animals and beasts”; NIV “their idols are borne by beasts of burden”; NLT “are being hauled away.”

[46:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “your loads are carried [as] a burden by a weary [animal].”

[46:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[the] burden,” i.e., their images, the heavy burden carried by the animals.

[46:2]  ¹⁵ tn נַפְשָׁם (nafsham, “their souls/lives”) is equivalent here to a third masculine plural suffix, but the third feminine singular verb הָלָכָה (halakhah, “they go”) agrees with the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, life”).

[46:2]  ¹⁶ sn The downfall of Babylon is depicted here. The idols are carried off by the victorious enemy; the gods are likened to defeated captives who cower before the enemy and are taken into exile.

[46:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV “descendants of Jacob.”

[46:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and all the remnant of the house of Israel.”

[46:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from the womb” (so NRSV); KJV “from the belly”; NAB “from your infancy.”

[46:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “who have been lifted up from the womb.”

[46:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “until old age, I am he” (NRSV similar); NLT “I will be your God throughout your lifetime.”

[46:4]  ²² sn Unlike the weary idol gods, whose images must be carried by animals, the Lord carries his weary people.

[46:6]  ²³ tn Heb “the reed,” probably referring to the beam of a scales. See BDB 889 s.v. קָנֶה 4.c.

[46:7]  ²⁴ tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.