The Berean Pursuit
This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed,
whose right hand I have grasped
to subdue nations before him,
to disarm kings,
to open the doors before him,
so that the gates will not be shut:
"I will go before you
and level the mountains;
I will break down the gates of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron.
I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the riches hidden in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD,
the God of Israel, who calls you by name.
For the sake of Jacob My servant
and Israel My chosen one,
I call you by name;
I have given you a title of honor,
though you have not known Me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other;
there is no God but Me.
I will equip you for battle,
though you have not known Me,
so that all may know,
from where the sun rises to where it sets,
that there is none but Me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form the light and create the darkness;
I bring prosperity and create calamity.
I, the LORD, do all these things.
Drip down, O heavens, from above,
and let the skies pour down righteousness.
Let the earth open up that salvation may sprout
and righteousness spring up with it;
I, the LORD, have created it.
Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker-
one clay pot among many.
Does the clay ask the potter,
'What are you making?'
Does your work say,
'He has no hands'?
Woe to him who says to his father,
'What have you begotten?'
or to his mother,
'What have you brought forth?'?"
Thus says the LORD,
the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
"How dare you question Me about My sons,
or instruct Me in the work of My hands?
It is I who made the earth
and created man upon it.
It was My hands that stretched out the heavens,
and I ordained all their host.
I will raise up Cyrus in righteousness,
and I will make all his ways straight.
He will rebuild My city
and set My exiles free,
but not for payment or reward,
says the LORD of Hosts."
This is what the LORD says:
"The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,
along with the Sabeans, men of stature,
will come over to you
and will be yours;
they will trudge behind you;
they will come over in chains and bow down to you.
They will confess to you:
'God is indeed with you, and there is no other;
there is no other God.'?"
Truly You are a God who hides Himself,
O God of Israel, the Savior.
They will all be put to shame and humiliated;
the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace.
But Israel will be saved by the LORD
with an everlasting salvation;
you will not be put to shame or humiliated,
to ages everlasting.
For thus says the LORD,
who created the heavens-He is God;
He formed the earth and fashioned it;
He established it;
He did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited:
"I am the LORD,
and there is no other.
I have not spoken in secret,
from a place in a land of darkness.
I did not say to the descendants of Jacob,
'Seek Me in a wasteland.'
I, the LORD, speak the truth;
I say what is right.
Come, gather together, and draw near,
you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood
and pray to a god that cannot save.
Speak up and present your case-
yes, let them take counsel together.
Who foretold this long ago?
Who announced it from ancient times?
Was it not I, the LORD?
There is no other God but Me,
a righteous God and Savior;
there is none but Me.
Turn to Me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth;
for I am God,
and there is no other.
By Myself I have sworn;
truth has gone out from My mouth,
a word that will not be revoked:
Every knee will bow before Me,
every tongue will swear allegiance.
Surely they will say of Me,
'In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.'?"
All who rage against Him
will come to Him and be put to shame.
In the LORD all descendants of Israel
will be justified and will exult.
Bel crouches; Nebo cowers.
Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle.
The images you carry are burdensome,
a load to the weary animal.
The gods cower; they crouch together,
unable to relieve the burden;
but they themselves go into captivity.
"Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been sustained from the womb,
carried along since birth.
Even to your old age, I will be the same,
and I will bear you up when you turn gray.
I have made you, and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and deliver you.
To whom will you liken Me or count Me equal?
To whom will you compare Me, that we should be alike?
They pour out their bags of gold
and weigh out silver on scales;
they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god,
so they can bow down and worship.
They lift it to their shoulder
and carry it along;
they set it in its place, and there it stands,
not budging from that spot.
They cry out to it, but it does not answer;
it saves no one from his troubles.
Remember this and be brave;
take it to heart, you transgressors!
Remember what happened long ago,
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me.
I declare the end from the beginning,
and ancient times from what is still to come.
I say, 'My purpose will stand,
and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.'
I summon a bird of prey from the east,
a man for My purpose from a far-off land.
Truly I have spoken,
and truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it,
and I will surely do it.
Listen to Me, you stubborn people,
far removed from righteousness:
I am bringing My righteousness near;
it is not far away, and My salvation will not be delayed.
I will grant salvation to Zion
and adorn Israel with My splendor.
"Go down and sit in the dust,
O Virgin Daughter of Babylon.
Sit on the ground without a throne,
O Daughter of Chaldea!
For you will no longer be called
tender or delicate.
Take millstones and grind flour;
remove your veil;
strip off your skirt, bare your thigh,
and wade through the streams.
Your nakedness will be uncovered
and your shame will be exposed.
I will take vengeance;
I will spare no one."
Our Redeemer-the LORD of Hosts is His name-
is the Holy One of Israel.
"Sit in silence and go into darkness,
O Daughter of Chaldea.
For you will no longer be called
the queen of kingdoms.
I was angry with My people;
I profaned My heritage,
and I placed them under your control.
You showed them no mercy;
even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.
You said, 'I will be queen forever.'
You did not take these things to heart
or consider their outcome.
So now hear this,
O lover of luxury who sits securely,
who says to herself,
'I am, and there is none besides me.
I will never be a widow
or know the loss of children.'
These two things will overtake you in a moment,
in a single day:
loss of children, and widowhood.
They will come upon you in full measure,
in spite of your many sorceries
and the potency of your spells.
You were secure in your wickedness;
you said, 'No one sees me.'
Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray;
you told yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me.'
But disaster will come upon you;
you will not know how to charm it away.
A calamity will befall you
that you will be unable to ward off.
Devastation will happen to you
suddenly and unexpectedly.
So take your stand with your spells
and with your many sorceries,
with which you have wearied yourself
from your youth.
Perhaps you will succeed;
perhaps you will inspire terror!
You are wearied by your many counselors;
let them come forward now and save you-
your astrologers who observe the stars,
who monthly predict your fate.
Surely they are like stubble;
the fire will burn them up.
They cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
There will be no coals to warm them
or fire to sit beside.
This is what they are to you-
those with whom you have labored and traded from youth-
each one strays in his own direction;
not one of them can save you.
"Listen to this, O house of Jacob,
you who are called by the name of Israel,
who have descended from the line of Judah,
who swear by the name of the LORD,
who invoke the God of Israel-
but not in truth or righteousness-
who indeed call yourselves after the holy city
and lean on the God of Israel;
the LORD of Hosts is His name.
I foretold the former things long ago;
they came out of My mouth and I proclaimed them.
Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
For I knew that you are stubborn;
your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze.
Therefore I declared it to you long ago;
I announced it before it came to pass,
so that you could not claim, 'My idol has done this;
my carved image and molten god has ordained it.'
You have heard these things; look at them all.
Will you not acknowledge them?
From now on I will tell you of new things,
hidden things unknown to you.
They are created now, and not long ago;
you have not heard of them before today.
So you cannot claim,
'I already knew them!'
You have never heard; you have never understood;
for a long time your ears have not been open.
For I knew how deceitful you are;
you have been called a rebel from birth.
For the sake of My name I will delay My wrath;
for the sake of My praise I will restrain it,
so that you will not be cut off.
See, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act;
for how can I let Myself be defamed?
I will not yield My glory to another.
Listen to Me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I have called:
I am He; I am the first,
and I am the last.
Surely My own hand founded the earth,
and My right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summon them,
they stand up together.
Come together, all of you, and listen:
Which of the idols has foretold these things?
The LORD's chosen ally will carry out His desire against Babylon,
and His arm will be against the Chaldeans.
I, even I, have spoken;
yes, I have called him.
I have brought him,
and he will succeed in his mission.
Come near to Me and listen to this:
From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;
from the time it happened, I was there."
And now the Lord GOD has sent me,
accompanied by His Spirit.
Thus says the LORD your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel:
"I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you for your benefit,
who directs you in the way you should go.
If only you had paid attention to My commandments,
your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like waves of the sea.
Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand,
and your offspring as numerous as its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or eliminated from My presence."
Leave Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
Declare it with a shout of joy,
proclaim it,
let it go out to the ends of the earth, saying,
"The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!"
They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts;
He made water flow for them from the rock;
He split the rock, and water gushed out.
"There is no peace," says the LORD,
"for the wicked."