Fear Not, for I Am with You
1 nListen to me in silence, oO coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.
2 pWho stirred up one from the east
whom victory meets at every qstep?1
rHe gives up nations before him,
so that he tramples kings underfoot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
slike driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them and passes on safely,
by paths his feet have not trod.
4 tWho has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
uI, the Lord, the first,
and with the last; I am he.
5 vThe coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
6 Everyone helps his neighbor
and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 wThe craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
and they strengthen it with nails xso that it cannot be moved.
8 But you, Israel, ymy servant,
Jacob, zwhom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, amy friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called bfrom its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are ymy servant,
zI have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with cmy righteous right hand.
11 dBehold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12 eYou shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
fthose who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13 For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”
14 Fear not, you gworm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
your hRedeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 iBehold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh jthe mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
16 kyou shall winnow them, and lthe wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
mAnd you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
17 nWhen the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 oI will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
pI will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19 qI will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert rthe cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20 that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that sthe hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
The Futility of Idols
21 Set forth your case, says the Lord;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them, and ttell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.
23 tTell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
udo good, or do harm,
that we may be dismayed and terrified.2
24 Behold, vyou are nothing,
and your work is less than nothing;
an abomination is he who chooses you.
25 wI stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
xfrom the rising of the sun, yand he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
26 zWho declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
27 aI was the first to say3 to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
and bI give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
28 cBut when I look, there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
29 dBehold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their metal images are empty wind.
The Great Prostitute and the Beast
1 Then vone of the seven angels who had wthe seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of xthe great prostitute ywho is seated on many waters, 2 zwith whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and awith the wine of whose sexual immorality bthe dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3 And che carried me away in the Spirit dinto a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on ea scarlet beast that was full of fblasphemous names, and git had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman hwas arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned iwith gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand ja golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her forehead was written a name of kmystery: l“Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk mwith the blood of the saints, the blood of nthe martyrs of Jesus.1
When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 7 But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you othe mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8 The beast that you saw pwas, and is not, and qis about to rise from rthe bottomless pit2 and sgo to destruction. And tthe dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in uthe book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because pit was and is not and is to come. 9 vThis calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast wthat was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. 12 And xthe ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings yfor one hour, together with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 14 They zwill make war on the Lamb, and athe Lamb will conquer them, for he is bLord of lords and bKing of kings, and those with him are ccalled and chosen and faithful.”
15 And the angel3 said to me, d“The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. 16 And ethe ten horns that you saw, they and the beast fwill hate the prostitute. They will make her gdesolate and hnaked, and idevour her flesh and jburn her up with fire, 17 for kGod has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and lhanding over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman that you saw is mthe great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”
