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Israel, the LORD who created you says, "Do not be afraid---I will save you. I have called you by name---you are mine.
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When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you. When you pass through fire, you will not be burned; the hard trials that come will not hurt you.
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For I am the LORD your God, the holy God of Israel, who saves you. I will give up Egypt to set you free; I will give up Ethiopia and Seba.
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I will give up whole nations to save your life, because you are precious to me and because I love you and give you honor.
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Do not be afraid---I am with you! "From the distant east and the farthest west I will bring your people home.
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I will tell the north to let them go and the south not to hold them back. Let my people return from distant lands, from every part of the world.
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They are my own people, and I created them to bring me glory."
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God says, "Summon my people to court. They have eyes, but they are blind; they have ears, but they are deaf !
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Summon the nations to come to the trial. Which of their gods can predict the future? Which of them foretold what is happening now? Let these gods bring in their witnesses to prove that they are right, to testify to the truth of their words.
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"People of Israel, you are my witnesses; I chose you to be my servant, so that you would know me and believe in me and understand that I am the only God. Besides me there is no other god; there never was and never will be.
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"I alone am the LORD, the only one who can save you.
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I predicted what would happen, and then I came to your aid. No foreign god has ever done this; you are my witnesses.
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I am God and always will be. No one can escape from my power; no one can change what I do."
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Israel's holy God, the LORD who saves you, says, "To save you, I will send an army against Babylon; I will break down the city gates, and the shouts of her people will turn into crying.
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I am the LORD, your holy God. I created you, Israel, and I am your king."
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Long ago the LORD made a road through the sea, a path through the swirling waters.
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He led a mighty army to destruction, an army of chariots and horses. Down they fell, never to rise, snuffed out like the flame of a lamp!
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But the LORD says, "Do not cling to events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago.
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Watch for the new thing I am going to do. It is happening already---you can see it now! I will make a road through the wilderness and give you streams of water there.
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Even the wild animals will honor me; jackals and ostriches will praise me when I make rivers flow in the desert to give water to my chosen people.
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They are the people I made for myself, and they will sing my praises!"
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The LORD says, "But you were tired of me, Israel; you did not worship me.
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You did not bring me your burnt offerings of sheep; you did not honor me with your sacrifices. I did not burden you by demanding offerings or wear you out by asking for incense.
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You didn't buy incense for me or satisfy me with the fat of your animals. Instead you burdened me with your sins; you wore me out with the wrongs you have committed.
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And yet, I am the God who forgives your sins, and I do this because of who I am. I will not hold your sins against you.
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"Let us go to court; bring your accusation! Present your case to prove you are in the right!
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Your earliest ancestor sinned; your leaders sinned against me,
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and your rulers profaned my sanctuary. So I brought destruction on Israel; I let my own people be insulted."
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The LORD says, "Listen now, Israel, my servant, my chosen people, the descendants of Jacob.
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I am the LORD who created you; from the time you were born, I have helped you. Do not be afraid; you are my servant, my chosen people whom I love.
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"I will give water to the thirsty land and make streams flow on the dry ground. I will pour out my spirit on your children and my blessing on your descendants.
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They will thrive like well-watered grass, like willows by streams of running water.
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"One by one, people will say, 'I am the LORD's.' They will come to join the people of Israel. They each will mark the name of the LORD on their arms and call themselves one of God's people."
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The LORD, who rules and protects Israel, the LORD Almighty, has this to say: "I am the first, the last, the only God; there is no other god but me.
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Could anyone else have done what I did? Who could have predicted all that would happen from the very beginning to the end of time?
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Do not be afraid, my people! You know that from ancient times until now I have predicted all that would happen, and you are my witnesses. Is there any other god? Is there some powerful god I never heard of ?"
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All those who make idols are worthless, and the gods they prize so highly are useless. Those who worship these gods are blind and ignorant---and they will be disgraced.
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It does no good to make a metal image to worship as a god!
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Everyone who worships it will be humiliated. The people who make idols are human beings and nothing more. Let them come and stand trial---they will be terrified and will suffer disgrace.
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The metalworker takes a piece of metal and works with it over a fire. His strong arm swings a hammer to pound the metal into shape. As he works, he gets hungry, thirsty, and tired.
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The carpenter measures the wood. He outlines a figure with chalk, carves it out with his tools, and makes it in the form of a man, a handsome human figure, to be placed in his house.
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He might cut down cedars to use, or choose oak or cypress wood from the forest. Or he might plant a laurel tree and wait for the rain to make it grow.
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A person uses part of a tree for fuel and part of it for making an idol. With one part he builds a fire to warm himself and bake bread; with the other part he makes a god and worships it.
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With some of the wood he makes a fire; he roasts meat, eats it, and is satisfied. He warms himself and says, "How nice and warm! What a beautiful fire!"
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The rest of the wood he makes into an idol, and then he bows down and worships it. He prays to it and says, "You are my god---save me!"
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Such people are too stupid to know what they are doing. They close their eyes and their minds to the truth.
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The maker of idols hasn't the wit or the sense to say, "Some of the wood I burned up. I baked some bread on the coals, and I roasted meat and ate it. And the rest of the wood I made into an idol. Here I am bowing down to a block of wood!"
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It makes as much sense as eating ashes. His foolish ideas have so misled him that he is beyond help. He won't admit to himself that the idol he holds in his hand is not a god at all.
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The LORD says, "Israel, remember this; remember that you are my servant. I created you to be my servant, and I will never forget you.
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I have swept your sins away like a cloud. Come back to me; I am the one who saves you."
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Shout for joy, you heavens! Shout, deep places of the earth! Shout for joy, mountains, and every tree of the forest! The LORD has shown his greatness by saving his people Israel.
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"I am the LORD, your savior; I am the one who created you. I am the LORD, the Creator of all things. I alone stretched out the heavens; when I made the earth, no one helped me.
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I make fools of fortunetellers and frustrate the predictions of astrologers. The words of the wise I refute and show that their wisdom is foolishness.
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But when my servant makes a prediction, when I send a messenger to reveal my plans, I make those plans and predictions come true. I tell Jerusalem that people will live there again, and the cities of Judah that they will be rebuilt. Those cities will rise from the ruins.
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With a word of command I dry up the ocean.
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I say to Cyrus, 'You are the one who will rule for me; you will do what I want you to do: you will order that Jerusalem be rebuilt and that the foundations of the Temple be laid.' "
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The LORD has chosen Cyrus to be king. He has appointed him to conquer nations; he sends him to strip kings of their power; the LORD will open the gates of cities for him. To Cyrus the LORD says,
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"I myself will prepare your way, leveling mountains and hills. I will break down bronze gates and smash their iron bars.
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I will give you treasures from dark, secret places; then you will know that I am the LORD and that the God of Israel has called you by name.
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I appoint you to help my servant Israel, the people that I have chosen. I have given you great honor, although you do not know me.
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"I am the LORD; there is no other god. I will give you the strength you need, although you do not know me.
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I do this so that everyone from one end of the world to the other may know that I am the LORD and that there is no other god.
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I create both light and darkness; I bring both blessing and disaster. I, the LORD, do all these things.
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I will send victory from the sky like rain; the earth will open to receive it and will blossom with freedom and justice. I, the LORD, will make this happen."
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Does a clay pot dare argue with its maker, a pot that is like all the others? Does the clay ask the potter what he is doing? Does the pot complain that its maker has no skill?
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Do we dare say to our parents, "Why did you make me like this?"
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The LORD, the holy God of Israel, the one who shapes the future, says: "You have no right to question me about my children or to tell me what I ought to do!
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I am the one who made the earth and created human beings to live there. By my power I stretched out the heavens; I control the sun, the moon, and the stars.
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I myself have stirred Cyrus to action to fulfill my purpose and put things right. I will straighten out every road that he travels. He will rebuild my city, Jerusalem, and set my captive people free. No one has hired him or bribed him to do this." The LORD Almighty has spoken.
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The LORD says to Israel, "The wealth of Egypt and Ethiopia will be yours, and the tall men of Seba will be your slaves; they will follow you in chains. They will bow down to you and confess, 'God is with you---he alone is God.
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The God of Israel, who saves his people, is a God who conceals himself.
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Those who make idols will all be ashamed; all of them will be disgraced.
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But Israel is saved by the LORD, and her victory lasts forever; her people will never be disgraced.' "
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The LORD created the heavens--- he is the one who is God! He formed and made the earth--- he made it firm and lasting. He did not make it a desolate waste, but a place for people to live. It is he who says, "I am the LORD, and there is no other god.
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I have not spoken in secret or kept my purpose hidden. I did not require the people of Israel to look for me in a desolate waste. I am the LORD, and I speak the truth; I make known what is right."
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The LORD says, "Come together, people of the nations, all who survive the fall of the empire; present yourselves for the trial! The people who parade with their idols of wood and pray to gods that cannot save them--- those people know nothing at all!
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Come and present your case in court; let the defendants consult one another. Who predicted long ago what would happen? Was it not I, the LORD, the God who saves his people? There is no other god.
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"Turn to me now and be saved, people all over the world! I am the only God there is.
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My promise is true, and it will not be changed. I solemnly promise by all that I am: Everyone will come and kneel before me and vow to be loyal to me.
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"They will say that only through me are victory and strength to be found; but all who hate me will suffer disgrace.
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I, the LORD, will rescue all the descendants of Jacob, and they will give me praise.
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Since Christ suffered physically, you too must strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking that he had; because whoever suffers physically is no longer involved with sin.
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From now on, then, you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God's will and not by human desires.
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You have spent enough time in the past doing what the heathen like to do. Your lives were spent in indecency, lust, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and the disgusting worship of idols.
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And now the heathen are surprised when you do not join them in the same wild and reckless living, and so they insult you.
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But they will have to give an account of themselves to God, who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
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That is why the Good News was preached also to the dead, to those who had been judged in their physical existence as everyone is judged; it was preached to them so that in their spiritual existence they may live as God lives.
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The end of all things is near. You must be self-controlled and alert, to be able to pray.
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Above everything, love one another earnestly, because love covers over many sins.
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Open your homes to each other without complaining.
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Each one, as a good manager of God's different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God.
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Those who preach must preach God's messages; those who serve must serve with the strength that God gives them, so that in all things praise may be given to God through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
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My dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful test you are suffering, as though something unusual were happening to you.
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Rather be glad that you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may be full of joy when his glory is revealed.
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Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers; this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you.
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If you suffer, it must not be because you are a murderer or a thief or a criminal or a meddler in other people's affairs.
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However, if you suffer because you are a Christian, don't be ashamed of it, but thank God that you bear Christ's name.
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The time has come for judgment to begin, and God's own people are the first to be judged. If it starts with us, how will it end with those who do not believe the Good News from God?
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As the scripture says, "It is difficult for good people to be saved; what, then, will become of godless sinners?"
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So then, those who suffer because it is God's will for them, should by their good actions trust themselves completely to their Creator, who always keeps his promise.
