Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 11

¹⁴ This is what the Lord says,
    the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
    For your sake I am taking action against Babylon,
    and I will bring down all the Chaldeans as refugees,
        in the ships over which they rejoiced.
¹⁵     I am the Lord, your Holy One,
    Israel’s Creator, your King.
¹⁶     This is what the Lord says,
    who makes a road through the sea
    and a path through mighty waters,
¹⁷     who brings out the chariot and the horses,
    the army and the strong warrior.
    They will all lie down together.
    They will not get up.
    They are extinguished.
    Like a wick they go out.

¹⁸     Do not remember the former ^{¹⁹     Watch, I am about to do a new thing.}
    Now it will spring up. Don’t you know about it?
    Indeed I will make a road in the wilderness.
    In the wasteland I will make rivers.
²⁰     The wild animals, the jackals and ostriches, will honor me,
    because I am providing water in the wilderness,
    rivers in a parched wasteland,
    water for my chosen people to drink.
²¹     This people that I formed for myself will declare my praise.

²²     But you have not called on me, O Jacob.
    Instead, you have become weary of me, O Israel.
²³     You have not brought me sheep as your whole burnt offerings.
    You did not glorify me with your sacrifices.
    I did not make you serve me with a grain offering.
    I did not make you weary with demands for incense.
²⁴     You did not purchase fragrant cane for me with silver
    or satisfy me with the fat from your sacrifices.
    Instead you have made me serve because of your sins.
    You have made me weary because of your guilt.
²⁵     I, yes I, am he.
    I blot out your rebellious deeds for my own sake,
    and I will not remember your sins.
²⁶     Refresh my memory.
    Let us review your case together.
    Present your defense so that you may be acquitted.
²⁷     Your first father sinned,
    and your mediators rebelled against me.
²⁸     Therefore I am repudiating the officials of the sanctuary,
    and I am giving Jacob over to complete destruction
    and Israel to insults. ^{The Lord Comforts His People}

The Lord Confronts Idols

¹⁰ Who is this who forms a god or casts a metal image that can provide no profit? ¹¹ Look at him! All his associates will be ashamed. The craftsmen are merely men. Let them all gather themselves and take a stand. They will be terrified and ashamed together.

¹² A blacksmith uses a cutting tool and makes an idol over hot coals. With hammers he shapes it. He makes it with his strong arm, but he becomes hungry and has no strength left. He does not drink water, and so he grows faint.

¹³ A woodworker stretches out a measuring line. He marks the lines with a stylus. He shapes the idol with chisels. He marks it with a compass. Then he carves it till it is shaped like a person, like a splendid man to inhabit a shrine.

¹⁴ He goes to cut down cedars for himself, or he chooses a holm tree ^{¹⁵ but it becomes fuel for a man to burn. He takes part of it to warm himself. He lights a fire to bake bread, and then from the rest he makes a god and worships it. He carves an idol and bows down to it.} ¹⁶ Half of it he burns in a fire—over that half he eats meat. He roasts meat and is satisfied. So he is warm and says, “Ah! I am warm. I see the light of the fire.” ¹⁷ Then from what is left he makes a god to serve as his idol. He bows down to it. He worships it, and he prays to it, “Save me, because you are my god.”

¹⁸ They are ignorant. They do not understand, because their eyes are plastered shut, ^{¹⁹ A person does not take this to heart, so he has no knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I burn in the fire, and I bake bread on its coals. I roast meat, and I eat. Should I make the rest of it into a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to a piece of wood?”} ²⁰ He is like a sheep grazing on ashes. A deceived mind leads him astray. He will not save his life, nor will he say, “Isn’t what I am holding in my right hand a fraud?”

Israel Will Be Restored

²¹ Remember these things, O Jacob, because you are my servant, Israel. I am forming you to be my servant. You, Israel, you will never be forgotten by me. ^{²² I am blowing away your rebellious deeds like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to me, because I am redeeming you.}