Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from the book of
Isaiah, chapters 46 through 48. Chapter 46 Bell
bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols were on the
beasts and on the cattle. Your carriages were
heavily loaded, a burden to the weary beast.
They stoop, they bow down together. They could
not deliver the burden. but have themselves gone
into captivity. Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who
have been upheld by me from birth, who have been
carried from the womb. Even to your old age I
am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made and I will bear, even I will carry
and will deliver you. To whom will you liken
me? and make me equal, and compare me that we
should be alike. They lavish gold out of the
bag, and weigh silver on the scales. They hire
a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They prostrate
themselves, yes, they worship. They bear it on
the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its
place, and it stands. From its place it shall
not move. Though one cries out to it, yet it
cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
Remember this, and show yourselves men. Recall
to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former
things of old, for I am God, and there is no
other. I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring
the end from the beginning, and from ancient
times things that are not yet done. Saying, My
counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.
Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man
who executes my counsel from a far country. Indeed,
I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it. I will also do it. Listen
to me, you stubborn -hearted, who are far from
righteousness. I bring my righteousness near,
it shall not be far off. My salvation shall not
linger, and I will place salvation in Zion, for
Israel my glory. Chapter 47 Come down and sit
in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit
on the ground without a throne, O daughter of
the Chaldeans, for you shall no more be called
tender and delicate. Take the millstones and
grind meal. Remove your veil, take off the skirt,
uncover the thigh, pass through the rivers. Your
nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame
will be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will
not arbitrate with a man. As for our Redeemer,
the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of
Israel. Sit in silence and go into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no
longer be called the Lady of Kingdoms. I was
angry with my people. I have profaned my inheritance
and given them into your hand. You showed them
no mercy. On the elderly you laid your yoke very
heavily, and you said, I shall be a lady forever,
so that you did not take these things to heart,
nor remember the latter end of them. Therefore
hear this now, you who are given to pleasures.
who dwell securely, who say in your heart, I
am, and there is no one else besides me. I shall
not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss
of children. But these two things shall come
to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children
and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their
fullness, because of the multitude of your sorceries,
for the great abundance of your enchantments.
For you have trusted in your wickedness, you
have said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your
knowledge have warped you, and you have said
in your heart, I am and there is no one else
besides me. Therefore evil shall come upon you,
you shall not know from where it arises, and
trouble shall fall upon you, you will not be
able to put it off, and desolation shall come
upon you suddenly, which you shall not know.
Stand now with your enchantments and the multitude
of your sorceries, in which you have labored
from your youth. Perhaps you will be able to
profit, perhaps you will prevail. You are wearied
in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the
astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly
prognosticators stand up and save you from what
shall come upon you. Behold, they shall be a
stubble. The fire shall burn them. They shall
not deliver themselves from the power of the
flame. It shall not be a coal to be warmed by,
nor a fire to sit before. Thus shall they be
to you, with whom you have labored, your merchants
from your youth. They shall wander each one to
his quarter. No one shall save you. Chapter 48
Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by
the name of Israel, and have come forth from
the wellsprings of Judah, who swear by the name
of the Lord. and make mention of the God of Israel,
but not in truth or in righteousness. For they
call themselves after the holy city, and lean
on the God of Israel, the Lord of hosts is his
name. I have declared the former things from
the beginning. They went forth from my mouth,
and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did
them, and they came to pass, because I knew that
you were obstinate, and your neck was an iron
sinew, and your brow bronze. Even from the beginning
I have declared it to you. Before it came to
pass, I proclaimed it to you. Lest you should
say, My idol has done them, and my carved image
and my molded image have commanded them. You
have heard, see all this, and will you not declare
it? I have made you hear new things from this
time, even hidden things, and you did not know
them. They are created now and not from the beginning.
And before this day you have not heard them.
Lest you should say, Of course I knew them. Surely
you did not hear, surely you did not know. Surely
from long ago your ear was not opened. For I
knew that you would deal very treacherously,
and were called a transgressor from the womb.
For my name's sake I will defer my anger, and
for my praise I will restrain it from you, so
that I do not cut you off. Behold, I have refined
you, but not as silver. I have tested you in
the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for
my own sake, I will do it. For how should my
name be profaned? And I will not give my glory
to another. Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel
my called. I am he, I am the first, I am also
the last. Indeed, my hand has laid the foundation
of the earth, and my right hand has stretched
out the heavens. When I call to them, they stand
up together. All of you assemble yourselves and
hear. Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him. He shall do his pleasure
on Babylon and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
I, even I, have spoken. Yes, I have called him.
I have brought him and his way will prosper.
Come near to me, hear this. I have not spoken
in secret from the beginning. From the time that
it was, I was there. And now the Lord God and
His Spirit have sent me. Thus says the Lord your
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord
your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads
you by the way you should go. O that you had
heeded my commandments! Then your peace would
have been like a river, and your righteousness
like the waves of the sea. Your descendants also
have been like the sand, and the offspring of
your body like the grains of sand. His name would
not have been cut off. nor destroyed from before
me. Go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans.
With a voice of singing, declare, proclaim this,
utter it to the end of the earth. Say, the Lord
has redeemed his servant Jacob, and he did not
thirst when he led them through the deserts.
He caused the waters to flow from the rock for
them. He also split the rock, and the waters
gushed out. There is no peace, says the Lord,
for the wicked. I hope you enjoyed today's reading
as much as I did and I look forward to seeing
you again tomorrow to continue on our journey.
God bless you and have a great day.