Knox Bible

1

And now, here is a message from the Lord to Jacob, his creature, to the Israel he fashioned: Do not be afraid, I have bought thee for myself, and given thee the name thou bearest: thou belongest to me.

2

Pass through water, and I will be with thee, so that the flood shall not drown thee; walk amid the flames, and thou shalt not be burnt, the fire shall have no power to catch thee.

3

I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy deliverer; I have bartered away Egypt to win thee, Ethiopia and Saba for thy ransom.

4

So prized, so honoured, so dearly loved, that I am ready to give up mankind in thy place, a world to save thee.

5

Do not be afraid, I am with thee; I will restore thy sons from the east, the west shall hear the calling of their muster-roll;

6

I will say to the north wind, Give them back; to the south wind, Restrain them no more; bring back these sons of mine from far away, these daughters of mine from the world’s end.

7

Whoever owns my name✻ is my creature, made and fashioned for my glory.

8

Bring them out, then, into the light of day, this people of mine that have eyes, and still cannot see, have ears, and cannot hear.

9

Round about us, all the nations of the world are gathered, all its tribes assemble. And now, which among you can make this claim, give us an account of events foretold long ago?✻ Let them produce witnesses to justify their claim, so that all may listen and say, It is the truth.

10

I call you to witness, the Lord says, you and this servant of mine, on whom my choice has fallen; will you not recognize the truth, and believe me? Will you not learn to understand that I am the God you seek?✻ None ever came into being before me, or will after me.

11

It is I, I, the Lord; no other can bring deliverance.

12

It was I who promised that deliverance, I who bought it; I told you of it, when there was no alien god worshipped among you; you are my witnesses to that, the Lord says. I am God,

13

and what I was, I am;✻ from my power there is no escaping; when I execute my designs, none can avert them.

14

Thus says the Lord, your ransomer, the Holy One of Israel, If I send my emissaries to Babylon, casting down all its barriers,✻ casting down the Chaldeans, with all the pride of their navies, it is for your sakes.

15

I, the Lord, am your Holy One, I, the maker of Israel, am your king.

16

A message to you from that same Lord, who could once lead you through the sea, make a passage for you through the foaming waters;

17

could bring out chariots and horses, rank and file and chieftain together in pursuit, to fall there and never to rise again, crushed like a wick, and their light quenched.

18

Do not remember those old things, he says, as if you had eyes for nothing but what happened long ago;

19

I mean to perform new wonders; even now they are coming to the birth; surely you will understand at last? I mean to make a causeway over the desert, with streams flowing beside it in the waste.

20

The wild things will do me honour, the serpents and the ostriches, for thus giving them water in the desert, streams in the waste; but it was for my people’s sake that I did it, to give drink to my chosen people.

21

I made them for myself, surely they too will have praise to give me!

22

Alas, Jacob, that my name should be forgotten, alas, Israel, that thou shouldst have troubled thyself about me so little!

23

No ram of thine offered in burnt-sacrifice to me, no victims of thine to do me honour; little burden have my offerings been to thee, little trouble my meed of incense!

24

Scented cane✻ thou wouldst not buy to burn for me, nor think to cheer me with the fat of sacrifice; rather, it was I that was burdened, burdened with thy sins; I that was troubled, troubled with thy faithlessness.

25

It was I, ever I, that must be blotting out thy offences, for my own honour’s sake, effacing the memory of thy sins.

26

Time, now, thou shouldst remember me; come, let us settle the matter by arbitration, thou and I; tell me what plea thou hast to bring forward.

27

For the guilt of thy first father, for the rebellions of thy own spokesmen against me,✻

28

I brought thy inviolable princes to dishonour, gave up Jacob to destruction, Israel to the scorn of his enemies.