1 Bel has fallen, Nabo is broken to pieces, their graven images are gone to the wild beasts and the cattle : ye take them packed up as a burden to the weary, exhausted, hungry, and at the same time helpless man ;
2 who will not be able to save themselves from war, but they themselves are led away captive.
3 Hear me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of Israel, who are borne by me from the womb, and taught by me from infancy, even to old age :
4 I am he ; and until ye shall have grown old, I am he : I bear you, I have made, and I will relieve, I will take up and save you. Notesn1 Or, put up with.
5 To whom have ye compared me ? see, consider, ye that go astray.
6 They that furnish gold out of a purse, and silver by weight, will weigh it in a scale, and they hire a goldsmith and make idols, and bow down, and worship them. Notesn1 Gr. things made with hands.
7 They bear it upon the shoulder, and go ; and if they put it upon its place, it remains, it cannot move : and whosoever shall cry to it, it cannot hear ; it cannot save him from trouble.
8 Remember ye these things, and groan : repent, ye that have gone astray, return in your heart ;
9 and remember the former things that were of old : for I am God, and there is none other beside me,
10 telling beforehand the latter events before they come to pass, and they are accomplished together : and I said, All my counsel shall stand, and I will do all things that I have planned :
11 calling a bird from the east, and from a land afar off, for the things which I have planned : I have spoken, and brought him ; I have created and made him ; I have brought him, and prospered his way.
12 Hearken to me, ye senseless ones, that are far from righteousness :
13 I have brought near my righteousness, and I will not be slow with the salvation that is from me : I have given salvation in Sion to Israel for glory.