The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday September 25, 2021 (NIV)

¹¹ This is what the Lord says,
the Holy One of Israel, who formed Israel.
Do you wish to question me concerning things to come?
Will you give me orders about my children
and about the work of my hands?
¹² I myself made the earth,
and I created Adam^[a] upon it.
With my hands I stretched out the heavens,
and I commanded all their army.

¹⁸ This is what the Lord says.
He created the heavens,
He is God!
He formed the earth and made it.
Yes, he established it!
He did not create it to remain empty.^[b]
He formed it to be inhabited.

I am the Lord, and there is no other.
¹⁹ I did not speak in secret,
or from someplace in a land of darkness.
I did not say to the descendants^[c] of Jacob,
“Seek me in the midst of chaos.”^[d]
I, the Lord, am speaking in righteousness.
I am declaring what is right.

²⁰ Gather! Come! Draw near together,
you survivors from the nations.
They have no knowledge—
those who are lifting up their idols of wood
and praying to a god that cannot save.
²¹ Make an announcement and come close.
Let them consult together.
Who made this known ahead of time?
From time past who announced it?
Was it not I, the Lord?
There is no god except me,
a righteous God and Savior.
There is no one except me.
²² Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth,
because I am God,
and there is no other.
²³ I have sworn by myself.
From my mouth a righteous word has gone out,
and it will not return unfulfilled.
Indeed, to me every knee will bow,
and every tongue will swear allegiance.
²⁴ “Only in the Lord,” they will say of me,
“Only in the Lord is there true righteousness and strength.”
To him they will come and be ashamed—
all those who are angry at him.
²⁵ In the Lord, all the descendants^[e] of Israel will be justified.
They will be praised by him.^[f]

Bel bows down. Nebo stoops.
Babylon’s idols are a heavy load, carried by animals and cattle.
They are dead weight for the tired animals that carry them.
² The animals stoop. They bow down together.
They are not able to save their burdensome load.
They go into captivity.

³ Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all of you who are left from the house of Israel,
you who have been carried from birth,
you who have been lifted up from before you were born.
⁴ Until your old age, I am he,
and until you have gray hair, I myself will hold you up.
I myself made you, and I myself will lift you up.
I myself will hold you up, and I will rescue you.

⁵ Whom can you set beside me as if we were equal?
Whom can you compare to me as if we were alike?
⁶ People pour out gold from a purse
and weigh out silver on a scale.
They hire a smith,
and he makes the metal into a god.
They bow down to it. They even worship it.
⁷ They lift it up. They carry it on their shoulders.
They set it up in its place, but it just stands there.
It cannot move from its place.
Even when someone cries out to it, it does not answer.
It cannot save him from his distress.
⁸ Remember this, and stand firm.
You rebels, take this to heart!

⁹ Remember the former^[g] things that took place long ago,
for I am God, and there is no other.
I am God, and there is no one like me.
¹⁰ I am the one who announces the final outcome already in the beginning.
I announce ahead of time things that have not yet been done.
I am the one who says, “My plan will stand,
and I will do everything I want to do.”
¹¹ I am the one who calls a bird of prey from the east.
I call the man who fulfills my plan from a faraway land.
Yes, I have spoken. I will certainly bring it to pass.
I have formed a plan, and I will certainly carry it out.
¹² Listen to me, you who have stubborn hearts,
you who are far from righteousness.
¹³ I will bring my righteousness near. It will not be far away.
I will bring my salvation near. It will not be delayed.
I will set up salvation in Zion,
and I will show my splendor to Israel.

Go down and sit in the dust, you virgin daughter of Babylon.
Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans,
for you will never again be called delicate and pampered.
² Take millstones and grind meal.
Remove your veil. Strip off your skirt.
Expose your thighs. Wade through rivers.
³ Let your nakedness be exposed.
Let your shame be seen!
I will take vengeance.
I will not spare anyone.

⁵ Daughter of the Chaldeans, sit silently, and enter into the darkness,
for you will never again be called queen of the kingdoms.
⁶ I was angry with my people.
I defiled my heritage.
I gave them into your hand.
You showed them no mercy.
Even on the aged you made your yoke very heavy.
⁷ You said, “I will be a lady forever.”
You did not take these things to heart.
You did not remember how this will turn out.
⁸ But now hear this, you wanton lover of pleasure,
who sits securely,
who says in her heart,
“I am the one, and there is no one except me.
I will not live as a widow.
I will not experience the loss of children.”
⁹ But these two things will come upon you in an instant, in one day:
loss of children and widowhood.
They will come to you in full measure
in spite of your many magic spells,
in spite of the great power of your magic charms.

¹⁰ You felt secure in your wickedness.
You said, “No one sees me.”
Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray.
So you said in your heart, “I am the one,
and there is not another one beside me.”
¹¹ But disaster will come upon you.
You do not know when it will come.
Calamity will fall upon you.
You will not be able to atone for it.
A devastating blow that you did not expect will come
upon you suddenly.
¹² Go ahead, stand secure in your magic charms
and in your many magic spells,
with which you have been laboring since your youth.
Perhaps you will be able to profit.
Perhaps you will be able to inspire terror.
¹³ You are worn out by all the advice you receive.
Let them stand up and save you—
those who make charts of the skies to practice astrology,
those who gaze at the stars to obtain omens,
those who predict what will happen to you on each new moon.
¹⁴ Look, they are nothing but stubble.
Fire consumes them.
They are not able to save themselves from the power of the flame.
There are no burning coals to warm their food.^[h]
There is no firelight to sit in front of.
¹⁵ They can do nothing more for you—
those who have worn you out with all their dealings with you
from your youth.
Each one wanders in his own direction.
There is no one left to save you.

Hear this, you house of Jacob,
you who call yourselves by the name of Israel,
who came forth from the waters of Judah,
who swear by the name of the Lord
and invoke the God of Israel,
but not in true righteousness.
² Yes, they name themselves after the Holy City,
and they lean on the God of Israel—
the Lord of Armies is his name.
³ Things that took place long ago,
I announced before they happened.
From my mouth the announcement went out.
I made these things known.
Then suddenly I acted, and they came about.
⁴ I did this because I know that you are stubborn.
Your neck is as stiff as iron,
and your forehead is as hard as bronze.
⁵ I declared this to you long ago.
Before it came about, I announced it to you,
to prevent you from saying, “My false god did it.
My wooden idol and my metal image commanded it.”
⁶ You heard all this.
Now look at the facts.
Won’t you admit that I am right?

From now on I will also announce new things to you,
hidden things that you never knew.
⁷ These things are being created right now, not long ago.
You have not heard of them before today,
so you cannot say, “Oh, I already knew that!”
⁸ No, you have never heard them.
You certainly never knew them.
Your ear was not open, even back then.
Yes, I knew that you would be extremely unfaithful.
You were called a rebel before you were born.

⁹ For my name’s sake, I am slow to express my anger.
So that I will be praised, I will hold it back from you.
As a result, you are not cut off.

¹⁰ You see, I refined you, but not in the same way silver is refined.
I tested you in the furnace of affliction.
¹¹ For my own sake, for my own sake, I will act.
Why should my name be defiled?
My glory I will not give to another.

³ With wisdom a house is built.
With understanding it is established.
⁴ With knowledge its rooms are filled with every kind of riches,
both valuable and appealing.