¹Bel has collapsed, Nebo is buckling;

They were their idols,

Modelled on wild animals and cattle,

Things you carried as burdens

– A wearisome load.

²They have buckled and collapsed together;

They could not save the carried load,

And they themselves have gone into captivity.

³Hear me, house of Jacob,

And all the remainder of the house of Israel,

Who have been sustained from the time of the belly,

Who have been nurtured since the womb.

⁴Up to your old age,

I am he,

And I will support you up to advanced years.

I act and I nurture,

And I support and deliver.

⁵To whom will you compare me

And make me equal?

Or liken me,

So that we may be similar?

⁶They shake out gold from a bag

And weigh silver by the beam of a balance.

They hire a metalworker,

And he makes it into a god.

Then they prostrate themselves,

And indeed they worship.

⁷They lift it up;

They carry it on the shoulder

And put it down in its place,

And it stands there.

It does not move away from its place.

Moreover, if one cries out to it,

It does not answer.

It cannot save a person from his distress.

⁸Remember this

And show yourselves men;

Lay this, you transgressors,

To heart again.

⁹Remember the former things of old,

For I am God,

And there is no other.

I am God,

And there is no-one like me,

¹⁰Who tells from the start the final state,

And from old time things which have not been done,

Who says,

‘My counsel will stand firm,

And I will carry out all of my will.’

¹¹I call a bird of prey from the east

– The man on whom I have decided –

From a distant country.

I have spoken,

And I will bring it to pass;

I have designed it,

And I will also carry it out.

¹²Listen to me,

You stout-hearted men,

Who are far from righteousness.

¹³I have brought my righteousness near;

It is not far away,

And my salvation will not be long coming.

And I have appointed salvation in Zion for Israel my splendour.