¹Put on therefore, as God's chosen ones,  ²holy and beloved, inward parts of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering;

Bearing one another and forgiving  ¹one another, if anyone should have a complaint against anyone; even as the  ²Lord forgave you, so also should you forgive.

And over all these things put on  ¹love, which is the uniting bond of  ²perfectness.

And let the  ¹peace of Christ  ²arbitrate in your hearts, to  ³which  ⁴also you were called in one Body; and be  ⁵thankful.

Let the  ¹word of Christ  ²dwell in you  ³richly  ⁴in all wisdom,  ⁵teaching and admonishing  ⁶one another with  ⁷psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,  ⁵singing with  ⁸grace in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do in word or in deed, do all things in the  ¹name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

 ¹Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter against them.

Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing in the Lord.

Fathers, do not vex your children, that they may not be disheartened.

Slaves, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart fearing the Lord.

Whatever you do, work from the soul as to the Lord and not to men,

Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the  ¹inheritance as recompense. You  ²serve the Lord Christ.

For he who does unrighteously will receive what he unrighteously did, and there is no respect of persons.

Masters, grant to your slaves that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

 ¹Persevere in  ²prayer,  ³watching in it with thanksgiving,

Praying at the same time for us also, that God would open to us a  ¹door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ (because of which also I am bound),

That I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are without,  ¹redeeming the time.

Let your speech be always with  ¹grace, seasoned with  ²salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

 ¹Bel has bowed down;  ²Nebo stoops;
Their idols are on beasts and cattle;
The things which you carry are a  ³burden,
A load for a weary beast.

They stoop and have bowed down together;
They are not able to escape the burden;
But they themselves have gone into captivity.

Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
You who have been borne from birth,
Who have been carried from the womb,

Even unto old age, I am He;
Even unto your gray-haired years, I will bear you.
I have made and I will carry,
And I will bear and deliver.

To whom will you liken Me,
And with whom will you make Me equal
And compare Me, that we should be considered alike?

Those who lavish gold from the purse
And weigh silver in scales
And hire a goldsmith, and he makes a god —
They bow down and even worship it;

They lift it up on their shoulder; they carry it
And set it in its place and stand it up.
It will not move from its place;
Someone even cries out to it, and it does not answer,
Nor save him from his distress.

Remember this and stand fast;
Put this in your heart, O transgressors.

Remember the former things of old,
That I am God and there is no one else;
I am God and there is no one like Me,

Who declares the end from the beginning
And things which have not been done from ancient times,
Saying, My counsel will stand,
And all My desire I will accomplish;

Who calls for a  ¹bird of prey from the east,
And from a distant land a man to be My counselor.
Indeed, I have spoken; surely I will bring it to pass.
I have purposed; surely I will do it.

Listen to Me, O hardhearted ones,
Who are far from righteousness.

I will bring My righteousness near — it is not far off;
And My salvation will not delay;
And I will give salvation in Zion,
And to Israel My glory.

Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground where there is no throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans;
For you will no longer be called
Tender and delicate.

Take millstones and grind meal;
Remove your veil;
Strip off your flowing skirt; uncover your thigh;
Cross over the rivers.

Your nakedness will be uncovered;
Your shame will also be seen;
I will take vengeance and will not spare any man.

Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.

Sit in silence and go in darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans;
For you will no longer be called
The queen of kingdoms.

I was angry with My people;
I profaned My inheritance,
And I have delivered them up into your hand.
You have not shown any mercy to them;
You have made your yoke
Very heavy upon the elderly.

You have said, I will be
A queen forever;
You did not put these things into your heart;
You did not remember the end of  ¹them.

And now hear this, O lover of pleasure,
Who dwells securely
And says in  ¹your heart,
I am, and there is none besides me;
I will not  ²dwell as a widow,
And I will not know loss of children.

But these two things will come upon you
Suddenly, in one day:
Loss of children and widowhood;
In full measure they will come upon you
In spite of the multitude of your sorceries;
In spite of the great power of your spells.

And you felt secure in your wickedness;
You said, No one sees me.
Your wisdom and your knowledge
Have seduced you,
And you said in your heart,
I am, and there is none besides me.

But evil will come upon you,
And you will not know its origin;
Disaster will fall upon you
Which you cannot expiate for;
Desolation will come upon you suddenly,
About which you do not know.

Stand now with your enchantments
And the multitude of your sorceries,
With which you have labored from your youth;
Perhaps you can profit;
Perhaps you will inspire terror.

You are wearied with the multitude of your counsels.
Let the astrologers, who gaze at the stars,
Who predict according to the new moons,
Stand up and save you from what is coming upon you.

Indeed, they are like stubble;
Fire consumes them;
They cannot deliver themselves
From the power of the flame;
There is no coal for warming themselves,
Nor the light of a fire to sit before.

So will those with whom you have labored be to you,
Those who have traded with you from your youth;
Each one will wander off in his own direction;
There will be no one to save you.

Hear this, O house of Jacob,
Who are called by the name of Israel;
And who came out from the  ¹waters of Judah,
Who swear by the name of Jehovah
And make mention of the God of Israel,
But not in truth nor in righteousness.

For they call themselves after the holy city
And lean upon the God of Israel;
Jehovah of hosts is His name.

I have declared the former things from the beginning;
And they went out from My mouth, and I let them hear them;
I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

Because I knew that you are obstinate,
And your neck is an iron sinew,
And your forehead bronze;

Therefore I declared them to you long ago;
Before things came to pass I let you hear;
Lest you should say, My idol has done them,
And my graven image and my molten image commanded them.

You have heard; look at all this. And will you not declare it?
From this time I will let you hear new things
And hidden things which you have not known.

They have been created now, and not long ago;
And before this day you have not even heard them;
Lest you should say, Indeed, I knew them.

You also have not heard and have not known;
Your ears were not even open from that time;
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously
And would be called a transgressor from the womb.

For My name's sake I will defer My anger,
And for the sake of My praise I will restrain it for you,
In order not to cut you off.

Indeed, I have refined you but not like silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

For My own sake, yes, for My own sake, I will do it,
For how can My name be profaned?
And I will not give My glory to another.

Listen to Me, O Jacob,
And Israel, whom I called;
I am He; I am the First,
I am also the Last.

Indeed, My hand laid the foundations of the earth,
And My right hand spread out the heavens;
When I call to them,
They stand together.

Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
Jehovah loves  ¹him; he will do His pleasure
On Babylon, and His arm will be upon the Chaldeans.

I, even I, have spoken; indeed, I have called him;
I have brought him, and his way will prosper.

Draw near to Me and listen to this:
From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;
From the time it took place, I was there.
And now the Lord Jehovah
Has sent  ¹me and His  ²Spirit.

Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel,
I am Jehovah your God,
Who teaches you to do that which is profitable,
Who leads you in the way that you should go.

If only you had hearkened to My commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea,

And your seed would have been like the sand,
And the offspring of your bowels like the gravel;
His name would not have been cut off
Or destroyed before Me.

Come out from  ¹Babylon;
Flee from the Chaldeans;
With a voice of shouting declare;
Let them hear this,
Send it out unto the end of the earth;
Say, Jehovah has redeemed
His servant Jacob.

And they did not thirst
When He led them through the dry places;
He caused water to flow
From the rock for them;
And He split the rock,
And the waters gushed out.

There is no peace, says Jehovah, for the wicked.

Listen to  ¹me, O coastlands,
And hearken, you peoples from afar.
Jehovah has called me from the womb;
From the bowels of my mother He has made mention of my name.

And He has made my mouth like a sharp sword;
He has concealed me in the shadow of His hand,
And He has made me a polished arrow;
He has hidden me in His quiver.

And He said to me, You are My servant,
 ¹Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

But I said, I have  ¹labored in vain;
I have used up my strength for nothing and vanity;
Yet surely the justice due to me is with Jehovah,
And my recompense with my God.

And now says Jehovah,
Who formed  ¹Me from the  ²womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel would be gathered to Him;
And I will be glorified in the sight of Jehovah,
And My God will be My strength.

He says, It is too small a thing that You would be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob
And bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will also set You as a  ¹light of the nations
That You may be My  ²salvation unto the ends of the earth.

Thus says Jehovah,
The Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One,
To the  ¹despised One, the One abhorred by the nation,
The One subjected to tyrants,
Kings will see and arise,
And princes will bow down;
Because of Jehovah, who is faithful,
The Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You.

Thus says Jehovah,
In an acceptable time I have answered You,
And in a day of salvation I have helped You;
And I will preserve You and give You for a  ¹covenant of the people,
To restore the  ²land, to  ³apportion the desolate inheritances,

To say to the prisoners, Come forth, / To say to those who are in darkness, Show yourselves.

 ¹They will feed along the roads, / And their pasture will be on all the bare heights;

They will not hunger or thirst;
Neither the scorching heat nor the sun will strike them;
For He who has compassion on them will lead them
And will guide them beside the springs of water;

And I will make all My mountains into a road,
And My highways will be raised up.

Indeed, these will come from a distance,
And indeed these will come from the north and the west,
And these from the land of the  ¹Sinim.

Give a ringing shout, O heavens, and exult, O earth,
And break forth into shouting, O mountains;
For Jehovah has comforted His people
And will have compassion on His afflicted ones.

But Zion has said, Jehovah has forsaken me,
And the Lord has forgotten me.

Can a woman forget her nursing child,
That she would not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Even though they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.

Indeed, I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.

 ¹Your children make haste;
Your destroyers and those who lay you waste
Will go forth from you.

Lift up your eyes and look around;
All of these gather themselves together and come to you.
As I live, declares Jehovah,
You will put all of them on like an ornament
And gird yourself with them like a bride.

For your waste and desolate places
And your devastated land —
For you will be too constricted now because of its inhabitants,
And those who swallowed you up will be far away.

The children of whom you were bereaved
Will yet say in your ears,
This place is too constricted for me;
Make room for me that I may dwell here.

Then you will say in your heart,
Who has borne these for me,
Since I have been bereaved of children and am barren,
An exile and driven about?
And who brought these up?
Indeed, I was left alone;
From where did these come?

Thus says the Lord Jehovah,
Indeed, I will lift up My hand to the nations,
And unto the peoples I will lift up My banner;
And they will bring your sons in their arms,
And they will carry your daughters on their shoulders.

And kings will be your foster fathers;
And their princesses will be those who nurse you;
They will bow down to you with their faces toward the earth
And lick the dust of your feet;
And you will know that I am Jehovah;
Those who wait on Me will not be ashamed.

Can the booty be taken from the strong man,
Or the lawful captives be delivered?

Surely, thus says Jehovah,
Even the captive may be taken from the strong man,
And the booty may be released from the tyrant;
For I will strive with those who strive with you,
And I will save your children;

And I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh;
And they will be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine;
Then all flesh will know
That I am Jehovah your Savior
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.