Translation: ESV
Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts.
Idols ultimately fall, but the God of Israel is eternal.
▸Babylon's chief gods, Bel (Marduk) and Nebo, fall.
Babylon's chief gods, Bel (Marduk) and Nebo, fall. Their idols are loaded onto animals like baggage by conquerors. This declares the complete subjugation of the gods of Babylon.
Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb.
Unlike idols, God is not one whom we carry but one who carries us.
▸The decisive difference between the LORD and idols: idols are carried by people, but the LORD carries people.
Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.
God takes responsibility for what he has created throughout their whole life.
▸'To old age, to gray hairs'—God's love lasts a lifetime, to the very end.
remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
God's acts in history prove his uniqueness.
▸'There is none like me'—the declaration of God's absolute uniqueness.
I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.
God's salvation will surely, surely come.
▸God's salvation will not delay.