Isaiah 48
48
God is LORD of the Future
1Listen to this, people of Israel,
you that are descended from Judah:
You swear by the name of the LORD
and claim to worship the God of Israel —
but you don't mean a word you say.
2And yet you are proud to say
that you are citizens of the holy city
and that you depend on Israel's God,
whose name is the LORD Almighty.
3The LORD says to Israel,
“Long ago I predicted what would take place;
then suddenly I made it happen.
4I knew that you would prove to be stubborn,
as rigid as iron and unyielding as bronze.
5And so I predicted your future long ago,
announcing events before they took place,
to prevent you from claiming
that your idols and images made them happen.
6“All I foretold has now taken place;
you have to admit my predictions were right.
Now I will tell you of new things to come,
events that I did not reveal before.
7Only now am I making them happen;
nothing like this took place in the past.
If it had, you would claim that you knew all about it.
8I knew that you couldn't be trusted,
that you have always been known as a rebel.
That is why you never heard of this at all,
why no word of it ever came to your ears.
9“In order that people will praise my name,
I am holding my anger in check;
I am keeping it back and will not destroy you.
10I have tested you in the fire of suffering,
as silver is refined in a furnace.
But I have found that you are worthless.
11What I do is done for my own sake —
I will not let my name be dishonoured
or let anyone else share the glory
that should be mine and mine alone.”
Cyrus, the LORD's Chosen Leader
12 #
Is 44.6; Rev 1.17; 22.13 The LORD says,
“Listen to me, Israel, the people I have called!
I am God, the first, the last, the only God!
13My hands made the earth's foundations
and spread the heavens out.
When I summon earth and sky,
they come at once and present themselves.
14“Assemble and listen, all of you!
None of the gods could predict
that the man I have chosen would attack Babylon;
he will do what I want him to do.
15I am the one who spoke and called him;
I led him out and gave him success.
16“Now come close to me and hear what I say.
From the beginning I have spoken openly,
and have always made my words come true.”
(Now the Sovereign LORD has given me his power and sent me.)
The LORD's Plan for his People
17The holy God of Israel,
the LORD who saves you, says:
“I am the LORD your God,
the one who wants to teach you for your own good
and direct you in the way you should go.
18“If only you had listened to my commands!
Then blessings would have flowed for you
like a stream that never goes dry!
Victory would have come to you
like the waves that roll on the shore.
19Your descendants would be as numerous as grains of sand,
and I would have made sure they were never destroyed.”
20 #
Rev 18.4
Go out from Babylon, go free!
Shout the news gladly; make it known everywhere:
“The LORD has saved his servant Israel!”
21When the LORD led his people through a hot, dry desert,
they did not suffer from thirst.
He made water come from a rock for them;
he split the rock open, and water flowed out.
22 #
Is 57.21
“There is no safety for sinners,” says the LORD.
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Isaiah 48: GNBUK
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Isaiah 48
48
The LORD Will Refine His People Before He Rescues Them from Babylon
1Listen to this, descendants of Jacob!
You are given the name of Israel.
You are descended from Judah.#48:1 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text “the fountain of Judah.”
You take oaths by the name of the Lord.
You acknowledge the God of Israel,
but you are not honest or sincere.
2You call yourselves ⌞citizens⌟ of the holy city.
You depend on the God of Israel.
His name is the Lord of Armies.
3From the beginning I revealed to you what would happen.
These words came out of my mouth,
and I made them known.
Suddenly, I acted, and they happened.
4I know that you are stubborn.
Like iron, you are hardheaded.
Like bronze, nothing gets through your thick skull.
5That is why I revealed to you what would happen long ago.
I told you about them before they happened.
⌞I did this⌟ so you couldn’t say,
“My gods have done these things.
My carved idols and my metal idols
have commanded them to happen.”
6You’ve heard these words.
Now look at all this.
Won’t you admit it?
From now on I will reveal to you new things,
hidden things that you do not know.
7They are created now, not in the past.
You haven’t heard about them before today,
so you can’t say that you already knew about them.
8You have never heard about them.
You have never known about them.
Your ears have never been open to hear them before.
I know that you’ve acted very treacherously
and that you have been called a rebel since you were born.
9For my name’s sake I’ll be patient.
For my glory’s sake I’ll hold my anger back from you,
rather than destroy you.
10I have refined you,
but not like silver.
I have tested you in the furnace of suffering.
11I am doing this for myself, only for myself.
Why should my name be dishonored?
I will not give my glory to anyone else.
12Listen to me, Jacob,
Israel, whom I have called.
I am the one.
I am the first and the last.
13My hand laid the foundation of the earth.
My right hand stretched out the heavens.
When I call for them, they both stand.
14Gather together, all of you, and listen.
What idol has revealed such things?
The Lord loves Cyrus.
He will carry out the Lord’s plan against Babylon.
He will use his strength against the Babylonians.
15I alone have spoken.
I have called him.
I will bring him here, and he will succeed.
16Come here. Listen to this:
From the beginning I have spoken nothing in private.
From the time it took place, I was there.
Now the Almighty Lord has sent me and his Spirit.
17This is what the Lord, your Defender, the Holy One of Israel, says:
I am the Lord your God.
I teach you what is best for you.
I lead you where you should go.
18If only you had listened to my commands!
Your peace would be like a river ⌞that never runs dry⌟.
Your righteousness would be like waves on the sea.
19Your descendants would be like sand.
Your children would be like its grains.
Their names would not be cut off or wiped out in my presence.
20Leave Babylon; flee from the Babylonians!
Shout for joy as you tell it and announce it.
Shout it out to the ends of the earth.
Say that the Lord has reclaimed his servant Jacob.
21They weren’t thirsty when he led them through the deserts.
He made water flow from a rock for them.
He split a rock, and water gushed out.
22“There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.