Isaiah 48

XLVIII

1Hear this, O house of Jacob,

Ye that are called by the name of Israel,

Ye that flow from the fountain of Judah;

Ye that swear by the name of Jehovah,

And make mention of the God of Israel;

But not in sincerity, nor in truth.

2For they take their name from the Holy City,

And stay themselves upon the God of Israel;

Jehovah of hosts is his name.

3The former events I declared of old;

Yea, from my mouth they proceeded, and I made them known:

On a sudden I effected them, and they came to pass.

4Because I knew that thou wast obstinate,

And thy neck was an iron sinew,

And thy forehead brass;

5Therefore I declared them to thee of old;

Before they came to pass I made them known to thee;

Lest thou shouldest say: Mine idol effected them;

And my graven image, and my molten image, hath ordered them.

6Thou hast heard; have now regard to the whole of it:

And will ye not acknowledge it?

From this time I will make thee hear new things;

Even hitherto secret, so that thou couldest not have known them.

7They are produced now, and not of old;

And before this day thou hast not heard of them:

Lest thou shouldest say: Behold, I knew them.

8Yea, thou hast not heard; yea, thou hast not known;

Yea, from of old thine ear was not opened:

For I knew that thou wouldest certainly deal falsely,

And that Apostate was thy name from the womb.

9For my name's sake I will defer mine anger;

And for the sake of my praise I will withhold it from thee,

That I may not utterly cut thee off.

10Behold, I have purified thee in the fire, but not as silver;

I have tried thee in the furnace of affliction.

11For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it; for how should my name be profaned?

And I will not give my glory unto another.

12Hearken unto me, O Jacob,

And Israel, whom I have called:

I am He; I am the first; I also am the last.

13Yea, my hand hath founded the earth,

And my right hand hath expanded the heavens;

When I summon them; they present themselves together.

14Gather yourselves together all of you, and hear:

Who among you hath declared these things?

He, whom Jehovah hath loved, will execute his pleasure on Babylon,

And his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

15I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him:

I have brought him, and his way shall be prosperous.

16Draw ye near unto me, and hear this:

I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;

From the time that it existed, there am I:

And now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his Spirit

17Thus saith Jehovah,

Thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel;

I am Jehovah, thy God,

Who teacheth thee what will tend to thy profit;

Who directeth thee in the way wherein thou shouldest go.

18O that thou hadst attended to my commandments!

Then had thy peace been like a river,

And thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.

19Thy seed also had been as the sand of the sea,

And the offspring of thy bowels as the produce of the bowels thereof;

It should not have been cut off,

Neither its name been destroyed from before me.

20Go ye forth from Babylon,

Flee ye from the Chaldeans with the voice of joy:

Publish ye this, make it to be heard,

Utter it forth even to the end of the earth;

Say ye: Jehovah hath redeemed his servant Jacob,

21And they thirsted not in the desert, through which He led them;

He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them:

Yea, He clave the rock, and the waters gushed out.

22There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the wicked.

Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.

Learn More About Isaiah 1830, 1842 (John Jones alias Ioan Tegid)

Isaiah 48

God’s Stubborn People

1“Listen to me, O family of Jacob,

you who are called by the name of Israel

and born into the family of Judah.

Listen, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord

and call on the God of Israel.

You don’t keep your promises,

2even though you call yourself the holy city

and talk about depending on the God of Israel,

whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

3Long ago I told you what was going to happen.

Then suddenly I took action,

and all my predictions came true.

4For I know how stubborn and obstinate you are.

Your necks are as unbending as iron.

Your heads are as hard as bronze.

5That is why I told you what would happen;

I told you beforehand what I was going to do.

Then you could never say, ‘My idols did it.

My wooden image and metal god commanded it to happen!’

6You have heard my predictions and seen them fulfilled,

but you refuse to admit it.

Now I will tell you new things,

secrets you have not yet heard.

7They are brand new, not things from the past.

So you cannot say, ‘We knew that all the time!’

8“Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new,

things you never heard of before.

For I know so well what traitors you are.

You have been rebels from birth.

9Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name,

I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out.

10I have refined you, but not as silver is refined.

Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.

11I will rescue you for my sake—

yes, for my own sake!

I will not let my reputation be tarnished,

and I will not share my glory with idols!

Freedom from Babylon

12“Listen to me, O family of Jacob,

Israel my chosen one!

I alone am God,

the First and the Last.

13It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth,

my right hand that spread out the heavens above.

When I call out the stars,

they all appear in order.”

14Have any of your idols ever told you this?

Come, all of you, and listen:

The Lord has chosen Cyrus as his ally.

He will use him to put an end to the empire of Babylon

and to destroy the Babylonian#48:14 Or Chaldean. armies.

15“I have said it: I am calling Cyrus!

I will send him on this errand and will help him succeed.

16Come closer, and listen to this.

From the beginning I have told you plainly what would happen.”

And now the Sovereign Lord and his Spirit

have sent me with this message.

17This is what the Lord says—

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you what is good for you

and leads you along the paths you should follow.

18Oh, that you had listened to my commands!

Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river

and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.

19Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore—

too many to count!

There would have been no need for your destruction,

or for cutting off your family name.”

20Yet even now, be free from your captivity!

Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.#48:20a Or the Chaldeans.

Sing out this message!

Shout it to the ends of the earth!

The Lord has redeemed his servants,

the people of Israel.#48:20b Hebrew his servant, Jacob. See note on 14:1.

21They were not thirsty

when he led them through the desert.

He divided the rock,

and water gushed out for them to drink.

22“But there is no peace for the wicked,”

says the Lord.

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