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.
Isaiah 48
48
Israel Refined for God’s Glory
1Hear this, O house of Jacob,
# ch. 43:1 who are called by the name of Israel,
and #Ps. 68:26 who came from the waters of Judah,
#
Jer. 7:9
who swear by the name of the Lord
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
2For they call themselves after the holy city,
# [Mic. 3:11] and stay themselves on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
3“The former things #ch. 41:26I declared of old;
they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4Because I know that #[Ex. 32:9]you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead brass,
5 # [See ver. 3 above] I declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, #See Jer. 44:15-17‘My idol did them,
my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’
6“You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forth #See ch. 43:19I announce to you new things,
hidden things that you have not known.
7They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8You have never heard, you have never known,
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,
and that #ch. 46:8from before birth you were called a rebel.
9 # [Mal. 3:6] “For my name’s sake I defer my anger;
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
10Behold, I have refined you, #[1 Pet. 1:7] but not as silver;
# [Deut. 4:20; Ezek. 22:18, 20, 22] I have tried#48:10 Or I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
11 # ch. 43:25; Ezek. 20:9 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name#48:11 Hebrew lacks my name be profaned?
# ch. 42:8 My glory I will not give to another.
The Lord’s Call to Israel
12“Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; #See ch. 41:4I am the first,
and I am the last.
13My hand #ch. 51:13; [Ps. 102:25; Heb. 1:10] laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand #ch. 51:13; [Ps. 102:25; Heb. 1:10] spread out the heavens;
# [ch. 40:26] when I call to them,
they stand forth together.
14“Assemble, all of you, and listen!
# [ch. 41:26] Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
# ch. 46:10, 11 he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against #ch. 23:13; 47:1the Chaldeans.
15 # See ch. 45:1-3 I, even I, have spoken and called him;
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 # ch. 45:19 Draw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now #ch. 61:1the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.
17Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18 #
Ps. 81:13; Luke 19:42; [Deut. 32:29] Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
# ch. 66:12 Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19 # ch. 10:22; Gen. 22:17; Hos. 1:10 your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.”
20 # ch. 52:11; Jer. 50:8; 51:6, 45; Zech. 2:6, 7 Go out from Babylon, flee from #ch. 23:13; 47:1 Chaldea,
declare this #[ch. 35:10; 52:9] with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it out to the end of the earth;
say, #ch. 44:23; [Ex. 19:4-6]“The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 # [ch. 35:6; 44:3; Deut. 8:15] They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
# ch. 43:19; Ex. 17:6; Num. 20:11 he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock and the water gushed out.
22 # ch. 57:21 “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”
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