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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Isaiah 48: GW
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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 Is Stubborn
1People of Jacob, listen to me.
You are called by the name of Israel.
You come from the family line of Judah.
You make promises in the name of the Lord.
You pray to Israel’s God.
But you aren’t honest.
You don’t mean what you say.
2You call yourselves citizens of the holy city of Jerusalem.
You say you depend on Israel’s God.
His name is the Lord Who Rules Over All. He says,
3“Long ago I told you ahead of time what would happen.
I announced it and made it known.
Then all of a sudden I acted.
And those things took place.
4I knew how stubborn you were.
Your neck muscles were as unbending as iron.
Your forehead was as hard as bronze.
5So I told you those things long ago.
Before they happened I announced them to you.
I did it so you would not be able to say,
‘My statues of gods did them.
My wooden and metal gods made them happen.’
6You have heard me tell you these things.
Think about all of them.
Won’t you admit they have taken place?
“From now on I will tell you about new things that will happen.
I have not made them known to you before.
7These things are taking place right now.
They did not happen long ago.
You have not heard of them before today.
So you can’t say,
‘Oh, yes. I already knew about them.’
8You have not heard or understood what I said.
Your ears have been plugged up for a long time.
I knew very well that you would turn against me.
From the day you were born, you have refused to obey me.
9For the honor of my own name I wait to show my anger.
I hold it back from you so people will continue to praise me.
I do not want to destroy you completely.
10I have tested you in the furnace of suffering.
I have tried to make you pure.
But I did not use as much heat as it takes to make silver pure.
11I tried to purify you for my own honor.
I did it for the honor of my name.
How can I let myself be dishonored?
I will not give up my glory to any other god.
Israel Is Set Free
12“Family of Jacob, listen to me.
People of Israel, pay attention.
I have chosen you.
I am the first and the last.
I am the Lord.
13With my own hand I laid the foundations of the earth.
With my right hand I spread out the heavens.
When I send for them,
they come and stand ready to obey me.
14“People of Israel, come together and listen to me.
What other god has said ahead of time that certain things would happen?
I have chosen Cyrus.
He will carry out my plans against Babylon.
He will use his power against the Babylonians.
15I myself have spoken.
I have chosen him to carry out my purpose.
I will bring him to Babylon.
He will succeed in what I tell him to do.
16“Come close and listen to me.
“From the first time I said Cyrus was coming,
I did not do it in secret.
When he comes, I will be there.”
The Lord and King has filled me with his Spirit.
People of Israel, he has sent me to you.
17The Lord is the Holy One of Israel.
He sets his people free. He says to them,
“I am the Lord your God.
I teach you what is best for you.
I direct you in the way you should go.
18I wish you would pay attention to my commands.
If you did, peace would flow over you like a river.
Godliness would sweep over you like the waves of the ocean.
19Your family would be like the sand.
Your children after you would be as many as the grains of sand by the sea.
It would be impossible to count them.
I would always accept the members of your family line.
They would never disappear or be destroyed.”
20People of Israel, leave Babylon!
Hurry up and get away from the Babylonians!
Here is what I want you to announce.
Make it known with shouts of joy.
Send the news out from one end of the earth to the other.
Say, “The Lord has set free his servant Jacob.”
21They didn’t get thirsty when he led them through the deserts.
He made water flow out of the rock for them.
He broke the rock open,
and water came out of it.
22“There is no peace for those who are evil,” says the Lord.
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