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.
Currently Selected:
Isaiah 48: GW
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
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
1Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, Who are called by the name of Israel, And from the waters of Judah came out, Who are swearing by the name of Jehovah, And of the God of Israel make mention, Not in truth nor in righteousness.
2For from the Holy City they have been called, And on the God of Israel been supported, Jehovah of Hosts [is] His name.
3The former things from that time I declared, And from my mouth they have gone forth, And I proclaim them, Suddenly I have done, and it cometh.
4From my knowing that thou art obstinate, And a sinew of iron thy neck, And thy forehead brass,
5And I declare to thee from that time, Before it cometh I have caused thee to hear, Lest thou say, ‘Mine idol hath done them, And my graven image, And my molten image did command them.
6Thou hast heard, see the whole of it, And ye, do ye not declare? I have caused thee to hear new things from this time, And things reserved that ye knew not.
7Now they have been produced and not from that time, Yea, before the day, and thou hast not heard them, Lest thou say, ‘Lo, I have known them.’
8Yea, thou hast not heard, Yea, thou hast not known, Yea, from that time not opened hath thine ear, For I have known thou dealest treacherously, And ‘Transgressor from the belly,’ One is crying to thee.
9For My name's sake I defer Mine anger, And My praise I restrain for thee, So as not to cut thee off.
10Lo, I have refined thee, and not with silver, I have chosen thee in a furnace of affliction.
11For My sake, for Mine own sake, I do [it], For how is it polluted? And Mine honour to another I give not.
12Hearken to me, O Jacob, and Israel, My called one, I [am] He, I [am] first, and I [am] last;
13Also, My hand hath founded earth, And My right hand stretched out the heavens, I am calling unto them, they stand together.
14Be gathered all of you, and hear, Who among them did declare these things? Jehovah hath loved him, He doth His pleasure on Babylon, And His arm [is on] the Chaldeans.
15I — I have spoken, yea, I have called him, I have brought him in, And he hath made prosperous his way.
16Come ye near unto me, hear this, Not from the beginning in secret spake I, From the time of its being, there [am] I, And now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and His Spirit.
17Thus said Jehovah, thy redeemer, The Holy One of Israel, ‘I [am] Jehovah thy God, teaching thee to profit, Causing thee to tread in the way thou goest.
18O that thou hadst attended to My commands, Then as a river is thy peace, And thy righteousness as billows of the sea,
19And as sand is thy seed, And the offspring of thy bowels as its gravel, Not cut off nor destroyed his name before Me.
20Go out from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, With a voice of singing declare, Cause ye this to be heard, Bring it forth unto the end of the earth, Say, Redeemed hath Jehovah His servant Jacob.
21And they have not thirsted in waste places, He hath caused them to go on, Waters from a rock he hath caused to flow to them, Yea, he cleaveth a rock, and flow do waters.
22There is no peace, said Jehovah, to the wicked!
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society