Isaiah 48:1-22
48 Hear this, O house of Jacob,You who call yourselves by the name of Israel+And who have come from the waters of* Judah,You who swear by the name of Jehovah+And who call on the God of Israel,Though not in truth and righteousness.+
2 For they call themselves after the holy city+And seek the support of the God of Israel,+Whose name is Jehovah of armies.
3 “The former* things I told you long ago.
From my own mouth they went out,And I made them known.+
Suddenly I took action, and they came about.+
4 Because I knew how stubborn you are—That your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead is copper+—
5 I told you long ago.
Before it came about, I caused you to hear it,So that you could not say, ‘My idol did this;My carved image and my metal image* commanded this.’
6 You have heard and seen all of this.
Will you not declare it?+
From now on I am announcing new things to you,+Guarded secrets that you have not known.
7 Only now are they being created, and not long ago,Things that you never heard before today,So that you cannot say, ‘Look! I already know them.’
8 No, you have not heard,+ you have not known,And in the past your ears were not opened.
For I know that you are very treacherous,+And you have been called a transgressor from birth.+
9 But for the sake of my name I will hold back my anger;+For my own praise I will restrain myself toward you,And I will not do away with you.+
10 Look! I have refined you, but not in the form of silver.+
I have tested* you in the smelting furnace of affliction.+
11 For my own sake, for my own sake I will act,+For how could I let myself be profaned?+
I give my glory to no one else.*
12 Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called.
I am the same One.+ I am the first; I am also the last.+
13 My own hand laid the foundation of the earth,+And my right hand spread out the heavens.+
When I call to them, they stand up together.
14 Gather together, all of you, and listen.
Who among them has announced these things?
Jehovah has loved him.+
He will carry out his delight against Babylon,+And his arm will come against the Chal·deʹans.+
15 I myself have spoken, and I have called him.+
I have brought him, and his way will be successful.+
16 Come near to me, and hear this.
From the very start I have not spoken in secret.+
From the time it happened I was there.”
And now the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has sent me, and* his spirit.
17 This is what Jehovah says, your Repurchaser, the Holy One of Israel:+
“I, Jehovah, am your God,The One teaching you to benefit yourself,*+The One guiding you in the way you should walk.+
18 If only you would pay attention to my commandments!+
Then your peace would become just like a river+And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.+
19 Your offspring* would be as many as the sandAnd your descendants as its grains.+
Their name would never be cut off or annihilated from before me.”
20 Go out from Babylon!+
Flee from the Chal·deʹans!
Announce it with a joyful cry! Proclaim it!+
Make it known to the ends of the earth.+
Say: “Jehovah has repurchased his servant Jacob.+
21 They did not become thirsty when he led them through devastated places.+
He caused water to flow out of the rock for them;He split a rock and made water gush out.”+
22 “There is no peace,” says Jehovah, “for the wicked.”+
Footnotes
^ Or possibly, “who are descended from.”
^ Lit., “first.”
^ Or “molten statue.”
^ Or “examined.” Or possibly, “chosen.”
^ Or “I do not share my glory with anyone else.”
^ Or “along with.”
^ Or “for your own good.”
^ Lit., “seed.”