Isaiah 48
Good News Translation
God Is Lord of the Future
48 Listen to this, people of Israel,
you that are descended from Judah:
You swear by the name of the Lord
and claim to worship the God of Israel—
but you don't mean a word you say.
2 And yet you are proud to say
that you are citizens of the holy city
and that you depend on Israel's God,
whose name is the Lord Almighty.
3 The Lord says to Israel,
“Long ago I predicted what would take place;
then suddenly I made it happen.
4 I knew that you would prove to be stubborn,
as rigid as iron and unyielding as bronze.
5 And so I predicted your future long ago,
announcing events before they took place,
to keep you from claiming
that your idols and images made them happen.
6 “All I foretold has now taken place;
you have to admit my predictions were right.
Now I will tell you of new things to come,
events that I did not reveal before.
7 Only now am I making them happen;
nothing like this took place in the past.
If it had, you would claim that you knew all about it.
8 I knew that you couldn't be trusted,
that you have always been known as a rebel.
That is why you never heard of this at all,
why no word of it ever came to your ears.
9 “In order that people will praise my name,
I am holding my anger in check;
I am keeping it back and will not destroy you.
10 I have tested you in the fire of suffering,
as silver is refined in a furnace.
But I have found that you are worthless.
11 What I do is done for my own sake—
I will not let my name be dishonored
or let anyone else share the glory
that should be mine and mine alone.”
Cyrus, the Lord's Chosen Leader
12 (A)The Lord says,
“Listen to me, Israel, the people I have called!
I am God, the first, the last, the only God!
13 My hands made the earth's foundations
and spread the heavens out.
When I summon earth and sky,
they come at once and present themselves.
14 “Assemble and listen, all of you!
None of the gods could predict
that the man I have chosen would attack Babylon;
he will do what I want him to do.
15 I am the one who spoke and called him;
I led him out and gave him success.
16 “Now come close to me and hear what I say.
From the beginning I have spoken openly
and have always made my words come true.”
(Now the Sovereign Lord has given me his power and sent me.)
The Lord's Plan for His People
17 The holy God of Israel,
the Lord who saves you, says:
“I am the Lord your God,
the one who wants to teach you for your own good
and direct you in the way you should go.
18 “If only you had listened to my commands!
Then blessings would have flowed for you
like a stream that never goes dry.
Victory would have come to you
like the waves that roll on the shore.
19 Your descendants would be as numerous as grains of sand,
and I would have made sure they were never destroyed.”
20 (B)Go out from Babylon, go free!
Shout the news gladly; make it known everywhere:
“The Lord has saved his servant Israel!”
21 When the Lord led his people through a hot, dry desert,
they did not suffer from thirst.
He made water come from a rock for them;
he split the rock open, and water flowed out.
22 (C)“There is no safety for sinners,” says the Lord.
Isaiah 48
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God the Creator and Redeemer
48 Hear this, O house of Jacob,
who are called by the name of Israel
and who came forth from the loins[a] of Judah,
who swear by the name of the Lord
and invoke the God of Israel
but not in truth or right.(A)
2 For they call themselves after the holy city
and lean on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name.(B)
3 The former things I declared long ago;
they went out from my mouth, and I made them known;
then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.(C)
4 Because I know that you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead brass,(D)
5 I declared them to you from long ago,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
so that you would not say, “My idol did them;
my carved image and my cast image commanded them.”(E)
6 You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forward I tell you new things,
hidden things that you have not known.(F)
7 They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
so that you could not say, “I already knew them.”
8 You have never heard; you have never known;
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would act very treacherously
and that from birth you were called a rebel.(G)
9 For my name’s sake I defer my anger;
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
so that I may not cut you off.(H)
10 See, I have refined you but not like[b] silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of adversity.(I)
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for why should my name[c] be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.(J)
12 Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called:
I am he; I am the first,
and I am the last.(K)
13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summon them,
they stand at attention.(L)
14 Assemble, all of you, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
The one the Lord loves shall perform his purpose against Babylon,
and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.(M)
15 I, even I, have spoken and called him;
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.(N)
16 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 the Lord God has sent me and his spirit.(O)
17 Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you how to succeed,
who leads you in the way you should go.(P)
18 O that you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your prosperity would have been like a river
and your success like the waves of the sea;(Q)
19 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.(R)
20 Go out from Babylon; flee from Chaldea;
declare this with a shout of joy; proclaim it;
send it forth to the end of the earth;
say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”(S)
21 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split open the rock, and the water gushed out.(T)
22 “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”(U)
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.