Isaiah 48
New Living Translation
God’s Stubborn People
48 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
you who are called by the name of Israel
and born into the family of Judah.
Listen, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord
and call on the God of Israel.
You don’t keep your promises,
2 even though you call yourself the holy city
and talk about depending on the God of Israel,
whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
3 Long ago I told you what was going to happen.
Then suddenly I took action,
and all my predictions came true.
4 For I know how stubborn and obstinate you are.
Your necks are as unbending as iron.
Your heads are as hard as bronze.
5 That is why I told you what would happen;
I told you beforehand what I was going to do.
Then you could never say, ‘My idols did it.
My wooden image and metal god commanded it to happen!’
6 You have heard my predictions and seen them fulfilled,
but you refuse to admit it.
Now I will tell you new things,
secrets you have not yet heard.
7 They are brand new, not things from the past.
So you cannot say, ‘We knew that all the time!’
8 “Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new,
things you never heard of before.
For I know so well what traitors you are.
You have been rebels from birth.
9 Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name,
I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out.
10 I have refined you, but not as silver is refined.
Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.
11 I will rescue you for my sake—
yes, for my own sake!
I will not let my reputation be tarnished,
and I will not share my glory with idols!
Freedom from Babylon
12 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
Israel my chosen one!
I alone am God,
the First and the Last.
13 It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth,
my right hand that spread out the heavens above.
When I call out the stars,
they all appear in order.”
14 Have any of your idols ever told you this?
Come, all of you, and listen:
The Lord has chosen Cyrus as his ally.
He will use him to put an end to the empire of Babylon
and to destroy the Babylonian[a] armies.
15 “I have said it: I am calling Cyrus!
I will send him on this errand and will help him succeed.
16 Come closer, and listen to this.
From the beginning I have told you plainly what would happen.”
And now the Sovereign Lord and his Spirit
have sent me with this message.
17 This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you what is good for you
and leads you along the paths you should follow.
18 Oh, that you had listened to my commands!
Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river
and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.
19 Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore—
too many to count!
There would have been no need for your destruction,
or for cutting off your family name.”
20 Yet even now, be free from your captivity!
Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.[b]
Sing out this message!
Shout it to the ends of the earth!
The Lord has redeemed his servants,
the people of Israel.[c]
21 They were not thirsty
when he led them through the desert.
He divided the rock,
and water gushed out for them to drink.
22 “But there is no peace for the wicked,”
says the Lord.
Isaiah 48
Lexham English Bible
Yahweh Refines Stubborn Israel
48 Hear this, house of Jacob,
who are called by the name of Israel
and came out from the waters of Judah,
who swear by the name of Yahweh,
and invoke[a] the God of Israel,
but not in truth
and not in righteousness.
2 For they call themselves after the holy city,[b]
and they lean on the God of Israel—
Yahweh of hosts is his name.
3 “I declared the former things from of old,[c]
and they went out from my mouth.
And I announced[d] them suddenly;
I acted,[e] and they came to pass,
4 because I know[f] that you are obstinate,
and your neck an iron sinew,
and your forehead bronze.
5 And I declared them to you from of old;
I announced[g] them to you before they came to pass
so that you would not say, ‘My idol did them,
and my image and my cast image commanded them.’
6 You have heard; see it all.
And will you not declare it?
I announce[h] new things to you from this time
and hidden things that[i] you have not known.
7 Now they are created, and not from of old,[j]
and before today, and you have not heard them
so that you could not say, “Look! I knew them.”
8 Neither have you heard, nor have you known,
nor from of old[k] has your ear been opened.
For I knew you would deal treacherously, very treacherously,
and you are called a rebel from the womb.
9 For the sake of my name I refrain from[l] my anger,
and for my praise I restrain it for you
so as not to cut you off.
10 Look! I have refined you, but[m] not like[n] silver;
I have chosen you in the furnace of misery.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake I do it;
for why should it[o] be defiled?
And I will not give my glory to another.”
Yahweh Frees Israel
12 “Listen to me, Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called:[p]
I am he. I am the first;
also I am the last.
13 Indeed, my hand founded the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summon[q] them, they stand in position together.
14 Assemble, all of you, and hear!
Who among them declared these things?
Yahweh loves him;
he shall perform[r] his wish against Babylon
and his arm against the Chaldeans.[s]
15 I, I myself, I have spoken!
Indeed, I have called him.
I have brought him,
and he will be successful in his way.
16 Draw near to me; hear this! I have not spoken in secrecy from the beginning;[t]
from the time it came to be,[u] there I have been;
And now the Lord Yahweh has sent me and his Spirit.”
17 Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, the holy one of Israel:
“I am Yahweh your God, who teaches[v] you to profit,
leads you in the way you should go.
18 O that you had listened attentively to my commandments!
Then[w] your prosperity would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 And your offspring would have been like the sand,
and the descendants of your body[x] like its grains.[y]
It would not be cut off,
and its name would not be destroyed from my presence.”
20 Go out from Babylon!
Flee from Chaldea!
Proclaim[z] it with a shout[aa] of rejoicing; proclaim[ab] this!
Send it forth[ac] to the end of the earth;
say, “Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 And when he led them through the deserts, they were not thirsty;
he made water flow from the rock for them,
and he split the rock,
and the water gushed out.
22 “There is no peace,” says Yahweh, “for the wicked.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 48:1 Literally “cause to remember”
- Isaiah 48:2 Literally “from the city of the holiness”
- Isaiah 48:3 Literally “then”
- Isaiah 48:3 Literally “caused to hear”
- Isaiah 48:3 Or “did”
- Isaiah 48:4 Literally “knowing me”
- Isaiah 48:5 Literally “caused to hear”
- Isaiah 48:6 Literally “cause to hear”
- Isaiah 48:6 Or “and”
- Isaiah 48:7 Literally “then”
- Isaiah 48:8 Literally “then”
- Isaiah 48:9 Literally “make long”
- Isaiah 48:10 Or “and”
- Isaiah 48:10 Or “with”
- Isaiah 48:11 That is, my name
- Isaiah 48:12 Literally “who was called by me”
- Isaiah 48:13 Or “calling”
- Isaiah 48:14 Or “do”
- Isaiah 48:14 Literally “Chaldea”
- Isaiah 48:16 Literally “head”
- Isaiah 48:16 Literally “of becoming it”
- Isaiah 48:17 Literally “teaching”
- Isaiah 48:18 Or “and”
- Isaiah 48:19 Literally “intestines”
- Isaiah 48:19 Hebrew “grain”
- Isaiah 48:20 Or “announce”
- Isaiah 48:20 Or “sound”
- Isaiah 48:20 Or “cause to hear”
- Isaiah 48:20 Literally “Cause it to go out”
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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