Isaiah 48:2-17

English Standard Version

²For they call themselves after the holy city,
^(A)and stay themselves on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name.

³“The former things ^(B)I declared of old;
    they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
    then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
⁴Because I know that ^(C)you are obstinate,
    and your neck is an iron sinew
    and your forehead brass,
⁵^(D)I declared them to you from of old,
    before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, ^(E)‘My idol did them,
    my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’

⁶“You have heard; now see all this;
    and will you not declare it?
From this time forth ^(F)I announce to you new things,
    hidden things that you have not known.
⁷They are created now, not long ago;
    before today you have never heard of them,
    lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
⁸You have never heard, you have never known,
    from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,
    and that ^(G)from before birth you were called a rebel.

⁹^(H)“For my name's sake I defer my anger;
    for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
    that I may not cut you off.
¹⁰Behold, I have refined you, ^(I)but not as silver;
    ^(J)I have tried^[a] you in the furnace of affliction.
¹¹^(K)For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
    for how should my name^[b] be profaned?
    ^(L)My glory I will not give to another.

The Lord's Call to Israel

¹²“Listen to me, O Jacob,
    and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; ^(M)I am the first,
    and I am the last.
¹³My hand ^(N)laid the foundation of the earth,
    and my right hand ^(O)spread out the heavens;
^(P)when I call to them,
    they stand forth together.

¹⁴“Assemble, all of you, and listen!
    ^(Q)Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
    ^(R)he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
    and his arm shall be against ^(S)the Chaldeans.
¹⁵^(T)I, even I, have spoken and called him;
    I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
¹⁶^(U)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 ^(V)the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

¹⁷Thus says the Lord,
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
    who teaches you to profit,
    who leads you in the way you should go.