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
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”
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.
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software