Isaiah 48
The Voice
48 Listen closely, you descendants of Jacob who are called Israel!
Hear this, you who trace your ancestors back to Judah,
Who take oaths in the name of the Eternal, and call on the God of Israel,
but do so dishonestly and inappropriately:
2 Your identity is wrapped up in the holy city,
and you claim to rely on the God of Israel,
The One who is called the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.
3 Eternal One: In times long past, I determined
and announced the things that would come.
Then suddenly I acted, and they indeed happened.
4 Long ago, I figured that you’d resist
(after all, you are a hard-headed and stubborn lot).
5 Way back then, I told you what would happen so that you wouldn’t claim
that some other god was responsible—that some figurine you crafted
From wood and molded metal commanded and accomplished it.
6 You’ve heard what I foretold; now you’ve seen what has happened—
do you agree that I’m God?
Well, from this moment, I am telling you new things,
secrets hidden that no one has known.
7 They are created now—brand new, never before announced, never before heard.
So you can’t claim, “Look, I already knew them.”
8 There’s no way you could have heard or known
because, even from long ago, you have never listened.
For I’ve always known that you are a conniving lot;
you’ve been a troublesome rebel from birth.
9 On account of My reputation, I hold back my anger;
for My own weighty grandeur, I am patient with you,
So that I don’t make an absolute break with you.
10 I have refined you, but not in the way silver is refined.
Instead, I try you in the furnace of suffering.
For God, suffering is not an end in itself. God uses suffering and hardship to purge the bad and foster the good in His covenant people.
11 But it is all on account of Me, not of you, that I act,
that I retain honor, that My glory is Mine alone, and not sullied.
12 Listen to Me, O Jacob, Israel whom I’ve specially named,
specially chosen, and not without purpose.
I Am the first of all things, and I will be the last.
13 It is by My power, My desire, My doing that the earth was anchored.
My hand flung the skies. I established them,
And when I call, they pay the strictest attention.
14 Come and listen, all of you! Did any of you tell in advance
that the Eternal’s beloved would press diligently
Against Babylon’s might and overcome Chaldea as He desired?
15 Eternal One: No, only I, I the Eternal One knew this would happen.
I was the one who summoned him, who led him,
Who determined that he would have such victory.
16 Come even closer, and hear: from the beginning I spoke,
not hiding away in hushed secret. I Am and will be;
I was before anything was at all.
The Lord, the Eternal, has sent me and His Spirit.
17 The Eternal One, who rescued you, the Holy One of Israel declares,
Eternal One: I am the Eternal One your God. I have given you My instruction
for living well and right, leading you in how you should be and do.
18 If only you had listened to My instruction,
then you would have been flooded with peace;
Your righteousness would have risen and crested like waves on the sea.
19 Your people would have multiplied to become like the grains of sand,
and your children would be like grains of wheat.
And they would be forever in My mind and My presence.
20 Leave Babylon; run swiftly from Chaldea! And let it be known
with a joyous shout, to the ends of the earth,
That the Eternal One has rescued Jacob, His servant!
21 And though He guided them through desert places, with no water in sight,
they were never thirsty.
Just as in Moses’ time, God made the rocks gush water,
split the rock and made water pour streaming out.
22 Eternal One: Ah, but the malicious and wicked will never be at peace.
Isaías 48
Nueva Biblia Viva
El Israel obstinado
48 Escúchenme todos los que forman parte de mi pueblo; ustedes los que juran lealtad al Señor y lo invocan, pero son unos hipócritas y mentirosos. 2 Sí, porque ustedes ostentan el nombre de «Ciudad Santa» y dicen confiar en el Dios de Israel cuyo nombre es Señor Todopoderoso. 3 Una y otra vez les dije lo que iba a ocurrir en el futuro. 4 Yo sabía cuán tercos son. Tienen el cuello tan inflexible como el hierro, tienen la cabeza tan dura como el bronce. 5 Por eso les dije por anticipado lo que iba a hacer, para que no atribuyeran los hechos a sus ídolos, para que jamás pudieran decir: «Lo hizo el ídolo mío, mi imagen esculpida ordenó que sucediera».
6 Han escuchado mis predicciones y las han visto cumplirse, pero se niegan a reconocerlo. Les anunciaré ahora nuevos detalles que jamás había mencionado, secretos que ustedes no han oído. 7 Entonces no podrán decir: «¡Ya lo sabíamos!».
8 Sí, les voy a decir cosas totalmente nuevas, pues bien sé lo traidores que son, rebeldes desde la más tierna infancia, podridos por completo. 9 Mas por mí mismo y por la honra de mi nombre refrenaré mi ira y no los destruiré. 10 En el horno de aflicción los refiné, pero no encontré plata en ustedes. Carecen de valor; nada bueno hay en ustedes. 11 Pero por mí, por amor de mí mismo, los salvaré de mi ira y no los destruiré para que no digan sus dioses que me han vencido. No les permitiré que me arrebaten mi gloria.
Liberación de Israel
12 ¡Escúchame, pueblo mío, elegido mío! Sólo yo soy Dios. Yo soy el primero, yo soy el último. 13 Mi mano fue la que echó los cimientos de la tierra, la palma de mi mano derecha extendió el cielo alto. Hablé y existieron.
14 ¡Vengan y escuchen, ustedes todos! Entre todos sus ídolos, ¿cuál les dijo jamás esto: «El Señor ama a Ciro, de él se valdrá para acabar con el Imperio de Babilonia, y derrotará por completo los ejércitos caldeos»? 15 Pues yo se los estoy diciendo. Yo he llamado a Ciro, yo le he encomendado esto y haré que prospere.
16 ¡Acérquense más y escuchen! Siempre les he dicho con claridad lo que ocurriría, para que pudieran entender claramente. Y ahora el Señor Dios y su Espíritu me han enviado con este mensaje: 17 El Señor, su Redentor, el Santo de Israel, dice: Yo soy el Señor Dios de ustedes, que los castiga para su bien y que los guía por la senda que deben seguir.
18 ¡Ay, ojalá que hubieran atendido mis leyes! Entonces habrían disfrutado de paz que fluiría como manso río, y de grandes oleadas de justicia. 19 Entonces habrían llegado a ser tan numerosos e incontables como los granos de arena de las playas del mundo, y su destrucción no habría sido necesaria.
20 ¡Líbrense de su cautiverio! ¡Salgan de Babilonia, cantando en el camino! ¡Grítenle a los extremos de la tierra que el Señor ha redimido a sus siervos los israelitas! 21 Cuando él los guio por los desiertos, no padecieron sed. Él abrió la roca y de ella brotó agua para que bebieran. 22 Pero no hay paz para el malvado, dice el Señor.
Isaiah 48
King James Version
48 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.
2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The Lord of hosts is his name.
3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
6 Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
9 For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.
12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The Lord hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
17 Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
22 There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Nueva Biblia Viva, © 2006, 2008 por Biblica, Inc.® Usado con permiso de Biblica, Inc.® Reservados todos los derechos en todo el mundo.