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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,
    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.
Long ago I told you what was going to happen.
    Then suddenly I took action,
    and all my predictions came true.
For I know how stubborn and obstinate you are.
    Your necks are as unbending as iron.
    Your heads are as hard as bronze.
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!’
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.

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God the Creator and Redeemer

48 “Listen to this, house of Jacob,
    you who are called by the name of Israel,
        and who have come forth from Judah’s loins;[a]
you who swear oaths in the name of the Lord
    and invoke the God of Israel—
        but not in truth, nor in good faith.
For they name themselves after the holy city,
    and rely on the God of Israel—
        the Lord of the Heavenly Armies is his name.
I foretold the former things long ago;
    it[b] went forth from my mouth,
        and I disclosed them;
Suddenly, I acted,
    and they came to pass.
Because I knew[c] that you are obstinate,
    and because your neck is an iron sinew,
        and your forehead is bronze,
I told you these things long ago;
    I announced them to you before they happened
so that you couldn’t say, ‘My idol did them;
    my[d] carved image or metal idol ordained them.’

“You have heard—now look at them all!
    How[e] can you not admit them?
From now on, I’ll make you hear new things,
    hidden things that you have not known.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 48:1 Lit. waters; this word is misspelled in both 1QIsaa and MT
  2. Isaiah 48:3 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read they
  3. Isaiah 48:4 Lit. Because of my knowledge
  4. Isaiah 48:5 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and my
  5. Isaiah 48:6 Lit. And how