Isaiah 48:16-19
Christian Standard Bible
16 Approach me and listen to this.
From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;(A)
from the time anything existed, I was there.”
And now the Lord God
has sent me and his Spirit.(B)
17 This is what the Lord, your Redeemer,(C) the Holy One of Israel(D) says:
I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you for your benefit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18 If only you had paid attention to my commands.
Then your peace would have been like a river,(E)
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.(F)
19 Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand,(G)
and the offspring of your body like its grains;
their name would not be cut off
or eliminated from my presence.
Isaiah 48:16-19
New English Translation
16 Approach me—listen to this!
From the very first I have not spoken in secret;
when it happens,[a] I am there.”
So now, the Sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his Spirit.[b]
17 This is what the Lord, your Protector,[c] says,
the Holy One of Israel:[d]
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you how to succeed,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18 If only you had obeyed my[e] commandments,
prosperity would have flowed to you like a river,[f]
deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea.[g]
19 Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand,[h]
and your children[i] like its granules.
Their name would not have been cut off
and eliminated from my presence.[j]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 48:16 tn Heb “from the time of its occurring.”
- Isaiah 48:16 sn The speaker here is not identified specifically, but he is probably Cyrus, the Lord’s “ally” mentioned in vv. 14-15.
- Isaiah 48:17 tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
- Isaiah 48:17 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
- Isaiah 48:18 tn Heb “paid attention to” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “had listened to.”
- Isaiah 48:18 tn Heb “like a river your peace would have been.” שָׁלוֹם (shalom) probably refers here to the peace and prosperity which God promised in return for obedience to the covenant.
- Isaiah 48:18 tn Heb “and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” צְדָקָה (tsedaqah) probably refers here to divine deliverance from enemies. See v. 19.
- Isaiah 48:19 tn Heb “like sand”; NCV “as many as the grains of sand.”
- Isaiah 48:19 tn Heb “and the issue from your inner parts.”
- Isaiah 48:19 tn Heb “and his name would not be cut off and would not be destroyed from before me.”
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