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.”
Isaiah 48:16-19
International Standard Version
16 Draw near to me, and[a] listen to this:
‘From the beginning I haven’t spoken in secret;
at[b] the time it happened, I was there.’
And now the Lord God, and his Spirit, has sent me.[c]
17 “This is what the Lord says,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you how to succeed,
who directs you[d] in the path by which[e] you should go.
18 Now[f] if only you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your success like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants would’ve been like the sand,
and your offspring[g] like its numberless grains.
Their name wouldn’t have been cut off
or annihilated out of my reach.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 48:16 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 48:16 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads from
- Isaiah 48:16 Or has sent me and his Spirit.
- Isaiah 48:17 1QIsaa misspells this word
- Isaiah 48:17 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab 4QIsac 4QIsad MT lack which
- Isaiah 48:18 So 1QIsaa 1QIsab 4QIsac LXX; MT lacks Now
- Isaiah 48:19 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsab MT LXX read the offspring of your loins
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