Isaiah 48:6-11
New English Translation
6 You have heard; now look at all the evidence![a]
Will you not admit that what I say is true?[b]
From this point on I am announcing to you new events
that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about.[c]
7 Now they come into being,[d] not in the past;
before today you did not hear about them,
so you could not say,
‘Yes,[e] I know about them.’
8 You did not hear,
you do not know,
you were not told beforehand.[f]
For I know that you are very deceitful;[g]
you were labeled[h] a rebel from birth.
9 For the sake of my reputation[i] I hold back my anger;
for the sake of my prestige[j] I restrain myself from destroying you.[k]
10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have purified you[l] in the furnace of misery.
11 For my sake alone[m] I will act,
for how can I allow my name to be defiled?[n]
I will not share my glory with anyone else![o]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 48:6 tn Heb “gaze [at] all of it”; KJV “see all this.”
- Isaiah 48:6 tn Heb “[as for] you, will you not declare?”
- Isaiah 48:6 tn Heb “and hidden things, and you do not know them.”
- Isaiah 48:7 tn Heb “are created” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “They are brand new.”
- Isaiah 48:7 tn Heb “look”; KJV, NASB “Behold.”
- Isaiah 48:8 tn Heb “beforehand your ear did not open.”
- Isaiah 48:8 tn Heb “deceiving, you deceive.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
- Isaiah 48:8 tn Or “called” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
- Isaiah 48:9 tn Heb “for the sake of my name” (so NAB, NASB); NLT “for my own sake.”
- Isaiah 48:9 tn Heb “and my praise.” לְמַעַן (lemaʿan, “for the sake of”) is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
- Isaiah 48:9 tn Heb “I restrain [myself] concerning you not to cut you off.”
- Isaiah 48:10 tc The Hebrew text has בְּחַרְתִּיךָ (bekhartikha, “I have chosen you”), but the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa reads correctly בחנתיכה (“I have tested you”). The metallurgical background of the imagery suggests that purification through testing is the idea.
- Isaiah 48:11 tn The Hebrew text repeats לְמַעֲנִי (lemaʿani, “for my sake”) for emphasis.
- Isaiah 48:11 tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “for how can it be defiled?” The subject of the verb is probably “name” (v. 9).
- Isaiah 48:11 sn See 42:8.
Isaiah 48:6-11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forward I tell you new things,
hidden things that you have not known.(A)
7 They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
so that you could not say, “I already knew them.”
8 You have never heard; you have never known;
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would act very treacherously
and that from birth you were called a rebel.(B)
9 For my name’s sake I defer my anger;
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
so that I may not cut you off.(C)
10 See, I have refined you but not like[a] silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of adversity.(D)
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for why should my name[b] be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.(E)
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