Isaiah 48
48
God Controls the Future
1The Lord says, “Family of Jacob, listen to me.
You are called Israel,
and you come from the family of Judah.
You swear by the Lord’s name
and praise the God of Israel,
but you are not honest or sincere.
2You call yourselves people of the holy city,
and you depend on the God of Israel,
who is named the Lord All-Powerful.
3Long ago I told you what would happen.
I said these things and made them known;
suddenly I acted, and these things happened.
4I knew you were stubborn;
your neck was like an iron muscle,
and your head was like bronze.
5So a long time ago I told you about these things;
I told you about them before they happened
so you couldn’t say, ‘My idols did this,
and my wooden and metal statues made these things happen.’
6“You heard and saw everything that happened,
so you should tell this news to others.
Now I will tell you about new things,
hidden things that you don’t know yet.
7These things are happening now, not long ago;
you have not heard about them before today.
So you cannot say, ‘We already knew about that.’
8But you have not heard me; you have not understood.
Even long ago you did not listen to me.
I knew you would surely turn against me;
you have fought against me since you were born.
9But for my own sake I will be patient.
People will praise me for not becoming angry
and destroying you.
10I have made you pure, but not by fire, as silver is made pure.
I have purified you by giving you troubles.
11I do this for myself, for my own sake.
I will not let people speak evil against me,
and I will not let some god take my glory.
Israel Will Be Free
12“People of Jacob, listen to me.
People of Israel, I have called you to be my people.
I am God;
I am the beginning and the end.
13I made the earth with my own hands.
With my right hand I spread out the skies.
When I call them,
they come together before me.”
14All of you, come together and listen.
None of the gods said these things would happen.
The Lord has chosen someone
to attack the Babylonians;
he will carry out his wishes against Babylon.
15“I have spoken; I have called him.
I have brought him, and I will make him successful.
16Come to me and listen to this.
From the beginning I have spoken openly.
From the time it began, I was there.”
Now, the Lord God
has sent me with his Spirit.
17This is what the Lord, who saves you,
the Holy One of Israel, says:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you to do what is good,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18If you had obeyed me,
you would have had peace like a full-flowing river.
Good things would have flowed to you like the waves of the sea.
19You would have had many children,
as many as the grains of sand.
They would never have died out
nor been destroyed.”
20My people, leave Babylon!
Run from the Babylonians!
Tell this news with shouts of joy to the people;
spread it everywhere on earth.
Say, “The Lord has saved his servants, the people of Jacob.”
21They did not become thirsty when he led them through the deserts.
He made water flow from a rock for them.
He split the rock,
and water flowed out.
22“There is no peace for evil people,” says the Lord.
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Isaiah 48: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 48
48
1Hear this, O house of Jacob,
who are called by the name of Israel,
and who came forth from the loins#48.1 Cn: Heb waters of Judah;
who swear by the name of the Lord,
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
2For they call themselves after the holy city,
and stay themselves on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
3“The former things I declared of old,
they went forth from my mouth and I made them known;
then suddenly I did them and they came to pass.
4Because I know that you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead brass,
5I declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, ‘My idol did them,
my graven image and my molten image commanded them.’
6“You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forth I make you hear new things,
hidden things which you have not known.
7They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8You have never heard, you have never known,
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,
and that from birth you were called a rebel.
9“For my name's sake I defer my anger,
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
10Behold, I have refined you, but not like#48.10 Cn: Heb with silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
11For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name#48.11 Gk Old Latin: Heb lacks my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.
12 #
Is 44.6; Rev 1.17; 2.8; 22.13. “Hearken to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am He, I am the first,
and I am the last.
13My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I call to them,
they stand forth together.
14“Assemble, all of you, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15I, even I, have spoken and called him,
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16Draw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now the Lord God has sent me and his Spirit.
17Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18O that you had hearkened to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.”
20Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chaldea,
declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it forth to the end of the earth;
say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21They thirsted not when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow for them from the rock;
he cleft the rock and the water gushed out.
22“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America