Isaiah 48
48
Israel Refined for God’s Glory
1“Hear this, O house of Jacob,
Who are called by the name of Israel,
And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah;
Who swear by the name of the Lord,
And make mention of the God of Israel,
But #Is. 58:2; Jer. 4:2; 5:2not in truth or in righteousness;
2For they call themselves #Is. 52:1; 64:10after the holy city,
And #Is. 10:20; Jer. 7:4; 21:2; Mic. 3:11; Rom. 2:17lean on the God of Israel;
The Lord of hosts is His name:
3“I have #Is. 44:7, 8; 46:10declared the former things from the beginning;
They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.
Suddenly I did them, #Josh. 21:45; Is. 42:9and they came to pass.
4Because I knew that you were obstinate,
And #Ex. 32:9; Deut. 31:27; Ezek. 2:4; 3:7your neck was an iron sinew,
And your brow bronze,
5Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my molded image
Have commanded them.’
6“You have heard;
See all this.
And will you not declare it?
I have made you hear new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and you did not know them.
7They are created now and not from the beginning;
And before this day you have not heard them,
Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’
8Surely you did not hear,
Surely you did not know;
Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,
And were called #Deut. 9:7, 24; Ps. 58:3; Is. 46:3, 8a transgressor from the womb.
9“For#Ps. 79:9; 106:8; Is. 43:25; Ezek. 20:9, 14, 22, 44 My name’s sake #(Neh. 9:30, 31); Ps. 78:38; Is. 30:18; 65:8I will defer My anger,
And for My praise I will restrain it from you,
So that I do not cut you off.
10Behold, #Ps. 66:10; Jer. 9:7I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the #Deut. 4:20; 1 Kin. 8:51; Jer. 11:4furnace of affliction.
11For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For #Lev. 22:2, 32; Deut. 32:26, 27; Ezek. 20:9how should My name be profaned?
And #Is. 42:8I will not give My glory to another.
God’s Ancient Plan to Redeem Israel
12“Listen to Me, O Jacob,
And Israel, My called:
I am He, #Deut. 32:39I am the #Is. 44:6; (Rev. 22:13)First,
I am also the Last.
13Indeed #Ex. 20:11; Ps. 102:25; Is. 42:5; 45:12, 18; Heb. 1:10–12My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;
When #Is. 40:26I call to them,
They stand up together.
14“All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
#Is. 45:1The Lord loves him;
#Is. 44:28; 47:1–15He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,
And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15I, even I, have spoken;
Yes, #Is. 45:1, 2I have called him,
I have brought him, and his way will prosper.
16“Come near to Me, hear this:
#Is. 45:19I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it was, I was there.
And now #Is. 61:1; Zech. 2:8, 9, 11the Lord God and His Spirit
Have sent Me.”
17Thus says #Is. 43:14the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
#Ps. 32:8; Is. 49:9, 10Who leads you by the way you should go.
18#Deut. 5:29; Ps. 81:13Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
#Deut. 28:1–14; Ps. 119:165; Is. 32:16–18; 66:12Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19#Gen. 22:17; Is. 10:22; 44:3, 4; 54:3; Jer. 33:22; Hos. 1:10Your descendants also would have been like the sand,
And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;
His name would not have been cut off
Nor destroyed from before Me.”
20#Jer. 50:8; 51:6, 45; Zech. 2:6, 7; Rev. 18:4Go forth from Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
With a voice of singing,
Declare, proclaim this,
Utter it to the end of the earth;
Say, “The Lord has #(Ex. 19:4–6)redeemed
His servant Jacob!”
21And they #(Is. 41:17, 18)did not thirst
When He led them through the deserts;
He #Ex. 17:6; Ps. 105:41caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;
He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.
22“There#(Is. 57:21) is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”
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Isaiah 48: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 48
48
God is LORD of the Future
1Listen to this, people of Israel,
you that are descended from Judah:
You swear by the name of the LORD
and claim to worship the God of Israel —
but you don't mean a word you say.
2And yet you are proud to say
that you are citizens of the holy city
and that you depend on Israel's God,
whose name is the LORD Almighty.
3The LORD says to Israel,
“Long ago I predicted what would take place;
then suddenly I made it happen.
4I knew that you would prove to be stubborn,
as rigid as iron and unyielding as bronze.
5And so I predicted your future long ago,
announcing events before they took place,
to prevent you from claiming
that your idols and images made them happen.
6“All I foretold has now taken place;
you have to admit my predictions were right.
Now I will tell you of new things to come,
events that I did not reveal before.
7Only now am I making them happen;
nothing like this took place in the past.
If it had, you would claim that you knew all about it.
8I knew that you couldn't be trusted,
that you have always been known as a rebel.
That is why you never heard of this at all,
why no word of it ever came to your ears.
9“In order that people will praise my name,
I am holding my anger in check;
I am keeping it back and will not destroy you.
10I have tested you in the fire of suffering,
as silver is refined in a furnace.
But I have found that you are worthless.
11What I do is done for my own sake —
I will not let my name be dishonoured
or let anyone else share the glory
that should be mine and mine alone.”
Cyrus, the LORD's Chosen Leader
12 #
Is 44.6; Rev 1.17; 22.13 The LORD says,
“Listen to me, Israel, the people I have called!
I am God, the first, the last, the only God!
13My hands made the earth's foundations
and spread the heavens out.
When I summon earth and sky,
they come at once and present themselves.
14“Assemble and listen, all of you!
None of the gods could predict
that the man I have chosen would attack Babylon;
he will do what I want him to do.
15I am the one who spoke and called him;
I led him out and gave him success.
16“Now come close to me and hear what I say.
From the beginning I have spoken openly,
and have always made my words come true.”
(Now the Sovereign LORD has given me his power and sent me.)
The LORD's Plan for his People
17The holy God of Israel,
the LORD who saves you, says:
“I am the LORD your God,
the one who wants to teach you for your own good
and direct you in the way you should go.
18“If only you had listened to my commands!
Then blessings would have flowed for you
like a stream that never goes dry!
Victory would have come to you
like the waves that roll on the shore.
19Your descendants would be as numerous as grains of sand,
and I would have made sure they were never destroyed.”
20 #
Rev 18.4
Go out from Babylon, go free!
Shout the news gladly; make it known everywhere:
“The LORD has saved his servant Israel!”
21When the LORD led his people through a hot, dry desert,
they did not suffer from thirst.
He made water come from a rock for them;
he split the rock open, and water flowed out.
22 #
Is 57.21
“There is no safety for sinners,” says the LORD.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.