Isaiah 48
48
Chapter 48
The Lord warns his people
1Listen to this, family of Jacob. You are called ‘Israel’, and you are Judah's descendants. #48:1 Jacob was the ancestor of the Israelite people. God gave to him the new name ‘Israel’. Judah was one of Jacob's 12 sons. You use the name of the Lord when you make promises. You pray to Israel's God. But you do not do those things honestly and fairly. 2Your people are proud to say that they live in the holy city. They trust in Israel's God, whose name is the Lord Almighty.
3The Lord says to his people,
‘I already spoke about things that would happen at a future time.
A long time ago I told you what would happen.
Then I suddenly did my work,
and I caused those things to happen!
4I did it because I know what you are like.
You refuse to obey me.
You do not want to change the way that you live.
Your neck is like iron and it will not bend!
Your head is as hard as bronze!
5So I told you about these things a long time ago.
Before they happened, I told you about them.
Then you could not say, “My idol did them.
Yes, my wooden image and my idol made of metal
decided that these things would happen.”
6You heard what I said would happen,
and now you have seen it happen.
Agree that what I say is true!
Now I will tell you about new things that will happen.
They are secret things that you do not yet know about.
7They are not things that started long ago.
I am causing them to happen now.
You did not hear about them before today.
So you cannot say, “Yes, I already knew about them.”
8You have not heard about them before.
You know nothing about them.
From long ago you refused to listen to me.
I know that you are never honest.
Since you first became a nation,
you have refused to obey me.
9Because of who I am,
I will keep my anger until later.
I will not destroy you now,
so that people will praise my name.
10Listen! I have made you pure.
But I have not done it in the way that people make silver pure.
Instead, I have sent pain and trouble to you.
That is how I make you pure.
11I do these things to show who I am.
That is why I do it!
I will not let people insult my good name.
I will not let anyone else share my glory.
12So listen to me, descendants of Jacob!
I called you to belong to me, you Israelite people.
I am the only One.
I am the first, and I am also the last.
13I created the earth with my own hand.
With my right hand, I hung up the sky like a curtain.
When I call to the stars,
they all appear in their places.
14All of you, come together and listen to me.
Not one of your idols has said
what will happen now.
I, the Lord, have chosen a friend to attack Babylon.
He will do what I want.
He will have the power to punish the Babylonians.
15Yes, that is what I have commanded.
I have called him to do this work.
I have shown him what he must do,
and he will do it!
16Come near to me! Listen to my message!
From the beginning, I have not spoken secretly.
When these things happen, I will already be there.’
Now the Almighty Lord has sent me, with the power of his Spirit. #48:16 These may be the words of Isaiah, as he brings God's message to his people. Or they may be the words of Cyrus, the king that God had chosen to punish the Babylonians.
17The Lord is your Redeemer, Israel's Holy God. He says,
‘I am the Lord your God.
I teach you what will be good for you.
I lead you along a good path in life.
18You should have obeyed my commands.
Then you would have had peace in your lives,
like a river that runs quietly.
You would have been safe and well,
like the strong waves in the sea.
19You would have had many descendants,
as much as the sand on the shore of the sea.
I would not need to destroy them.
Their family name would continue for ever.’
20Now leave Babylon as free people!
No longer serve the Babylonians!
Shout the news with joy!
Tell everyone about it, all over the world.
Tell them that the Lord has redeemed his people,
his servants, the Israelites.
21When he led them through the desert,
they did not become thirsty.
He broke open a rock for them,
so that water poured out.
They could drink as much as they needed.
22But the Lord says, ‘Wicked people will have no peace in their lives.’
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Isaiah 48
48
Yahweh Refines Stubborn Israel
1Hear this, house of Jacob,
who are called by the name of Israel
and came out from the waters of Judah,
who swear by the name of Yahweh,
and invoke#Literally “cause to remember” the God of Israel,
but not in truth
and not in righteousness.
2For they call themselves after the holy city,#Literally “from the city of the holiness”
and they lean on the God of Israel—
Yahweh of hosts is his name.
3“I declared the former things from of old,#Literally “then”
and they went out from my mouth.
And I announced#Literally “caused to hear” them suddenly;
I acted,#Or “did” and they came to pass,
4because I know#Literally “knowing me” that you are obstinate,
and your neck an iron sinew,
and your forehead bronze.
5And I declared them to you from of old;
I announced#Literally “caused to hear” them to you before they came to pass
so that you would not say, ‘My idol did them,
and my image and my cast image commanded them.’
6You have heard; see it all.
And will you not declare it?
I announce#Literally “cause to hear” new things to you from this time
and hidden things that#Or “and” you have not known.
7Now they are created, and not from of old,#Literally “then”
and before today, and you have not heard them
so that you could not say, “Look! I knew them.”
8Neither have you heard, nor have you known,
nor from of old#Literally “then” has your ear been opened.
For I knew you would deal treacherously, very treacherously,
and you are called a rebel from the womb.
9For the sake of my name I refrain from#Literally “make long” my anger,
and for my praise I restrain it for you
so as not to cut you off.
10Look! I have refined you, but#Or “and” not like#Or “with” silver;
I have chosen you in the furnace of misery.
11For my own sake, for my own sake I do it;
for why should it#That is, my name be defiled?
And I will not give my glory to another.”
Yahweh Frees Israel
12“Listen to me, Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called:#Literally “who was called by me”
I am he. I am the first;
also I am the last.
13Indeed, my hand founded the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summon#Or “calling” them, they stand in position together.
14Assemble, all of you, and hear!
Who among them declared these things?
Yahweh loves him;
he shall perform#Or “do” his wish against Babylon
and his arm against the Chaldeans.#Literally “Chaldea”
15I, I myself, I have spoken!
Indeed, I have called him.
I have brought him,
and he will be successful in his way.
16Draw near to me; hear this! I have not spoken in secrecy from the beginning;#Literally “head”
from the time it came to be,#Literally “of becoming it” there I have been;
And now the Lord Yahweh has sent me and his Spirit.”
17Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, the holy one of Israel:
“I am Yahweh your God, who teaches#Literally “teaching” you to profit,
leads you in the way you should go.
18O that you had listened attentively to my commandments!
Then#Or “and” your prosperity would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19And your offspring would have been like the sand,
and the descendants of your body#Literally “intestines” like its grains.#Hebrew “grain”
It would not be cut off,
and its name would not be destroyed from my presence.”
20Go out from Babylon!
Flee from Chaldea!
Proclaim#Or “announce” it with a shout#Or “sound” of rejoicing; proclaim#Or “cause to hear” this!
Send it forth#Literally “Cause it to go out” to the end of the earth;
say, “Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21And when he led them through the deserts, they were not thirsty;
he made water flow from the rock for them,
and he split the rock,
and the water gushed out.
22“There is no peace,” says Yahweh, “for the wicked.”
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