48
XLVIII
1Hear this, O house of Jacob,
Ye that are called by the name of Israel,
Ye that flow from the fountain of Judah;
Ye that swear by the name of Jehovah,
And make mention of the God of Israel;
But not in sincerity, nor in truth.
2For they take their name from the Holy City,
And stay themselves upon the God of Israel;
Jehovah of hosts is his name.
3The former events I declared of old;
Yea, from my mouth they proceeded, and I made them known:
On a sudden I effected them, and they came to pass.
4Because I knew that thou wast obstinate,
And thy neck was an iron sinew,
And thy forehead brass;
5Therefore I declared them to thee of old;
Before they came to pass I made them known to thee;
Lest thou shouldest say: Mine idol effected them;
And my graven image, and my molten image, hath ordered them.
6Thou hast heard; have now regard to the whole of it:
And will ye not acknowledge it?
From this time I will make thee hear new things;
Even hitherto secret, so that thou couldest not have known them.
7They are produced now, and not of old;
And before this day thou hast not heard of them:
Lest thou shouldest say: Behold, I knew them.
8Yea, thou hast not heard; yea, thou hast not known;
Yea, from of old thine ear was not opened:
For I knew that thou wouldest certainly deal falsely,
And that Apostate was thy name from the womb.
9For my name's sake I will defer mine anger;
And for the sake of my praise I will withhold it from thee,
That I may not utterly cut thee off.
10Behold, I have purified thee in the fire, but not as silver;
I have tried thee in the furnace of affliction.
11For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it; for how should my name be profaned?
And I will not give my glory unto another.
12Hearken unto me, O Jacob,
And Israel, whom I have called:
I am He; I am the first; I also am the last.
13Yea, my hand hath founded the earth,
And my right hand hath expanded the heavens;
When I summon them; they present themselves together.
14Gather yourselves together all of you, and hear:
Who among you hath declared these things?
He, whom Jehovah hath loved, will execute his pleasure on Babylon,
And his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
15I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him:
I have brought him, and his way shall be prosperous.
16Draw ye near unto me, and hear this:
I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it existed, there am I:
And now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his Spirit
17Thus saith Jehovah,
Thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel;
I am Jehovah, thy God,
Who teacheth thee what will tend to thy profit;
Who directeth thee in the way wherein thou shouldest go.
18O that thou hadst attended to my commandments!
Then had thy peace been like a river,
And thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.
19Thy seed also had been as the sand of the sea,
And the offspring of thy bowels as the produce of the bowels thereof;
It should not have been cut off,
Neither its name been destroyed from before me.
20Go ye forth from Babylon,
Flee ye from the Chaldeans with the voice of joy:
Publish ye this, make it to be heard,
Utter it forth even to the end of the earth;
Say ye: Jehovah hath redeemed his servant Jacob,
21And they thirsted not in the desert, through which He led them;
He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them:
Yea, He clave the rock, and the waters gushed out.
22There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the wicked.