Isaiah 48
48
The Lord Corrects His People
1People of Israel,
you come from Jacob's family
and the tribe#48.1 tribe: Hebrew “waters.” of Judah.
You claim to worship me,
the Lord God of Israel,
but you are lying.
2You call Jerusalem your home
and say you depend on me,
the Lord All-Powerful,
the God of Israel.
3Long ago I announced
what was going to be,
then without warning,
I made it happen.
4I knew you were stubborn
and hardheaded.
5And I told you these things,
so that when they happened
you would not say,
“The idols we worship did this.”
6You heard what I said,
and you have seen it happen.
Now admit it's true!
I will show you secrets
you have never known.
7Today I am doing something new,
something you cannot say
you have heard before.
8You have never been willing
to listen to what I say;
from the moment of your birth,
I knew you would rebel.
The Lord Warns Israel
9I, the Lord, am true to myself;
I will be praised for not punishing
and destroying you.
10I tested you in hard times
just as silver is refined
in a heated furnace.#48.10 furnace: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 10.
11I did this because of who I am.
I refuse to be dishonored#48.11 I refuse to be dishonored: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
or share my praise
with any other god.
12 #
Is 44.6; Rev 1.17; 22.13. Israel, my chosen people,
listen to me.
I alone am the Lord,
the first and the last.
13With my own hand
I created the earth
and stretched out the sky.
They obey my every command.
The Lord Speaks to the Nations
14Gather around me, all of you!
Listen to what I say.
Did any of your idols
predict this would happen?
Did they say that my friend#48.14 my friend: Probably Cyrus (see 44.28; 45.1).
would do what I want done
to Babylonia?#48.14 Babylonia: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 14.
15I was the one who chose him.
I have brought him this far,
and he will be successful.
16Come closer and listen!
I have never kept secret
the things I have said,
and I was here
before time began.
It Is Best To Obey the Lord
By the power of his Spirit
the Lord God has sent me
17with this message:
People of Israel,
I am the holy Lord God,
the one who rescues you.
For your own good,
I teach you, and I lead you
along the right path.
18How I wish that you
had obeyed my commands!
Your success and good fortune
would then have overflowed
like a flooding river.
19Your nation would be blessed
with more people
than there are grains of sand
along the seashore.
And I would never have let
your country be destroyed.
20 #
Rev 18.4. Now leave Babylon!
Celebrate as you go.
Be happy and shout
for everyone to hear,
“The Lord has rescued
his servant Israel!
21He led us through the desert
and made water flow from a rock
to satisfy our thirst.
22 #
Is 57.21. But the Lord has promised
that none who are evil
will live in peace.”
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Isaiah 48: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 48
48
1“Hear this, house of Jacob,
you who are called by the name of Israel,
and have come out of the waters of Judah.
You swear by Yahweh’s name,
and make mention of the God of Israel,
but not in truth, nor in righteousness—
2for they call themselves citizens of the holy city,
and rely on the God of Israel;
Yahweh of Armies is his name.
3I have declared the former things from of old.
Yes, they went out of my mouth, and I revealed them.
I did them suddenly, and they happened.
4Because I knew that you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew,
and your brow bronze;
5therefore I have declared it to you from of old;
before it came to pass I showed it to you;
lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them.
My engraved image and my molten image has commanded them.’
6You have heard it.
Now see all this.
And you, won’t you declare it?
“I have shown you new things from this time,
even hidden things, which you have not known.
7They are created now, and not from of old.
Before today, you didn’t hear them,
lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8Yes, you didn’t hear.
Yes, you didn’t know.
Yes, from of old your ear was not opened,
for I knew that you dealt very treacherously,
and were called a transgressor from the womb.
9For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger,
and for my praise, I hold it back for you
so that I don’t cut you off.
10Behold, I have refined you,
but not as silver.
I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
11For my own sake,
for my own sake, I will do it;
for how would my name be profaned?
I will not give my glory to another.
12“Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel my called:
I am he.
I am the first.
I am also the last.
13Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand has spread out the heavens.
when I call to them, they stand up together.
14“Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
He whom Yahweh loves will do what he likes to Babylon,
and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15I, even I, have spoken.
Yes, I have called him.
I have brought him
and he shall make his way prosperous.
16“Come near to me and hear this:
“From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;
from the time that it happened, I was there.”
Now the Lord Yahweh has sent me
with his Spirit.
17Yahweh,
your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel, says:
“I am Yahweh your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you by the way that you should go.
18Oh that you had listened to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19Your offspring also would have been as the sand
and the descendants of your body like its grains.
His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.”
20Leave Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
With the sound of joyful shouting announce this,
tell it even to the end of the earth;
say, “Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21They didn’t thirst when he led them through the deserts.
He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them.
He also split the rock and the waters gushed out.
22“There is no peace”, says Yahweh, “for the wicked.”
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