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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Isaiah 48: GNBDC
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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.
Isaiah 48
48
God’s Stubborn People
1“Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
you who are called by the name of Israel
and born into the family of Judah.
Listen, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord
and call on the God of Israel.
You don’t keep your promises,
2even though you call yourself the holy city
and talk about depending on the God of Israel,
whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
3Long ago I told you what was going to happen.
Then suddenly I took action,
and all my predictions came true.
4For I know how stubborn and obstinate you are.
Your necks are as unbending as iron.
Your heads are as hard as bronze.
5That is why I told you what would happen;
I told you beforehand what I was going to do.
Then you could never say, ‘My idols did it.
My wooden image and metal god commanded it to happen!’
6You have heard my predictions and seen them fulfilled,
but you refuse to admit it.
Now I will tell you new things,
secrets you have not yet heard.
7They are brand new, not things from the past.
So you cannot say, ‘We knew that all the time!’
8“Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new,
things you never heard of before.
For I know so well what traitors you are.
You have been rebels from birth.
9Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name,
I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out.
10I have refined you, but not as silver is refined.
Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.
11I will rescue you for my sake—
yes, for my own sake!
I will not let my reputation be tarnished,
and I will not share my glory with idols!
Freedom from Babylon
12“Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
Israel my chosen one!
I alone am God,
the First and the Last.
13It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth,
my right hand that spread out the heavens above.
When I call out the stars,
they all appear in order.”
14Have any of your idols ever told you this?
Come, all of you, and listen:
The Lord has chosen Cyrus as his ally.
He will use him to put an end to the empire of Babylon
and to destroy the Babylonian#48:14 Or Chaldean. armies.
15“I have said it: I am calling Cyrus!
I will send him on this errand and will help him succeed.
16Come closer, and listen to this.
From the beginning I have told you plainly what would happen.”
And now the Sovereign Lord and his Spirit
have sent me with this message.
17This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you what is good for you
and leads you along the paths you should follow.
18Oh, that you had listened to my commands!
Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river
and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.
19Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore—
too many to count!
There would have been no need for your destruction,
or for cutting off your family name.”
20Yet even now, be free from your captivity!
Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.#48:20a Or the Chaldeans.
Sing out this message!
Shout it to the ends of the earth!
The Lord has redeemed his servants,
the people of Israel.#48:20b Hebrew his servant, Jacob. See note on 14:1.
21They were not thirsty
when he led them through the desert.
He divided the rock,
and water gushed out for them to drink.
22“But there is no peace for the wicked,”
says the Lord.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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