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: GNBDK
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. 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
Israel Must Leave Babylon
1“Listen to this, house of Jacob —
those who are called by the name Israel
and have descended from#48:1 Lit have come from the waters of Judah,#Nm 24:7; Dt 33:28; Ps 68:26
who swear by the name of the Lord#Dt 6:13; Is 45:23; 65:16
and declare the God of Israel,
but not in truth or righteousness.
2For they are named after the holy city,
and lean on the God of Israel;#Is 10:20; Jr 7:4; 21:2; Mc 3:11; Rm 2:17
his name is the Lord of Armies.
3I declared the past events long ago;
they came out of my mouth; I proclaimed them.
Suddenly I acted, and they occurred.
4Because I know that you are stubborn,
and your neck is iron#48:4 Lit is an iron sinew
and your forehead bronze,#Ex 32:9; Dt 31:27; Ezk 2:4; 3:7–9
5therefore I declared to you long ago.
I announced it to you before it occurred,
so you could not claim, ‘My idol caused them;
my carved image and cast idol control them.’#Jr 44:15–18
6You have heard it. Observe it all.
Will you not acknowledge it?
From now on I will announce new things to you,
hidden things that you have not known.#Is 42:9; 43:19
7They have been created now, and not long ago;
you have not heard of them before today,
so you could not claim, ‘I already knew them!’
8You have never heard; you have never known;
for a long time your ears have not been open.
For I knew that you were very treacherous,
and were known as a rebel from birth.#Dt 9:7,24; Ps 58:3; Is 46:8
9I will delay my anger for the sake of my name,
and I will restrain myself for your benefit and for my praise,
so that you will not be destroyed.
10Look, I have refined you,#Dt 4:20; 1Kg 8:51; Jr 11:4; Ezk 22:18–22; 1Pt 1:7 but not as silver;
I have tested#48:10 DSS; MT reads chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
11I will act for my own sake, indeed, my own,#Is 43:25; Ezk 20:9
for how can I#48:11 DSS, Syr; MT reads it be defiled?
I will not give my glory to another.#Is 42:8
12“Listen to me, Jacob,
and Israel, the one called by me:
I am he; I am the first,
I am also the last.#Is 41:4; 43:10–13; 46:4; Rv 1:17
13My own hand founded the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;#Ps 102:25; Is 42:5; 45:12,18; Heb 1:10–12
when I summoned them,
they stood up together.
14All of you, assemble and listen!
Who among the idols#48:14 Lit among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;#48:14 = Cyrus
he will accomplish his will against Babylon,#Is 13:4–5,17–19; 46:10–11
and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15I — I have spoken;
yes, I have called him;#Is 41:2; 45:1–2
I have brought him,
and he will succeed in his mission.#Is 53:10
16Approach me and listen to this.
From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;#Is 45:19
from the time anything existed, I was there.”
And now the Lord God
has sent me and his Spirit.#Nm 27:18; Ps 51:11; Is 61:1; 63:7,10; Zch 2:9,11
17This is what the Lord, your Redeemer,#Is 41:14; 43:14 the Holy One of Israel#Is 1:4 says:
I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you for your benefit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18If only you had paid attention to my commands.
Then your peace would have been like a river,#Is 32:16–18; 66:12
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.#Dt 5:29; 32:29; Ps 81:13–16; Am 5:24
19Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand,#Gn 22:17; Is 10:22; 44:3–4; 54:3; Hs 1:10
and the offspring of your body like its grains;
their name would not be cut off
or eliminated from my presence.
20Leave Babylon,
flee from the Chaldeans!
Declare with a shout of joy,
proclaim this,
let it go out to the end of the earth;
announce,
“The Lord has redeemed his servant#Is 41:8–9; 42:19; 43:10; 44:1–2,21; 45:4; 49:3; 54:17; Lk 1:54 Jacob!”
21They did not thirst
when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow from the rock for them;#Ex 17:6; Ps 78:15–16
he split the rock, and water gushed out.
22“There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.#Is 57:21
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