Isaiah 48
48
Tested in the Furnace of Affliction
1-11“And now listen to this, family of Jacob,
you who are called by the name Israel:
Who got you started in the loins of Judah,
you who use God’s name to back up your promises
and pray to the God of Israel?
But do you mean it?
Do you live like it?
You claim to be citizens of the Holy City;
you act as though you lean on the God of Israel,
named God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
For a long time now, I’ve let you in on the way I work:
I told you what I was going to do beforehand,
then I did it and it was done, and that’s that.
I know you’re a bunch of hardheads,
obstinate and flint-faced,
So I got a running start and began telling you
what was going on before it even happened.
That is why you can’t say,
‘My god-idol did this.’
‘My favorite god-carving commanded this.’
You have all this evidence
confirmed by your own eyes and ears.
Shouldn’t you be talking about it?
And that was just the beginning.
I have a lot more to tell you,
things you never knew existed.
This isn’t a variation on the same old thing.
This is new, brand-new,
something you’d never guess or dream up.
When you hear this you won’t be able to say,
‘I knew that all along.’
You’ve never been good listeners to me.
You have a history of ignoring me,
A sorry track record of fickle attachments—
rebels from the womb.
But out of the sheer goodness of my heart,
because of who I am,
I keep a tight rein on my anger and hold my temper.
I don’t wash my hands of you.
Do you see what I’ve done?
I’ve refined you, but not without fire.
I’ve tested you like silver in the furnace of affliction.
Out of myself, simply because of who I am, I do what I do.
I have my reputation to keep up.
I’m not playing second fiddle to either gods or people.
12-13“Listen, Jacob. Listen, Israel—
I’m the One who named you!
I’m the One.
I got things started and, yes, I’ll wrap them up.
Earth is my work, handmade.
And the skies—I made them, too, horizon to horizon.
When I speak, they’re on their feet, at attention.
14-16a “Come everybody, gather around, listen:
Who among the gods has delivered the news?
I, God, love this man Cyrus, and I’m using him
to do what I want with Babylon.
I, yes I, have spoken. I’ve called him.
I’ve brought him here. He’ll be successful.
Come close, listen carefully:
I’ve never kept secrets from you.
I’ve always been present with you.”
Your Progeny, Like Grains of Sand
16b-19 And now, the Master, God, sends me and his Spirit
with this Message from God
your Redeemer, The Holy of Israel:
“I am God, your God,
who teaches you how to live right and well.
I show you what to do, where to go.
If you had listened all along to what I told you,
your life would have flowed full like a river,
blessings rolling in like waves from the sea.
Children and grandchildren are like sand,
your progeny like grains of sand.
There would be no end of them,
no danger of losing touch with me.”
20Get out of Babylon! Run from the Babylonians!
Shout the news. Broadcast it.
Let the world know, the whole world.
Tell them, “God redeemed his dear servant Jacob!”
21They weren’t thirsty when he led them through the deserts.
He made water pour out of the rock;
he split the rock and the water gushed.
22“There is no peace,” says God, “for the wicked.”
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Isaiah 48: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Isaiah 48
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.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.