Isaiah 48
1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the spring of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, —not in truth, nor in righteousness.
Listen to this, descendants of Jacob, called by the name of Israel, and who come from the lineage of Judah. Listen, you people who swear by the name of the Lord, or who invoke the God of Israel, but not truly or sincerely.
2 For of the holy city they call themselves, and upon the God of Israel they stay themselves, —The Lord of hosts is his name.
You say you're from the “Holy City,” and claim you're trusting in the God of Israel, whose name is the Lord Almighty.
3 The former things have I declared from the beginning; and out of my mouth went they forth, and I announced them: suddenly did I accomplish them, and they came to pass;
I predicted long ago what was going to happen—I said it and let people know. Then suddenly I decided to act, and it all came true.
4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate, that like an iron sinew is thy neck, and thy brow of copper;
I know how stubborn you are, with necks as unbending as iron and foreheads as hard as bronze.
5 And I declared it to thee from the beginning; before yet it came to pass did I let thee hear it: lest thou should say, My idol hath done these things, and my graven image, and my molten image, have ordained them.
I predicted these things to you long ago, before they happened. I explained them to you so that you couldn't say “My idol did this,” or “My image and my metal god ordered this to happen.”
6 Thou hast heard it; see it all now; and you—will you not declare it? I caused thee to hear new things, from this time, even hidden things which thou hadst not known.
You've heard all I predicted, and seen it happen. Won't you admit it? Now I'm going to tell you new things, secrets you don't know anything about.
7 Now are they created, and not from the beginning; and before the day [that I announced them] thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
These are brand-new, not something from the past. Before today you won't have heard anything about them, so you can't say, “Oh yes, I know about that.”
8 But neither hadst thou heard it; nor didst thou know; nor had in ancient times thy ear been opened; for I knew that thou wouldst deal very treacherously, and a transgressor wast thou called from thy birth.
No, you've never heard that, and you've never known that! Nobody's told you about that before! I know how deviously you operate—you're called “rebels from birth”!
9 For the sake of my name will I defer my anger, and because of my praise will I restrain it toward thee, so that I may not cut thee off.
But because of my nature I am delaying my punishment; and because of my reputation, I'm not going to destroy you.
10 Behold, I have refined thee, though not into silver: I have approved thee in the crucible of affliction.
Look how I've refined you, but not like silver—I chose you in the furnace of trouble.
11 For my own sake will I do it: for how would [my name] be dishonored? and my glory will I not give unto another.
The reason I'm doing this is because of who I am, yes, because of my very nature. I won't let my reputation be damaged—I won't let anyone else have it.
12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel, my called one; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
Listen to me, Jacon, and Israel, the one I called. Only I am God. I am the first, and I am the last.
13 My hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned out the heavens: I call unto them, they stand forward together.
I laid the foundations of the earth with my own hands; I personally spread out the heavens. When I call the stars, they all take their positions.
14 Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear: Who among them hath told these things? He whom the Lord loveth, will do his pleasure on Babylon, and [display] his arm [on] the Chaldeans.
Everyone gather round and listen. Which of your “gods” told you anything like this? The one the Lord loves will carry out the Lord's wishes against Babylon—he will attack the Babylonians.
15 I, even I, have spoken it, I have also called him: I have brought him, and he shall be prosperous on his way.
I myself have spoken. I have called him to do this, and he will be successful in what he does.
16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; never from the beginning have I spoken in secret; from the time that it occurred, was I there. And now the Lord Eternal hath sent me, and his Spirit.
Come close to me, and listen to this. From the very beginning I haven't spoken in secret; I am always there right when it happens. Now the Lord God and his Spirit has sent me to tell you this:
17 Thus hath said the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord thy God who teach thee for thy profit, who lead thee by the way thou shouldst go.
This is what the Lord says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord your God. I am the one who teaches you what is good for you, who leads you along the way you should go.
18 Oh that thou hadst but listened to my commandments! then would have been as a river thy peace, and thy prosperity as the waves of the sea:
If you had only listened carefully to what I told you! Then your blessings would have flowed like a river, and goodness would have washed over you like the waves of the sea.
19 And then would have been as the sand thy seed, and the offspring of thy body like the pebbles of the sea-shore; yet shall his name not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.
Your children, your descendants, would have been like all those grains of sand. They wouldn't have had to be destroyed, wiped out before me.
20 Go forth out of Babylon, flee away from the Chaldeans, with the voice of singing declare, announce this, carry it forth as far as the end of the earth; say, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
Leave Babylon! Run away from Babylonia with happy shouts! Let everyone know, telling the whole earth, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts; waters out of the rock he let drop down for them: and he cleaved the rock, and the waters gushed out.
They weren't thirsty when he led them through the desert—he made water come out of the rock for them. He split the rock open and water poured out.
22 There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.
The wicked have no peace, says the Lord.
