Isaiah 48

1 to hear: hear this house: household Jacob [the] to call: call by in/on/with name Israel and from water Judah to come out: come [the] to swear in/on/with name LORD and in/on/with God Israel to remember not in/on/with truth: true and not in/on/with 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 from city [the] holiness to call: call by and upon God Israel to support LORD Hosts name his

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] first: previous from the past to tell and from lip my to come out: speak and to hear: proclaim them suddenly to make: do and to come (in): come

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 from to know I for severe you(m. s.) and sinew iron neck your and forehead your bronze

I know how stubborn you are, with necks as unbending as iron and foreheads as hard as bronze.

5 and to tell to/for you from the past in/on/with before to come (in): come to hear: proclaim you lest to say idol my to make: do them and idol my and drink offering my to command 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 to hear: hear to see all her and you(m. p.) not to tell to hear: proclaim you new from now and to watch and not to know them

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 to create and not from the past and to/for face: before day and not to hear: hear them lest to say behold to know 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 also not to hear: hear also not to know also from the past not to open ear your for to know to act treacherously to act treacherously and to transgress from belly: womb to call: call by to/for you

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 because name my to prolong face: anger my and praise my to restrain to/for you to/for lest to cut: eliminate you

But because of my nature I am delaying my punishment; and because of my reputation, I'm not going to destroy you.

10 behold to refine you and not in/on/with silver: money to choose you in/on/with furnace affliction

Look how I've refined you, but not like silver—I chose you in the furnace of trouble.

11 because me because me to make: do for how? to profane/begin: profane and glory my to/for another not to give: give

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 to hear: hear to(wards) me Jacob and Israel to call: call to my I he/she/it I first also I 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 also hand: power my to found land: country/planet and right my to extend heaven to call: call to I to(wards) them to stand: stand 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 to gather all your and to hear: hear who? in/on/with them to tell [obj] these LORD to love: lover him to make: do pleasure his in/on/with Babylon and arm his Chaldea

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 I to speak: speak also to call: call to him to come (in): bring him and to prosper way: journey his

I myself have spoken. I have called him to do this, and he will be successful in what he does.

16 to present: come to(wards) me to hear: hear this not from head: first in/on/with secrecy to speak: speak from time to be she there I and now Lord YHWH/God to send: depart me and spirit his

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 to say LORD to redeem: redeem your holy Israel I LORD God your to learn: teach you to/for to gain to tread you in/on/with way: conduct to go: went

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 if to listen to/for commandment my and to be like/as river peace your and righteousness your like/as heap: wave [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 to be like/as sand seed: children your and offspring belly your like/as grain his not to cut: eliminate and not to destroy name his from to/for face: before my

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 to come out: come from Babylon to flee from Chaldea in/on/with voice cry to tell to hear: proclaim this to come out: send her till end [the] land: country/planet to say to redeem: redeem LORD servant/slave his 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 not to thirst in/on/with desolation to go: take them water from rock to flow to/for them and to break up/open rock and to flow: flowing water

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 nothing peace to say LORD to/for wicked

The wicked have no peace, says the Lord.