Isaiah 48

1 Give ear to this, O family of Jacob, you who are named by the name of Israel, and have come out of the body of Judah; who take oaths by the name of the Lord, and make use of the name of the God of Israel, but not truly and not in good faith.

Listen to these things, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and who went forth from the waters of Judah. You swear by the name of the Lord and you call to mind the God of Israel, but not in truth, and not in justice.

2 For they say that they are of the holy town, and put their faith in the God of Israel: the Lord of armies is his name.

For they have been called from the holy city, and they have been founded upon the God of Israel. The Lord of hosts is his name.

3 I gave word in the past of the things which came about; they came from my mouth, and I made them clear: suddenly I did them, and they came about.

From that time, I announced the former things. They went forth from my mouth, and I have caused them to be heard. I wrought these things suddenly, and they were fulfilled.

4 Because I saw that your heart was hard, and that your neck was an iron cord, and your brow brass;

For I knew that you are stubborn, and that your neck is like an iron sinew, and that your forehead is like brass.

5 For this reason I made it clear to you in the past, before it came I gave you word of it: for fear that you might say, My god did these things, and my pictured and metal images made them come about.

From that time, I foretold to you. Before these things happened, I revealed them to you, lest you say: “My idols have accomplished these things, and my graven and molten images have commanded them.”

6 All this has come to your ears and you have seen it; will you not give witness to it? I am now making clear new things, even secret things, of which you had no knowledge.

See all the things that you have heard. But were you the ones who announced them? From that time, I caused you to hear about new things, and you do not know how these were preserved.

7 They have only now been effected, and not in the past: and before this day they had not come to your ears; for fear that you might say, I had knowledge of them.

They are created now, and not in that time. And even before today, you did not hear of them; otherwise, you might say, “Behold, I knew them.”

8 Truly you had no word of them, no knowledge of them; no news of them in the past had come to your ears; because I saw how false was your behaviour, and that your heart was turned against me from your earliest days.

You have neither heard, nor known, nor were your ears open in that time. For I knew that you would transgress greatly, and so I called you a transgressor from the womb.

9 Because of my name I will put away my wrath, and for my praise I will keep myself from cutting you off.

For the sake of my name, I will take the face of my fury far away. And for the sake of my praise, I will bridle you, lest you perish.

10 See, I have been testing you for myself like silver; I have put you through the fire of trouble.

Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver. I have chosen you for the furnace of poverty.

11 For myself, even because of my name, I will do it; for I will not let my name be shamed; and my glory I will not give to another.

For my sake, for my own sake, I will do it, so that I may not be blasphemed. For I will not give my glory to another.

12 Give ear to me, Jacob, and Israel, my loved one; I am he, I am the first and I am the last.

Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel whom I call. I am the same, I am the first, and I am the last.

13 Yes, by my hand was the earth placed on its base, and by my right hand the heavens were stretched out; at my word they take up their places.

Also, my hand has founded the earth, and my right hand has measured the heavens. I will call them, and they will stand together.

14 Come together, all of you, and give ear; who among you has given news of these things? the Lord's loved one will do his pleasure with Babylon, and with the seed of the Chaldaeans.

Gather together, all of you, and listen. Who among them has announced these things? The Lord has loved him; he will do his will with Babylon, and his arm is upon the Chaldeans.

15 I, even I, have given the word; I have sent for him: I have made him come, and have given effect to his undertakings.

I am, I have spoken, and I have called him. I have led him forward, and his way has been straight.

16 Come near to me, and give ear to this; from the start I did not keep it secret; from the time of its coming into existence I was there: and now the Lord God has sent me, and given me his spirit.

Draw near to me, and listen to this. From the beginning, I have not spoken in secret. From the time before it happened, I was there. And now, the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

17 The Lord who takes up your cause, the Holy One of Israel, says, I am the Lord your God, who is teaching you for your profit, guiding you by the way in which you are to go.

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord, your God, who teaches you beneficial things, who guides you in the way that you walk.

18 If only you had given ear to my orders, then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea:

If only you had paid attention to my commandments! Your peace would have been like a river, and your justice would have been like the waves of the sea,

19 Your seed would have been like the sand, and your offspring like the dust: your name would not be cut off or come to an end before me.

and your offspring would have been like the sand, and the stock from your loins would have been like its stones. His name would not have passed away, nor would it have been worn away before my face.

20 Go out of Babylon, go in flight from the Chaldaeans; with the sound of song make it clear, give the news, let the word go out even to the end of the earth: say, The Lord has taken up the cause of his servant Jacob.

Depart from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Announce it with a voice of exultation. Cause it to be heard, and carry it even to the ends of the earth. Say: “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.”

21 They had no need of water when he was guiding them through the waste lands: he made water come out of the rock for them: the rock was parted and the waters came flowing out.

They did not thirst in the desert, when he led them out. He produced water from the rock for them. For he split the rock, and the waters flowed out.

22 There is no peace, says the Lord, for the evil-doers.

“There is no peace for the impious,” says the Lord.