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.
Hear ye this—O house of Jacob, Ye who call yourselves by the name of Israel, Yea from the waters of Judah, came they forth, —Who swear by the name of Yahweh, And, by the God of Israel, call to remembrance—Not in truth, nor in righteousness;
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 of the holy city, do they call themselves, And on the God of Israel, do they stay themselves, —Yahweh 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.
Things in advance, of old, I declared, Yea out of mine own mouth, came they forth, that I might let them be known, —Suddenly, I wrought and they came to pass.
4 Because I saw that your heart was hard, and that your neck was an iron cord, and your brow brass;
Because I knew that—Obstinate, thou wast, —And, a sinew of iron, was thy neck, And thy brow, brazen,
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.
therefore told I thee—in time past, Ere yet it came, I let thee hear, —Lest thou shouldest say Mine idol wrought them, Yea, my carved image and my molten image, 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.
Thou hast heard—see it whole, And will, ye, not tell? I have let thee hear new things—from the present time, Even secrets which ye knew not.
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.
Now, are they created, and not in time past, And, before to-day, thou hadst not heard of them, —Lest thou shouldest say, Lo! 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.
Nay! thou hadst not heard, Nay! thou hadst not known, Nay! in time past, thine ear, was not opened, —For I knew that thou, wouldst be treacherous, Yea a transgressor from birth, hast thou been called.
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 mine own Name, will I defer mine anger, And for my praise, will I restrain myself towards thee, —So as not to cut thee off.
10 See, I have been testing you for myself like silver; I have put you through the fire of trouble.
Lo! I have refined thee, but not as silver, —I have tested thee, in a smelting-pot of affliction.
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 mine own sake—for mine own sake, will I effectually work For how should it be profaned? And, my glory—to another, will I not give.
12 Give ear to me, Jacob, and Israel, my loved one; I am he, I am the first and I am the last.
Hearken unto me O Jacob, And Israel, my called one, —I, am, the Same I, the first, yea, I, 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.
Surely, mine own hand, founded the earth, And, my right hand, stretched out the heavens, —While I was calling unto them, they stood forth, at once
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.
Assemble yourselves—all of you and hear, Who among them, hath told these things? he whom Yahweh loveth, will execute—His pleasure, on Babylon, And his stroke on 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—I, have spoken, Yea I have called him, —I have brought him in, and he shall make prosperous his way.
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 ye near unto me—hear ye this, Not in advance in secret, have I spoken, From the very time it cometh into being, there, am I, —And, now, My Lord Yahweh hath 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 saith Yahweh—Thy Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel, —I—Yahweh, am thy God, Teaching thee to profit, Guiding thee in the way thou shouldest go.
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:
Oh! that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments, —Then had been, like a river, thy prosperity, And, thy righteousness, 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.
Then had been, like the sand, thy seed, And, the offspring of thy body, like the grains thereof, —Neither cut off nor destroyed had been his name from before me.
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.
Come ye forth out of Babylon, Flee from among the Chaldeans, With triumphant voice, tell ye—let this be heard, Let it go forth as far as the end of the earth, —Say ye—Yahweh hath 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.
And they thirsted not, when, through dry places, he led them, Waters out of the rock, caused he to flow out to them, —Yea be cleft a rock and, there gushed out waters:
22 There is no peace, says the Lord, for the evil-doers.
No well-being, saith Yahweh to the lawless,
