Isaiah 48

1 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.

Hear you this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.

2 You say you're from the “Holy City,” and claim you're trusting in the God of Israel, whose name is the Lord Almighty.

For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.

3 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.

I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

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

Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass;

5 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.”

I have even from the beginning declared it to you; before it came to pass I showed it you: lest you should say, My idol has done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, has commanded them.

6 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.

You have heard, see all this; and will not you declare it? I have showed you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them.

7 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.”

They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when you heard them not; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them.

8 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”!

Yes, you heard not; yes, you knew not; yes, from that time that your ear was not opened: for I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.

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

For my name’s sake will I defer my anger, and for my praise will I refrain for you, that I cut you not off.

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

Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

11 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.

For my own sake, even for my own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory to another.

12 Listen to me, Jacon, and Israel, the one I called. Only I am God. I am the first, and I am the last.

Listen to me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

13 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.

My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spanned the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together.

14 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.

All you, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them has declared these things? The LORD has loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

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

I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

16 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:

Come you near to me, hear you this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, has sent me.

17 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.

Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD your God which teaches you to profit, which leads you by the way that you should go.

18 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.

O that you had listened to my commandments! then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea:

19 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.

Your seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

20 Leave Babylon! Run away from Babylonia with happy shouts! Let everyone know, telling the whole earth, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

Go you forth of Babylon, flee you from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare you, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say you, The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.

21 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.

And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he split the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

22 The wicked have no peace, says the Lord.

There is no peace, says the LORD, to the wicked.