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.

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.

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.

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

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.”

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.

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.”

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”!

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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:

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.

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.

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.

20 Leave Babylon! Run away from Babylonia with happy shouts! Let everyone know, telling the whole earth, “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.

22 The wicked have no peace, says the Lord.