Isaiah 48

1 “Hear this, O house of Jacob, Who are called by the name of Israel, And from the waters of Judah came out, Who are swearing by the Name of YHWH, And make mention of the God of Israel, Not in truth nor in righteousness.

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.

2 For they have been called from the Holy City, And been supported on the God of Israel, YHWH of Hosts [is] His Name.

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.

3 I declared the former things from that time, And they have gone forth from My mouth, And I proclaim them, Suddenly I have done, and it comes.

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.

4 From My knowing that you are obstinate, And your neck—a sinew of iron, And your forehead—bronze,

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

5 And from that time I declare [it] to you, Before it comes I have caused you to hear, Lest you say, My idol has done them, And my carved image, And my molten image commanded them.

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.

6 You have heard, see the whole of it, And you, do you not declare? I have caused you to hear new things from this time, And things reserved that you did not know.

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.

7 Now they have been produced and not from that time, Indeed, before the day, and you have not heard them, Lest you say, Behold, I have known them.

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.

8 Indeed, you have not heard, Indeed, you have not known, Indeed, your ear has not opened from that time, For I have known you deal treacherously, And [are] a transgressor from the belly, One is crying to you.

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.

9 I defer My anger for My Name’s sake, And [for] My praise I restrain for you, So as not to cut you off.

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

10 Behold, I have refined you, and not with silver, I have chosen you in a furnace of affliction.

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

11 For My sake, for My own sake, I do [it], For how is it defiled? And I do not give My glory to another.

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.

12 Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, My called one, I [am] He, I [am] first, and I [am] last;

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

13 Also, My hand has founded earth, And My right hand stretched out the heavens, I am calling to them, they stand together.

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.

14 Be gathered, all of you, and hear, Who among them declared these things? YHWH has loved him, He does His pleasure on Babylon, And His arm [is on] the Chaldeans.

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.

15 I have spoken, indeed, I have called him, I have brought him in, And he has made his way prosperous.

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

16 Come near to Me, hear this, I have not spoken in secret from the beginning, From the time of its being, I [am] there, And now Lord YHWH has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

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.

17 Thus said YHWH, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: “I [am] your God YHWH, teaching you to profit, Causing you to tread in the way you go.

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.

18 O that you had attended to My commands, Then your peace is as a river, And your righteousness as billows of the sea,

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:

19 And your seed is as sand, And the offspring of your bowels as gravel, His name would not be cut off nor destroyed before Me.”

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.

20 Go out from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, Declare with a voice of singing, Cause this to be heard, Bring it forth to the end of the earth, Say, “YHWH has redeemed His servant Jacob.”

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.

21 And they have not thirsted in wastelands, He has caused them to go on, He has caused waters from a rock to flow to them, Indeed, he cleaves a rock, and waters flow.

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.

22 “There is no peace,” said YHWH, “for the wicked!”

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