Isaiah 48

1 "Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of YHWH, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness

[Yahweh says], “You descendants [MTY] of Jacob, who are [also] descendants of Judah and are now called [the people of] Israel, Listen to me! You make solemn promises using my name, Yahweh, and you request that I, the God to whom you Israeli people belong, [will hear you], but you do not do it sincerely.

2 (for they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; YHWH of hosts is his name):

You say that you live in the holy city [of Jerusalem], and [you insincerely say] that you are relying on me, the God to whom you [people of] Israel belong, the one who is the Commander of the armies of angels.

3 I have declared the former things from of old; yes, they went forth out of my mouth, and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them, and they happened.

Long ago I [MTY] predicted what would happen [DOU]. And then suddenly, I caused those things to happen.

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

I knew that you people are very stubborn; I knew that your heads are [MET] [as hard as] iron or brass [DOU].

5 therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, 'My idol has done them, and my engraved image, and my molten image, has commanded them.'

That is why I told you those things long ago. Long before they occurred, I announced that they would occur, in order that [when they happened] you could not say ‘Our idols did it; our statue made of wood and our idol made of metal caused them to happen.’

6 You have heard it; see all this; and you, will you not declare it? "I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known.

You have heard those things [that I predicted] and now you have seen that they have all occurred, so why do you not admit it [RHQ]? Now I will tell you new things, things that you have not known previously.

7 They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day you did not hear them; lest you should say, 'Look, I knew them.'

I am causing them to happen now; they are not things I did long ago. So you cannot say, ‘We already knew about those things.’

8 Yes, you did not hear; yes, you did not know; yes, from of old your ear was not opened: for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and was called a transgressor from the womb.

[I will tell you about] things that you have never heard about or understood before. Even long ago you did not pay attention to me [IDM]. I know that you act very deceitfully/treacherously; you have rebelled against me since you first became a nation [MTY].

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

But, for my own sake, in order that I will be honored, I will not punish [MTY] you immediately and I will not completely get rid of you.

10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

I have purified you, but not the way [people refine] silver. Instead, I have caused you to suffer very much [to get rid of your impure behavior], like [MET] [people put metal in a very hot] furnace [to get rid of the impurities].

11 For my own sake, for my own sake, will I do it; for how should my name be profaned? I will not give my glory to another.

But for my [MTY] own sake I will delay punishing you more; I will do it for my own sake in order that my reputation will not be damaged [RHQ]. I will not allow any [person or any idol] to be honored as I [deserve to be] honored.”

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

“You descendants [MTY] of Jacob, you people of Israel whom I have chosen, listen to me! [Only] I am God; I am the one who begins everything and who causes everything to end.

13 Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together.

I [SYN] am the one who laid the foundation of the earth. I stretched out the sky with my hand. And when I tell [the stars] to appear, they all do what I tell them.

14 "Let all of them assemble and hear; who among them has declared these things? He whom YHWH loves shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

All of you, gather together and listen to me. None of your idols has [RHQ] told this to you: I, Yahweh, have chosen [Cyrus] to assist me, and he will do to Babylon what I want him to do, and his army will get rid of [the army of] Babylonia.

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

I have said it; I have summoned [Cyrus]. I have appointed him, and he will accomplish everything that he attempts to do.

16 "Come near to me and hear this: "From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I." Now YHWH has sent me, with his Spirit.

Come close to me and listen to what I say. Long ago [MTY] I told you plainly/clearly [LIT] [what would happen], and when those things occurred, I was [causing them to happen].” And now Yahweh the Lord and his Spirit have sent me [to give you a message].

17 Thus says YHWH, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am YHWH your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go.

This is what Yahweh, the one who saves you, the Holy God of [us] Israelis, says: “I am Yahweh, your God; I teach you what is important for you [to know]; I direct you and lead you to the roads that you should walk on [MET].

18 But would that you had listened to my commandments. Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

I wish that you had paid attention to my commands! If you had done that, things would have gone well for you like [SIM] a river that flows gently; you would have been successful again and again, like [SIM] waves that come without ceasing.

19 Your descendants would have been as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains; his name not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.

Your descendants would have been [as many as] [MET] the grains of sand [on the seashore] [which no one can count]. I would not have needed to get rid of you; the country of [MTY] [Israel] would not have been destroyed.”

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

[However, now I tell you], leave Babylon! Flee from [being slaves of the people of] Babylonia! Proclaim this message joyfully; send it to the most remote/distant places on the earth: Yahweh freed the people of Israel [from being slaves in Egypt].

21 They did not thirst 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.

They were not thirsty when he led them through the desert, because he split open the rock and caused water to gush/flow out for them [to drink].

22 "There is no peace," says YHWH, "for the wicked."

“But things will not go well [like that] for wicked people,” says Yahweh.