Isaiah 48

1 Hear this, house of Jacob, who are called by the name Israel, and have come from the sperm of Judah; you who swear by the name of Yahweh and invoke the God of Israel, but not sincerely nor in a righteous manner.

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 call themselves people of the holy city and trust in the God of Israel. Yahweh 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 have declared the things from long ago; they came out from my mouth, and I made them known; then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.

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 Because I knew that you were obstinate, your neck muscles tight as iron, and your forehead like bronze,

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

5 therefore I declared these things to you beforehand; before they happened I informed you, so you could not say, 'My idol has done them,' or 'My carved figure and my cast metal figure has ordained these things.'

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 heard about these things; look at all this evidence; and you, will you not admit what I said is true? From now on, I am showing you new things, hidden things that you have not known.

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, and not from previously, they come into being, and before today you have not heard about them, so you will not be able to say, 'Yes, I knew about 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 You never heard; you did not know; these things were not unfolded to your ears beforehand. For I knew that you have been very deceitful, and that you have been a rebel from birth.

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 For the sake of my name I will defer my anger, and for my honor I will hold back from destroying you.

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

10 Look, I refined you, but not as silver; I have purified you in the 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 own sake, for my own sake I will act; for how can I allow my name to be profaned? I will not give my glory to anyone else.

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, Jacob, and Israel, whom I called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

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

13 Yes, my hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand up 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 Assemble yourselves, all of you, and listen! Who among you has announced these things? Yahweh's ally will accomplish his purpose against Babylon. He will carry out Yahweh's will against 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, I have spoken, yes, I have summoned him, I have brought him, and he will succeed.

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, listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; when it happens, I am there.” Now the Lord Yahweh 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 This is what Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says, “I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who leads you by the way that you should 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 If only you had obeyed my commandments! Then your peace and prosperity would have flowed like a river, and your salvation like the waves 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 Your descendants would have been as numerous as the sand, and the children from your womb as numerous as the grains of sand; their name would not have been cut off nor blotted out from 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 Come out from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With the sound of a ringing cry announce it! Make this known, make it go out to the ends of the earth! Say, 'Yahweh 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 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made the water to flow out of the rock for them; he split open the rock, and the waters gushed out.

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 for the wicked—says Yahweh.”

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