Isaiah 48

¹Give 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.

²For 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.

³I 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.

⁴Because I saw that your heart was hard, and that your neck was an iron cord, and your brow brass;

⁵For 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.

⁶All 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.

⁷They 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.

⁸Truly 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.

⁹Because of my name I will put away my wrath, and for my praise I will keep myself from cutting you off.

¹⁰See, I have been testing you for myself like silver; I have put you through the fire of trouble.

¹¹For 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.

¹²Give ear to me, Jacob, and Israel, my loved one; I am he, I am the first and I am the last.

¹³Yes, 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.

¹⁴Come 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.

¹⁵I, even I, have given the word; I have sent for him: I have made him come, and have given effect to his undertakings.

¹⁶Come 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.

¹⁷The 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.

¹⁸If 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:

¹⁹Your 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.

²⁰Go 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.

²¹They 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.

²²There is no peace, says the Lord, for the evil-doers.

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 the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness

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

³I have declared the former things from of old; yes, they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them: suddenly I did them, and they happened.

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

⁵therefore 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.'

⁶You 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.

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

⁸Yes, 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.

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

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

¹¹For 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.

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

¹³Yes, 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.

¹⁴"Assemble yourselves, all you, and hear; who among them has declared these things? He whom the Lord loves shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

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

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 the Lord God has sent me, with his Spirit.

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

¹⁸Oh 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:

¹⁹your seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.

²⁰Go 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, the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.

²¹They 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.

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