Isaiah 48

¹Isaiah 48:1. “Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, who have descended from the line of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD, who invoke the God of Israel—but not in truth or righteousness—²Isaiah 48:2. who indeed call yourselves after the holy city and lean on the God of Israel; the LORD of Hosts is His name.³Isaiah 48:3. I foretold the former things long ago; they came out of My mouth and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.⁴Isaiah 48:4. For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze.⁵Isaiah 48:5. Therefore I declared it to you long ago; I announced it before it came to pass, so that you could not claim, ‘My idol has done this; my carved image and molten god has ordained it.’⁶Isaiah 48:6. You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not acknowledge them? From now on I will tell you of new things, hidden things unknown to you.⁷Isaiah 48:7. They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot claim, ‘I already knew them!’⁸Isaiah 48:8. You have never heard; you have never understood; for a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew how deceitful you are; you have been called a rebel from birth.⁹Isaiah 48:9. For the sake of My name I will delay My wrath; for the sake of My praise I will restrain it, so that you will not be cut off.¹⁰Isaiah 48:10. See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.¹¹Isaiah 48:11. For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.¹²Isaiah 48:12. Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the first, and I am the last.¹³Isaiah 48:13. Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.¹⁴Isaiah 48:14. Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The LORD’s chosen ally will carry out His desire against Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans.¹⁵Isaiah 48:15. I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I have brought him, and he will succeed in his mission.¹⁶Isaiah 48:16. Come near to Me and listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it happened, I was there.” And now the Lord GOD has sent me, accompanied by His Spirit.¹⁷Isaiah 48:17. Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go.¹⁸Isaiah 48:18. If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.¹⁹Isaiah 48:19. Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and your offspring as numerous as its grains; their name would never be cut off or eliminated from My presence.”²⁰Isaiah 48:20. Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare it with a shout of joy, proclaim it, let it go out to the ends of the earth, saying, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!”²¹Isaiah 48:21. They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.²²Isaiah 48:22. “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”