Isaiah 48

Isaiah 48

Israel Refined for God’s Glory

1“Hear this, O house of Jacob,

Who are called by the name of Israel,

And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah;

Who swear by the name of the Lord ,

And make mention of the God of Israel,

But not in truth or in righteousness;

2For they call themselves after the holy city,[#Is. 52:1; 64:10]

And lean on the God of Israel;

The Lord of hosts is His name:

3“I have declared the former things from the beginning;[#Is. 44:7, 8; 46:10]

They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.

Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.

4Because I knew that you were obstinate,

And your neck was an iron sinew,

And your brow bronze,

5Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;

Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,

Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,

And my carved image and my molded image

Have commanded them.’

6“You have heard;

See all this.

And will you not declare it?

I have made you hear new things from this time,

Even hidden things, and you did not know them.

7They are created now and not from the beginning;

And before this day you have not heard them,

Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’

8Surely you did not hear,

Surely you did not know;

Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.

For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,

And were called a transgressor from the womb.

9“For My name’s sake I will defer My anger,[#Ps. 79:9; 106:8; Is. 43:25; Ezek. 20:9, 14, 22, 44; #(Neh. 9:30, 31); Ps. 78:38; Is. 30:18; 65:8]

And for My praise I will restrain it from you,

So that I do not cut you off.

10Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;[#Ps. 66:10; Jer. 9:7]

I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

11For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;

For how should My name be profaned?

And I will not give My glory to another.

God’s Ancient Plan to Redeem Israel

12“Listen to Me, O Jacob,

And Israel, My called:

I am He, I am the First,

I am also the Last.

13Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,[#Ex. 20:11; Ps. 102:25; Is. 42:5; 45:12, 18; Heb. 1:10–12]

And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;

When I call to them,

They stand up together.

14“All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!

Who among them has declared these things?

The Lord loves him;

He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,

And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.

15I, even I, have spoken;

Yes, I have called him,

I have brought him, and his way will prosper.

16“Come near to Me, hear this:

I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;

From the time that it was, I was there.

And now the Lord God and His Spirit

Have sent Me.”

17Thus says the Lord , your Redeemer,[#Is. 43:14]

The Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God,

Who teaches you to profit,

Who leads you by the way you should go.

18Oh, that you had heeded My commandments![#Deut. 5:29; Ps. 81:13]

Then your peace would have been like a river,

And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

19Your descendants also would have been like the sand,[#Gen. 22:17; Is. 10:22; 44:3, 4; 54:3; Jer. 33:22; Hos. 1:10]

And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;

His name would not have been cut off

Nor destroyed from before Me.”

20Go forth from Babylon![#Jer. 50:8; 51:6, 45; Zech. 2:6, 7; Rev. 18:4]

Flee from the Chaldeans!

With a voice of singing,

Declare, proclaim this,

Utter it to the end of the earth;

Say, “The Lord has redeemed

His servant Jacob!”

21And they did not thirst[#(Is. 41:17, 18)]

When He led them through the deserts;

He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;

He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.

22“There is no peace,” says the Lord , “for the wicked.”[#(Is. 57:21)]

The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Published by: Thomas Nelson, Inc.