1People of Jacob, listen to me. You are called by the name of Israel. You come from the family line of Judah. You make promises in the name of the LORD. You pray to Israel’s God. But you aren’t honest. You don’t mean what you say.2You call yourselves citizens of the holy city of Jerusalem. You say you depend on Israel’s God. His name is the LORD Who Rules Over All. He says,3‘Long ago I told you in advance what would happen. I announced it and made it known. Then all of a sudden I acted. And those things took place.4I knew how stubborn you were. Your neck muscles were as unbending as iron. Your forehead was as hard as bronze.5So I told you those things long ago. Before they happened I announced them to you. I did it so you would not be able to say, “My statues of gods did them. My wooden and metal gods made them happen.”6You have heard me tell you these things. Think about all of them. Won’t you admit they have taken place? ‘From now on I will tell you about new things that will happen. I have not made them known to you before.7These things are taking place at this very moment. They did not happen long ago. You have not heard of them before today. So you can’t say, “Oh, yes. I already knew about them.”8You have not heard or understood what I said. Your ears have been plugged up for a long time. I knew very well that you would turn against me. From the day you were born, you have refused to obey me.9For the honour of my own name I wait to show my anger. I hold it back from you so people will continue to praise me. I do not want to destroy you completely.10I have tested you in the furnace of suffering. I have tried to make you pure. But I did not use as much heat as it takes to make silver pure.11I tried to purify you for my own honour. I did it for the honour of my name. How can I let myself be dishonoured? I will not give up my glory to any other god.
Israel is set free
12‘Family of Jacob, listen to me. People of Israel, pay attention. I have chosen you. I am the first and the last. I am the LORD.13With my own hand I laid the foundations of the earth. With my right hand I spread out the heavens. When I send for them, they come and stand ready to obey me.14‘People of Israel, come together and listen to me. What other god has said in advance that certain things would happen? I have chosen Cyrus. He will carry out my plans against Babylon. He will use his power against the Babylonians.15I myself have spoken. I have chosen him to carry out my purpose. I will bring him to Babylon. He will succeed in what I tell him to do.16‘Come close and listen to me. ‘From the first time I said Cyrus was coming, I did not do it in secret. When he comes, I will be there.’ The LORD and King has filled me with his Spirit. People of Israel, he has sent me to you.17The LORD is the Holy One of Israel. He sets his people free. He says to them, ‘I am the LORD your God. I teach you what is best for you. I direct you in the way you should go.18I wish you would pay attention to my commands. If you did, peace would flow over you like a river. Godliness would sweep over you like the waves of the ocean.19Your family would be like the sand. Your children after you would be as many as the grains of sand by the sea. It would be impossible to count them. I would always accept the members of your family line. They would never disappear or be destroyed.’20People of Israel, leave Babylon! Hurry up and get away from the Babylonians! Here is what I want you to announce. Make it known with shouts of joy. Send the news out from one end of the earth to the other. Say, ‘The LORD has set free his servant Jacob.’21They didn’t get thirsty when he led them through the deserts. He made water flow out of the rock for them. He broke the rock open, and water came out of it.22‘There is no peace for those who are evil,’ says the LORD.
Isaiah 48
English Standard Version
Israel Refined for God’s Glory
1Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right. (Ps 68:26; Isa 43:1; Jer 7:9)2For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the Lord of hosts is his name. (Mic 3:11)3“The former things I declared of old; they went out from my mouth, and I announced them; then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. (Isa 41:26)4Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass, (Ex 32:9)5I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, ‘My idol did them, my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’ (Isa 48:3; Jer 44:15)6“You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known. (Isa 43:19)7They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’8You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and that from before birth you were called a rebel. (Isa 46:8)9“For my name’s sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. (Mal 3:6)10Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried[1] you in the furnace of affliction. (De 4:20; Eze 22:18; Eze 22:20; Eze 22:22; 1Pe 1:7)11For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name[2] be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. (Isa 42:8; Isa 43:25; Eze 20:9)
The Lord’s Call to Israel
12“Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last. (Isa 41:4)13My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together. (Ps 102:25; Isa 40:26; Isa 51:13; Heb 1:10)14“Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? The Lord loves him; he shall perform his purpose on Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans. (Isa 23:13; Isa 41:26; Isa 46:10; Isa 47:1)15I, even I, have spoken and called him; I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way. (Isa 45:1)16Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there.” And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit. (Isa 45:19; Isa 61:1)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 in the way you should go.18Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; (De 32:29; Ps 81:13; Isa 66:12; Lu 19:42)19your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me.” (Ge 22:17; Isa 10:22; Ho 1:10)20Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!” (Ex 19:4; Isa 23:13; Isa 35:10; Isa 44:23; Isa 47:1; Isa 52:9; Isa 52:11; Jer 50:8; Jer 51:6; Jer 51:45; Zec 2:6)21They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed out. (Ex 17:6; Nu 20:11; De 8:15; Isa 35:6; Isa 43:19; Isa 44:3)22“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.” (Isa 57:21)