IsaiahChapter 48

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¹"Listen to this, family of Jacob.
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 call on the God of Israel.
But you do not do it in truth or in what is right. ²You call yourselves people of the holy city.
You lean on the God of Israel.
The LORD of Hosts is his name. ³Long ago I told what would happen.
It came out of my mouth, and I made it known.
Then all at once I acted, and it happened. ⁴For I knew how stubborn you are.
Your neck is like iron.
Your forehead is like bronze. ⁵So I told you these things long ago.
I told you before they happened.
Then you could not say, 'My idol did this.
My carved image and metal god made it happen.' ⁶You have heard these things. Look at them all.
Won't you admit they are true?
From now on I will tell you about new things.
They are hidden things you do not know. ⁷They are being created now, not long ago.
You have not heard of them before today.
So you cannot say, 'I already knew about them!' ⁸You have never heard them.
You have never understood them.
For a long time your ears have been closed.
For I knew how false you are.
You have been called a rebel since you were born. ⁹For the sake of my name, I hold back my anger.
For the sake of my praise, I keep it from you.
So you will not be wiped out. ¹⁰Look, I have made you pure,
but not the way silver is made pure.
I have tested you in the hot fire of suffering. ¹¹I will act for my own sake, yes, my very own sake.
How can I let my name be dishonored?
I will not give my glory to anyone else. ¹²Listen to me, Jacob.
Listen, Israel, whom I have called.
I am he.
I am the first, and I am the last. ¹³My own hand laid the earth's foundation.
My right hand spread out the skies.
When I call them,
they all stand up together. ¹⁴Come together, all of you, and listen.
Which of the idols has told about these things?
The LORD has chosen a man to work with him.
He will do what the LORD wants against Babylon.
His arm will be against the Chaldeans. ¹⁵I, yes I, have spoken.
Yes, I have called him.
I have brought him,
and he will succeed in what he was sent to do. ¹⁶Come near to me and listen to this.
From the beginning I have not spoken in secret.
When it happened, I was there."
And now the Lord GOD has sent me,
and his Spirit is with me. ¹⁷This is what the LORD says,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
"I am the LORD your God.
I teach you what is good for you.
I lead you in the way you should go. ¹⁸If only you had listened to my commands!
Then your peace would have been like a river.
Your right living would have been like the waves of the sea. ¹⁹Your children would have been as many as the sand.
Those who came after you would have been like its grains.
Their name would never be cut off
or wiped out from before me." ²⁰Leave Babylon!
Run away from the Chaldeans!
Shout for joy as you tell it.
Announce it to the ends of the earth.
Say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!" ²¹They were not thirsty when he led them through the deserts.
He made water flow for them from the rock.
He split the rock, and water rushed out. ²²"There is no peace for the wicked,"
says the LORD.