The Book of the Prophet Isaiah

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- Chapter 48 -

Descendants of Jacob, who are also descendants of Judah and are now called the people of Israel, listen to Yahweh! You make solemn promises using the name of Yahweh, and you request that the God to whom you Israelite people belong will hear you, but you do not do it sincerely.

You say that you live in the holy city of Jerusalem and you insincerely say that you are relying on the God to whom you people of Israel belong, the one who is Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies.

“Long ago I predicted what would happen. And then suddenly, I caused those things to happen.

I knew that you people were very stubborn; I knew that your heads were as hard as iron or brass.

That is why I told you those things long ago. Long before they occurred, I announced that they would occur, in order that when they happened you could not say ’Our idols did it; our statue carved out of wood or our idol made of metal caused them to happen.’

You have heard those things that I predicted, and now you have seen that they have all occurred, so why do you not admit it? Now I will tell you new things, things that you have not known previously.

I am causing them to happen now; they are not things I did long ago. So you cannot say, ‘We already knew about those things.’

I will tell you about things that you have never heard about or understood before. Even long ago you did not pay attention to me. I know that you act very deceitfully; you have rebelled against me since you first became a nation.

But for my own sake, in order that I will be honored, I will not punish you immediately and I will not completely get rid of you.

I have purified you, but not the way people refine silver. Instead, I have caused you to suffer very much to get rid of your impure behavior,

But for my own sake I will delay punishing you more; I will delay for my own sake, in order that my reputation will not be damaged. I will not allow any person or any idol to be honored as I deserve to be honored.”

Deliverance Promised to Israel

“You descendants of Jacob, you people of Israel whom I have chosen, listen to me! Only I am God; I am the one who begins everything and who causes everything to end.

I am the one who laid the foundation of the earth. I stretched out the sky with my hand. And when I tell the stars to appear, they all do what I tell them.

All of you, gather together and listen to me. None of your idols has told this to you: I, Yahweh, have chosen Cyrus to assist me, and he will do to Babylon what I want him to do, and his army will destroy the army of Babylonia.

I have said it; I have summoned Cyrus. I have appointed him, and he will accomplish everything that he attempts to do.

Come close to me and listen to what I say. Long ago I told you plainly what would happen, and when those things occurred, I was causing them to happen.” And now Yahweh the Lord and his Spirit have sent me, the prophet Isaiah, to give you a message.

This is what Yahweh, the one who saves you, the Holy God of us Israelites, says: “I am Yahweh, your God; I teach you what is important for you to prosper; I direct you and lead you to do the things that you should do.

I wish that you had paid attention to my commands! If you had done that, things would have gone well for you like a river that flows gently; you would have been successful again and again, like waves that come without ceasing.

Your descendants would have been as many as the grains of sand on the seashore which no one can count. I would not have needed to destroy them; the country of Israel would not have been destroyed.

However, now I tell you, leave Babylon! Flee from being slaves of the people of Babylonia! Proclaim this message joyfully; send it to the most remote places on the earth: ‘Yahweh freed the people of Israel from being slaves in Egypt.’

They were not thirsty when he led them through the desert, because he split open the rock and caused water to gush out for them to drink.’

But things will not go well like that for wicked people,” says Yahweh.

“Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah. You swear by the LORD’s name, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness—

for they call themselves citizens of the holy city, and rely on the God of Israel; the LORD of Armies is his name.

I have declared the former things from of old. Yes, they went out of my mouth, and I revealed them. I did them suddenly, and they happened.

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

therefore 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. My engraved image and my molten image has commanded them.’

You have heard it. Now see all this. And you, won’t you declare it? “I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known.

They are created now, and not from of old. Before today, you didn’t hear them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’

Yes, you didn’t hear. Yes, you didn’t know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened, for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.

For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger, and for my praise, I hold it back for you so that I don’t cut you off.

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

For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it; for how would my name be profaned? I will not give my glory to another.

Deliverance Promised to Israel

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

Yes, 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.

“Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? He whom the LORD loves will do what he likes to Babylon, and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.

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

“Come near to me and hear this: “From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it happened, I was there.” Now the Lord GOD has sent me with his Spirit.

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

Oh 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.

Your offspring also would have been as the sand and the descendants of your body like its grains. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.”

Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With the sound of joyful shouting announce this, tell it even to the end of the earth; say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

They didn’t thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He also split the rock and the waters gushed out.

“There is no peace”, says the LORD, “for the wicked.”