Isaiah 48

Israel Refined for God’s Glory

1 Hear this, O house of Jacob,
^awho are called by the name of Israel,
and ^bwho came from the waters of Judah,
^cwho swear by the name of the Lord
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
2For they call themselves after the holy city,
^dand stay themselves on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
3 “The former things ^eI declared of old;
they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4Because I know that ^fyou are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead brass,
5 ^gI declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, ^h‘My idol did them,
my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’
6 “You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forth ⁱI announce to you new things,
hidden things that you have not known.
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 ^jfrom before birth you were called a rebel.
9 ^k“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.
10Behold, I have refined you, ^lbut not as silver;
^mI have tried ▼

▼Or  I have chosen

you in the furnace of affliction.
11 ^oFor my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name ▼

▼Hebrew lacks  my name

be profaned?
^qMy glory I will not give to another.

The Lord’s Call to Israel

12 “Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; ^rI am the first,
and I am the last.
13My hand ^slaid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand ^tspread out the heavens;
^uwhen I call to them,
they stand forth together.
14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
^vWho among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
^whe shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against ^xthe Chaldeans.
15 ^yI, even I, have spoken and called him;
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 ^zDraw 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 ^aathe Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.
17 Thus 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.
18 ^abOh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
^acThen your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19 ^adyour 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.”
20 ^aeGo out from Babylon, flee from ^afChaldea,
declare this ^agwith a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it out to the end of the earth;
say, ^ah“The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 ^aiThey did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
^ajhe made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock and the water gushed out.
22 ^ak“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”