Chapter 48
1 " 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 —
2 for they call themselves citizens of the holy city , and rely on the God of Israel ; the LORD of Armies is his name .
3 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 .
4 Because I knew that you are obstinate , and your neck is an iron sinew , and your brow bronze ;
5 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 .’
6 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 .
7 They are created now , and not from of old . Before today , you didn’t hear them , lest you should say, ‘ Behold , I knew them .’
8 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.
9 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 .
10 Behold , I have refined you , but not as silver . I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction .
11 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 .
12 " Listen to me , O Jacob , and Israel my called : I am he . I am the first . I am also the last.
13 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 .
14 " Assemble yourselves , all of you , and hear ! Who amongst 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 .
15 I , even I , have spoken . Yes, I have called him . I have brought him and he shall make his way prosperous .
16 " 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 .
17 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 .
18 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 .
19 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 ."
20 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 !"
21 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 .
22 " There is no peace ", says the LORD , " for the wicked ."