Isaiah 48

¹Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Jehovah, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness

²(for they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; Jehovah of hosts is his name):

³I have declared the former things from of old; yea, they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them: suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.

⁴Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

⁵therefore I have declared it to thee from of old; before it came to pass I showed it thee; lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

⁶Thou hast heard it; behold all this; and ye, will ye not declare it? I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, which thou hast not known.

⁷They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.

⁸Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from of old thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou didst deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.

⁹For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.

¹⁰Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

¹¹For mine own sake, for mine own sake, will I do it; for how should [my name] be profaned? and my glory will I not give to another.

¹²Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

¹³Yea, my hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spread out the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.

¹⁴Assemble yourselves, all ye, and hear; who among them hath declared these things? He whom Jehovah loveth shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm [shall be on] the Chaldeans. [

¹⁵I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

¹⁶Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his Spirit.

¹⁷Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Jehovah thy God, who teacheth thee to profit, who leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

¹⁸Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

¹⁹thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the grains thereof: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.

²⁰Go ye forth from Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth: say ye, Jehovah hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

²¹And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

²²There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the wicked.