Isaiah 48

You are stubborn

“Listen to this, you descendants of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord and invoke the God of Israel— but not in truth or righteousness— ²you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and claim to rely on the God of Israel— the Lord Almighty is his name: ³I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.a

⁴For I knew how stubborn you were; your neck muscles were iron, your forehead was bronze.b ⁵Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, ‘My images brought them about; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.’ ⁶You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? “From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you.

⁷They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot say, ‘Yes, I knew of them.’ ⁸You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ears have not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth. ⁹For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely.

¹⁰See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.c ¹¹For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.d

If only you had listened

¹²“Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first and I am the last.e ¹³My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.f ¹⁴“Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The Lord’s chosen ally will carry out his purpose against Babylon; his arm will be against the Babylonians.

¹⁵I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I will bring him, and he will succeed in his mission. ¹⁶“Come near me and listen to this: “From the first announcement I have not spoken in secret; at the time it happens, I am there.” And now the Sovereign Lord has sent me, endowed with his Spirit.g ¹⁷This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.h

¹⁸If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea.i ¹⁹Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be blotted out nor destroyed from before me.” ²⁰Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.” ²¹They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out.

²²“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”j