Isaiah 48

ISV^{(i) 1} God the Creator and Redeemer “Listen to this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and who have come forth from Judah’s loins; you who swear oaths in the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel— but not in truth, nor in good faith. ² For they name themselves after the holy city, and rely on the God of Israel— the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name. ³ I foretold the former things long ago; it went forth from my mouth, and I disclosed them; Suddenly, I acted, and they came to pass. ⁴ Because I knew that you are obstinate, and because your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead is bronze, ⁵ I told you these things long ago; I announced them to you before they happened so that you couldn’t say, ‘My idol did them; my carved image or metal idol ordained them.’ ⁶ “You have heard—now look at them all! How can you not admit them? From now on, I’ll make you hear new things, hidden things that you have not known. ⁷ They are created now, and not long ago; you didn’t hear them before today, so you cannot say, ‘Yes, I knew them.’ ⁸ And neither had you heard, nor did you understand, nor did you open your ear long ago. Indeed, I knew that you would act very deceitfully, and they would call you a rebel from birth. ⁹ I defer my anger for my name’s sake, and as my first act I’m restraining it for you, so as not to cut you off. ¹⁰ Look, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have purified you in the furnace of affliction. ¹¹ For my own sake—Yes, for my own sake!—I’m doing it; indeed, how can I be profaned? Furthermore, I won’t give my glory to another.”
¹² The LORD Calls Israel“Listen to these things, Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called. I am the One: I am the first, I am even the last. ¹³ Moreover, my hands laid the earth’s foundation, and my right hand spread out the heavens. I call out to them, and they stand up together. ¹⁴ Let all of them come together and listen: Who is there among them that could declare these things? “The LORD loves me, and he will accomplish my purpose against Babylon; his arm will be against the Chaldeans. ¹⁵ I—Yes, I!—have spoken; indeed, I’ve called and I’ve brought him, and he will make his path successful. ¹⁶ Draw near to me, and listen to this: ‘From the beginning I haven’t spoken in secret; at the time it happened, I was there.’ And now the LORD God, and his Spirit, has sent me. ¹⁷ “This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who directs you in the path by which you should go. ¹⁸ Now if only you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your success like the waves of the sea. ¹⁹ Your descendants would’ve been like the sand, and your offspring like its numberless grains. Their name wouldn’t have been cut off or annihilated out of my reach. ²⁰ “Go out from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! With happy shouts, announce and proclaim this to the ends of the earth: Say, ‘The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!’ ²¹ They didn’t thirst when he led him through the desolate places. He made water gush from a rock for them; he split open the rock, and water gushed out. ²² “But there is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”