Isaiah, 48

1. Listen to this, House of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and issued from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of Yahweh and invoke the God of Israel, though not in good faith or uprightness;

1. Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, [but] not in truth, nor in righteousness.

2. for they call themselves after the holy city and rely on the God of Israel, Yahweh Sabaoth is his name.

2. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts [is] his name.

3. Things now past I revealed long ago, they issued from my mouth, I proclaimed them; suddenly I acted and they happened.

3. I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did [them] suddenly, and they came to pass.

4. For I knew you to be obstinate, your neck an iron sinew and your forehead bronze.

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

5. As I told you about it long before, before it happened I revealed it to you, so that you could not say, 'My statue did it, my idol, my metal image, ordained this.'

5. I have even from the beginning declared [it] to thee; before it came to pass I shewed [it] thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

6. You have heard and seen all this, why won't you admit it? Now I am going to reveal new things to you, secrets that you do not know;

6. Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare [it]? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.

7. they have just been created, not long ago, and until today you have heard nothing about them, so that you cannot say, 'Yes, I knew about this.'

7. They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.

8. No, you have not heard, you have not known, for a long time your ear has not been attentive, for I knew how treacherous you were; you have been called a rebel since the womb.

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

9. For the sake of my name I shall defer my anger, for the sake of my honour I shall be patient with you, rather than destroy you.

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

10. Look, I have purchased you, but not for silver, I have chosen you out of the cauldron of affliction.

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

11. For my sake and my sake only shall I act, for why should my name be profaned? I will not yield my glory to another.

11. For mine own sake, [even] for mine own sake, will I do [it]: for how should [my name] be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

12. Listen to me, Jacob, Israel whom I have called: I, and none else, am the first, I am also the last.

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

13. My hand laid the foundations of earth and my right hand spread out the heavens. I summon them and they all present themselves together.

13. Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: [when] I call unto them, they stand up together.

14. Assemble, all of you, and listen; which of them has revealed this? Yahweh loves him; he will do his pleasure on Babylon and the race of the Chaldaeans;

14. All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these [things]? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm [shall be on] the Chaldeans.

15. I, I have spoken, yes, I have summoned him, I have brought him, and he will succeed.

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

16. Come near and listen to this: from the first, I never spoke obscurely; when it happened, I was there, and now Lord Yahweh has sent me with his spirit.

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

17. Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Yahweh your God and teach you for your own good, I lead you in the way you ought to go.

17. Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I [am] the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way [that] thou shouldest go.

18. If only you had listened to my commandments! Your prosperity would have been like a river and your saving justice like the waves of the sea.

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

19. Your descendants would have been numbered like the sand, your offspring as many as its grains. Their name would never be cancelled or blotted out from my presence.

19. Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

20. Come out from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldaeans! Declare this with cries of joy, proclaim it, carry it to the remotest parts of earth, say, 'Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob.'

20. Go ye forth of 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, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

21. Those he led through the arid country never went thirsty; he made water flow for them from the rock, he split the rock and out streamed the water.

21. And 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.

22. There is no peace, says Yahweh, for the wicked.

22. [There is] no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.