48 1 The hypocrisy of the Jews is reproved. 12 The Lord alone will be worshipped. 20 Of their deliverance out of Babylon.
1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are [a]called by the name of Israel, and are come out of [b]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 are called of the holy city, and stay themselves [c]upon the God of Israel, whose Name is the Lord of hosts.
3 I have declared the former things of old, and they went out of my mouth, and I showed [d]them: I did them suddenly and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew that [e]thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass,
5 Therefore I have declared it to thee of old: before it came to pass, I showed [f]it thee, lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my carved image, and my molten image hath commanded them.
6 Thou hast heard, behold all this, and will not ye [g]declare it? I have showed thee new things, even now, and hid things, which thou knewest not.
7 They are created now, and not of old, and even before this thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I [h]knew them.
8 Yet thou heardest them not, neither didst know them, neither yet was thine ear opened of old; for I knew that thou wouldest grievously transgress: therefore have I called thee a transgressor from the [i]womb.
9 For my Name’s sake will I defer my wrath, and for my praise, will I refrain it from thee, [j]that I cut thee not off.
10 Behold, I have fined thee, but [k]not as silver: I have [l]chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
11 For mine own sake, for mine own sake will I do it; for how should my Name [m]be polluted? [n]surely I will not give my glory unto another.
12 Hear me, O Jacob and Israel, my called, [o]I am, I am the first, and I am the last.
13 Surely mine hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call them, [p]they stand up together.
14 All you, assemble yourselves, and hear: which among them hath declared these things? The Lord hath loved [q]him, he will do his will in Babel, and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I have spoken it, and I have called him, I have brought him, and his way shall prosper.
16 Come near unto me: hear ye this: I have not spoken it in secret from the [r]beginning: from the time that the thing was, I was there, and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath [s]sent me.
17 Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy one of Israel, I am the Lord thy God, which teach thee [t]to profit, and lead thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
18 Oh, that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy prosperity been as the flood, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.
19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the fruit of thy body like the gravel thereof: his [u]name should not have been cut off nor destroyed before me.
20 [v]Go ye out of Babel: flee ye from the Chaldeans with a voice of joy: tell and declare this: show it forth to the end of the earth: say ye, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
21 And they [w]were not thirsty: he led them through the wilderness: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: for he clave the rock and the water gushed out.
22 There is no [x]peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 48:1 He detecteth their hypocrisy which vaunteth themselves to be Israelites, and were not so indeed.
- Isaiah 48:1 Meaning, the fountain and stock.
- Isaiah 48:2 They make a show, as though they would have none other God.
- Isaiah 48:3 He showeth that they could not accuse him in anything, forasmuch as he had performed whatsoever he had promised.
- Isaiah 48:4 I have done for thee more than I promised, that thy stubbornness and impudence might have been overcome.
- Isaiah 48:5 How thou shouldest be delivered out of Babylon.
- Isaiah 48:6 Will ye not acknowledge this my benefit, and declare it unto others?
- Isaiah 48:7 Showing that man’s arrogance is the cause why God doth not declare all things at once, lest they should attribute this knowledge to their own wisdom.
- Isaiah 48:8 From the time that I brought thee out of Egypt: for that deliverance was as the birth of the Church.
- Isaiah 48:9 As it was my free mercy that I did choose thee: so it is my free mercy that must save thee.
- Isaiah 48:10 For I had respect to thy weakness and infirmity: for in silver there is some pureness, but in us there is nothing but dross.
- Isaiah 48:10 I took thee out of the furnace where thou shouldest have been consumed.
- Isaiah 48:11 God joineth the salvation of his with his own honor: so that they cannot perish, but his glory should be diminished, as Deut. 32:27.
- Isaiah 48:11 Read Isa. 42:8.
- Isaiah 48:12 Read Isa. 41:4.
- Isaiah 48:13 To obey me, and to do whatsoever I command them.
- Isaiah 48:14 Meaning, Cyrus, whom he had chosen to destroy Babylon.
- Isaiah 48:16 Since the time that I declared myself to your fathers.
- Isaiah 48:16 Thus the Prophet speaketh for himself, and to assure them of these things.
- Isaiah 48:17 What things shall do thee good.
- Isaiah 48:19 That is, the prosperous estate of Israel.
- Isaiah 48:20 After that he had forewarned them of their captivity, and of the cause thereof, he showeth them the great joy that shall come of their deliverance.
- Isaiah 48:21 He showeth that it shall be as easy to deliver them, as he did their fathers out of Egypt.
- Isaiah 48:22 Thus he speaketh that the wicked hypocrites should not abuse God’s promise, in whom was neither faith nor repentance, as Isa. 57:21.