48
Israel Refined for God’s Glory
1“Hear this, O house of Jacob,
Who are called by the name of Israel,
And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah;
Who swear by the name of the Lord,
And make mention of the God of Israel,
But⚓not in truth or in righteousness;
2For they call themselves ⚓after the holy city,
And ⚓lean on the God of Israel;
The Lord of hosts is His name:
3“I have ⚓declared the former things from the beginning;
They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.
Suddenly I did them,⚓and they came to pass.
4Because I knew that you were obstinate,
And ⚓your neck was an iron sinew,
And your brow bronze,
5Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my molded image
Have commanded them.’
6“You have heard;
See all this.
And will you not declare it?
I have made you hear new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and you did not know them.
7They are created now and not from the beginning;
And before this day you have not heard them,
Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’
8Surely you did not hear,
Surely you did not know;
Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,
And were called ⚓a transgressor from the womb.
9“For⚓ My name’s sake ⚓I will defer My anger,
And for My praise I will restrain it from you,
So that I do not cut you off.
10Behold, ⚓I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the ⚓furnace of affliction.
11For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For ⚓how should My name be profaned?
And ⚓I will not give My glory to another.
God’s Ancient Plan to Redeem Israel
12“Listen to Me, O Jacob,
And Israel, My called:
I am He, ⚓I am the ⚓First,
I am also the Last.
13Indeed ⚓My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;
When⚓I call to them,
They stand up together.
14“All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
⚓The Lord loves him;
⚓He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,
And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15I, even I, have spoken;
Yes, ⚓I have called him,
I have brought him, and his way will prosper.
16“Come near to Me, hear this:
⚓I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it was, I was there.
And now ⚓the Lord God and His Spirit
Have sent Me.”
17Thus says ⚓the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
⚓Who leads you by the way you should go.
18⚓Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
⚓Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19⚓Your descendants also would have been like the sand,
And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;
His name would not have been cut off
Nor destroyed from before Me.”
20⚓Go forth from Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
With a voice of singing,
Declare, proclaim this,
Utter it to the end of the earth;
Say, “The Lord has ⚓redeemed
His servant Jacob!”
21And they ⚓did not thirst
When He led them through the deserts;
He ⚓caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;
He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.
22“There⚓ is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”