Isaiah 48:3-22 ▼

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

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

5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I showed it thee: lest thou shouldst say, My idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

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

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

8 Yes, thou heardst not; yes, thou knewest not; yes, from that time that thy ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldst deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.

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

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

11 For my own sake, even for my own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be profaned? and I will not give my glory to another.

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

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

14 All ye, assemble yourselves and hear; who 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, even I, have spoken, yes, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

16 Come ye near to 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 saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God, who teacheth thee to profit, who leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldst go.

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

20 Go ye forth from 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 And they thirsted not, when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he cleaved the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

22 There is no peace, saith the LORD, to the wicked.