The Lantern

Isaiah48

Israel’s Stubbornness

Hear this, house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel and came out from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD and bring to mind the God of Israel — but not in truth and not in righteousness.

For they are called from the holy city, and on the God of Israel they lean; the LORD of hosts is his name.

The former things I told from then, and from my mouth they went out and I made them heard; suddenly I acted, and they came.

Because I knew that you are hard, and your neck is a sinew of iron and your forehead bronze,

I told you from then; before it came I made you hear it — lest you say, My idol did them, and my carved image and my cast image commanded them.

You have heard; look at all of it — and will you not tell it? I have made you hear new things from now, and hidden things you did not know.

Now they are created, and not from then; and before this day you did not hear them — lest you say, See, I knew them.

You have not heard, you have not known, and from then your ear was not opened. For I knew you would surely betray, and “transgressor from the womb” was called of you.

For the sake of my name I lengthen my anger, and for my praise I muzzle it toward you, so as not to cut you off.

See, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

For my own sake, for my own sake I act — for how should it be profaned? And my glory I will not give to another.

Deliverance Promised to Israel

Listen to me, Jacob, and Israel my called one: I am he; I am the first, indeed I am the last.

Indeed my hand founded the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens. I call to them; they stand together.

Gather, all of you, and hear! Who among them has told these things? The LORD has loved him; he will do his delight on Babylon, and his arm on the Chaldeans.

I, I have spoken; indeed I have called him. I have brought him, and he will make his way succeed.

Draw near to me, hear this: from the head I have not spoken in secret; from the time it came to be, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his spirit.

Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the LORD your God, teaching you to profit, leading you in the way you should go.

If only you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

And your seed would have been like the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains; his name would not be cut off and would not be destroyed from before me.

Go out from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of ringing cry tell it, make this heard, send it out to the end of the earth. Say: The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!

And they did not thirst when he led them through the wastes; he made water flow for them from a rock; he split a rock and waters gushed out.

There is no peace, says the LORD, for the wicked.