Chapter 48
48:1 Hear these things, O house of Jacob, you that are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, you who swear by the name of the Lord, and remember God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in justice.
48:2 For they are called of the holy city, and are established upon the God of Israel: the Lord of hosts is his name.
48:3 The former things of old, I have declared, and they went forth out of my mouth, and I have made them to be heard: I did them suddenly and they came to pass.
48:4 For I knew that you are stubborn, and your neck is as an iron sinew, and your forehead as brass.
48:5 I foretold you of old, before they came to pass I told you, lest you should say: my idols have done these things, and my graven and molten things have commanded them.
48:6 See now all the things which you have heard: but have you declared them? I have made you to hear new things from that time, and things are kept which you know not.
48:7 They are created now, and not of old: and before the day, when you heard them not, lest you should say: behold I knew them.
48:8 You have neither heard, nor known, neither was your ear opened of old. For I know that transgressing you will transgress, and I have called you a transgressor from the womb.
48:9 For my name’s sake I will remove my wrath far off: and for my praise I will bridle you, lest you should perish.
48:10 Behold I have refined you, but not as silver, I have chosen you in the furnace of poverty.
48:11 For my own sake, for my own sake will I do it, that I may not be blasphemed: and I will not give my glory to another.
48:12 Hearken to me, O Jacob, and you Israel whom I call: I am he, I am the first, and I am the last.
48:13 My hand also has founded the earth, and my right hand has measured the heavens: I shall call them, and they shall stand together.
48:14 Assemble yourselves together, all you, and hear: who among them has declared these things? The Lord has loved him, he will do his pleasure in Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
48:15 I, even I have spoken and called him: I have brought him, and his way is made right.
48:16 Come near unto me, and hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning: from the time before it was done, I was there, and now the Lord God has sent me, and his spirit.
48:17 Thus says the Lord your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God that teach you profitable things, that govern you in the way that you walk.
48:18 O that you had hearkened to my commandments: your peace had been as a river, and your justice as the waves of the sea.
48:19 And your seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have perished, nor have been destroyed from before my face.
48:20 Come forth out of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, declare it with the voice of joy: make this to be heard, and speak it out even to the ends of the earth. Say: the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.
48:21 They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out: he brought forth water out of the rock for them, and he clove the rock, and the waters gushed out.
48:22 There is no peace to the wicked, says the Lord.
884 . Hear these things, O house of Jacob . Here he promises the liberation of the people. And this is divided into two parts:
in the first, he promises liberation;
in the second, he describes the order of liberation, below: give ear, you islands (Isa 49:1).
The first is divided into two.
In the first, he stirs up attention, recalling three things in which they gloried, namely, the dignity of their race, because they come from holy fathers: out of the waters , that is, the seed, of Judah , against which it is said in Matthew 3:9: and think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham for our father ; the privilege of divine knowledge: you who swear , invoking his name, remember , as to knowledge of him, but not in truth , of heart, nor in justice , of works, above: this people with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me (Isa 29:13). The cult of holy religion: the holy city , namely, Jerusalem, in which was the cult of sacrifices; they are called Jerusalemites: God did not choose the people for the place’s sake, but the place for the people’s sake (2 Macc 5:19).
885 . Second, he promises liberation: the former things of old . And concerning this, he does three things:
first, he shows the majesty of God who promises it;
second, he shows the prosperity of Cyrus who executes it: assemble yourselves together, all you , etc.;
third, he promises liberation: come near unto me (Isa 48:16).
Concerning the first, he does two things:
first, he shows the majesty of God from the foretelling of future things;
second, from the creation of things: hearken to me, O Jacob (Isa 48:12).
886 . Concerning the first, he does three things.
First, he assigns the reason for the foretelling of certain future things, setting out the foretelling itself: the former things , which, namely, have already passed, of old , when they were still to come, suddenly , in regard to others, by whom they were not foretold: he declares the things that are past, and the things that are to come (Sir 42:19). And he sets out the reason for this, which is taken from their condition, which he sets out first: for I knew , from eternity; stubborn toward coming to your senses from evils; your neck , that is, the stiff-necked obstinacy of your own understanding; an iron sinew , which cannot be bent; your forehead as brass , because of your immodesty: you stiff-necked (Acts 7:51); for I know your obstinacy, and your most stiff neck (Deut 31:27); you had a harlot’s forehead (Jer 3:3). And then from this, he draws the reason: I foretold ; as if to say: that you were prone to idolatry, I foretold, lest you ascribe my benefits to idols: I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread (Hos 2:5). He sets out also the manifestation of what was foretold: the things which you have heard , foretold to you by me, see , them fulfilled: as we have heard, so have we seen (Ps 47:9[48:8]).
887 . Second, he assigns the reason for the hiding of other future things, first setting out the hiding itself, as was said, I foretold certain future things, but other future things are kept , that is, in my foreknowledge, which you know not , because I have not revealed them to you. Now , that is, in time, they are created , that is, brought into effect, and not of old , when I foreknew them, and before the day , of their fulfillment, when you heard them not , neither from me, nor from the idols: the Lord has hid it from me, and has not told me (2 Kgs 4:27). He also assigns the reason for this: lest you should say: behold I knew them , as if to say: therefore, I have not revealed them so that you may perceive your weakness and that of your gods, in that you cannot foreknow about future things, except what I reveal to you; I knew them , by my own skill. You have neither heard , from idols, neither was your ear opened , by me: man shall come to a deep heart (Ps 63:7–8[64:6–7]). He also sets out their condition, from which this reason is drawn: for I know ; from the womb , that is, from the time when I carried you through the desert as in the womb: I see that this people is stiff-necked (Exod 32:9), above: with the prevarication of transgressors (Isa 24:16).
888 . Third, he excludes a certain objection: for my name’s sake . For someone may ask: when they are so stubborn, why do you promise and do good things for them?
And he first sets out the response to this objection, recalling three benefits shown to them: for my name’s sake , not because of your merits, I will remove my wrath far off , or I have removed it, freeing you from punishment: it is not for your sake that I will do this, O house of Israel, but for my holy name’s sake (Ezek 36:22); and for my praise I will bridle you , that is, I have bound you to my ceremonies and praises, lest you perish offering sacrifices to idols: with bit and bridle bind fast their jaws (Ps 31[32]:9). I have refined you , wishing to cleanse you through trials, but not as silver , which is cleansed, but you were not corrected: the founder has melted in vain (Jer 6:29); I have chosen you , namely, cleansing you through poverty, punishing you by the plundering of your goods, Gregory: those whom the sickness of habits wounds, the medicine of poverty heals , and this by paternal correction.
Second, he sets out the explanation of the response: for my own sake, that I may not be blasphemed , as though I were powerless to save the people I have chosen for myself; and I will not give my glory to another , lest, namely, idols be thought to be more powerful than I am, above: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven things (Isa 42:8).
889 . Hearken to me . Here he shows the divine majesty from the creation of things. I shall call them , placing on each its proper work, and they shall stand , ready to obey, above: who has poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth? (Isa 40:12).
890 . Assemble yourselves . Here he foretells Cyrus’s prosperity.
And first, he shows the hiding of this fact from others: who among them , namely, the idols, as if to say: none of them, above: who has declared from the beginning? (Isa 41:26).
Second, he foretells his prosperity: the Lord has loved him , namely, Cyrus, advancing him into kingship; he will do his pleasure in Babylon , capturing it; and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans , that is, killing them by my power: and truly doing you shall do, and prevailing you shall prevail (1 Sam 26:25).
Third, he assigns the reason for his prosperity from divine help: I, even I ; his way is made right , not absolutely, but so that he might destroy Babylon; otherwise, it cannot be explained of Cyrus, but only of Christ, as Jerome says, for Cyrus was an idolater: and he led them into the right way (Ps 106[107]:7).
891 . Come near unto me . Here he promises liberation. And concerning this, he does three things.
First, he stirs up attention, setting out divine authority: I have not spoken in secret , but all the people saw the voices (Exod 20:18), from the beginning of the law given, from the time , past, before it was done , what I foretell, I was there , present to those future things, remaining through the same “now” of eternity in the whole succession of time; or in the person of the Son: I was there , namely, in the Father according to his divinity: when he balanced the foundations of the earth (Prov 8:28); he sets out the truth of the prophet, who was sent by God: and now me , Isaiah; or me , Christ made man, the Lord God , the Father, has sent, and his Spirit ; thus the three persons are designated, below: the spirit of the Lord is upon me (Isa 61:1).
892 . Second, where it says, thus says the Lord , he sets out the reason for their captivity, showing on the part of God, ready help: that teach , against their ignorance, and that govern you in the way , of works, against the weakness of their working: I will give you understanding, and I will instruct you in this way, in which you shall go (Ps 31[32]:8). He also shows the harm from the fault of the Jews: O that you had hearkened to my commandments , keeping them; as a river , abounding, as the waves , the same: if my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways: I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them (Ps 80:14–15[81:13–14]).
893 . Third, where it says, come forth , he foretells their liberation. And concerning this, he does three things.
First, he proclaims to them their going forth from captivity, so certain of their liberation as if it were present: come forth : go out from her (Rev 18:4); and he enjoins that they should declare the benefit of God: declare : the voice of them that flee, and of them that have escaped out of the land of Babylon: to declare in Zion the revenge of the Lord our God (Jer 50:28).
Second, he designates to the liberated the past benefit of consolation: they thirsted not , that is, the Lord will so provide for them in all things, as when they came forth from Egypt: he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out (Ps 77[78]:20), Numbers 21:16.
Third, he removes the comfort of peace from the wicked: there is no peace , below (Isa 57:21); what have you to do with peace? (2 Kgs 9:18).
894 . Poverty confers (see 48:10),
recognition of sins, if they are bound , etc.;
conservation of virtues: the poor man is glorified by his discipline and fear (Sir 10:33);
peace of heart: our poverty was sufficient for us (Tob 5:25);
fulfillment of desire: the Lord has heard the desire of the poor (Ps 9:38[10:17]);
participation in divine sweetness: in your sweetness, O God, you have provided for the poor (Ps 67:11[68:10]);
exaltation: he raises up the needy from the dust (1 Sam 2:8);
a heavenly inheritance: blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:3).
895 . The words of God are profitable (see 48:17),
for the illumination of the intellect: the commandment is a lamp (Prov 6:23);
for the delight of the affections: how sweet are your words to my palate (Ps 118[119]:103);
for the kindling of love: there came in my heart as a burning fire (Jer 20:9); the word of the Lord inflamed him (Ps 104[105]:19);
for the uprightness of works: direct me in your truth (Ps 24[25]:5);
for the obtainment of glory: keep the law (Prov 3:21);
for the instruction of others: all divine doctrine (2 Tim 3:16).