ISAIAH 48 [†] Hear this, O house of Jacob,

 d who are called by the name of Israel,

and  e who came from the waters of Judah,

 f who swear by the name of the LORD

and confess the God of Israel,

but not in truth or right.

2[†] For they call themselves after the holy city,

 g and stay themselves on the God of Israel;

the LORD of hosts is his name.

3[†] “The former things  h I declared of old;

they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;

then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.

4 Because I know that  i you are obstinate,

and your neck is an iron sinew

and your forehead brass,

5  h I declared them to you from of old,

before they came to pass I announced them to you,

lest you should say,  j ‘My idol did them,

my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’

6[†] “You have heard; now see all this;

and will you not declare it?

From this time forth  k I announce to you new things,

hidden things that you have not known.

7 They are created now, not long ago;

before today you have never heard of them,

lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’

8 You have never heard, you have never known,

from of old your ear has not been opened.

For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,

and that  l from before birth you were called a rebel.

9[†]  m “For my name’s sake I defer my anger,

for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,

that I may not cut you off.

10 Behold, I have refined you,  n but not as silver;

 o I have tried [1] you in the furnace of affliction.

11  p For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

for how should my name [2] be profaned?

 q My glory I will not give to another.

12[†] “Listen to me, O Jacob,

and Israel, whom I called!

I am he;  r I am the first,

and I am the last.

13 My hand  s laid the foundation of the earth,

and my right hand  s spread out the heavens;

 t when I call to them,

they stand forth together.

14[†] “Assemble, all of you, and listen!

 u Who among them has declared these things?

The LORD loves him;

 v he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,

and his arm shall be against  w the Chaldeans.

15  x I, even I, have spoken and called him;

I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.

16[†]  y Draw near to me, hear this:

from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,

from the time it came to be I have been there.”

And now  z the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.

17[†] Thus says the LORD,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the LORD your God,

who teaches you to profit,

who leads you in the way you should go.

18  a Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

 b Then your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;

19  c your offspring would have been like the sand,

and your descendants like its grains;

their name would never be cut off

or destroyed from before me.”

20[^][†]  d Go out from Babylon, flee from  e Chaldea,

declare this  f with a shout of joy, proclaim it,

send it out to the end of the earth;

say,  g “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

21  h They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;

 i he made water flow for them from the rock;

he split the rock and the water gushed out.

22[†]  j “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”