Isaiah 48 The Passion Translation (TPT)
Our All-Knowing God
48 “Listen carefully, O Jacob’s tribes,
you who are called by the name Israel
and come from the lineage of Judah,
who solemnly swear in the name of Yahweh
and claim to worship the God of Israel.[a]
But there is no truth or righteousness in your confession!
2 Indeed, you name yourselves after the holy city
and say that you depend upon Israel’s God.
Yahweh, the Commander of Angel Armies, is his name.
3 “Long ago I prophesied things that would happen.
I issued decrees[b] and made them known.
Then suddenly, I acted and made them happen.
4 I knew you were stubborn.
Your neck is like a rod of iron,
and you’re as hard-hearted as brass![c]
5 Long ago I told you these things.
Long before they happened
I proclaimed them
so you would never be able to say,
‘My idols did this;
my wood and metal idols decreed it!’
6 You have heard what I foretold and have seen it all unfold,
so admit[d] that it happened and I was right![e]
From now on I will tell you about new things never seen before,
hidden things, well-guarded secrets you know nothing about.
7 They are created now, brand new today, not long ago!
You’ve never heard of them before now,
so you cannot say, ‘Oh, I already knew about that.’
8 You have never heard nor understood;
your ear had not been opened beforehand.
Though I knew that you would fight against me
as a rebel from birth,
9 yet, for the sake of my great name and for my glory,
I held back my anger and was patient with you
so I did not whittle you down to nothing.
10 See, I have purified you in the furnace of adversity,
but not like silver—I have refined you in the fire.[f]
11 For my own sake alone I will do it,
so my name will not be dishonored.[g]
I will not yield my glory to another.
Consider God’s Might
12 “Listen to me, O Jacob,
Israel, whom I have called:
I am the One and Only,
the First and the Last.
13 With my mighty hand I laid the foundation of the earth;
with the span of my right hand I spread out the cosmos.
And when I speak to them, they both stand at attention.
14 Now, all of you gather around and listen.
Which of the gods has foretold these things?
I, Yahweh, love this man,
and he[h] will carry out my purpose against Babylon.
He will be my “arm of might” against the Babylonians!
15 I am the one; yes, I am the one
who called him by name before he was born.
I have led him forward on a prosperous, successful path.
Come Together and Walk with Me
16 “Draw near to me and listen:
From the beginning, I have not spoken in secret.
From the beginning of time,[i] I was there.”
And now Lord Yahweh has sent me, empowered by[j] his Spirit!
17 This is what Yahweh, your Kinsman-Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says:
“I am Yahweh, your God.
I am the One who teaches you how to succeed
and who leads you step by step in the way you should go.
18 If only you had listened to my commands,
then peace[k] would have flowed like a[l] river for you
and success[m] would wash over you like waves of the sea.
19 Your children would have multiplied
to become like the sand of the seashore[n]
and your descendants like grains of sand.
There would be no end of them,
and I would not cut them off.”
20 Go! Leave Babylon!
Flee from Chaldea!
Announce it with joyous singing![o]
Let everyone know!
Proclaim it to the ends of the earth!
Say it loud and clear:
“Yahweh has rescued his servant Jacob!”
21 The people weren’t thirsty
when he led them through barren, desolate deserts,
for he broke open the rock for water to flow for them.
The rock was split open, and rivers gushed out![p]
22 “There is never peace,” Yahweh says, “for the wicked.”
a. Isaiah 48:1 Or “who cause the God of Israel to be remembered.”
b. Isaiah 48:3 Or “They came forth from my mouth.”
c. Isaiah 48:4 Or “your forehead hard as brass.”
d. Isaiah 48:6 Or “declare.”
e. Isaiah 48:6 Or “You should tell this to others.” The Hebrew of this sentence is uncertain.
f. Isaiah 48:10 The implication is that if God had left them in the fire to melt down all their dross, they would still be there in the fire with nothing left of them. God limits the intensity and the timing of our every trial and uses the furnace of adversity to make us more like Christ. See 1 Cor. 10:13.
g. Isaiah 48:11 God promises to deliver, refine, and rescue his people so that his own name and identity as the God of gods will not be defamed. Rescue is as sure as God’s identity.
h. Isaiah 48:14 Most scholars view this man to be Cyrus.
i. Isaiah 48:16 Or “from the time of its occurring.”
j. Isaiah 48:16 Or “has sent me and his Spirit.”
k. Isaiah 48:18 Or “prosperity (shalom).”
l. Isaiah 48:18 Or “the river.” See John 7:37-39.
m.Isaiah 48:18 Or “righteousness.”
n. Isaiah 48:19 See Gen. 22:17; 32:12.
o. Isaiah 48:20 Or “shouting.” The key to fleeing from the Babylonish (Babylon means “confusion”) systems of the world is to go out with a joyous song. See Jer. 33:7-11.
p. Isaiah 48:21 See 1 Cor. 10:1-11; John 19:34.
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