Israel Refined for God’s Glory
1“Hear this, O house of Jacob,
Who are called by the name of Israel,
And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah;
Who swear by the name of the Lord,
And make mention of the God of Israel,
But not in truth or in righteousness;
2For they call themselves after the holy city,
And lean on the God of Israel;
The Lord of hosts is His name:
3“I have declared the former things from the beginning;
They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.
Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
And your neck was an iron sinew,
And your brow bronze,
5Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my molded image
Have commanded them.’
6“You have heard;
See all this.
And will you not declare it?
I have made you hear new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and you did not know them.
7They are created now and not from the beginning;
And before this day you have not heard them,
Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’
8Surely you did not hear,
Surely you did not know;
Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,
And were called a transgressor from the womb.
9“For My name’s sake I will 48:9 delaydefer My anger,
And for My praise I will restrain it from you,
So that I do not cut you off.
10Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For how should My name be profaned?
And I will not give My glory to another.
God’s Ancient Plan to Redeem Israel
12“Listen to Me, O Jacob,
And Israel, My called:
I am He, I am the First,
I am also the Last.
13Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;
When I call to them,
They stand up together.
14“All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,
And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15I, even I, have spoken;
Yes, I have called him,
I have brought him, and his way will prosper.
16“Come near to Me, hear this:
I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
From the time that it was, I was there.
And now the Lord God and His Spirit
48:16 Heb. verb is sing.; or Has sent Me and His SpiritHave sent Me.”
17Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
Who leads you by the way you should go.
18Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19Your descendants also would have been like the sand,
And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;
His name would not have been cut off
Nor destroyed from before Me.”
20Go forth from Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
With a voice of singing,
Declare, proclaim this,
Utter it to the end of the earth;
Say, “The Lord has redeemed
His servant Jacob!”
21And they did not thirst
When He led them through the deserts;
He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;
He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.
New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
