The Lord Confronts His People
Listen closely, house of Jacob—you who go by the name Israel, who came from Judah’s line, who invoke the Lord’s name and claim the God of Israel as yours. But you don’t mean it. Your words ring hollow. You call yourselves citizens of the Holy City, but you don’t lean on the God of Israel—the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. That’s his name.
I told you what would happen long ago. The words left my mouth, I showed you, and then suddenly I made it real. I did it because I knew how stubborn you are—your neck like iron, your forehead like bronze. So I declared these things to you from the beginning. I showed them to you before they happened, so you couldn’t say, 'My idol did this,' or 'My carved god made it happen.'
You’ve seen it all. You’ve heard it all. Won’t you admit it? Now I’m showing you new things—hidden things you never knew. These things are being created now, not back at the beginning. Before today you’d never heard of them. That way you can’t say, 'Oh, I knew that already.' You didn’t hear. You didn’t know. Your ears were sealed shut. I knew you’d be faithless—a rebel from birth.
But for my own name’s sake, I’ll hold back my anger. For my honor, I’ll restrain myself from destroying you. I’ve refined you—chosen you in the furnace of hard times. For my own sake—yes, for my own sake—I’ll do this. I won’t let my name be dragged through the dirt. I won’t hand my glory to anyone else.
The Lord Declares His Power
Listen to me, Jacob. Listen, Israel, whom I’ve called. I am the one. I am the first, and I am the last. My hand laid the earth’s foundation. My right hand stretched out the heavens. When I call to them, they stand at attention.
All of you, gather and listen. Which of your idols ever told you these things? The Lord has chosen someone he loves. That person will carry out his word and accomplish his purpose against Babylon. His power will come down on the Chaldeans. The Lord says: I have spoken. I have called him and brought him here. He’ll succeed in what I send him to do.
Come close to me. I’ve never spoken in secret from the start. From the moment it was declared, I’ve been speaking. The Lord God and his Spirit have sent me.
What Could Have Been
This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God. I teach you what’s good for you. I guide you along the path you should walk.
If only you had listened to my commands! Your peace would have flowed like a river. Your righteousness would have rolled in like ocean waves. Your children would have been as countless as grains of sand. Your family line would have spread like pebbles on a beach. Your name would never have been wiped out or forgotten.
Escape from Babylon
Get out of Babylon! Run from the Chaldeans! Shout it out with joy—declare it, spread the news to the ends of the earth: 'The Lord has rescued his servant Jacob!' They didn’t go thirsty when he led them through the desert. He made water flow from the rock for them. He split the rock open, and water gushed out.
Yet even after all this—and so much more—the Lord says: 'There is no peace for the wicked.'
Influences
- 20:1 — Isaiah 48:1 (KJV)Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.
- 20:2 — Isaiah 48:2 (KJV)For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.
- 20:3 — Isaiah 48:3 (KJV)I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
- 20:4 — Isaiah 48:4 (KJV)Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
- 20:5 — Isaiah 48:5 (KJV)I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
- 20:6 — Isaiah 48:6 (KJV)Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
- 20:7 — Isaiah 48:7 (KJV)They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
- 20:8 — Isaiah 48:8 (KJV)Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
- 20:9 — Isaiah 48:9 (KJV)For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
- 20:10 — Isaiah 48:10 (KJV)Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
- 20:11 — Isaiah 48:11 (KJV)For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.
- 20:12 — Isaiah 48:12 (KJV)Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
- 20:13 — Isaiah 48:13 (KJV)Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
- 20:14 — Isaiah 48:14 (KJV)All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
- 20:15 — Isaiah 48:15 (KJV)I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
- 20:16 — Isaiah 48:16 (KJV)Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
- 20:17 — Isaiah 48:17 (KJV)Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
- 20:18 — Isaiah 48:18 (KJV)O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
- 20:19 — Isaiah 48:19 (KJV)Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
- 20:20 — Isaiah 48:20 (KJV)Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
- 20:21 — Isaiah 48:21 (KJV)And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.