The Vision of Isaiah

Chapter 48

God, to convince the people of their foreknown obstinacy, revealed his prophecies, 1-8. He saves them for his own sake, 9-11. He exhorts them to obedience because of his power and providence, 12-15. He laments their backwardness, 16-19. He powerfully delivers his people out of Babylon, 20-22.

1 "Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel and have come forth out of the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.

2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel. The LORD of hosts is his name.

3 I have declared the former things from the beginning, and they went forth from my mouth and I proclaimed them. I did them suddenly and they came to pass.

4 Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your brow brass,

5 I have even from the beginning declared it to you. Before it came to pass I showed it to you, lest you should say, 'My idol has done them, and my engraved image and my molten image has commanded them.'

6 You have heard it. See all of this. And will you not declare it? I have showed you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them.

7 They are created now, and not from the beginning, even before the day when you did not hear them, lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.'

8 Indeed, you did not hear. Indeed, you did not know. Indeed, from that time 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 defer my anger, and for my praise I will refrain for you, so that I do not cut you off.

10 Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

11 For my own sake, even for my own sake, I will do it. For how should my name be profaned? And I will not give my glory to another.

12 Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called. I am he. I am the first. I am also the last.

13 My hand has also laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spanned 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 has loved him. He will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

15 I, even I, have spoken. Indeed, I have called him. I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

16 Come near to me, hear this. I have not spoken in secret from the beginning. From the time that it was, there I am. And now the Lord GOD and his Spirit has sent me."

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 by the way that you should go.

18 O that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been as a river and your righteousness as the waves of the sea.

19 Your descendants also would have been as the sand and the offspring of your body like its grains. His name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me."

20 Go forth from Babylon. Flee from the Chaldeans. With a voice of singing declare, tell this, and utter it even to the end of the earth, saying, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob."

21 And they did not thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He also cleaved the rock and the waters gushed out.

22 "There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."

Commentary

Matthew Henry Commentary - Isaiah, Chapter 48[➚]

Notes

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