Israel Refined for God’s Glory

48 Hear this, O house of Jacob,

dwho are called by the name of Israel,

and ewho came from the waters of Judah,

fwho 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,

gand stay themselves on the God of Israel;

the Lord of hosts is his name.

3  “The former things hI 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 iyou are obstinate,

and your neck is an iron sinew

and your forehead brass,

5  hI 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 kI 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 lfrom 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, nbut not as silver;

oI have tried1 you in the furnace of affliction.

11  pFor my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

for how should my name2 be profaned?

qMy glory I will not give to another.

The Lord’s Call to Israel

12  “Listen to me, O Jacob,

and Israel, whom I called!

I am he; rI am the first,

and I am the last.

13  My hand slaid the foundation of the earth,

and my right hand sspread out the heavens;

twhen I call to them,

they stand forth together.

14  “Assemble, all of you, and listen!

uWho among them has declared these things?

The Lord loves him;

vhe shall perform his purpose on Babylon,

and his arm shall be against wthe Chaldeans.

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

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

16  yDraw 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 zthe 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  aOh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

bThen your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;

19  cyour 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  dGo out from Babylon, flee from eChaldea,

declare this fwith 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  hThey did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;

ihe 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.”