Isaiah

Isaiah 48

22 verses · Major Prophets · Old Testament

1“Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah. You swear by Yahweh’s name, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness— 2for they call themselves citizens of the holy city, and rely on the God of Israel; Yahweh of Armies is his name. 3I have declared the former things from of old. Yes, they went out of my mouth, and I revealed them. I did them suddenly, and they happened. 4Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze; 5therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them. My engraved image and my molten image has commanded them.’ 6You have heard it. Now see all this. And you, won’t you declare it?
“I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known. 7They are created now, and not from of old. Before today, you didn’t hear them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ 8Yes, you didn’t hear. Yes, you didn’t know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened, for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb. 9For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger, and for my praise, I hold it back for you so that I don’t cut you off. 10Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. 11For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it; for how would my name be profaned? 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. 13Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens. when I call to them, they stand up together.
14“Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? He whom Yahweh loves will do what he likes to Babylon, and his arm will be against the Chaldeans. 15I, even I, have spoken. Yes, I have called him. I have brought him and he shall make his way prosperous.

16“Come near to me and hear this:

“From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it happened, I was there.”
Now the Lord Yahweh has sent me with his Spirit.
17Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. 18Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. 19Your offspring also would have been as the sand and the descendants of your body like its grains. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.”
20Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing announce this, tell it even to the end of the earth: say, “Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!” 21They didn’t thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He also split the rock and the waters gushed out.
22“There is no peace”, says Yahweh, “for the wicked.”

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What others are saying

4 commentators · 52 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17143

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–8

We may observe here, I. The hypocritical profession which many of the Jews made of religion and relation to God. To those who made such a profession the prophet is here ordered to address himself, for their conviction and humiliation, that they might own…

v. 9–15

The deliverance of God's people out of their captivity in Babylon was a thing upon many accounts so improbable that there was need of line upon line for the encouragement of the faith and hope of God's people concerning it. Two things were discouraging to…

v. 16–22

Here, as before, Jacob and Israel are summoned to hearken to the prophet speaking in God's name, or rather to God speaking in and by the prophet, and that as a type of the great prophet by whom God has in these last days spoken unto us, and that is…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176322

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

Hear ye this, O house of Jacob,.... Who were of the house and family of Jacob, his descendants and posterity; and who were of the house of the God of Jacob, had a name and a place there, at least in profession: which are called by the name of Israel; a name…

v. 2

For they call themselves of the holy city,.... The city Jerusalem, so called because the temple, the place of divine worship, was in it, the residence of the Holy One of Israel: they valued themselves, not only upon their being of the family of Jacob, and of…

v. 3

I have declared the former things from the beginning,.... From the time of their first ancestors, from the time of Abraham their father, to whom was declared what should befall his posterity; that they should sojourn in Egypt, be afflicted there, and come out…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–18756

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 3–5

After this summons, and description of those who are summoned, the address of Jehovah begins. "The first I have long ago proclaimed, and it has gone forth out of my mouth, and I caused it to be heard. I carried it out suddenly, and it came to pass. Because I…

v. 6–8

But in order to determine exactly what "the former things" were, which Jehovah had foretold in order that Israel might not ascribe them to this idol or the other, we must add Isa 48:6-8 : "Thou hast heard it, look then at it all; and ye, must ye not confess…

v. 9–11

The people now expiating its offences in exile has been from time immemorial faithless and inclined to apostasy; nevertheless Jehovah will save it, and its salvation is therefore an unmerited work of His compassion. "For my name's sake I lengthen out my…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187121

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 2

For--Ye deserve these reproofs; "for" ye call yourselves citizens of "the holy city" (Isa 52:1), but not in truth (Isa 48:1; Neh 11:1; Dan 9:24); so the inscription on their coins of the time of the Maccabees. "Jerusalem the Holy."

v. 3

former--things which have happened in time past to Israel (Isa 42:9; Isa 44:7-8; Isa 45:21; Isa 46:10). suddenly--They came to pass so unexpectedly that the prophecy could not have resulted from mere human sagacity.

v. 4

obstinate--Hebrew, "hard" (Deu 9:27; Eze 3:7, Margin). iron sinew--inflexible (Act 7:51). brow brass--shameless as a harlot (see Jer 6:28; Jer 3:3; Eze 3:7, Margin).

World English Bible — Public domain