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48:3
I foretold the former things long ago; they came out of My mouth and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
48:4
For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze.
48:5
Therefore I declared it to you long ago; I announced it before it came to pass, so that you could not claim, ‘My idol has done this; my carved image and molten god has ordained it.’
48:6
You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not acknowledge them? From now on I will tell you of new things, hidden things unknown to you.
48:7
They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot claim, ‘I already knew them!’
48:8
You have never heard; you have never understood; for a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew how deceitful you are; you have been called a rebel from birth.
48:9
For the sake of My name I will delay My wrath; for the sake of My praise I will restrain it, so that you will not be cut off.
48:10
See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
48:11
For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.
48:12
Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the first, and I am the last.
48:13
Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.
48:14
Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The LORD’s chosen ally will carry out His desire against Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans.
48:15
I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I have brought him, and he will succeed in his mission.
48:16
Come near to Me and listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it happened, I was there.” And now the Lord GOD has sent me, accompanied by His Spirit.
48:17
Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go.
48:18
If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.
48:19
Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and your offspring as numerous as its grains; their name would never be cut off or eliminated from My presence.”
48:20
Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare it with a shout of joy, proclaim it, let it go out to the ends of the earth, saying, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!”
48:21
They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.
48:22
“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”