ישעיהו מ״חIsaiah 48

Listen to this, O House of Jacob,
Who bear the name Israel
And have issued from the waters of Judah,
Who swear by the name of GOD
And invoke the God of Israel—
Though not in truth and sincerity—

For you are called after the Holy City
And you do lean on the God of Israel,
Whose name is GOD of Hosts:

Long ago, I foretold things that happened,
From My mouth they issued, and I announced them;
Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.

Because I know how stubborn you are
(Your neck is like an iron sinew
And your forehead bronze),

Therefore I told you long beforehand,
Announced things to you ere they happened—
That you might not say, “My idol caused them,
My carved and molten images ordained them.”

You have heard all this; look, must you not acknowledge it?
As of now, I announce to you new things,
Well-guarded secrets you did not know.

Only now are they created, and not of old;
Before today you had not heard them;
You cannot say, “I knew them already.”

You had never heard, you had never known,
Your ears were not opened of old.
Though I know that you are treacherous,
That you were called a rebel from birth,

For the sake of My name I control My wrath;
To My own glory, I am patient with you,
And I will not destroy you.

See, I refine you, but not as silver;
I test you in the furnace of affliction.

For My sake, My own sake, do I act—
Lest [My name] be dishonored!
I will not give My glory to another.

Listen to Me, O Jacob,
Israel, whom I have called:
I am the One—I am the first,
And I am the last as well.

My own hand founded the earth,
My right hand spread out the skies.
I call unto them, let them stand up.

Assemble, all of you, and listen!
Who among you foretold these things:
“He whom GOD loves
Shall work the divine will against Babylon,
And, with divine might, against Chaldea”?

I, I predicted, and I called him;
I have brought him and he shall succeed in his mission.

Draw near to Me and hear this:
From the beginning, I did not speak in secret;
From the time anything existed, I was there.
“And now the Sovereign GOD has sent me, endowed with divine spirit.”

Thus said GOD your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
I the ETERNAL One am your God,
Instructing you for your own benefit.
Guiding you in the way you should go.

If only you would heed My commands!
Then your prosperity would be like a river,
Your triumph like the waves of the sea.

Your offspring would be as many as the sand,
Their issue as many as its grains.
Their name would never be cut off
Or obliterated from before Me.

Go forth from Babylon,
Flee from Chaldea!
Declare this with loud shouting,
Announce this,
Bring out the word to the ends of the earth!
Say: “GOD has redeemed
Jacob—God’s servant!”

They have known no thirst,
Though they were led through parched places;
[God] made water flow for them from the rock,
Cleaving the rock so that water gushed forth.

There is no safety—said GOD—for the wicked.