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Isaiah 48

YHWH exposes Israel’s stubbornness and promises deliverance for his own glory, while insisting that disobedience cannot yield peace.

YHWH addresses the house of Jacob, people who claim Israel’s name and Jerusalem’s identity while refusing truth and righteousness. He confronts their stubbornness, explaining that his earlier announcements kept them from crediting idols for his works. He holds back his anger for his own name’s sake and declares his power over creation and Babylon. The chapter moves toward a command to leave Babylon, then closes with a warning that the wicked have no peace.

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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 the LORD’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; the LORD 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.
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 the LORD 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 GOD has sent me with his Spirit.
17The LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: “I am the LORD 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 the sound of joyful shouting announce this, tell it even to the end of the earth; say, “The LORD 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 the LORD, “for the wicked.”
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Key verses
Isaiah 48:17Israel’s Redeemer teaches and leads his people, setting up the lament over their refusal to heed his commands.
Isaiah 48:6God calls Israel to acknowledge what he has revealed, then announces new things beyond their prior knowledge.
Isaiah 48:21Water from the rock recalls God’s care in the wilderness as Israel hears the command to leave Babylon.
Where this chapter reaches

Isaiah’s account of water flowing from the rock shares Israel’s wilderness provision with Psalm, where God’s care is recalled in song. The command to leave Babylon also appears in Jeremiah, linking deliverance with departure from a place facing God’s judgment.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What does God’s repeated concern for his own name reveal about his reasons for sparing Israel?

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How does the final warning about peace shape your reading of the command to leave Babylon?

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Questions people ask about Isaiah 48

Who is speaking in Isaiah 48:16?

The verse moves from words about speaking openly and being present from the beginning to a declaration of being sent by the Lord GOD with his Spirit. The speaker of that final declaration is not named. Readings include a prophetic messenger or a messianic speaker; the immediate wording leaves the identity unstated.

What does Isaiah 48:17 mean by “teaches you to profit”?

The phrase describes God teaching Israel what benefits them and leading them in the way they should go. The next verses connect listening to his commandments with peace, righteousness, and enduring descendants. The context concerns Israel’s welfare under God’s instruction; it offers no blanket promise of personal financial gain.

What does “There is no peace” mean in Isaiah 48:22?

The closing warning concerns the wicked and follows God’s lament that Israel’s obedience could have brought peace like a river. It places a sober boundary around the joyful announcement of release from Babylon. Deliverance from captivity does not make continued wickedness compatible with the peace God describes.

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Isaiah · 66 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).