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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Isaiah 48 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/isaiah/48.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/isaiah/48-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Isaiah 48</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../isaiah/47.htm" title="Isaiah 47">◄</a> Isaiah 48 <a href="../isaiah/49.htm" title="Isaiah 49">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/isaiah/48.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">God’s Stubborn People</p><p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>“Listen to me, O family of Jacob,</p><p class="line2">you who are called by the name of Israel</p><p class="line2">and born into the family of Judah.</p><p class="line1">Listen, you who take oaths in the name of the LORD</p><p class="line2">and call on the God of Israel.</p><p class="line1">You don’t keep your promises,</p><p class="line2"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>even though you call yourself the holy city</p><p class="line1">and talk about depending on the God of Israel,</p><p class="line2">whose name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Long ago I told you what was going to happen.</p><p class="line2">Then suddenly I took action,</p><p class="line2">and all my predictions came true.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>For I know how stubborn and obstinate you are.</p><p class="line2">Your necks are as unbending as iron.</p><p class="line2">Your heads are as hard as bronze.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>That is why I told you what would happen;</p><p class="line2">I told you beforehand what I was going to do.</p><p class="line1">Then you could never say, ‘My idols did it.</p><p class="line2">My wooden image and metal god commanded it to happen!’</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>You have heard my predictions and seen them fulfilled,</p><p class="line2">but you refuse to admit it.</p><p class="line1">Now I will tell you new things,</p><p class="line2">secrets you have not yet heard.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>They are brand new, not things from the past.</p><p class="line2">So you cannot say, ‘We knew that all the time!’</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>“Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new,</p><p class="line2">things you never heard of before.</p><p class="line1">For I know so well what traitors you are.</p><p class="line2">You have been rebels from birth.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name,</p><p class="line2">I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>I have refined you, but not as silver is refined.</p><p class="line2">Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>I will rescue you for my sake—</p><p class="line2">yes, for my own sake!</p><p class="line1">I will not let my reputation be tarnished,</p><p class="line2">and I will not share my glory with idols!</p><p class="hdg">Freedom from Babylon</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>“Listen to me, O family of Jacob,</p><p class="line2">Israel my chosen one!</p><p class="line1">I alone am God,</p><p class="line2">the First and the Last.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth,</p><p class="line2">my right hand that spread out the heavens above.</p><p class="line1">When I call out the stars,</p><p class="line2">they all appear in order.”</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>Have any of your idols ever told you this?</p><p class="line2">Come, all of you, and listen:</p><p class="line1">The LORD has chosen Cyrus as his ally.</p><p class="line2">He will use him to put an end to the empire of Babylon</p><p class="line2">and to destroy the Babylonian<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> armies.</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>“I have said it: I am calling Cyrus!</p><p class="line2">I will send him on this errand and will help him succeed.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Come closer, and listen to this.</p><p class="line2">From the beginning I have told you plainly what would happen.”</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">And now the Sovereign LORD and his Spirit</p><p class="line2">have sent me with this message.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>This is what the LORD says—</p><p class="line2">your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:</p><p class="line1">“I am the LORD your God,</p><p class="line2">who teaches you what is good for you</p><p class="line2">and leads you along the paths you should follow.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Oh, that you had listened to my commands!</p><p class="line2">Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river</p><p class="line2">and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore—</p><p class="line2">too many to count!</p><p class="line1">There would have been no need for your destruction,</p><p class="line2">or for cutting off your family name.”</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Yet even now, be free from your captivity!</p><p class="line2">Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a></p><p class="line1">Sing out this message!</p><p class="line2">Shout it to the ends of the earth!</p><p class="line1">The LORD has redeemed his servants,</p><p class="line2">the people of Israel.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a></p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>They were not thirsty</p><p class="line2">when he led them through the desert.</p><p class="line1">He divided the rock,</p><p class="line2">and water gushed out for them to drink.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/isaiah/48-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>“But there is no peace for the wicked,”</p><p class="line2">says the LORD.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">48:14 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">Chaldean.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">48:20a </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">the Chaldeans.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">48:20b </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">his servant, Jacob.</span><span class="ft"> See note on 14:1.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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