Isaiah 48:1-22 GNT

[1] Listen to this, people of Israel, you that are descended from Judah: You swear by the name of the LORD and claim to worship the God of Israel- but you don't mean a word you say. [2] And yet you are proud to say that you are citizens of the holy city and that you depend on Israel's God, whose name is the LORD Almighty. [3] The LORD says to Israel, "Long ago I predicted what would take place; then suddenly I made it happen. [4] I knew that you would prove to be stubborn, as rigid as iron and unyielding as bronze. [5] And so I predicted your future long ago, announcing events before they took place, to keep you from claiming that your idols and images made them happen. [6] "All I foretold has now taken place; you have to admit my predictions were right. Now I will tell you of new things to come, events that I did not reveal before. [7] Only now am I making them happen; nothing like this took place in the past. If it had, you would claim that you knew all about it. [8] I knew that you couldn't be trusted, that you have always been known as a rebel. That is why you never heard of this at all, why no word of it ever came to your ears. [9] "In order that people will praise my name, I am holding my anger in check; I am keeping it back and will not destroy you. [10] I have tested you in the fire of suffering, as silver is refined in a furnace. But I have found that you are worthless. [11] What I do is done for my own sake- I will not let my name be dishonored or let anyone else share the glory that should be mine and mine alone." [12] The LORD says, "Listen to me, Israel, the people I have called! I am God, the first, the last, the only God! [13] My hands made the earth's foundations and spread the heavens out. When I summon earth and sky, they come at once and present themselves. [14] "Assemble and listen, all of you! None of the gods could predict that the man I have chosen would attack Babylon; he will do what I want him to do. [15] I am the one who spoke and called him; I led him out and gave him success. [16] "Now come close to me and hear what I say. From the beginning I have spoken openly and have always made my words come true." (Now the Sovereign LORD has given me his power and sent me.) [17] The holy God of Israel, the LORD who saves you, says: "I am the LORD your God, the one who wants to teach you for your own good and direct you in the way you should go. [18] "If only you had listened to my commands! Then blessings would have flowed for you like a stream that never goes dry. Victory would have come to you like the waves that roll on the shore. [19] Your descendants would be as numerous as grains of sand, and I would have made sure they were never destroyed." [20] Go out from Babylon, go free! Shout the news gladly; make it known everywhere: "The LORD has saved his servant Israel!" [21] When the LORD led his people through a hot, dry desert, they did not suffer from thirst. He made water come from a rock for them; he split the rock open, and water flowed out. [22] "There is no safety for sinners," says the LORD.