What does Isaias Chapter 48 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The passage retains its particular declarations, images and conditions. Edition interpretations remain identified separately from the chapter’s speech. Historical additions and universal practical guarantees are not treated as source facts.

Chapter breakdown

Isaias 48 addresses Jacob, those named Israel from Juda's waters, swearing and mentioning God without truth or justice. They are called of the holy city and established upon the God of Israel. Former things were declared and suddenly done; iron sinew and brass forehead describe stubbornness. Prior announcement prevents credit to idols. New, previously unknown things forestall the boast of already knowing, while unhearing transgression from the womb is rebuked.

For his name the Lord removes wrath and bridles the people lest they perish. He refines, not as silver, and chooses in poverty's furnace. Acting for his own sake prevents blasphemy and surrender of glory. The first and last founded earth with his hand and measured heaven with his right; a left hand is not specified. An assembly hears of the loved one acting in Babylon and upon Chaldeans, called and prospered. Another speech says it was not secret and that the Lord God and his spirit have now sent me; the referent is not settled by an invented messenger scene.

The redeemer teaches profitable things and governs the way. The lament remains conditional: had commandments been heard, peace would be river-like, justice like sea waves, offspring like sand and gravel, with a name not destroyed. People are called out of Babylon and told to proclaim Jacob's redemption joyfully to earth's ends. The text recalls water from split rock and no thirst when led through desert, without specifying a completed new homeward journey. It ends with no peace to the wicked, not a universal psychological law guaranteeing tranquility to every obedient person.

The story inside

Opening: The passage retains its particular declarations, images and conditions. Development: Edition interpretations remain identified separately from the chapter’s speech. Conclusion: Historical additions and universal practical guarantees are not treated as source facts.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The passage retains its particular declarations, images and conditions.
2
Edition interpretations remain identified separately from the chapter’s speech.
3
Historical additions and universal practical guarantees are not treated as source facts.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 82541–82547
48:1. Hear ye these things, O house of Jacob, you that are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Juda, you who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in justice. 48:2. For they are called of the holy city, and are established upon the God of Israel: the Lord of hosts is his name.
Lines 82553–82558
48:4. For I knew that thou art stubborn, and thy neck is as an iron sinew, and thy forehead as brass. 48:5. I foretold thee of old, before they came to pass I told thee, lest thou shouldst say: My idols have done these things, and my graven and molten things have commanded them.
Lines 82571–82578
48:9. For my name’s sake I will remove my wrath far off: and for my praise I will bridle thee, lest thou shouldst perish. 48:10. Behold I have refined thee, but not as silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of poverty. 48:11. For my own sake, for my own sake will I do it, that I may not be blasphemed: and I will not give my glory to another.
Lines 82580–82584
48:12. Hearken to me, O Jacob, and thou Israel whom I call: I am he, I am the first, and I am the last. 48:13. My hand also hath founded the earth, and my right hand hath measured the heavens: I shall call them, and they shall stand together.
Lines 82601–82606
48:18. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: thy peace had been as a river, and thy justice as the waves of the sea, 48:19. And thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have perished, nor have been destroyed from before my face.
Lines 82608–82617
48:20. Come forth out of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, declare it with the voice of joy: make this to be heard, and speak it out even to the ends of the earth. Say: The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob. 48:21. They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out: he brought forth water out of the rock for them, and he clove the rock, and the waters gushed out. 48:22. There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord.