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God the Creator and Redeemer

Hear this, O house of Jacob,

who are called by the name of Israel,

and who came forth from the loins of Judah;

who swear by the name of the L ord,

and invoke the God of Israel,

but not in truth or right.

For they call themselves after the holy city,

and lean on the God of Israel;

the L ord of hosts is his name.

The former things I declared long ago,

they went out from my mouth and I made them known;

then suddenly I did them and they came to pass.

Because I know that you are obstinate,

and your neck is an iron sinew

and your forehead brass,

I declared them to you from long ago,

before they came to pass I announced them to you,

so that you would not say, “My idol did them,

my carved image and my cast image commanded them.”

You have heard; now see all this;

and will you not declare it?

From this time forward I make you hear new things,

hidden things that you have not known.

They are created now, not long ago;

before today you have never heard of them,

so that you could not say, “I already knew them.”

You have never heard, you have never known,

from of old your ear has not been opened.

For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,

and that from birth you were called a rebel.

For my name’s sake I defer my anger,

for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,

so that I may not cut you off.

See, I have refined you, but not like silver;

I have tested you in the furnace of adversity.

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

for why should my name be profaned?

My glory I will not give to another.

Listen to me, O Jacob,

and Israel, whom I called:

I am He; I am the first,

and I am the last.

My hand laid the foundation of the earth,

and my right hand spread out the heavens;

when I summon them,

they stand at attention.

Assemble, all of you, and hear!

Who among them has declared these things?

The L ord loves him;

he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,

and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.

I, even I, have spoken and called him,

I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.

Draw near to me, hear this!

From the beginning I have not spoken in secret,

from the time it came to be I have been there.

And now the Lord G od has sent me and his spirit.

Thus says the L ord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

I am the L ord your God,

who teaches you for your own good,

who leads you in the way you should go.

O that you had paid attention to my commandments!

Then your prosperity would have been like a river,

and your success like the waves of the sea;

your offspring would have been like the sand,

and your descendants like its grains;

their name would never be cut off

or destroyed from before me.

Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea,

declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it,

send it forth to the end of the earth;

say, “The L ord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;

he made water flow for them from the rock;

he split open the rock and the water gushed out.

“There is no peace,” says the L ord, “for the wicked.”

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

12. Hearken to me, O Jacob. We have formerly explained the reason why the Lord declares his eternity. It is, that we may know that he is always like himself, and that we may not measure him by our capacity. He bids us “hearken to him;” because we are led into errors and are carried away by false opinions, in consequence of refusing to lend our ears to him.

And Israel, my called. When he says that “Israel has been called by him,” he indirectly contrasts this statement with the reprobation mentioned by him at the beginning of the chapter; for he shewed that the Jews falsely assumed this name, and idly gloried in it, inasmuch as they did not prove themselves to be true Israelites. Here, on the contrary, he affirms that “Israel is his called.” Just as if a father, in rebuking his son, should call him a bastard, and yet should afterwards acknowledge him to be his son, so the Lord shews that the Jews are so greatly degenerated that he might justly reject them, but that, although they do not deserve so high an honor as to belong to his family, still he pays regard to his calling, which no ingratitude or wickedness of men can set aside.

I, even I. In this passage the particle אף (aph,) even, denotes continuance; for he lays down nothing else than that God is always like himself, and does not, like men, undergo change or alter his counsel. (Romans 3:3, 4; 11:29.) On this account he says that he is the first and the last. ²³⁶²³⁶ That is, his nature is eternal, he depends on none, he is the beginning and end of all things, as in Isaiah 41 4; 44:6.” — Rosenmuller. But here it ought also to be observed, that Isaiah does not speak of God’s eternal essence, but applies this doctrine to our use, that we may know that he will be to us the same that he has always been, and next, that we may remember to distinguish him from idols, lest our understandings, led away by extravagant inventions, should fall off from the fear of him.

²³⁶ That is, his nature is eternal, he depends on none, he is the beginning and end of all things, as in Isaiah 41 4; 44:6.” — Rosenmuller.