Where we are
Isaiah 48 closes the first great movement of chapters 40–66. Chapters 40–48 have been about the Lord’s power over history: He alone foretells the future, He has raised up Cyrus to conquer Babylon, and the idols can do nothing. After this chapter Cyrus and Babylon disappear from the book, and the focus shifts to the mysterious servant of the Lord and to the restoration of Zion (chapters 49–57). Chapter 48 is a summing-up, and its tone is surprising. The earlier chapters mostly comforted Israel. This one scolds them.
For Latter-day Saints the chapter has a second setting. It is the first long passage of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon. Nephi read it, with chapter 49, to his brothers from the brass plates, “that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer” (1 Ne. 19:23), and it appears as 1 Ne. 20. The Book of Mormon text differs from the King James text in almost every verse. Some of the differences are small matters of wording. Others change the sense, and several are discussed in the notes below.
That setting also sharpens the dating question discussed in the introduction to chapter 40. Most modern scholars date chapters 40–55 to the years just before Babylon fell in 539 BC. The Book of Mormon places this very chapter on the brass plates, taken from Jerusalem around 600 BC. Readers who accept the Book of Mormon as history have to hold these two claims together, and this chapter, with its insistence that God announced events “before it came to pass” (verse 5), is exactly where the question matters most.
The thread through the chapter
Isaiah 48 asks why God keeps faith with a people who don’t keep faith with Him, and its answer is: for His own name’s sake.
The chapter opens with an indictment. Israel swears by the Lord’s name and calls itself the people of the holy city, “but not in truth, nor in righteousness” (verses 1–2). They are obstinate, with a neck of iron and a forehead of brass (verse 4). The Lord knew this, and it shaped how He revealed Himself. He announced the “former things” long in advance so that Israel couldn’t credit an idol when they happened (verses 3–5). Now He announces “new things,” never heard before, so that Israel can’t shrug and say, “I knew them” (verses 6–8). Prophecy, in this chapter, is a strategy for reaching a hard-hearted people.
Why not simply give up on them? “For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger” (verse 9). The Lord has tied His reputation to Israel. If He abandoned them, the nations would conclude that Babylon’s gods had won. So instead of cutting Israel off, He puts them in the furnace to refine them (verse 10).
The second half turns from rebuke to appeal. The God who founded the earth and called Cyrus (verses 12–16) speaks as Israel’s teacher, and He grieves: “O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river” (verse 18). Then, despite everything, comes the command to leave Babylon, singing, in a new exodus with water from the rock (verses 20–21). The last line is a warning that marks the end of this part of the book: “There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked” (verse 22). The peace that could have flowed like a river is still on offer, but only to those who stop resisting it.
Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its verse.
A people who wear the name
Listen to this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name Israel and descended from Judah. You swear oaths by the name of the Lord and invoke the God of Israel, but not honestly or rightly. You call yourselves citizens of the holy city and claim to rely on the God of Israel, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
Former things and new things
Long ago I announced the former things. I spoke them and made them known, then suddenly I acted, and they happened. I did it this way because I knew how stubborn you are: your neck is an iron tendon and your forehead is bronze. So I told you ahead of time, before it happened, so that you couldn’t say, “My idol did this; my carved and cast images ordained it.” You have heard it all; now look at it. Won’t you admit it? From now on I am telling you new things, hidden things you haven’t known. They are being created now, not long ago. Before today you never heard of them, so you can’t say, “I already knew that.” You didn’t hear, you didn’t know, your ear was closed from the start. I knew you would be treacherous; you have been called a rebel since birth.
3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and ;
5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
6 Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? .
7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
For My name’s sake
For the sake of My name I hold back My anger; for the sake of My praise I restrain it for you, so that I don’t cut you off. Look, I have refined you, though not as silver is refined. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, My own sake, I act. How could I let My name be profaned? I will not give My glory to anyone else.
The first and the last calls Cyrus
Listen to Me, Jacob, Israel whom I called. I am He. I am the first, and I am the last. My hand laid the foundations of the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens. When I summon them, they stand up together. Gather, all of you, and listen. Which of the idols foretold these things? The Lord loves the one He has chosen; he will carry out the Lord’s purpose against Babylon, and his arm will fall on the Chaldeans. I, I Myself, have spoken. I have called him; I have brought him, and he will succeed. Come close to Me and hear this. From the beginning I have not spoken in secret. From the time it began, I have been there. And now the Lord God has sent me, with His Spirit.
12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; .
13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? , and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: .
If only you had listened
This is what the Lord says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you, who leads you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been as many as the sand, your children as countless as its grains. Their name would never have been cut off or wiped out from before Me.
17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
18 :
19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
Out of Babylon, singing
Leave Babylon! Run from the Chaldeans! Announce it with shouts of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the ends of the earth. Say, “The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob.” They were not thirsty when He led them through the deserts. He made water flow from the rock for them; He split the rock, and water gushed out. But there is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked.
Seeing Christ in Isaiah 48
The speaker in this chapter calls Himself “the first” and “the last” (verse 12), “thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel” (verse 17), and the one who gave water from the rock (verse 21). The New Testament and latter-day revelation apply every one of these to Jesus Christ (Rev. 22:13; D&C 110:4; 1 Cor. 10:4).
The chapter also shows the character of that Redeemer. He is not deceived about His people. He calls them obstinate and treacherous “from the womb” (verse 8). Yet He defers His anger, refines instead of destroying, and grieves over what they have lost: “O that thou hadst hearkened.” That is the same Jesus who wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41–42) and who, in the Book of Mormon, stood among the survivors of destruction and said, “will ye not now return unto me… that I may heal you?” (3 Ne. 9:13).
Liken it to yourself
- Isaiah’s people had the right lineage and the right vocabulary, “but not in truth, nor in righteousness.” Where might my religious identity be running ahead of my actual trust in God?
- The Lord gave “new things” so that Israel couldn’t say “I knew them.” When have I dismissed something from God because I thought I already understood it?
- Nephi read this chapter to brothers who resisted him. How does the Lord’s patience with an obstinate Israel shape the way I treat people who resist me?
- What “furnace of affliction” have I been in? Did it feel more like being tested or being chosen?
- “Then had thy peace been as a river.” Is there a commandment I have been resisting that might be the channel for peace I keep asking for?
Worth exploring next
- Nephi’s use of Isaiah. Read 1 Ne. 19:22–24, 1 Ne. 20–21, and Nephi’s explanation in 1 Ne. 22.
- Compare the texts. Read Isa. 48 and 1 Ne. 20 side by side, and mark every difference. Which ones change the meaning?
- For His name’s sake. Read Ex. 32:11–14, Num. 14:13–19, and Ezek. 36:20–32.
- Leaving Babylon. Read Isa. 48:20–21, Isa. 52:11–12, Rev. 18:1–5, and D&C 133:4–15.
- The first and the last. Trace the phrase from Isa. 41:4 and Isa. 44:6 to Rev. 1:17–18 and D&C 110:4.
This chapter elsewhere in scripture
Nephi’s text of this chapter (1 Ne. 20) reads differently from the King James Version in 21 verses. The BoM markers show the 16 where more than a small word changes.
- 1 Ne. 20 — Nephi reads the whole chapter to his brothers, with differences in almost every verse.
- 1 Ne. 19:23–24 — Nephi explains why he read Isaiah to his family, and tells them to liken it to themselves.
- D&C 133:5–14 — “Go ye out from Babylon,” addressed to the latter-day Church.
- Rev. 18:4 — “Come out of her, my people.”
- 1 Cor. 10:1–4 — Paul reads the rock in the wilderness as Christ.
Sources & further reading
- Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, Eerdmans Critical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.
- John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998.
- Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah, Anchor Bible, 3 vols. New York: Doubleday, 2000–2003.
- Claus Westermann, Isaiah 40–66: A Commentary, Old Testament Library. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1969.
- Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah, Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001.
- Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch, eds., Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, Provo, UT: FARMS, 1998.
- Donald W. Parry, Harmonizing Isaiah: Combining Ancient Sources, Provo, UT: FARMS, 2001.
- The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaᵃ), The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls, Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
- The Cyrus Cylinder, British Museum, London, museum no. 90920.
- Chapter 17: The Gathering of Israel and the Coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 48–54), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).