48:1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, who are a called by the
name of Israel, and have come forth out of b the waters
of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD, and make
mention of the God of Israel, [but] not in truth, nor in
righteousness.
(a) He detects their hypocrisy who claimed to be
Israelites, but were not so.
(b) Meaning, the fountain and stock.
48:2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay
themselves c upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts
[is] his name.
(c) They make a show, as though they would have no other
God.
48:3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and
they went forth from my mouth, and I showed d them; I did
[them] suddenly, and they came to pass.
(d) He shows that they could not accuse him in anything, as
he had performed whatever he had promised.
48:4 Because I knew that e thou [art] obstinate, and thy neck
[is] an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
(e) I have done for you more than I promised, that your
stubbornness and impudency might have been overcome.
48:5 I have even from the beginning declared [it] to thee;
before it came to pass I showed f [it] thee: lest thou
shouldest say, My idol hath done them, and my graven image,
and my molten image, hath commanded them.
(f) How you should be delivered out of Babylon.
48:6 Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye g declare
[it]? I have showed ye new things from this time, even
hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
(g) Will you not acknowledge my blessing, and declare it to
others?
48:7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even
before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou
shouldest say, Behold, I h knew them.
(h) Showing that man's arrogancy is the reason God does not
declare all things at once, lest they should attribute
this knowledge to their own wisdom.
48:8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from
that time [that] thy ear was not opened: for I knew that
thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a
transgressor from the i womb.
(i) From the time that I brought you of Egypt: for that
deliverance was as the birth of the Church.
48:9 For my name's sake will I defer my anger, and for my praise
will I refrain for thee, k that I cut thee not off.
(k) As it was my free mercy that I chose you: so it is my
free mercy that must save you.
48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but l not with silver; I
have m chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
(l) For I had respect to your weakness and infirmity: for
in silver there is some pureness, but in us there is
nothing but dross.
(m) I took you out of the furnace where you would have
been consumed.
48:11 For my own sake, [even] for my own sake, will I do [it]:
for how should [my name] n be profaned? o and I will
not give my glory to another.
(n) God joins the salvation of his with his own honour: so
that they cannot perish, but his glory would be
diminished, as in (De 32:27).
(o) Read (Isa 42:8).
48:12 Hearken to me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; p I [am]
he; I [am] the first, I also [am] the last.
48:13 My hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my
right hand hath spread out the heavens: [when] I call to
them, q they stand up together.
(q) To obey me, and to do whatever I command them.
48:14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; who among them hath
declared these [things]? The LORD hath loved r him: he
will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm [shall be on]
the Chaldeans.
(r) Meaning, Cyrus, whom he had chosen to destroy Babylon.
48:16 Come ye near to me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in
secret from the s beginning; from the time that it was,
there [am] I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath
t sent me.
(s) Since the time that I declared myself to your fathers.
(t) Thus the Prophet speaks for himself, and to assure
them of these things.
48:17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel;
I [am] the LORD thy God who teacheth thee u to profit,
who leadeth thee by the way [that] thou shouldest go.
(u) What things will do you good.
48:19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of
thy body like its gravel; his x name should not have
been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
(x) That is, the prosperous estate of Israel.
48:20y Go ye forth from Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans,
with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it
[even] to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath
redeemed his servant Jacob.
(y) After he had forewarned them of their captivity and of
the reason for it, he shows them the great joy that
will come of their deliverance.
48:21 And they z thirsted not [when] he led them through the
deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for
them: he broke the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
(z) He shows that it will be as easy to deliver them, as
he did their fathers out of Egypt.
48:22 [There is] no a peace, saith the LORD, to the wicked.
(a) Thus he speaks that the wicked hypocrites should not
abuse God's promise, in whom was neither faith nor
repentance, as in (Isa 57:21)
