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Stubborn Israel
48:1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are
called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the
waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and
make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in
righteousness.
48:2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay
themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his
name.
48:3 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.
48:4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck
is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
48:5 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.
48:6 Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare
it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even
hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
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 knew them.
48:8 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.
48:9 For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my
praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I
have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
48:11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do
it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give
my glory unto another.
Israel Freed
48:12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am
he; I am the first, I also am the last.
48:13 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.
48:14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among
them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he
will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the
Chaldeans.
48:15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I
have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
48:16 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: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent
me.
48:17 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.
48:18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then
had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the
waves of the sea:
48:19 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.
48:20 Go ye forth of 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.
48:21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the
deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for
them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
48:22 There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked. |
Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?
