Isaiah 48:3-6

48:3 “I announced events beforehand, ¹ 

I issued the decrees and made the predictions; ² 

suddenly I acted and they came to pass.

48:4 I did this ³  because I know how stubborn you are.

Your neck muscles are like iron

and your forehead like bronze. ⁴ 

48:5 I announced them to you beforehand;

before they happened, I predicted them for you,

so you could never say,

‘My image did these things,

my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’

48:6 You have heard; now look at all the evidence! ⁵ 

Will you not admit that what I say is true? ⁶ 

From this point on I am announcing to you new events

that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about. ⁷ 

[48:3]  ¹ tn Heb “the former things beforehand I declared.”

[48:3]  ² tn Heb “and from my mouth they came forth and I caused them to be heard.”

[48:4]  ³ tn The words “I did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 4 is subordinated to v. 3.

[48:4]  ⁴ sn The image is that of a person who has tensed the muscles of the face and neck as a sign of resolute refusal.

[48:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “gaze [at] all of it”; KJV “see all this.”

[48:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “[as for] you, will you not declare?”

[48:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “and hidden things, and you do not know them.”