Isaiah 48:4-7

48:4 I did this ¹  because I know how stubborn you are.

Your neck muscles are like iron

and your forehead like bronze. ² 

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! ³ 

Will you not admit that what I say is true? ⁴ 

From this point on I am announcing to you new events

that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about. ⁵ 

48:7 Now they come into being, ⁶  not in the past;

before today you did not hear about them,

so you could not say,

‘Yes, ⁷  I know about them.’

[48:4]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “gaze [at] all of it”; KJV “see all this.”

[48:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “[as for] you, will you not declare?”

[48:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and hidden things, and you do not know them.”

[48:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “are created” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “They are brand new.”

[48:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “look”; KJV, NASB “Behold.”