Discovery BoxIsaiah 48:3-7 
Context48:3 “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
48:7 Now they come into being, 8 not in the past;
before today you did not hear about them,
so you could not say,
‘Yes, 9 I know about them.’
1 tn Heb “the former things beforehand I declared.”
2 tn Heb “and from my mouth they came forth and I caused them to be heard.”
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.
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.
5 tn Heb “gaze [at] all of it”; KJV “see all this.”
6 tn Heb “[as for] you, will you not declare?”
7 tn Heb “and hidden things, and you do not know them.”
8 tn Heb “are created” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “They are brand new.”
9 tn Heb “look”; KJV, NASB “Behold.”
