Discovery BoxIsaiah 48:3-8 
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.’
48:8 You did not hear,
you do not know,
you were not told beforehand. 10
For I know that you are very deceitful; 11
you were labeled 12 a rebel from birth.
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.”
10 tn Heb “beforehand your ear did not open.”
11 tn Heb “deceiving, you deceive.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
12 tn Or “called” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
