1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

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Isaiah 48:1 Hear ye these things, O house of Jacob, you that are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Juda, you who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in justice.

Waters; people, (Apocalypse 17:15.; Haydock) or from the stock of Juda, Proverbs 5:15. (Calmet) --- He claimed the sovereign power, but had not the fortitude or wisdom of Israel. (Worthington)
Isaiah 48:2 For they are called of the holy city, and are established upon the God of Israel: the Lord of hosts is his name.

City: citizens of Jerusalem, Daniel 3:28., and Matthew 4:5.
Isaiah 48:3 The former things of old I have declared, and they went forth out of my mouth, and I have made them to be heard: I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

Suddenly, when there was no human appearance of the event, as when I foretold the exploits of Cyrus and the ruin of Babylon so long before.
Isaiah 48:4 For I knew that thou art stubborn, and thy neck is as an iron sinew, and thy forehead as brass.

Brass; unblushing, Jeremias 3:3. (Calmet) --- Os tuum ferreum. (Cicero, contra Pis.)
Isaiah 48:5 I foretold thee of old: before they came to pass I told thee, lest thou shouldst say: My idols have done these things, and my graven and molten things have commanded them.

Isaiah 48:6 See now all the things which thou hast heard: but have you declared them? I have shewn thee new things from that time, and things are kept which thou knowest not:

Them. Could you have believed them? --- Knowest not. He upbraids their ignorance and indocility.
Isaiah 48:7 They are created now, and not of old: and before the day, when thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldst say: Behold, I knew them.

Knew. Therefore I did not speak of the liberation from Egypt, but from Babylon, which is represented as just taking place. (Calmet)
Isaiah 48:8 Thou hast neither heard, nor known, neither was thy ear opened of old. For I know that transgressing thou wilt transgress, and I have called thee a transgressor from the womb.

Opened; docile, (Theodoret) or acquainted with these things. Isaias first made known the captivity of Babylon, and its end; and he insists so much, that people may discern the truth of his predictions, and of religion. No atheist can, with a good conscience, hold out against his arguments, Isaias 40.
Isaiah 48:9 For my name's sake I will remove my wrath far off: and for my praise I will bridle thee, lest thou shouldst perish.

Bridle thee, like a headstrong beast, (Calmet) running to its own ruin. (Haydock) --- God pardons freely, that people may be saved if they will. (Worthington)
Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of poverty.

Poverty, at Babylon. I have not treated thee with the utmost rigour, nor attempted to render thee free from every imperfection. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "Lo, I have sold thee, but not for silver; I have snatched thee from the," etc. (Haydock)
Isaiah 48:11 For my own sake, for my own sake will I do it, that I may not be blasphemed: *and I will not give my glory to another.

Isaias 42:8.
Isaiah 48:12 Hearken to me, O Jacob, and thou Israel, whom I call: *I am he, I am the first, and I am the last.

Isaias 41:4.; Isaias 44:6.; Apocalypse 1:8.; Apocalypse 17.; Apocalypse 22:13.
Isaiah 48:13 My hand also hath founded the earth, and my right hand hath measured the heavens: I shall call them, and they shall stand together.

Isaiah 48:14 Assemble yourselves together, all you, and hear: who among them hath declared these things? the Lord hath loved him, he will do his pleasure in Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

Things, as I have done respecting Cyrus? (St. Cyril, etc.) who was a figure of Christ, ver. 15.
Isaiah 48:15 I, even I, have spoken, and called him: I have brought him, and his way is made prosperous.

Isaiah 48:16 Come ye near unto me, and hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning: from the time before it was done, I was there, and now the Lord God hath sent me, and his spirit.

Spirit. The Fathers here find the three Persons of the blessed Trinity specified. Isaias was not from the beginning, though the text may also speak of him (Calmet) as he spoke long before the event, by divine inspiration. (Chaldean) (St. Jerome)
Isaiah 48:17 Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God that teach thee profitable things, that govern thee in the way that thou walkest.

Isaiah 48:18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: thy peace had been as a river, and thy justice as the waves of the sea,

Isaiah 48:19 And thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have perished, nor have been destroyed from before my face:

Name. The Jews were not forgotten, till they had rejected the Messias.
Isaiah 48:20 *Come forth out of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, declare it with the voice of joy: make this to be heard, and speak it out even to the ends of the earth. Say: The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

Jeremias 51:6.; Apocalypse 18:4.
Isaiah 48:21 They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out: *he brought forth water out of the rock for them, and he clove the rock, and the waters gushed out.

Exodus 17:6.; Numbers 20:11.
Out. Their return was facilitated. This may easily be applied (Calmet) to the conversion of the Gentiles. (St. Jerome)
Isaiah 48:22 *There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord.

Isaias 57:21.
Peace. Septuagint, "rejoicing," or prosperity for the Chaldeans or wicked Jews, ver. 18. (Calmet) --- It is promised only to the penitent. (Worthington)