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the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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Read the Bible

Revised Standard Version

Isaiah 48:7

They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.'

Bible Study Resources

Dictionaries:

- Holman Bible Dictionary - Isaiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Election;   Micah, Book of;   Righteousness;   Servant of the Lord;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Prophet;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for February 7;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They have been created now, and not long ago;you have not heard of them before today,so you could not claim, ‘I already knew them!’
Hebrew Names Version
They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day you didn't hear them; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them.
King James Version
They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
English Standard Version
They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.'
New American Standard Bible
"They are created now and not long ago; And before today you have not heard them, So that you will not say, 'Behold, I knew them.'
New Century Version
These things are happening now, not long ago; you have not heard about them before today. So you cannot say, ‘We already knew about that.'
Amplified Bible
"They are created now [called into being by the prophetic word] and not long ago; And before today you have not heard of them, So that you will not say, 'Oh yes! I knew them.'
World English Bible
They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day you didn't hear them; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them.
Geneva Bible (1587)
They are created now, and not of olde, and euen before this thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldest say, Beholde, I knewe them.
Legacy Standard Bible
They are created now and not long ago;And before today you have not heard them,Lest you say, ‘Behold, I knew them.'
Berean Standard Bible
They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today, so you cannot claim, 'I already knew them!'
Contemporary English Version
Today I am doing something new, something you cannot say you have heard before.
Complete Jewish Bible
created now, not long ago; before today, you did not hear them: so you can't say, ‘I already know about them.'
Darby Translation
they are created now, and not long ago; and before this day thou hast not heard them, lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
Easy-to-Read Version
This is something that is happening now, not long ago. You have not heard about it before today. So you cannot say, ‘We already knew that.'
George Lamsa Translation
They are created now, and not of old; even before the day when you did not hear of them, lest you should say, Behold, I knew them.
Good News Translation
Only now am I making them happen; nothing like this took place in the past. If it had, you would claim that you knew all about it.
Lexham English Bible
Now they are created, and not from of old, and before today, and you have not heard them so that you could not say, "Look! I knew them."
Literal Translation
They are created now, and not from then; even before today, but you did not hear them; lest you should say, See, I knew them.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And some done now not of olde time, wherof thou neuer herdest, before they were brought to passe: that thou canst not saye: I knewe of them.
American Standard Version
They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
Bible in Basic English
They have only now been effected, and not in the past: and before this day they had not come to your ears; for fear that you might say, I had knowledge of them.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
They are created now, and not from of old, and before this day thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say: 'Behold, I knew them.'
King James Version (1611)
They are created now, and not from the beginning, euen before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And some done of olde tyme, wherof thou neuer heardest before they were brought to passe, that thou canst not say, beholde I knewe of them.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Now they come to pass, and not formerly: and thou heardest not of them in former days: say not thou, Yea, I know them.
English Revised Version
They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
now tho ben maad of nouyt, and not fro that tyme, and bifor the dai, and thou herdist not tho thingis; lest perauenture thou seie, Lo! Y knew tho thingis.
Update Bible Version
They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day you did not hear them; or else you will say, Look, I knew them.
Webster's Bible Translation
They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardst them not; lest thou shouldst say, Behold, I knew them.
New English Translation
Now they come into being, not in the past; before today you did not hear about them, so you could not say, ‘Yes, I know about them.'
New King James Version
They are created now and not from the beginning; And before this day you have not heard them, Lest you should say, "Of course I knew them.'
New Living Translation
They are brand new, not things from the past. So you cannot say, ‘We knew that all the time!'
New Life Bible
They are made now, not long ago. Before today you have never heard of them, or you would say, ‘See, I knew them.'
New Revised Standard
They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, so that you could not say, "I already knew them."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Now, are they created, and not in time past, And, before to-day, thou hadst not heard of them, - Lest thou shouldest say, Lo! I knew them!
Douay-Rheims Bible
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.
Young's Literal Translation
Now they have been produced and not from that time, Yea, before the day, and thou hast not heard them, Lest thou say, `Lo, I have known them.'
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"They are created now and not long ago; And before today you have not heard them, So that you will not say, 'Behold, I knew them.'

Contextual Overview

1 Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came forth from the loins of Judah; who swear by the name of the LORD, and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right. 2 For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is his name. 3 "The former things I declared of old, they went forth from my mouth and I made them known; then suddenly I did them and they came to pass. 4 Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass, 5 I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, 'My idol did them, my graven image and my molten image commanded them.' 6 "You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I make you hear new things, hidden things which you have not known. 7 They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.' 8 You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and that from birth you were called a rebel.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Job 32:13 - Lest Isaiah 45:20 - they Isaiah 49:7 - the Redeemer 1 Corinthians 2:7 - even

Cross-References

Genesis 25:20
and Isaac was forty years old when he took to wife Rebekah, the daughter of Bethu'el the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean.
Genesis 35:9
God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.
Genesis 48:16
the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and in them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."
Genesis 48:19
But his father refused, and said, "I know, my son, I know; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; nevertheless his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations."
Ruth 1:2
The name of the man was Elim'elech and the name of his wife Na'omi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chil'ion; they were Eph'rathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there.
1 Samuel 1:1
There was a certain man of Ramatha'im-zo'phim of the hill country of E'phraim, whose name was Elka'nah the son of Jero'ham, son of Eli'hu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an E'phraimite.
1 Samuel 10:2
When you depart from me today you will meet two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, 'The asses which you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the asses and is anxious about you, saying, "What shall I do about my son?"'
1 Samuel 17:12
Now David was the son of an Eph'rathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years.
Micah 5:2
But you, O Bethlehem Eph'rathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
Matthew 2:18
"A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were no more."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They are created now, and not from the beginning,.... Not that they were now done or brought into being, for as yet Cyrus was not born; though the raising of him up, and holding his right hand, and his executing the counsel of God, are spoken of as if they were already done, because of the certainty of them, Isaiah 45:1. Aben Ezra interprets "created" by "decreed"; though these were not now decreed by God; for no new decrees are made by him; but those which were made by him of old were now revealed and made manifest by prophecy, which is the sense of the phrase; so Kimchi observes,

"the time when they went out of the mouth of God is the time of their creation.''

Thus in like manner the incarnation of Christ, his sufferings and death, and salvation by him, things decreed from eternity, are spoken of in this prophecy as if actually done, because of the clear manifestation and certainty of them:

even before the day when thou heardest them not; they were in the breast of God, kept and reserved in his mind, and therefore are before called hidden things, before the Israelites heard anything of them; as were the things respecting Christ, and salvation by him; which were not only in God, who created all things by Christ, but were revealed before the Israelites had any knowledge of them, even to Adam and Eve, immediately after their fall; and were spoken of by all the holy prophets from the beginning of the world:

lest thou shouldest say, behold, I knew them; lest they should ascribe their present knowledge of them to their own sagacity and penetration; as if they were not obliged to a divine revelation, but of themselves had got the secret, and became acquainted with these things.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They are created now - The Septuagint renders this, Νῦν γίνεται nun ginetai - ‘Done now;’ and many expositors interpret it in the sense that they are now brought into light, as if they were created. Aben Ezra renders it, ‘They are decreed and determined by me.’ Rosenmuller supposes that it refers to the revelation, or making known those things. Lowth renders it, ‘They are produced now, and not of old.’ Noyes, ‘It is revealed now, and not long ago.’ But the sense is probably this: God is saying that they did not foresee them, nor were they able to conjecture them by the contemplation of any natural causes. There were no natural causes in operation at the time the predictions were made, respecting the destruction of Babylon, by which it could be conjectured that that event would take place; and when the event occurred, it was as if it had been created anew. It was the result of Almighty power and energy, and was to be traced to him alone. The sense is, that it could no more be predicted, at the time when the prophecy was uttered, from the operation of any natural causes, than an act of creation could be predicted, which depended on the exercise of the divine will alone. It was a case which God only could understand, in the same way as he alone could understand the purposes and the time of his own act of creating the world.

And not from the beginning - The events have not been so formed from the beginning that they could be predicted by the operation of natural causes, and by political sagacity.

Even before the day when thou heardest them not - The sense of this probably, ‘and before this day thou hast not heard of them;’ that is, these predictions pertain to new events, and are not to be found in antecedent prophecies. The prophet did not speak now of the deliverance from Egypt, and of the blessings of the promised land, which had constituted the burden of many of the former prophecies, but he spoke of a new thing; of the deliverance from Babylon, and of events which they could by no natural sagacity anticipate, so that they could claim that they knew them.

Lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them - The taking of Babylon by Cyrus, and the deliverance of the exiles from their bondage, are events which can be foreseen only by God. Yet the prophet says that he had declared these events, which thus lay entirely beyond the power of human conjecture, long before they occurred, so that they could not possibly pretend that they knew them by any natural sagacity, or that an idol had effected this.


 
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