18 Oh, that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy prosperity been as the flood, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.

19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the fruit of thy body like the gravel thereof: his [a]name should not have been cut off nor destroyed before me.

20 [b]Go ye out of Babel: flee ye from the Chaldeans with a voice of joy: tell and declare this: show it forth to the end of the earth: say ye, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 48:19 That is, the prosperous estate of Israel.
  2. Isaiah 48:20 After that he had forewarned them of their captivity, and of the cause thereof, he showeth them the great joy that shall come of their deliverance.

18 If only you had paid attention(A) to my commands,
    your peace(B) would have been like a river,(C)
    your well-being(D) like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants(E) would have been like the sand,(F)
    your children like its numberless grains;(G)
their name would never be blotted out(H)
    nor destroyed from before me.”

20 Leave Babylon,
    flee(I) from the Babylonians!
Announce this with shouts of joy(J)
    and proclaim it.
Send it out to the ends of the earth;(K)
    say, “The Lord has redeemed(L) his servant Jacob.”

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