Isaiah 48:3

3 From the beginning I revealed to you what would happen. These words came out of my mouth, and I made them known. Suddenly, I acted, and they happened.

Isaiah 48:3 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 48:3

I have declared the former things from the beginning
From the time of their first ancestors, from the time of Abraham their father, to whom was declared what should befall his posterity; that they should sojourn in Egypt, be afflicted there, and come out from thence with great substance; that they be brought into the land of Canaan, and the inhabitants of it being driven out before them, ( Genesis 15:13-18 ) . And they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them;
they were told to Abraham by word of mouth; they were shown to him in prophecy: I did them suddenly, and they came to pass;
for very quickly these things began to take place, even in Abraham's time; for his seed being a stranger in a land not theirs, and afflicted near four hundred years, must be reckoned from the birth of Isaac; and all which exactly came to pass as was foretold; not one thing which the Lord had spoken of failed; all was punctually fulfilled, ( Joshua 21:45 ) .

Isaiah 48:3 In-Context

1 Listen to this, descendants of Jacob! You are given the name of Israel. You are descended from Judah. You take oaths by the name of the LORD. You acknowledge the God of Israel, but you are not honest or sincere.

2 You call yourselves [citizens] of the holy city. You depend on the God of Israel. His name is the LORD of Armies.

3 From the beginning I revealed to you what would happen. These words came out of my mouth, and I made them known. Suddenly, I acted, and they happened.

4 I know that you are stubborn. Like iron, you are hardheaded. Like bronze, nothing gets through your thick skull.

5 That is why I revealed to you what would happen long ago. I told you about them before they happened. [I did this] so you couldn't say, "My gods have done these things. My carved idols and my metal idols have commanded them to happen."