Isaiah 48:20–22, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Isaiah 48:20–22
The Exiles Leave Babylon with a New-Exodus Song
Go out from Babylon with a voice of song
The command is public: flee from the Chaldeans; declare this to the end of the earth. The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob. They did not thirst in the deserts; rock water flowed. Then a hard last line: there is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked.
New-exodus song is for people actually leaving an empire's grip. Water from the rock ties the departure to the old mercy so that the road home is recognizable. The warning about the wicked keeps the song from becoming naive: leaving Babylon is not the same as leaving every way of Babylon.
This is not a prosperity travel brochure, not an instant cure, and not a claim that one modern migration or state spends the promise. A warranted life is to go out from the systems that owned us, to say so out loud, and to refuse a peace that is only the quiet of unchallenged harm.
How this should shape us
Leave the systems that owned you, say so out loud, and refuse a peace that is only the quiet of unchallenged harm.
Teach it back
Explain Isaiah 48:20–22 in your own words. Name its place in Isaiah, one source-controlled observation, one uncertainty, one enduring truth, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Isaiah 48:20–22, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 48:20–22 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, poetry, older KJV language, chronology, names, textual issues, and material translation alternatives.
Official NET Isaiah PDF, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Isaiah 48:20–22 in the complete 205-page book PDF
Supports: Babylonian-exile and Persian horizons, new exodus, Cyrus, servant figures, Daughter Zion, nations, suffering, and transition to plural servants.
Yale Bible Study, Second Isaiah course, Agents of God's Redemption guide on Cyrus, Babylon, and Isaiah 44:24-48:22; applied to Isaiah 48:20–22
Supports: Whole-book historical, literary, theological, ethical, and reception synthesis across Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and postexilic horizons.
Enter the Bible Isaiah course, Outline Book 2A-2B, Background, Introductory Issues, and Themes; applied to Isaiah 48:20–22
Sources for This Section
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Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Isaiah 48:20–22, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 48:20–22 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Open the fixed Hebrew Isaiah file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Isaiah
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2016; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, poetry, older KJV language, chronology, names, textual issues, and material translation alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Isaiah PDF, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Isaiah 48:20–22 in the complete 205-page book PDF
Open the official NET Isaiah PDF ↗open university study guide series
Second Isaiah study-guide course
Robert R. Wilson and Stephen L. Cook
Yale Bible Study, 2019; current public course
Supports: Babylonian-exile and Persian horizons, new exodus, Cyrus, servant figures, Daughter Zion, nations, suffering, and transition to plural servants.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Second Isaiah course, Agents of God's Redemption guide on Cyrus, Babylon, and Isaiah 44:24-48:22; applied to Isaiah 48:20–22
Open the Yale Second Isaiah course ↗modern scholarly book course
Isaiah course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, themes, and reception
Fred Gaiser; revised by Michael Chan
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised August 2024
Supports: Whole-book historical, literary, theological, ethical, and reception synthesis across Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and postexilic horizons.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Isaiah course, Outline Book 2A-2B, Background, Introductory Issues, and Themes; applied to Isaiah 48:20–22
Open the Enter the Bible Isaiah course ↗