John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 48:9

"For my name`s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off." — Isaiah 48:9 (ASV)

For my name’s sake. After having reproached the people with that malice which was natural to their fathers from the beginning, and which had passed down to children and grandchildren, he now reminds them that it is owing to his mercy that they survive; otherwise, they would have deserved to perish a thousand times over. This warning served two purposes: first, believers needed to be supported, so that during their captivity they might not lose courage; and secondly, when they had received permission to return, it was no less important that they should be humbled, so that they might acknowledge that they owed their deliverance to nothing other than God’s undeserved goodness.

So as not to cut you off. Therefore, we see that the object of the preceding remonstrance was that the people might know that it is not owing to their merit that the Lord stretches out his hand to bring them out of the grave of Babylon, for they deserved to be utterly ruined. Consequently, that the Lord now spares us also, that he mitigates or remits punishment, and, in a word, that he pays any attention to us, all this is entirely the result of his grace, so that we should not ascribe it to any merits or satisfactions of men. And so, as we have previously explained in other passages, the distinction made by the Sophists falls to the ground regarding the remission of punishment, which they refuse to admit is undeserved because satisfaction is made to the justice of God. But here Isaiah declares that remission is made by free grace for God’s name’s sake; for he speaks of punishment which he might justly have inflicted on the Jews. He had the most just cause for destroying this nation, if he had not determined to defend his glory.