1. "Listen to this, house of Jacob-- those who are called by the name Israel and have descended from Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD and declare the God of Israel, [but] not in truth or righteousness.
2. For they are named after the Holy City, and lean on the God of Israel; His name is Yahweh of Hosts.
3. I declared the past events long ago; they came out of My mouth; I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they occurred.
4. Because I know that you are stubborn, and your neck is iron and your forehead bronze,
5. therefore I declared to you long ago; I announced it to you before it occurred, so you could not claim: My idol caused them; my carved image and cast idol control them.
6. You have heard it. Observe it all. Will you not acknowledge it? From now on I will announce new things to you, hidden things that you have not known.
7. 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!"
8. You have never heard; you have never known; For a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew that you were very treacherous, and were known as a rebel from birth.
9. I will delay My anger for the honor of My name, and I will restrain Myself for your benefit and [for] My praise, so that you will not be destroyed.
10. Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11. I will act for My own sake, indeed, My own, for how can I be defiled? I will not give My glory to another.
12. "Listen to Me, Jacob, and Israel, the one called by Me: I am He; I am the first, I am also the last.
13. My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summoned them, they stood up together.
14. All of you, assemble and listen! Who among the idols has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he will accomplish His will against Babylon, and His arm [will be against] the Chaldeans.
15. I-- I have spoken; yes, I have called him; I have brought him, and he will succeed in his mission.
16. Approach Me and listen to this. From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time anything existed, I was there." And now the Lord God has sent me and His Spirit.
17. This is what the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for [your] benefit, who leads you in the way you should go.
18. If only you had paid attention to My commands. Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19. Your descendants would have been as [countless] as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains; their name would not be cut off or eliminated from My presence.
20. Leave Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with a shout of joy, proclaim this, let it go out to the end of the earth; announce, "The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!"
21. They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.
22. "There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."