1 "Listen to this, house of Jacob, you who bear the name of Israel and came out of the waters of Judah, who take oaths by the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel, yet not truthfully and not rightly.
2 For they name themselves after the holy city and lean on the God of Israel, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
3 The earlier things I announced long ago; they came out of my mouth and I made them heard; then suddenly I acted and they happened.
4 Since I knew how hard you are, that your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead bronze,
5 I told you long ago; before it happened I let you hear it, so that you could not say, 'My idol did these things; my carved image and my cast image ordered them.'
6 You have heard it; now look at all of it. Will you not admit it? From now on I am letting you hear new things, hidden things you have not known.
7 They are being created now, not long ago; before today you never heard of them, so that you cannot say, 'Yes, I knew them already.'
8 You have not heard, you have not known, and from long ago your ear has not been open. For I knew how utterly treacherous you would be, and that you were named a rebel from the womb.
9 For my name's sake I hold back my anger, and for the sake of my praise I restrain it toward you, so as not to cut you off.
10 See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake I act; for how could it be profaned? My glory I will not hand over to another.
12 Listen to me, Jacob, Israel whom I called: I am he; I am the first, and I am also the last.
13 My own hand laid the earth's foundation, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.
14 Gather together, all of you, and listen! Which of them announced these things? The one the LORD loves will carry out his will against Babylon, and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15 I, I myself have spoken; yes, I have called him. I have brought him, and he will succeed in his way.
16 Come close to me and listen to this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it came about, I have been there." And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.
17 This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your good, who guides you on the road you should take.
18 If only you had heeded my commandments! Your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19 your offspring would have been like the sand, and those born from your body like its grains; their name would never be cut off or wiped out from my presence."
20 Leave Babylon, run from the Chaldeans! With shouts of joy announce it, make it heard, send it out to the end of the earth; say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!"
21 They were not thirsty when he led them through the wastelands; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water poured out.
22 "There is no peace for the wicked," says the LORD.