1 Listen to this, people of Israel,you that are descended from Judah:You swear by the name of the Lordand claim to worship the God of Israel —but you don't mean a word you say.
2 And yet you are proud to saythat you are citizens of the holy cityand that you depend on Israel's God,whose name is the Lord Almighty.
3 The Lord says to Israel,“Long ago I predicted what would take place;then suddenly I made it happen.
4 I knew that you would prove to be stubborn,as rigid as iron and unyielding as bronze.
5 And so I predicted your future long ago,announcing events before they took place,to prevent you from claimingthat your idols and images made them happen.
6 “All I foretold has now taken place;you have to admit my predictions were right.Now I will tell you of new things to come,events that I did not reveal before.
7 Only now am I making them happen;nothing like this took place in the past.If it had, you would claim that you knew all about it.