1 “Hear this, O house of Jacob,Who are called by the name of Israel,And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah;Who swear by the name of the Lord,And make mention of the God of Israel,But not in truth or in righteousness;
2 For they call themselves after the holy city,And lean on the God of Israel;The Lord of hosts is His name:
3 “I have declared the former things from the beginning;They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew that you were obstinate,And your neck was an iron sinew,And your brow bronze,
5 Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,And my carved image and my molded imageHave commanded them.’
6 “You have heard;See all this.And will you not declare it?I have made you hear new things from this time,Even hidden things, and you did not know them.
7 They are created now and not from the beginning;And before this day you have not heard them,Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’
8 Surely you did not hear,Surely you did not know;Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,And were called a transgressor from the womb.
9 “For My name’s sake I will defer My anger,And for My praise I will restrain it from you,So that I do not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;For how should My name be profaned?And I will not give My glory to another.
12 “Listen to Me, O Jacob,And Israel, My called:I am He, I am the First,I am also the Last.
13 Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;When I call to them,They stand up together.
14 “All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!Who among them has declared these things?The Lord loves him;He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken;Yes, I have called him,I have brought him, and his way will prosper.
16 “Come near to Me, hear this:I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;From the time that it was, I was there.And now the Lord God and His SpiritHave sent Me.”
17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,The Holy One of Israel:“I am the Lord your God,Who teaches you to profit,Who leads you by the way you should go.
18 Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!Then your peace would have been like a river,And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants also would have been like the sand,And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;His name would not have been cut offNor destroyed from before Me.”
20 Go forth from Babylon!Flee from the Chaldeans!With a voice of singing,Declare, proclaim this,Utter it to the end of the earth;Say, “The Lord has redeemedHis servant Jacob!”
21 And they did not thirstWhen He led them through the deserts;He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.
22 “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”